buddha contemplating the magnificence of this bradley tomato. no suffering here…

one of the pluses about living in the south in the summer is that i get tomatoes before all the other yankees do. by june we begin seeing a few beauties at the farmers market and by july, well it’s bounty season. (and yes, i’m well aware that there will be times when this very fact will give me little to no consolation, but right now i’m pretty happy about it.)

i’ve not been home much over the last months but now that i’m here my shopping is done exclusively at the farmers market with hardly a trip anywhere else to buy anything foodlike. i live mostly off of eggs, berries, melons, zucchini, corn, greens, tomatoes, some grass fed beef and pastured chickens and this one particular whole grain seedy bread that i’ve grown to love. between us, i’m trying to lay low on the pork right now out of the desperate need to fit back into my clothes AGAIN.

oh but how i digress… the tomatoes. they are delectable. nearly magical. sprinkled just barely with just some maldon salt, and i am entranced. add a rub of garlic to some toasted bread, a hit of olive oil and some basil and it’s dinner. some buffalo mozzarella and it’s pure decadence. then put all of that on a bowl of pasta and it could fall into ‘my last supper’ category.

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it’s been awhile, i’m well aware. and to make matters even worse, this post is merely a placeholder, a reminder that yes, I KNOW it’s been over 2 months since we last gathered but that i am still very much alive and i suppose one could say, perhaps even more alive than i’ve been in some time. but my god, so much has happened since then that i’ve just not been focusing on ceF.

you see… i’ve fallen in love.

so i ask you to please excuse my time off. i hope i haven’t lost you forever. i am here and i’ve so much to tell you but the weekend is upon us and i have walks to take and wine to drink and the most wonderful man in the entire world to share it all with.

oh, and then there’s all the food…

a wonderful dinner cooked for me by my guy.

now there’s a change…

the back story to this salad is so incredibly bizarre that i’ve hesitated to even tell you about it. but i’ve never been much for keeping things on the down low, so let me share with you the abridged version. this was the audition for masterchef, a new reality show coming up with gordon ramsey. and it got me to the next round. which got me to the next round. which had me filling out the 30 page background check, shooting a home video, and writing the requested 3rd person bio. then came the call from the casting director, "claudia, it’s looking really good for you."

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i’ve not been able to get into inner workings of my blog for awhile now. i’ve been somehow mysteriously locked out of wordpress and it’s been – well kind of bizarre. but i am temporarily ‘in’ so i thought at the very least i could give you these small and dainty sponge cakes that i made 2 weeks ago. i had seen these madeleines posted on james beard’s site and was drawn to them immediately. they come from chef nicolas elmi of le bec-fin in philadelphia.

i’ve only made madeleines once before. a browned butter and lemon version that were nothing short of spectacular, rich and fragrant. but – one needs the pan before one can make a madeleine, non?. and it took me awhile before i decided to take the plunge and make the commitment to baking madeleines on occasion. and so now i definitely think that you too should indulge in a madeleine pan and consider making these – right away.

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a few months ago i bought some locally produced lamb shanks at the nashville farmers market and then tucked them away in my freezer for just the right day. and then yesterday, on a whim i sat them out to defrost and began snooping around the interwebs for some inspiration. i wound up on food52′s site and glanced at 2 different recipes – and then i was off. within a minute i had found just what i needed, and based on what was in the pantry and the refrigerator i got to cooking.

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i know… more seafood. but really, there’s just never too much seafood – at least not in my life. especially when it’s supremely fresh.

you know what i mean, the good stuff… the kind of fish that gets sent to the best restaurants. because this product isn’t coming to me from a middle man via atlanta – it’s coming direct from the source. and you can taste it.

so here i go once more – and not only is it seafood i’m preparing, but it’s once again from these guys. and the recipe? you guessed it. it’s from my latest chef crush, efisio farris. i’m concerned that perhaps i’m becoming predictable. and i know you expect more from me than that. but give me a brand new inspiring book and a great ingredient source to go with it, and well, i’m all over those seafood recipes. it’s the next best thing to being in sardinia.

plus i get to have MORE BOTTARGA. and when has that ever been a bad thing?

(enter: the lobsters)

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the scallops arrived at my door on a dreary winter’s morning, overnighted from catalina seafood in san diego. they were the huge dry diver scallops – 6 to a lb. and just as beautiful as i’d ever seen. i had decided upon another sardinian recipe by my new bff chef efisio farris (i’m currently on a roll). you see, i’ve been in a bit of a scallop rut. i buy them. i sear them. and then usually just throw them on top of a salad. if i’m feeling semi ambitious i might puree a well steamed head of cauliflower with some fresh thyme and olive oil and plop a few scallops on that. because to me, scallops usually mean a cook-free, no fuss dinner. they are just SO EASY. and the best ones are perfectly delicious with just a good sear.

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