What Does The Gastronomer Eat?

What does The Gastronomer eat? The short answer is that I eat lots of things, and what I eat depends on my mood, the availability of ingredients, who is dining with me, and how much time I have to cook. I prefer home cooked dishes for the simple reason that they taste better than so-called prepared foods, and for me, nothing is more important in food than taste. The finest restaurants and chefs are able to create dishes in their professional kitchens that are impossible for me to make at home. However, most restaurant food is inferior to what the average, careful home cook with a good palate can make. So that's why I usually eat my own dishes cooked at home.

What was on the menu for dinner tonight? Inspired by the amazing ingredients at the San Rafael farmers market near my Northern California home, and assisted by one of my brilliant daughters, I prepared:

"Chicken Fried" Portabello Mushrooms

Heirloom Tomatoes, Fresh Mozarella "Pearls", California EVOO, Italian Balsamic Vinegar, Basil

Freshly Baked Biscuits, Honey Butter

Fresh Tayberries, Meyer Lemon Zest, Spearmint

The Portabello mushrooms were fresh from the farmers market, and we double dipped them in buttermilk and highly seasoned flour and deep fried them to create a fried chicken style dish. The family reported that they were savory, but I felt I should have added twice the seasonings to the flour (pepper, dried oregano from our garden, smoked paprika and salt), and cooked them at a bit hotter temperature. But ... The Gastronomer is self-critical. 

The tomatoes were also from the farmers market, as was the basil. The mozzarella "pearls" were from the supermarket and perfectly fine -- someday I will try making my own. Of course, EVOO and various vinegars are pantry staples at our house, and I never skimp on quality with them because I use them so often. 

The biscuits were from a tube, because even though they are not hard to recreate, I just didn't have time tonight to make every dish from scratch, and with our own honey butter (again with good pantry ingredients - don't skimp on quality), they were a delicious counterpoint to the richness of the mushrooms. 

Finally, we had fresh tayberries (a blackberry, raspberry cross), also from the amazing San Rafael farmers market. They were plump, and each drupelet was so swollen that I thought they might explode at any moment. Their flavor was perfectly balanced, with none of the sour quality that raspberries (and even more-so blackberries) often have. The skin of tayberries is too delicate to ship them long distances, so they are not a viable commercial crop, but they travel just fine to us from the Salinas Valley in our favorite berry farmer's truck. They are only available for a few weeks a year, and we buy cases of them while they last. I very lightly sugared them (though they don't really need it), grated a bit of Meyer lemon zest (we grow lemons in pots in our garden), and stuck in a spearmint leaf from the garden.  

For dessert...? I'm still full from dinner.