Of all the big food holidays, from Thanksgiving and Christmas, to Easter, I find Father’s Day to be the most daunting in the culinary sense.  So this past weekend I was under considerable epicurean stress.  Up until Saturday morning, I had no idea what I was what I was going to cook for Father’s Day – but then I visited the extraordinary Montclair Farmers’ Market! 

The wonderful thing about the Montclair Farmers’ Market is that they’ve really got it covered – from produce, to pesto, to pickles!  The Montclair Farmers' Market abounds with products and produce from authentic artisans and local farmers.  I was able to procure everything I needed for a fresh and very satisfying Father’s Day meal all in one spot in less than 30 minutes.

I started off with some beautiful yellow tomatoes from Matarazzo Farm.  I wasn’t exactly sure what form they would take until I passed Vacchiano Farm, where I picked up some fresh mozzarella.  I decided to pair the mozzarella and tomatoes with some basil from my pots at home to make a lovely Caprese Salad.  

Then I walked over to Starbrite Organic Farm and picked up organic frisee and some of that nutritious and edible weed, purslane. Click here for a great purslane recipe.

Having picked up plenty of produce, I realized that I needed some meat.  So back to Vacchiano I headed and procured a gorgeous Rib Eye steak, and pork sausage, which was the best I’ve ever had - and believe me, I’ve had my share of sausage.  Then, I spotted the sausage bread, the lure of the sausage oil that had seeped onto the white bag was too much for me to resist, so I grabbed one of those too.

In the event that my Polish husband was still hungry, I picked up snacking kielbasa from

Finally, on the way out I grabbed some olives at the Picklelicious, and voila, the menu problem was solved.

Click here for more pictures from the 2011 Montclair Farmers’ Market, and here for a video tour of the 2010 Montclair Farmers’ Market.