Two numbers caught my attention this past weekend.

Nugget was selling California asparagus for $1.77 per pound. And at the Davis Farmers Market, a grower from Sanger, near Fresno, did indeed have fresh tomatoes (good-looking ones, too) for sale, as they’d promised me the week before. Their cost was $3.75 per pound.

If you buy asparagus and tomatoes, you immediately grasp that one (asparagus) is remarkably low in price while the other (the tomatoes, of course) is selling at a premium.

Is this market dynamics at work? Sure.

The tomatoes are the first of the season. The early volume isn’t nearly enough to meet pent-up demand. Growers can charge top dollar. But asparagus are at the back end of their season. We’ve already eaten asparagus (a lot of them, in our case). During the crop’s remaining days, sales shouldn’t be hard to find.

I bring this up to remind thrifty readers that local produce needn’t cost a fortune, if you bypass the seasonal debut of each crop. I recall that last year Safeway had end-of-season asparagus of good quality for sale at 99 cents per pound.

That said, I almost sprang for a tomato. Almost. Two mid-size tomatoes equal a pound; one really large one is a pound (or more). How much would that be per slice? I couldn’t do it.

I already had eight tomato plants in the ground, and I had two more in the car on that Saturday morning — a Delicious, an old-line red with supersize characteristics; and a Green Zebra, a zesty, smaller heirloom with a green hue when ripe.

I’ll have 13 plants, which do really well in our garden. That’s a lot of tomatoes, yielding gifts for neighbors.

When the sun and heat yield the finest garden tomatoes — late July through mid-August — I’ll convince myself that the wait was worth it. Or not.

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Cherries are abundant as May winds down, and they’re one of the most popular fruits around. You’ll want some, but buy wisely. They’re usually pricey.

The early varieties, such as Brooks and Burlap, don’t have quite the taste of the popular Bing cherry, which arrives later in the season. You’ll see Bings soon, if you haven’t yet.

I’ve seen a few Rainier cherries for sale locally, considered by many the best cherry of all. They’re a creamy yellow, perhaps with a reddish hue. They’re prized for their sweetness and big taste, and they’re quite popular in Japan and Taiwan, where California’s cherries command a top price.

Cherry growers need to have a strong heart. Wind can bruise the fruit, rain can crack them, and so it goes as Mother Nature wreaks havoc with growers’ nightly sleep patterns. (And let’s not mention the birds.) Don’t begrudge them your dollar.

But do look for satisfaction. Sample a cherry, if at all possible. Taste for sweetness, meatiness, tartness and a pleasing, easy crunch. Cherries can look perfect and yet be too hard.

My go-to man, Jim Mills of Produce Express, once a chef at the Paragary restaurants in Sacramento, suggests that you put your cherries in a colander, rinse, shake off the excess water and put them in a bowl.

If the cherries were sitting too long in your hot car, refrigerate for an hour or so. Then put them on the counter for everyone to enjoy at room temperature that day.

Cherries will last a few days in the refrigerator, but you’ll want to keep an eye on them. Once you spot a few little cave-ins, you know your cherries are starting to give it up. They need to be eaten.

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Earlier this month I had an opportunity to be the guest chef at one of the monthly family dinners put on at Plates restaurant in Sacramento, where homeless women from the St. John’s Shelter prepare the food and wait tables. When they graduate from their months-long training, they’re equipped for a foothold in the workplace.

Patrick Mulvaney, of Mulvaney’s B&L in Sacramento, worked up a menu with me, based on flavors featured in a novel I wrote several years ago, “The Cooking School at Z,” which is set in Zihuatanejo, Mexico.

(Note: Now through Labor Day is the ideal time to have a couple of dishes that uniquely say Zihuatanejo, where a number of Davisites have turned up over the years. I once came upon two City Council members on the main avenue and we exchanged, “Is that you?”)

Mulvaney took charge in the kitchen, I did my bit, and a group of industrious women did a fine job. (Patience, an underling chef, had little patience with my willingness to mound onion skin, cucumber rind, fish scraps and such.) Out came a remarkable meal, I must say, which everyone agreed is a bargain at $45, the standing price of these fundraisers.

Two fish offerings we served that are easily made at home appear below. Obviously, high-quality fish is key.

The recipes

Tirtas

The ingredients:

1 pound of sea bass or cod, in 2-inch strips, ¼-inch wide

Lime juice, ¾ cup or more

1 jalapeño or serrano pepper, finely sliced

1 cup or more of finely sliced red onion

1/2 cup of dried Mexican oregano or fresh cilantro

Salt

Putting it together:

Toss fish and onion slices with the lime juice for 10-15 minutes only. (It’s different in this way from ceviche, which involves longer marination.) Remove from lime juice, spread thinly on a platter. Salt lightly, sprinkle with pepper and herb. Serve with tortilla chips. For guests, perhaps serve on thick cucumber disks.

Hail Mary Tuna

The ingredients:

Two ahi (tuna) steaks

Sesame oil

Sesame seeds (black and white), optional

Putting it together:

Prepare a hot grill or pan (if non-stick, no higher than medium heat). At the last moment rub the tuna steaks with sesame oil, which burns easily. (Don’t put plain oil in the pan first.) Salt if you wish. Dip the steaks in sesame seeds, if you elect to use them.

Gently lay the tuna on the hot grill or pan. It will sizzle. Mexico being at least a nominally Catholic nation, the memory aid is to say a Hail Mary while the tuna sears. (The Pledge of Allegiance works as well.) Flip, say another. Now hold the tuna with tongs and sear the various edges.

No one can remember 13 seconds; the memory aid is useful. Slice thick strips, with a raw interior. Many like to dip the tuna in soy sauce. It’s ideal as a protein adornment for a dinner salad for company.

— Dan Kennedy , a Davis resident, has a long history with the bounty of gardens and small farms. Reach him at [email protected]

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