Farmers Market Feast - Portabella Mushrooms

Every Sunday the Husband and I got to a local Farmers Market to get fresh produce for the week.  Our favorite is the Hunterdon Land Trust in Flemington. We love the fact that these products are grown locally and we can talk to the farmers to find out about their practices for growing their products.  I know many of you may stay away from Farmers Markets because of the price which is why I wanted to create this post.  I went to the market with $25 in hand, ready to feed 4 people.  The only thing I used from my own kitchen was Salt, Pepper and Olive Oil.  I will say, you could probably make the same meal for less from your neighborhood grocery store, but do you REALLY know what goes into everything you're eating?  How many hands and vehicles it's been through to get to you?  Give your local market a try this weekend.  You may be surprised what you find!

$25 got me:

1 bunch Garlic Scape (the farmer gave me some background before I bought it - it's like "garlic flavored scallions")

3 Tomatoes

1 bunch Basil

1/2 lb Mozzarella

4 Portabella Mushrooms

1 Loaf Cheese Ciabatta bread

I spread 1 Tbsp olive oil on the bottom of a casserole dish and added the mushrooms.  I drizzled another Tbsp of oil on top with some salt and pepper.  I then put everything into the oven at 350 while I prepared the sauce.

I removed the skins on the tomatoes by cutting a X into the bottoms...

Adding them to a pot of boiling water for a few minutes until the skin starts to crack...

And then adding them to ice water to finish the job.

I then peeled the skins off

And cut the cores out where the stem was. 

I added 2 tomatoes, 15 leaves of basil, 1 garlic scape, a slice of cheese (about 2 inches of the end) and salt and pepper to the blender.  I pureed until smooth

I then diced the remaining tomato and squeezed it into the sauce to make it slightly chunky. 

By this time the mushrooms were ready so I pulled them out of the oven.

Added a slice of cheese to each.

And coverd them in sauce. 

I popped everything back in the oven until the cheese melted... I also cut the bread in half and tossed it in the oven for a few minutes to warm up!

I still have a whole bunch of garlic scape and basil left along with half of the bread and about a quarter of the cheese. 

I also had about half of the sauce left over.  It made a great dip for the rest of the bread!

This was a great meal!  For a few extra bucks I would have liked to add some salad greens.  I could have used some of the garlic scape and basil to create a homemade dressing. 

There you have it, a meal for 4 for $25 plus leftovers to use during the week!  If you're worried about not using your produce before it goes bad, I'd share with a friend.  That way you'd both get what you need, for less with no waste!  Farmers Markets are a great place to spend a Saturday or Sunday morning!
There's fun music, great food finds like (local honey and aged cheeses) and great people to talk to.  Bring your dog too, they'll love it!  Ours does!