nature, raw and cooked

Today being Saturday that means Farmers' Market. Not quite the tiangues, but busy, bustling and loaded with goodies nonetheless. I was hoping for Japanese eggplant; too early. Instead, gorgeous chard from Phillips' Farms. There were also lovely flowers, yummy onions and potatoes, potted plants ~ veggies and flowers ~ and the usual popcorn vendor, political tables, apple juice, potters, the Panama Hat lady (pix next week!), Mario with tables of everything including fava beans (I wish I new how to cook them properly).

As for fruits, beautiful apricots, early Babcock peaches, berries and cherries. The Patient decided he wanted some cherries to make clafoutis. So he did. It was absolutely yummy. First he baked the cherries in port wine, lemon juice, sugar and water to get the juice out. He didn't remove the pits before cooking; much easier to get them out after the fruit is soft. Then he drained the cherries and reserved all the juices to use as a sauce. I use this recipe for plum clafoutis but he was inspired to use cherries after seeing a recipe in the William Sonoma catalog. It was a hit, but we both think the plum version is better. This one has a very cake-y appearance; the other is more of a custard. Somehow we'll manage to choke it down.