Hello, All!

Have you been planting your garden this week? If you’ve realized there are holes to be filled—either in your vegetable garden or in your perennial garden, there are plenty of plants for you to choose from at the market!! This is about the time when we can tell if something didn’t make it through the winter… the plant sellers at the market will sell you top-quality plants that are especially chosen to thrive here in Alaska.

And have you seen Glacier Valley Farm’s strawberry baskets? Arthur tells me that the first strawberry ripened in his greenhouse this week! This sunshine is putting everything into overdrive!

And FISH! Arctic Choice will have Copper River sockeye salmon, troll king salmon from Southeast Alaska, fresh halibut, cod, rockfish, sablefish, sidestripe shrimp, scallops, salmon, and ikura. There also should be live oysters and clams.

Glacier Valley Farm also has potatoes and onions for sale. My recipes this week are inspired by the potatoes again this week—the main event is a really fun twist on a samosa (a savory Indian potato-filled deep-fried pastry). Instead of making a pastry, I’ve put the samosa filling in lightly-grilled red pepper halves, and then baked them to finish!  Then I wondered what to serve my new invention with. I tried a couple of different things, but landed finally on a lightly-spiced lentil salad that I think is just perfect. Even if you don’t make the samosa-stuffed peppers, the lentil salad is yummy all on its own!

While Rise & Shine Bakery will not be at the market until June 13th, Mary Jane will have all kinds of French Oven bakery bread, as well as cinnamon rolls from Slack’s Sugar Shack in Palmer. She’ll also have rolls, ham & cheese croissants, palmiers, and macaroons.

Also look for Northern Lights Mushrooms, with a load of oyster mushrooms!

related recipes

samosa-stuffed red peppers
lentil salad with indian spices