I managed to get myself up early for the first day of the Evanston farmer’s market. The variety is slim compared to what’s available later in the season, but there’s some good stuff available early. I bought a bunch of chives, some asparagus, and some morels, and some bread and crossiants from Bennison’s bakery booth. I also picked up some goat’s milk queso fresco.
This is a fairly simple meal, it’s just pasta. For the base of the sauce, I threw some dried porchini mushrooms in some boiling water, adding some chopped up chives, salt, oregano, a few drops of olive oil and a touch of Maderia, (about an oz. since I didn’t want to over power the mushrooms with anything). In a separate pan, I sauteed my sliced morels in some butter, taking 2 or 3 out and putting them in the water with the porchinis, which had reduced a bit. I then pureed the porchinis with its liquid and poured it into the pan with the morels. I added some more chopped chives, butter (half a stick) and a 1/4 cup of heavy cream.
Meanwhile the asparagus got cooked quickly in some simmering water, and the queso fresco was melted in some butter and cream. While this meal might be vegetarian, the enormous amounts of dairy doesn’t make it particularly healthy.
The queso fresco was great with the asparagus, both of which had more flavor then what you’d find in a supermarket.