Voluptuous Signs of Spring at the Markets

    It really doesn't matter what the thermometer says, March is a dreary month for fruits and vegetables if your aim is to eat whatever's grown locally.  Granted, we can get salad greens almost all the year round but, by now, I've had it with root vegetables, cabbages and apples--especially since the temperatures have been in the mid to high 20s recently--which explains why the first glimpse of these 2011 crops got my juices flowing.  

Mirepox market....Gorgeous amethyst-tipped asparagus.
Just steam and eat hot with butter or cold with vinaigrette. 

Lavelanet market...These opulently scarlet fraises come from near Perpignan, close to the Spanish border. As with asparagus, you don't need to mess about with them. All I do is slice the strawbs, sugar them (just a little) and put a pot of crème fraîche alongside.

  

Greens + Purples = Spring

This morning, Mirepoix market was bustling with people--and carpeted with vegetable plants. Herbs too. Basil, chives, savory, even occasionally coriander, parsley both curly and flat-leaved, it was all there. Here's a producer who specializes in tomato plants. From her and others, I've so far collected four varieties including Green Zebra and a black-red variety whose name I've forgotten. Meanwhile, growing in a small pot on the patio, much to my delight, are tiny plants that have sprouted from seeds that I saved from last summer. Not sure what kind that are but I know I salvaged them from an heirloom tomato so you can't fault their family background. 

   The lady in red is buying asparagus and baby purply-green artichokes. Right now, stalls are heaped 40 cm high with white and green asparagus. You can buy thin, medium or thick or odds and ends to make soup or risotto with. If you love to cook, this is an inspiring time of year.

   We came home laden and I've just now taken a break from preparing the veggies for pasta primavera, a dish that'll use some of the produce we bought. Skinny purply-tipped asparagus, beautiful, beautiful young sweet purple-striped garlic, parsley...The most labour-intensive chore is shelling the broad beans. After you've podded them, you toss them in a pot of boiling water f0r 30 seconds, then pop each one out of its skin. 

A for asparagus, B for bake sale

Asparagus is now in season, green or white, sold in various qualities. We brought home a half kilo of the white variety which is now sitting on the counter waiting to be cooked and eaten with a dish of gratinéed shrimp-filled crèpes. 

For whatever reason--a warm sunny day, maybe?-- Lavelanet's market was jammed by the time we got there around 9:30 a.m. this morning.  Our first stop is often les halles which is where you find local producers. One old lady I often buy from was today selling cabbages and big bunches of lilac. You could buy wine, meat, baguettes, even bunches of cilantro (seldom seen around here) and you could pick up a homemade cake or pie from this bunch of kids who were raising funds for a school trip. We came home with some small Moroccan pastries drenched in honey.