One Local Summer Week #3

"If you go into a situation with nothing planned, sometimes wonderful stuff happens." -Jerry Garcia

This weeks meal started with a wish for simplicity. I had just sent off the last of the out of town guests after a week of constant entertaining, and was looking for something no-fuss to prepare. Having missed my weekend trips to the farmers' markets, I woke up Wednesday planning to head to another neighborhood's farmers' market after work (Ocean Beach). I figured I'd just pick up whatever vegetables looked best, grab a dozen eggs and whip together a fritatta or a souffle and call it a meal.

That's when I picked up the Food and Wine and Bon Appetit issues that had arrived earlier in the week. All it took was one bus trip to work and my head was spinning with ideas. Simplicity flew out the window, creativity flew in right on cue to take its place. The result, I dare say, I'd stake my reputation on.

Instead of one simple fritatta, I picked out three recipes I wanted to try for dinner. (If you ask anyone who's been a dinner guest of mine, I can tend to get carried away preparing a meal; this was no exception.) All three were do-able with local ingredients, something I was pretty proud that I recognized before even making it to the market.

At the Ocean Beach market, I picked up a few staples and a few new, exciting finds. From Richie's Roasted Products (no website) I found air-roasted chiles--which were being roasted right before my eyes in the farmer's market stall. An ingenious contraption that looked a little like a bingo wheel was being turned by hand crank while three fire-spewing valves threw flames onto the contents of the revolving metal cylinder. Bright green chilies danced inside, tumbling atop one another like, well, bingo balls. I picked up a bag of pasillo peppers, enticed by the description of their nutty taste. A caveat here--the peppers are actually from Mexico, so not 100% local, but they were roasted right there in front of me!

I also found another source of potatoes (my favorite potato farmer having finished the season's crop already): Gama Farms in Fullerton and Arvinca. I couldn't resist the gorgeous baby yukon gold creamers, and, because the baby potatoes were $4 a pound, also picked up some larger, $2/lb, yukon golds to throw into the mix (my 20-year old brother and his bottomless stomach having consumed much of my food budget earlier in the week). I picked up a red onion from Milagro farm in Aguanca CA, some radishes and cilantro, some vibrant baby yellow tomatoes from Carlsbad, and was off to whip up my meal.

(that rather strange dark mass in the plastic bag is the roasted pasillo peppers)

Waiting for me at home was some leftover zucchini, some darling cipollini onions, and of course my potted herbs and "local pantry"--the cooking staples I had managed to stockpile so far: olive oil, honey, ginger, and jam. Oh, and the stash of frozen fish I had come home with last week.

My trip to Point Loma Seafoods last week had a delicious twist when I walked out the door. Set up on the pier was a long canopy, with a row of ice-filled coolers underneath. It was the World Famous Smoked Fish Co., a stand I recognized from my Sunday morning farmers market but that I had never stopped at. Curious, I went over, and started asking whether any of the fish for sale was local. Mark Stratton, manning the booth, could not have said sweeter words--not only was some of the fish local, all the local fish he had had been caught less than 24 hours ago. I walked away with my arms full of sea bass, yellowtail, and albacore, my mind swimming with future meal ideas.

Here's what I spun together for this week's meal:

grilled yellowtail & cipollini onion kebobs with ginger-chili marinade
Ok, this is the dish I'd stake my reputation on. I don't claim this that often, but one spoonful of the marinade and my tastebuds were blown away. I don't take credit for it--the stunning flavors of this marinade stem from the individual excellence of the local products I used, particularly the subtle smoky sweetness of the wildflower honey I have from Chrystal's Pure Honey in Borrego Springs, the slight tartness of Jackie's Jams Apricoty Jam, and the nutty roasted pasillo pepper from Richie's Roasted Products.

This recipe was based on a recipe from Bon Appetit's August issue, Tuna Kebobs with Ginger-Chile Marinade (The 13 Things You'll Make all Summer, p. 85). The original recipe called for rice vinegar, peanut oil, sesame oil, and soy sauce; to make it local I omitted the Asian ingredients and added local apricot jam. The result was a less liquidy marinade, almost like a wet rub, with the combination of sweet (jam, honey) and spicy (roasted pepper) creating a bewitching combination of flavors. The amount here is enough for two servings--it is easily doubled.

2 tbsp. grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. apricot jam
2 tbsp. honey
1/2 roasted pasillo pepper, diced
1 tbsp. cilantro, diced
fresh ground pepper
1/2 lb. fresh yellowtail, diced into 1" cubes
1 zucchini, sliced thick
10 small cipollini onions
1 tbsp. oil
salt
pepper

combine first 7 ingredients and mix well. set 2 tbsp. marinade aside

coat fish in remaining marinade; let sit, refrigerated, for 1/2 hour.
toss zuccini and onions in oil, salt, and pepper
thread fish cubes, onions, and zucchini slices onto skewers
grill kebabs over medium-high heat about 6 minutes.
brush reserved marinade over kebabs and serve

Nicoise Potato Salad
I again modified a recipe in Bon Appetit's August Issue (Farmers' Market Salad with Spiced Goat Cheese Rounds, page 79) to use what I had at hand. The salad, which is essentially a nicoise salad, featured steamed and chilled new potatoes and green beans tossed with kalamata olives, grape tomatoes, basil and salad greens. I omitted the salad greens, resulting in a potato salad of sorts that worked great as a side dish. For lunch the next day, I added a hard boiled egg (local) and some greens and converted the side dish into a suitable entree. The dressing was a simple dijon vinaigrette--red wine vinegar, shallot, fresh thyme, dijon mustard, and olive oil; it was the other component of my meal that was not local (although I do know a source for local balsamic vinaigrette).

Grilled Corn and Radish Salad with Spicy Lime Dressing
I found this recipe in Food and Wine's August Issue (Zesty Salads and More, page 106) and made only minor modifications. The original recipe called for raw corn; since I had the grill on for the fish kebabs I threw the corn on as well. The recipe also called for Italian parsley, cumin and a jalepeno; I used cilantro and a roasted pasillo pepper and omitted the cumin to keep the dish 100% local.