This is an interesting time of year — the last of the summer bounty is at its ripe best, while fall produce is just starting to poke its head out. It’s a seasonal transition that offers so many creative opportunities for chefs. Hurry up .and order your favorites shipped right to your front door from The Chef’s Garden, just like the finest restaurants in the world do. I was happy to be hosted to experience it!
Toy Box tomatoes are smaller tomatoes in a wide variety of shapes and colors, including red, green, white, orange, pink, yellow and striped. They do have different flavors, ranging from sweeter to more vegetable. You can really use their appearances to craft an attractive cold dish.
Pineapple tomatillos are tangy, sweet and fruity little tomato-like creatures, great interspersed amongst tomatoes.
Corn this time off year is rich, concentrated and sweet — it almost tastes roasted! I don’t do the boil in milk thing, I keep it simple by nuking corn in its husk for 2 minutes. Take those cobs and stick them in freezer bags in the freezer! You can take a half dozen and make a rich tasting vegan stock.
Cucamelons are such an interesting veggie! They look like doll-sized watermelons, but you can bite through them, like a grape. They have a cucumber mixed with lime flavor.
Microgreens are just past sprouts lettuces and herbs: they add a mix of flavors and plenty of nutrition to your dishes.
I mixed all these things with just a couple drops of lime juice, a tiny bit of first pressed olive oil and a pinch of sea salt to make a great seasonal salad-verrine.
When I was in school, there was this chic, preppy regional restaurant chain called American Cafe’. It was certainly the place to go in Georgetown. They had a branch in Towson and one at the Inner Harbor. They served this chicken salad that seems like is everywhere, but it isn’t. A big part was the herbs. They presented it on a sliced croissant, which was the ne plus ultra back in the day. Baby fennel has a flavor like the tarragon they used to use. I had pecans, so I substituted then for their sliced almonds. I added micro super greens, a little green onion, seasoning salt and a very eggy mayo, then filled some lightly roasted baby bell peppers!
Just as I was wondering what to do with a collection of hot peppers — I believe they included habanero, serrano, Thai and other kinds — I read about an old recipe called “Caribbean Macaroni Pie”. It uses evaporated milk, just like in Key Lime Pie and other places where keeping milk fresh was historically a challenge. It also uses sharp mustard, which I always put in tuna noodle casserole. It’s a baked dish. I thought, “What’s more Caribbean than hot peppers?” They really add zip and baking them takes away some of the eye-wateringness.
There used to be a wonderful restaurant in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia that made me want to pick up and move there: Restaurant Eve. They had their own smokehouse upstairs! One time, my mom took me in a cab from Baltimore to there for fancy lunch. I had a “Tomato Water Bloody Mary” which was so light and refreshing, not like spicy ketchup in a glass. I found their recipe online and used Toy Box tomatoes, pineapple tomatillos and cucamelons! It was easy, but definitely needs overnight straining in the fridge. The combination I made was great! Don’t ruin the clarity of this drink with murky things like Worcestershire sauce. I used pepper vodka, so I wouldn’t even have to use hot sauce. I took the veggie pulp that was left over and threw it into another batch of Caribbean Macaroni Pie.
You know what’s crazy expensive these days? Veggie cream cheese! Forget it, make your own better. Know that name brand cream cheese is a proprietary recipe. If you use store brand, you may have to add a good hit of salt, maybe a drop or two of heavy cream. The hardest part is the fine chopping that can’t be done in a food processor: knife skills needed! I used hot pepper, baby fennel, cucamelon, micro supergreens from The Chef’s Garden, along with a bit of green onion and carrots. It’s terrific!
I added some fake caviar, which turned out to be the most expensive caviar EVER, as I was rear-ended on the way home, car totaled, injured. I toted my fake caviar all throughout first responder, towing, urgent care.
Since the weather is getting cooler, I wanted something a little hearty, without all roast beast and heavy starches. I used 4 colors of cauliflower, roasted them and prepared a meaty-mushroom gravy. The different colors really do have their own flavor profiles! Yellow is more buttery and sweet, purple tastes of nuts and herbs, green is vegetal and white is savory and herbal.
I wanted you to see the color and lusciousness of baby eggplants before cooking. I made Russian stuffed eggplants with ground beef, portabello mushrooms, white cheddar and walnuts. As a dipping sauce, I made tzaziki with Greek yogurt, a little lime juice as I was out of lemon juice, garlic, first pressed olive oil, cucamelons and micro super greens.
You can certainly enjoy French green beans (les haricot verts) raw or blanch them in boiling salted water for just a few seconds. I also incorporated a Toy Box tomato, pineapple tomatillos, sweet pepper in a Salade Nicoise.
Published by tamarmarcopolostyle — View all posts by tamarmarcopolostyle HERE
