The Joys of Farmers Markets

I love farmers markets for many reasons--supporting local farmers, tasting the products, (often) cheaper produce, and, most of all, finding things you weren't expecting or thinking about getting. There is only of these neat little markets down the street from me (well, quite a few blocks I guess, but totally walkable) and I went a few weeks ago, yes, this is a little belated, sorry! I didn't really go there with a shopping list, I figured I'd wander around and see if anything caught me eye. I *almost* bought a loaf of cinnamon swirl bread but controlled myself. I would've eating the whole thing that weekend, no joke. I have a bread problem where I can eat it any time, any day, every day and never be sick of it. I made my way towards the produce and ended up with some fabulous corn on the cobb, a yellow and a green zucchini, and some red and purple potatoes. I spent lesss than $5! Woohoo! I ate one ear of corn that night--I prefer to roast them at 350 degrees for 25 min or so and then add butter, salt, and pepper. I threw the rest in my fridge and forgot about everything else because I'd bought artichokes the other day. I love artichokes, but I'm totally spoiled because we grow them at my house in California and they are way way better than the stuff up here. I realized this upon attempting to cook them the way we always do at home (put in a pot of boiling water and cook until tender) and they just weren't as good. I then had three little artichokes to somehow use up so I checked out various recipes online as well as in my cookbooks. Here is the result:
Stuffed Artichokes adapted from Steven Raichlen's Big Flavor Cookbook
*His recipe is for 6 but I chopped it down to the amount needed for two. I'm putting in his recipe because that math was tricky and I leave it to you to figure how much you wanna make
-6 small artichokes
-1/2 lemon+1tsp grated zest
-salt
STUFFING:
-1 tbs olive oil
-1 small onion finely chopped (I used white)
-1 stalk celery finely chopped
-1 oz prosciutto finely chopped (I used deli-style ham that I happened to have on hand and ripped it into little pieces til I thought there was enough since I had to guess how much was an oz)
-1 c toasted bread crumbs
-3 tbs minced flat-leaf parsley (I eyeballed it)
-fresh thyme finely chopped (to taste)
-fresh oregano finely chopped (to taste)
-1/4 c grated cheese (parmigiano-reggiano or whatever you like, really)
-salt n pepper

Cut off the ends of the artichoke stems, leaving about an inch. Chop off the top third. Cut the artichoke in half lengthwise and scoop out the choke (a spoon works alright) and put the artichokes in a bowl of cold water w some lemon juice.
When you've finished with all of the artichokes, cook them in about 4 quarts of boiling salted water until tender (6-8 min but you can tell if the leaves on the outside break off easily)
Drain and rinse and put them in a baking dish
For the stuffing: heat half the olive oil in a nonstick pan, add everything but the breadcrumbs and cheese and cook until soft but not brown. Stir in the breadcrumbs and half of the cheese and stir a few times.
Put the stuffing in the scooped out artichokes using a big spoon and smushing the stuffing down so you get a lot in there. Top with cheese and stick under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese on top gets melted. Remove and eat (ideally with fresh corn on the cob and a refreshing glass of pinot grigio).
*NOTE: be careful not to burn the breadcrumbs.
*ALSO: this is a rather tricky dish to eat since the artichoke is sometimes hard to get out. Don't feel bad if you get it all over your plate, it's worth it!