EMWTTSFM - Eating My Way through The Saturday Farmers Market - Pioneer Cemetery Revolutionary War Soldier Tour
Strawberry Salad to Begin the Year
Food Review by Gary Gardiner - The Blue Plate Special Kitchen
I’m wary of firsts.
I don’t buy the first corn of the season, because the better ears are usually still coming. I don’t take the first steak off the grill until somebody makes sure the fire knows what it’s doing. And I try not to be the first to reach for the salt shaker, because the cook deserves a chance.
But the first Saturday Farmers Market of the year is different.
So are the first tender leaves of Ohio Bibb lettuce. So are the first local strawberries, especially when they come from Rhoads Farm in Circleville and show up ripe and red enough to make me stop pretending I was only browsing.
Rain arrived about an hour into the morning market, sending sensible people to shelter or back to their cars. I did neither. I walked slowly among the farmers and vendors, with hardly another customer in sight, a silly customer maybe, standing in the strong spring rain.
That was the advantage. The rain thinned the crowd, and for a few minutes, I could choose slowly without feeling like I was holding up the morning.
It reminded me, on a much smaller scale, of the day Disney World closed early because the edge of a hurricane was approaching. It allowed those of us in the park to stay, which was great since everyone with kids had left. My wife and I were there with another couple, and during our foray through Disney’s suddenly empty streets, we saw few people, almost no employees, and no lines. We could walk from the exit of one ride directly to the entrance of the next, skipping the serpentine waits whose true length is usually hidden by Disney magic.
Best Disney trip ever.
This was the farmers market version of that: wet shoes, open tables, no crowd, no hurry.
The Bibb lettuce came home because it looked like the kind of lettuce I want before summer turns everything sturdier. It filled the need for soft, tender leaves with just enough firm rib to stay crisp and catch the apple vinaigrette in little pools. I liked that it didn’t behave like a prop. It wasn’t there just to hold the pretty strawberries. It had its own small bite, its own coolness, its own reason for being in the bowl.
The strawberries from Rhoads were the reason I started building the salad in my head before I even left the market. I wanted them with something salty, something sharp, and something I didn’t have to cook. That last part mattered.
There was already a grilled chicken breast in the refrigerator, one of those small gifts from a more responsible version of myself. I sliced it and added cherry tomatoes, roasted salted pecans, and crumbled blue cheese. The dressing was crisp apple vinaigrette, bright enough for the berries and light enough for the lettuce.
I kept going back for the same bite: a soft fold of Bibb, a slice of strawberry, a salty pecan, and enough vinaigrette caught in the leaf to make it all taste intentional. The blue cheese gave it a little edge. The chicken made it lunch instead of something I would pretend was lunch and then regret an hour later.
The salad had the feel of the market that morning: fresh, a little wet, not too polished, better because I had time to notice what I was choosing.
A bowl of lettuce and strawberries can sound too simple until the lettuce is Ohio-grown and tender, and the strawberries taste like the first real promise of the season. Then it becomes the sort of meal I wait months to make.
For once, being first felt like the right move.
Raoin is forecast for the next market. That’s a good thing for those of us who want to linger and be alone as we sort through the choices.
Join the Westerville Historical Society for a Cemetery Walk at Westerville Pioneer Cemetery, 855 S. State Street, on Sunday, May 24, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Visitors can stroll through the older section of the cemetery and hear stories about local pioneers, including Simeon Moore, one of the Revolutionary War soldiers interred there, along with other Revolutionary War and War of 1812 veterans. The walk will also share the history of the fort, once built on the cemetery grounds.
The event is free. Parking is available at W.A.R.M., 150 Heatherdown Drive.
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