Tom made sure we’d arrive at Midtown Farmers Market right at 8 a.m. on its Opening Day on May 7. He promised to head straight for the produce—be it spinach, asparagus, or even last year’s apples. He swore he wouldn’t talk to anyone or even buy a coffee before making sure we had some of the season’s first veggies in hand. That was the plan. As Tom fell into conversation with friends from Gardens of Eagan upon our arrival, I started wandering the market stalls, exploring the newest vendors at Midtown Farmers Market.

Near where Gardens of Eagan had set up their tent I found Midtown’s newest bread vendor, Black Paws, who’ll be selling breads from a collective of makers working together to bring their bounty to market. As a group, Black Paws’ bakers create a nice variety of breads. We picked a focaccia, thinking sandwiches. A word of advice: if you’d like to get your paws on one of these breads, arrive early! I remember hearing they sold out around 10 a.m. on Opening Day.

Maybe you’re not into bread, though. Maybe you don’t even care about vegetables. Maybe you’re more of an Italian-American doughnut lover. If that’s the case, Rebecca’s Bakery has you covered:

As I was talking to the vendors from Rebecca’s (Rebecca herself wasn’t there), I noticed they also had a few coolers on hand, so expect to find chilled dessert options (tiramisu!) as well as fresh eat-while-you-shop zeppolle.

We didn’t get a chance to try it, but Food by Greg is another new breakfast option at Midtown. Greg specializes in kabomelettes, $3 for Kabobs and $3 for Omelettes according to the May 7 signs. Instead, per our usual, Tom and I shared a La Loma’s Oaxacan tamal and a couple of coffees from Lisa & Dave at Fireroast Mountain Café. Finally, we had our coffee.

What did we take home? This sandwich sums it up. Focaccia, picked-that-morning Spinach from Peter & Carmen, and over-wintered apples from Havlicek’s. With a little cheese from a non-market source, it was a perfect spring farmer’s sandwich:

Tomorrow, Saturday, May 20, Midtown is hosting market #3 of the year at its usual location on Lake & 22nd Ave S from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Unfortunately, we missed week 2, but we hope to make it early tomorrow morning to pick up that conversation right where we left off.

Look at all them vegetables! Only a couple of weeks ago that I was whining about the slow pace of the season; now the dreamed for abundance is upon us: radishes, fingerling potatoes, frisée, beets, strawberries, rhubarb, spinach, a rainbow of chard, sugar snap peas, broccoli, mint, basil and a jar of the salsa Mayor RT Rybak just can’t get enough of (I take market vendors at their word). An imposing haul, but I refuse to be intimidated! I am invigorated! Sure, my crisper drawer may be stuffed up to the glass now, but I will not let any of these veggies languish past the next weekend. The key is to attack your produce head on — don’t sit on it trying to make it last through the end of the week: this much produce lasts forever.

Within an hour of returning from the market Saturday morning, I had the oven fired up roasting beets — a roasted beet can be used without any forethought in salads, sandwiches and side dishes — a raw beet, not so much. As it happened, I layered beet slices with basil and chevre in a terrine that we ate that very night. If you don’t have the patience for careful stacking and weighting, this trio works just as well in a salad. The radishes were also gone by Saturday evening, roasted to make these crostini from the New York Times.

With the knowledge that the strawberries wouldn’t last overnight on our warm counters and lose much of their flavor in the refrigerator, after enjoying a few berries fresh I cooked the remainder into a strawberry sauce with just a little sugar. We’ll be eating this sauce all week; it was perfect for Sunday morning waffles enjoyed with the World Cup on in the background.

Even after separating all the stems from the spinach leaves, the bag of spinach I was left with (which I paid $2 for, by the way) was still taking up half of the crisper drawer. Obviously, it would have to go. I like spinach salads as much as the next guy, but quantities like this demand to be cooked. You know those recipes that, if you go to the grocery store, force you to invest a small fortune in spinach only to have you cook it down to a small fistful? Those are the recipes you want to make with farmers market spinach. Case in point: spinach lasagna.

One and a half days after the market, I’m feeling reasonably good about my progress: beets eaten, radishes roasted, spinach dispatched, strawberries sauced. I even made headway through half the head of frisée in a salad to accompany the lasagna. I have plans for some of the rest: the chard is bound for a north African soup, the rhubarb will likely become jam. If I remain vigilant, the fridge should be empty again just in time for next week’s market.

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.

As much as I love the fresh vegetables at the Midtown Farmers Market, the joy of shopping there comes from more than just the products you can buy. Today, that joy was most aptly expressed by the beautiful weather: after a season-opener featuring gale-force winds and a second week where we endured a frigid bike ride only to narrowly avoid being hailed on, the mild temperature and sunny blue sky were a welcome change. Although the farmers market folks are always friendly, something about the sun put everyone in the best of moods. Vegetables may be few this early in the season, but the vendors and patrons more than make up for it with an abundance of cheer. It’s the Minnesota way.

Lest you think all this talk about sun and comradeship is to cover for lackluster market offerings, feast your eyes on what the market can offer: lettuce, spinach, spring onions, amazing strawberries from Gardens of Eagan, a hearty and spice-scented Swedish rye from Real Bread. Not quite enough for a market feast yet, but, coupled with the friendly faces I’m sure to see, incentive enough to be back next week.

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!