Recipe by Courtney McDonal; Serves 6

Ingredients:
-4 large heirloom tomatoes, sliced ¼ inch thick
-4 ounces salty blue cheese, such as Bleu d’Auvergne or Roquefort
-1 small red onion or torpedo onion, thinly sliced
-1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
-2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
-salt and pepper, to taste

On a large platter, lay out the tomato slices in a shingled pattern. Crumble the blue cheese evenly on top, then layer the sliced red onion on top of that. Crush the basil leaves and sprinkle over the platter to garnish. Drizzle the tomatoes with the olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Cat­e­gory: Baked Goods

Plac­er­Grown ingre­di­ents used: Eggs Pump­kins Walnuts

Ingre­di­ents:

• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 cups fresh pump­kin puree
• 1 cup veg­etable or canola oil
• 1 1/2 tea­spoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tea­spoon each ground all­spice and ground ginger
• 1 tea­spoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tea­spoons bak­ing powder
• 1 tea­spoon bak­ing soda
• 1/2 tea­spoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped wal­nuts or pecans
• Frost­ing
• 1/2 cup butter(room temperature)
• 3 ounces cream cheese(room temperature)
• 3/4 cup pow­dered sugar
• 1 tea­spoon vanilla extract

Instruc­tions:
Pre­heat the oven to 350º (325º if using a Pyrex glass pan). Set aside a 9-by-13-inch bak­ing pan; do not grease. In the bowl of an elec­tric mixer fit­ted with the pad­dle attach­ment, beat the eggs until frothy. Add the sugar, pump­kin, oil, spice, and vanilla. Beat on low speed to com­bine, then increase to medium speed. Beat 1 minute. Addthe flour, bak­ing pow­der, bak­ing soda, and salt; beat on low speed 2 min­utes. Add the nuts and stir to com­bine. Pour into the bak­ing pan. Bake on the cen­ter rack for about 40 min­utes, until the cake is golden brown, the top springs back when lightly pressed, and a cake tester inserted into the cen­ter comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a rack at least 1 hour before frost­ing. To pre­pare the frost­ing, beat the but­ter and cream cheese with an elec­tric mixer until fluffy. Add the pow­dered sugar and vanilla and beat on low speed until fluffy. Add a bit more pow­dered sugar if nec­es­sary to make a stiffer frost­ing. This makes a tasty thin layer; you can dou­ble the frost­ing recipe and make an extra thick layer, if desired. Scrape the frost­ing into the cen­ter of the cake and, using a metal spat­ula, spread to the cor­ners in an even layer. Store in the refrig­er­a­tor and cut pieces right out of the pan. Makes 12 to 16 pieces