Goodbye Strawberries, Hello Raspberries!

This week I visited the Arlington Farmers Market!  The Arlington Farmers Market is located in the Russell Common Parking lot and is on Wednesdays from 2:00pm-6:30pm.  The vendors include Busa farms, Dick's Market Garden, Globe Fish, Grateful Farm, Kimball Farm, and more!  This is a great market with a variety of vendors ranging from vegetables, meats, fish, eggs, and cheese.  I chose to shop at Kimball Farm this week. I have bought from them before, but what caught my eye this week was the mix of small tomatoes they had.  I bought a half pint of red, yellow, and kumato tomatoes to put in my salad this week.  For those of you who have not heard of kumato tomatoes, they are very sweet and brownish in color.  This is actually my first time seeing kumato tomatoes at a farmers market.  Finding all of these tiny tomatoes was so exciting to me because tomatoes are my most favorite fruit and I know it is not yet tomato season.  Some people think of seasons as winter, spring, summer, and fall, but I think of seasons, as vegetable and fruits, strawberry season, tomato season, etc.  And tomato is my favorite season!    

I also bought some strawberries as I was just informed that strawberry season is nearing the end and raspberry season is beginning.  So I bought both!  The raspberries didn't make it very far, but the strawberries went into the freezer with the rhubarb.  As soon as my lids come in, I am going to make some strawberry rhubarb jam for canning.  But that is a post for another day.  I also bought some tiny cucumbers, romaine lettuce, and a vegetable that I feel never gets enough attention, radishes.    

Radishes have a very spicy, peppery flavor when eaten raw, but have a very sweet flavor when cooked or roasted.  This week, I was craving their spicy flavor and ate them raw and put them into my salad with all the other fresh vegetables I bought.  I had some difficultly choosing a salad dressing to go with my radishes.  A lemon vinaigrette came into my mind and I had all the ingredients to make it, so I went with it.  I thought that the strong flavor of the radishes would go well with a citrus dressing with a little kick to it.  I made this as a side salad to go with my grilled steak tips.  It was very refreshing and delicious!  However, I would recommend sprinkling some cheese to go with this, maybe some Parmesan or Romano? 

Recipe of the Week:

Salad with Tomatoes, Cucumbers, and Radishes in a Lemon Vinaigrette Dressing

Lemon Vinaigrette Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
the juice of 1-2 lemons
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Salad:
1 Head Romaine Lettuce (or whatever lettuce you like!)
1 tomato or several grape tomatoes
1 Cucumber
1 Head of radishes

Whisk all ingredients for the dressing together.  Pour over washed and chopped vegetables and enjoy!  I stored the extra dressing in a small mason jar and put in the refrigerator for another day.  Notice the great colors of the tomatoes in the picture :)