The Simplest Pleasure of Summer

Summer has officially ended and with the turn of the season came the tomato harvest. This year’s harvest was somewhat limited, but the fruit we did get was perfect. Whenever I eat a tomato right out of the garden I always think to myself, why would I ever eat a tomato any other way? Deep natural red, juicy, acidic, and herbaceous.

Tomato Bruschetta

6 slices of good crusty bread
¼ cup olive oil
1 large clove garlic
4 ounces fresh soft goat cheese
2 medium fresh ripe slicing tomatoes
Basil leaves
Salt and pepper

Slice the bread and brush with olive oil on both sides. Toast the bread on both sides under the broiler. Don’t be scared if there are edges that get charred. You can scrape off what is inedible, but the dark toasted bread is great. Rub the toasted bread with the clove of garlic. Spread with goat cheese, and layer with tomato and basil. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.

Seared Ahi Flatbread with Tahini Yogurt Dressing

After returning from our recent sailing trip to the San Juan islands, it was time to reboot the diet. After all, we had 5 meals a day for a week while on the boat (breakfast, elevensies, lunch, cheese plate, and dinner).

Eating healthy food doesn't have to be boring. In fact, it's challenging and exciting to use some new ingredients and flavors to make a "diet" easier to maintain.

Tonight's menu featured these tasty seared ahi flatbread sandwiches. Easy for a weeknight dinner!

1 lb. ahi tuna
cherry tomatoes, halved
pitted kalamata olives, sliced
Italian parsley leaves
sliced roasted red peppers

6 whole wheat flatbreads

Dressing:
juice of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/4 cup tahini
1 T honey
1 T olive oil
1 cup low fat plain yogurt
pinch crushed red pepper
salt and pepper

Combine all the dressing ingredients and whisk until incorporated, adding water as necessary to thin the sauce to desired thickness.

Sear the tuna to medium and cut into large dice. Toast the flatbreads, top with tuna, pour a spoonful of sauce, and garnish with the tomatoes, olives, red peppers and finally a few parsley leaves.

Zucchini Pickles

This week I went back and read one of my favorite cookbooks, The Zuni Café Cookbook by Judy Rodgers. The Zuni Café has exerted a strong influence in the restaurant world since the early nineties.  If you look in any chef’s cookbook library you are likely to see this book, dog eared and well worn.

These pickles are especially popular. If you look, you’ll find them adorning some of the best burgers in town. I’ve seen them used at Zefiro, Blue Hour, Castagna, Ripe and others.

Zuni Café Zucchini Pickles

1 pound zucchini
1 small yellow onion
2 tablespoons salt

Brine:
2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons dry mustard
1 ½ crushed brown mustard seeds
1 teaspoon ground turmeric

Slice the zucchini and onion 1/16th inch thick. Place the Zucchini and onion in a large bowl and toss with salt. Cover them with water and ice cubes and let soak for one hour. After an hour, drain the zucchini and onions and dry them between towels or in a salad spinner.

In a sauce pan combine the vinegar, sugar, mustard, mustard seeds and turmeric. Simmer for three minutes. Once the brine has cooled combine it with the zucchini and onions and let them soak in the brine overnight. The pickles will be crisp and bright chartreuse in color.