There’s nothing quite like Saturday morning at a Farmer’s Market. Any market, any city, any country,  the feeling I get when shopping locally is one of deep emotional connection to my environment, to the growers-to everyone!

And, a market never fails to ignite my culinary creativity. I tend to buy what’s fresh, cook it up and toss with pasta. it always turns out great, because the ingredients are great to begin with.

My style of cooking after a trip to a farmer’s market is quite free form and improvisational, so I am not able to tell you exact quantities for the recipe I made to celebrate Father’s day with my bounty from the Farmer’s Market. One thing I can say, it was simple, quick and very, very delicious.

(approximate measures)

1 cup fresh peas

fresh mushrooms, sliced

bunch of fresh, baby greens, washed

bunch of scape, cut into 1/4 pieces

3 slices bacon, diced

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup parmesan, grated

salt and pepper

12 oz. al dente pasta®

Bring large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. In the meantime, cook the bacon in skillet just until crisp. Remove the bacon and set aside. Add mushrooms and scape to skillet cooking in the bacon fat. (add a little olive oil if needed). Cook pasta and peas together for three minutes. (reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water to add to dish). Drain pasta and peas and add to skillet along with the greens and the reserved pasta water, tossing until greens are wilted. Add bacon and Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper.

FYI. We are introducing our new Pappardelle Pasta at the Fancy Food Show in NYC this weekend so it will be on store shelves beginning in August. I love that the name Pappardelle comes from the Italian Verb, pappare, which means “to gobble”. We will definitely be gobbling these noodles up!