Panzanella with Raspberries

The raspberries were such an intense color at the greenmarket today. They looked like they’d dye your eyes inky pink just by staring at them. I’d be a bad cook if I ignored a single good tomato in August, especially with the blight of their people. Here are the results…

Panzanella with Raspberries
serves 2

½ teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 shallot, thinly sliced
2 cups fantastic ripe tomatoes, cut in chunks or cherry tomatoes cut in half
¼ cup raspberries
3 cups 2 inch cubes of bread
1 small cucumber, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon chopped chives
5 large basil leaves, torn to pieces
1/3 cups extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup ricotta cheese (optional)

in the bottom of a salad bowl mix the salt and vinegar. Add the shallots, let sit for 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients except ricotta. Toss to combine. Let sit for an hour. Serve topped with a big spoonful of ricotta cheese.

Chantarelles

A few weeks ago, I was on my way to a dinner. I realized I was about half an hour early, so I set into the woods for a quick walk. I stood by a waterfall. I had a thought, about some guy I was seeing. I got really mad. (Formerly I had just been sad, so this was an improvement...)I turned to go back, and there was a field of Chantarelle mushrooms right in front of me!

I made my sweatshirt into a bundle and collected about three pounds of them. I always wanted to have a magic abundant rare mushroom bonanza! We sauteed a bunch at the dinner. Some people were scared of things randomly found in the woods, by a city girl no less. But I'm still here, we all survived. They were Chantarelles. I dried some on strings on the rafters of the house.
Corn and Chantarelle Hash
Serves 2

1/4 cup good butter
2 small red onion or shallots, chopped
8 chantarelle mushrooms, chopped
kernels shaved off two fresh ears of corn
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon fresh chives, chopped
salt and pepper

Heat a medium skillet over medium high heat. Add butter, mushrooms and shallots,sauté until fragrant and the shallots are translucent, about 7 minutes. Add corn, sauté until corn is just cooked through, about 4 minutes. Stir in thyme and chives. Season with salt and pepper to taste