Morel sausage. Fresh morel mushrooms. Real baby carrots. Bok choy. Green onions. Garlic chives. Whole-wheat penne rigate. Romano cheese. Olive oil.
All but the noodles, cheese and olive oil came from the farmer's market this morning. The guy who sold me the sausage swore, "No noses, hoses, toeses or roses."
I love summer in Missoula.
8 Comments:
Last weekend I had a plate of nachos where everything from the chips to the cheese to the salsa and the seasoned bison meat were all local and obtained at the farmers market. Makes it that much tastier, doesn't it?
The next step towards that perfect Missoula dinner is picking the morels yourself, Patia! One of my coworkers brought me a shopping bag of the common, or yellow, morels last week that he said came from (it was very hush hush) "some island in the Clark Fork". I had an idea I would saute all of them one evening, and only eat a few, saving the rest. Ten minutes and the entire pan later, well, who needs moderation anyway?
I love picking morels! But since I moved to Missoula, I haven't known where to go or had anyone to go with.
"some island in the Clark Fork"
I'm surprised he told you that much!
Oh, and Chris, those nachos sound yummy. You just can't beat the flavor of fresh food, especially produce.
The carrots from Saturday's market especially blew me away.
It's easy. You go where there was a fire the year before, Patia. Morels love fire-blackened soil. This year, the "hot spots" are the Gash Creek, Sweathouse Creek, and the Big Creek drainages west of Victor, and the Swan Front from Holland Lake to Rumble Creek. I'm really not giving up any big secrets here; the level of paranoia that surrounds morels is nothing like that around the huckleberry.
Yes, but the problem is, I don't know how to get to any of those places, and I'm not inclined to figure it out on my own.
I went picking a couple times with friends in the Stillwater Forest near Whitefish. It was so much fun, like finding treasure!
Well, I'd invite you to go morel hunting with me and my friends, but that would be a tad too Crazy Internet Stalker. Between the ever-increasing cost of gas, the iffy weather, and dealing with mud and soot all over your clothing and shoes, the savvy shopper is probably better off supporting the local small family farmers/gatherers and buying morels at the farmers' market.
Exactly. I'd just as soon buy them at the market.
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