I have a small (fine, an all-consuming) addiction to the farmers market.

If you haven't noticed yet, I am the type of person who sees fresh, seasonal produce and geek out at how pretty the colors that mother nature can produce. I've been known to creepily lurk near a collection beautiful heirloom tomatoes with my iPhone out like a paparazzo. So sue me.

Never in my life have I had as much of a problem with impulse purchases as I do at the farmers market. Upon my arrival at home, I'll open my reusable tote to find about 5 extra purchases that I decided I couldn't leave the market without. I'm supporting local farmers and business, so it's acceptable... right?

I then peek at my fridge and get overwhelmed, wondering how I will use and eat everything before it goes badly. That's usually my cue to invite friends over for dinner, and play iron chef to see how many awesome ingredients I can stuff into a meal in one go without being obnoxious.

This market trip resulted in some gorgeous rainbow baby heirloom tomatoes, zucchini squash, asparagus, peas, cucumber, and chives sneaking their way into my bag, completely on their own accord of course.

With a quick scan of my pantry and freezer, I decided to do a spicy chile-garlic soy black sesame marinade for the frozen salmon I had on hand, with my cucumber-dill yogurt sauce to offset the spice a bit. For veggie sides, zoodles w/heirloom baby tomatoes, and sautéed peas in addition to the already roasted asparagus leftover I had in the fridge. At first glance, this sounds much more complicated than it actually was- in total active cooking time after veggie washing/prep and letting the salmon marinade, this took me maybe about 15 minutes.

Farm to Table Dinner:

Spicy Chile-Garlic Soy Black Sesame Salmon w/Cucumber-Dill Yogurt Sauce

Zoodles w/Baby Heirloom Tomatoes

Roasted Asparagus w/Sautéed Peas

Ingredients

*serves 2

Spicy Chile-Garlic Soy Black Sesame Marinade + 2 Salmon Fillets
1/2 cup Cucumber-Dill Yogurt Sauce

For Zoodles
1 Large Zucchini
5 Baby Heirloom Tomatoes
Pinch of Garlic Salt
EVOO Spray (more details here)

For Asparagus/Peas
1/2 bundle Asparagus, cut into thirds and roasted
1/2 cup Fresh Spring Shelled Peas, lightly boiled/blanched
1/2 tbsp Butter
Pinch of Garlic Salt

SPECIAL TOOLS NEEDED:
Julienne slicer- my favorite is here. I'm a fan of this over a spiralizer- less mess, more efficient
Vegetable Peeler

Recipe

Some steps taken from my other recipes to make the entire process fluid for this specific meal- so you don't have to check back and forth between pages for each step!

1. *30min- 1hr earlier: Combine all marinade ingredients with defrosted salmon fillets in an airtight container or ziploc bag. Leave in refrigerator for 30mins to 1 hour to soak up the flavor. Then remove from fridge and let it sit in room temperature as you prepare the other steps.

*TIP: My favorite and easiest way to defrost basic seafood and chicken: make sure the meat or fish is in a waterproof/airtight plastic bag, then fully submerge it in a large bowl of cold water. It should take ~20 mins to fully defrost, and try to change out the water halfway through to improve efficiency.

2. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients for cucumber-dill yogurt sauce and mix with spoon. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

3. Turn oven on to the broil setting, setting the wire rack 6 inches from the broiler flame at the top of the oven.

4. Using the julienne slicer, slice zucchini into strings as if using a veggie peeler until you reach the core. Slice tomatoes in half, and set both veggies aside.

5. Heat up a pan on medium-high heat and add the dab of butter until melted. Toss garlic salt on there and add the spring peas and asparagus. Remove and plate on a dish.

*NOTE: I had already roasted the asparagus and boiled/blanched the peas for other meals prior to this. For ASPARAGUS: Clean and trim, lightly spray w/EVOO and sprinkle garlic salt and paprika over stalks, and roast at 380º for 15 mins (turning over halfway through). For PEAS: pour freshly shelled peas into a pot with water at a rolling boil for 2 mins, remove from heat, and immediately drain and blanch in icy cold water.

6. On the now emptied pan on medium heat, add zucchini strings and cook for 3 minutes until slightly softened. Remove and plate on a dish, and top with the sliced tomatoes.

7. Place marinated salmon on a foil-lined broiler pan, and place in the preheated oven. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until top is slightly caramelized and dark brown.

8. Plate salmon, add cucumber-dill yogurt sauce on top, garnish with chives, and serve alongside veggies!