Boutique Shopping, a la Ellinika

Just as the idea of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) was really catching on in New York, we left and came here to Greece. Not a bad trade, because if you want to, you can stick to the same basic premise- support your local agriculture, and love what nature gives us. Loving what you have and making the very best out of it happens everywhere in life- we don't pick our parents or genetically engineer our children, weather seems hard to control.... Endless choice on the other hand is not always so liberating. Imagine two choices- you can be in kitchen with nothing in it and a big stack of money and you can make anything you want- anything that exists in the whole wide world. It sounds great but when you think it through it's really just panic and frenzy, with a little gluttony thrown in. Or- you can see what the season gives you and use this as a focus for your inspiration. he birth of basically any classic thing we like to eat.was this- ingenuity, hunger, and not least, gratitude for the beautiful tasty things of the earth and the sea; it comes from someplace real.

I always thought the chief challenge of seasonal living was not so much the deprivation of unseasonal luxuries but of ingenious use of the bounty, sometimes of the glut of one single thing. More than once I have read of residents of a small town joking that the only reason people lock their cars in the night is to prevent someone from putting zucchini in them. Our "zucchini" is fresh anchovies- when they are running, they're 1 or 2 euros a kilo (that's 2.2 pounds!)- it seems thankless to pass on such an inexpensive and delicious protein. We enjoy them fried (and eaten) whole, then as boquerones, then boned, filleted and fried up to be put up en saor (this is so delicious).... If they weren't so plentiful, I'd not have had the fun of thinking of so many things to do with them.

To share the fun of this approach, I took this picture of everything I brought home from the Monday outdoor market, where I went with nothing in view save buying whatever was bountiful and perfect. Price was of course another factor (the real purpose of this series of thoughts is to share the beauty and dignity of good living when means are very limited), and, rather than being a limitation, was the most helpful guide to flavor and quality. When something is cheap it's often because there is a lot of it, and if there is a lot of it, that's because it is at its peak. But once you have identified what is at peak, then go ahead and spend a little: find the cheapest thing (apricots! tomatoes!), but buy the best (and maybe most expensive) of it. I tried for a mix of vegetables, fruits, and herbs, and this is what I came home with:

(That's a bowl of firm eggplants there at the back, and a nice stack of thin cucumbers is hidden behind the fennel and mint.) 

It isn't only for sharing with you that I arranged my haul on the outdoor table- I actually usually do this, to sort things (firm tomatoes from soft tomatoes for sauce, nectarines that need to ripen from those to eat today....), day-dream about what to make with them, and, well, to sigh and gloat. I don't remember the last time I bought fresh flowers- it would be unfair to put them next to that tower of glowing glorious fruit.

After day-dreaming, I think the still life on the table will probably become the following dishes:

Stuffed peppers (the peppers and the firmest tomatoes and the fennel and parsley and basil) (see Gene Kelley and the Perfect Week)

Tabbouleh (tomatoes, mint, parsley, cucumbers) (see A Love Like Salt)

Tzatziki (cucumbers and dill)

Eggplant Parmesan (the eggplant, the softest of the tomatoes, and the basil)

Acqua cotta

Panzanella (the super-sweet cherry tomatoes and the old bread I know i have) OR

Gazpacho (same, plus some cucumbers)

Galette of red nectarines and apricots

Cherries on their own (but if they get a little worn I will pit them and make a cobbler)

More cherries poached in syrup with a vanilla bean

White nectarines on their own, day by day as they yield to a gentle squeeze- these are the queen of summer fruits for me.

To be fair, they won't become those things on their own. We'll also need these:

(Olive oil, day-old bread, three-day-old bread, flour, cornmeal, salt, arborio rice, butter, onions, garlic, cracked wheat, and some zucchini left over from last week)

And we'll need some cheeses too but I haven't bought them yet. The pantry items are mostly inexpensive, and all easy to find. It's an astonishing number of dishes for such a modest cost and such an enjoyable spree.

(Of course, Greece offers unbelievable produce for a unbelievable price. That is one of the chief reasons I live here- this everyday beauty. Everything on the table cost me 17 euros. But you can do this anywhere: sure you can have something in mind about what you want to BUY or cook, just make sure you look at what is already around- plentiful, fresh, and well-priced. I do this same thing when I am not in Greece. In Oakland, California, I shop with my mother at the 99 cent store first- they have nice seasonal surprises like 99 cent bundles of asparagus or 99 cent bags of little red and yellow peppers, etc. We get what's fun, then we so over to Mi Tierra, the Mexican supermarket on San Pablo Avenue, to get whatever else is fun and fresh, then we go to across the street to the cheeseboard and splurge on a delicious local cheese, which we don't feel so bad about since we started out our day at the 99 cent store. We go home, invent something inspired from the haul- a grand mixed salad with cheeses and nuts, a vegetable galette or pasta, etc. Then we drink wine and watch Mr. Selfridge.)

I'll make the dishes and share them with you- I fell behind this week but there was all this fabulous produce then all the excitement with the World cup match.