petit-déjeuner bizarre

A tasty-looking stew - not actually mine (jonsullivan.com).

I almost had stew for breakfast this morning – buffalo stew, to be more precise.

It all started with yesterday’s trip to the FRESHFARM Farmer’s Market in Dupont Circle. I was meeting Eileen and Jeff there – the idea being that we’d head out to lunch after they did their shopping, and then to local wine country (Rappahannock County, VA). I’d looked the market up on the website (previously linked), and thought that it was relatively close to the metro. It turned out that the market has expanded to nearly envelop the Q Street exit of the Dupont Circle stop, and I exited right into the thick of it.

The first thing I noticed was the crowd. There had to be over 500 people there. It was a bustling, bright affair with neighbors chatting over tables full of produce, vendors loudly extolling the virtues of their products, and flamboyant tents picketed over grass and sidewalks, flanked by hand-written signs. If the clientele hadn’t been dressed in primarily designer clothing and carrying five-hundred dollar handbags, it might have felt like a trip to the past. As it was, my eyes soon drifted to the delicacies that brought everyone there.

Tables of fresh produce at the Dupont Circle Market (summertomato.com).

The quality of the produce on heavy-laden tables was second to none. Having spent most of my young adult life working on a produce farm, or in the produce department of a box store, I’m a fair judge of quality. There were delectable Fuji apples bigger than my fist (quite a statement, if you’ve ever met me – and yes, I tried them). There were tables covered in veritable clouds of Romaine, Arugula and bib lettuce; other tables were stacked with carrots, radishes, giant onions, leeks and Kohlrabi. I passed a bin of tomatoes so red that I reached up to take off my sunglasses, only to realize that I’d already changed them for my prescription glasses.

As is so often the case when I find myself surrounded by quality ingredients, tantalizing ideas for salads, soups, pasta dishes and platters of fruit began to swirl about in my mind. My eyes lit on a table of carrots almost as big as coke cans, and my mind settled on an idea: a stew. A beautifully simple, lightly seasoned stew, with large chunks of potatoes, carrots, beef and onion. I made haste toward a clearly accessible ATM, and soon returned with $35 in cash. That’s when I began to notice something that impressed me even further.

At the entrance to the market closest to my ATM, the sponsors – FRESHFARM – were selling reusable bags. Now, I’m already a big re-usable bag fan, myself, but I hadn’t planned to really buy anything. I headed over and paid the suggested donation of $2 for a sturdy bag. As I returned to the market proper, I noticed that nearly 2/3 of the vendors at the market were displaying “Certified Organic” placards. I don’t make a huge effort to eat only organic foods, but when they are available I will almost always choose them over the alternative.

Atwater's Kalamata Olive Bread.

I picked up a pound of organically grown carrots and about 8 good-sized potatoes. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a sign for Buffalo Meat. Intrigued, I entered the tent and discovered a local farmer selling various cuts of frozen buffalo meat out of iced coolers. Feeling adventurous, I selected 2 lbs. of stew meat. I returned to the stall selling the beautiful Fuji apples, and selected 4 of those for snacking. While I was there, the smell of fresh bread drew me toward the nearest corner of the street.

Low and behold, a local bakery was selling loaves of fresh bread. I had used all my cash by that point, and a beautiful loaf of Cheddar Chili bread sent me scrambling toward the ATM for another few dollars. I knew that the bread would go perfectly with my stew, and just had to have it. I picked up a delectable little bag of cookies while I was there, to munch on throughout the day.

I spent the rest of the day with Eileen and Jeff. We never made it to wine country, but we had plenty of wine. We spent a goodly portion of the day in Rock Creek Park, lazing on a blanket in the sunshine. Eileen and I read Vogue, and Jeff snored. It was as relaxing a day as I’ve had in ages.

Before I went to bed, I popped all the ingredients from the farmers market into the slow-cooker, along with 3 bay leaves, 3 gloves of garlic, a bag of frozen peas, a dash of Lawry’s seasoning salt, a teaspoon of kosher salt, and liberal amounts of fresh ground pepper. This morning, when I opened my bedroom door, the entire house smelled just divine. I admit that I couldn’t resist tasting just a bit of the stew before ladling some into a Tupperware. I wrapped a few slices of the bread in paper, and took it with me to work, for lunch.