Pomegranate Season

 Pomegranate Seeds

Growing up in California, pomegranate season has always been a sign that summer is ending and fall is beginning.

Now that I live near a farm in Yuba County, I have been able to watch pomegranates grow, ripen and come into season over the past few months.  According to my local farmer, Lacie Robertston "they are ready now with the perfect balance of sweetness and tartness".

At the farm...

 Pomegranate buds in early August

Pomegranate in late August

 Pomegranate in September

It's late September and the pomegranates are ready now.  Besides just cracking them open and eating the seeds, we loves them in salads, too.  

Pear Salad with Blue Cheese, Walnuts and Pomegrantes

This beautiful fall salad by Georgeanne Brennan was inspired by a cheese plate.  Having just returned from vacationing in Oregon where we sampled a lot of cheese plates...I couldn't wait to make this salad.

  I made it today with just picked pomegranates and Barlett pears from local farms along with Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company's Original Blue.  I highly recommend spending the extra money to buy a really good blue cheese like Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese. (Locally both Raley's and Nugget Market carry it.)

You can find the recipe in the Williams-Sonoma book Salad of the Day by Georgeanne Brennan or here at this link on the Williams-Sonoma website:

Pear Salad with Blue Cheese, Walnuts and Pomegranates

I can't wait to make it again and try it with hazelnuts next time for a little more Oregon flair!


(Farm photos taken at Robertston Family Farm in Yuba County, CA)

I made a Crostata!

 Spiced Pluot Crostata

I had five gorgeous, deep purple pluots from the farmers' market ripening on the counter...

so I decided to make a crostata.  

I'm not really a pie baker, so I knew I would love making an easier rustic crostata.  If you don't already know, a crostata is just an open free-form tart similar to a French galette.  There are no special pastry skills required to make one...just a good crust recipe and fresh fruit! 

 Rustic Tart Crust 

I turned to Martha Stewart for my crostata crust recipe.  I wanted an old world Italian style crust and liked that Martha's had fine yellow cornmeal in it.  It was easier than pie to make!  

You mix everything in your food processor, of course, using really cold butter and really cold ice water.  The dough comes together magically in the the food processor.  Next you turn your dough out, knead it a few times and flatten it into a disc.  You wrap the disc in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least one hour.  Then you roll, fill and bake!

Spiced Pluot Crostata

For my filling:

1 1/2 lbs firm-ripe pluots, sliced (approx. 5-6 large pluots)

2/3 c. granulated sugar

3 T. corn starch

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. allspice

Combine the ingredients together until moistened.   Mound the pluot filling in the center of your dough right away.  Don't dillydally here.  I mixed my fruit and then rolled out my dough.  Those few extra minutes created a lot of juice in the pluot mixture.  Next time, I will roll out my dough first and then mix up my fruit filling.  

My other tip, is to have sanding sugar in your pantry to sprinkle on the crostata (after the egg wash) before you bake it.  I didn't have any so I used granulated sugar this time.

Thank you Martha for a wonderful rustic crust recipe.  Here's the link where you can find it:

Rustic Plum Tart

Fried Green Tomatoes

Green Tomatoes

Fried green tomatoes are a Southern thing.  Here in California though, I've been hearing a lot about fried green tomatoes.  My local farmer, Lacie Robertson tells me she has customers who are absolutely passionate about fried green tomatoes.  So I decided to give them a try and picked-up some green tomatoes from Lacie at a local farmers' market.  

The Southern way!

I'm not a Southern girl but I actually do have

some Southern roots.   My great grandfather hailed from Kentucky.  So I am thinking, I'm a little bit Southern after all.  And this means if you're going to make fried green tomatoes, you've got to make them the Southern way...which means you gotta use corn meal and a cast iron skillet!

I chose a Southern recipe for my batch by Food Network celebrities  Gina and Patrick Neely.  Like true Southerners, they recommend using hard green tomatoes.  I was amazed at how hard an unriped tomato actually is!

 I sliced my tomatoes into 1/4" slices and then seasoned them up with Nature's Seasoning.  Next they got battered up.  I liked that the Neely's recipe is traditional but updated.  Their breading is a traditional corn meal base combined with panko.  (I substituted Italian bread crumbs for the panko.)  The results were incredible...and my husband even liked them!

Tart & Tangy

So here you go y'all.  Here's the recipe link for fried green tomatoes.  And, after I made my batch, my Southern friend Ruth in Oklahoma (who loves fried green tomatoes) said

 "warning...you might start speaking with a Southern twang!"

Fried Green Tomatoes with Basil Mayonnaise

Tomatoes & Basil

Tomatoes and basil are one of my absolute favorite summer

combinations.  Both have been plentiful in our weekly CSA Produce Box from Robertston Family Farm.

Roasting Tomatoes

This month, I've been roasting a lot of tomatoes.  Even on hot summer days, I crank-up the oven to 400 degrees and roast tomatoes.  The kitchen gets really hot but it's worth it.  Roasting tomatoes really brings out their natural sweetness.  I normally roast them in extra-virgin olive oil (sprinkled with Kosher salt and course ground pepper) but recently roasted them in Sutter Buttes Traditional Aged Balsalmic Vinegar (a local company) and they were delicious served over pasta with a home-made pesto sauce. 

Conchiglie with Roasted Tomatoes

We loved this summer pasta dish!  I recently made Conchiglie with Roasted Tomatoes with a recipe from Williams-Sonoma.  (You really can't go wrong with their recipes.) Tomatoes and basil along with goat cheese were the stars in this dish.  It was easy to make and a dish worthy to serve to dinner guests.  Here's the link for the recipe:  Conchiglie with Roasted Tomatoes. Give it a try...I know you'll love it too!

Caprese Salad

It wouldn't be summer without Caprese Salad.  Vine-ripened tomatoes are so plentiful in our weekly CSA Produce Box that we've been enjoying a lot of Caprese Salads!  Sometimes I drizzle them with extra-virgin olive oil and sometimes with just a thick aged balsamic vinegar. To season the tomatoes, my grandmother always used Morton's Nature's Seasoning and that is what I use to season my Caprese Salads.  If you've never tried it, Nature's Seasoning is a seasoning blend of salt, pepper, onion, garlic, celery and parsley.  It is a fine blend which I like for presentation and it's not too salty tasting.  

(Farm photos taken at Robertson Family Farm in Yuba County, California)

Farm Tour

 Touring the Farm

I had the ultimate "farm to fork" experience yesterday...

My day began with a farm tour out at the Robertson Family farm with Lacie Robertson and her special guests, Chef Oscar and Manager Amy from Bistro 885 in Yuba City, California.  Lacie showed us around her bountiful farm garden and then she did a little pickin'.

Watermelon Limeade

Next we sat under the shade trees near the garden and Lacie fired up her grill for a bbq sampling of her Italian sausage, one ball squash, bell pepper and red onions.  I brought Watermelon Limeade for a refreshing beverage (made with watermelon from the farm and a recipe by Emeril) and Amy brought a delicious home-made Bumbleberry pie.  Yum!

Amy & Chef Oscar

After lunch and a nice visit, Chef Oscar and Amy left the farm with a sampling of Lacie's tomatoes, peppers, squash and a huge bouquet of basil.  Later that afternoon, I received a text from Chef Oscar that he was creating his dinner menu specials around Lacie's produce from the farm.  I immediately called my husband and asked "will you take me out to dinner?" 

 Here are a few photos of the menu specials that Chef Oscar created last night with the Robertson Family Farm tomatoes and basil.  I've never had a better "farm to fork" experience!

Chef Oscar's Farm to Fork Specials

Caprese Salad 

(with Juliet tomatoes and Basi)

Mixed Summer Squash Cream Soup

(I love the basil garnish!)

Spaghetti Margheritta 

(with Juliet & Sun Gold tomatoes and Basil)

(Farm photos taken at the Robertson Family Farm in Yuba County, California.)

Sweet Corn

At the farm

The bees pollinating

Sweet Corn

I learned this month that the season for sweet corn at my local farm is very short. My local farmer does one corn planting so one week she is picking sweet corn for her CSA Produce Boxes (and farmers markets) and then the next week or so it's gone.  

I also learned a bit about growing organic corn with no pesticides.  Lacie Robertson my local farmer cut a piece of corn right off the stalk for me to eat out in the field.  Before I could try it, she had to chop off the end.  She explained that when you grow corn organically a corn earworm lives in the tip of the sweet corn ear so she chops off the end to get rid of the worm.  She showed me the little green worm and it really didn't bother me.  It's just part of nature.  And like Lacie, I like the organic way.

From the Farm to my Kitchen

Having just-picked corn right from the farm for the first time ever, I decided to try a new recipe.  I made corn fritters and served them with a local hand-crafted pomegranate-pepper jelly made by Poms Away Orchards.

Corn Fritters

The corn fritters were incredible.  I used a recipe by Patrick and Gina Neely from their cooking show Down Home with the Neelys.  I added chopped bell pepper to their recipe since I had bell peppers in my weekly CSA Produce Box.  It was a nice addition.

My husband actually liked the fritters plain because the corn was so sweet.  Thankfully, I froze a few ears of corn so I'll be making more corn fritters...real soon!

Here's the recipe link:

Corn Fritters by The Neelys


(Farm photos taken at Robertson Family Farm in Yuba County, California)

Farm to Fork

Just picked!

The best thing I've done all year is sign up for a CSA Produce Box!

Farm fresh!

Believe it or not, even though I love to cook...

I was in a culinary rut.  Not anymore!

CSA Produce Box

Now Monday is my favorite day of the week when I go out to the Robertson Family Farm to pick-up my CSA Produce Box.  (CSA stands for community supported agriculture.)  I now know my local farmer, Laci Robertson who grows our food, picks it daily and it's all pesticide-free.  

I love the "farm to fork" movement and cooking with what is locally grown and in-season.  I'm no longer in a culinary rut and our veggie bin is full.


(Photos taken at Robertson Family Farm in Yuba County, California)