Smokey Greens

So easy, so awesome. Spicer suggests cooking them in duck or bacon fat. Butter seems to work great. Original recipe from Food and Wine, December 2000.

The trick with greens is to start with way more than you think you need. They cook down so fast. This recipe serves 5 with left overs.

5 bunches of greens. Mixed is best. Kale, collards, mustard, chard, etc. with large stems removed.
Generous 1/2 stick unsalted butter or equivalent fat
2 large red onions chopped
5 cloves garlic minced
2 canned chipotles with some of the adobo sauce (OR 3 of Olivia from Farmer and the Cook's smoked dried chipotles)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 tbl cider vinegar

1. Coarsely chop and wash greens in cold water. (This can be done in stages as the greens cook down.)

2. Heat fat in dutch oven like pan. Add the onions and saute until soft. (10 minutes or so). Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes.

3. Stir in greens by the handful, adding more as previous batch starts to wilt. This takes a long time to get through all the greens. Add the chipotles and some adobo sauce if using canned and some salt and pepper. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring ever so often until greens are tender, about an hour.

4. Discard chipotles if you can find them. Stir in vinegar and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

Cornmeal Souffle

This is totally fantastic, but time consuming and needs to be timed well with the rest of your meal. It really wants to be the last thing to get put out. Spicer's recipe calls for grits, but I have yet to find grits in Ojai so I have substituted fine cornmeal. It's still good. Recipe from article in Food and Wine, December 2000.

5 cups water
1 cup whole milk (Organic Valley is my favorite)
3 Tbl unsalted butter
1.5 tsp kosher salt
1.5 cups stone ground grits or cornmeal
1.5 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (5 oz)
5 large eggs separated

1. In a large saucepan, combine the water, milk, butter and salt and bring to a boil. Slowly whisk in grits or cornmeal and simmer over low heat, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until grits are thick. About an hour.

2. Transfer cooked grits to a large bowl and stir in cheese. Let cool slightly, then add the egg yolks one at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon after each one. (This is where you have the most fudge room with the timing).

3. Preheat over to 400 degrees. Butter a 2.5 qt class or Cormack souffle dish. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold firm peaks. Stir 1/3 of egg whites into grits to loosen them, then fold in the remaining whites.

4. Scrape mixture into prepared souffle dish and smooth the surface. Bake for about 30 minutes or until puffed and golden and center is moist but not runny. Serve at once.

Buttermilk Cornbread

This cornbread totally satisfies. I have yet to meet someone that does not like it.
Recipe from Susan Spicer. Food and Wine, December 2000.

1 Stick unsalted Butter melted, plus 2 Tbl
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1.5 cups yellow cornmeal (fine or coarse works depending on your taste)
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbl + 1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1.5 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat Oven to 400. Put the 2 Tbl of butter in an 8 inch square baking dish and put in oven. (This helps create a crispy firm crust and seal in the moisture)

2. In a Big Bowl, mix the dry ingredients: cornflour, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder.

3. In a Small bowl, mix the buttermilk and eggs.

4. Add the Wet ingredients to the Dry ingredients along with the melted butter and stir to combine.

5. Remove the hot dish from the oven and tilt to spread the butter around the dish. Scrape batter into dish and bake for about 25 minutes or until the toothpick or fork tool inserted in the middle comes out clean. (I usually check it at 20 minutes). Let cool for at least 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack or serve from dish.

Seafood Okra Gumbo

My first and only trip to New Orleans was to see my little brother graduate from Tulane in the year 2000. We ate like Kings that week. Dinner at Emeril's, Commander's Palace and Jacquimos. Breakfast of fancy fried donuts called beignets and Nutty Black Coffee at Cafe Dumond. Lunch at the Gumbo Shop and elsewhere.

This recipe comes from the Gumbo Shop in New Orleans. I have tweaked the ingredients and directions a little based on what is available to me in Ojai, Calif. Of course if you can get shrimp with the heads on for the stock and fresh crab, do it!

Serves 6 to 8 hungry people.
Most peeps like a scoop of white rice in there.
Corn bread is almost a must.

2lbs frozen shrimp with shells

Cup of canned or fresh crab meat

(our local market carries this canned crab meat in a black tin that has been pretty consistent)

3 quarts water

2/3 cup + 2 Tbl. cooking oil (peanut oil has proven to be my favorite, but others work)

1 qt. frozen okra, pre sliced (Okra is fresh here in the summer and I almost never want gumbo in the summer...so frozen it is).

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 cups chopped onions

1 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped celery

2 tsp. minced garlic

1 16oz. can of tomatoes (You can't find 16oz. of tomatoes, the 14oz works fine. Lately I use Muir's Fire Roasted Crushed tomatoes and like that the best).

2 Bay Leaves

2 tsp salt (to taste)

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. ground white pepper

1/4 tsp. cayenne (I get super shy about the red pepper when serving a large group).

1. Peal and De vein the Shrimp. Set aside in Fridge.

2. Rinse shrimp shells (and heads if you have them). In a non-reactive pot, heat a little of your oil and saute the shrimp bodies until pink. Add 3qts of water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes to make stock. Strain, discard the bodies and set stock aside.

3. In a non-stick, heat 2Tbl. of oil and add okra. Saute over medium heat until "ropiness" is gone. This takes an unusually long amount of time, but I also like to "overdo" it and blacken the okra bit. About 25 minutes.

4. Place 2/3 cup of oil in a large (8qt.) heavy bottomed pan Dutch Oven like pan. Add the flour and, over medium high heat, make a dark brown roux. This also takes a crazy amount of time and can be done while the okra cooks. It requires constant stirring. Initially little foamy bubbles will appear, this is the flour frying. Then, once the bubbling has stopped and you start to smell popcorn, you must stay totally diligent. The roux will turn a teddy bear brown and make it's way to a chocolate. You will be tempted to stop before it gets too dark cuz if it's burned you have to start over, but play the edge as close as you can. The darker the roux the more nutty and rich the flavor.

5. As soon as you get the color you want, throw in the onion, peppers and celery. Stir and mix for about 4 minutes and then add the garlic. Saute until soft and the sweetness has been released. The Gumbo Shop suggests letting the vegetables stick to the bottom of the pan and then scraping them off allowing the natural sugars to caramelize but I have never experienced this "sticking" they talk about. Maybe if I was using Cast Iron...? About 15 minutes or so.

6. When the vegetables are tender, add the tomatoes, bay leaves, 3 peppers and salt. (I also usually add some thyme). Again, mixing and sauteing for about 10 to 15 minutes.

7. Add the cooked okra and saute for about 10 minutes more.

8. Add stock, but eyeball quantity. I never add it all. Stir and bring to a boil. Lower heat and partially cover and simmer for about an hour, stirring every so often, adding more stock if gumbo seems to thick.

9. Return to a boil and add shrimp and cook till pink and firm. About 4 minutes. Remove from heat and add canned crab.

Gumbo is best prepared ahead of time cuz the flavors get better with time. So early in the day or day before is best. Reheating gently to not overcook the shrimp.

Making Your House Smell Like Christmas

It was Tuesday and we had been cleaning all day and the house smelled like cleaning products.

My parents were due to arrive in about 30 minutes.

SO I threw some Cinnamon Sticks, Cloves and Cardamon Pods onto a baking sheet and put them in the oven at around 350 and INSTANT CHRISTMAS SMELL.

Spiced Pecans

These are totally yummy and can be tweaked to suit your tastes.  More salty, spicy or sweet.  I have been making these around the holidays for 10 years.  Original recipe from Michael Brisson in Fine Cooking, Nov 1998, No. 29.  

2 to 3 tsp. good salt (original called for 4tsp but always was too salty for me)

1/2 tsp cayenne or to taste

1 tsp each of ground white pepper, nutmeg, cloves and allspice (fresh ground is yummy, but the already ground works well too)

4 to 5 cups of pecan halves

a generous 1/3 cup of butter melted 

1/3 cup of dark maple syrup

1. Heat Oven to 350

2. Mix dry ingredients together well and toss in pecans.  Tossing with your hands works the best.

3. Mix melted butter over nuts and again toss.  (Taste here.  Sometimes you can tell you need more salt or something else.  Sometimes I have added ground cardamon into the mix)

4. Spread out on a baking sheet into one layer.

5. Bake until lightly toasted, stirring every so often.  About 10 minutes.

6. Pour maple syrup over nuts and stir to combine and bake about another 10 minutes.

7. Let the nuts cook in the pan, about 20 minutes.  Then scrape into a bowl, breaking up any large chunks.

Christmas Week Menu

A large part of hosting Christmas in our family is the food.

Tuesday Night Dinner

Toasted Herby Spicey Nuts

Golden Sea Bass Fish Tacos with Cilantro Mint Yogurt Sauce

Serrano Chili and Lime Cesar Salad

Coconut Rice

Christmas Eve Day

Afternoon Grazing of Cheeses and Meats and olives and the like from Paradise Pantry in Ventura

Spiced Pecans

Christmas Eve Dinner

Seafood Gumbo 

Buttermilk Cornbread

Butter Lettuce Salad with fennel, Snap Peas and Turnips

Gingercake with Whip creme, Pomegranate Seeds and Mint for Desert

Christmas Day Brunch 

Lox from GeeWhataDeal and the Fixings

Christmas Dinner

Grilled Filet

Cheese Grits Souffle

Smokey Greens

Black Rice

Jalapeno Pear Relish

Lemon Chiffon Pie with Ginger Molasses Crust

The 26th

Dinner at Azu

The 27th

Lunch at Farmer and the Cook

Dinner at the Watermark

Sunday Lunch

Came home after teaching today and made this for me and Eric.

German Pumpernickel Toast with:

A little Whipped Creme Cheese

Capers

Red Onion

Some Smoked Salmon Lox from GeeWhataDeal

Fresh ground pepper

on the side, a Semi Soft Hard Boiled Egg with salt

Coffee

Manicotti for the Boys

I felt energized and loving when I went to the grocery store last night.  I was feeling pasta, but when I thought Manicotti, I knew the boys (my husband and brother) would be pleased.

Bill of Casa Barranca Winery had just given us 4 bottle of wine for Christmas.  We opened the Bungalow Red.  Fantastic.

I used the recipe on the back of the box of the shells as a grocery list, adding and changing where I felt appropriate. 

1. Start the heat under a big pot of salty water.

2. In an cast iron enalmed pot like a Crueset, heat a little olive oil and brown the hot italian turkey sausage.  (4 links with casing removed.  I had to do in 2 batches)

3. While sausage is browning, mince up 2 carrots, 2 leeks, 2 stalks celery.

4. In a bowl, mix 15oz. Organic Valley ricotta with 1/3 cup of finely grated parmeson.

5. Once Sausage is browned, remove to a bowl, add more olive oil to pot and add onions, carrots and celery.  Stir and saute for about 10 minutes, or until softer.  Add mined fresh rosemary and sage.  Some dried thyme.  A little Mexican Oregano.  (Or whatever herbs you have on hand and like).  I also added 2 fresh Bay leaves from B.D.  Pour in some of the wine from your glass to deglaze.  Stir and allow to saute and soak up juices.  Add a 28ox can of Muir's Fire Roasted Crushed Tomotoes.  Stir to combine.  Bring to a boil.  Once boiling, turn heat down and allow to simmer.  Pour in a little beef broth to thin the sauce out a bit.

6. Turn oven to 350.  Grease a 9x12 baking dish with olive oil. Wash your spinich.7. When water is boiling, cook the shells and drain.  I ran cold water over them and that made them cool faster so they were easier to handle.8. Throw washed spinich (still wet) into pan you just cooked pasta in.  Turn heat to super low and stir and cover.  Pay attention to this pot.  Stirring and helping spinach to wilt.  Takes about 4 minutes or so.  Once nice and wilted, but still green, drain into a fine colander and rinse with cold water.  With hands squeeze out excess moisture. Finely chop and mix into ricotta along with meat.  Freshly ground pepper and what ever else you think might taste good.

7. When all ingredients are ready, begin to stuff cheese mixture into shells.  Your hands work the best.  Be careful not to bust open the shells.

8. Lay in baking dish and then cover with tomato sauce.  Put in oven for 45 minutes.  

There wasn't a morsel left.  I imagine that this dish could serve up to six peeps if you had a salad to go along with it.  But the 3 of us polished it off.  OMG.

Geordie Making Mom's Chili from Grandma Elsie

"I made some adjustments, " He said.

Geordie sent me to the store to get the ingredients.  This is what he whipped up.

1.5 pounds ground meat

1 Medium Yellow Onion Diced

1 Green Bell Pepper Diced

2 cloves minced garlic and or 2 tsp of garlic powder

1 16oz can of Red Kidney Beans

1 28oz can tomato puree

1/2 ketchup

2 tbl brown sugar

3 Tbl or to taste of Chili Powder

2 tsp. of dried mustard or to taste

2 tsp. of garlic salt

1 tsp. cayenne or to taste

1 finely chopped jalapeno with or without seeds (optional and to taste)

1 tbl. worshteshire

2 tsp. of white pepper

salt and pepper to taste

Tabasco to taste

1. In a heavy pot, like a Crueset Dutch oven, heat a few tbl of olive oil and brown the meat.  Add salt and pepper while cooking and a little cayenne while browning.

2. When down, remove meat and drain in colander.  Add an additional tbl or so of olive oil and saute onions and peppers and garlic.  (Onions and garlic first.  Peppers after).

3. When soft, add meat back in.  Drain kidney beans goo and add to pot.  Add can of tomato puree.  Add ketchup, brown sugar and everything else.  

4. Stir.  Keep on medium heat until starts to bubble, then turn to simmer and stir occasionally.   For about 30 minutes or longer if necessary.

Serve with crusty bread for dipping.  A fresh green salad is also good.

Spinich Salad

I was reluctant to bring a salad to Thanksgiving.  Who has room for salad on Thanksgiving?  Why would you have salad when there's stuffing?  But I love Babs and will do whatever she says.  I made this from what I had in my fridge mostly from our local farmers.

1. Wash a bunch of Steve's amazing spinach

2. Mash up some garlic with some salt.  Add some of Alice's Ojai White Balsamic Vinegar.  Add some chopped green peppercorns and chopped mint from Steve and chopped parsley from BD.

3. Thinly slice at least 2 bulbs of fennel and a bunch of B.D.'s tiny scallion chive onions.  Mix and squeeze a meyer lemon from Friend's Ranch over them.

4. Toast pine nuts.

5.  When ready to serve, toss spinach with fennel mixture and dressing.  Crumble Feta on top. Heat olive oil in small pan on stove.  When hot, pour over salad to wilt.  Toss quickly.  Sprinkle in Pine nuts and add 3 cubed avocados.  Gently toss.  Salt to taste and serve.

Ginger Carrots

I was fretting about this dish.  I had not made it in a while and was not quite sure how I used to do it.  So i approached it with some angst,  but it seemed to turn out okay.  Even Lia liked it.

Peel and cut too many carrots from your favorite farmer to be as closely the same size as possible.  Heat olive oil or other favorite oil in a big saute pan and brown in batches if necessary, removing to a bowl.

Add more oil to pan and saute too many minced shallots and too much minced ginger.  De glaze a bit with some orange juice.

Throw carrots back into pan.  Add a mixture of Orange juice, honey, soy sauce, black pepper and water back to pan.  Bring to a boil.  Then lower heat as much as possible.  Cover with wax paper and lid if necessary.  Braise for up to an hour until carrots are as you like them.

Stir in fresh chopped mint and a little salt to taste if necessary.

Roasted Cranberry Sauce

At the suggestion of the Saveur, I roasted the Cranberry Sauce.  This recipe needs tweaking, but here is what we did.  This made enough Cranberry Sauce for an Army.  16 Peeps barely made a dent.

6 boxes of 7oz Organic Cranberries from Farmer and the Cook

1.5 cups Maple Syrup (sugar would prob. work too)

6 tbl. olive oil

5 pinches good salt

8 crushed cardamon pods (not a good idea, too many loose cardamon bursts...ground might have been better)

8 cloves (again, had to find the cloves in the sauce after roasting)

6 cinnamon sticks (candela would have been better)

2 seeded and deribbed jalepenos from FnC thinly sliced (if you know your people, leave some seeds in).

Peeled and thinly sliced skin of 3 oranges (from FnC)

Tossed Together and Roasted in an Oven at 450 for about 15 minutes.

(I like the look of whole berries in the sauce.  This blew all the berries up and so the sauce was more like jam)

Transfer Berries and Such to a Bowl and stir in 5 tbl. or so of Fresh Squeezed OJ and 4 tbl. or so of Port.  Let sit for an hour and taste.  Eventually remove the pods, cloves and sticks before serving.  (This was a pain!)  Refrigerate if you like cold cranberry sauce.

We mixed in the seeds from one pomegranate.  I love this!  it gives the sauce a burst like surprise.

Thanksgiving at the Washburns

We went to the Washburns for Thanksgiving.  I was super grateful to not cook a feast this year.  First year in a long time.  

The meal was fantastic.  I was assigned a vegetable dish, salad and cranberry sauce.  I ate none of what I brought.  I focused completely on the stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and a little turkey.

Recipes following.

Food Control and Family Patterns and Pasta

My little brother Geordie has moved in with us.  I love my little brother and am totally delighted that he is here, especially the way his presence exposes the family patterns so quickly and easily.

It was around 3:30pm and Eric had come home from the grocery store with the fixings for a smoked white fish dip and the ingredients for roasted tomato sausage pasta.  I was excited to make a nice meal for the 3 of us.

Geordie emerged from the office and announced he was hungry and was going to go out and get something.  I mistakenly suggested he wait cuz I was going to make dinner.  I jumped up and prepped the whitefish dip.  When it was gone within 2 minutes, I realized that maybe I had underestimated (or worse, not even acknowledged) his hunger.  And that the appropriate response would have been, "Great, see you later."

But I was attached to our having dinner together, and so I navigated incorrectly, not receiving the fresh information.  And as most of us do when we are hungry and not being allowed to do what we want to do, he got angry.  (A mild soft angry with a slight agitated and accusing raised voice).  And I felt like my mother with my father.  One wanting the freedom to satisfy his needs and the other trying to satisfy hers, corrupted with the illusion that her plan was superior.

And so he left to get food, and I laughed and saw what had happened.  And when the invitation came in to go to a housewarming party from 6 to 7, I accepted cuz now I was off the hook for dinner.  Geordie returned with beer and peanuts still under the assumption that I was cooking dinner.  Hahaha.  Trick or treat has been the theme for me with my SELF this week and she keeps winning.

1. Preheat Oven to 400 degrees

2. Slice open the collection of tomatoes you have from Steve and the Sunday Farmers market.  (Tonight we had romas, heirloom, vine ripe and cherry).  Lay out on a baking sheet.  Smear with olive oil, crack some pepper and put in oven.  Set timer for 30 minutes.

3. In a heavy enameled cast iron pot, add some olive oil.  When hot, cook up turkey sausage.  Tonight Eric came home with spicy and mild.

4. Meanwhile, mince up 1 or 2 carrots and 2 stalks celery and 2 shallots.  When meat is done, remove with a slotted spoon.  add more oil if necessary and add carrots, celery and shallots.

5. Mince up some rosemary and add to herbs along with some dried thyme and other desired herbs or spices.  Eventually add about a cup of wine and allow to simmer and evaporate.  By this time the tomatoes are done.  I poured the entire tray of tomatoes with juices in.  If I had paused, i might have drained them a bit, cuz the sauce seems more watery than i would have liked.  Bring to a boil and then lower heat to simmer.  (Even though the sauce did not need any more liquid, I added a little beef broth to enhance the flavor.)

6. Meanwhile, start a large pot of salted water to boil.   Cook pasta, drain and serve with sauce.

7. Delight in the revealing of that which is no longer serving you.

Terrible Fish

At the farmer's market today, cute Taylor Fujita was working for Alicia and Ric.  She was obviously briefed to try to move the Orka or something like that.  I had never had the fish and she is so darn sweet, I took her recommendation for the fun of it.

I baked it with some herbs and spices and oils.

  

UGH!  Tough and chewy and dry, we opened up some A1 and treated it like pork.

Thank goodness the potatoes and greens with shallots, tomatoes and garlic and almonds and balsamic vinegar were delicious.

Halibut Tacos with Cilantro Chutney and Feta

Made up how to do this tonight.

Needs Refinement, but tasted good.

1. Set Oven to 400 degrees

2. Rub Halibut with olive oil.  Fresh ground pepper and crumbled Mexican Oregano.

Place on baking sheet and cover with foil.

Stick in oven and set timer for 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a blender

Mix up:

1 small container of Brown Cow Creme Top Whole Yogurt

About 7 or so Raw Cashews

One smashed clove of garlic

Handful of Fresh Cilantro Leaves

1/2 a handful of Lemon Basil

1/4 a handful of Fresh Mint Leaves

Juice of a Lemon

Blend and salt to taste.

4. Mince up some of B.D.'s mini green onions and crumble a bit of fresh feta.

5. At 10 minutes, check fish.  I put it back in for 3 more minutes.  Then I removed fish from oven and turned on the broiler.  I put the fish under there for 3 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a pan and fry up some of those delicious sprouted corn tortillas.

7. To serve, put a tortilla on a plate. Place some fish on top.  Pour some cilantro chutney and sprinkle with scallions and feta.  (Toasted almonds would have been perfect here too).

Chocolate

I love chocolate.

Dark Chocolate.

And usually we have a Dagoba Bar in the home.  Or some delightful organic equivalent.

Tonight my little brother brought home some Hershey's Special Dark from Special K on his run to pick up some chaw.  

Have you tired that kind of stuff lately?

Gross!

Ginger Steamed Golden Sea Bass with Greens; Side of Roasted Lemon Verbena Potatoes

I have not had meat for about 4 weeks.  Fish seemed a reasonable route to see if I wanted it again and notice how I felt.

My little brother moved in from across the country yesterday and I have found myself in the position of "head chef" of my new 3 person household and this is what we made tonight.  

The men in my life love carbs. You could serve this dish with rice, but both Eric and Geordie love potatoes. Also, since this was an experiment, I knew that if it failed, at least they would be happy with the potatoes.   (If Marty Nation was cooking we could have had that amazing potato puree he used to make at the IRON PAN...oh! I miss those!)

Roasted Potatoes

1. Heat Oven to 400.
2. Scrub Little Red Potatoes (from Farmer's Market)
3. Thinly Slice
4. Toss with Favorite Olive Oil, crumbled Dried Lemon Verbena (from BD) and Freshly ground Pepper
5. Lay out on Baking Sheet in Single Layer
6. Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes until desired crispiness is achieved.

The Fish

1. Mince too much ginger.  Mince or smash 3 cloves or more if you prefer of garlic.  Wash and thinly slice 1/2 bunch of scallions all the way into the deep greens.
2. Wash greens.  Tonight we used a combo of dandelion greens and baby bok choy.  I was looking for mustard greens, but to no avail.  I left the stems whole.  (I might at some mustard seed to the dish to get this...but the wasabi served at the end pulled it together).
3. In a large Pan (I used a Crueset Enameled Cast Iron) heat toasted sesame oil.  When hot, add garlic and ginger and some red pepper flakes if desired.  Saute briefly until fragrant.  Add the greens, tamari soy sauce (or other favorite), rice wine vinegar and toss.  Cook until they start to wilt, about 3 minutes.  Lay fillets of Golden Sea Bass on top.  (I split the fillets into half pieces so they were smaller).  Shake a little extra soy sauce onto fish and rub in.  Sprinkle scallions on top.  Cover.  Set timer to 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, mix the wasabi powder with water as directed and let sit for 5 minutes to make Wasabi.
5. Meanwhile, pan toast whole slice almonds in a little olive oil.
6. When potatoes are done, remove.
7. Check Fish at 10 minutes.  Tonight I set the timer for 3 more minutes and that was PERFECT.  Moist, flaky and infused with the ginger flavor.
8. To serve, arrange potatoes on plate.  Scoop fish and greens next to potatoes.  Sprinkle with  little lemon zest.  (My brother does not like lemon zest and went for the juice instead).  Sprinkle with the roasted almonds.  Serve with wasabi and soy sauce.  
9. I think it would have been better to make a "sauce" of the wasabi and soy to dip the fish into....Next iteration to be revealed soon, I suppose.

Eggplant Tomato Custard

So i have been on an Ayurvedic cleanse for the last 4 weeks or so. Mostly I have been eating basmati rice cooked in ghee and Indian spices with a variety of vegetables, interspersed with kitchare.

Tonight was the first thing I cooked other than that. Inspired from a recipe from Deborah Madison's Green's Cookbook. I rarely cook eggplant. Eric cannot stand it. So I never buy it. But Steve gave me a CSA box the other day filled with it, so what's a dedicated local organic cook to do??

Also, I already had some tomato sauce made from roasted heirloom tomatoes with a little bit of garlic and lemon basil, so the dish was super easy.

1. If you do not already have tomato sauce made set the oven to 400. Core and half 3 to 5 heirloom tomatoes, depending on the size. Place Cut side up on baking sheet. Rub with Olive oil and grind fresh pepper. Roast for about 45 minutes, or until they look shiny and dry. Remove from oven and let cool a bit before handling.
2. In a large bowl, mash a clove or more of garlic, add tomatoes and mix. Rip up some of BD's amazing Lemon Basil and add to sauce. Add more olive oil and some balsamic vinegar.
3. Turn oven down to 350
4. Diagonally Slice up 2 or 3 your perfectly grown Japanese eggplant grown by Steve Sprinkle.
5. Heat some oil in pan and once hot, add the eggplant slices. Brown on both sides. Remove to a plate with paper towels to drain and cook remainder.
6. To assemble the gratin, spread some tomato sauce into the bottom of a pyrex or earthware dish. Tonight I used my 9" circular Pyrex dish cuz I was the only one eating it. (Again, eric hates eggplant). Layer with eggplant slices. Salt and Pepper. Grate some Gruyere cheese on top and scatter whole or sliced basil. Add another layer of eggplant, more cheese and more basil and then top off with tomato sauce.
7. To make the custard top, beat one egg with 1/2 cup of ricotta, a shy 1/3 cup of milk, grated Parmesan and saffron softened in hot water.
8. Pour custard on top of gratin and put in oven. I ended up baking it for about 50 minutes. Usually I set the oven for about 3/4 of the time I think it might take so I can check on it. Then add time. The custard top puffs, hardens and becomes a beautiful golden brown.

I ate it straight and liked it that way. To serve to a pal, might be nice to have a rocket citrus salad to compliment or to keep the heartiness, some rice would make it more dense.

Geeky Pan Article

NYT's Food Section had a nice geeky pan article worthy of Cook's Magazine.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/dining/08curi.html

Talks about Cast Iron, Nonstick, Metal Pans, Enameled Cast irons...the properties of butter vs. oil...all the good stuff...even clean up advice!

The thing is, we get so used to doing things a certain way and then someone reveals a tip. Problem is that its so hard to take the tip and CHANGE!

oh goodness. another tight spot. my pans!

Ayurvedic Cleanse

I am on a 21 day Ayurvedic Cleanse. Cleanse is the modern spiritual word for a "diet" and can be a dangerous hiding place for eating disorders. But the Ayurvedic method is pretty relaxed. You are still eating and the emphasis is on detoxing the mental and emotional layers as well as the digestive system through a sattvic diet and scheudle. The plan has you eating your biggest meal in the middle of the day and not eating after 6:00pm.

My main reason is that I am in the process of unraveling some old crusty and deep unconscious patterns and food and drink would be the natural escape route and rest place. So, in anticipation of that, I asked my pal Jackie Parker to put me on a cleanse.

For about 15 days I have been eating bowls of basmati rice with ghee, lots of Indian spices and a variety of approved vegetables that I can get at the farmer's market.

I make my meal in one pot. My favorite cutco pot left over from when I used to sell their knives door to door. I heat up the ghee, add mustard seed, whole cumin, whole corriander, whole fennel seed, some other spices Uschi brought back from India, Curry Powder or Garam Masala, Hing and Tumeric. Then a scoop of rice. I add sliced carrots or fennel or turnips. Letting the water come to a boil, I usually throw some green beans or sliced kale or other green on top. Cover with the lid and set timer for 10 minutes.

Cooking and Cleaning

I have always been the cook in our family, and Eric has always done the dishes.

Suddenly, due to unraveling of some deep patterns born totally out of resistance to my mother, I am willing and even compelled to do dishes.

And all of sudden, my cooking has become incredibly limited. The amount of dishes and mess I would produce was never taken into consideration when Eric was doing the dishes. Now that I am involved all the way through to the end, we have become a one pot, maybe 2, meal household.

But like the constraints of poetry, I am hoping that this efficiency gives birth to a whole new set of flavors and understanding. The test will be in entertaining.

Fresh Tomato Sauce

Late Summer Tomatoes Rule!

Tonight, we oven roasted a selection of local heirlooms and vine ripes from Steve's Farm.  

Mashed them up.  Added some basil from B.D.'s Farm, minced raw red onion from Steve's Farm, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

Maybe the best tomato sauce ever.

Added some browned turkey sausage and served with Strangled Priest Pasta topped with some fresh mozzarella.

A couple and their cooking legacy

Intimate look at Marcella and Victor Hazen's life in food together in the NYT with much speculation of the mechanics of the relationship. Very few people seem to understand the dynamics of a long lasting and complex relationship.

Anniversary Panini

Tonight is eric and my 11th wedding anniversary.

We made paninis.

I made eric's with salami, goat cheese, Basil and red onion.

Mine was Dublin Cheddar and Basil.

Too much olive oil in a pan.

Fry sandwich in the olive oil.

yum.

Kambucha Wine

Blend some of Peter's chilled homemade kombucha with chilled pomegranate juice.

yum.

Asparagus turkey Sausage PAsta with Fresh Mozarella

1. Start Water to Boil, add Salt
2. Brown Sausage
3. Remove and add some olive oil to the pan
4. Add Thin Asparagus cut in half to pan.  Add fennel seeds, red pepper flakes.
5. Once pretty soft, add thinly sliced fennel
6. Add Red Wine to deglaze.  Put Sausage back in and stir with minced Lemon Basil.  Turn Off Heat as Pasta cooks.
7. Cook and Drain Pasta .  Lately we are using the Strangled Priests.
8. Mix Pasta with Sausage Asparagus mixture.  Add Olive oil and a few dashes of Ojai Olive Oil's White Balsamic vinegar.
9. Serve with Freshly Sliced Fresh Mozzarella

Potato, Fennel, Tomato and Olive and Gratin

inspired by old Green's recipe i used to make and what was in the fridge.

1. In one pan heat too much olive oil and start browning thin slices of red potatoes.  (tonight i had lots of little ones from the market). Drain and continue until you have enough.

2. In another oven proof pan (i have an all clad that i love), heat too much olive olive and start sauteing thinly sliced 1/4 moon shaped red onion.

3. Slice up a big heirloom tomato from Tutti Frutti

4. Pit some dried cured black olives from the Paradise Cafe in Ventura

5. Thinly slice some of B.D.s Fennel.

6. Preheat Oven to about 400 degrees.

7. When the onions are halfway done, add some crushed fennel seed, thyme, red pepper flakes,and pepper.  When onions are about 2 minutes from being done, add a clove of minced garlic. Turn off heat when as brown as you like them and start to pile on the tomatoes, potatoes and fennel and scattering the olives.  Tonight, I did not make enuf of everything to make attractive "layers" so it all just got kind of piled in there.  Dot with generous pinches of goat cheese and pour the leftover olive oil from frying up the potatoes on top.  Put in oven with lid on and set for about 20 minutes.

8. After 20 minutes, remove pan from oven, turn on broiler.  Grate fresh Parmesan cheese all over the top and pour on a little extra olive oil.  Put on broiler for about 2 minutes or more until brown and crispy.  

9. To serve scoop into shallow bowls, mince lemon basil from B.D and scatter on top, and sprinkle with good salt.

Note: potatoes could have been prepped by slicing and boiling, but e likes his potatoes crispier.

Swordfish with Fennel and Mustard Sauce

Eric came home from 2 day road trip.  He needed something fresh, local, light but comforting.  I was pooped, had not gone shopping and needed to cook everything in one pan, so this was the result.  I have never cooked swordfish this way so felt fun and bold.  He was happy, so it was a success.

1. Slice some of Steve's smaller red potatoes (those small french red potatoes would be ideal for presentation) and fry in olive oil until crisp.  (Oven Roasting would render drier, crispier potatoes). Remove and allow to drain on some paper towels.

2. In same olive oil (adding more if necessary), add thinly sliced fennel. Stir until starting to soften, then push to sides to create room for 2 perfect pieces of swordfish from Alicia and Ric of Geewhatadeal.  (Wow!  I have never encountered such tender plump pieces of swordfish.)  Cover pan to cook first side.  When browned to your liking, turn fish over, add some white wine to pan and cover again.

3. Meanwhile, mix some green peppercorn dijon mustard with some lemon, soy sauce and olive oil.  Lift lid and pour mustard sauce over fish and cover again.  When fish is done, remove to a plate.  Stir fennel and mustard sauce and remove to a bowl.  Toss turnip greens into pan and stir fry until soft and bright green. 

4. Meanwhile, divide potatoes between plates.  Place turnip greens next to potatoes, slightly on top.  Place fish in middle between potatoes and greens, pour fennel mustard sauce on top.  Sprinkle with a little freshly chopped dill and freshly ground pepper.  Serve.

Wilted Spinich Salad with Feta and Figs

This is the perfect dish when Steve's Spinach starts to go off.  The most delicious gigantic spinach ever.

1. Wash Spinach.

2. 1/4 Slice half a medium red onion.  Put in bowl of cold water to reduce "onion-i-ness".

3.In the Salad Bowl, mash a clove of garlic and grind with a little salt

4. Mice some fresh mint and grind some Mexican oregano and mix with garlic.

5. Pit and tear Kalamata or other favorite black olives.  (At least 12 depending on how much you like olives.

6. Pour some favorite vinegar into bowl.  Lately I am addicted to the Ojai Olive Oil White Balsamic Vinegar.  But red wine vinegar is also delicious.

7. Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a pan and pan toast a few slices of ciabatta or other favorite bread to make "croutons".

8. Toss Spinach into bowl with onions, halved fresh black mission figs, crumbled feta and freshly ground pepper.

9. Heat some olive oil to just before smoking and pour over salad to wilt spinach.  Toss.

10. To Serve, scoop into bowls and place croutons around sides.

Eating What You Usually Throw Away

I am being guided to cut all animal products out of my diet.  It has come about suddenly and is related to an unraveling which I have been writing about in Blog of Yogi but not yet posted. 

I am not new to the territory as I was, like most people I know, a vegetarian in college.  But I married a meat eater and love a meat eater, so I aligned.

Re becoming a vegan cook will be fun.  The key for me will be to find new ways of doing things and look in the direction of the abundance of possibilities as oppose to focusing on what is missing from my diet.  My first experiment was to start to cook the tops of the vegetables that I usually toss.

Larry Yee at B.D.'s stand is always telling me that he cooks his radish tops.  So tonight I sauteed them up in a little olive oil, added some lemon, salt and pepper and they were delicious.  I might try to toss them with some couscous and toasted almonds next time.

Then, those giant fennel tops!  So I sauteed the stalks up and sure enough, they are tasty!  Who knew!

Leftover Halibut Tacos

We had some fish left over from last night's Halibut cooked in Coconut meal.  So we made it into tacos.

1. In a blender, blend 1 inch or so of roughly chopped ginger, 1 clove garlic, 5 or so cashews, an entire bunch of cilantro, several sprigs of mint, a small container of plain Brown Cow yogurt, juice of 2 small limes and salt to create a green chutney.

2. Pull out Halibut from fridge and break up into pieces.

3. Fry up one side of those Delicious sprouted corn tortillas from Rainbow Bridge in a little olive oil.  (Fry on at a time to serve and eat).

4. To serve, break fish up onto tortilla scooping some remaining sauce on top and pour desired amount of cilantro chutney on top.

YUM! Thank you John and Shani for the Halibut!!!

Halibut Baked in Coconut Milk Curry

We defrosted the second piece of Halibut from Shani and John.  I came home thinking that a Lemon Grass Jalapeno Shallot kind of thing baked in coconut milk would be good, but after cruising around on line and looking up recipes,  ended up doing this:

1. Heat Oven 350 degrees.  Use a  Oven Proof Creuset flat bottomed saute pan for this.

2. 1/4 sliver and saute a yellow onion.  Once browned, add some minced garlic, 1/2 a seeded (or not) jalapeno, and minced ginger.  Saute for 2 more minutes.  Add Spice Mixture.

3. Spice Mixture

4tbl or so of coriander

1/2 tbl of cumin

ground together in spice grinder

mixed with:

1 tsp of smashed (loosely ground) fennel

1/4 tsp of Cayenne

1/4 tsp of tumeric

1/4 tsp of freshly ground pepper

1 tsp of salt

4. Stir and add a chopped perfectly rip heirloom and some halved orange cherry tomatoes from Tutti Frutti.  Allow to cook until tomatoes break down and sauce becomes "lumpy" as one recipe called it.

5. Meanwhile, Cut the giant fillet that Shani's husband John caught into four 2"+ pieces. Rub with oil and squeeze a little lemon on it.  Place on a baking sheet and bake in oven from 8 to 10 minutes.

6. Once tomatoes sauce has gotten "lumpy", add 1/2 can of coconut milk and simmer for another 5 minutes or so.

7. When fish is 1/2 baked, remove and add to pan with sauce.  Cover and put in oven for 10 minutes.  (Longer if fish is not cooked when you check).

8. Serve with Lemongrass Rice.  Cilantro would be the obvious herb to sprinkle on top, but we have a lot of Steve's amazing basil, so we used that and it was Delicious.

Fennel and Sausage Pasta

We have made this 100 times but tonight it came out really good.

1. Start a large pot of heavily salted water to boil.

2. Pull Mild Fennel Turkey Sausage into chunks and brown in some olive oil.  Remove with slotted spoon to a bowl when done.

3. Add more olive oil to pan if necessary.  Add 2 to 4 thinly sliced heads of fennel to pot. (Amount depends on size of fennel.  B.D. grows this delicate full flavored fennel that is very small.  Steve grows massive bursting extra crisp fennel).  Saute for 3 to 5 minutes depending on your slice sizes, then add a cooking alcohol of choice to pan to deglaze.  Last night we used Madeira.  Saute briefly, then add a mashed head of garlic, red pepper flakes to taste and a least a cup of beef broth.  Partially cover to allow fennel to steam.

4. Eric's new favorite pasta is strangled priests.  Add to pot when water is boiling.  Takes about 13 minutes for this noodle to cook.

5. Meanwhile, add the sausage back into the pot with the fennel and a lot of slivered fresh basil from Steve's farm.  (This is the best basil I have ever had).  Partially cover and turn heat way down to keep warm.  (Usually I throw fresh herbs in at the end, so this was an experiment to allow the herbs to cook a bit).

6. When Pasta is done, drain and toss with fennel, adding salt and freshly ground pepper.  (In the past I have added a hit of creme here but did not tonight).

7. Scoop into bowls and add some fresh mozzarella.

Mindful eating

Turns out that keeping a food diary is critical to weight loss.  Becoming MINDFUL and ACCOUNTABLE for what you eat.

Article here.

the white and green meal

i was in FnC yesterday thinking about getting fish and Shani and I got into a conversation about Pismo Beach and the Crab Shack.  She mentioned that her husband John had just come back from a fishing trip and she had too much halibut.  Score!  

So tonight we cooked it.

1. Set Oven to 400 degrees.

2. Mush mashed Garlic from Steve;s Farm and Good Salt with smashed cardamon pods, dried curry leaves, Mexican oregano,  freshly ground pepper and olive oil.  

3. Slather fish in mixture.

4. Place fish on shallow cookie sheet and cover with foil.

5. Place in oven. Set timer for 8 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, grind cardamon seeds with some allspice seeds and a few dashes of ground canela (Mexican Cinnamon).

7. Heat Olive Oil in a saute pan.  When Hot, throw in Romano Beans fresh from Steve's Farm.  Cover.  Pay attention to beans, turning as necessary.  When Browned, sprinkle and toss with Spice mixture and pour a liquid of choice into pan and cover to steam.  Tonight all I had was beef broth.  But water, fish broth, veg broth, chicken broth all would have worked.

8. Meanwhile, dice up Cucumber and half of a jalapeno (seed removed if you like) from Steve's Farm, Radishes from B.D, an onion from Dennis. Squeeze lemon or lime on it.  Add some rice wine vinegar.  Add some olive oil, salt and freshly ground peeper and toss.  This is the "condiment or "relish" or "salsa" for the fish.  This was hot and peppery and strong.  Only for a particular palate.

9. Check fish when buzzer goes and put back in or let rest accordingly.

10. Beans are probably done about now.

(thinly sliced fried potatoes would have been good right about now too, but lately i have not been in the mood to give much more than 15 minutes to cooking, so no potatoes)

To serve:

Place Romono Beans on plate.

Place fish kind of on top.

Place a scoop of radish cucumber salsa to side.

Slice of lemon or lime.

A sprinkle of good salt and grind of pepper

This was amazing.  Eric doesn' t like the beans, so those were rejected...but this dish is going to be iterated upon an refined for sure.

Everything expect the spices was LOCAL, organic and spontaneously found.

xo

k

Salmon and Green Beans for 2

This took 10 minutes to make.  Got everything at the Farmer's Market this morning.

1.Turn on Broiler and bring water to boil in a pot for which you have a steamer top.

2. Rub perfect piece of Salmon from GeeWhataDeal Seafood with some olive oil.  Salt and Pepper.

3. Put Salmon under broiler. (set timer for 8 minutes...at this point you will check it and most likely put in for another 2 minutes or so).

4. Meanwhile, mince up a shallot.  Mix with lemon juice, grainy mustard, worsheteshire, dill, minced green peppercorns, salt and pepper, olive oil to make a vinaigrette.

5. When fish has about 4 minutes to go, put green beans in steamer over boiling water and cover. 

7. Chop tarragon.

8. When Beans are done, drain and divide between two shallow bowls.  Toss with a little butter (optional) and fresh tarragon.

9. When fish is done, divide between the two bowls.

10. Serve with Vinaigrette and sour creme (optional, but if Eric is your husband, a point winner).

11. As a side, sliced fresh peaches is good.

 

Deconstructed Pesto Pasta

In a big bowl, combine:

Too Much Garlic Mashed in a Masher

Too Much Olive Oil

Good Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper

Zest of 2 Meyer Lemons

Meanwhile, 

Bring a pot of salted water to Boil

Toast Pine Nuts in Oven

Attractively Chop or Sliver Fresh Honor Farm Basil

Throw  Tagliatelle Egg Pasta into Water (4 minutes)

Mix Basil, Freshly grated Parmesan, toasted Pine Nuts, some Red Pepper Flakes and juice of 1 to 2 lemons into Garlic Olive Oil

When Pasta is done, Drain and Stir into Olive Oil Mixture to combine.

Serve with Goat Cheese crumbled on top or not.

Makeshift Pesto Sausage Pasta

Eric only received half the text and came home with turkey sausage, strangled priest pasta and sun dried tomatoes...not really enough to create a sauce.

So, pulled out everything we had in the fridge (today i was grateful for the CSA) and decided to make pesto kind of thing:

Bring Water to a Boil and pasta accordingly.

In a Cuisinart, mix

- fresh garlic from Steve's Farm

- Salt

- Slivered Almonds

- Fresh Basil from Steve's Farm

- a Canned Chipotle

- Meyer Lemon Juice

- Olive Oil

To create a Pesto.

In the pan, 

- Brown the Sausage and Remove from pan and place in big bowl.

- Add leftover roasted tomatoes from earlier in the week, add the few fresh ones you have along with sliced up marinated sun dried tomatoes and heat through.  Add to bowl with sausage.

1/4 Slice half of a small red onion up for fresh pepperyness.  Add to bowl.

When pasta is done, drain and add to bowl.  Add pesto, salt and pepper and toss to coat pasta. 

Grate Preseason on top.

For a spontaneous random creation, it didn't turn out that bad.  Lots of flavor and good mix of light and savory flavors.  And eric, who just came home from a 12 hour drive was happy.

Improv Salsa Verde for Mexican Ribs

While done perfectly, with meat falling off the bone, the Ribs had no flavor.  So we whipped this up:

minced garlic

minced capers

minced green peppercorns

minced serranos, with and without seeds

minced cilantro

Ojai Olive Oil's white balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

olive oil

Party with New People Menu

Last night we had a collection of pals over that we have wanted to meet each other.  But maybe the affair was a little too big and too many people did not know each other.  There was a choppiness at moments.  And the conversation stayed somewhat surface.  But there are always first steps in introductions.  I coordinated what peeps brought and that worked well, except I forgot to assign the bubble water.

Carolyn brought a bottle of 1950s tequila which made my evening smooth.  Several Vodka and Tonic drinkers.  Wine.  And non drinkers.  I had made some rose water with the intention of making a non-alcoholic concoction, but ran out of time.

The Menu:

Starters

Seviche

Guacamole

Homemade Chips

Jicama Appetizer

Dinner

Carolyn's Watermelon, tomato, cucumber, mint and feta salad 

Slow baked Mexican Ribs

Salsa verde of Capers, Green Peppercorns, Serrano Chilies and Cilantro

Alice's Blueberry Jalapeno Chutney 

Buttermilk Cornbread

Chipotle Butter

Desert

Barbara's Plum Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream

Grilled Corn Mexican Street Style

This was THE HIT of all the food.  So easy and fun to eat.  As Geordie said, "like an adult ice cream cone."

1. Prepare Corn by pulling back the husks and tying them to create a "handle".  Remove the stringy things.

2. Prep and prepare grill as you do.

3. Lightly Grill Corn.

4. Remove from grill and lightly spread a little mayonnaise on each.  Sprinkle with chili powder.  Grate feta cheese on top and squeeze a little lime.  

Amy's Going Away and My Little Brother is in Town Party

I woke up feeling upset and annoyed about the party.  I did not know who was coming and it had been designated as a potluck.  The fear that it would be a "bad party" cuz I was not totally controlling it is knotted in there deep.

But by 11am or so, when Geordie and I had to go shopping I made a conscious (slightly aggressive) decision to change my mood about it and have fun.  I cam eback to the original intention of gathering which was to come together and love Amy.  And of course it was a blast.  

About 30 wonderful loving people all happy for Amy's Journey to New York showed up with food and drink to share.  My little brother and I had a blast cooking together.  And we got to roll the furniture around to open the house.

The theme was Mexican.

Drinks

Arturo brought Sangrita and Tequila

Jackie brought Mojitos

Beer and Wine

Lots of Pellegrino

Appetizers

Seviche with Homemade Chips

Guacamole

Salsa

Grilled Corn with Mayo, Chili Powder, Feta and Lime

Dinner

Homemade Corn Tortilla (Roberto and Alana)

A delicious Squash Filing (Roberto and Alana)

Smokey Pork Filling

Grilled Achiote Fish

The Trimmings for Tacos

Black Beans (Olivia)

2 Delicious Rice Dishes (Amber and Elizabeth)

Chili Cornbread (Meghan)

Lots of wonderful Green Salads (Jacqui, Sara, Jim)

Deserts

Flan (Allison)

Chocolate Cake (Amy)

Homemade Chocolate and Vanilla Ice Cream (Amy)

My Little Brother's Ribs

My little brother is here, visiting.  Tonight he made us up ribs.  Finger lickin' yummy.  The vinegar bath of the ribs established a tangy base that held the space for the rest of the flavors. Here is basically how he did it:

1. In a large roasting pan with high sides, place racks of ribs.  In pan, pour a mixture of enough white vinegar and dark beer to partially submerge ribs.  Ribs do not have to be completely covered.

2. Bake at 350 for about 2 hours.  Turn and baste after 1st hour.  You are trying to balance getting them done with too done.  Too done, and the meat will peal off the bone and it will be hard to grill.

3. Meanwhile, make the spice rub.  A combination of mostly dark brown sugar, salt and pepper, paprika, cayenne, and toasted ground cumin seeds.  (Brown Sugar is 2:1 of all the other spices).

4.  Meanwhile, make the sauce.  A combination of 3.5 cups ketchup, 1 cup of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper, paprika, cayenne, 3 tbl. of brown sugar, 2 tbl. of Worcestershire, fresh chopped garlic, 2 tsp. of dried mustard, 1/2 lemon.  Put in a pot, bring to a boil and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring.  (Geordie says he usually puts red pepper flakes in but forgot tonight.  This would have been good to balance the sweetness.)

5.  Once meat is starting to fall off bone, ribs are done.  Pull from oven and sprinkle rub on the ribs on all sides.  Fire up the grill.

6. Place racks on grill for about 10 to 15 minutes depending on heat of grill.  Then start to base with bbq sauce and grill for another 10 to 15 minutes. 

4th of July Salad with Fennel, Daikon, Cucumber and Smoked Salmon

We were lucky enough to get invited to Brian and Margaret's House for dinner and fireworks last night.  The King and Queen of the West End, their pad offers a 360 degree view of the Valley and a direct vision of the fireworks.  

Watching the fireworks from a mountain top is pretty cool.  You know they are toxic, dangerous and a little silly.  You can sort of hear the sirens going off and the dogs howling.  But from up on the hill they are beautiful shakti explosions.

I was asked to make a salad.  I had stuff in my fridge from last farmer's market and half a CSA box from Steve Sprinkle.

1. Cut up remaining ciabatta for croutons.  Toast in 400 degree oven till somewhat crunchy.  Heat too much olive oil in a pan and pan toast them till golden.  Remove and finely grate Parmesan cheese on them.  Set aside to cool.

2. Barely Steam some green beans.

3. Thinly slice the fennel.  1/4" Diagonal slice on the Persian Cucumbers.  1/8" Diagonal Slice on the Daikon.  Toss with Lemon, Ojai Olive Oil's White Balsamic Vinegar, olive oil and chopped mint.

4. Wash and Slice 1 head lettuce and 1 head radicchio from Steve's farm.

5. Mince a shallot or 2 and let sit in White Wine Vinegar for 15 minutes.  Stir in dijon mustard.  Salt and Freshly ground pepper.  Mix in desired amount of olive oil.

6. Toss fennel mixture with lettuce and toss with dressing.  Add in the croutons.  Flake and toss in pepper smoked salmon.  Slice up avocados and put them on top.

Butterleaf Salad with Fennel, Radish and Green Beans

Finally.  The stands at the Farmer's Market are Overflowing with fresh food that can be eaten raw.  We have had salads almost every night for the last week.

Tonight's looked like this:

-  Mince up a shallot and mix with some red wine vinegar.  Allow to sit for 15 minutes

- Wash a bead of Butter leaf lettuce from BD

- Softboil 2 eggs from Healthy Family Farms

- Barely Steam super thin green beans from those guys across from BD

- Slice Fennel from BD thin

- Slice radishes from BD thick

- Chop up some fresh dill from BD

In your salad bowl, toss fennel, radish, lettuce, beans.

Finish dressing by adding country style dijon mustard, chopped dill, freshly ground pepper and salt to shallots.  Mix and pour in the appropriate amount of olive oil and mix with wrist.

Toss dressing with salad and divide between 2 plates.  Slice Avocado on top.  Slice eggs in half and arrange.  Add about a tbl. or so of that delicious marinated blue cheese from the jar.

Note: Last night (the 17th) we had had a similar with some pepper smoked salmon on top.  I mixed the dill with the radishes and fennel instead of in the dressing and I did not have any shallots so dressing was more plain.  Instead of cheese, we had a dollop of creme fresh to meet the salmon.

Lulu Bandha's 6th Birthday Party

We gathered to sing to Lulu and eat well.
At 3:00 or so Uschi and Alana showed up and we tore up the kitchen.
Together we produced a feast. Creative spontaneous and totally inspired by the amazing vegetables that were picked for us that morning from Steve Sprinkle's honor farm and B.D.

Cocktail
Virgin Mojitos made with ginger, mint, lime, honey and sparking water.
Got the recipe from You Tube.
Jeff and Marcia put them together for everyone.

Grazing Menu
Olives baked in Wine with Garlic Herb Paste
Roasted Garlic and Sage White Bean Dip
Herb Jam
Hummus (from Betsy)
Baked Peppercorn Ricotta
Lavender Infused Feta baked and glazed with Balsamic Vinegar
Smoked Salmon with Creme Fresh Sauce
(the carrot scallion pancakes were originally meant to arrive at this stage, but they got pushed back to dinner)
Baked Pita Chips with Caraway, Fennel, and Spices
Tabbouleh (brought by Ashley and Amber)
Mushroom Vegetables Tarts made and brought by Elizabeth

Main Event
Grilled Rosemary Lemon Shrimp
Grilled Scallops with Fennel

Roasted Beets, Polenta and Greens served with a caramelized tomato Sauce (Uschi single handily pulled off the vegetarian entree)

Leeks simmered in Olive Oil

Carrot Scallion Pancakes with Shallot Yogurt Sauce

Butter Lettuce Salad with Herbs and Green Peppercorns Dressing


Desert
Olivia's Marzipan Cake with Strawberries and Mangos
Katherine's Pear Tartin
Allison's Rose Custard
Sara's Raw Chocolate Mouse
Ginger Ice Cream

White Bean Dip with Roasted Garlic and Sage

Thank you Deborah Madison for this recipe. From Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I followed it almost exactly (only deviating in garlic roasting instructions) since I had never made white bean dip and did not know what to expect. I made this the day before the party. Wanted to have at least one thing ready when peeps arrived and did not want home to just smell of roasted garlic on Saturday.

1.5 cups cannellini beans, soaked and drained
5 garlic cloves
10 sage leaves
2 bay leaves
3 tbl. olive oil
(1 tbl. of butter. I added this for garlic roasting)
1 whole head garlic, outermost papery skin removed
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Juice of 1 lemon (at least)
1 tbl. chopped thyme

1. Put beans in pot and cover with 2 inches of water. Boil for 10 minutes. Lower heat and add the 5 garlic cloves, sage leaves and bay leaves and 2 tsp. of the oil. Simmer, covered, until the beans are tender, about 1.5 hours. Remove the bay leaves. Drain and reserve the broth.

2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place garlic head in small baking dish. Rub the head of garlic with some of remaining olive oil and dot with butter. Pour a small amount of water (about 1/3 cup) into bottom of dish. Cover and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for 30 minutes more. Cool and squeeze out the garlic.

3. Puree beans, garlic, 1 tbl. or more of olive oil, 1 tsp. of salt, and enough broth to give beans a soft spreadable quality. (I did not add any broth this time and liked the consistency I got). Season to taste with lemon juice, pepper and salt. Stir in thyme and serve warm.

Notes: I made it the day before and reheated it for Saturday night. Brightening with a little extra lemon juice.

Carraway and Cumin Pita Chips

1. Using a mix of whole wheat and white pita bread, cut into triangles and separate into halves.

2. Spread your chosen fat on the inside of each of the pita chips. We used butter, but olive oil or ghee or other favorite fat would work.

3. Sprinkle with seeds or herbs of choice. We used Caraway Seed, Cumin Seed, Fennel and Salt.

4. Toast under a broiler till browned. (This does not take very long).

5. Serve with dips and spreads.

Baked Olives with Garlic Herb Paste

Thanks to Deborah Madison for this recipe. Taken from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. (This time we had the oven at 350 cuz that was a more appropriate temperature for our baked ricotta and baked feta. Seemed to work out fine).

2. Rinse 2 cups Kalamata olives if too salty.

3. Place in Pyrex or other baking dish so all one level.

4. In dish, add 1/2 cup of red or white wine, sliced garlic clove, a bay leaf and 1.5 tbl. of olive oil. (I used white wine this time. I have used red wine in the past and think I prefer it).

5. Cover and bake until olives are "fragrant and swollen," about 45 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, mince and mash garlic with 1 tsp. of dried oregano (I used Mexican), 1 tbl. minced parsley, fresh black pepper, some red pepper flakes and about 1.5 tbl olive oil.

7. When olives are done, use a fork to pierce holes in them. Mix with garlic herb paste, drain and serve.

Baked Ricotta with Pepper

Took this idea from Donna Hay's Flavors. Cross referenced her with Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

Deborah Madison suggested draining the ricotta if it was too runny. I used Organic Valley Ricotta and it seemed dry enough to just use.

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Oil a tin or small rectangular pyrex dish.

3. Mix ricotta with lots of freshly ground pepper and whatever herbs you would like. (I stuck with just pepper cuz there were so many other tastes already in the appetizer selection).

4. Pour some olive oil on top.

5. Place in oven. Donna estimated 45 minutes for the ricotta to "set". It took about an hour and 15 minutes. We had lots of stuff in the oven, so most likely that was a factor.

6. Once seems "set", turn out on a baking sheet. (This was super difficult. I had to engineer it a bit to not end up with Ricotta splat). Pour olive oil on top of the ricotta and place back in the oven to allow it to become golden brown. This took about 20 minutes.

7. Getting the Ricotta from the baking dish to a serving platter took me and Uschi together. Double spatula action plate sliding under kind of thing. We sprinkled some chopped parsley on top for looks and served.

Baked Feta with Lavender

B.D. picked us the most beautiful soft tender lavender. Uschi had the idea to use it on the baked Feta. Uschi was in charge of this dish and I think this is what she did, but she will have to double check to make sure I got it right.

1. Mince up the lavender and pour olive oil over it. Let sit for at least 30 minutes.

2. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

3. In a small baking tin, put 2 bricks of Feta. Pour olive oil over them. Cover with foil and put in oven. After about 30 minutes check on the Feta.

4. Pour some good balsamic vinegar on top and allow to bake another 15 minutes.

Simple Butter Lettuce Salad with Herb Lemon Green Peppercorn Dressing

It helps if you have the most beautiful heads of lettuce and herbs picked fresh for you that morning by B.D. His herbs are so tender and delicate just like him.

1. Wash and Dry Lettuce.

2. Mince a big shallot and squeeze meyer lemon juice over it. Let stand for at least 15 minutes before proceeding.

3. Chop up dill, mint, parsley and mix into lemon juice.

4. Mince up fresh green peppercorns and add to mixture.

5. If you are not feeding vegetarians, add some Worcestershire sauce and honey to the dressing. Tonight I did not do this.

6. Add salt and pepper and then whisk in olive oil.

7. Toss dressing over lettuce and serve.

Carrot Ginger Scallion Pancakes

The trick here is adding barely enough egg and flour to hold the carrots together. Uschi and I went through a few batches before it seemed to gel. Simultaneously, the pans seemed to take a little bit to find their heat.

I have never measured the ingredients and have always winged this visually and by taste.
We made enough for a party of 21. There was not one pancake left.

1. Mix together:
- Grated Carrots
- Minced or Grated Ginger
- Thinly Sliced Scallions
- Thinly Sliced Shallots
- Grated Meyer Lemon Rind

2. Add:
- Ground Cinnamon
- Ground Cardamon
- Cumin Seed
- Freshly Ground Pepper
- Salt
- A little sugar to taste

You will need to taste and tweak to your liking.

3. Then add:
- Lemon Juice

4. Separate 4 to 5 eggs. Beat the egg whites till stiff peaks form.

5. Turn oven to 200 degrees or so.

6. Mix egg yolks into carrot mixture and very little flour. I usually start with about 1/4 cup and then add from there. Add enough egg whites to get desired consistency.

7. Heat a non-stick skillet. Usually I use a little olive or vegetable oil, but tonight the pancakes did better without any oil, so that was new. Spoon out about a tablespoon or more of the carrot mixture onto pan and flatten out. Depending on the size of your pan, add as many pancakes as you can fit without crowding. Allow to brown on one side before flipping. If they fall apart, you will need to add more flour or egg, tweaking until you get the right balance. (One day I will write the proportions down).

8. Keep pancakes in oven till all are done. Serve with Creme Fresh and Smoked Salmon.