The stalls at the farmer’s market are getting bigger each week because they have more and more stuff to sell. Being as how we are in the high season of the farmer’s markets here in the lower Hutson Valley when the produce starts to overwhelm the farmers, the vendors and the consumers the time seemed right for a completely local dinner.

    Thirty minutes at the Hastings market provided us with the following; two young chickens fresh from a chicken yard, Several pounds of heirloom tomatoes, red, green striped and yellow; A half dozen ears of corn, two pounds of “The country’s best mozzarella”, a locally baked baguette, several pounds of bright green beans, some raspberries and blue berries and some Jersey peaches. The one thing I would loved to have found, but haven’t ever seen at these markets, is butter. The butter came from I know not where.

    Not available at the market, but still local, were two Magret of Duck from the Hutson Valley. Pantry items included onions from who knows where, olive oil from Fairway and alledgedly from Italy, sweet garlic from France and some little odds and ends, like walnuts, flour and parmesan and Romano cheese. Heinz produced the cider vinegar.

    The garden came through with an abundance of basil and rosemary as well as some parsley and sage. The feral cherry/grape tomatoes produced a quart of nice pre-prandial bites rolled in sea salt. Okay. The salt was from France and is a pantry item.

    So dinner for six – all local. H’ors d’houvres consisted of lightly toasted thin slices of the baguette topped with smoked maggret with a tiny nubbin of sweet soft goat cheese. Other little nibbles were made from the same toasted baguette with pesto from the garden and some toasts with just duck or goat cheese.

    The salad was made with chunks of the local tomatoes tossed with a glug of cider vinegar, salt, local cucumbers, slivers of onion, corn kernels and a little basil. This combination makes it own dressing and a piece of white baguette dipped in the residual liquor is a thing to remember.

    We pushed limbs of rosemary under the breast skin on the chickens and placed some more in the cavity along with a head of garlic sliced through the equator; Lots of salt in the cavity, too. The chicken fat was placed on top of the chickens and the whole thing sprinkled with smoked paprika – a pantry item. After about an hours roasting time, potato wedges from the valley were added and cooked in the chicken drippings along with some more rosemary and salt.

    The market had produced some beautiful local corn. That was briefly exposed to boiling water and brought out to the table with butter.

    Desert was the cobbler I wrote about a few days ago from the food channel’s Paula Dean. It can be found here. It was made with the Jersey peaches and the New York State blue berries. This time I used the correct ingredients and as good as it was the last time, it was better this time around. The out of town addition was Hagen Das vanilla ice cream although whipped local cream would have been good, but like butter, I am not seeing any whipping cream in the market.

    Several folks requested a dose of espresso afterwards and I was too happy to oblige. I think espresso can be enjoyed after dinner as much of the caffeine has been cooked off in the roasting process. Maybe that’s wishful thinking, but I’ m sticking with that belief as it works for me.

    This is the time to get to the markets. The foods are fine and fresh. The fruits and vegetables are exploding. Come on – go get yours while it’s out there.