A Year in Eating. Almost.

Let's start with August 2014, the month I began ignoring my poor wee blog.

'Top of the Hill' eggplant layered with rounds of fresh 'Wolf Meadow Farm' mozzarella and simple homemade marinara sauce made from super ripe heirloom tomatoes from 'From My Head TomaTOES Farm'; grated scamorza cheese from 'Wolf Meadow Farm' laced their tops. Adapted from bon appetit. Their tip: slice your eggplant in half lengthwise, all the way through the intact stem for an appealing, rustic presentation.  Prebake before layering.  Drizzle with olive oil before baking.  Sprigs of garden marjoram or oregano laid across the top before baking perfume the kitchen wonderfully. 

Can't have August pictures without tomatoes, basil and fresh mozz in the mix (lol, I know, it's supposed to be about the tomatoes).  Who here eats half the mozz before serving?  There is simply no point in ever attempting this supreme combination at any other time of year than deep summer.  Don't even consider it.

September 2014

Pick-your-own blueberries from an Epping farm made for a good attempt at hiding all of my frosting flaws! I believe this was a blueberry-flavored cream cheese-frosted yellow cake.  For no one's birthday.  :)

'Top of the Hill' flank steak all ready for fajitas. Remember to slice thinly on an angle, across the muscle fibers, for ultimate tenderness.  Sprinkle with a bit of Morton salt...then frig the fajitas. ;-p

True Wild Mushroom Ragu

Sounds better than Polyporus squamosus and Laetiporus sulphureus sauce, doesn't it?

A simple carb dinner was desired tonight, and with a couple pounds of fresh mushrooms in the fridge from yesterday's market exploits, a thick, chunky mushroom ragu of sorts was in order.  Enter, protein!  New Hampshire Mushroom Co., I love you.

"Chicken mushroom" (among other similar names, the Latin of which is Laetiporus sulphureus) is a favorite in this kitchen for its meaty, flavorful, pretty, great freezability (word of the day) properties.  They are very common, abundant in spring and fall, and have no poisonous lookalikes.  but do your research before trodding off!  

The underside of chicken mushroom is very porous: teeny-tiny microscopic pores that look sponge-like and soak up a lot of flavor, making them vegetarian dreams for hearty or otherwise inspired cooking!

This is the squamosus. That brown feathery texture you see is exactly why this mushroom has the nickname "pheasant back" (among other).

Pheasant back is a bracket fungus, and it's the removal of the stem that yielded that opening.  You're looking at two halves of one mushroom.

With deep tube-like pores, the underside of the pheasant back is extremely cool looking.  Some recipes call for scraping it off to reveal even deeper mushroom flavor; flavor, fyi, that is reminiscent of freshly cut watermelon or cucumber.  I left it on, and had no problem detecting that distinct summery, crisp watermelon aroma.

Both pheasant backs and chicken mushrooms have early tender stages and older tough stages.  The pheasant back, I was reminded, has a really tough stem, and thus the inside of the ring is tougher than the outside.  The outer 2" (+/-) of the cap is very tender and easily breaks.

None of this mattered to me for this dish.  The whole shebang went into a food processor, and then got sauteed in Coppal House farm's canola oil (cold pan, cold oil, easy heat!) with local spring leeks and shallot, some garlic, and a sprinkling of sea salt.  I was immediately reminded of linguine con le vongole!

I always think of puzzles with food shots like those above.

After cooking the mushrooms down for 7-8 minutes, I added a splash of red wine and two cans of whole plum tomatoes, and simmered the pot for 15 minutes (which is all any fresh marinara ever needs).  Before adding in fresh herbs (basil and oregano from the garden), I swirled in a decadent balsamic vinegar (read: "syrup") to lift the brightness of the sauce.  A healthy handful of freshly grated, truffled cheese from Wolf Meadow (primo sale al tartufo, a young med-soft cheese) finished the plating.  And, then we ate.  The end.

Simple, quick, easy, weeknight tasty cooking.  Yup, it's what's for dinner.  Just watch out for little beetles that suddenly appear on your cutting board!

No harm was given to this little guy.  It's thriving in a specimen jar in the fridge, complete with a piece of polyporus squamosus.  Until I know what it is and where it's normally found, that's where it shall stay.  (I'm awaiting a Bug Guide.net ID any time now...) 

Update!  My source at BugGuide.net suggests this is Oxyporus rufipennis, a "rove" beetle native to Canada.  No wonder it doesn't mind the cold.

King Oyster Mushrooms, Scallopini Style

This is a very--and by very, I mean your 10-yr old could make it--easy recipe.  You will die and go to mushroom heaven after you try King Oysters this way.  Forget the steak, these babies are killer good.

A recipe card made for our local farmers' market:

I added just a light swirl of extra virgin olive oil on the finished product...more for photo aesthetics than anything else.  You should also know that we ate half of them before adding pesto.  Yes, they were that good.  Super-good, and we're never going back to store-bought portobellas.

Chicken Mushroom ...in Risotto with Fresh Artichoke Hearts

Note to self: never make mushroom risotto any other way ever again, add those NH Mushroom Company guys to my Christmas card list, and find out the name of that artichoke farmer I ran into at the Tamworth farmers' market a couple weeks ago.

Here you have the 'chicken' mushroom, aka Chicken of the Woods, aka L. cinncinatus.  Use it like you would, well, chicken!

Visit the NH Mushroom Co.'s website to learn about the tremendous health benefits associated with mushrooms, and to see a few of those they grow.

This large, gnarly-looking oak tree fungus is really fun to work with.  The fans can be pulled apart much the same way you would cooked chicken meat, making it versatile for stew, chowder, risotto, enchilades....  The thicker ends can be