Beaverton Farmer's Market Part 4

Another week, another opportunity to cook with local fresh food. First stop was off to get more rhubarb to make another pie, picked up three stalks to cook with. Over to the place where I got the butter ball potatoes last week. Only used about half of them, just roasted them with olive oil and some seasoning in the oven, the small ones whole, larger ones cut in half. They came out delicious. Decided to pick up a few purple viking and French fingerling's (small ones) to mix with what I had left.

Then over to the booth where I got my onions last time and picked up four for the week. I told the guy how good they were last week, he thanked me. They also had a lot of asparagus, but my wife and I agreed that we were "asparagused" out and should take a week off. Picked up some fresh Chinook salmon to make with dinner on Saturday, recipe to follow.

Walked around and ended up getting two zucchinis to try and make pancakes with. This batch came out better than before, but my wife is still not swayed. She says it's a texture thing, but they are tasting better. I grate the zucchini, add flour, egg, baking powder, granulated garlic and pepper. I fry them until golden brown. I'll keep working on the seasoning, when I hit upon something I'll post the recipe. Also got some strawberries, cherry tomatoes and a bunch of basil.

The first thing I cooked was the salmon. Since it was a small piece I mixed it in with rice and made a one-pot meal. I added rice, onions, garlic, mushrooms and black beans with the salmon, turned out good. Here's the recipe:

Salmon Black Bean Rice
Onion
Mushrooms
Garlic
Salmon
1 cup of rice (jasmine rice was used in the recipie but any rice will do)
14oz can of low salt black beans
Vinegar
Italian Seasonings
Salt
Pepper

First cook the rice. Put salmon in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes, put some dill and lemon pepper on the top of the salmon. Saute onion, garlic and mushrooms (and any other vegetables you like) until tender. Add drained black beans, stir and keep on a low heat, stirring occasionally. Add rice to mixture when done and then add salmon cut up when cooked. Stir in some vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.

For the rhubarb I made another pie using the same recipe from last week but this time made a cream cheese crust. It's the same recipe as the basic pie crust just substitute cream cheese for shorting. I made a rhubarb, strawberry, peach pie and had the right level of sweetness and tartness with the great crust. I'm going to a party next week so I'll try to make some to bring with me and get more opinions.

The basil will be used for a pesto sauce this week for pasta. I'm using walnuts instead of pine nuts, they work as well and are much cheaper. The trick is getting the right amount of olive oil so that it blends but doesn't become too watery. And don't forget the raw garlic.

The onions and potatoes will work great as side dishes this week. I am anxiously waiting for eggplant to come back, I'll have a bunch of recipes to post then.