Jess Thomson - Pike Place Market Recipes: 130 Delicious Ways to Bring Home Seattles Famous Market

Copyright 2012 by Jess Thomson
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Pike Place Market and the Market clock are trademarks of the Pike Place Market PDA and are used under license. Rachel the Pig is a trademark of the Market Foundation.

Published by Sasquatch Books

Cover design: Anna Goldstein
Cover photographs: Clare Barboza
Interior photographs: Clare Barboza

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

eISBN: 978-1-57061-799-7

Sasquatch Books
1904 Third Avenue, Suite 710
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 467-4300
www.sasquatchbooks.com

v3.1

For Jim, who does the dishes

CONTENTS

RECIPES BY COURSE

I n 2006 I was leaning against the metal railing next to Rachel the Pigthe Pike Place Markets fund-raising mascot and certainly Seattles most famous animalwhen my phone rang. It was my husband, announcing hed accepted a job here in the Emerald City. I jumped up, shrieked at an embarrassing volume, and gave Rachel a proud pat. Id spent the morning wandering the Market and couldnt wait to live close enough to bring its specialties home to my own kitchen. I fantasized knowing the Market so well that Id swoop in on a weeknight, grab just what I needed for dinner, and traipse home.

As it turns out, for a Seattleitejust like for touristsdeciding how to bring the Pike Place Market home can cause a bit of anxiety. With literally hundreds of vendors, the options are vast, and unlike at a typical grocery store, shoppers are bombarded with constantly changing inspiration. More often than not, when I pop in for, say, some fresh crab, I walk out with an olive oil Ive never tried, three little paper bags filled with produce, pastries for the morning, enough cheeses for a wedding reception, and telltale crumbs on my sweater. Only occasionally do I remember the crab. But not everyone has the luxury of going back the next day, like I do.

Pike Place Market Recipes is a home cooks guide to Seattles beloved treasure. With recipes inspired by the Markets chefs and purveyors, as well as essays that give you a behind-the-scenes view of the Markets day-to-day workings, the book is part Market companion and part bedtime story. Chefs recipes for famous Market-area dishes, like Le Pichets Salade Verte, Ettas Mini Dungeness Crab Cakes, and The Pink Doors Linguine alla Vongole, are a way to relive a day indulging at the Market or catch up on the places you might have missed. Original recipes from my own kitchen that use unique Market ingredients, like Spicy Marinated Feta, made with Sotto Voces piquant olive oil, or Tart Cherry Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies, made with Chukars dried cherries, can help you decide what to take home.

The twenty-first century has brought major changes to the Pike Place Markets food stalls. Besides celebrating its one hundredth anniversary and receiving a major structural facelift, the Market has embraced environmental awareness: Pike Place Fish, home of the world-famous fish throwers and the Markets biggest attraction, now sells only sustainable fish. More and more of the Markets produce purveyors proudly offer Washington-grown fruits and veggies, and the summer brings outdoor organic market stalls to the cobbles of Pike Place. With these changes in mind, this book is organized by where the star ingredients in each recipe come fromFrom the Sound focuses on seafood, for example, and From the Shops highlights recipes made with ingredients from Market retailersto remind you that, while Pike Place Market is known as a place where you can buy almost anything almost all of the time, its restaurants and producers honor seasonality, and Seattleites are proud to acknowledge their bounty of local food.

The Pike Place Markets restaurant scene has changed also. Two of its most popular upscale restaurants, March (formerly Campagne) and Matts in the Market, have been remodeled, and a third, relative newcomer Steelhead Diner, has become a staple for locals and tourists alike. Today, favorites include dishes from Indian, Russian, Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese, Vietnamese, Spanish, British, Greek, Mediterranean, Turkish, African, Creole, and Mexican spotsand thats just lunch.

Of course, some things have stayed the same. The Athenian, the bakery-turned-seafood restaurant whose original 1909 neon sign still hangs in the Main Arcade (yes, it existed before Tom Hanks made it famous in Sleepless in Seattle), still feels like a gathering place. MarketSpice, the Markets first merchant, still sells its trademark tea scented with cinnamon, orange, and clove. Three Girls Bakery is still known for its sandwiches. And as before, the Market hosts handfuls of buskers every day, making every trip down Pike Place entertaining no matter what you choose to eat.

Whether youre trolling for a dinner featuring fresh halibut and the seasons first Columbia River king salmon in April or shopping for holiday gifts in November, Pike Place Market Recipes has the inspiration you needand with any luck, you, like the ten million other people who visit the Market each year, will be back soon, soaking up its smells and sights and feasting on its flavors. But until then, keep cooking.