About Town: Recipes from the Farmer's Market

While purchasing fruits and vegetables at Sunday’s farmer's market, we decided to ask the farmers to share some of their favorite recipes of what to make with what we buy at their stand. With such a bounty of fresh produce, we thought it would be fun to get some fresh ideas along with our purchases--a recipe swap with the experts, if you will. Here are three of those recipes, and yes, we tested them. We give them 5 stars. They take very little time to make and your guests will be wowed.

Picnic Potato Salad

Ingredients:

• Basket of red new potatoes
• 1 small onion chopped
• 2 tbs. olive oil
• 2 tbs. white vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Mayonnaise to taste

Boil potatoes with skins on (leaving the skin adds tremendous flavor) until the flesh can easily be pierced with a fork (approx 45 minutes). Drain potatoes, place them in a bowl and refrigerate until cold. Remove skins and slice potatoes into halves or quarters and place in a bowl. Add chopped onions and 2 tbs. of olive oil and mix until all potatoes are coated. Add 2 tbs. of white vinegar, salt and pepper to taste, and mix. Add mayonnaise to make creamy and mix. Can serve immediately or refrigerate.

Cherry Tomato & Mozzarella Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 basket of cherry tomatoes
• Mozzarella cheese cut into cubes
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 chopped scallions
• Handful of chopped basil leaves
• 2 tbs. olive oil
• 2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
• Kosher salt & pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and let marinate for 15 minutes before serving.

Cool Summer Berry Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 baskets of blueberries (or any summer berry)
• 1 baked 9-inch pie shell
• 3 oz. cream cheese
• 1 c. sugar
• 3 tbs. cornstarch
• 1 tbs. lemon juice
• Whip cream

Wash berries. Place one basket of the berries into a bowl and add lemon juice and water. Pour the berries, lemon juice and water into a pan and add cornstarch. Heat pan and stir berries until mixture is thickened, approximately 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 15 minutes. Gently mix in basket of uncooked berries to the mixture. Spread cream cheese on bottom of cooled pie shell and add all the berries. Top with whip cream and either serve warm or refrigerate.

Making your own whipped cream couldn’t be more simple. And the taste! You’ll never go store-bought again.

Homemade Whipped Cream

• 2 cups of heavy cream
• 2 or 3 tbs. powdered sugar
• Dash of vanilla extract

Mix cream in mixer until it begins to thicken. Add powdered sugar and vanilla extract and continue mixing until thick. Add more or less powdered sugar depending upon your taste.

Do you have any summer recipes that you’d like to share? Send a comment or email and see if we can start a summer recipe chain!