Farmers' Market cooking

Mimzy

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25 Jul 2014
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1:52 PM
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Location
Iowa
Today I went with my family to the local farmers' market and picked up some corn, green beans, kohlrabi, cucumbers, zucchini, and basil. Everything looks and smells amazing.

Does anyone have any good recipes for the ingredients I picked up? The last time I picked up greens beans we put them in a pickle jar that just had the juice left and they were quite tasty a week later.
 
Make a salad for starters and use your imagination with the rest. Grill the zucchini and make a cucumber and dill salad with the basil. Plenty of options - just be creative.
 
Well with the corn and zucchini you could make what's known as Calibacitas. There are a ton of recipes online for this, but it's basically some zucchini and corn (and maybe some Poblano pepper?) sauteed with onion and garlic in some butter and onions, then you toss in some mexican cheeses like Cojita cheese before serving.

If you got a ton of basil, perhaps make a home made pesto with some pine nuts or walnuts, along with some garlic, parmesan cheese and olive oil. A tea made of fresh basil leaves will also clear your congestion temporarily if allergies are kicking in. Or if you are canning tomatoes, some fresh basil leaves in each are common, to help preserve a "fresh" taste to the tomatoes, some of which gets lost during the canning process.

Cucumbers, I enjoy simply tossing them in sour cream along with some fresh dill, salt and pepper to taste. Nice creamy and refreshing side dish to go along with all sorts of stuff like BBQ or grilled items. Or strain some yogurt and make a homeade Tzatziki sauce with shredded cucumbers and garlic and olive oil. Of course a simple tomato & cucumber salad tossed in oil and vinegar, with some italian seasoning, and salt and pepper is great. Or throw in some crusty old bread cubes and thinly sliced red onion, and a handful of Parmesan cheese for a Panzanella salad.

Green beans, you could blanch them to use as part of a Salad Nicoise, which is french salad that includes green beans, tuna, and hard boiled egg over lettuces topped with a vinaigrette. Or for something simple, a green bean almondine, with butter and toasted slivered almonds.
 
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