Madelyn goes to market

in my quest to visit every farmers market in chicago, i’ve stumbled across a couple that are less fruitful (literally) than others. unfortunately, the dunning-eli’s/wright college farmers market was in this category. it is almost more of a craft fair with homemade soaps and jewelry than it is a farmers market. however, since the market is so close to eli’s (famous for cheesecake) and their cooking facility, the eli’s booth could create more elaborate fare than at your typical farmers market.

also, nichols farms represents, so the trip ended up worthwhile for me. they had an amazing assortment of berries and fruit. i got caught up in the excitement and came home with two kinds of cherries, two kinds of currants and gooseberries. gooseberries kind of taste like grapes but are more tart. i didn’t really know what to do with any of these items (other than the cherries), so i packed them up with me on my trip the following day to visit friends in minneapolis. my friends were equally as perplexed when i showed up with gooseberries. we decided to cook at home one of the nights, so i thought i’d contribute by making a gooseberry tart for dessert. i didn’t have enough gooseberries for an entire pie and my friend only had muffin tins, so i made little tarts in the muffin pan and added some of the currants i had. i think the crust turned out better than the filling, but i served it with ice cream (makes everything better) and they were actually edible. i’ve included a link to the recipe from food network below in case you’re adventurous but i would definitely recommend making this in large tart format and using all gooseberries. the currants were just too tart.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/gooseberry-tart-recipe/index.html

i forgot to take a picture of the end result, so you’ll just have to try gooseberries yourself! and if you happen to be near wright college on a thursday, here are the details for the farmers market:

dunning-eli’s/wright college farmers market
time: every thursday from 7 am to 2 pm
location
eli’s cheesecake co. parking lot
montrose & forest preserve ave.