haymarket 1

I moved to Boston a couple months back.

& on Fridays and Saturdays, there is an outrageous farmer's market near Faneuil Hall.  Well I shouldn't say farmer's market... there is an outrageous produce and random food market - boxes and boxes that some farmers or food dealers somewhere couldn't sell.

Okay so maybe this isn't that interesting - but to me, using up things in the fridge with constraints (like my unstocked pantry, limited kitchenwares, and objection to cooking with fatty or expensive ingredients) is nothing short of awesome.

If you stock up on things that keep, like garlic, onions, potatoes and catch big bundles of ripe produce thoughtfully, you can minimize waste of food and money.  For example, on the last visit to Haymarket, I found 6 onions for $1.50 and a mesh tube with 7 large garlic heads for $1 among my purchases.  I mean, seriously.  Garlic for months.  The next trip included a very large bundle of asparagus for $1.  So in total, the following soup probably cost around $2 and provided two satisfying servings made from fresh ingredients.

Dice an onion & 2 cloves of garlic
Throw in a saucepan with olive oil
Chop up the bunch of asparagus, tossing the rough ends, & add to the pot
Cover with some combination of water, milk &/or chicken broth
Heavily season with salt, pepper, etc. - thyme is great
Bring to a boil and let simmer until it's soft enough to mash or blend
Add Greek yogurt to make it creamy &/or Parmesan to make it cheesy &/or lemon to make it zesty... shall I go on?

It stores well too.