A Trip to the Farmer's Market

The heat and humidity aside, there are some aspects of a Southern summer that I love. Fresh home-grown produce is among them.

While I usually spend my weekends sleeping in, sun-ripened tomatoes and sweet milky corn on the cob are well worth rolling out of bed early for on a hot Saturday in July.

The colors, smells, tastes, even the sounds, of a farmer's market entice me no matter where I am. I seek them out when I travel as well as on my own turf.

Hattiesburg's old-fashioned indoors farmer's market is a step back into time and Southern manners. Everyone greets me and asks how I am before getting down to the business of ... business. Tastes are offered. There's lots of commiserating about the weather.

Yesterday's haul: perfect unblemished eggplants, weirdly shaped yellow, green and red tomatoes, amber honey from Mississippi hives, a bottle of pepper vinegar, six ears of sweet golden corn, still in their husks (the seller politely offers to shuck them for free), and a dense, lemony homemade pound cake. "Child, that thunderstorm yesterday rolled in right when I put these in the oven, so you let me know how it turned out," the lady tells me. Delicious!

Back home, the eggplant was salted, cubed and cooked down to an ugly (yet flavorful) mush with olive oil, crushed garlic cloves and some thyme and oregano from my herb garden. Some of the tomatoes were sliced and slow-roasted with olive oil, salt and thyme and tossed -- along with the eggplant mush, slivers of fresh basil and more olive oil -- into hot pasta.

Tonight the rest of tomatoes will be sliced and topped with more fresh basil, blue cheese nuggets, prosciutto and vinaigrette for dinner. The menu will be rounded out by corn sauteed in a nugget of sweet butter and just a smidgen of bacon grease.

I'm already looking forward to next Saturday! Imagine the possibilities.

(The tomato salad was way prettier -- and yummier -- than it looks in this photo).