By polina, on July 13th, 2012% What’s good at the market right now
- Summer squashes. I know, we’ll all get tired of them by the end of July, and will try to unload the surplus on the neighbors and friends. But right now they are exciting, new, fresh, tasty, and come in many varieties. Slice them thin for a salad, or grill them, sauté them, stuff them, make pancakes and tarts with them.
- Tomatoes. The larger heirloom varieties are not really ready yet, and the cherries, Early Girls, and beefsteak tomatoes rule the market. Pasta with fresh tomatoes or a tomato sauce, tomato and bread salad, roasted pepper and tomato soup. Or just eat out of hand with a little sea salt. Smaller Early Girls and plum tomatoes can be selected to match the size of Japanese eggplant and zucchini to make a dramatic stacked ratatouille.
- Eggplant: king of the grill. Slice thin lengthwise, grill on lightly oiled grill (don’t oil the eggplant slices, they will absorb all the oil in a moment, and the surface will be dry again). Marinate grilled eggplant with balsamic vinegar, garlic, and olive oil; or wrap herbed goat cheese in grilled eggplant slices; or blend with tahini paste, olive oil, and roasted garlic for baba ganoush, a classic Mediterranean spread.
- Corn. White, yellow, bi-color, and all other colors. Grill.
- Stone fruits: peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, pluots. Eat straight, blend in shakes and gelato, bake, make preserves, create sweet and spicy sauces for chicken and pork, serve as part of a cheese board… Possibilities are endless.
- Figs. Love. Just eat them. Eat them from a tree with your hands; wash them and eat them with a fork; split them and stuff with goat cheese, honey, and black pepper; wrap them in prosciutto; wrap them in bacon and grill; add them to a lamb roast; slice them into a fruit salad. Just eat them, they will be gone too soon.
- Melons and watermelons. They are just beginning to appear, and when sliced and chilled, they compliment the July weather like nothing else. I also love slices of green-fleshed melons with prosciutto.
- California king salmon. We are in the middle of the salmon season, the prices are as “reasonable” as they will get, and the fish that was caught today is usually available – this is what’s important when buying fish. This fish has great flavor and texture, and requires very little adornment. A suggest grilling, pan-frying, or poaching it, then serving it with basil oil, homemade aioli, gremolata, chimichurri, or yogurt-dill sauce.
- California white sea bass is a better choice environmentally than Chilean sea bass, and almost as good. Grill.
- Santa Barbara spot prawns. If you can afford them, grill them life, and eat with a squeeze of lemon.
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Location:San Francisco Bay Area
By polina, on June 6th, 2012% 
It’s California king salmon season! Everyone here is excited about our local salmon. The market price reflects this excitement – the whole fish goes at $10.99 a pound, and fillets are $17.99 a pound. Bu the glorious fish is totally worth it, and we can afford it once a year, right?
The fishermen bring the salmon in early in the morning, it hits the Bay Area stores a couple of hours later, and then you have to catch it the second time: it’s usually gone by noon.
This morning I caught about 1.5 pounds of the freshest local king salmon fillets at Sigona’s Farmers Market in Redwood City. I cut it into 6-ounce portions, and made a healthy version of the classic salmon with dill sauce for 4.
Salmon with Dill Sauce
Serves 4
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
4 salmon fillets, skin on
Salt, pepper
6 oz plain Greek yogurt
1 small bunch fresh dill, finely chopped
2 strips of lemon rind, yellow part only, cut with vegetable peeler, very finely chopped
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt
Heat olive oil and butter in a large non-stick skillet. Season salmon fillets with salt and pepper. Place fillets flesh side down in the skillet; let them sizzle without disturbing for 2-3 minutes. Using a large spatula, carefully turn the fish over. Cook for 2-3 minutes more, or until just cooked through but still juicy.
Mix yogurt, dill, lemon rind and lemon juice. Season to taste.
Spoon the sauce over the fish, garnish with lemon slices and dill sprigs.
Other ideas for cooking your local fresh salmon:
Poach it. Prepare court bouillon with white wine, lemon, black peppercorns, carrots, celery, parsley, onion, bay leaf, and enough water to cover the fish, in a deep sauté pan. Simmer 20-25 minutes to extract the flavor from the vegetables, season to taste. Remove and discard the vegetables. Place the fish fillets in the court bouillon skin side down. Simmer until just cooked, about 10 minutes, more or less depending on the thickness of the fish. Serve in soup bowls, with strained court bouillon and julienned blanched carrots and celery.
Grill it. Season the fillets with salt and pepper, brush with olive oil. Grill on preheated medium grill until just cooked, 6-8 minutes, turning (carefully, with a large spatula) once.
Here grilled king salmon is served with grilled yellow squash and a sauce of fava beans with tarragon and lemon.
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Location:Redwood City, CA
By polina, on October 18th, 2011% 
Good bye, summer!
They are probably the last ones of the season, and I’ll miss them terribly. But at this weeks farmers market an almost six-pound bag of slightly overripe organic heirloom tomatoes was $5, and they were of absolutely beautiful, sunny orange and red varieties. I had to take them home, and now everything I eat has tomato sauce on it. I also put away a couple of bags of tomato confit in the freezer for later.
Tomato confit
Makes a lot
1/2 cup olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
10 cloves garlic, peeled
5 sprigs oregano
5 sprigs thyme
5 pounds ripe (or slightly overripe, undamaged) tomatoes, or as many as you can fit in your roasting pan, cored
Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cover the bottom of a roasting pan with olive oil, spread onion, garlic, and herbs in the pan. Place tomatoes on top of onion mixture, stem side down, fitting them close together. Season with salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Bake about one hour, or until tomatoes char on top and blister. Let cool a little. Remove oregano and thyme. Puree vegetables in blender, working in batches, adding liquid from the bottom of the pan as needed. Store in a refrigerator, or freeze in locking bags or in ice cube trays. Use on pastas, eggs, beans, thin with stock to make tomato soup, braise fish fillets in it, or make my simple version of a vegetable terrine, while eggplants and bell peppers are still in season, and the weather is grill-friendly.
Terrine of grilled eggplant and fire-roasted peppers with tomato confit
Makes 1 4-cup container
2 bell peppers
3 small Italian eggplants
Olive oil for grilling
Salt, pepper
2 cups tomato confit
2 bags unflavored gelatin
Preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Place peppers on the hottest part of the grill, char on all sides, turning occasionally, until almost all the skin blackens. Place in a covered container and leave until cool enough to handle.
Slice eggplants lengthwise 1/4 inch thick. Brush with olive oil, season generously with salt and pepper. Remember that the vegetables will be served cold, so stronger seasoning will help them shine. Grill, turning once or twice, until soft and nice grill marks are created.
When peppers are cool enough to handle, remove the skins – they should slide off easily – and cores and seeds. Work over a bowl to catch the juices. Slice peppers lengthwise.
Line 4-cup Pyrex container, loaf pan, or terrine with plastic wrap. Put a layer of eggplant slices on the bottom, with the best grill marks facing down – this will be the top of the finished terrine. Top with a layer of peppers. Repeat, finishing with a layer of eggplant, with the best grill marks facing up, in case you decide to serve the terrine in the mold.
Divide tomato confit into two roughly equal portions. Bring one to almost boil, add any pepper juices to it. Sprinkle gelatin on cool confit, let sit two minutes. Add hot confit, mix well. Pour tomato-gelatin mixture over the vegetables in the mold. Pierce in a few places with a bamboo skewer, to let the tomato flow under and around the vegetables. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Turn the terrine over to a cold plate, remove the mold and plastic, slice to show the colorful layers, and serve with more tomato confit, if desired.
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Location:San Rafael, CA
By polina, on September 8th, 2011% 
It was an unusually cold summer here in The Bay Area. Oysters love it. Grapes, figs, and tomatoes don’t. The tomato season starts late this year, but finally the tomatoes have arrived: colorful cherry tomatoes for snacks, ripe delicious heirloom varieties for slicing into salads, and super-ripe cooking tomatoes for sauces and stews. If you plan to cook the same day, you can get excellent overripe tomatoes at the farmers market for next to nothing. I paid 39 cents a pound last weekend. It’s time to make tomato sauce, enjoy it fresh now, and freeze or can some for later.
Here is my basic recipe. After the sauce is done, you can add some sugar if you want a sweeter taste, or vinegar for more tartness. The tomatoes I got had such a perfect flavor that no sugar or vinegar were needed.
You can take this sauce in different directions adding carrots, celery, fennel or fennel seeds, basil, sage, oregano, red pepper flakes, dried mushrooms, red wine, or using yellow tomatoes for a different flavor and beautiful golden color. Just make sure that the tomatoes are super-ripe.
Tomato sauce
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
3 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped
3 lb very ripe tomatoes
Splash white wine
2 bay leaves
4-5 thyme sprigs
Salt, pepper, wine vinegar, brown sugar to taste
Heat oil in a large pan. Add onions, cook until tender, 7-8 minutes. Add garlic, cook 1 more minute. Chop tomatoes; if the tomatoes are so ripe that they fall apart, just core them carefully, then squeeze with your hand over the pan; add tomatoes, white wine, bay and thyme to the pan. Reduce heat; simmer until tomatoes start falling apart, about 30 minutes. Adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper, sugar, and vinegar. For a very smooth sauce, pass through a fine strainer, pressing with a spoon; discard the solids left in the strainer. For a courser, rustic texture, puree the whole thing in blender.
Here are a few simple recipe ideas to use with your homemade tomato sauce:
- Heat up the tomato sauce in a microwave or in a pan, toss with cooked spaghetti, top with shaved parmesan.
- Simple meat sauce: Brown 1 pound ground beef, or half beef and half pork sausage, in olive oil, breaking up with a spoon. Season with salt and pepper. Add tomato sauce, reduce heat to low, simmer for 1 hour. Serve over cooked penne, top with parmesan.
- Simple eggplant parmesan: Slice eggplant 1/2-inch thick lengthwise, sprinkle with salt, let sit 10 minutes, wipe with paper towels. Sautee eggplant slices in olive oil, or grill, until tender and golden. In a baking dish, layer eggplant slices, tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella; repeat; top with more tomato sauce and shaved parmesan. Bake in 400-degree oven 10-15 minutes, until the cheese bubbles and is golden on top.
- Marinated cod appetizer: Sautee cod fillets in a large pan in olive oil. Remove to a glass container. Add more oil to the pan, sautee sliced onions until transparent; add minced garlic, cook one minute more; add sliced red bell peppers, season with salt and pepper, cook until the peppers are soft. Top the cod with sauteed vegetables and tomato sauce, refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or overnight. Serve cold or at room temperature.
- Use tomato sauce to top chicken, beef or vegetable stews, grilled salmon, omelets, toasts, sausages.
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Location:San Carlos Ave,San Carlos,United States
By polina, on August 23rd, 2011% 
On a beautiful August day, when summer vegetables look their best and the vineyards are heavy with grapes getting ready for the harvest, Kendall-Jackson winery invited a local nature photographer Leagh Wachter to teach a photography class in their extensive vegetable garden and on the demo vineyard. The garden photography class was designed for those who are not content with just sipping wine and sampling fruits and vegetables, but who also want to capture their beauty. Of course, I am one of them! Having found out about the class at the last moment, I managed to get in.
I said it was a beautiful August day. Well, it was a good day for photography: the morning fog lifted a little by 9 am, but the sun never came out; it remained overcast (and cold!) all morning, giving us perfect diffused light for the duration of the class.
I arrived partially frozen in my convertible, and was greeted, together with other students, by Leagh, winery’s estate manager Robin, and Jack the cat, who, despite his impressive size, moves very fast, and is difficult to convince to pose for a picture. It wasn’t a wildlife photography class after all.
Behind the tasting room, on the outdoor patio, the kitchen staff had just started fire in their pizza oven. Later on I watched the chef taking temperature of the oven – it was 880 degrees then. In the morning it was just hot enough to help thaw my frozen fingers in front of the wood fire.
The day started with a sip of Kendall-Jackson new partially un-oaked Chardonnay, Avant, which they pare with fried green tomatoes topped with goat cheese, to highlight the tart and creamy aspects of the wine.
Then Leagh gave us a short lecture on specifics of outdoor lighting, sharing tips on when to shoot (early morning and early evening light are the best), how to select the light angle, use a diffuser (a cardboard frame filled with semi-transparent parchment paper) to tame harsh afternoon light, and a sheet of white paper held in front of the subject to fill in. He handled us printouts illustrating the same subjects photographed in different lighting, with different depth of field, and different composition.
After that all 25 of us, with our iPhones, point-and-shoot cameras and SLRs, were released to roam the garden and the vineyard. Leagh would go from one student to another, giving advise and ideas what to try.
Two hours later, we gathered for another wine and food pairing. The winery’s culinary staff pair their Monterey county Pinot Noir with brick oven pizzas with roasted tomatoes, either vegetarian Margherita, or topped with sausages, artichokes, and mushrooms.
Kendall-Jackson people are obsessed with heirloom tomatoes. Half of the vegetable garden is taken by 175 varieties of them, arranged by color, and the next weekend they have their annual heirloom tomato festival. Sadly, this cold year was not the best for tomatoes. Most of them, except the cherry varieties, are just beginning to turn colors. The rest of the garden is organized by flavor profile, grouping together vegetables, fruits, and herbs that would compliment the same wine.
After the class some of us went for a complimentary wine tasting that the winery threw in with the class, others continued experimenting with picturing vegetables and grapes.
It felt like a very relaxing experience, and i was delighted by the opportunity to see and picture my favorite foodstuffs in their natural setting, but I was nearly exhausted after all the hours of hauling my heavy zoom camera around, kneeling, crawling, bending and twisting, trying to get close-up and the best angle.
Now I am looking forward to the next class in fall, when the vines will turn colors. Please, don’t let it rain then!
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Location:Santa Rosa, CA
By polina, on July 26th, 2011% 
This simple cold soup is the symbol of summer. Its taste depends entirely on the quality of the vegetables. Only at the peak of the summer you can get the super-ripe, sweet, aromatic tomatoes, delicate Persian cucumbers that do not require peeling or seeding – the entire cucumber is delicious, – and juicy, tasty bell peppers.
When I don’t have all the ingredients in my garden, I go to the favorite growers at the farmers market, and try to get a taste before I buy. If each vegetable tastes perfect, they will blend into a delicious refreshing bowl of soup.
Gazpacho
Serves 4
1 large or 2 small bell peppers, seeded
2 medium ripe tomatoes
3 Persian cucumbers, unpeeled
1 Maui onion
3-4 clove garlic
2 cups tomato juice
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt, pepper, sherry vinegar – to taste
Basil, parsley, or other herbs, to garnish
Chop all vegetables. Combine with tomato juice. Puree in blender, working in batches; I like to leave some chunks for more interesting texture. Season with olive oil, sherry vinegar, salt and pepper. Refrigerate 2-3 hours. Garnish with herbs and serve.
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By polina, on July 22nd, 2011% Check out my posts on grilling everything in my personal food blog, “…and then we eat”:
Vegetables
Chicken
Rabbit
Fish
Steaks, lamb, pork, shellfish, burgers, pizza, and fruits coming soon.
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Location:San Rafael, CA
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