Here’s What to Buy at the Farmers’ Market in May
In May, I’m always mentally ready for summer foods. Bring on the corn! The tomatoes! The peaches! But while I might be ready, Mother Nature says: hold your horses.
What I love about the spring farmer’s market is that it encourages me to appreciate some of the less showy veggies like greens and radishes. And, of course, there’s the asparagus, which is the highlight of spring if you ask me. Sure, you can buy it year-round at the grocery store, but it doesn’t hold a candle to fresh, local asparagus with its bright, grassy flavor.
Here’s what I’m picking up at the farmers’ market this spring, along with some of my favorite ways to use it.
Asparagus
When buying asparagus, look for bunches that are roughly the same thickness. Thin, wispy asparagus need just a short amount of cooking time, while thicker spears need more; if you have a mix of the two, it makes nailing the right cooking time tricky.
How to Use It: Roasting, steaming, and sautéing are all excellent if you’re serving asparagus as a side. (Try adding Calicutts Green Goddess seasoning to gussy it up!) But I also love making asparagus into a meal. Years ago, I had asparagus tacos with romesco sauce at a restaurant and it’s a combination I still love to this day. I add harissa to the romesco sauce for a little heat. Another favorite is sautéing asparagus in butter or olive oil, adding cooked pappardelle, and finishing with lemon zest, a squeeze of the juice, and freshly grated Parmesan.
Cabbage
Spring cabbage is actually grown over the winter; it’s planted at the end of summer or in early fall, then it chills (literally) in the fields before maturing for harvest in the spring. Withstanding the cold winter makes spring cabbage sweeter.
How to Use It: You simply can’t beat roasted cabbage. Slice it into steaks or wedges, then roast it until the outer layers are crisp and the insides are meltingly tender. My family also loves using cabbage for Egg Roll in a Bowl, and lately I’ve come to rediscover simple boiled cabbage; it’s excellent topped with a good butter and a sprinkle of San Juan Island Sea Salt's Dill Pickle seasoning blend.
Greens
Tender spring greens are another farmers’ market staple this time of year. Look for spinach, lettuce, kale, chard, and my personal favorite, peppery arugula.
How to Use Them: Lettuce, well, that’s self-explanatory. In the spring, I tend to gravitate towards lighter salads with bright vinaigrettes and sweet additions like fresh strawberries and blueberries or candied nuts. Evie’s Sweet & Salty Pecans are a great way to add a little crunch and interest to a salad. Other greens are great for making into pestos—the beauty of homemade pesto is that you don’t even need a recipe, just tweak the ingredients until it tastes good. I like combining arugula with a good olive oil, walnuts, Parmesan, and lemon zest for a pesto that’s perfect for pasta, pizza, roasted potatoes, and sandwiches.
Radishes
Radishes used to be a vegetable that I always overlooked, but once I signed up for Rustic Road’s CSA box, I realized I had been missing out. They have a crisp, peppery bite when served raw, but they’re really a treat when you cook them—something I didn’t even know was possible!
How to Use Them: I slice radishes in half—or in quarters if they’re extra big—and either roast or air fry them. I roast them at 425ºF with oil, salt, and pepper until they’re fork-tender. Finish them with melted butter, grated Parmesan, or fresh herbs.
Peas
Fresh peas take some work, but if there were ever a good kitchen task to enlist your kids to help with, it’s shelling peas. But the peas themselves aren’t the only part of the plant you can eat! Pea shoots, or the tender greens of young pea plants, are edible too.
How to Use Them: Many years ago, I belonged to a CSA that gave us bags and bags of pea shoots every month, so I became adept at finding all kinds of ways to use them. They’re great thrown into stir fries, tossed with pasta, and they can even be made into pesto. Because fresh peas are such a rare treat, they deserve to be in dishes where they get the spotlight. Instead of tossing them into a soup or salad like you might do with frozen peas, serve fresh peas as a side with a pat of butter and fresh herbs or in pasta with pea shoot or mint pesto.