So today several of my classmates from culinary school and I took a field trip to the Hollywood Farmers Market. Our mission was to purchase ingredients we hadn't used before so we can cook them in class tomorrow. Let me just say I have hit many a farmers market in my time, starting from a very young age at the farmers market at the Arcata Plaza, but this farmers market was by far the largest one I have ever seen. And the diversity of products that were available seriously was absolutely mind boggling...it was heaven for someone like me with a.d.d. The people watching was incredible and everywhere I looked there was some oddity for me to check out. Loved it!!


Normally when I think of going to a farmers market my grocery list looks something like...organic produce like lettuce, carrots, potatoes, fresh eggs, maybe some goat cheese and bread from a small local bakery. I don't often think of hmmm I am going to the farmers market so I can get octopus, rabbit and shrimp with heads on them...but after my experience today I learned that I was wrong. You can get all of that and more here and I will definitely be back! I didn't even have time to check out the food as there was an entire section of food truck style vendors...next time. Maybe my next field trip will be to eat my way through the Hollywood Farmers Market.

Octopus

So the first oddity I ran into was cherimoya. I thought this was in the vegetable family until I started talking to the random man next to me in the cherimoya line. I thought that it kind of looked like a cactus of sorts and so it must be a vegetable, right? However, I learned that cherimoya is a fruit. According to my cherimoya friend it is almost pudding like on the inside and it is sweet. It has large dark seeds, however you do not eat those. They are from Central America, however some people believe they originated in the Andes...not sure how they know this or why they actually care.  Tomorrow I plan on trying to make a dessert smoothie type of concoction with it. And I really love the name...just saying it makes me happy!

Cherimoya

They next thing I fell in love with was the colored cauliflower. I loved the orange, green and white cauliflower. However, I did learn that they do not maintain their color when cooked so you either have to eat it raw or just blanch it quickly in order for it keep it's color. I was slightly disappointed by that knowledge, but it is pretty all the same.


I also loved the golden beets. I love roasted beet salad with blue cheese and a balsamic and olive oil dressing. Combining the two colors of beets would seriously make the salad just pop!


The citrus and avocado was plentiful and they had every type of fruit known to man.


I also fell in love with the little lettuce hats. These are heads of lettuce that are about the size of a dessert plate. And they were just too darn cute! They would make the perfect personalized salad.


I purchased some baby artichokes for my class project tomorrow. I decided I wanted to try roasting the artichokes and serving them with a balsamic reduction. Although I purchased the green mini artichokes I did love the purple ones as well. Next time!


This is another vegetable that definitely struck my fancy...get your mind out of the gutter...it is a santosai. The guy selling them told us it was in the radish family, however everything I have read about them says they are in the cabbage family. He said they are awesome pickled and as a sauerkraut type of condiment. I will be honest I would have bought one to try it, but they are huge and I didn't feel like carrying it...yes I am a lazy farmers market shopper. I was also already being teased because of the number of bags and random things I was holding...I had my purse, my camera, my bottle of water because I was nursing a hangover, my cherimoya bag, my artichokes and a bag of something else I don't even remember.


 I also was not only enamored with the vegetable I was also in love with the guy who was selling them as he was hysterical...he told us that if we didn't want to cook with the santosai we could also use it for jousting...well of course...that was obviously going to be my next question...which of these vegetables can I joust with?


I was so impressed by all of the protein options at the market and next time I will definitely come prepared with ice and a cooler. They had everything from grass fed bison to free range chicken to rabbit to fresh fish. Rocky Canyon Farm was one of our favorite vendors. They were super friendly and helpful and they had bacon!! They are based out of Atascadero and their meats just looked fresh and you could tell they were passionate about what they do!


We also purchased rabbit...yes we really purchased a rabbit. Guess I am going to try rabbit tomorrow. I will be honest I couldn't really look at it for long because I started to picture those cute cotton tails and those long fuzzy ears. However, Jimenez Farms based out of Santa Ynez had an eclectic variety of natural meat products. http://www.jimenezfamilyfarm.com


As many of you know I am a die hard mushroom fan. I haven't met a mushroom that I haven't liked. So one of my favorite vendors was LA Funghi They seriously had every type of mushroom known to man...ok that might be a slight exaggeration. However, they did have a lot of hard to find and exotic mushrooms.

 I had visions of sauteed mushroom medleys dancing in my head as I just wandered through the booth looking at the varieties. http://www.lafunghi.com/



These shrimp were caught today in the Santa Barbara area. They were pretty much as fresh as fresh can be. It was so cool to talk to someone who had so much knowledge about the product. For example, he told us to rinse them well because they were caught in a sandy area and in order for them not to have grit they needed to be rinsed. They were absolutely beautiful!



I was completely overwhelmed and in food heaven by this field trip. I will definitely be going back and it was well worth the trip. The Hollywood Farmers Market is every Sunday from 0800-1300 and it is at Ivar Ave and Selma Ave. Definitely worth your time!! http://www.hollywoodfarmersmarket.net/