Hello Friends,

Welcome to another week of Chef’s Stash.  We have another great stash for you this week full of summer produce and lots of goodies.  Happy Labor Day!

Recipe Ideas from the Chefs

We wanted to have some fun with an edible flower that may be new to you.  Fennel Flowers.  They have a mild anise like flavor along with some nice floral qualities.  They would be great chopped up in a potato salad with the Carola potatoes, some red onion, hard boiled egg, and homemade mayo or olive oil.  Gabe also thought you could try making a simple syrup with it to drizzle over strawberries for dessert. If you mix about equal parts sugar and water and the fennel flower and simmer it until the sugar dissolves and the liquid starts to thicken.  Then strain it and cool it and serve it with some chopped up Albion strawberries.  You can garnish with a little of the yellow flowers.

The Chef’s Stash pate this week is a classic spreadable pate that is great on crackers or grilled or toasted bread.  The pickled cauliflower is great on its own but we recommend using it as a garnish on the mini lamb burgers if you got the omnivore box.  Since we are expecting a heat wave, Brandon made gazpacho for you this week.  This classic Spanish cold soup is great straight out of the fridge and drizzled with a little extra virgin olive oil.

Romano beans are a delicious green bean that can be eaten whole.  We like to poach them in salted water until they just start to soften up.  Then, drop them in an ice bath to stop the cooking.  Keep them in the fridge and use them in salads cold, or toss them with some oil and garlic in a pan as a hot side dish.

Oyster Mushrooms (for the vegetarians) are a very mild flavored mushroom with great texture.  Gabe’s favorite recipe for these is to sear them in a pan with garlic and a moderate amount of olive oil.  The hotter the better as you want to crisp the outside of the mushroom without giving it time to release a lot of water.  Once they are crispy on both sides, pull them off and drop a raw egg yolk on top and sprinkle with salt.  The egg yolk mixes with the hot oil and makes a little sauce for the mushrooms.  Top with parsley or your favorite herb.

Sugar rush peppers (the small yellow ones) are an unusual pepper.  They are both sweet and spicy…think Habanero spicy!  They are great chopped up on grilled meat, or in a salad dressing, or you could make a little melon salsa with melon, red onion, sugar rush peppers and lime or lemon juice.

The mixed red and yellow larger peppers (including the skinny red ones that look hot!) are all mild sweet Italian peppers and can be used in place of bell pepper in any dish.

Rockfish is a nice mild and meaty fish and is plentiful in our area.  It works well pan fried with butter and your favorite spices.  Also great for fish tacos, or in pasta.

For the pescatarians, we recommend making the butterfish as a baked fish. Its good with just salt and pepper, its good with sake and miso, its good with an herb oil.  It is a very tender fish and it will flake when you cook it.  It cooks very fast so keep an eye on it.

Brandon likes to make Halibut in a light egg batter.  Season the fish and dip it in flour, then in egg and pan cook at medium/low heat.  This protects the leaner fish from drying out. Shallots or green onions or fresh herbs and butter as a sauce, or just a squeeze of lemon.