Hodgepodge

Tonight's dinner is a hodgepodge from the farmer's market, which includes: a vegetable salad with Asian dressing, a goat cheese, tomato and basil tart and chilled beet soup.

The salad is not especially exciting except that it is made up entirely of vegetables from the farmer's market.
Farmer's Market Salad
-spinach
-carrots
-yellow cherry tomatoes
-cucumbers
-peanuts
Asian Dressing
-2 TB honey
-2 TB soy sauce
-2 TB
-2 Tsp grated fresh ginger
-1/2 tsp sesame oil
-4 TB canola oil


For the Goat Cheese, Basil and Tomato tart, I did the following:
Used a refrigerated pie crust--put into pie pan and cooked on 350 for 10 minutes. Then sliced an 8 oz log of herb coated goat cheese into medallions. Spread the medallions around the tart. Sliced 4 med tomatoes into wedges and spread them atop the goat cheese medallions. Chopped a handful of basil and sprinkled it over the tomatoes. Crumbled more goat cheese and added it to the top.

Seared Ahi Tuna and Microgreens Salad with Lemon Infused Daikon Red Onion Slaw

I made this dish a few weeks ago though I didn't have any daikon; otherwise, I stuck pretty close to the reipce.

I googled microgreen recipes after purchasing Spicy Asian Microgreens at the South of the James Farmer's market. The following website--the Monteray Bay Farmer's Market--was a cool find.

http://www.edibleparadise.com/main-courses/68-fish-and-seafood/186-seared-ahi-and-micro-greens-salad-with-lemon-infused-daikon-red-onion-slaw.html

The tuna came from the Yellow Umbrella Seafood (Richmond, Virginia), which is by far the best seafood in town. All in all, a good and refreshing summer recipe.

Homemade Mayo and Tomato Sandwiches

I plan on eating a tomato sandwich every day this week. From the Farmer's market, I got heirloom tomatoes, Hanover tomatoes and yellow cherry tomatoes. Tomato overload? I think not. Like soft shell crabs, one should eat as many as humanly possibly while they are in season. For those of you who are not privy to the pleasures of a tomato sandwich, all that is needed is: bread, tomatoes, mayo and salt and pepper. Real mayo is underrated and so simple to make. My mother gave me this recipe last year. Here's how you do it.

HOMEMADE MAYO
In a Cuisinart combine
-1 egg, raw
-1/2 tsp dijon mustard
-1/8 tsp salt
-1 TB lemon juice
Blend well. Then through the blender hole while blending add
-3/4 cup of canola oil. Blend well.

Done. Simple and delicious. This will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. This time, I added fresh tarragon from my herb garden. I imagine just about any herb could only enhance the mayo. Perhaps, I'll try basil and garlic next time...
And yes, this mayo contains raw eggs. If I write another post, you will know that Salmonella did not kill me.

South of the James Farmer's Market

Another beautiful summer morning spent at the South of the James Farmer's Market. I got there early to beat the crowds and was home by 9 o'clock with bags of fresh produce--which got me really excited. So excited, in fact, that I decided to start a blog about cooking, eating local, etc. I choose the name because I could not think of anything better, and the whole process was taking too long. I decided to pick a vegetable lying on the kitchen counter. "Pea shoots" is what I first tried, but would you believe that someone already has a blog with that title?

If you are reading this, don't expect much. I will try to stick to said topics and not digress into negative tirades on other topics like our country's terrible maternity care, how rude people can be and things of that nature. Oh, and I get interrupted by a 2.5 year old or 31 year-old about every 3 minutes, which has already made this a bit trying. I'll probably write about books or wine some--two of my favorite topics-- in addition to food.