The first day of marketing at any Farmers Market in the northern latitudes can sometimes be a bit of a disappointment. There is so much pent up demand for something green and fresh after a long winter, that the lack of huge assortments of different types of produce can take the wind right out of a shopper’s sails.
This year at the Dane County Farmers Market in Madison, things felt different. The weather was wonderfully sunny, and people all seemed in a great mood and happy to be there.
And the produce haul was pretty good for early season: ramps and sun chokes from Harmony Valley Farm, chicken from Jordandal Farms, curly red mustard greens, and fresh pasta from RPs.
Once home with our market bags, we immediately made a Wisconsin market lunch of fresh RP’s Pasta linguine, with Harmony Valley ramps, cracked black pepper, and some award winning SarVecchio parmesan.
After a good wash of the ramps, we separated the greens from the purple and white bulbs. The bulbs were coarsely chopped, while the greens were stacked on each other and cut into chiffonade strips.
While waiting for the fresh pasta to briefly cook, the ramp bulbs were gently sauteed for a couple of minutes until they became translucent.
Once the pasta was just about ready, we added the ramp greens to the pan.
You need to watch the ramps closely in the pan, because they can go from almost there to over done in the time it takes to check the doneness of the pasta.
By pulling the strands of cooked linguine right into the pan of sauteeing ramps, some of the pasta water comes as well. This blends with the ramps and the olive oil to form the sauce for the pasta.
Once the pasta was plated, we added a couple of grinds of cracked black pepper and some shavings of the Sarvecchio parmesan.
We sometimes use a vegetable peeler to shave parmesan; if it’s sharp, it can provide the best control of the size and length of the shavings.
Our dinner was also a Farmers Market feast, with roasted Jordandal chicken on a bed of sun chokes and potatoes. We also mixed some store bought bibb lettuce with the mustard greens for a salad with a bit of a personality.
We also had a great loaf of whole grain bread from Stellas Bakery (just follow the calls of “Hot Cheese Bread!” at the market).
Looking forward to seeing what’s new and available at next week’s market.
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