Today’s menu: light, fluffy scrambled eggs hidden under a thin layer of gooey cheese and a fire-alarm salsa. Salsa made of tangy, crisp cactus, rich heirloom tomatoes, blazing red and green jalapeno peppers, bold onion and garlic, avocado, cilantro, and a refreshing squeeze of lime. Also being served: airy, flaky croissants that melt in your mouth bathed in caramel-sweet clover honey that runs across your tongue and cools it from the jalapeno heat.

Would you be surprised if I told you that every single ingredient can be found at Sacramento’s downtown farmers’ market? Indeed, I can think of no heartier brunch, and at seasonal bargain prices, it’s sure to please both palette and wallet. Every last ingredient, right down to the olive oil you use to sauté, comes from our beloved local farmers.

This meal was inspired by the seasonal ingredient at the market, but also by a recent visit to New Mexico, where I discovered the cooling properties of honey eaten after a spicy meal. Ingenious! The lighter-than-air sopapillas that are popularly served post-meal there inspired my pairing with fresh croissants. They truly need to be baked that morning to even come close to the wonderful sopapilla quality (day-olds just won’t cut it). I think it’s a fair substitution. And once you’ve enjoyed this honey and heat combination, you’ll be hooked!

The following recipe is written in the order I recommend preparing your meal for brunch.

Farmers’ Market Brunch featuring:
Scrambled Eggs under Cactus & Jalapeno Salsa with Honeyed Croissants

· 2 Freshly baked croissants
· 4 tablespoons local clover honey, divided
· 1 Tablespoon olive oil
· 1 cactus paddle, diced
· 1 medium onion, diced
· 2 green jalapenos, finely diced
· 2 red jalapenos, finely diced
· 1 large clove of garlic, minced
· 1 large heirloom tomato, diced
· 2 sprigs cilantro, finely chopped
· 1 avocado, sliced
· Juice from 1 lime
· Freshly grated black pepper to taste
· 6 farm fresh organic eggs
· 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
· 2 oz. grated Monterey jack cheese

Honeyed Croissants
Set one croissant on the edge of each serving plate. Pour 2 tablespoons of honey into a small dipping bowl and set one next to each croissant on the plate.

Cactus Salsa
Heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Begin dicing your veggies while the pan heats. Add olive oil, and then the cactus, onion, and jalapenos. Sauté until onions begin to turn translucent and the cactus begins to darken in color, about 5 minutes (or the amount of time it will take you to prep your avocado and cilantro and clean your cutting board). Now add the garlic and allow to sauté for 2 minutes more. Turn off heat. Prepare your scrambled eggs (below). When they have finished, stir the tomatoes, cilantro, and lime juice into the cool sauté pan.

Scrambled Eggs
Heat a skillet over medium heat. Crack eggs into a small mixing bowl. Poke each yolk with the tip of a whisk, and then whisk until well blended. Drop the butter into the skillet and when it has melted, pour in the eggs. Your pan should be hot enough that you need to scrape the bottom of the pan frequently, but not so hot that you are scraping constantly. It should take 4 to 6 minutes, depending on how you like your scrambled eggs. Remember: they’ll keep cooking after you turn off the heat. When your eggs are done (they should glisten with moisture, but not be runny), turn off the heat and sprinkle with grated cheese. Place a lid over the skillet for about 1 minute to allow the cheese to melt.

Spoon scrambled eggs onto the serving plates next to the croissants. Top each egg with a generous portion of the Cactus Salsa, followed by the sliced avocados. Serve immediately with juice and coffee. Remind your diners that the honey will cool their mouths from the heat of the salsa, so don’t eat your croissant first!

This recipe serves two.

Tip: If you have any leftover salsa, seal it in a glass jar in your fridge. It tastes great with tortilla chips as a snack. In fact, I sometimes serve the extra salsa in a bowl in the middle of the table with chips as part of the brunch in case folks are still hungry (which my husband always is!). It’s best eaten that same day.

Labels: avocado, cactus, croissant, eggs, farmers market, heirloom tomato, honey, jalapeno, seasonal

You’ll be dreaming tomatoes after reading Tim Stark’s Heirloom: Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer. Though I’m not certain you’ll be dreaming of your own farm.

Stark’s memoir is a gritty, yet passionate look at the life of an organic farmer. Stark lives the life of someone reaching back into history only to find himself surrounded by a buzzing modern world. He toils haphazardly between the two, loving bits of each in his own way. He farms the land on his boyhood home in Pennsylvania, driving regularly to New York City to deliver his produce to the city’s top chefs.

He learns organic farming methods from Mennonite neighbors, battles modern fertilizing practitioners from his childhood, dines in the fine restaurants where his veggies are sold, learns to forage for wild greens with his global cadre of laborers, and rarely gets a full night’s sleep.

Simply written and hard to put down, Heirloom depicts the challenges organic farmers face, and also the passion that drives them to toil on. It is both glory-filled and heart-breaking simultaneously. Stark illustrates the heroic qualities in all organic farmers and the sacrifices made to eke out a living—and to bring those gorgeous, rainbow heirloom tomatoes to the local farmers’ market.

You’ll be inspired. You’ll laugh at Stark’s wit. And you will possibly cry as the story skips from the Ireland potato blight to the current-day extermination of quality farm land as it turns into the newest big box store.

One thing is certain: your appreciation for organic produce and for your local farmer will be raised.

Labels: book review, heirloom tomato, Heirloom: Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer, organic farmer, Tim Stark

Oh dear! Where will I begin? My seed catalog has arrived from the Seed Savers Exchange. It’s better than strolling the grocery aisles on an empty stomach. It’s cold outside, but inside my catalog, it’s summer already. And the promise of that summer is overflowing with a bounty of colors and foods that is toying with my imagination and my hunger.

I want to buy them all!

Yet, our garden has limits. The hubby and I have already begun to make plans for watermelon growing between camellia trees in the side yard, or a zucchini plant tucked into the front landscape. After all, once you browse a seed catalog, there’s no turning back. Those measly offerings in the local nursery—with their 20 or 30 crops to choose from—suddenly pale as I discover a chocolate bell pepper with a brick red center, a “sunberry” whose flavor rivals a blueberry (and is twice the size), a tomato the color of sunshine, and a banana tree you can grow in your house.

How can I choose just one or two varieties? After all, I must stick to some staples: red bell peppers, purple eggplants, pesto basil. But what about the green eggplants? Or the purple potatoes from Peru? The varieties are endless, and my curiosity too deep.

My itch for spring grows. There are still sad leaves of spinach clinging to life in my winter garden and baggies of frozen peppers from last year’s harvest in the freezer, but already I long for those new summer veggies, hanging enticingly from the vine!

Labels: banana tree, catalog, chocolate bell pepper, eggplant, garden, heirloom tomato, Seed Savers Exchange, seeds, summer, sunberry, vegetables

Labels: aioli, baked fish, BLT, cabbage, fish, heirloom tomato, paprika, paprika aioli, pink brandywine, sandwich