5
November
2008
If I had been thinking clearly I might have planned a “blue dish” for our election party like the one my friend Sharon told me about. You know — blue tortilla chips, blueberries, blue potatoes, etc. But since I only had one thing on my mind and it clearly wasn’t the color of food, I came up with a red dish instead. I promise you it is delicious and it never hurts to reach across the aisle, especially when it comes to food.
Last week may have been your last chance to get roasted peppers from Billy’s Organic at the University Farmers Market but you can still find peppers and roast your own. Just stick them on the grill, turning with tongs until the skins are charred and blistered. Immediately put them in a plastic bag for about 10 minutes. Take them out, scrape the black skin off the outside and seeds from the inside. Fire gives peppers a wonderfully smoky flavor. I’ve also heard of using the flame on a gas stove or you can also put them in a hot (400 degree) oven for about 20 minutes.
Combine two local ingredients — roasted red peppers and hazelnuts, along with garlic, red wine vinegar, fresh rosemary, olive oil and you have a Northwest version of the Spanish sauce known as romesco. It can be used along side all kinds of food but is especially good with grilled meat or fish. I’m serving mine with sliced pork tenderloin along with a baguette. Perfect finger food for a celebration served buffet style. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: Appetizers, Eat Local, Farmers Markets, On the Local Table, Protein
28
October
2008
Being the resident Southerner, I feel compelled to talk about collards. I don’t remember having them at home but in the school cafeteria I can still picture those huge pots filled with “a mess o’ greens” served with a cruet of vinegar on the side. Turnip greens, collards, mustard greens all in a soggy heap surrounded by muddy juices called “pot likker”. Definitely not my favorite, I don’t think I even tried them once.
It took me moving away from the South to give collards another try. Now I love them and have recently learned some new ways to use them. My traditional method has been to remove the thick stem from the center of the leaf, cut leaves into slices, parboil for about 15 minutes, then saute with small bits of a smoked meat like bacon or ham.
The November issue of Gourmet has a great way to use the sturdy leafs to create little bundles stuffed with wild mushrooms and shallots. Reminiscent of stuffed grape leaves, I can imagine all types of fillings, vegetarian or with meat for future meals.
The Brazilian method for cooking collards is so simple and delicious, I can’t imagine why I haven’t tried it before. Sometimes the texture of shredded vegetables is the best way to convert hesitant vegetable eaters. You basically remove the center stem from the collard leaves and stack up the halves. Roll them all together like a cigar and cut into very thin slices. I often use the same method for cutting large-leaved herbs like sage and it would work for all kinds of greens.
Fry some bacon in a large skillet, remove when crispy. Saute the collard strips for a few minutes until they are soft. I use tongs to make sure all surfaces get coated with bacon grease. A couple of squirts of tabasco or red pepper flakes are a good addition for those who like a little heat with their greens. If you’d rather go vegetarian, use garlic and olive oil instead of bacon. I can’t help but appreciate the healthful quality from cooking so quickly but I wouldn’t use this method if the greens were too old or tough — fresh from the garden or the farmers market is best. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: Appetizers, Eat Local, Farmers Markets, On the Local Table, Produce
20
October
2008
And the connection is?? Orcas Island, of course. A perfect place to spend a quintessential fall weekend partaking in all the local specialties. We heard that Buck Bay Shellfish Farm was open for business and decided to take an excursion to one of my favorite parts of the island — Olga. Just around the bend past the Orcas Island Artworks is beautiful Buck Bay.
If you look at this photo carefully, you can see the pipe that brings water directly from the sound to an ingenious operation up the hill. Drive in and you are directed to “honk for service”. Toni was right there, eager to show us around Buck Bay Shellfish Farm housed in a barn on an old family homestead. She showed us how the water is pumped in through tanks which are the homes of the growing oysters and clams.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: Appetizers, Eat Local, Field Trips, On the Local Table, Our Farmers, Food Producers, & Fishermen, Protein
7
October
2008
Button mushrooms grow up to become baby bellas, (Criminis), and finally Portobellos.
Recently we camped and hiked in the Lake O’Hara region of the Canadian Rockies where we wanted to concoct appealing but practical meals at the end of a day’s hiking. The most memorable of those meals involved Portobellos, garlic, grated cheese, and dried pasta which were a snap to carry in a backpack and prepare on our single burner camp stove. We vowed to have it again on the supper table at home where we also appreciate quick and delicious. A great vegetarian supper with a little bread, a little wine. Domesticated? Yes. Tame? Not so much.
We appreciate the Portobello’s ‘meatiness’, but its versatility is worth applauding too. Mushrooms in the pantry and there are myriad possibilities for an interesting meal - with toasty bread, pasta, rice, risotto, pizza, salad, eggs, with a piece of meat, or stuffed and baked. Not a prized wild variety, Portobellos are widely cultivated and readily attainable year-round in the Pacific Northwest. They’re a delectable choice for a local meal if you like mushrooms. A few in my family don’t - this is for those of us who appreciate a good fungus now and then.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: Appetizers, Eat Local, Farmers Markets, In The Garden, Local Living, Local Meals, On the Local Table, Produce, Protein, Small Actions, Under the Table
18
September
2008
Let’s face it. Some of these green beauties will never ripen. Don’t despair because I’ve got a wonderful way to use them, even ones that are partially ripe. Leave it to the Italians to come up with the perfect pairing of fried green tomatoes with goat cheese on a bed of baby lettuces and fennel fronds. This is a long way from Fannie Flagg and the Whistle Stop Cafe.
But first let me introduce you to the fried green tomato’s new best friend, Bainbridge Brie, brought to you by the folks at Port Madison Farm. I picked up some at the University Farmers Market last weekend. It is sweet and delicate like their basic chevre but creamier like brie. I can’t wait to try it in my straight-from-the-garden pasta sauce.
I even put together some wonderful little hors d’oeuvres using some fried green roma tomatoes, ripe red tomatoes and Bainbridge Brie. Actually, ripe red tomatoes partner so well with their green siblings that when I ate the salad above, I added several juicy red slices to the mix.
Even fry-phobic cooks like me can make decent fried green tomatoes. Most recipes seem to agree that you use some sort of breading. I made some bread crumbs in the food processor using Spelt Sourdough from Tall Grass Bakery also from the University Farmers Market. I was happy with the results but it would be fun to try panko, cornmeal or even semolina. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: Appetizers, Eat Local, Farmers Markets, On the Local Table, Produce
1
September
2008
The fruits available this time of year — melons, peaches, berries — are so tempting but the truth is, I’m not big on baking pies, sweet desserts or jams. I love fresh fruit on cereal or in a smoothie. A perfectly ripened peach or melon with nothing else is a summertime treat I’ll be dreaming about next winter. Freezing fruit, especially berries, to use later in the year is always a good option. Cooler weather makes me crave more savory flavors, even if summer has not officially ended.
Last week Sally and I were photographing at Sazerac for Dining Out magazine. The chef brought us dish after delectable dish. It’s not exactly acceptable for us to sample while we shoot, but it was very tempting. One salad caught my eye and I decided to try my own version at home so I could nibble freely while I took photos.
Sazerac’s salad inspired me to think about ways to use our local peaches in savory dishes. I have no problem devouring a salad like this, all in one sitting, while a pie or cobbler could take me a week or more. I’ve used apples and pears in salads, but hadn’t tried peaches. Sazerac’s chef used proscuitto, not a local ingredient, but an important element, nonetheless. He also included those wonderful Spanish nuts, Marcona almonds. I knew the almonds would be tasty, but I wanted to make my salad as local as possible. I used goat cheese from Port Madison Farm, peaches from Billy’s and rustic arugula from my own backyard. I sprinkled some green fennel seeds , also from my garden, splashed on a little champagne vinegar and drizzled olive oil over the top. This is the perfect plate to take outdoors and soak in some sunshine while you sample and appreciate all the different combinations of sweetness and zestiness. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: Appetizers, Eat Local, Farmers Markets, Local Meals, On the Local Table, Produce
31
July
2008
I used to think artichokes were strictly Mediterranean. It’s true they’re native to northern Africa where they grow wild, and southern Europe, but it turns out we can grow globe artichokes in the Pacific Northwest.
Maybe not commercially like they do in California, but I have to tell you there is a mini-artichoke orchard in the corner of my backyard and more appear every year. The artichokes’ sage-green spiked leaves are statuesque along the fence, living architecture. 
Attention to preparing each artichoke is required before steaming, and be forewarned: consumption is a slow exquisite journey. After cooking, each leaf must be peeled off its choke, dipped in lemon butter, scraped across the teeth for just a smidge, a molecule says my friend Peg, of nourishment. After you’ve repeated that about fifty times its succulent centerpiece is revealed, finally, and you enjoy a few hearty bites.
There are fancy ways to prepare artichokes. I’ve never been able to go there, though with a hefty crop this year maybe it’s time. I love the laid-back experience of deconstructing and eating the whole thing bit by bit dipped in lemony garlicky butter.
Not just garden ornamentals, though they are that, steam these babies, slow down for a while and savor their delicious Mediterranean vibe. My drumming buddies consumed a few of these last night and can attest favorably to their tranquil satisfying tempo.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: Appetizers, Eat Local, In The Garden, On the Local Table, Produce
29
July
2008
You gotta love something that you can both dance to and eat.
Tomatoes are ripening in the back yard, especially the Fourth of July’s, a handful of Sundgolds, Green Zebra and Muskovites – bins at Farmers Markets are overflowing. The first and best thing to do with a ripe tomato is to pick it and eat it, right then and there.
After that turn up the music and make salsa. 
Jerry Traunfeld’s Roasted Tomato Salsa is all about tomatoes and fresh herbs with a little jalapeno and onion thrown in. I’ve made this recipe many times, and, as I’ve come to expect from The Herbfarm Cookbook, it’s sensational but simple to make. Intended to embellish flank steak (and it really is perfect with steak), it’s more versatile than that. A few weeks ago I made this salsa without its key ingredient - oxymoronic, I know, roasted tomato salsa without its tomatoes, but it worked out - and used it as a dressing to make a farro salad . There are other possibilities: bake it/serve it with halibut, use as a dressing with rice, farro, or pasta, as a dip with your favorite chip, add fresh roasted corn off the cob and add it all to a pile of salad greens, diminish or eliminate the mint and serve with roasted chicken (it might be fine with the mint, not sure) . . . for dinner tonight I’ll toss this salsa with a bowl of rice and we’ll have it along with a piece of Alaskan Coho. Tomatoes, herbs, onion, jalapeno, all Pacific Northwest produce straight from the garden plot or the farmer’s field, and in season right now.
Roasted Tomato & Herb Salsa Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: Appetizers, Eat Local, On the Local Table, Produce
27
July
2008
While I was on Orcas Island over the weekend, my sister-in-law fixed some delicious fava beans, so tiny and fresh, there was no need for skinning. She prepared them very simply — steamed along with snow peas and green beans, topped with butter. She went out just before dinner to pick them from the garden and within an hour they were all consumed. I had more than my fair share. I saw fava beans on Saturday at the Orcas Island Farmers Market and was inspired to re-post this recipe for fava bean puree served with my favorite croccantini from La Panzanella.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: Appetizers, Eat Local, Farmers Markets, In The Garden, On the Local Table, Produce
13
June
2008
A steaming hot bowl of French onion soup would be soothing, spring onions are especially sweet right now. Plus we need soup to go with our tea and blankets and warm cozy fire.
Things have gone even more awry than we thought possible climatically and geographically speaking, the hemispheres have flipped, we’re in the southern one, and it really is autumn. The compromise, somewhere between a wintry soup and a summery salad, is a goat cheese and onion tart using local cheese and onions - and whatever else sounds good. If the sun pops out eat it on the front porch or in the garden, if not, a movie and a blazing fire would work too.
Make a classic pastry for the tart shell, or, my daughter makes this with large fresh tortillas, healthy-easy-nummy, your basic guerrilla cooking principles. Naan works well too, brushed with olive oil, topped with onions and baked for 25 minutes. Use pizza dough and call it a pizza instead of a tart. Caramelized onions are the base, from there you could take it in a number of directions, including soup. Play around with other possibilities like using different cheese, substitute ricotta for goat cheese if you like, especially Poppy’s homemade ricotta, add bacon or prosciutto bits. Have this for supper with a colorful spring salad, or it’s a fine appetizer when cut into smallish pieces.
Onion and Goat Cheese Tart: 
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: Appetizers, Dairy, Eat Local, On the Local Table, Produce
