Roasted Tomato Sauce with Serranos and Olives

Farmer and the Cook is my favorite place to stop for groceries for dinner.  The combination of surprise fresh ingredients from the farm, combined with the limited selection always constrains me just enough to create something new and unexpected.

(For a Vegetarian Version, use maybe Capers instead of anchovies and leave out the Worchestire Sauce)

1. Heat Oven to 400.  Core and Slice the amazing tomatoes in half and put on a cookie sheet. Rub olive oil on the faces and grind pepper on top.  Put in oven.  Start a pot of salted water and bring to a boil.

2. Meanwhile, mash up some cloves of garlic, mince up some anchovies and serranos.  Mash together into a paste.

3. Meanwhile, mince up some red onion and chop up some parsley.

4. Meanwhile, use a small knife to carve the flesh away from the pits of the delicious green french olives from the Paradise Pantry that you happen to have in your fridge.  (Olivia also has some homemade olives at FnC).

5. Meanwhile, toast some pine nuts.

6. When tomatoes seem done, remove from oven and pour into a bowl, mashing.  Heat olive oil in same pan you toasted the pine nuts in, and once hot, throw in the anchovy paste till fragrant (about a minute).  Pour mixture into tomatoes and stir.  Add some balsamic vinegar and a little Worchestire Sauce (this was the a surprise "thought" tonight).  Add the olives, onions and parsley and stir.

7. Put the egg tagliatelle pasta into the boiling water and cook for 4 minutes.  Drain and add to sauce.  Stir to combine.   Serve with pine nuts scattered on top.  We added Parmesan too.

Raw Corn Salad with Cherry Tomotoes and Avocado

Now that I am sober I am aware of how much of what I ate depended on how it went with red wine. Now what I make for dinner is pretty much only about what is available locally, as in local to my fridge.

After tonight's meeting I was right down the street from Farmer and the Cook, so I picked up some:

- golden cherry tomatoes
- 2 ripe avocados
- a bag of pre husked corn
- cilantro
- 2 jalepenos
- 3 limes
- some spelt tortillas
- some cheese
- some chips

All the produce was grown by Steve.

Obviously I was thinking quesadillas or just guacamole but when I got home eric said cheese sounded heavy.

So I made up a corn salad with the raw corn, halved cherry tomatoes, serranos olivia had given me the other day, red onion, cilantro, lime and salt.

Fried the tortillas up in olive oil.

Spooned the salad on top.
Sliced an avocado on top of each.
And put the last of the smoked salmon on top of that.

YUM.

Eggplant Tomato Custard

So i have been on an Ayurvedic cleanse for the last 4 weeks or so. Mostly I have been eating basmati rice cooked in ghee and Indian spices with a variety of vegetables, interspersed with kitchare.

Tonight was the first thing I cooked other than that. Inspired from a recipe from Deborah Madison's Green's Cookbook. I rarely cook eggplant. Eric cannot stand it. So I never buy it. But Steve gave me a CSA box the other day filled with it, so what's a dedicated local organic cook to do??

Also, I already had some tomato sauce made from roasted heirloom tomatoes with a little bit of garlic and lemon basil, so the dish was super easy.

1. If you do not already have tomato sauce made set the oven to 400. Core and half 3 to 5 heirloom tomatoes, depending on the size. Place Cut side up on baking sheet. Rub with Olive oil and grind fresh pepper. Roast for about 45 minutes, or until they look shiny and dry. Remove from oven and let cool a bit before handling.
2. In a large bowl, mash a clove or more of garlic, add tomatoes and mix. Rip up some of BD's amazing Lemon Basil and add to sauce. Add more olive oil and some balsamic vinegar.
3. Turn oven down to 350
4. Diagonally Slice up 2 or 3 your perfectly grown Japanese eggplant grown by Steve Sprinkle.
5. Heat some oil in pan and once hot, add the eggplant slices. Brown on both sides. Remove to a plate with paper towels to drain and cook remainder.
6. To assemble the gratin, spread some tomato sauce into the bottom of a pyrex or earthware dish. Tonight I used my 9" circular Pyrex dish cuz I was the only one eating it. (Again, eric hates eggplant). Layer with eggplant slices. Salt and Pepper. Grate some Gruyere cheese on top and scatter whole or sliced basil. Add another layer of eggplant, more cheese and more basil and then top off with tomato sauce.
7. To make the custard top, beat one egg with 1/2 cup of ricotta, a shy 1/3 cup of milk, grated Parmesan and saffron softened in hot water.
8. Pour custard on top of gratin and put in oven. I ended up baking it for about 50 minutes. Usually I set the oven for about 3/4 of the time I think it might take so I can check on it. Then add time. The custard top puffs, hardens and becomes a beautiful golden brown.

I ate it straight and liked it that way. To serve to a pal, might be nice to have a rocket citrus salad to compliment or to keep the heartiness, some rice would make it more dense.