Cooking North of Seattle - Archives

What's For Dinner? Fall 2011

Autumn vegetables are falling out of the bins at the local stands. Fresh sweet corn, chanterelle mushrooms, squashes of all shapes and sizes, chilies, potatoes, heirloom tomatoes all ready to be snapped up, taken home and cooked into amazing meals. This is the time of year when the produce from the Skagit Valley truly shines.

Chanterelle mushrooms are beautiful. They are an earthy yellow hue with delicately curled caps. Local mycologists seek them out on the forest floor and sell them through the farm stands. You have to cook them carefully, as they can get slimy really fast. So, high heat, no salt, just a touch of butter. I have several favorite recipes: a Wild Rice and Chanterelle Soup that is warm-you-to-your-toes hearty and a Mushroom Ragout with Paprika that is the perfect accompaniment to a nice hunk of beef. Or try Cream of Chanterelle Mushroom Soup for a light brothy soup chock full of mushrooms. If, like me, you love bread puddings you have to try Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding.

I have a passion for tomatoes. I love tomato sauces, tomato salads, tomato soups, tomato salsa, tomato slices in sandwiches or on burgers - you name it, if there are tomatoes in it, I love it! Consequently the main focus of my vegetable gardening has been to grow lots of tomatoes that I can use to make my ever expanding list of favorite dishes to make with garden tomatoes.

One of my favorite new recipes is for Creamy Fresh Tomato Soup. It has that hard-to-pinpoint taste that harks back to the tomato soup we all enjoyed as kids. Turns out the secret is a pinch of ground clove!

If you have never tried eggs poached in tomato sauce - you are in for a treat. Something about the flavors of egg yolks blending with stewed tomatoes just works!! Plan a Sunday breakfast and try this dish. It will surprise you!

For a great combination of flavors you can't beat tomatoes and goat cheese. Try the Tomato, Goat Cheese, and Onion Tart. It is beyond worth the time it takes to make! For a quick hit of tomatoes and goat cheese slice a couple tomatoes, crumble some goat cheese on top, drizzle with olive oil, tear a few basil leaves on top, salt, pepper and some good crusty bread. Delicious!

It isn't long into summer before fresh corn from the eastern side of the state arrives in the stands. But I really look forward to late summer when the corn is local, just-picked fresh and sweet as can be. Early in the season I enjoy simple preparations like steaming whole cobs or placing the husked cobs on the Bar-B-Que. Later on I start to get experimental. I will pull a crab out of the freezer, cut fresh corn kernels off the cobs and make a slightly Asian Crab and Corn Soup. So much flavor out of 8 simple ingredients, crab and corn have some special affinity for each other and this simple soup brings it out beautifully. For a slightly more complicated and richer soup I make Creamed Fresh Corn Soup. It has a South-of-the-boarder twist that is a natural for corn. But my absolute favorite thing to do with fresh corn is Polenta Corn Cakes. Light pancakes with a nice toothiness from the polenta that combines with the soft fresh corn kernels to bring out the sweet corn flavor.

The Recipes

Eggs in Tomato Sauce (Uova in Brodetto)

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Dried chili peppers, crushed
1 (28-ounce) can peeled plum tomatoes, pureed
8 eggs
4 ounces scamorza or mozzarella, sliced
6 fresh basil leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and add onion, garlic, and chili peppers. Gently fry ingredients together. Add pureed plum tomatoes to saucepan. Simmer on low to medium heat for 10 minutes. Season with salt, to taste.

Add the eggs, one at a time to different spots in the pan, allowing them to cook right in the sauce. Scatter the scamorza or mozzarella cheese on top. Simmer on low to medium heat, with lid on, for approximately 5 minutes. Remove the lid, and add the torn basil leaves at the very end. Season with salt and pepper, and serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings.

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