Hello and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook!
April is a busy month. Not only is tax month, but it’s also a popular month to get married–at least in our families, it is! Mr. Stone Soup and I, his parents, an aunt and uncle, my cousin and his wife–we all share wedding anniversaries in April. And why not? It’s generally a really pretty month–it’s not too hot, not too cold; up in the wine country, the grape vines are leafing out:
flowers are starting to bloom:
trees are starting to leaf out:
and generally, the world is coming back to life after a long winter’s nap:
This week, in addition to enjoying the natural beauty of my Northern California home, I’ve been enjoying the challenge of using up the abundance of produce I bought on my weekly trip to my local farmer’s market.
So far this week, I’ve featured seared local salmon with stir-fried vegetables and soba noodles, asparagus, roasted potatoes, arugula, beet, tomato, shallot and bell pepper salad, and I learned all about a new (to me!) fish: the California halibut, or “Halibut.”
I’ve still got quite a lot of produce left in the fridge to use up before the end of this challenge, and today, I decided to feature a meal truly meant for a wedding anniversary celebration (or any celebration, for that matter!):
Alongside the steak au poivre, I served zucchini boats using one of the zucchinis I bought at the market, as well as some of the tomatoes and pesto I had in the freezer from last season:
To round out the meal, I used the russet potatoes I had to make hasselback potatoes:
I used shallots instead of green onions, because that’s what I had and the potatoes had a lovely flavor!
And now–for those of you keeping score–here’s what I’ve got left:
2 artichokes, 2 bundles of asparagus, 1 bundle of beets, about a 1/2 pound of sugar snap peas, cucumbers, 1/4 bag of arugula, romaine and butter lettuce, 1 zucchini, a red bell pepper, spinach, about a pound of fava beans, 2 fennel bulbs, a little green garlic, thyme, rosemary, 1 celery root, 2 bundles of carrots, 1 shallot, mint, onions, a couple of Early Girl tomatoes and strawberries.
For protein, I still have a chicken and some shrimp left, along with assorted flavoring ingredients in my freezer. Tune in tomorrow to see what I come up with to use up more of my farmer’s market haul!
Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
