#28 – Marshall’s Real Farmer’s Market

What a gem.   This farmer’s stand is located on First Line Nassageweay.    The farm is owned by Ryan and Marissa.   On this fine day, her mother was working the stand.   You could feel how proud she was of both of them – they really have created a great family business.   Their farmland surrounds the stand – it was very relaxing and gave you the feeling that you really couldn’t get your food much fresher than this.

What I loved the best is that they tested and put some recipes together which included products grown on their land – then they went a little extra and offered great Customer Service by bagging all the ingredients together for an easy shopping experience.

Here is the recipe I took from them – it was delicious – the vegetables were all super fresh and flavourful.

Ratatouille

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 tbsp olive oil

3 cloves of garlic – minced (I didnt’ put this one, over the years I have found many different ways to substitute the strong flavour of garlic and I haven’t looked back since.)

1 eggplant cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Salt to taste

1 cup of grated Parmesan – I also skipped this step as this is not a favourite of my family

2 zucchini, sliced

1 large onion, sliced into rings

1 green bell pepper, sliced

6 Roma tomatoes, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Coat the bottom and sides of a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish with 1 tbsp of olive oil.   Heat remaining tbsp of olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.  Saute garlic until browned.  Mix onions and eggplant.  Saute until eggplant is soft, about 10 minutes.  Season with salt to taste.

Spread eggplant mixture evenly across the bottom of the prepared casserole dish.  Sprinkle with a few tbsp of cheese.  Spread zucchini in a an even layer over the top.  Lightly salt, and sprinkle with a little more cheese.  Continue layering in this fashion with the rest of the vegetables and cheese.

Bake for 45 minutes – in the last 15 minutes, take the lid off the casserole dish to allow the cheese to brown slightly.

Enjoy!!!

 

 I ended doing everything she had in her recipe (except for the garlic and cheese) and then transformed this superb vegetable mis and I made a great ratatouille cream of vegetable soup by adding a little milk to the mix.    It was heaven!!!

 

My little car, my love, 9 farms and a wonderfully sunny day; the beginning of a good story…

Tags

baking, blog, Brubracher's Produce, Butter, catering, childhood memories, Collin spinach, cooking, cooking school, Elmira, farmer's market, farmers, farms, food, foodie, fresh, fruit, Guelph, Guelph Wellington, Whole Circle Farm

I learnt early on this summer that it is useless to wash my car before going out on one of my farm outings – I quickly found out that I can’t win on this one – a small portion of the roads travelled on the Guelph & Wellington Country Food Map are not paved.   So a word to the wise… keep your car wash for afterwards.

My route was all planned – nothing was going to get me off course – however, we came across a few farm stores and stands that were not on the map ~ I love finding something unexpected on an already perfect day.

This past weekend – my list took us out of Guelph, through Arkell, up to Brucedale, then up to Oustic where we finally ended the trip somewhere east of Fergus just before reaching Orton.     You’re probably thinking the same thing as I was – I have lived here for 20 years now and I have never heard of some of these places.   It must be true that sometimes the best secrets are just outside your door.

Once again, I met some wonderful people along the way – In an effort not to turn this blog into a novella, I will split up the trip into a few blogs; so here it goes…