Our First Fooditude Columbus Shoot - by Lexie

Lexie and her brother Jamie visit North Market with Chef Ian from Cameron Mitchell Restaurants and then gets to taste test all the produce they got!

Saturday morning my brother Jamie and I went shopping at a farmers’ market with our cousin Ian, who is a chef.  Then he took us to his restaurant and we made some great food with what we bought!

The farmers’ market we went to is at a place in downtown Columbus called the North Market.  We got to talk to lots of local farmers selling everything from corn to squash to apples to grapes.  I didn’t even know you could grow grapes in Ohio!

Some of the farmers taught us about mushrooms and peppers, and our cousin the chef taught us about okra and herbs.  We also got to go inside the North Market and try some ice cream.

When we had a bunch of food, the chef said it was time to cook!  So we went up the street to his restaurant in the Short North part of Columbus called Marcella’s and hit the kitchen!

We made a salad with different kinds of little tomatoes we got from the market along with fresh mozzarella cheese and basil leaves; Ian calls it Caprese.  We also roasted corn still in its husk in their pizza oven (yummy!), and sliced some Italian ham called Prosciutto that he served with locally grown melons.  Ham and melon sounded strange, but the salty ham and sweet melon really tasted OK together!  We made pizza with some other veggies from the market, and wrapped up lunch with a little ice cream with fresh berries and peaches.  I didn’t know people grow peaches in Ohio, either.

You’ll be able to see my trip to the market soon right here on Fooditude, so keep an eye out for us!