Category Archives: General

Summery Creamy Corn Pasta & A Discount Code For A Great Farm Box Delivery

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Fresh corn is used two ways in this delicious pasta dish.
Fresh corn is used two ways in this delicious pasta dish.

A tangle of pasta. Dolloped with fresh corn kernels, basil leaves, and soft cheese. All lavished with a naturally sweet corn sauce that’s creamy yet not heavy in the least.

If that dish doesn’t say summer, what does?

And if that doesn’t get your mouth watering, what will?

When the folks behind the Bay Area’s Farm Box company delivered one of their stellar produce boxes over the weekend, it’s no surprise that’s the dish I was inspired to make first.

What this coming weekend's Farm Box contains.
What this coming weekend’s Farm Box contains.

Farm Box is a weekly curated farmers market box that customers can get delivered to their door or pick up at the Ferry Plaza farmers market on Saturdays or the Menlo Park farmers market on Sundays. The company was co-founded by Andreas Winsberg, son of David Winsberg, who owns Happy Quail Farms in East Palo Alto, a premier grower of peppers, including the beloved pimentos de Padron.

Each week, Andreas and his team put together a different Farm Box, made up of peak-produce from small local farmers who sell regularly at the Ferry Building and Menlo Park farmers markets.

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A Peachy Keen Peach Tart

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A lovely peach tart that's a cinch to make.
A lovely peach tart that’s a cinch to make.

With its fanciful spiral of glossy, syrupy, tender fruit, this peach tart looks impressive yet is fairly effortless to make.

In fact, it’s so easy that it’s ideal to bake on a whim, for those times when unexpected company shows up at your house.

You know, in those good ol’ days, pre-pandemic.

Sigh.

Until life gets back to normal, though, you definitely deserve this wonderful “Peach Tart.” Just because it’s prime peach season. Just because it’s been an unfathomable year. Just because you can.

The recipe is from Food52 Baking: 60 Sensational Treats You Can Pull Off in a Snap” (Ten Speed Press, 2015).

You don’t even need a mixer to whip it up — just a couple bowls, a fork, a spoon, and your own elbow grease.

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Sigona’s Launches Home Delivery Produce Boxes

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The mango and nectarine in my Sigona's Home Delivery produce box inspired me to make this.
The mango and nectarine in my Sigona’s Home Delivery produce box inspired me to make this.

Everyone’s favorite family-owned fresh produce market on the Peninsula has started offering home delivery of its stellar fruits and veggies.

It’s a new service by Sigona, spurred by the decline of its office delivery program due to shelter-in-place.

Sigona’s Farmers Market has brick-and-mortar locations in Redwood City and the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, which offer more extensive offerings through curbside pick-up or Instacart delivery.

But the separate Sigona’s Home Deliveries sure is convenient if you happen to live within its delivery zone. That encompasses: Millbrae, Hillsborough, Burlingame, San Mateo, Foster City, Belmont, San Carlos, Redwood Shores, Emerald Hills, Redwood City, Atherton, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Mountain View, Sunnyvale and Cupertino.

The home delivery boxes range in size, suited to feeding anywhere from 1 to 4 people. Choose boxes that highlight fruits only, veggies only, berries only, dried fruits and nuts, or a combination of fruits and veggies. You can even add on a seasonal berry pie ($17.99) from Pietisserie, Upper Crust Bakery or Gizdich Ranch.

Test driving the new Sigona Home Delivery Fruit & Veggie Box.
Test driving the new Sigona Home Delivery Fruit & Veggie Box.
The contents of last week's box.
The contents of last week’s box.

Delivery is free for orders over $75; for orders under $75, there is a delivery fee of $3. Deliveries are made on Wednesdays and Fridays, and orders must be finalized three days ahead of time.

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Paula Wolfert’s Oven-Steamed Salmon

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Cooked in the oven with a pan of water underneath, salmon fillets steam gently for a incredibly supple texture.
Cooked in the oven with a pan of water underneath, salmon fillets steam gently for a incredibly supple texture.

One of the great joys of summer in the Bay Area is the advent of wild king salmon season.

Few things can top the rich, lush, buttery, deep taste of this magnificent fish.

Generally, I’m all about grilling it, oftentimes on a cedar plank.

But when I spied this recipe for “Oven-Steamed Salmon,” I couldn’t help being intrigued.

It’s featured in the treasured cookbook, “Unforgettable: The Bold Flavors of Paula Wolfert’s Renegade Life” (Grand Central Life & Style, 2017). Food writer extraordinaires Emily Kaiser Thelin and Andrea Nguyen teamed with esteemed food photographer Eric Wolfinger to create this cookbook, which celebrates the delicious life work of Paula Wolfert, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2013.

Wolfert learned this technique for salmon from the legendary French chef Michel Bras.

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Sticky Toffee Lava Cake For The Win

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The skinny on these incredible sticky toffee pudding cakes.
The skinny on these incredible sticky toffee pudding cakes.

You don’t need cranky Gordon Ramsay in your kitchen to get your fill of sticky toffee cakes. You just need a trip to Whole Foods to pick up these convenient, ready-made Pots & Co. Sticky Toffee Lava Cakes.

Then, just zap them in the microwave for 40 to 50 seconds to put a big smile on your face.

I had a chance to try samples recently of these individual sticky date sponge cakes with molten centers of butterscotch sauce.

The taste is of molasses spice cake crossed with hot buttered caramel popcorn. And one decadent little cake is all of 380 calories.

Yes, just try to resist that.

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