Every Wednesday around noon, you might see crowds of people gathered in front of Cole Field House amidst a couple of big white tents and trucks. Stacks of vibrant produce lie in heaps under the tents, ranging from heads of lettuce to containers of feta cheese. People rush about lugging plastic bags full of freshly picked apples, teal paper pints of cherry tomatoes and jars of bee pollen.
UMD’s Green Tidings food truck, which offers meals made from fresh, sustainable food, stops in this area, and you can often see students lining up for Chef Tom’s delicious garlic fries and creamed onion soup. A warm, bustling atmosphere, the Farmer’s Market at Maryland is open for the season every Wednesday from 11 am to 3 pm. It’s a convenient way to stock up on fresh, organic produce from local farmers.
A photo posted by The Farmers Market at Maryland (@farmersmarketum) on Sep 23, 2015 at 7:27am PDT
Last week, Spoon UMD stopped by the market to hunt for ingredients for a meal that showcases the fall season. We decided to create a fall salad that highlights produce from the market. I caught up with fellow Spoon writer Max Faucher to snag his recipe, which you can find below.
Farmer’s Market Salad
Ingredients
Instructions
Lay out your ingredients. Dice your sweet potato into 1-inch cubes, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and lay them on a foil lined baking tray. Roast for 12 minutes at 450ºF.
Think of them as little sweet potato croutons.
Combine the Dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, olive oil and honey for the dressing in a bowl (or a salad shaker/squeeze bottle if you have one). Mix with a spoon or whisk (or just shake the hell out of it if you’ve gone down the salad shaker route) until it has become a homogeneous vinaigrette.
Chop your greens into bite-sized pieces and throw in a large bowl.
Chop your apples into small pieces.
#SpoonTip: Aim for a dice that is the same size as your sweet potato croutons.
Peel your carrots and then cut into thin matchsticks.
Throw apples, carrots and sweet potatoes on top of salad. Add crumbled feta cheese.
Mix ingredients. You can try to make this look pretty or just say f*** it I’m not trying to impress anybody. Serve the salad alongside dressing.