Market Week Wrap-up and Dinner at Firefly

 Hello world – I just finally caught up over the weekend on all my Market Week posts.  I wish I had more time and inspiration this past week – but the dishwasher is leaking so out of commission, the kitchen faucet needs to be replaced as it is spraying water everywhere and no longer running (how did these two things decide to fall apart at the same time?), and it was not the greatest week for cooking inspiration on so many levels. Kelly of Eat Make Read, who sponsored market week, did say it best here – every dinner cannot be glamorous but it can be good. And based on delicious market-fresh food, though as you saw, I did use non-market goods such as avocados, cashews, and gluten-free pasta to round out the meals I posted.

So while I wish I could have done more in terms of eating only from the market and/or having more recipes to post, last week was a great reminder that I am lucky in that every week is market week for me, as the Dupont Market is a year-round market.  In winter the goods are not as plentiful, but I still base most of my meals on what I find at the market.  This past week, I had kale salad (a year-round staple for me), carrot soup, tomato basil pasta, cashew cheese with tomatoes and basil from the market and everything was delicious.

 On Saturday night, to top off Market Week and escape from washing dishes in the bathtub, husband and I went out to Firefly, a restaurant here in Washington, DC very committed to the farm-to-table concept and that sources many items from local markets and farms.  The dining room, as you can seem from the picture above is very cool.  And, as a total bonus, Firefly has a gluten-free menu that includes several options that can easily be made vegan (while I do eat some wild-caught salmon and occasionally some grass-fed meat, I tend to make a vegan selection as it is the easiest way to ensure that what I eat will meet my standards for animal protein).  I called ahead and was excited that the summer vegetable brochettes were gluten-free and could be made vegan with very few substitutions.

Truth be told, had the market fish been wild-caught salmon, I would have ordered that (ensuring that the pesto had no dairy) as I was dying to have chanterelle mushrooms and swiss chard.  But, since the market fish was farmed arctic char, I happily settled for the summer vegetable brochettes.  It was such a novelty to be able to order a completely vegan entree at a restaurant – I don’t mind ordering several sides, or combining a salad with an appetizer, but it was just really nifty to order a vegan entree.  And it was delicious:

I loved the green garlic and fennel quinoa, and the vegetables were beautifully grilled.  The chermoula herb sauce was lovely as well.  I also ordered a side of the chanterelles and chard, which were also made vegan at my request:

It was a deliciously satisfying meal. Husband had a combination of the octopus, the deviled eggs and some charcuterie and cheese, and it was nice that we were at a place that could accommodate both of us. So yay for Firefly!

A couple of bits of housekeeping – I now have a  Facebook page. And there is a giveaway for Nana’s Cookies over at the Mommy Bowl. You may remember my review from last year for these allergy-friendly cookies.