Shopping at a farmers' market seems to be de rigueur in almost every village, city and country these days. It is wonderful to see such growing support for local farmers and smaller producers of good quality food. We are fortunate enough to live quite close to London's famous Borough Market and we often spend our Saturday mornings there, selecting ingredients for the weekend meals, drinking in the intoxicating atmosphere (and excellent Monmouth coffee!), and tasting morsels of delicacies. According to the official website, London Bridge (which used to be a little village in itself) attracted traders selling grain, fish, vegetable and livestock as far back as the early 1000's. In the 13th century traders were relocated to Borough High Street and a market in some shape or another has existed in the area ever since. Parliament closed the market in the mid 1700's, but thankfully a group of local residents raised enough money to buy a patch of land (called "The Triangle") and re-opened it. This Triangle is still at the heart of the market today.
During a recent visit to Borough, we found some fluorescent dainty wild asparagus, and some early wild mushrooms. I also bought a big handful of succulent samphire - one of the ocean's many secret delights. I lightly steamed the wild (and a few spears of cultivated) asparagus and then added it to the pan of sauteed wild mushrooms, samphire, garlic and pepper. Topped with lashings of olive oil, it was absolutely delicious as a light Sunday evening meal. Remember to use very little salt, as the samphire truly does taste of seawater (and it only needs a couple of minutes in the pan!)
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