The UBC farm is an under-appreciated green oasis on an increasingly congested campus. Last Saturday they held their first market of the season. Not only were they selling their own vegetables and eggs, but they had invited a number of other interesting vendors as well.

As I arrived rather late, I wasn’t sure if there would be much left for sale. Vegetables are often limited, and things sell out quickly. In past years they would list all the vegetables for sale on a blackboard and cross off each item as it sold out. I needn’t have worried: everyone in front of me in line was filing past the vegetables and taking photos only. I was able to nab the biggest head of butter  lettuce I have ever seen, some kale, radishes and a dozen UBC farm eggs.

Here are photos of the UBC farm produce compared to the miniature vegetables that I am specializing in this year. (UBC Farm’s kale and butterhead lettuce are on the left, my special miniature vegetables are on the right)

One of the guest venders was selling seasonally foraged morel mushrooms and fiddleheads. As I was making my purchases, I was swarmed by a group of about six people taking pictures of all the mushrooms. It was like a photo flash mob. Bizarre.

Since none of my cookbooks have any morel or fiddlehead recipes, I used the Google to find recipes. I would make both of these again:

How to cook and clean morel mushrooms. I served the morels with bread to soak up the sauce. They were fantastic.

Fiddlehead lasagne. I ate fiddle head lasagne at Feast + Revel restaurant in Ottawa a few weeks ago, and so I was super happy to find the recipe posted just few days ago. The fiddle heads are layered between sheets of pasta and goat cheese, then topped with a poached egg, truffle-oil laced sauce and baby greens. I didn’t have enough goat cheese so instead used some mascarpone which pushed the recipe into the caloric stratosphere. Prosecco helped cut the fat (ha) and paired well with the poached egg and truffle oil.

My plan is to make the UBC Farm Market a weekly ritual, but next time I plan to get there a little earlier.