Our farmers' market goes throughout the winter. Some vendors have greenhouses, and I favor one who has great spinach, kale, and lettuce. She also supplied all of my non-pumpkin squash, garlic, and red onions. The other produce vendor, who also does breads, favors microgreens, and we just do not use then. However, he has great onions. I am eagerly awaiting his asparagus. We have a vendor for pork and one for beef who are also year around, and I used that company for stew beef twice this winter.
We have had two really warm days, with a good little rain this afternoon. A cold snap is supposed to set in, with freeze over the next couple of days.
For Sunday dinner, I roasted eight chicken thighs on silicone racks, so that the fat would run off into the parchment-lined pan for easy cleaning. I paired the chicken with rigatoni from semolina flour tossed with a sauce made of sliced mushrooms sauteed in olive oil, then dusted with some flour before adding some leftover half and half., sage, and freshly ground pepper. After the pasta cooked, I added it to the mushrooms but reserved some of the water, which I used to cook broccoli florets for about 2 minutes, before adding them to the pasta, along with some of the water. I had read about that technique for broccoli and pasta in an email today from the Los Angeles Times cooking editor, and it works well.
I also made turkey broth today from bones that have been in the freezer.
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