Farmer’s Market Brunch

Last Saturday I missed the first day of the Farmer’s Market because we were up at the cabin.  McGyver headed up again to take what will be our bathroom (shower, sink and other stuff) for our neighbor to install.  I decided to stay back because I just couldn’t bear to miss going to the market.  The Great Falls Farmer’s Market is a nice mix of farmer’s, crafters and a variety of other vendor’s to include Indian Frybread and children’s activities.  I went with my friends Kim and Sean.  They picked me up, promptly at 8:10 am (8:00 am was the plan but for Kim and I,  10 minutes after is prompt).  We found parking no problem, armed with reusable bags we were ready to shop. 

It was a perfect day, cool and sunny!  The stalls were brimming with colorful vegetables, herbs, baked goods and crafts.  So picturesque, and I forgot my camera.  Can we all say “duh”.  In all my excitement I ran out of the house without my trusty Nikon, so no pictures this time.  I’ll have to save that for a rainy day (because you know the next time I go and remember my camera, it will rain.

I didn’t eat breakfast before going because I knew there would be treats to taste.  I shared an Indian Frybread with Kim and Sean, we purchased it from our friend Tina who sells them there every Saturday.  Besides all the wonderful local items for sale, the other thing I love about a local Farmer’s market are all the people you see.  I saw Bette & Gail, Bill and Amber, Hillary, Bowen with Hillary’s Mom and her friend Jon and I saw a brunch of faces that I recognized through work, but don’t really know them.  Just seeing familiar faces warms my soul.

Not having breakfast, and sharing only some frybread, by the time I got home I was definitly feeling a tinchie bit hungry.  Honestly I couldn’t wait to dig into some of  my purchases!  So I whipped up a very simple post Farmer’s Market Brunch for one.

I made an 0pen faced brie and bacon sandwich with fresh sugar snap peas on the side.

My favorite cheese in the world is brie, my favorite meat in the world is bacon.

Put them together and I just made myself a little bit of heaven!

Ingredients

1 thick slice of good artisan bread

1/2 tsp butter

1 oz (2 slices) brie

2 slices bacon

Directions

Go to the farmer’s market or local bakery and get some country style bread.

This is mandatory, it just won’t be the same with bread from the grocery store.

I picked up this loaf from Matt Carlson’s Big Sky Bread & Pastry stall at the market.

Resistance was futile, I had to stop and buy.

I’m not sure if it was his bread or his T-Shirt that read “Knead Pain” that attracted me the most.

Ultimately, cool shirt or not, the bread was definitely worth the purchase.

Start off by buttering your bread then broiling it to a nice golden brown.

While you are waiting, eat the first slice of crust you cut off.

Enjoy the slight crunch of the crust, the tender chewiness of the bread.

Let the smell of yeast waft through your nose and dance on your taste buds.

Then get back to business.

I could just keep slicing the bread and eating it, it was that good, but brie and bacon were waiting for me.

When I need only a little bit of bacon I like to microwave it.

Wrap up a couple of slices in a double thickness of paper towels and cook in the microwave for about 1 minute.

Naturally microwave ovens vary so choose the best time for yours.

Cook it until it is crisp but not crumbly.

Cut up into small pieces.

Cover your broiled bread with the cheese and put it under the broiler.

 Cook until it starts to bubble.

Yes, I am fully aware my toaster oven has crumbs on the bottom.

I don’t care, I know I should, but I don’t.

I use it and it shows, what’s wrong with that?

All those crumbs are reminders of all the delicious stuff I’ve cooked in there.

Speaking of delicious, add some of the sliced bacon on top and broil for another minute.

It’ll really crisp up the bacon and render a little bit of that fat.

Brie with bacon fat, can you picture the dreaminess look in eye?

I have a confession to make….

you only need one slice of bacon.

I just cook two so I can nimble on the bacon bits while it broils. 

Everyone should do this, that’s why I list 2 as a necessary ingredient.

I went out to the back porch to enjoy by Farmer’s Market brunch and read the latest issue of my Saveur magazine.

Ironically the entire issue was dedicated to Markets!

And for after brunch?

Planting all the herbs I bought.

Have a lovely weekend, TKW.