When you think of tamales, what's the first filling you think of? Pork with salsa verde or green chile and cheese, maybe? How about asparagus and pepper jack? Drive east on 90 from Seattle and on the other side of Snoqualmie Pass in the Yakima Valley, there's a tamale joint called Los Hernandez, famous for their asparagus and pepper jack tamales. People rave about 'em.
It's been four years and I'm still having a hard time adjusting to the seasons in the Pacific Northwest. I'm used to strawberries starting in late January, asparagus starting in April and lasting nearly to the fall, stone fruit starting in May, and then being socked in by June gloom. But if there's one benefit…
The first weeks of the farmers market in Washington always feel like everyone's still trying to wake up from hibernating all winter. We get a relatively late start, opening up in April, but by then, the tulips are in full force. On an otherwise gray day, there's nothing like a burst of color to get you out of the blahs. Those are double tulips, by the way. They almost look like peonies, my other favorite flower.
Some nights you just need a little detox, a light dinner to take the edge off days-in-a-row of too much rich food, or a little too much imbibing. OJ calls that meal, "Japanese Dinner." It's clean -- simply cubed tofu topped with green onions and drizzled with soy sauce, served with rice and quick pickled…
You've heard of the Donut Man in Glendora, California right? If not, let me introduce you, because what they do there, you need to know about it. The Donut Man is famous for their fresh strawberry donuts -- that's right, they take a glazed donut, slice it in half and sandwich in an enormous portion of fresh strawberries (or peaches, later in the summer) in goo. It's ridiculously deliciously goo-d. Today, I was thinking about those doughnuts and meant to stop by Top Pot on the way home for a couple of glazed and then I promptly forgot. Instead, I came up with these baked strawberry shortcake doughnuts (or in this case: short, cake doughnuts). Doesn't it look like one of those spongy dessert cups they sell right next to the strawberries in the produce department?
Escarole is one of those greens you don't give much thought to until it turns up at the farmers market or in your CSA box. We're so used to the dark leafy greens -- kale, chard, collards, mustard greens -- I couldn't tell you when I last had escarole. And then it showed up in our CSA box last week -- in June! Related to endive, the season usually runs December through April-ish, and with its broader leafy leaves and just a hint of bitterness, it's perfect for a simple salad with red wine vinaigrette.
Snap Pea Soup just before Fourth of July weekend? I know, but don't you feel like that's how everything seems to be this year? Just a little behind. There were such beautiful sugar snaps at the farmers market, I'd figured on doing a little salad, simply blanching them and dressing them with a little bit of rice wine vinegar and sesame oil and a sprinkle of black sesame seeds. But then this Mark Bittman recipe popped up, equally simple, if not more so.
Right about now, we're all waiting for the English peas to come in. What's pasta primavera without fresh English peas? For the last couple of weeks tho, sugar snaps have been holding down the fort. I wasn't even sure if I really liked sugar snap peas when I picked up a batch last weekend at…
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