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This Saturday marks the season opening of the St. Paul Farmers Market, so clear out the pantry and make some room in the crisper as you get ready to stock up on some of the best seasonal and local produce. Not only does a trip to the farmers market turn the perhaps tedious routine of weekly grocery shopping into a fun weekend excursion, but you’ll walk away with fresh fruits and vegetables at a fraction of the price you’ll find at the supermarket and newly fostered sense of community.

Locavores will bask in the fact that every farmer and producer selling at St. Paul’s downtown location comes from within a 75-mile radius of the city and boast organic, hormone-free and artisan goods. And doesn’t it just feel better to buy local?

Though the labyrinth of flowers stands, asparagus and green onion gardens and radish and rhubarb dens can seem daunting at first, don’t get overwhelmed by the bombardment of local. Make the farmers market a regular stop on your weekend to-do list, and soon you’ll be navigating like a pro with bags of healthy ingredients in tow.

Here are a few helpful tips to keep your farmers market experience a shrewd and happy one:

1. Go Early: You know what they say about the early bird and it’s definitely true when it comes to the farmers market. By going early you can avoid heavy crowds and find the best selection.
2. Survey the Lay of the Land: Size up what’s on hand by starting with a walk-through. The first stand you see might not always be your best bet. Stroll through the entire market before settling on your favorite goods. Visit the St. Paul Farmers Market’s webpage before you go to find out what’s in season and what vendors will be present.
3. Bring Cash: Though it’s more common than it used to be with the addition of iPhones, not every vendor takes plastic, so make sure you have cash in your wallet or make a quick stop at the ATM before hand.
4. Bring Your Own Bags: This isn’t necessarily a must, but most likely you have a cupboard stuffed with past grocery or canvas bags, might as well put them to good use – plus, it’s better for the environment.
5. Ask a Farmer: Don’t be afraid to ask questions. The vendors are proud of their stock and most likely can’t wait to answer questions about their growing practices and shell out tips on how to best prepare their produce. Take full advantage of their knowledge.
6. Buy in Bulk: Skip the excess packages, the best deals are found in bulk.
7. Don’t Forget the Flowers: Some of the most beautiful floral arrangements are DIY, so don’t skip over the local flower section and after a long day at work, coming home to a nice flower-filled house will definitely fill you with bliss.

Saint Paul Farmers Market

290 5^th Street East

St. Paul MN

Believe or not despite the amenities I bestow my taste buds, I’m not by nature a self-pamper. Case and point: I went an entire year without haircut, not even so much as a trim. But on a recent day off and a whim, I began what might have just developed into a permanent stretch of spoiling myself. Within the last week, I’ve indulged in a haircut, my first professional massage and an inaugural trip to a bed and breakfast. During my stay at said B&B, I discovered an abandoned cooking custom – the multi-course breakfast. Being a person who usually opts for extra sleep and skips the breakfast, I found the idea of a four-course breakfast extraordinarily decadent. Really, what better way to start the morning that with a little lavishment?

If you live the life I lead, likely you don’t have the time to slave away weekday mornings in the kitchen attempting to Julia Child your way into elaborate multi-course breakfasts. Instead of a four-course, try a two-course: savory and sweet – never skimp on the dessert courses – trade a hustled Tuesday for a more relaxed Saturday AM – perhaps after a trip to St. Paul’s Lowertown Farmer’s Market – and I have two recipes that will have you whipping up delicious, local ingredients into a fancy, deceptively intricate breakfast.

Start with two simple ingredients: fresh asparagus and locally-produced organic eggs. Asparagus and eggs have a natural affinity. Paired together they exude both luxury and freshness, not to mention flavor. A simple vegetable frittata highlights the best of what’s in season right now while providing a satisfying and light spring/summer meal. The recipe is very forgiving and you can adjust the vegetables and garnishes to reflect what you have on hand, or what looks best at the market. It’s equally as tasty subbing zucchini for asparagus, using the method below, or subbing spinach by adding a large hand-full of chopped spinach moments before you add the egg mixture so it just barely wilts. If you decide to make this for lunch with a few guests, I suggest you serve it with some crust bread from Grand Avenue’s Cafe Latte, local butter – another Farmer’s Market purchase! – and a tangy, light and crisp Sancerre from my favorite St. Paul wine shop, Cathedral Hill’s Solo Vino. You’ll impress yourself and your guests with your culinary talents.

Spring Vegetable Frittata
10 to 12 – asparagus spears, chopped
1/2 – red onion, sliced
8 – crimini or white mushrooms, sliced
fresh basil or chives (to garnish)
6 – large eggs
1/4 cup of milk or cream
2 – 3 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup shredded cheese (Manchego, Parmesan or other hard aged cheese)
cracked black pepper
coarse sea salt

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees.
Chop asparagus spears into approximately 3/4″ lengths, discarding woody stem portions. Chop onion in half and then slice; Slice mushrooms into 3 to 4 slices each. Add 1 to 2 tsp of butter (or olive oil) to preheated oven safe skillet. Once butter is melted add asparagus, onion and mushrooms and saute until asparagus is tender and mushrooms have browned. While vegetables are cooking crack eggs into a bowl, whisk lightly and add milk or cream, shredded cheese, and salt / freshly cracked black pepper to taste. When vegetables are ready turn skillet down to low and add 1 tbsp. butter to vegetable mixture. When butter is melted, add egg mixture and ensure vegetables are covered. After approximately 2 minutes on the stovetop, transfer skillet to the over and bake until just set (approximately 12 min). Serve with a chiffonade of fresh basil or chives and a pinch of flaky sea salt.

Don’t forget dessert! Eating dessert with breakfast is hardly a new culinary trend. At a proper full Irish breakfast (aka a “fry”) one can find sweet pies and puddings and the British Isles are famous for their multiple-course breakfasts including a sugary finale. In the spirit of this “let them eat cake” breakfast mantra, for a course finale going with seasonal, summer treat that’s easy to find and we can’t get enough of – rhubarb.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1 package (2-crust size) frozen pie crusts, thawed

1 1/2 pound sliced and trimmed fresh rhubarb
3 1/2 cups strawberries, trimmed and sliced or halved
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg yolk blended with
1 teaspoon water
non-stick cooking spray

Stir together the rhubarb, strawberries, sugars, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt until the fruit is well coated. Put one pie crust into a pie pan coated with non-stick spray. Pour the filling into the pan. Use the remaining pie crust for the top of the pie, crimping the edges to seal the pie. Trim excess crust from the edge of the pie. Either poke the top of the pie with a fork many times, or make some small slits with a knife, to all the steam out. Glaze the top of the pie with the egg/water mixture. Reduce oven to 350 degrees F, and bake pie until the center thickens, anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half ovens vary. Be sure to remove the pie and let it cool completely before eating, or it will be mushy.

And voila, approximately 1 hour to an hour and a half later you have an impressive, dual-course, local savvy breakfast with all the bells and whistles of a elegant bed and breakfast, sans the complexity, the money and the elbow grease.

Your ticket to a sustainable summer is just a neighborhood away tonight as El Burrito Mercado, the Youth Farm and Market Project and the Riverview Economic Development Association team up to bring locally-grown organic produce to Saint Paul. Now in its 15^th year, the Twin Cities-based youth development organization is dedicated to building youth leadership by involving the kids in every dirt-ridden, gritty step of growth and harvest, from planting pepper seeds to preparing, cooking, and selling the final product. Made possible by generous grants from Ecolab and SuperValu, the project is a hands-on way to make organic, high-quality produce accessible, keep money flowing through the local economy and engage the community’s youth while connecting them to their food and the environment.

Early today, the mini-entrepreneur Youth Farm kids were busy harvesting their veggies and transporting them to West Side restaurant, El Burrito Mercado, to be snatched up by families and residents all over Saint Paul.

This year, the Youth Farm project will feature special tasty menu items prepared with produce straight from the West Side Youth Farmers at neighborhood restaurants including Boca Chica, Jerabek’s New Bohemian, and St. Paul’s artisan bakery, Bread, Coffee and Cake. Head down to the District del Sol tonight for a first hand look at the fresh produce available through early fall, snack on delicious appetizers and get to know your talented budding farmers.

Youth Farm and Market Project Happy Hour Kick-off

Wednesday, August 4 at 6pm

El Cafe at El Burrito Mercado, 175 Cesar Chavez St., St. Paul, 651.227.2192

Want to know more about the project? Check out this adorable short documentary about the Youth Farm and Market Project:

St. Paul Farmer's Market.

When it comes to sustainability, Heartland Restaurant has long been one of St. Paul’s finest proprietors of fine dining with a local and organic spin. Once tucked away in the Mac-Groveland location, Heartland recently made the jump to the district often likened to NY’s Soho, Lowertown. This allows it to highlight a relationship between its food and direct farm sources on display at the St. Paul’s Farmer’s Market across the street – a simple paring, yet an innovative idea that subtly links fresh produce with the final product, fresh cuisine. After all, there’s a mindset that goes hand-in-hand with a trip to the Farmer’s Market. While surrounded by delicious organic ingredients and friendly local farmers you may find yourself making tiny goals towards culinary self-improvement. You inevitably start daydreaming about creative recipes for that bundle of Swiss chard in your bag. You want to eat better, to live better…maybe you’ll even take up composting… It’s that steadfast mantra of better living through dining that flows from the hearts and fingers of the chefs in Heartland’s kitchen straight onto the meticulously arranged plates night after night.

Hand-cut angel hair pasta from Heartland. Photo by Steve Rice.

One could call Heartland a foodie’s dream restaurant, because like the mainstays of dreams the nightly menu is constantly morphing, a new set of provocative dishes every evening. This ever-evolving carte, not only provides diners with a multifarious sample of a Heartland’s artistry, but also a mouthful of season-appropriate ingredients. On any given night, one can expect such delicacies as veal bacon glace de viande and Butterscotch duck egg pot de crème on the three course Fauna fixed menu ($40 per person) or chilled golden beet borscht and morel mushroom gnocchi on the Flora menu ($30 per person). Their upscale, chef-driven menus feature ingredients indigenous to the Upper Midwest, including wild boar, salmon, Rainbow trout, savory wild mushrooms and regional artisan cheeses. In past years, the restaurant has received soaring reviews from former City Pages’ food critic, Dara Moskowitz, Mpls/St. Paul Magazine’s, Andrew Zimmern, and the Star Trib’s Rick Nelson, who have praised it for a creative and ingenuous twist on simple heartland-style cooking.

Heartland Executive Chef, Lenny Russo.

Heartland owner, Executive Chef and James Beard Foundation’s 2010 Best Chef Midwest Finalist, Lenny Russo, continues to showcase the best modernized Midwestern cuisine in his newly opened downtown restaurant with a few added bonuses. One, the new space is located in the Market House building (a former shoe factory turned condos) and is significantly larger than the Mac-Groveland location. It features a 80-to-90 seat dining room that overlooks the farmer’s market, several chef tables that wrap around the exhibition kitchen, an in-house, watch-them-work butcher shop and a gourmet market (set to open at the end of August) that will feature Heartland’s own proprietary label products including house made charcuterie, jellies, and stocks and soups, plus and grab-and-go Heartland prepared lunch items.

Can self-improvement really start in the kitchen? After a visit to Heartland, we think you’ll be inspired to say yes. So, maybe start your day with a trip to the St. Paul Farmer’s market and end with a fabulous dinner at Heartland to see if you can make the goal of better living through food a reality!

Heartland Restaurant & Farm Direct Market, 289 East Fifth Street, Suite #104, Lowertown, St. Paul