Market Dish for Under $20

For me, there's no better way to spend a Sunday morning than perusing the Ballard farmer's market. It's a great way to support the local growers and, inevitably, inspires me to create a fresh, organic, seasonal dish. To up the challenge a bit i bring with me a single $20 bill and see how far I can make it go.



Lobster mushrooms have a relatively short season, but a terrific flavor and texture. Seeing them here took me in the direction of a tomato-mushroom ragout, one of my favorite ways of preparing wild mushrooms. I backed these up with some chantrelles, which have a notably longer season and a more familiar flavor.

Wild Mushrooms: $5


Realizing that I wanted the vessel for my ragout to be a thick slice of toasted rustic bread, I decided to pick up some tangy red pepper crusted goat cheese to smear on my toasts, contrasting the sweet-savory ragout.

Chevre Goat Cheese: $6

On my way to the tomatoes I came across these sweet pimiento peppers. I couldn't help but pick one up, knowing that they would help to reinforce the sweetness of the ragout and round out the flavor.

Pimiento Pepper: $1

Once I finally got around to picking up the tomato and onion I would need, I noticed a large crate of lemon cucumbers. Slightly larger than a golfball, this variety of cucumber is sweeter and milder than its green cousin. While I haven't had many opportunities to work with these, I have found it does suprisingly well when added to warm dishes, though itself shouldn't necessarily be cooked. I bought two; one to play with now, and one to play with later.

Tomato: $.75
Onion: $.75
Lemon Cucumbers: $1



So with my last $5.50 I figured it was time to get the bread and get out of there. Tall Grass Bakery was just a few stalls down, and their artisanal breads make a meal feel like it came from the market. I picked out a big crusty loaf of sourdough, paid, and put my one remaining quarter in my pocket before heading home to the kitchen.

Baker Street Sourdough Bread: $5.25

Tomato-Mushroom Ragout on Rustic Sourdough:

Ragout

• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 small onion, medium dice
• 1 pimiento (or small red bell) pepper, medium dice
• 1 medium tomato, large dice
• 2 cups wild mushrooms
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• salt and pepper to taste

Sourdough Toasts

• 6-8 thick slices rustic sourdough bread
• melted butter or oil
• fleur de sel
• chevre (or any soft, creamy cheese)

Garnish

• lemon cucumbers (or green cucumbers if not available), fine julienne

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Melt butter in an oven-safe pan (cast iron or steel, no Teflon) over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until translucent, then add peppers and stir to combine. Cook for 2 minutes, then place whole herb sprigs into the pan (these will be removed later). Once the herbs begin to give off their aroma (2-3 minutes) add the tomatoes, sprinkle with salt and cook briefly to allow the them to release their juice. Next, add the wild mushrooms, stir, and place pan in the oven for approximately 20 minutes, or until mushrooms are cooked thoroughly.

While the ragout is cooking spread each slice of bread with oil or butter and sprinkle lightly with salt, then place on a sheet pan. Once the ragout is finished discard the herb sprigs, switch the oven to broil and move ragout pan to the very bottom rack of the oven to keep warm. Toast the bread slices on the top rack of the oven until golden brown, then remove from heat and spread each slice with chevre.
Arrange toasts on a plate and load each one generously with ragout. Finish by topping with julienned cucumber and serve.
See the rest of my photos from the market