Kid Vs. Produce

A few weeks back, we ventured back to the Farmer’s Market here in Santa Rosa.  We came away with baguettes and flowers, honey and cherries and figs and a couple of bundles of new carrots and leeks.  Oh, and some butter.  I’ll get to that in a minute.

We always have a blast wandering around sampling and deciding on what to bring home.  The Boy is more adventurous when faced with tables loaded with fresh-from-the-farm produce, and I’ll admit, I’m even more excited than he is to see him go – ooh, what’s that?  Mom, let’s buy those and try them.

Of course, once we get them home, that’s a whole different story.  Carrots and leeks are both familiar and one of those things I’m negating the try-it-three-times rule on.  The Boy was not that excited about it, but hello?  Look at how cute these carrots are:

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The weather around here has been chilly and socked-in with fog, and I’ve been craving comfort foods like crazy. Everyone has their own favorites, but one of mine has always been chicken pot pie. While cruising around the internet looking for possible recipes, I came across a beauty of a pot pie recipe at Nicole Aloni’s inspirational blog A Conscious Feast.

Seriously, go marvel at it.

While I loved the list of ingredients she had put together, I wanted to use the veggies and seasonings we already had on hand. What really made an impression was the glorious photo that accompanied her recipe. Ooh, I thought. I have RAMEKINS. And The Boy loves him some puff pastry. Without further ado, here’s what we started with:

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So, I was reading through my local newspaper, The Press Democrat, and came across an article on soups. Mmm. Soup. And in this article was a recipe from chef Manuel Azevedo, who owns a restaurant called La Salette over in Sonoma. I’d never heard of Caldo Verde, but it is apparently Portugal’s national dish, and it sounded gooooood.

I’m going to throw out a disclaimer right now – I’m apparently bad at following recipes, and what happened next was in no way a reflection on the recipe as published. In fact, I would like to go eat at La Salette to see what this soup is supposed to turn out like. But first, let me share our version:

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