SoWa Open Market

I was so excited to hear that Tempo Bistro in Waltham is doing a rhubarb tasting menu for the month of May.  So I suggested to my husband and my brother-in-law it would be a great place to go on Saturday night!  Tempo is an American style restaurant where the food is local and the menu changes frequently to accommodate the seasonal changes.  It is one of my favorite restaurants in Waltham.  Tempo often features food from Waltham Community Farm, which they did for the rhubarb tasting!  You can't get much more local than that!  Of course, I had to get the featured strawberry rhubarb cocktail.  For an app, we got the tuna tartare, which was not part of the rhubarb tasting, but had fresh micro basil from Waltham Community Farm.  It was so fresh and delicious and went well with the tuna.  For dinner, I had organic salmon served with a potato hash, which included the local rhubarb, cabbage, and bacon.  We were so stuffed from our dinner that we didn't have room for dessert, but I am sure that I can talk someone into going back with me before the end of the month.  Any takers?

The next morning, I woke up early to head out to SoWa Open Market!  This is a great Sunday morning/afternoon event to check out.  There are four parts to the market including the food trucks, farmers market, vintage market, and the arts market.  This is a great market to get some food and walk around to check out everything it has to offer.  There was also tons of dogs too, so feel free to bring your dog and walk around.

My main focus was the food trucks and the farmers market, although we did browse around the vintage market.  I am not going to get into vendors for this post because I urge you to go check it out for yourself!  However, I can tell you about my experience.  My friend was super excited about this bakery out of Hyannis and she tried a salami butter sandwich and raved about it.  I, however, was holding out for the food trucks.  I continued my mission for some asparagus.  It may be a bit too early for some of the farm because I was unsuccessful in my hunt for asparagus, but I am hopeful that I will find some this coming weekend.  I did go home with a purple basil plant!  After the farmers market, we headed over to the food trucks.  I was hoping to try bon me, but the line was too long.  Another food truck that I have been following is Area Four.  The line was shorter and the menu looked great!  I ordered a classic flat bread with asparagus (found the asparagus!) and a pistachio cookie.  This was made with prosciutto, cheese, arugula with a lemon vinaigrette.  Everything was delicious!  The prosciutto was sliced super thin and the vinaigrette paired well with the arugula.  And one last thing about the market, parking is tight, so take public transportation if you can or go early to get a spot.  My husband was upset when we were driving around for 20 minutes looking for parking.

SoWa Open Market is open on Sundays from 11-4 and is located at 460 Harrison Ave in Boston.  It is a great way to spend your Sunday!

Recipe of the week:  Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
I made this recipe last summer.  I didn't have my canning equipment ready in the spring, so I froze the rhubarb and strawberries and the consistency of the jam came out great!  I found this recipe on food.com and made some changes to it.  I hope to make it again this spring before the weather gets hot!

2 Cups chopped rhubarb
4 cups chopped strawberries
3 cups sugar
1 lemon zested plus juice
1 packet liquid pectin

Add rhubarb, strawberries, and sugar in a large pot and bring to a boil.  Add lemon zest and juice and cook for about 15-20 minutes (the temp should be around 220F).  Add pectin and cook for another 5-10 minutes.  This jam can be put into jars and processed in a water bath, if you want to preserve it, or you can store it in the fridge.