To Market, To Market

So, one great thing about Cleveland that Derek and I have discovered is the West Side Market, Cleveland's oldest marketplace. This amazing marketplace has two main components: the indoor Market itself, which features vendors selling an array of different foods, such as meats, cheeses, homemade pasta, grains, salads, breads, fish, sauces and oils, and the like. The other part is what is referred to as the "Fruit and Vegetable Arcade," a partially-outdoor Farmer's market selling ripe, locally-grown, delicious fruits and vegetables at an amazingly low cost. (Yesterday I bought a box of strawberries, a box of blueberries, one mango, 2 pounds of cherries, 2 pounds of grapes, 4 nectarines, a bunch of asparagus, and a bag of salad for 10 bucks. What a great deal! And they smell and taste awesome.)

In the above picture you'll see a tilapia filet with sauteed zucchini and yellow squash, as well as a helping of a "supergrain" that everyone is going crazy for these days -- quinoa. They had different types of quinoa at the market, including red, black, and white. The woman suggested as a "first-timer" to go with the white, as the black is a tad more sturdy when cooked. Basically you cook this grain like rice. It's very simple to make. I added a little bit of salt to the water when I cooked it. I liked it, but I didn't LOVE it. The closest thing I could think of that it reminded me of was couscous, although it wasn't as moist or soft. I would try it again, though, especially since it's supposedly a complete protein that has all of the 8 (9?) essential amino acids (or something like that).

Continuing in this tradition of going to the Market during the week (did I mention it's open Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, AND Saturdays?!), I paid a visit yesterday and got (in addition to the produce I mentioned above) this funky-looking squid ink pasta and fresh tiger shrimp. According to the guy selling me the pasta, the ink is mainly for color, but it does give the pasta a slight seafood-y taste, briney, like salt water. He was right. This pasta tastes delicious. It's not overly salty, but it gives the pasta wonderful flavor. We sauteed a little onion, garlic, asparagus, and the shrimp (which we sprinkled with a little paprika and jerk seasoning) in olive oil. After we cooked the pasta (which took only 2 minutes because it was fresh), all we needed to do was add a little olive oil and mix everything together. We squeezed some lemon on there and topped it off with ground black pepper. It was a delicious summer meal! We were proud of ourselves. :)