Shiitake and Spinach Risotto

1. You need 2 pots for this one.  One to bring broth to boil and one in which to cook ristto.
2. Bring desired broth to boil in pot.  You can use chicken broth or create a veggie broth with water and a bouillon cube.  Seems like you need about 4 cups of broth for 1 cup of arborio rice. 
3. Thinly slice and sauté up too many shiitake mushrooms in some olive oil or other fat in the same pot in which you will be making risotto.  Remove and set aside.
4. While mushrooms are cooking, mince up some shallots.  After removing mushrooms, add some more fat to pan and sauté shallots.
5. Add arborio rice to shallots and stir to toast up the rice.
6. Most recipes call for cold white wine to be added here.  I no longer drink or have this kind of thing around, so I added white balsamic vinegar and balanced it with a touch of maple syrup.  Worked great.
7. Then start adding the broth about 1/2 cup (or ladle's worth) at a time.  Stirring until all the broth has been absorbed and then add more.
8. Eventually the risotto will no longer be crunchy and the dish will start to have a creamy appearance.  I taste here cuz every brand of rice seems to need more or less broth and different amounts of time.  Usually about 20 minutes for 1 cup rice
9. Add in the fresh spinach and mushrooms back in.  Remove from heat and stir in too much butter and grated parmesan cheese.  Fresh herbs like minced tarragon and rosemary are good.  Any will do.  Salt to taste. Serve.

For the leftover risotto the next day:

1. Mix with enough egg and parmesan.
2. Fry up into patties.  Super yum.

Asian Inspired Spinach Salad

1. Thinly slice a fennel bulb and pan roast. Place in salad bowl.

2. Thinly slice asian apple pear that Farmer and the Cook is carrying right now.  Place in bowl with fennel.  Toss both with White Balsamic Vinegar.

3. Thinly slice daikon radish.  Add to Fennel and Asian Pear.

4. Finely grate some ginger into mixture.

5.Toast up some pumpkin seeds.

6. When ready to eat, toss with baby spinach.  Add just a little toasted sesame oil.  And add the pumpkin seeds and some sesame seeds.  Super yum.

Cold Soba Noodles with Ginger Sauce

1. Start a pot of water to boil

2. In a large bowl where you will toss the soba noodles:

• finely grate too much ginger 
• add wasabi powder (to taste. a tbl. is usually what i like)
• tamari soy sauce (proportions are up to you. usually about 1/4 cup or more)
• maple syrup (to balance the heat and tang. usually about a shy tbl.)
• handful of dashes of rice wine vinegar
• taste and adjust

3. In another pan, saute up some thinly sliced fresh shitake mushrooms if available (optional)

4. Slice up some black kale if you want to add to noodles (optional).  If you are using, place kale in the bottom of the colander that you will use to drain the noodles.  The hot water will cook it perfectly.

5. Once water is boiling, put soba noodles in the pot.  You have to stay close to this and scoop off the starch as it foams up otherwise you will have an overflowing mess).

6. After about 3 minutes (depending on the brand and type of soba), pour the boiling water and noodle mixture into the colander to drain and cook the kale if using.

7. Run cold water over noodles if wanting cold noodles.  (They can also be left hot).

8. Toss with dressing you made in big bowl.  Add mushrooms if using.  Serve in small bowls.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and sliced green onion if desired.

I almost forgot that I like to make food for friends

When I left my marriage and moved into a shack, I stopped hosting dinner parties.  Cooking for others was such a source of pleasure and fun.  Yet the transition required a lot of solo quiet time and my skills got reduced to whatever could be made in one pan or pot and/or the toaster oven.

Tonight two of my besties came over and I found myself so delighting in the slicing and dicing.  I had almost forgotten the joy that comes from the co creation of food with love.

eggs and kale and veggies

I can't really get enough kale.  And eggs are my good friend.  This is for 2 peoples.

1. Slice up a leek, two carrots, a bulb of fennel.
2. Add your favorite fat to a wide bottom skillet. Once melted, add the vegetables and stir and begin to saute.
3. While they are cooking a little, slice up some kale (chard or any other green will do).  Rinse and add to veggies before they are super browned.
4. Open 4 raw eggs on top.  (2 on one side of pan, 2 on the other.)
5. Cover and steam cook eggs for about 5 minutes or so.  (This depends a lot on how you like your eggs.  Lately I like them firm.)
6. When eggs are as you like them, scoop onto a plate.  
7. Sometimes I make a mustard caper dill sauce.  Sometimes I just sprinkle a little white balsamic vinegar with salt and pepper.

Latest Ashram Breakfast

1. Add ghee (latest fav is niter kibbeh which is ghee flavored with garlic, ginger, onion, turmeric, cardamom  cumin, fenugreek, cinnamon and cloves) or other fat to small pot that you might cook rice in.
2. Once ghee is hot, add sliced leeks.
3. Stir and saute after a little bit, add a cup or less of white basmati rice.
4. Add 1/2 a vegetable bouillon cube and mix up.
5. Add enough water to cook rice (usually less than you think) and bring to a boil.
6. Add sliced kale on top and 2 raw eggs.  
7. Cover and bring to a simmer, cooking about 10 - 13 minutes, depending on how you like your eggs.  (Lately I like them pretty stiff.  If you like runny eggs, give rice about 3 to 4 minutes before adding kale and eggs.
8. Simply scoop into a bowl.  I like a little white balsamic vinegar sprinkled on.  And salt.

Spiced Pear Relish

• 6 Firm Barlett or Anjou or whatever pears you can find. Core, peal and finely chop.
• 1 medium onion, very finely chopped. I like white.
• 1/4 cup kosher or other big grain salt.
• 2 large jalepeños.  Seeded and Minced.
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1.5 c golden raisins
• 1 Tbl minced, peeled fresh ginger
• 1 tsp tumeric
• 1 tsp yellow mustard seed

1. In a large bowl, toss the pears w the inion, salt and jalepeñeos. Cover and refridg over night.

2. Drain pears into a colander and rinse the.  In a large saucepan, combine the pears with the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.  Simmer over low heat for 25 minutes or until thickened.  Let the pear relish cool.  Serve cold or at room temp.

3. Sometimes I add a little mint or brightener...

mac and cheese, first go

last summer chad was having the good idea that someone should make mac and cheese for thanksgiving.  i teased him a lot for this.  so today, i made a go at mac and cheese to bring to thanksgiving.

1. cook pasta
way ahead of when you want to make the mac and cheese, cook your pasta.  i used strangled priest.  once i drained it, i put it in the fridge in a bowl. it could be there as long as over night, but at least 4 hours or so.

2. start to heat oven to 350 degrees.

3. fry pasta
put way too much olive oil and butter in a dutch oven like pot.  (i love my crueset pot).  when hot, add the pasta and stir and fry until you have a satisfactory amount of "crunchy brown" pieces.


4. mash garlic
using a masher or knife, mash about 4 or 5 cloves for 1lb of pasta.

5. grate cheese
tonight i used gruyere.  whatever the size is they sell at my local market, rainbow bridge.

6. add garlic and some of cheese
when pasta was close to done, i added the garlic and stirred.  i added some of the cheese and stirred.  i also grated parmeson cheese into frying pasta.  i removed from heat.  if i was not "making mac and cheese" i would have stopped here and eaten this.  yum.

7. make creme sauce
melt butter and add equal parts flour.  stir until roux is light blond  color.  slowly pour in milk or creme.  (tonight all i had was half n half, so i used that).  add the rest of grated cheese to milk mixture.

8. mix, salt and bake
pour creme cheese sauce onto pasta.  stir.  gruyere is pretty salty, but i added some smoked salt too.  i grated some more cheese onto top of pasta and put it oven for 20 minutes.

Extreme Ginger Carrots

Old recipe, new method and new flavor angles:

1. peel and cut carrots  into shape you like. tonight i did them the way ed brown taught me.  slicing as i roll them to get some interesting shapes.  tonight i used 3 farmer's market sized bunches.

2. heat olive oil or preferred oil in a pan and brown the carrots.  i like them so the look like they were roasted.

3. while browning, finely grate a lot of ginger.  tonight i think i added too much, maybe close to 1/2 cup, but no one seemed to mind.

4. finely grate 2 oranges.  squeeze the juice from these two oranges.

5. mix orange juice with some tamari soy sauce, maple syrup and cayenne to taste.  proportions depend on your desired taste.

6. once carrots are browned to your liking, stir in the ginger. then eventually add the juice mixture.  allow to come to a boil, then turn heat way down, cover and let simmer on low until desired softness of carrots has been reached.  usually about 45 minutes or so.

7. tonight the balance of ginger and cayenne was a little intense, so i added a smidge more maple syrup.  also, the sauce was super potent.  to tone down, i might have added a little water to the juice mixture.

8. in the past, i have minced up shallots and added with the ginger.  tonight i fried up the shallots separately like in Vietnamese cooking. then to serve, stir in a little of the fresh orange rind.  chop up some mint and scatter on top with fried shallots.

Wilted Spinach and Kale Salad with Ginger Rosemary Lemon Dressing

Made this from what was in fridge.  Worked out pretty well.

1. Mince some ginger and fry up in too much olive oil.
2. Add mashed garlic and rosemary just for a few moments.
3. Transfer to large wooden salad bowl and mash together with ground pepper and salt and a little meyer lemon zest.
4. Squeeze out 1.5 or less or more meyer lemons into bowl and mix with ginger paste.  
5. Taste and add a little maple syrup to balance the lemon.
6. Heat some oil up again and brown some slivered almonds.  When golden, set aside. 
7. Artistically slice a few carrots.
8. 1/4 Moon half a small red onion.
9. Thinly Slice some black kale.
10. De stem fresh spinach from Steve's Farm
11. Mix carrots, onions, spinach and kale with the Ginger Dressing in the bowl.
12. Crumble Feta Cheese and Toss.
13. Heat some more olive oil.  When hot, pour over salad to wilt the greens.  Toss Well and then toss in the almonds.

Thanksgiving Again

Everytime I cook Thanksgiving Dinner, I feel like I am starting from scratch.   It's like I've never done it before.  This year turned out pretty good so I figured I make some notes to help me next year.

The Turkey
1. Delya Gates Raises Delicious Turkeys
Got our turkey from Delya up on Fairview right here in Ojai.  I was skeptical cuz it looked like a Supermodel turkey.  Long legs and flat chested.  I was worried that there would be no meat.  The 9lb. was the perfect amount for 4 peeps with just enough meat for some sandwiches tomorrow.  And, most importantly the bird tasted great!

2. Salt and Sugar Brine

• Dissolve 1 cup sugar and 1 cup salt into a gallon of water. Add some cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, crazed black peppercorns.  Warm to make sure it all dissolves and then cool.  Use ice if in a rush.
• Place turkey breast side down into a garbage bag inside a white foam cooler.  Pour in brine and add another gallon water + to cover bird.  Seal and put in garage if cold enough.  
• 9 hours later, remove and put in fridge uncovered.

3. The Mark Bittman 45 minute method

• Set oven to 400 or so
• Remove backbone and open turkey up
• Lay in roasting pan and smear with butter
• Tuck in garlic cloves and herbs
• Pour a little water into pan
• Place in oven and set timer for 23 minutes
• Turn bird in oven and set timer for another 23 minutes
• Check bird and allow to cook for as much longer as necessary dep on size

The Stock

• Brown the Giblets
• Add some big pieces of onion, carrot and celery
• Deglaze with chosen liquid
• Add Broth from store
• Add Aromatics like Rosemary and such
• Bring to boil and allow to simmer until you start to need it
• Drain

The Stuffing

• Get Olivia’s homemade herbed breadcrumbs from Farmer and the Cook
• Melt too much butter and remove some (2 sticks)
• Add chopped onion and celery (1 cup each)
• Add pine nuts and chopped pecans (1 cup or so total)
• Add salt and herbs and pepper
• Stir in breadcrumbs and add back in butter to toss (6 to 8 cups)
• Stir in Chopped Parsley
• Stir in Stock (about a cup)

The Carrots

• Get Fresh Carrots from market
• Cut in cool shape like Ed taught you
• Saute in Pan until starting to turn golden
• Add chopped ginger and shallot.  Continue to saute
• Add Orange Juice, Maple Syrup and Soy Sauce and Water
• Turn heat to super low, cover and allow to braise
• When ready to serve, toss with mint and orange zest
• Can be made ahead, but get super super soft

The Mashed Potatoes

• White Rose? Potatoes from Market
• Pealed and chopped in half (so left pretty big)
• Placed in cold water and brought to a boil
• Boil for 25 minutes or until potatoes are practically falling apart
• Drain and put right back into hot pan and put on burner, allow to dry out
• Begin to Mash with masher
• Eventually add in buttermilk/butter/heavy creme mixture you melted
• Continue to mash until fluffy and light

The Green Beans

• Prep by cutting ends off
• Right before about to eat, steam for just a few moments so beans stay crunchy
• Toss with some butter, salt and chopped herbs, like dill

Gravy

• My gravy did not work at all this year.  Never got thick.  Even went to the trouble of making a roux. So no notes here except to get better advice next year.

Cranberry Sauce

• Buy Olivia’s Ginger Cranberry Sauce again.

Desert

• Thank you Knead Bakery for the Pecan Tart and Apple Creme Fraiche Tart!
• Thank you Whip Cream!

One of my favorite Summer Salsas

Mince:
1 clove garlic
1 serrano
1/2 a red onion
some cilantro

Chop:
a small bucket of cherry tomotoes or one large regular tomato

Mix together with some salt, olive oil and a squeeze of lime (lemon will do)

Serve with the "Have a Chips" or make your own chips for best results.

Sausage Pasta Soup with Chiptole and Herbs

Again, you don't need to start with bacon, but I did.

1. Start a pot of salted water on a path to boil.
2. Mince up a few slices of bacon and put in thick heavy pot like a Crueset.
3. While bacon cooks, thinly slice up an onion, chop up some carrots in desired shape and chop up some celery in desired shape.
4. When bacon has rendered its fat, add sausage to pan. Tonight we used Mild Italian Turkey Sausage from Rainbow.
5. When Sausage is done, remove and add more fat if necessary to pan. We used olive oil tonight.
6. Add onions, carrots and celery. Stir and allow to cook to your liking. I like them browned.
7. Add stalks of thyme, a bay leaf, some chopped rosemary and what ever else you want. I also added a lot of ground black pepper. Stir and allow herbs to get in there.
8. Add 1/2 cup of Muir Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes and stir.
9. Add two canned chiptoles in adobo sauce and some of the adobo sauce.
10. By this time water should be boiling. Add your pasta. We used Strangled Priest Noodles. They take 8 minutes.
11. Add the broth to your soup pot and bring to a boil. Allow to simmer a bit. Add the sausage back in and salt to taste. Add chopped parsley if you like.
12. Drain pasta when done.
13. To serve, put some pasta in a bowl, and pour soup over it. Sprinkle bacon on if you made it.
    

Pan Baked Eggs with Sun Dried Tomotoes and Dill

I know that I have mentioned my favorite Cutco pot before. When cooking for 1 or 2, I would choose this pot over all my All Clad, Creuset and other fanciness any day.

1. Mince up 2 slices of bacon (optional) and begin cooking in the Cutco pan or equivalent.
2. Mince a little red onion.
3. When bacon done, remove and leave desired amount of grease, or simply start with another fat like olive oil.
4. Cook onions for a little bit, add Mexican oregano or other herb of choice and add 5 or so perfectly dried Sun Dried Tomatoes from Farmer and the Cook. Stir to coat the tomatoes in oil.
5. Crack four eggs onto of the onions and sun dried tomatoes. Cover and set timer for 6 minutes.
6. Poke at yokes to check for "doneness". (Lately I like my yokes cooked and semi firm).
7. Remove from heat and using your Cutco spatula, cut into pieces and remove from pan.
8. Sprinkle with bacon if using. Sprinkle with Olivia's amazing dried dill, maybe some fresh ground pepper and or her latest smokey paprika salt.

The Knead Bakery

A bunch of years ago, my mother said to me, "When are you going to learn to buy desert?"

At the time I took it as an insult to my baking.

But this year I learned. I picked up 2 pies from the Knead Bakery Team. Born out of the womb knowing the perfect balance of butter and flour and sugar, these women are masters.

I got an apple crème fraîche pie and a pumpkin cheesecake.

OMG. Sublime. THANK YOU!

Mocktails

I am going on 9 months sober.

When I was a kid, my grandmother would make me a Shirley Temple or such drink so that I would have a special drink too at 5pm.

Seems like I still need that. And cuz I did not feel like drinking water all night, I brought my own mocktail fixings to Thanksgiving Dinner at my friends.

For starters:
- Italian peach juice, Pellegrino and a squeeze of citrus
Tangerine is great if you have it, but the lemon that my host had worked well too.

With dinner:
Pomegranate Juice and Pellegrino
Lime is really good in this and if you feel like being indulgent, pour a little cherry juice in too.

Pasta with Chicken, Sun Dried Tomatoes and a Lemon Creme Sauce

A while ago I mused about becoming a vegetarian again. I must have forgotten about bacon. And my therapist recommended against stopping eating meat.

Barbara Washburn would never make this. "Too much fatness."

1. Set a pot of salted water on a course to boil
2. Thinly slice a few slices (or more) of bacon.
3. In a heavy pan, like Crueset, render the bacon. When done, remove bacon with slotted spoon, leaving the fat.
4. Cut up 2 raw chicken breasts into bite size pieces and cook in bacon fat.
5. While chicken cooks, slice up some red onion. Mince a serrano pepper. Cut a package of Olivia's amazing sun dried tomatoes into slices. Finely zest a Meyer Lemon. Finely chop some Italian Parsley.
7. When chicken is almost done, but not quite, remove with slotted spoon.
8. Add more olive oil to pan if necessary, and add onions. Eventually add the minced serrano and sun dried tomatoes.
9. When onions seem to your liking, add some white wine or other liquid to deglaze the pan and help soften the sun dried tomatoes.
10. I added some turmeric for color. If Eric like saffron, I would have added that.
11. When water boils add pasta. Tonight we used our favorite noodle, Strangled Priest.
12. Add 1/2 pint of heavy whipping creme to pan. Stir and allow to simmer and thicken. Add chicken back in to allow it to finish cooking.
13. When pasta is done, drain and add to sauce. Stir in lemon zest and chopped parsley. Serve.

The pasta was really pretty and golden with flecks of red sun dried tomatoes and green parsley.

Did I mention the Smoked Salt?

No, really.  This stuff is so outta sight.  Go to Farmer and the Cook now, and get some.

Smoked Salt

Olivia's latest offering is smoked salt.

You have no idea how amazing this is.

I have been slacking in my cooking for a while now.

With the invention of smoked salt, all i make lately is plain rice.

Then I add butter, smoked salt and maybe some fresh tomatoes.

OMG.

Heaven.

Feeding as Tenderness

A sweet Modern Love piece in the NYT today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/fashion/27love.html?pagewanted=1&ref=fashion