Butterfish, poached fennel, and bread

We began by mixing and baking the bread, letting it cool a bit before cutting it open. Then we baked the butterfish in leftover rouille, topped with fennel greens. Meanwhile, we sautéed leeks and then added trimmed green beans and quartered fennel bulbs, and simmered the veggies ten minutes in broth.

A recent breakfast

Poached eggs on home-made bread.

Tuna steaks and turnip gratin

A good wintry dinner. Slice thin red potatoes, red turnips, white onion, and garlic; layer in a cast-iron dutch oven with grated cheese. Cover with 1 cup cream, sprinkle more cheese on top, and bake one hour, with the lid removed only for the last ten minutes.

Marinade the tuna steaks in olive oil mixed with thyme, black pepper, and whole garlic. Broil ten to fifteen minutes, depending on the thickness of the steaks and how well-done you like your tuna.

The last hurrah of summer

Our vegetable box last week surprised us: it was the final Tuesday of October, and yet the box came full of corn, green beans, sweet peppers, and basil (well, cilantro, actually, but we asked to trade). Our bean vines are still heavy with fruit, so we added some fresh shelled white beans, grabbed some thyme from the garden, and made a wonderful succotash.

Shell white beans and simmer at least ten minutes. Drain. Meanwhile, sauté diced white onion in lots of butter. When onion is translucent, add minced garlic, fresh thyme leaves, and fresh corn cut off the cob. Cook a few minutes while you dice sweet red peppers and add it in; also add in green beans, cut into one-inch pieces. Finally, mix in the drained white beans and some fresh basil leaves. Serve with a well-chilled white or rosé.

Rainbow farfale with tomato, basil, garlic, and ricotta salata

Pan-fried sole, broccoli, and rice

Tuna sashimi, broccoli and sweet potato tempura, and miso soup

Sushi-ready tuna from Hudson fish (amazingly good); slice and arrange on a bed of shaved carrots from Riverdog and shaved radishes from Happy Boy. Broccoli from Catalan, and sweet potatoes from Solano Mushrooms, coated in a barely-mixed tempura batter of 1 cup flour, about 1 cup water, 1 egg, and a little salt and dried ginger; heat olive oil in the wok, and deep-fry the tempura until golden. Mince and sauté onions and carrots from Riverdog and garlic from Catalan, and add a few Tbsp prepared miso paste from Edensoy, salt and four cups water.

Gardening in November

Broccoli, leeks, and peas to plant (the peas will go in the back of the house):




Taking out the tomatoes, to make space for the broccoli and leeks:







Bugs!






Cleaning up the rest of the garden:



The finished planter:

Pizza with shrimp and pesto

B made his best pizza yet on Sunday. At the farmers' market, Blue Heron Farm has had a sale on basil, trying to sell off the last of the crop, so B bought three bunches and made pesto (basil, garlic, salt, pine nuts, olive oil; chop everything fine and mix by hand). He froze half (label to remind yourself that it does not have cheese), and used the other half as the sauce for the pizza. Then the year's last batch of cooked salad shrimp from Hudson Fish (so much better than supermarket shrimp, and so fresh tasting!), grated mozzarella and parmesan, and whole pine nuts on the top.

Product review: Bariani olive soap

The best olive oil in California — well, one of the best we've had — is made by the Bariani family, whose orchard, press, and bottling facilities are near Sacramento. Bariani oil is available at the Berkeley Farmers' Markets (where Sra. Bariani, who speaks Italian, enough Spanish to run the farm, and minimal English, staffs the stand), at Berkeley Bowl and Cheeseboard, and the website lists stores in some thirty states with the oil. (We don't usually buy Bariani oil, because at the rate we use oil, we need a cheep extra-virgin cooking oil, not an expensive table oil. Sometimes we get a small bottle for special dishes.)

In the last month or so, we noticed a new product at the Bariani stand: soap. In addition to their oils (a green early-season pressing and their standard extra-virgin, as well as a truffle-infused oil) and vinegar (Balsamic, available only in 500 ml bottles, and the only California vinegar we've found), Bariani now offers liquid body soap, a bar soap, and a moisturizing cream. We bought a small bottle of the liquid soap to try.

The soap is clear, flows easily, and unscented (ingredient list: water, extra virgin olive oil, KOH), a huge plus over such industry standards as Dr Bronners and Toms of Maine, and it's much less harsh than its mass-produced relatives. The soap is marketed as "body soap and shampoo", but I'm not thrilled with it as a shampoo (it's not awful, but I think I'll stick with Head&Shoulders). On the other hand, I love it as a soap. B says it makes him feel like he's being "basted" in it, so we're not buying Bariani only. But I highly recommend the stuff, and I'm excited to try their lotion and bar soap too.