Farmer's Market

I look forward to Thursdays during the summer - one day to Friday and the start of a much looked forward to break from work! But there is another reason - the weekly farmer's market in downtown Pittsburgh's Market Square.

The square was recently redone, paved with cobblestones and cool restaurants all around. From late spring into fall, it is packed with people enjoying the sunshine perusing the wares that local farmers and shops bring in and listening to live music. 

Typically, a few of us from the office trek over the Roberto Clemente Bridge during our lunch hour and spend a half hour admiring the flower vendors, picking up produce and baked goods to take home. In addition to beautiful fresh produce and flowers we often pick up a fresh attitude that helps get us through the next day and half.

On my most recent excursion I picked up some of summers first zucchini and summer squash. I looked around at a few other vendors to see if anything looked interesting or unique and I came across these beautiful red scallions. The girl at the Clarion River Organics said they would have a little more "bite" than a regular scallion but not overwhelming. I just liked the color and immediately started planning how to use them.


 



I decided to saute the zucchini, summer squash and red scallions and added cherry tomatoes and garlic for color and a little more flavor. I grabbed some fresh oregano from my patio herb garden and added it with fresh ground black pepper and a pinch of salt at the end. It was a perfectly good side dish but needed something else and honestly we really couldn't taste the scallions.

Since there are only 2 of us, I had plenty of the scallions, zucchini and squash left over for the next night. This time I cooked up about 2 oz of pancetta (everything is better with pancetta) and added some garlic. I mixed that with the scallions, sliced zucchini, squash and tomatoes and placed it all in a baking dish. I baked it for about 20 minutes on 350, added some shredded mozzarella cheese and chopped fresh oregano and baked for another 5 minutes. I topped it with a bit of grated Parmesan cheese for a little extra bite.

This was perfect! A blend of garden fresh flavors with a savory and slightly salty flavor from the pancetta and cheese and the scallions added just a little bite and beautiful pop of purple to the dish. Perfect early summer side dish!

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