Farmers' Market Bounty + Homemade Ketchup!

Last weekend we went to the farmers' market for the first time this summer.  I hang my head in shame.  I don't know how this entire summer has passed and we hadn't gone to the farmers' market.  Embarrassing.  Especially since we have the STATE'S farmers' market.  It's HUGE.  And really great.  We're extraordinarily lucky to have such a great place near us and it's awful that we haven't gone until last weekend. 

I think we made up for it though:

Okay.  So, what do we have here?  Okra,

some peppers, 

1/2 bushel of peaches,

a pint of blueberries; zucchini,

some tomatoes; onions,

black eyed peas,

hanger steak, kermit eggplant (never heard of them before!) and smoked pork chops.

Grizabella stared in awe:

We ended up making homemade ketchup using a Jamie Oliver recipe from his "Jamie at Home" cookbook.  I heart him.

It took several hours and was totally worth it.  As expected, it was totally different than store-bought ketchup (not that I have anything against store-bought ketchup--I totally love the stuff); it had dimension and flavors that you don't normally find in ketchup, like fennel, garlic and ginger.  YUM.

Our Sunday night meal consisted of grilled hanger steak, roasted okra, and sweet potato fries (we had them in the freezer).  Ordinarily we scoff at those who put condiments on steak, but in this case homemade ketchup was a worthy accompaniment.  We also had a bottle of 2004 Chateau Gloria St. Julien.  All in all, a wonderful meal.

(Yes, that is Chris's "Go Meat" t-shirt.  Klassy.)

Grizabella liked the meal too: