Tromboncini Squash

Hi all,

I know I promised this site would be G-rated, but can I just tell you the Tromboncini I bought from Flora last Saturday is perhaps the most phallic vegetable I've ever had in the kitchen.  Seriously, check it out on Google Images.  It cooks just like a zucchini, though, with a mild artichoke-heart flavor to it.  I tried it sauteed in olive oil with a little garlic, and tossed with pasta - delicious!

Check it out - and 'til next time, I'll see you at the market!!

Sesame Eggplant

Hi there,

I had a beautiful green zucchini and a bright purple Japanese eggplant, so this is what I did:

Slice both of them into 1/4" rounds, brush with canola oil and sprinkle with garam masala (or Chinese 5 spice), and bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes, or until soft and lightly browned.

Cook some whole wheat pasta or asian noodles according to package directions.  Drain and set aside.

Beat together:  1/4 c. tamari (soy) sauce, 1/2 c. water, 1 T. honey, 1 T. cornstarch, and a few drops of fish sauce, until smooth.  Place immediately into a small pan or pot and heat until it starts to thicken.  Add the noodles, eggplant and zucchini and toss together. 

Add a drizzle of sesame oil and a couple tablespoons of sesame seeds (toasted, white, brown or black) and serve immediately.  You can also add some scallions for garnish and flavor.

Tomorrow I have to choose between the laundromat and the really fancy farmers' market at MPC...you guess which I pick.  Until then, I'll see you --- well, you guess where!

Coming tomorrow: Sesame eggplant

I'm on an Asian/Indian kick this week.  I love that sweet-and-salty, soft eggplant over rice. . .and I'll be here with the scoop tomorrow night!  Til then, I'll see you at the market!

Herb Salad

Hi there,

So last night I found myself with a surplus of fresh herbs - thyme, basil, Italian flat-leaf parsley, and oregano.  I also had a good-sized portion of arugula, thanks to my boss' garden.  I tore up just the leaves of the herbs and tossed them with the arugula.  Then I sliced a fresh, ripe tomato onto the plate and just before serving, tossed all the greens with a little olive oil and red wine vinegar.  I placed them on top of the tomato with a little salt and pepper and voila - a very tasty salad.

I also had some wonderful sand dabs, thanks to Frank's Fish Market on Market Street - delicious and great for someone on a budget.  He did all the hard work of cleaning them - and then I sauteed them and served them on top of the salad and tomato.  Delicious!!

Until next time, I'll see you at the market!

Julia Didn't Tell Me. . .

Hi all,

I'm making boeuf bourguignon according to Julia Child's recipe and guess what?  She has you saute a sliced carrot and sliced onion, and then never says when to put them back in.  It's right there on pp. 316 - 317.  This is sort of a signature recipe from the movie "Julie and Julia" and is anecdotally, at least, one of the reasons Mastering the Art of French Cooking got published in the first place, so you think they'd want to get that right. . .

Operating on the theory that the reason you cook the pearl onions and mushrooms separately and add them at the last minute is so the wine doesn't turn them purple, I decided to hold the sliced regular onions and carrots until the end, too.

It's strange, both my sister and I have made this recipe a half-dozen times between us - and neither of us ever noticed it before.  (I called her to confirm that I was not losing my mind and that the instruction really was missing.)  Here's hoping!  Until next time, I'll see you at the market!

Stack up the eggplant!

Hi all,

I can't believe the bounty at the farmers' market these days!   Beautiful heirloom tomatoes, eggplant in every shape and size, melons, peaches, sweet nectarines...what's a girl to do???  Fortunately, not much.  The flavor that's packed into the produce means you have to do very little to it -- if anything at all!

May I suggest some eggplant and tomato stacks?  If you like eggplant parmigiana, you'll like this very fresh version of it as well.  Slice the eggplant horizontally into pieces about 1/4 - 1/2" thick.  Lay them in a colander, salt them fairly heavily (you'll wash most of it off) and put a bowl on top of them.  Fill the bowl either with canned goods or water and let the whole thing sit in the sink to drain for 30 minutes or so. 

Take the eggplant slices out and rinse thoroughly, then pat dry.  At this point you can either brush or toss them with olive oil and grill them on both sides until they're soft, or you can sautee them in some olive oil until lightly browned on both sides.

Slice a ball of fresh mozarella cheese (preferably at room temperature) into thin rounds.  Slice a tomato (or 2 or 3, depending on how big your eggplant is) into rounds horizontally as well.  Get some fresh basil and just stack the ingredients up on a plate - a layer of eggplant, then tomato, then cheese and so on, until you have anywhere from 6-9 layers per person.  Tear the basil up and sprinkle it over the stack, along with some very good quality olive oil and a few drops of red wine or balsamic vinegar - and dig in!  This dish not only tastes good, it looks very pretty on the plate.  It's a great appetizer or side salad.

Mangia!  Until next time, I'll see you at the market!

Purslane

Hi there,

One of this blog's original purposes was to help people figure out what those "weird" farmers' market ingredients were, and what to do with them.  Today I'm featuring purslane - which is somewhere between a green and an herb.  I bought some at the MPC Farmers' Market last week from Four Sisters Farm, in Aromas, CA. 

It's got small, round leaves on a fairly crispy stem that gets tougher as it gets thicker.  The little leaves are very lemony and tart when it's very fresh.  I've noticed after a few days in the fridge, the flavor is less pronounced.  I would be most likely to chop it up very finely and put it into a vinaigrette or a salad, or to use it as a garnish with seafood.  It is definitely tasty and something you'll want to add to your culinary repertoire when it's available.

Until next time, I'll see you at the market!

It's been one of those weeks. . .

Hi all,

If I could tell you about some of the stuff I had to deal with this week . . . well, it's probably no worse than anything you had to deal with!  But on Friday I got to go to the MPC Farmers' Market and buy some Corralitos Sausage (one package of ostrich and one of venison) and Tassajara steak. 

And on Thursday I stopped by Frank's in Salinas and bought some clams and fresh shrimp.  I started some black japonica rice in the cooker.  Then I diced up some really pretty peppers and zucchini (red, green and yellow), and when the rice was just about finished, I tossed them into a pan with hot olive oil and let them cook until they were soft.  I added the shrimp and clams along with about 1/2 cup of vermouth.  After letting the alcohol bubble off for a couple of minutes, I lowered the heat and covered the pan. 

Within 5 minutes the shrimp were cooked perfectly and the clams were all open.  Of course they all opened - they came from Frank's!  I finished the dish by putting the peppers and seafood on top of the black rice with a sprinkling of red pepper flakes.  Delicious!  And the shrimp brought enough salt to the dish that no additional seasoning was necessary.

If you're unfamiliar with shellfish cookery, a clam, oyster or any other shellfish that won't close its shell when you tap on it lightly (this is before cooking, of course) is dead and should not be added to the pot.  Once they are cooked, their shells should be open.  Anything that doesn't open should also be discarded.  I have read recipe-writers who disagree with the latter notion, saying that those are the healthiest shellfish because they're the strongest, but having had food poisoning, I'm sticking with what I know.

As far as shrimp go, please devein them before you cook them, or else buy them deveined.  Running down a shrimp's back is something euphemistically referred to as a "vein".  It's not.  It's the digestive tract, and what's in it is exactly what you'd think.  Gross.  Shrimp are cooked when they form the shape of the letter "C" and are no longer gray and transluscent, but white and pink. 

What is black japonica rice?  Here's the description (from the Lundberg Family Farms website):  A Gourmet Field Blend of Black & Mahogany Rice

Lundberg Family Farms proudly presents Black Japonica, a unique field blend of medium grain black and short grain mahogany rice. This delicious, healthful, whole grain rice is grown in California's fertile Sacramento Valley.

I hope you'll give seafood a try soon.  If you're in an area where you can get fresh seafood, you owe it to those who can't to eat some for them!  Until next time, I'll see you at the market!

Compound Interest

Hi there,

Last night I had some terrifically fresh corn on the cob with real, honest-to-goodness butter.  (Please don't call the health police; it's not something I do often.)  Actually, I made a compound butter, which is nothing more than butter mixed with chopped herbs.

The only problem with compound butter is that whenever you look up a recipe for it, the darned recipe starts with a whole stick of butter.  It assumes you're making steak for 8 and want to put a nice, thick disk of butter on top of each portion.  Not a bad thing, as eating steak goes. . .but what if there are just one or two of you dining this evening?

Simple.  You chop off as much butter as you want (1 T. per person's a good start) and let it soften at room temp.  Chop up some herbs - as much or as little as you want.  I used cilantro and ground chipotle pepper, but if you were making salmon, for example, you could use dill, minced shallots and lemon zest.  Mash the herbs into the butter with a fork, put it into an appropriately-sized container or wrap it in cellophane and chill until hard.  When your dinner's ready, take it out and put it onto the food.  It's pretty, it melts, it's delicious, and it's a little something special you can do for yourself and your honey - or just for yourself!.  I hope you try it soon, and until next time, I'll see you at the market.