I used to laugh when I was a kid at the nursery rhyme that began "to market, to market to buy a fat pig." Not because the rhyme itself is necessarily funny, but I kept picturing a hog running around my neighborhood grocery store with my mom trailing behind trying to stuff it into her cart. Clean up on aisle 4! See, when I was a kid, there was no "market" to speak of. I never had a place where we could go for local meats and produce, farm fresh eggs, and jars of jellies and jams.
As a child of the early 80's we were bombarded by the convenience movement - packaged this and that, microwaveable dinners, and taste free, fat free/sugar free everything chock full of artificial ingredients. Lucky for me, my mom wasn't inspired by those things and I wasn't forced to spend my evenings "making cheese" out of packets of orange powder. But we also didn't have the access that we do today. There are several days (I think we're up to 4 in Lafayette) in the week I can stumble out of my house in the wee hours of the morning (or some evenings) to collect goodies from local purveyors.
The Lafayette Market at the Horse Farm is my new guilty pleasure. Who knew you could get so excited about vegetables!? Seriously, not only is the selection pretty wonderful, but the flavor is out of this world. I've been joking that they sell "REAL tomatoes," you know, the ones that actually taste like tomatoes? Like your grandpa used to grow in his home garden? You know the ones...the ones that don't need heavy dressings to cover up their flavor...those. Yes, they have those. Fresh lettuces, herbs, fruit, jellies, jams, peppers, bread, citrus, pasta (yes pasta), meat, and charcuterie (prepared meats like bacon) are just a few of the amazing items you can take home. If you live anywhere near Lafayette, take the ride out to the Horse Farm (located smack-dab in the middle of Johnston Street), for a unique experience, and some excellent dinner fixins!
One of the market's vendors, Bread & Circus Provisions, (owned by my friends chef Manny Augello and PR consultant Abi Broussard) were kind enough to introduce me to one of their biggest sellers, the belly bacon. Their foodie-friendly tent is packed full of awesome bites, but I couldn't pass this up. Coupled with those REAL tomatoes I referenced before, I was able to make a salad and vinaigrette that could rival one at any steakhouse. It's all about the ingredients. So if you want to make it home doing a little "jiggity jig" because you've scored some aces, I suggest you pay a visit.
To find out more go to http://www.marketatthehorsefarm.com/ or check out what Manny & Abi have up their sleeves via their weekly Facebook posts at https://www.facebook.com/BreadAndCircusProvisions.
Trust me, you won't be disappointed.
Spinach & cherry tomato salad with roasted asparagus and belly bacon vinaigrette
To make a simple vinaigrette you only need a few things:
- Oil (here I used the fat I rendered from lardons, that's just a fancy name for strips of bacon and a little olive oil)
- Vinegar (all I had was white vinegar so I used a little sugar to sweeten the mixture)
- An emulsifier (something that will help the oil & vinegar combine - mustard & tomato paste are my favorites for dressings)
- Seasoning (simple salt & pepper often do the trick)
First you'll whisk together a small amount of your emulsifier with your vinegar and seasonings of choice. Then using a 1 to 3 formula (1 portion of vinegar for 3 portions of oil) you'll whisk in the oil slowly until it's all incorporated. It takes a few times to get it from separating, but practice makes perfect!
