One more salsify dish....

Salsify and escarole frittata ...

Salsify --salsifying

Once again Orchard Farms had salsify and I've had it three ways so far....
First I cleaned it and parboiled it. It's really good sauteed in a bit of butter and perserved meyer lemon peel. It's also excellent with chicken stir fry seasoned with worchestshire sauce and chili sauce. But my favorite so far --the salsify croquette with bluecheese --mashed 3 parts salsify with 1 part blue cheese and coated in some sort of crumb or flour and sauteed...yummmy!

Romanesco Cauliflower

I recently had uttapam at Dosa Restaurant in San Francisco.

The challenge to make uttapam at home. It's not difficult but there is a lot of time involved soaking and fermenting. There was a beautiful romanesco cauliflower from Orchard Farms at the Santa Rosa Farmers Market.

I made uttapam stuffed with romanesco --pretty good. Of course romanesco can be used in any cauliflower recipe. I also had it simply steamed with a bit of cheddar cheese and a splash of Pavone sage vinegar I think I am officially a sage vinegar addict. I spent the weekend figuring out sage vinegar cocktails --hmmm bloody mary!

Some romanesco facts

A bunch of cauliflower recipes

Dried Figs from Santa Rosa Farmers Market

The Neufeld Farms stand at the Santa Rosa Farmers Market has a wonderful array of dried fruit and they are happy to let you taste. I bought some wonderful dried figs --wonderfully moist and rosy. I stopped at Andy's on the way home and bought a local blue cheese with the Andy's label and made a blue cheese and dried fig open face sandwich on whole wheat.

Willie Bird Turkey Sausage and Blood Orange Panna Cotta

Oscar Night and plenty of good eats --pictured here a vegetable soup with Willie Bird Turkey Sausage and a blood orange panna cotta with strawberry raspberry sauce.
The turkey soup with locally made sausage was made by Susan Bailyn.
I had the strawberries and raspberries in my freezer and the blood oranges came from the Santa Rosa Farmers Market. Panna Cotta is literally Italian for cooked cream but a better description is really cream jello. Whatever you call it --it is pretty darn good - this version has sections from six blood oranges and the juice (except for the lovely color of the blood orange any orange will work well in this dish.) I also used some chopped chocolate as well. The sauce was just strawberries and raspberries run through the food processor.

Here is an explanation of panna cotta from Mark Bittman

And not all panna cottas are sweet - this for a savory one based on the French Laundry's cauliflower panna cotta

People were drinking Taft Street Pinot Noir and Chardonnay

Broccoli Rabe ..the mustard family and Pavone Sage Vinegar

No excuses for eating not seasonally and locally along the Russian River in Sonoma County, California. A big bowl of broccoli rabe from Orchard Farms -purchased at the Wednesday Santa Rosa Farmers Market and seasoned with Pavone Sage Vinegar (pineapple sage grown along the Russian River in Forestville.)

As a member of the Brassica (cole) family, broccoli rabe's kin include cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kohlrabi, Chinese cabbage, rutabaga, turnips and broccoli. Actually, broccoli rabe and broccoli are more like distant cousins many times removed. At harvest time, the only physical resemblance between the two is the unopened broccoli-like buds that form on broccoli rabe. It's closely related to the turnip and often referred to as a turnip green. It's also referred to as a member of the mustard family, which all Brassica are.

To make matters more confusing, broccoli rabe, like an aunt who marries often, has several monikers. This peppery plant is also called broccoli raab, rapini, rappa, Italian turnip, fall and spring rabe and broccoli de rape, among many others. Confusion arises when Italian sprouting broccoli is referred to as broccoli rabe. The Italians introduced broccoli to the United States almost 100 years ago, and sprouting broccoli (Brassica oleracea) is simply broccoli to us here.

I met Jane and Don Pavone mixing up a new batch of their award winning vinegar. They are a welcome addition to the Russian River artisan food community. Their vinegar won a gold medal at this year's Harvest Fair.

I sauteed the broccoli rabe and added some cooked cannellini beans and finished it with sage vinegar. Add a soft cooked egg and it could be the West County version of salad lyonnaise. Salad Guernnaise perhaps :)))

The PavoneSonoma web site offers interesting serving and recipe suggestions for vinegars as does this article from the LA Times

wine recommendation for the broccoli rabe: a pinot grigio is a good choice

The sage vinegar is also a good ingredient to use in cocktails

A sage vinegar Bloody Mary sounds great to me!

Is Salsify as good without sour cream and butter? YES!

When I told a friend about how wonderful salsify was she said --probably just the sour cream and butter. So I cooked up the rest --mashed it and used it plain with some jalapenos and onion as a pizza topping. Plain --it is still very very very tasty.
I left one unpeeled --didn't like that so much. And a number of sites have talked about the stickiness of salsify and how it stains your hands while working with it. I found if you rinse it well this was not too much of a problem. It does turn brown quickly if you don't but it in acidulated water although the color change does not change the taste --kind of like grated potatoes turning brown.

Beer with this: Anderson Valley Boont Amber