I’m fully aware of how empty my early farmers market boosterism sounds: “Really, even though you’ll only be able to buy a pint of strawberries and a head of lettuce, it’s totally worth making the trip to the market! Just think what you might find!” Okay, Tom. Whatever.

Well I’m happy to say those weeks are definitively over! As of last weekend, the first Saturday market in June, the market has finally hit its full stride. I could barely contain myself as I went from stall to stall, seizing on the fresh — and small in a cute way — vegetables: Chard! Snap peas! Garlic! New potatoes! Kale! Friseé! Basil! Leeks! Rhubarb! Strawberries! Finally, the makings of a feast.

Markets like these — rife with fresh and tender vegetables — allow me to make my favorite post-farmers market lunch: produce, steamed or blanched, with homemade mayonnaise, hummus, or any other sauce you like to dip them in. I did cheat and supplement the Midtown new potatoes and snap peas with asparagus from The Wedge (but hey, they’re my year round farmers market).

All that and I barely made a dent in the week’s haul. There will be plenty more meals this week derived almost entirely from market produce. The fun is just beginning.

After biking to the Midtown Farmers’ Market in the dead of winter last week, I am happy to report that winter seems to be over in Minnesota and we’ve jumped back into fall. With a sunny blue sky and temperatures that require only a light jacket provided you keep moving, this was one of those great days to be at the farmers’ market taking advantage of the last of the season’s produce.

In spite of my dire predictions due to last week’s frost (and overriding pessimism brought on by early October snow), the supply of fresh produce at the market remains ample. There are even still peppers and tomatoes, although not necessarily of the same quality they were in late August (I passed on these the last few weeks). But I was happy to see there was still red kale, turnips with their greens on, potatoes, brussels sprouts and onions; all the makings of fall feasting food.

We also bought bacon from Chase Brook Natural. You can see in the picture that it is not streaked lengthwise with long strands of fat. That’s because this is cottage bacon — bacon is made from the shoulder of the pig, rather than its belly. It is a meatier, less fatty bacon (which isn’t necessarily a good thing). It will go well alongside eggs and toast at breakfast.

There are only two weekends left for the Midtown Farmers’ Market, but I continue to be amazed at all that is available.

There’s something perverse about biking across a snow-covered city to get to the farmers’ market — particularly when it’s only 10 days in to October. But that was the situation we faced this morning as we headed out to the Midtown Farmers’ Market. There are a few weekends left for the market, but with snow (and, more critically, frost) here the vegetables will be thinning out (Gardens of Eagan recently tweeted about a slushy head of broccoli they pulled from the field) as will the market shoppers, until only the die-hards remain.

Frost only came in the last week, so farmers still had plenty to offer. Feeling that our diet was lacking in things green — a problem which only worsens during the winter — we bought broccoli, parsley and kale. We also bought three kinds of squash: acorn, spaghetti and delicata. With the squash from last week, I now have five distinct varieties of squash sitting in a bowl in my dining room. Clearly, some kind of squashstravaganza is called for.

As if five squash weren’t enough starchy, orange-fleshed, sweet vegetable, we bought sweet potatoes, in a 2 for $5 with Russets. We also bought garlic to store (although garlic doesn’t last long around here). And, after a successful apple tart last night, we bought more of the Haralsons that were sold to us last week as the ultimate baking apple . Finally, we got a loaf of honey-wheat bread from Brett and Mary of Real Bread.

As we were buying the sweet potatoes from Julie of Pflaum Farms she mentioned that her mom kept talking about sweet potato fries. That seemed like a good idea to us; when we got home we roasted a few of the sweet potatoes, cut into sticks and tossed with oil, salt, pepper and thyme. The fries accompanied sandwiches made on Brett and Mary’s bread with mayo, turkey from last night’s dinner, roasted red peppers and black beans. Washed down with cider, this made for a nice lunch on a snowy fall day.

I’ve been hearing a lot about kale chips lately; they were in Bon Appétit, on Serious Eats, heck, my mom even called me to sing their praises. The technique is simple enough: toss stemmed kale leaves with oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and bake in a single layer at 350° for a half hour, until the leaves are crispy, like chips. I am a big fan of roasting vegetables in general and kale has been readily available at the farmers’ market, so this seemed like a great idea.

Having finally made kale chips, I can say they are most definitely not a great idea.  While they are crispy, the leaves are so thin that they don’t crunch in your mouth but instead turn powdery. The initial flavor of the chips is the earthy richness of greens, but the aftertaste is bitter (apparently bitterness is a sign of overcooking, but my kale was not browned). The combination of this bitterness with the powdery texture made any pleasure I might have had at putting the kale into my mouth quickly turn to regret. Contrast this to potato chips, where the end of a mouthful leaves me wanting more delicious potato chips. I have seen kale chips described as “guiltless potato chips”; I can see how that might be true since if you eat one you probably won’t want to eat another. I certainly didn’t.

Amazing what two weeks will do. I missed the last two weeks of the Midtown Farmers’ Market while on a trip home (and enjoying the very fine Midland Farmers’ Market). You might recall that my last trip, while exciting because of the first appearance of asparagus, was a bit disappointing since that was the only fresh vegetable to be had. This week, the market really exploded with summer produce—I can finally buy (more than) enough fresh vegetables for the week.

Greens. Greens are the most readily available thing right now: tons of lettuces, spinach, kale, bok choi and kohlrabi were available, as well as every kind of herb. I picked up a bunch of kale, nearly a pound of spinach, and an assortment of salad greens. Not a bad deal for 6 dollars,though I had to spend about an hour washing and drying greens at home. A bunch of dill and a bunch of parsley came home as well since I had a use for them in mind.
Roots. The first spring onions are available, and there are plenty of radishes to be had. So far, no sign of baby beets or turnips. I cannot resist buying radishes whenever I see them, nor could I turn down sprightly little purple onions.
Peas. Sweet peas were out in full force this weekend—every farmer seemed to have an abundance of them. They are sweet and tender.
Rhubarb. Rhubarb, the herald of spring in these parts (along with asparagus), is still available. I have not had nearly enough rhubarb this year so I had to have some.

I have some ideas for how to use all this great produce, but this is the first week where I have more fresh food than I know what to do with! I’m sure I’ll figure something out and have an empty fridge by next Saturday morning!