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Best
Buys
Santa Monica, Calif.
Wednesday, March 6, 2002 |
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The Market:
Santa Monica Farmers Market
Santa Monica, Calif.
Arizona & 3rd Street
Market Notes: The first big flush of fava
beans of the season has hit the market. Half a dozen tables have a
pile of beans. They're three times more expensive now than
they're likely to be in a couple of months. At $2.50 per
pound, in the husk, I pay $5 for a small bag of beans that yields a
couple of cups of raw beans that have been laboriously plucked out
of the pods and slipped out of the tough inner skin. Another great
buy today: tangelos. You can tell what month it is by the degree
of tang in a tangelo. In December and January, they're tart.
By May, they'll be sweet. This month, they're a perfect
tangy-sweet. Besides the items pictured in the adjacent column,
I buy cherimoyas. They are seconds, brown and a bit overripe by some standards, but
quite tasty, and the price is right at $2.50 for four medium
ones. And I buy a three-pack of #2 quality strawberries
for $6. They're weak-tasting, early-season berries, not as
sweet as the ones I bought last week.
Market-Goer:
Mark Thompson, publisher of this Web site
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What I Bought:
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Fava Beans Later
in the spring, when the first sweet corn hits the market, I make fava bean
succotash. This week, I simply saute the beans in olive oil, chopped
garlic, salt and pepper, and just enough water that the beans will be
steamed by the time it evaporates.
Price: $2.50/lb.
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Tangelos
This is prime time for tangelos. These are the best I've
had this season to date, just the right blend of tart and
sweet.
Price: $.75/lb.
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Smoked, Carmelized Pearl
Onions
These are from the onion specialists, Thogmartin Farms.
Price: $2.00
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Couve
Tronchuda Thogmartin Farms is best known for its
onions. But the Thogmartin table is also a great place
to find an occasional oddball heirloom green. Today is
no exception. I find an heirloom to beat all heirlooms,
a leafy looking plant that according to the sign on the table
is "the granddaddy of brassicas," called couve
tronchuda. It is a wild, headless cabbage variety that has
been cultivated since the days of ancient Rome, according to
the Thogmartin label. (Some seed catalogs call it a gourmet
collard.) The
Portuguese have loved the stuff for centuries and are credited
with bringing it to the New World in the madeira trade..
Price: $1.50/bunch
clockwise
from left: Parsnips, Rutubagas, two colors of Beets, Red
Radishes, Japanese Turnips
These small rutabagas were excellent, which is to say not too
overpowering when roasted along with the parsnips, turnips and
beets in olive oil, salt and pepper. Price:
rutabagas, parsnips, beats: $1.50/each or $4 for 3 bunches;
turnips: $1/bunch; radishes: $.75/bunch. |
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