Roasted Fresh Tomato Sauce

I took my usual pilgrimage to the farmer's market on Saturday and found lots of signs proclaiming the last crop of heirloom tomatoes of the season. Deeply distressed, I went a bit overboard buying them. That very night, I was out with my friends Rachelle & Steve and they were telling me about this fabulous and simple sauce they make using the gorgeous tomatoes they grown in their garden. They found the recipe on NPR and were really loving its simplicity and fabulous flavor. So, I decided to use the last of my heirlooms to create a roasted tomato sauce.

There are a lot of different ways to do this type of sauce, you could really use any combo of tomatoes, herbs and extras. In the future, I may throw in some mushrooms, zucchini or olives as well. The key is to use some different types of tomatoes. I supplemented my heirloom stash with some roma and plum tomatoes I picked up. In addition to being colorful, the resulting sauce was so flavorful and complex, you could really taste the different varieties and how they added to the sauce.

Best of all this recipe is SIMPLE. Chop, toss and roast. It does take a bit of time, but it's absolutely worth it. I regret not making a bigger batch to freeze.

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Smoked Trout Hash

We recently discovered a fabulous restaurant around the corner from our new apartment. One of their brunch specialties is smoked trout hash. Since the wait for a table is usually more than an hour, we decided to create our own version. We don't have a smoker, but Craig was intrigued by the idea of smoking fish on our charcoal grill. So after cooking dinner one night, as the heat was dying down, we smoked some fresh Rainbow Trout we had picked up. We used a cedar plank, which gave is a fantastic smoky flavor. After picking the meat off the bones, we just stored it in the fridge. The next morning, I used it to make this dish. Traditional, but with the flavorful fresh fish, this is a filling and impressive breakfast. The hash itself is simple to throw together in 20 minutes or so. You can serve alone or topped with fried or poached eggs. A liberal sprinkling of black pepper is required.

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