You have to love local fresh incredibly ripe peaches. There is something about that sweet flavor of a peach that screams summer at you. I remember as a kid on holiday in Greece I would scoff down peaches like they were going out of fashion. Many a picture was taken of me with peach juice all over my face. Maybe it was those ripe Greek peaches that founded my love for this amazing fruit. I enjoy plating fruit and fish together, and this version today has really come out great. Fruit is a winner with fish in my book, the lightness of most fish goes great with the sweet subtle smooth flavors of fruit. Fruit sauces work great with Salmon. Really great. In the Wrightfood book I have a recipe for salmon with a brilliant apple and blackberry sauce, which is a great end to summer.

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Pimm’s No 1 to be exact. Pimm’s isn’t big over here, across the pond. In fact, you are hard pushed to find it anywhere. Some liquor stores carry it, and I don’t often see it in bars over here. So what is it you ask.. Well, it is a gin based alcohol, which tastes slightly of fruit and spice. The traditional way of drinking it is mixed with ice, ginger ale, some mint and a slice of lemon. That is the Pimm’s cup. Absolutely bloody perfect for a hot summers day. It is really hard to describe how it tastes to be honest, a little spice, slightly sweet, and not too alcoholic tasting. You will have to get a bottle and try some! If anything is a typical English beverage, it would be a Pimm’s cup.

Almost all pubs in the south of England will be dolling out this stuff all day long in the summer. It is a great drink to sit in a pub garden on a sunny day, and chat with friends. Ahhh, the English pub. A lot has been written about these I am sure, and for good reason. They are simply fantastic. I miss them. I miss them a great deal. I just haven’t found anything close here in Seattle. Sure, you have some English and Irish “pubs” over here, but they just aren’t the same. The best pubs are in old buildings. Not 80 year old buildings. Five hundred year old buildings! These places have obviously seen a lot of life, a lot of face lifts, and most likely a lot of trades (often a pub would have been something completely different way back when..). All the history just adds a huge amount of character to an English pub. Each and every one is unique, and they all have history. Huge amounts of history.

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Some things just plain remind you of summer. A long country walk through fields and woods to a little country pub for a pie and a pint (ok.. that was when I was back in England). BBQing lamb chops and sitting out on the deck. Lazing by the lake, watching the world go by. Light, gentle food that is full of flavor (and herbs!). This dish fits that last bill perfectly.

We had been hankering after some squid for a while, but just never got round to buying some. So, after a quick jaunt to the market for some squid, I now had to decide what to do with it. For me, squid works best either with Mediterranean flavors, or something further East. It can be fantastic with some ginger, cilantro, chili, fish sauce etc. Something about the summer however always leads me back to Europe. So, that was decided, some fresh herbs, some pasta, some olives and some roasted red peppers.

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Well, to be precise - two of em. Two ripe that is. We have at least 30 not ripe, and two heirlooms that are growing very fast too. As a previous post (one of the first on this blog) mentioned, we are growing tomatoes for the first time this year. We don’t have a greenhouse, but we do have a half decent south facing wall.

We have been watering and feeding these things for what seems like months now, and all the hard work is starting to pay off. We have been growing Stupice and Brandy Wine (heirloom) completely organically, and in pots. Some worm tea is used as food every week. Of course, we have had a pretty bloody terrible summer really, so I didn’t expect much, but about 10 days ago some of the Stupice tomatoes started turning yellow, and then blotchy red. I should explain that waiting is difficult for me. Completely overpriced next day delivery is made for people like me. I want things fast, and sometimes I don’t have the patience to wait. Tomatoes are teaching me to be more patient. It is a good thing. Some things are worth waiting for. These tomatoes are definitely one of them.

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You really cannot go wrong with a good scallop in the summer! I try to cook them once a week if I can, and they never disappoint. There is something about the sweet caramelized crust, and the soft meaty interior that is just such a treat. These are diver scallops. Apparently a little bloke has actually dived down and grabbed them. Does it make a taste difference? In my opinion these were some of the best scallops. Sweet, succulent, and very clean tasting. So I would have to say yes. Does it justify the price difference? As romantic as the idea is of someone diving down and plucking a lovely scallop shell from the ocean, I am afraid I have to say not really. Sure they tasted fabulous, but the price difference between these and regular scallops can be pretty extreme.

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First off I should say that I am not into posting negative posts. Food makes me happy, and I want to reflect that in my blog. Sometimes though, I get a little miffed at places, and feel the need to post about it.

So Danika’s brother and bird were in town this weekend. He enjoys going to the Space Needle for dinner, and wanted something nice for his girl. For him a restaurant is about the view/ambiance etc, as well as the food. I cannot disagree there, you often eat out for the whole “experience”. I love a restaurant with a good atmosphere, but I prefer a restaurant with good food.

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OK.. I should first talk about the lack of photos.. I know, a four course feast. If there is any blog entry so far that deserves a bunch of photos it is this one. Suffer. There is only one! Drake (son) has been crazy sick the last day, and the only reason I cooked this dinner we had planned was because I had bought all the ingredients the day before, and didn’t want a bunch to go to waste (especially the fish). A sick son, and hungry guests means a lack of photos. This is time to use your imagination people!! I will describe things the best I can…….

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I guess I should first say that apart from the basics, I didn’t have many preconceived ideas about making crab cakes. A while ago now Danika and I were thinking about crab cakes, and how we used to pay a small fortune for them at a local store (that shall remain nameless..). Sometimes money is a great motivator, so I decided to go ahead and make my own. A few iterations later, and this is what came out. The crab cakes are a mix of crab meat (well duh..), choppedVidalia onion, chopped parsley, chopped roasted piquillo peppers, dijon mustard, chopped capers, seasoning, panko, and an egg. This is all mixed together, and formed into the definitive crab cake shape… a cylinder! These are then coated in a little more panko, and bunged in the fridge, whilst I got everything else togehter.

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I don’t often call my food amazing. That er, isn’t quite me. I am really humble about my food.. I love what I cook, but I don’t shout about it. However there is something about the simplicity and beautiful taste of these potatoes that makes me want to scream it from the rooftops.  I kinda got obsessed about making the perfect roast potato a while back, and this the result.. But first, the rest of the recipe is really the same as: http://mattikaarts.com/blog/?p=19, but without the tapenade and mash potatoes.

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A little rushed this evening. A busy Sunday of a few errands, and parent group meetings, and then a brilliant walk down to Madison Park, to sit on the side of Lake Washington and people watch. That is the great thing about Seattle, there is always something to look at, and giggle about. I have to admit that I am a bit of a gossip, and do enjoy sitting with Danika, watching people, and quietly talking about them. One favorite game is to make up a back story to the unique people we spot, completely based just on how they look. Shallow? Quite possibly.. Fun? Definately!

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I have been rather addicted to fennel as of late. God knows why. Perhaps maybe because it tastes great, and has so many options available to it. The day started off kinda rubbish weather-wise.. cold, and rainy, so I thought something a little stewy for dinner might be rather nice. Something still fresh tasting, and light, but something with a wee bit of body to it.

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What on earth are garlic scrapes? Precisely what I thought when I walked into the market today. Yep, we still haven’t done a weekly shop.. and to be honest I am not sure if we will! So, it is to the store or farmers market every day! yay! So, I saw these little curly bundles of garlicy joy in the local store and thought I would give them a go. Garlic scrapes are the stem and blossom of a garlic plant. They look really funky, wound up into little coils with a closed blossom on the top. So, what to do with them? They looked like they should be cooked quickly to me.. Apparently, you can use them raw in salads, but I thought they might work better being grilled - this should hopefully bring out more of their soft garlic flavor.

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OK I have to admit that we haven’t actually been food shopping this week. It is a normal weekend thing, that I plan out what we are going to eat for the week, and then we go and shop for everything that we can get early. It never used to be like that. BD (before Drake) we would go to the local organic place at least once every two days.. If you listen to Danika, it was once a day, and often to multiple places, wasting an evening food shopping.. I obviously flatly denied this.. but really knew it to be true.. We spent far too much time food shopping, and I knew that was going to have to change once Drake was born. Oddly enough, I actually prefer it this way. Why oddly? I love food shopping nearly as much as cooking. Nothing excites you about food more than seeing it in its raw state, and coming up with new ways to use it. Nothing apart from Drake that is. A baby changes everything, and priorities go out the window. I still love food shopping, but given a choice between shopping daily, and more organised weekend shopping, and being able to play with Drake more.. well, it is an obvious choice really, the little nugget wins hands down.

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As mentioned in my last post, I have been really enjoying the cookbook “Italian Two Easy”, by the two lasses that run London River Cafe. The Fennel recipe cooked here is from it. I have a real love of good Mozzarella, so I am trying  a bunch of their mozzarella recipes, and so far this is my favorite. Again, it is simplicity at it’s finest. The fennel is sliced, boiled until slightly tender, and then grilled over a high heat. This is tossed with some olive oil and lemon juice. It is meant to have some arugula with it, but I didn’t have any, so I used parsley - which worked great for me. The prosciutto is from Parma, and has a wonderful sweet flavor, coming from the fact that the pigs are fed whey. Everything just went together perfectly, it was honestly like summer on a plate. The textures were great together too, ranging from slightly crispy (fennel) to really soft (mozzarella). This is the second time I have made this, and will be making it over and over again.

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Red Snapper never looks like a happy camper. The downturned mouth is what does it I think. Of course, I wouldn’t either if I had been stuffed with fennel and herbs, and had slits cut in my sides. I hadn’t grilled a whole fish for a while, but always considered it a treat on a summers day. The snapper here is stuffed with fennel, basil, parsley, some olive oil, and salt and pepper. A few diagonal slits are cut in it’s sides, where more of the herbs and seasonings are pushed in. More olive oil all over, and this poor chap is ready to go!

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