Sitka and Spruce still impresses me very much! I've been back there like 4 times now. I've not seen the my chef crush Matt Dillon this time but had this amazing Gateau Basque with Huckleberries.
Gateau Basque is an exquisite tart filled with a drier like cake. Sometimes it's filled with fruit but Sitka and Spruce kept it traditional and I believe filled it with pastry cream and baked.
They just know how to make and present food. This is the kind of food I love to eat!
So lovely, have to show it twice!
I love, love farmer's market. Today, I met my friend Kittie for brunch then we walk the market in Ballard. Wow...amazing choices! September is such a great period for produce...the tomatoes (from my own garden too), corn, stone fruits like plums, huckleberries, peppers, and on an on. It's winding down for summer but there are so many amazing fruits and veggies.
Friday night, I went to one of Tom Douglas' newer place Cuoco which an Italian place in his building of new restaurants in south Lake Union. I had this amazing dish grilled corn salad that had such sweet corn and cherry tomatoes. It was just a simple dish of grilled corn, tomatoes, salt and I think olive oil.
When I saw the fresh corn at the market today, I wanted to recreate this dish. I can't think of anything that is so good but so simple. It totally relies on the freshness and flavors of the ingredients. I was hosting a dinner for some friends so this is one of the side dishes I decided to make. Here is my final dish.
Below are the amazing sweet corn. I just grilled it and cut them off the cob.
I also picked up this lovely spinach that you see in the colander above. Oh boy...I forgot the name of. It was such a lovely kind and how can I forget. I'll have to go back next week to find out again. It tasted a little bit bitter and bite than the regular green kind but it was lovely...especially with the sweet red plums I paired it with a for salad.
Back to the corn salad. I grew cherry tomatoes this season. OMG...so easy and so much more flavorful than the store bought kind. It taste like a honey dew melon tomato. Seriously! Really reminds you of what real veggies and fruit should taste like. This is why I am trying to eat more organic and going to farmer's market more. So...I mixed the grilled corn with cherry tomatoes sliced, grassy olive oil, some kosher salt, and peppers. This was so good!
Farmer's markets are such a great way to spend your morning or afternoon on weekend. It just gives me such joy and memorable time to spend. I ended up buying a flat of raspberries that were picked the day before, huckleberries, red plums, mint, the corn, the spinach, kale that I'm going to juice, organic raised pork chops, and autumn color bouquet of flowers. I also picked up some cinnamon soap. This is another post later but it's one of my favorite things in the world.
Cheers!
Sitka and Spruce still impresses me very much! I've been back there like 4 times now. I've not seen the my chef crush Matt Dillon this time but had this amazing Gateau Basque with Huckleberries. 
