Tomatoes from our garden, ready for roasting, to go into a soup made with roasted tomato and garlic, basil and a bit of crème fraîche.  If you are thinking “do we have to hear more about what Jim is growing in his garden?”, I can only ask for your indulgence.  I am a dyed-in-the-wool city boy, and the only serious gardening I have ever done has been since we arrived in France full time.  Our (very) modest harvests still seems at least a bit miraculous to me!

The perfect recipe for summer, when tomatoes and sardines are both in season.  Note that you can replace the fresh sardines with  canned tuna, sardines or mackerel, which makes the prep a lot easier. This recipe can be made ahead to the point of the final bake then held in the fridge and baked just before serving.

BAKED TOMATOES STUFFED WITH SARDINES, ROASTED PEPPERS AND CAPERS
(Serves 2 generously, 4 if you add a side of vegetables and rice)

4 large, firm tomatoes
3 sweet peppers
6 fresh sardines
1/4 of a preserved lemon, peel only, diced finely
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 bu Italian parsley
2 T capers
Olive oil
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
Red chili flake (optional)

1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
2 T red wine vinegar

1) Roast the peppers:  place them in a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, then place close to the hot broiler.

Continue broiling until evenly browned all over.  Move the peppers to a bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, then let cool. Seed and peel, cut the peppers into quarters, then julienne.

2) Scale and gut the sardines.  Wash well in cold water, then pat dry with a paper towel. Season inside and out with salt and pepper.  Saute the sardines in a heavy pan with olive oil until well browned on both sides and cooked through. Cool.

Lift off the filets, discarding as many bones as possible (it can be tough to get them all for small sardines!).

3) Finish the stuffing:  Pick the parsley and chop.  Mix the sardine meat, capers, preserved lemon, grated Parmesan and parsley. Season well with salt and pepper, add the chili flake to taste if using.

4) Clean the tomatoes:  Cut the top off the tomatoes.  Using a melon baller, remove all the inside meat and seeds, leaving just the outside wall of the tomato. Sprinkle the inside of the tomatoes with salt and leave inverted to drain for 20 minutes.

Chop the removed meat of the tomatoes and reserve for sauce with any juice that drains from the tomatoes. Note in the photo, I have removed a thin slice from the bottom of each tomato so that it be stable when stuffed.

5) Make the sauce base:  In a small saucepan, saute the diced onion and garlic in a little olive oil until it begins to soften.  Deglaze with the red wine vinegar, add the reserved tomato pulp and juice.  Cook over high heat unit the liquid has evaporated, stirring often. Season well with salt and pepper.  Reserve.

6)  Stuff the tomatoes with the sardine mixture.  Turn the sauce base into a baking dish.  Arrange the stuffed tomatoes on the sauce.  Drizzle with olive oil. Bake in a 325 degree over until the tomatoes are tender and the stuffing is hot all the way through, about 40 minutes (check by sticking a small knife into the center of the stuffing. If it comes out hot, they are ready to serve).  If you like, stir a tablespoon of cold butter into the sauce in the baking dish to finishe.

7) Serve immediately. Saffron rice makes a very nice pairing.

Fresh organic cherry tomatoes, to be featured in the new preparation with our famous steak-frites. Starts today!

100% grass fed petit top sirloin steak, cherry tomato confit with shallot, garlic, zucchini and summer savory, with pommes frites.

Our famous whole roasted WA State chicken for two served with Provençal vegetable stew with summer squashes, eggplant, tomato, onion, sweet peppers, garlic, olive oil and basil

Special appetizer today at Café Presse: Rillettes of smoked trout on grilled country bread, served with local heirloom tomatoes marinated with Pedro Jimenez sherry vinegar, olive oil, garlic and thyme.

New on the menu at Le Pichet for summer: Salad of Gem lettuces, cherry tomatoes, heirloom cucumbers and garlic croutons tossed with a dill-creme fraîche dressing

Salad of heirloom tomatoes, capers, parsley, and vinegar cured anchovies, with a roasted shallot-dill vinaigrette.

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Fall but summer produce is still filling the  farmer stalls!  Celebrate the transition from late Summer to Fall at Le Pichet with dishes that reflect the end of season bounty.

The Summer 2016 Chef’s Dinner at Café Presse was last Tuesday and we had a great time!

The theme for the dinner was “Summer in the Pays Basque” and the menu took its inspiration from the recent trip to the French Basque countries taken by our chef de cuisine Patrick MacWhorter.

Keep your eye on Café Presse’s website or this blog for info about the next Chef’s Dinner, coming in November 2016. And if you would like to be on our mailing list for events like this, please sign up for monthly newsletter here.

Just added to the menu at Le Pichet for Summer 2016!

Grilled smoked pork-garlic sausage on mixed tomatoes and Bermuda onions with warm lentil-tarragon pistou vinaigrette

and

Crispy chickpea falaffels on a salad of summer squashes, sweet peppers and lemon vinagrette, grilled eggplant caviar and yogurt-cucumber sauce blanche