Things on my chopping board and fun with mushrooms

I saw this enormous guy at Keith's Farm at the green market a couple of weeks ago and promptly beamed the image to Pamplemousse. I love peace loving vegetables. It also looks like a large slug. (It would be like bringing home a pet.)

I tote home all this produce on the weekend in overflowing bags. Almost all of them end up on my cutting board at some point which hmm...sounds a little ominous. I love fresh produce especially when they aren't perfect – it gives them CHARACTER. Let's see your BATTLESCARS, little tomato! It's like it fought to end up on your plate. I pull stuff out from my grocery bags, and every so often Vipin will ask what character I've brought home this time.



Baby heirloom tomatoes from Eckerton Hill Farm & a little kirby from S&SO. They were so happy to be in my salad. CHOMP.



These guys were from my family friend's garden up in Ipswich. They're little pattypans which I think look like pacman ghosts. These are tiny tiny, but I also have the mothership in the fridge the size of a baseball glove. I love how the little ridges on these two point down on the left one and up on the right, like fraternal twins. If you are gentle and stir fry them lightly with some garlic they are pretty amazing. Think airy zucchini.



SPINY cucumbers. These taste surprisingly sour....I'm not sure if I liked them.



This was the most delicious heirloom tomato I have ever tasted. It was also one of the prettiest and most astounding when cut open.


the TROUT



Trout are such funny fish. They look so grumpy like they're saying mrmph I'm a trout. I went to the Lobster Place at Chelsea market which was a HUGE fish market where I bought some escargot and lots of fish. It's probably the closest to a wet market I've been to in New York and I felt really empowered when I left with my bounty because I used to go with my grandmother as a kid and whine and complain about how smelly it was and how grubby it was and walked gingerly through the market like an ordeal. Now it was just me and my stomach.

I was so excited to buy the fish that I didn't check to see if they were gutted. Great. So I watched countless videos online of how to gut fish, was all prepared and almost fearless, wielding a knife. So when I unwrapped them, I was delighted and very relived to realise they had their insides taken clean out. SCORE!



So I'm probably not as fearless as Julia Child, but I'll get there.

Anyway, I broiled these with a special Fridge Raid concoction sandwiched in their bellies. I mixed up a good handful of basil, parsley, some garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, pepper and olive oil foraged for in the depths of my fridge and slathered into the fish and popped it into the oven.

The Trout! They Beep! And are EXTREMELY delectable, one of my favourites.




This is from the night before when I produced two bunches of mushrooms, oyster and brown as they undulated in the air conditioning when I took them out. These were half cooked in a little butter and garlic and then spread out over a small baking dish with two big cuts of turbot on top. Douse with soy sauce and a little water. Cover with tin foil and bake for 20 minutes. Voila, ticket to heaven!