We went to the Coronado Farmer's Market today, and while it was small, we found some great treasures. PS. If you haven't been to Coronado Island, GO. It is beautiful and has a spectacular view of downtown and the bay. It seems pretty "quaint" in a yuppie-ish way, but I'll take pretty scenery over ugly tenements any day. The farmer's market only had a few tents, but we picked up a pound of roma tomatoes and a basket of jalapenos for $3, and then caroused over to the organic cheese tent.
Clearly, Ashton and I have cheese issues, namely obsession. We seem to eat cheese in every meal and in between meals whenever possible. This was no ordinary cheese tent. I have never tried cheese curds before, but according to the dude there it is what is rendered early in the cheese making process and contains less fat but just as much flavor. It doesn't hold freshness as long, which isn't really a problem for us. We sampled a few kinds and went with Mike's Firehouse Cheddar, a garlic quark spread, and a block of goat cheese.
In our culinary enthusiasm following our purchases, we spontaneously decided to start growing basil in a window box at our apartment. Thus a spur of the moment trip resulted in a window box and small basil plant to start our little garden. It seems easy to grow and doesn't require much room, so perhaps we'll invest in some rosemary or thyme to expand our little venture. This being said, we got even more enthusiastic and created the following dish.
We sliced up two of the tomatoes and splashed some olive oil across the rows, then laying about one small or one half of a large basil leaf on each slice. Then Ashton diced a large jalapeno and put a piece in the center of each one, and I added a dab of the garlic quark and sprinkled black pepper on them all. Then we baked them for 15 minutes at 250 degrees, at which point they were bubbling and hot and looked a little something like this:
The basil had curled nicely, the cheese had melted superbly, and the jalapenos had released all their delicious juices onto the piping hot tomato slices. They were a little soggy, so we added some toast since we didn't have any crackers. The tomatoes were excellent, but they all had a bit of a bitter aftertaste, which I think had something to do with the cheese. Great for dipping, perhaps not for melting. Since you never can tell with jalapenos, I think this one was somewhat mild, but on the last few I sprinkled just a little garlic salt and crushed red pepper and it gave it just the spice it needed.
Basically Ashton and I are the shit, and everyone is jealous of our awesome gastrointestinal adventures. The end.
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