Summer Ceviche

Ceviche with Avocado and Tomato Broth

Serves 4, approximately

1          pound white fish halibut, red snapper, sole,
2         teaspoons mild or hot pepper
2          tablespoons cilantro, minced
1          tablespoon shallot, minced
1          large rib celery, cut into a small dice
1          medium tomato, cut into the same size as the fish, squeeze out the seeds
1/2      cup freshly squeezed lime juice, or enough to cover ingredients
1          splash olive oil

Tomato Broth

1          slice white bread
1          can whole tomatoes, with juice
1          cucumber, peeled, rough chopped
1          small shallot, rough chopped
1          cup tomato juice
1          tablespoon red wine vinegar
1       tablespoon olive oil
1          pinch garlic powder
Salt and pepper
1       pinch sugar

To Serve:
2 Haas avocadoes, peeled, cut in half, pit removed
1 lemon or lime zested

cilantro sprigs, for garnish

Ceviche:

Chop the white fish into small dice, add to a mixing bowl and set aside.

Clean the pepper of stems, seeds and ribs and mince into a fine dice. You may want to wear glove to do this.

Mix all ingredients together well; making sure it’s all covered by the lime juice and olive oil. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Tomato Broth:

Place the bread into the bowl of a food processor and process until you have coarse crumbs. Add remaining ingredient and process until pureed. Chill for 30 minutes before serving.

Ladle some tomato broth into a cup or bowl. Place avocado into center of bowl, place ceviche into the center and top wit

What do you do with all those Tomatoes?

8 / 19 / 1412 / 3 / 14

There are many ways to save your harvest and if you have more tomatoes than you know what to do with here are some ideas.

First and foremost is water bath canning, I love this because it means that I can store tomatoes on the shelf in my pantry for the year. Fairly easy to do but when it’s hot and humid out like it has been this summer FORGET IT!

As many of you already know, I like to freeze my tomatoes also so later when it’s cool I can make sauce or unfreeze and can them to make more room in the freezer for up and coming dinners. Freezing tomatoes is the fastest way to get things done, wash, and dry then freeze on a baking sheet until frozen solid, pop into a freezer bag and you are done for the day! You can remove one or four at a time, whatever you need and as they begin to defrost, which is almost right away, the skin will slip off easily.

My second favorite is to make Oven Roasted Tomatoes, although it does require having the oven on for some length of time. I love to dry my cherry tomatoes and then float them in a good olive oil and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 months. Chopped in a salad, in a bruschetta or top on a pizza, they pack a flavorful punch. Fill up your baking sheet and get started right away!

Oven Roasted Tomato Recipe

What To Do with all those Luscious Summer Peaches!

7 / 30 / 1412 / 4 / 14

Oh all those beautiful rosy peaches from the farmers market! They smell like summer and I don’t know about you but I wait all year for them to show up!
I have a peach tree but that in no way yields enough peaches to satisfy my sweet tooth. Seasonal peaches are available in California from June to Sept.. Peaches from other parts of the world are usually picked hard and mostly premature and will never develop that sweet summer flavor.

The following is part of the prologue to David Mas Masumoto’s book ‘Epitaph for a Peach’, he is talking about the Sun Crest peach but I think it reflects all good peaches. “Sun Crest is one of the last remaining truly juicy peaches. When you wash that treasure under a stream of cooling water, your fingertips instinctively search for the gushy side of the fruit. Your mouth waters in anticipation. You lean over the sink to make sure you don’t drip on yourself. Then you sink your teeth into the flesh and the juices trickle down your cheeks and dangle on your chin. This is a real bite, a primal act, a magical sensory celebration announcing that summer has arrived. “ That sounds like a juicy summer peach to me, what about you?

Choose peaches that yield slightly to pressure, hard fruit isn’t ripe and though it will get softer, it won’t get tastier. Peaches need to develop flavor and sweetness while still hanging on the tree, color will vary with peach varieties but avoid peaches that show any sign of green. Smell the peach for sweetness and you’ll be fine.

Peaches should be kept at room temperature until soft and then refrigerated but don’t wait too long to eat them or they’ll over ripen.

I find it pretty easy to peel a ripe peach with a sharp paring knife or you can blanch in boiling water for a few seconds, don’t over do or you’ll start to cook the fruit flesh.

Here’s my favorite cobbler recipe that I pieced together from two different recipes that I love. One from my favorite boysenberry pie and the cobbler batter from Marcy Masumoto’s ‘French Peach Cobbler’ recipe in the Masumoto Families new book, The Perfect Peach: Recipes and Stories from The Masumoto Family Farm.

Peach Cobbler

Filling

4          cups peeled, chopped fresh peaches
1 cup sugar, approximately
¼ cup cornstarch
pinch sea salt
1          teaspoon cinnamon
1/3      cup Grand Marnier
1          tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Batter

½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3      cup sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon sea salt
2          tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1          egg, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 375°. Butter a 9” square baking pan and set aside.

Filling:

Add peaches to a medium sized bowl and toss gently with sugar. Depending on how sweet the peaches are, add more or less sugar.

In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch, sea salt, cinnamon and Grand Marnier. Toss the peaches with the cornstarch mixture and lemon juice.

Add the filling to the prepared pan.

Batter:

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and sea salt, mix well. Add the butter and egg, stir together until the batter is smooth.

Drop the batter by spoonfuls onto the fruit mixture and bake 40 – 45 minutes or until bubbly and golden.

Remove from oven and cool before serving.

Gazpacho with Avocado

6 / 25 / 1412 / 3 / 14

Gazpacho

Serves 2-4

1 small red onion
2 small cucumbers
2 ribs celery
1 small jalapeno, optional
1 roasted red bell pepper
6 medium tomatoes
1 cup French bread, cut into cubes and soaked in a little water
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 lemon, zested
1 Tablespoon lemon juice, to taste
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½ Hass avocado, chopped

Rough chop the vegetables and add to a blender, for a chunkier texture process in a food processor instead of a blender.

Squeeze the water from the French bread cubes and add to a blender along with the vegetables. Add olive oil and vinegar and blend to a puree. Season with salt, pepper (if needed), lemon juice, zest and Worcestershire sauce. Refrigerate over night for best flavor.

To serve, check for seasoning again before pouring into a bowl. Garnish the top of the soup with the chopped avocado.

Goes very well with a nicely toasted slice of cheesy garlic bread.