Central Square Farmers Market

I had last Monday off from work and I decided that would be the day to check out the Central Square Farmers Market.  This worked out perfectly because I missed my weekly farmers market on Saturday, so I had quite the list for this market.  In addition, I am way behind in my "stocking up for the winter freezer stash" so I needed to buy lots of tomatoes and green beans and there were many vendors to do so.

The Central Square Farmers Market has two of the best vendors in my opinion, Kimball's and Dick's Market Garden.  I'm going to go on a tangent for a minute, so bare with me.  On Saturday night, we went on a couples date night to Tempo in Waltham.  Tempo has american cuisine that features local ingredients and fresh fish daily.  I am not typically a dessert person, but when I saw a dessert special of fried peach pie from Kimball's farm, I had to get it.  If you like Kimball's as much as I do, Tempo may be worth a Saturday night out!  They have spiced apple crisp from Kimball's too if you are not into peaches.  Okay, back to the market.  I have been trying to go to different, smaller vendors to support them as well, so I bought some grape tomatoes from Hutchins Farm from Concord.  Because I am buying 2-3 pints at a time, I chose this farm because they had the best price for each pint, which was $3.  This vendor had a variety hot peppers to choose from, in fact, a costumer had stopped by because he made peach habenero salsa with the fresh peaches and peppers from the farm.  He brought some for costumers to sample and I would say that was probably good for business because it was delicious.  My next stop was to Kimball's because I love their salad mix with the pretty flowers in it.  And then off to Dick's to stock up on green beans and green peppers.  Other vendors at this market including Westport Rivers Winery, C & C Lobsters and Fish, Flats Mentor Farm, Taza Chocolate, Austin Brothers Valley Farm (grassfed ground beef), and many more.  Oh and the market is now full of fall favorites, such as pumpkins and squash.

Now that Fall has begun, I will be freezing my favorite vegetables to eat local in the winter.  My winter must haves are green beans and green peppers.  We use a lot of them in my house, so I buy extra each week for freezing.  Freezing green peppers is so easy.  I chop or dice and put them in ziploc vacuum freezer bags and pop them into the freezer.  No blanching necessary.  Green beans require blanching for 3 minutes and then a cold water bath for 2 minutes  Dry off and put into a ziploc vacuum freezer bag.  I keep doing this until the end of the season.  Last year, I ran out of green beans in March, but the green peppers last a little bit longer.

My absolute favorite fruit to freeze are grape/cherry tomatoes.  I have been buying 2-3 pints per week and roasting them in the oven for an hour along with some garlic and basil or oregano.  Then I pop them into freezer bags and use in my salads, make bruschetta, or serve with some vegetables.  It helps to pop these into some dishes to cure the winter blues (temporarily), when tomato season is so far away.

Recipe of the Week:  Roasted grape tomatoes

2 Pints of any small tomatoes you like, I used grape
spritz of olive oil
basil or oregano
4-5 garlic cloves (optional)

Wash and halve the tomatoes and put on a baking sheet.  Spritz with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning.  Add some whole garlic cloves if you would like.  These can be eating after or put in the freezer along with the tomatoes.  It really gives some great taste.  Roast the tomatoes in the oven for an hour.  Then get as many of these babies in a ziploc bag as soon as you can.  Otherwise, they might be eaten before you know it!