Daily Archives: May 31, 2012

Bonn Market

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The last weekend of April (29th) I went into Bonn to do some produce shopping. The market in Bonn is much larger than in Siegburg, and competition means better prices.  Sorry for the blurry photos, I only had my ipod with me. But perhaps fun to see anyways.

Fennel! I didn’t get any this time, but I am really excited to try a fennel salad recipe from Alice Waters. If I remember correctly it is with fennel, orange sections, and black olives. Sounds a bit bizarre, but I trust Alice.

Asparagus invasion!

I do now REALLY appreciate the friendly and courteous Siegburg farmers, compared to the rude volume-pushers of Bonn, yelling their prices out constantly. I only wanted ONE bell pepper, but that was NOT allowed. One KILO was the minimum purchase…only one Euro, but come on, what does the average person do with a whole kilo of peppers? I also didn’t want to carry an whole bag around with me. So NO PEPPER FOR ME. I thought of the soup nazi in Seinfeld…and I thought this guy is the bell pepper nazi…and then I realized that was totally non-PC considering my circumstances.

Moving on to the citrus!

Then I strolled over to Münster Platz and there was a handi-crafts fair going on. The artisans were also demonstrating their skills: basket weaving, pottery, jewelry making, silk dying, felting…you know…the usual.

All that shopping was exhausting and required refreshment.

Although I didn’t take home a bell pepper, I did get quite a handful. Here is the price breakdown, for those of you curious: Pineapple 1€, Strawberries 1.50€, Avocado 3 for 2€, blood Oranges 2€, Parsley, Celery, Spring Onions, Artichokes, and Tomatoes 5.65€. It was Saturday at 2 pm, so the vendors were eager to sell the last of the strawberries and pineapple, thus I got a bit of a deal 😉

I used the celery, avocado, spring onions, and oranges in a quite interesting farro salad. Hope you are also enjoying the fresh markets!  Remember to stp and smell the flowers!

 

Farro Perlato

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We picked up some farro perlato on our trip to Italy, and it is amazing! Pearled farro cooks in 20 minutes, in comparison to regular spelt (which is either the same thing or a very close relative) which takes over an hour. Both are yummy, although the pearled variety was obviously way more convenient. I made this into a salad inspired by Heidi Swanson (I love her “Super Natural Every Day”) and Yottam Ottolenghi (his vegetarian cookbook called “Plenty” was my bday gift to myself.), using what I got at the Bonn market. Because I am writing about this a month after the fact, I forgot how I made it! Luckily I took photos and kept my “brainstorm list” so I can sort of explain it. This proves how helpful the blog can be, as long I post the recipes in a timely fashion This obviously didn’t happen in May.

Because I was really making an effort, and because the celery was huge, I de-stringed (de-strung?) it.

I sectioned an orange and used the juice run-off for the dressing, along with some lemon juice, spring onion, olive oil and sea salt. I wanted to give it some time “for the flavors to meld” while the farro was cooking.

Don’t mind the tofu, that was a side dish along with the bottomless supply of spinach.

Tossed  together the cooked (and cooled) farro, oranges, celery, sliced spring onion, avocado, citrus zest and dressing. Sprinkled with some parmesan.

I was slightly curious how this would turn out, but I liked it, and so did Milo. Buono Appetito!

Strawberry Fields…and JAM!

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We went to visit family and friends over the weekend (May 26-27), and went on both Saturday and Sunday to a pick-your-own farm. The strawberries were bright red, sweet, and juicy. Best enjoyed while in the field, although the jam turned out extremely awesome, if we do say so ourselves!

Between the rows was filled with chamomile, so the whole experience smelled great. Naturally, flowers were plucked and dried for tea.

This was the first time I have been to a pick-your-own farm that had a covering, but the strawberries were by far the best we have had in the past two years. The tinier the better.

We each ate several kilos fresh, but we also made sure to get an extra basket to make jam. We used 500 grams of strawberries (cleaned and hulled), and about half the sugar suggested (and we were already using a reduced sugar-pectin blend).

Crush strawberries with sugar.

Bring to a boil, stir constantly for a couple minutes.

Enjoy!

Our jam was a bit on the runny side, but we think if we used more sugar it would have “gelled” however would have been too sweet. It tastes perfect to us!

On Sunday night we met Bjorn and Jenny for dinner at Punjab Indian Restaurant in Karlsruhe. Lots of fun and the best Indian we have had in a very long time!

Happy Birthday Dad! Happy Birthday UB!