Greener by the Minute

The cook who goes shopping at the first farm markets of spring needs to be more than energetic and eager. It helps to be a forager as well. During the opening weeks of the markets, the stands are short on vegetables and heavy on bedding plants.

For now, make lots of salads. Incorporate greens into soups and omelets or sauté them as a base for poached fish, grilled meats and roasted chicken. Grab every spring onion and garlic bulb you see and set aside the yellow onions that have sustained your cooking through the winter months.

The character of the market changes as the season evolves.

Already, you can look around see signs of the crops to come. Spinach, radishes and even fresh garlic will show up at some stands.

Farmers who use greenhouses and similar devices will have an assortment of greens and herbs -- and if you're lucky, hothouse tomatoes.

Keep foraging and soon fresh peas -- both English and sugar snaps -- will appear, along with asparagus and early beans. New potatoes, green bell peppers and early berries will signal the next turn of the market.

Before you know it, the stands will fill with cucumbers, summer squashes, peppers and a wealth of tomatoes.

-- Stephanie Witt Sedgwick

Stephanie Witt Sedgwick, a former Food section recipe editor, is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America.