Yum! Here’s a treat for all your SODO dwellers. Seattle’s baking genius Leslie Mackie has opened her third Macrina in SODO! The café will serve coffee, pastries and a lunch menu- great for diversifying the lunch options for this industrial area of the city. What is super fun is that Macrina  is introducing Shepherd’s Grain flour which is milled from sustainable grown wheat from farmers on the Columbia Plateau in Eastern Washington. Talk about local!

Macrina Bakery & Café – SODO
1943 First Avenue South
Seattle, WA 98134
206.623.0919
www.macrinabakery.com

I am super excited for this Saturday, (September 27) as it is the 10th Annual Harvest Celebration Farm Tour in King County. What is it you ask? It is a tour of 24 different farms in King County. Each farm works with a local chef who leads visitors on a tour of the farm’s fields and showcases two cooking demos.

I’ll be working with the fantastic South 47 Farm in Redmond. This is a great farm where a lot of local chefs, including my friend Brian Scheehser of Trellis restaurant in Kirkland, rent plots and grow much of their own produce.

At 12 and 2 pm I’ll be showing folks how to make my super yummy Pole Beans Provencal with Late Summer Tomatoes, Chevre and Sexy Olives, using freshly picked produce from the farm.

I love this event so much because it provides residents of King county the unique opportunity to experience our local food and farm economy firsthand, by meeting farmers and discovering farm fresh products. Talk about getting to know your local farmer!

I hope to see you all there, but if you can’t make it I hope you’ll pick up some d’lish late summer produce at your local farmer’s market and try my Pole Beans Provencal with Late Summer Tomatoes, Chevre and Sexy Olives.

Pole Beans Provencal with Late Summer Tomatoes, Chevre & Sexy Olives

Makes about 10 servings

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small Walla Walla Sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 pound green beans, trimmed and halved crosswise (about 4 cups)
1 pound wax beans, trimmed and halved crosswise (about 4 cups)
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved or 2 large tomatoes, diced large
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
1/2 cup pitted imported olives, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3-4 oz soft goat cheese

In a large nonstick skillet or sauté pan over medium-high heat, heat the oil until fragrant. Sauté the onion, stirring often, for about 4 minutes, or until golden. Transfer the onion to a large bowl.

Add the green and wax beans and white wine to the pan, cover, and steam the beans just until their color is bright, about 2 minutes. Remove the lid, add the tomatoes and garlic, and sauté until the beans are just crisp-tender, about 1 to 2 minutes more.

Meanwhile, to the onions in the bowl, add the vinegar, mustard, thyme, and olives, then toss in the beans as soon as they are done. Toss in the salt and pepper; taste and adjust the seasoning as desired. Dollop with goat cheese.

Recipe adapted from Kathy Casey’s Northwest Table, Chronicle Books, San Francisco. Copyright © 2008 by Kathy Casey.

There is no denying that Seattleites’ tomato plants are a sad sight these days. Our slow start to the growing year means tiny toms are just turning from green to red as we speak.

I’ve fielded lots of tomato questions lately; how to speed up ripening, what grows best in Seattle, and finally what to do when you really get a good crop in?

While ample sunlight and warm weather are the best for ensuring a perfectly ripe tomato, (note –don’t water too generously – tomatoes like to get a little stressed out!), I’ve got a few tricks for when Mother Nature doesn’t play in our favor.

#1 The sun ceasing to show up much, the weather turning cool, and spider webs a plenty in the garden are all signals that summer is pretty much over. You need all your tomato plant’s energy to go directly to the fruit. I pinch off 85% of all the tomato plant’s leaves, save for just a few– this ensures maximum tomato plant effort going into the fruit and maximum light exposure to the tomatoes.

#2 When the fall chill starts to come on strong or the rain starts to fall too hard (resulting in tomato splitting) there are two things you can do to “ripen your tomatoes” or at least try to. For branches of cherry or smaller tomatoes, cut the whole shebang off the plant and hang the branch in a sunny window in your kitchen. You typically will be able finish off the ripening process indoors this way. The second method is to pick larger tomatoes that have no splits or blemishes and are “pink” but not red yet or “green on the way to pink”. Wipe any moisture and wrap each one individually in a small piece of newspaper. Place in a cardboard box and store in a cool dark area such as the basement. Check every week or so, and after a few weeks you should have some slightly riper and ripe tomatoes. I have even kept tomatoes this way for up to a month with good success …. but of course, this all depends upon the tomato gods!

When planting your summer garden next year, don’t get too ambitious with that seed catalogue or plant show. I know. It’s hard, I’ve also fallen victim to fantasies of several heirloom varieties, in all different colors, cascading from my garden, but to really get the best results in the northwest and colder states stick with tried and true varieties. For the northwest I still love the Early Girl or Better Boy varieties, and if like me, you’re a fan of cherry tomatoes, look for Sweet 100.

Hopefully we’ll eek out a few more days of grilling weather. I think you’ll enjoy my Chipotle Tomato & Sweet Onion Salsa; a perfect topper for fish, chicken or steak seasoned with some of my Dish D’Lish Cha Cha Chipotle Lime Seasoning before grilling. It is a great way to use up what you’ve grown from your garden, or your favorite farm.

Chipotle Tomato & Salsa
Great to top grilled fish, chicken or seafood.
Makes 2 cups

1 1/2 cups finely chopped tomatoes (about 4 tomatoes)
1/2 cup 1/4-inch-diced Walla Walla Sweet onions, or other local sweet onions
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons chipotle purée* (more or less, depending upon spiciness desired)

Toss all ingredients together well.

*To make chipotle purée: Place 1 can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in blender and purée until smooth. Freeze any remaining purée for another use.
Or omit the salt and season with Dish D’Lish Cha Cha Chipotle Lime Seasoning instead of the chipotle puree.

Copyright © 2008, Kathy Casey Food Studios®

Pizza is almost as popular in Seattle as coffee is. There seems to be a new place opening up almost every week! Not that we here at Kathy Casey Food Studios don’t love our pizza, far from it! We have some great pizzerias in Seattle that span the variety of pizza making!

There’s Neapolitan style at Via Tribunali, Tutta Bella, and Pizzeria Fondi, New York style at Peicoras on Capitol Hill, and old school pies at Madame K’s in Ballard. One of our favorites is Pagliacci, Seattle’s best delivery pizza. My Husband john used to live off Pagliacci whenever I traveled out of town, and my assistant Mary had her very first date at the University Ave location.

Celebrating seasonality, Pagliacci Is serving up a super yummy Prosciutto Fig Primo, a perfect balance of salty and sweet for fall! Very D’Lish!

Recently, there was a upset in Seattle’s Pizza Community. An unsavory prankster stole a stack of Pagliacci’s 25th anniversary cards and sent them to area competitors stamped with disparaging words; very untactful. Co owner Matt Galvin was horrified, and apologized over the mess, assuring the public and recipients of the cards that Pagliacci was not responsible for the prank.

Thankfully, no pizza was harmed!

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all your emails of concern over my little blog! We had a major headache with an upgrade, causing one of those sneaky plugins to disable our page from loading.

No fear, our blog guru got out her flashlight and set to work getting everything back in working order.

Now that we’re up and running be sure to check back often for tasty tidbits straight from the mouth of Seattle’s culinary diva, me, Kathy Casey.

A couple months ago I was approached by Whole Foods to be a guest chef on their video blog “The Secret Ingredient”. In this video segment chefs from around the country are given a “secret ingredient” and asked to come up with a dish highlighting that ingredient. The ingredient can be something as familiar as oatmeal or exotic as, well, lemongrass.

Click here to watch my video.

With lemongrass as my secret ingredient I chose to create a Coconut-Braised Black Cod. This dish utilizes a ton of fresh herbs and spices; fantastic dish for perking up chilly spring evenings.

With it’s lemony and herbacious perfume, I adore lemongrass. Don’t be timid if you don’t know how to use it; it’s super simple. To infuse a Thai soup I peel away the outer husks, then using the dull side of my knife, smash the bulb to break apart the fibers and expose the floral and lemon aroma and drop it in. I also use lemongrass in cocktails, muddling the bulb to extract that sexy fresh flavor.

The production of the video was so much fun! I loved the host Scott Simons, he has a great sense of humor and we really hit it off. The staff of Whole Foods was incredibly professional. We laughed and joked for most of the shoot, making for a super D’lish time.

Secret Ingredient: Lemongrass
Kathy’s Spicy Coconut Braised Black Cod with Colorful Vegetables

(Adapted from Kathy’s Spicy Coconut-Braised Lingcod with Colorful Vegetables in “Kathy Casey’s Northwest Table: Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Southern Alaska”)

 Take your taste buds on a tropical adventure—any night of the week—with this quick and easy, Asian-inspired entrée. Lemongrass adds fresh lemon and bright flavor to the dish while coconut milk adds creamy richness without added cholesterol or trans fat. If black cod is unavailable in your area, substitute with lingcod, mahi mahi or rockfish fillets. Serve with  steamed jasmine rice for a dish that’s elegant enough for entertaining, yet easy enough for weeknight dinners.

Serves 4

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 cup bean sprouts
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 stalk fresh lemongrass
1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
4 6-ounce black cod fillets, about 1-inch thick center-cut, boned and skinned
1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
1 can (13 to 14 ounces) unsweetened coconut milk
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
1 small red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 large carrot, julienned
4 green onions, cut into 3-inch pieces
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Lime wedges for squeezing

In a medium bowl, toss together the mint, cilantro and bean sprouts, set aside. In a small bowl, mix salt with sugar and pepper flakes, set aside. Remove the tough outer layer of the lemongrass. Smash the remaining stalk with the side of a chef’s knife or a mallet to release the oils. Finely mince and set aside. Heat oil in a large skillet or sauté pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle each fillet with the salt mixture. Sear fish 2 minutes per side, until lightly seared and browned. Move fish to one side of the pan and add ginger and garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add coconut milk, soy sauce, fish sauce, lemongrass, bell pepper, carrot and green onion to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes at a fast simmer, or until the fish is just done and opaque throughout. Stir in lime juice.

Serve fish in shallow bowls, ladling the broth and vegetables over the fish. Garnish with about a 1/4-cup of the sprout mixture and a lime wedge. Serve Colorful Jasmine Rice on the side (see recipe below).