A quick jaunt through Headhouse Square

Monday, May 12, 2008

Over the weekend I accidentally ended up at the Headhouse Square farmer’s market with two friends.  For a Spring market, the selection wasn’t bad at all!  Some rhubarb, tons of salad greens of all varieties, bok choy, radishes, spinach...and herb and vegetable plants.  Tons of them!  So if you’re looking for herb plants, head over next weekend - I picked up some super healthy-looking parsley, dill, rosemary, and tarragon from one of the vendors.  Yoder Heirlooms, in particular, had gorgeous looking produce. 

Aside from produce, the market had at least two vendors of locally made bread, as well as cakes and quick breads, jam, honey, artisan sausage and pepperoni, and cheese.  I saw a sign for boneless duck, and noticed two other meat vendors.  There were lots of great eggs available, too.

The real star, though, was asparagus.  Quite a few vendors had really gorgeous asparagus, and from what I’ve been hearing the asparagus crop is stellar this year and extra early.  Last night I made asparagus risotto with the bunch I picked up yesterday at Headhouse Square market - it was delicious!

I really like asparagus, and am always disappointed by the crappy, tasteless commercially grown stuff available in the Winter, so my plan is to buy at least a dozen bunches or so while it’s in season and preserve it for later...in a few different ways.

My favorite method is freezing - it’s the preservation method that saves the most nutrients.  Trim the asparagus ends, sort by thickness, and blanch them in boiling water - 2 minutes for thin spears, 3 minutes for medium, and 5 minutes for thick ones.  And then give them an ice bath, let them dry, and freeze them.  They can be frozen for eight or nine months.

Asparagus can also be canned in a pressure canner.  The texture does suffer a bit, so I usually don’t can them.  However, I do like the look of nice, canned asparagus spears.  Blanch them for about three minutes after you’ve trimmed the ends, and pack them into canning jars while the asparagus is still hot.  Add 1/2 to 1 tsp of salt and boiling water, leaving about 1 inch of headspace.  Close up your jars and process at 10 pounds of pressure for 25-30 minutes.

I also plan on making some asparagus ravioli for a rainy day. 
Freshly made ravioli freezes nicely - just don’t make huge and overstuff ravioli.  Arrange them on a layer of wax paper on a cookie sheet covered in corn meal, freeze them, and then pack them into freezer bags.  They can go right from the freezer into some boiling water when you’re ready to cook them.