I got quite a few direct emails asking me where I got the fusilli I used in yesterday's Grilled Scallops with Fennel and Fresh Herb Fusilli.

Well, I got it at the Hollywood Farmers Market. We have an occasional vendor there that sells all sorts of handmade pastas both fresh and dried.

So for this weeks Market Matters I thought I would pass along a little bit about pasta.

Pasta was originally a Southern Italian dish. Particularly Sicilian. Eventually the cultivation of wheat moved into other areas of the country, and pasta became a common food item all over Italy.

Northern Italian pastas are generally pastas with fresh eggs and “soft” wheat. Soft wheat is lower in protein and gluten content. Bakers tend to like flour from soft wheat for batter-based foods like cakes and biscuits. Think cake flour. The soft wheat and egg produces pasta that has a silky texture. These pastas are often prepared as stuffed pastas (like ravioli) and in Italy they are called Pasta Fresca.

I live in the Hills above Hollywood. It’s a great place to live.

Though I can’t see Alaska from my house (sorry old joke!), I can see a castle that would make Cinderella proud, turrets and all! There is Moorish architecture. An English manor house too. Even a mid-century masterpiece case-study house by Pierre Koenig looming over the whole canyon. Who built these houses and why? They certainly had big imaginations…and what a tapestry they have woven through these hills over the years.

Most Sundays we walk down from these hills to the Hollywood Farmers Market. It’s probably a mile or a bit more and it’s a wonderful walk in (almost) any weather.

I love the market on Sundays. There is such a sense of community, and because it’s on Hollywood Boulevard, there is a real sense of place too. Because believe me Hollywood is some kind of place!

There were a lot of burgers on my plate this week. This is day 6...

We did a fairly classic Backyard B-B-Que with a bit of flair: a Horseradish Buffalo Burger. It seemed a good (fairly familiar) place to start my week long tribute to burgers.

That was followed up with a veggie option in the form of a meaty Portobello Mushroom Burger and all the fixin’s.

We took a world tour with Mini Lamb Burgers with Mango Salsa, and a Vietnamese influenced Lettuce-Wrapped Pork Burger.

My brother Sip! Got in on the action by sending me his recipe for a “Wine & Cheese” Burger that he paired with a great Australian red wine.

So today I want to mix it up yet again, with a Salmon Burger with Capers & Fried Lemon Slices.

Finally. Finally. Finally!

Morels are here. I am not waiting even one more day. I am having morels for dinner tonight!

This weeks Market Matters choice of morels also combines with something I had been wanting to take part in anyway. It just took the inspiration that morels bring to get my mind in gear to solve this problem.

I call it a “problem” but really it’s more of an honor.

FoodBuzz sent me a sample of a new product from Buitoni. Wild Mushroom Agnolotti. My challenge is to create a recipe using this product and turn it in for consideration in a contest they are having.

Lots of really talented bloggers and cooks (probably even CHEFS!) were given this same challenge so I knew my entry needed to be special.

That is why I am so grateful to morels for making their appearance just when they did. Because suddenly it came to me all at once.

I have been looking forward to this week for sometime.

Today’s Market Matters is turning its sights on the moong bean, the mash bean. Sometimes called munggo or monggo.  Green gram, golden gram, and green soy.

But you may know it as the Mighty Mung Bean!

Yep this is the bean responsible for the ubiquitous bean-sprout of salad bar fame! But I think it is much more interesting fresh; un-sprouted, simply dressed and served with something pert and pretty (but not too cute sweet).

This is my favorite bean, hands down. With out a doubt. I have never met a legume I couldn’t love so this bold proclamation is really saying something!

In India the bean is cultivated during two main growing seasons. Rabi, which begins in November; and the wet monsoonal season known as Kharif, which starts in March. March? This is March!

Well it’s happened again. I ripped off KCRW’s Good Food. This time my victim was the chef at Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica, Evan Funke.

When I left the house this morning for the Hollywood Farmers Market I had an open mind about what I would find for my weekly Market Matters post. But when I got there, the market felt a bit off to me. I think we really are transitioning from the winter crops to the early spring stuff. I even saw English peas in the pod. A sure sign that spring is on it way in. But the peas were not really peaking and I’d rather wait a few more weeks and be rewarded with perfect peas.

All the usual suspects were to be found though. I saw great citrus, and the winter greens are still aplenty. There were carrots, carrots, and more carrots. Some nice potatoes too. But nothing really inspired me. Then it hit me. That interview with Evan Funke came bursting to the forefront of my consciousness.

Okay, you have to understand that I store information about food in my head the way most Angelinos store obscure rush hour short cuts. You never know when your gonna need ‘em and you have no idea where the information comes from. But there it is, like magic; just when you need it.

What I am trying to say is I was not intending to steal from Evan Funke. But, after really scouring the market, I came home with a bunch of baby purple artichokes. It may sound like a great choice (and it is), but it was not really MY own unique, one-of-a-kind choice.

This week at the Hollywood Farmers Market I chose cabbage. Not just any cabbage but the tastiest most prized cabbage of the entire Brassicaceae/Cruciferae family. Savoy cabbage.

I live in Southern California. There are only a couple of weeks a year that are not considered “growing season” in my particular Sunset: Western Garden zone 23 neighborhood. And those couple of weeks usually fall in January. So you really need to adapt yourself to the season and choose things that are at their peak right now.

One of these things is cabbage. Cabbage is wonderful. It has a slightly spicy taste. It is very high in calcium, and very high in vitamin-C. So it really is a good choice for the “cold and flu season”!

But what do you do with cabbage?

Well have you considered cabbage soup? I know what you are thinking – “Cabbage Soup? What year do you think this is Greg”? Besides (you opine) cabbage cooks up all stinky and slimy.

January is the height of the season in Southern California for the greens we all love.

Kale, Spinach, Rapini, Chard, Mustard, Pea Tendrils. You see them this time of year at the market. They are so beautiful, like masterful Baroque still-life paintings of the Dutch Golden Age.  The intensity of detail of these greens can almost be off putting. Intricate shapes, complex gradations of color; thick, lush and vibrant. Cooking with them just makes you feel like an artist.

But if you are able to look past all the variations of green greens, you might notice another type of green entirely. And that green is RED!

You may be familiar with Red Leaf Lettuce. It’s a pretty alternative to the Green Leaf Lettuce you find in your local supermarket. Aside from its striking red blush, it tastes fairly similar to its more common green brother. Though, I swear it gets all black and slimy much quicker than the green guy.

But unlike green/red leaf lettuce, there are greens at the Farmers Market now that not only differ in their stunning red chromatics…but you will find they have a whole other flavor palate to boot. Perhaps it’s the coloration. I have researched this and cannot find a definitive answer. But, especially among the so-called bitter greens, the red varieties are often milder; sometimes noticeably sweeter. And I mean sweet like honey.

This week at the Hollywood Farmers Market I was on my weekly crawl to find something interesting. But I had a secret; I actually had a plan this time. I had my sites set on salsify.

What is salsify you ask? Maybe you know it better as oyster plant or goatsbeard. No?

It’s an ancient plant, long utilized as food. It is related to the sunflower and is in the family Asteraceae, which makes it, basically, a wildflower. But this information probably does not help you identify it because we don’t eat the flowers. Or at least I don’t eat the flowers…they’re just too darn pretty!

As a food, salsify is primarily a root vegetable. But the green grass-like leaves and stems are edible and often sold still attached to the root.

The local California Farmer’s Markets are featuring an interesting and gorgeous array of fresh dried beans right now. Lots of beans can be found year round here in Southern California. But certain heirloom varieties are much more seasonal and it’s worth being on the look out for them at the Farmers Markets.

One of these beans is a tepary bean. It’s a Native American heirloom. In fact it’s the only truly native bean to North America. Which makes it particularly interesting to me.

Tepary beans were a dietary staple of the Native Americans living in The Sonoran Dessert. Along with corn and squash it is considered one of the “Three Sisters” and was one of their major sources of protein and digestible carbohydrates. With the loss of their Native lands and cultivation practices the tepary bean was nearly lost as a species. But it was rediscovered growing wild in Arizona in the 1980’s. And lucky for you (and me!) these delicious, beans are experiencing a veritable vegetal revitalization!