Gotta love the Farmer's Market

First weekend this month where I was free to make it to the Farmer's market, and we were happy to come across a great selection of produce including a cool fruit that I really like, the pluot.


First off, one stand had some awesome heirloom tomatoes, and sweet fresh white corn was in abundance. We grabbed some basil and a sweet baguette from Acme Baking to make lunch, a mixture of sliced heirloom tomatoes, pesto, and premium olive oil. On the side we grilled the sweet white corn and sliced up some sweet baguette crostini. Yum.

Then, we focused on what to do with the pluots. Pluots are hybrids of plums and apricots. They look like plums, have the same texture, but a sweeter flavor without the acidity. Bon Appetit this month has a little feature on them, with a couple recipes. We decided on the Smoked Duck and Pluot salad. Looking at the ingredients, its hard to see how the flavors would mix well, but the dish was really surprisingly tasty and harmonious. I wanna get more pluots just to repeat this. Delicious!

Recipe here.

We skipped out on the peanuts because some people have said perinatal exposure to peanuts may increase incidence of peanut allergy, and we dont want that with the new baby. nstead of doing just frisee, we used a Champs Elysees salad mix from Trader Joes that had the frisee with green leaf lettuce radicchio and carrots.

Dressing:

• 2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons chopped shallot
• 1 tablespoon chopped peeled fresh ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon wasabi powder (horseradish powder)*
• 1/3 cup peanut oil or vegetable oil

Salad:

• 6 ounces frisée, torn (about 2 heads)
• 1/2 cup chopped salted roasted peanuts, divided
• 3/4 pound Pluots (about 3 large or 5 small), halved, pitted, thinly sliced
• 3/4 pound smoked duck breast, sliced
• 5 large Thai basil sprigs or 3 regular basil sprigs, leaves torn, stems discarded
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions

For dressing:
Puree vinegar, shallot, ginger, and wasabi powder in mini processor. Gradually add oil; puree.

For salad:
Toss frisée and 1/4 cup peanuts in medium bowl with enough dressing to coat. Divide salad among plates. Arrange Pluots and duck over frisée. Spoon more dressing over salad. Sprinkle with basil, green onions, and remaining peanuts.