Normally summer time is my least favourite time to cook. We don't have air-conditioning and if you mix that with a typical Montreal summer + a hot oven, it means, first of all, that you're cooking in your underwear and bra and second of all, that you're dripping sweat into your bowl of gazpacho.
This summer was no exception. My lack of desire to cook was overwhelming. The first half of the summer was spent planning our destination wedding and that left me with very little energy for the kitchen. We got married in Oregon in mid-July and then spent a month on beautiful Vancouver Island with husband's family (where his parents fed us well, thankfully!) and then drove across the entire country back to Montreal (road trip sustenance included pizza, chips and a random combination of 'east meets west' chinese food + submarine sandwich drive-thru in Fargo, North Dakota).
but today in Montreal, it's grey and damp with the faintest note of autumn in the air, So naturally, I started to think about what to make for dinner.
I inherited a whole bunch of tomatoes the other day and I've been craving a blended homemade salsa, like the kind I used to get for free at El Torito back in the early 2000's, but I didn't have all the ingredients, so I decided to take a trip to the local farmer's market.
It's an incredible, delectable market, with an open-aired concept in the summer and more vendors than the number of texts I can send in a day. (around 30-50.) A few of the fruit and vegetable stands offer free tastings of peaches, nectarines, lebanese cucumbers, tomatoes with salt, whatever is in season, and so so much of it is local and freakin' fresh and delicious.
Aside from the fresh fruit and vegetable stands, there are vendors selling fresh cut flowers, eggs from local farms, pickled anything and everything, an organic butcher shop, artisanal popsicles made in Quebec, handmade soaps and salts, an olive oil and herb megastore, and oyster bar, a cheese shop (a cheeeeese shop!!), the best damn mushroom raviolis (that are amazing in a simple chicken broth with a sprinkle of green onions on top), and cured sausages.
For my salsa I needed to get some fresh cilantro. This is one of my favourite stands to get fresh herbs, multi-colored carrots and jalapeños.
Look at all these spicy peppers!
I got 2 jalapeños for $.50.
Last fall I discovered this cute little stand way in the back of the market that had braids of drying garlic. I adore garlic and it adores me and I hung it on my kitchen wall and it lasted months and months. It was so satisfying not having to buy icky, overpriced and under-flavoured grocery store garlic that was shipped from China. Today I bought a $16 wreath that has about 10 heads on it and I'll probably grab another one in Mid-October, because I'm obsessed.
Today I saw that they have pepper versions of this and I got all excited. My local corner grocery store doesn't sell individual peppers, so you have to spend $6.00 on 20 peppers when you only need one. I think I will pick up one of these to last through the winter and have at my disposal whenever my recipe may so call for it. Glorious!
After I got all the ingredients for my salsa I wandered around slowly, taking it all in. Fruits and vegetables are so magical to me. It's like a walk in nature. All those fresh, local goods give me a happy buzz.
I just had to take a photo of this because It kind of blew my mind / inspired me. I'd love to get into canning sometime in the near future. It seems so economical and I'd love to surprise friends and family with little jars of homemade goodness, but until then I just admire the people who do. People were going nuts at this stand over the tomatoes.
I mean look at them! You could get like 400 tomatoes for $16. Incredible.
Well there you have it! My trip to the Jean-Talon Market today. I hope this inspires you to buy local too, and stay tuned for my Salsa recipe this upcoming week.
all love,
Tasha
p.s. want to come over for dinner on Saturday? I'm making homemade chicken enchiladas! or if you want to have us over, my husband is super good at dishes! wink wink.
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