…aioli, vinegar, cookies and halibut… and tomato.
Along with the cherry tomatoes from Mariquita Farm, we got three bunches of tarragon. That’s a lot! I have a jar of tarragon vinegar waiting in a cool dark place until ready to bottle in a few weeks, but there is plenty of tarragon still to be put to use.

tarragon

I’ve had my eye on a tarragon potato salad recipe made with aioli. This converges with the recent purchase of a Kitchen Aid stand mixer that I’ve wanted for ages. I’ve used it to make a couple batches of cookies and figured it would be perfect to make the aioli. Well, new things take a lot of agonizing for me. I’ve made mayonnaise in the past with the Cuisinart, but I gave that to Brian when I got the mixer; besides, that’s why I got the mixer.
So, I looked up the mayonnaise chapter in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It’s called “Julia Child’s Hand-Beaten Mayonnaise” and doesn’t mention using a mixer, but the principle is the same. I hit the Internet and found some recipes that allow as how a Kitchen Aid can be used for mayonnaise. In Instructions and Recipes for your Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer it says to use the Wire Whip for mixtures that need air incorporated, such as mayonnaise. And the introduction to one of the “hand beaten” recipes suggests, for electric beaters, use the large bowl and the “moderately fast” speed. That’s enough information to agonize over for a couple days, so I did.

potato salad, oven roasted halibut on bean salad with ponzu soy vinaigrette

The potato salad was a component of yesterday’s dinner… I could wait no longer. Mayonnaise uses three egg yolks, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, a pinch of salt and dry mustard, says Julia Child; and to make it aioli, use olive oil and 1 teaspoon garlic for each egg yolk, says freeculinaryschool.com. I went old school and crushed my garlic in a mortar and pestle.

Dribbling in two cups of olive oil takes a while, even with a snazzy mixer, otherwise things went smoothly, producing a lovely, smooth aioli.

aioli

Now I have three egg whites. Being a saver of all things edible, I put them in the fridge, envisioning breakfast this morning.

After my morning walk, I got out the egg whites, added a whole egg and a dollop of crème fraiche, and beat those guys. I cut up half of a previously grilled Italian sausage and got out my cherry tomato sauce. Viola, scrambled eggs with sausage topped with a bit of tomato sauce… a fine breakfast.

a fine breakfast

“Bill selects a few tomatoes for lunch, and we walk up the gravel road to the farmhouse. For a few minutes, we make mayonnaise and tomato sandwiches in silence, spreading a healthy layer of mayonnaise over white bread, putting on layers of tomato thicker than the bread itself.
With each bite, my fingers press through the bread and dissolve into the tomato.”

From the chapter The Seed Saver,
Food Heroes by Georgia Pellegrini, Stewart Tabori & Chang, New York

Now that I have my mayonnaise, now that it’s tomato season, guess what I had for lunch. Now that’s eatin’.

As for the tarragon vinegar, cookies and halibut dish, I’ll write about those later, or not.

…five ways

Andy and Julia at Mariquita Farm went and added a new service for us San Francisco folk: The Ladybug Buying Club Truck Farm.
In this iteration, instead of sending us a prix fixe Mystery Box, they allow us to actually make up our “dream order,” albeit from a short list of goodies.
This time it was French fingerling potatoes, tarragon, mint, Sungold cherry tomatoes, and Youk’s Hot Sauce (made from our chiles!) Julia always includes a short informative and entertaining marketing pitch and instructions on how and when to order.

Hello, Ladybug Friends: Saturday, July 3rd, from 10am to 11:30am (4 days from today) I’ll be at Local Mission Eatery (24th between shotwell and folsom). Potato Salad, Cherry Tomatoes, Tarragon (vinegar!? infused drinks? or tarragon potato salad! recipe links are below.), Mint… If you’d like any of this email me back. (parking concerns? There are many 1 hour and 2 hour meters throughout the neighborhood so parking is suprisingly easy.)

If you want an order for Saturday return this email with your name, cell phone number, and your dream order. I’ll email back a confirmation within 2 days. thank you. -julia

I was nearly out of sauce that I made from flats of their Early Girl and San Marzano tomatoes last fall, so the notes on cherry tomatoes caught my eye.

three baskets

Julia’s cherry tomato sauce & notes:
-I like these as a snack as is.

-Basic (cherry) tomato sauce: Wash several baskets worth, then put in a pot with onion, garlic and oregano and cook down for about 1/2 hour over medium heat. (olive oil can be added if you like). Then let it cool some, put through a food mill, and voila: tomato sauce.

I generally don’t add any seasoning when I make my tomato sauces because I’ll season when I use it, depending on the dish. In this case, I made it as she suggested since I wouldn’t be making much and this is a new tomato type for me.

So, I cooked up five baskets of Sungold cherry tomatoes plus about a half basket of red from last Saturday’s Farmers Market. (I held out one basket of the tomatoes for snacking and stuff.)

1 onion, rough chopped
1 teaspoon Rancho Gordo oregano
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
Sautéed onions in olive oil, added garlic and oregano, added tomatoes and cooked for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Put through food mill with the small disk. Cooked down about 20 minutes. Yield, 7 cups. Continue reading →