It's been a long old while since I last visited a Farmers Market. The previous one I went to had about 6 vendors, one of which was a greasy burger van, the rest consisted of one butcher selling mostly sausages plus smattering of cake stalls and Jam makers. As it was I wanted none of these things so I came away, only with some average pork, tomato and herb sausages.
Now I've seen, heard and read a lot recently about Farmers Markets of late and have been um-ing and ahh-ing about going. As it happens Lisa came home on Friday night and said there was one taking place on the Saturday.
Not Knowing what to expect I headed off to the wild borders of Staffordshire/Cheshire.
Was I pleasantly surprised or what?
OK, the Jam makers were still there, but no sign at all of the greasy burger van.
There were butchers of all kinds, cheese makers, biscuit makers, bread artisans , brewers, veg stalls and well, everything you could want food wise.
They even had a live band and Hog roast. Incidentally why is it whenever people gather in numbers of greater than 20 does someone decide to roast a whole pig.
Rode hall itself is a lovely place and well worth a wander around once you've stocked up on essentials.
I got there about 10:30 and it was packed so I'd advise getting there early
One stall of particular interest was a lady selling all kinds of mushrooms, some of which I'd never even seen before.
Her advise was simply fry with butter and Garlic.
Being me I added a shallot and some pasta water from the tagliatelle I was cooking, plus a good handful of chopped parley.
Lisa had her's on country bread toast and I had mine with the aforementioned tagliatelle plus dash of truffle oil, olive oil and Parmesan cheese. The taste was amazing, each mushroom lending its own unique taste to overall dish.
I also managed to get some very good Cray Fish tails with which I made the previously blogged Cray Fish Salad and my favourite cheese of the moment "Snowdonia Black Bomber Cheddar" and some blue cheese for Lisa.
Plus for the first time got some Rose Veal, which I cooked on the hob for a couple of hours in milk. If I'm honest it was good but I will cook it differently next time
Oh, oh, oh and I found some absolutely Stunning Chorizo for my Chicken and Chorizo Stew.
So all in all well worth a visit and I'll definitely be back next month
A good farmers' market is the best. Looks like yours was amazing and you have had lots of fun making different meals. Lucky you!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have been converted!
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