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.
    

Big Green Beans with Lemon and Dill

1. Bring some water to a boil with a "steamer" thing above it.

2. Place 2 handfuls of fresh green beans from Steve and Olivia's farm in the steamer and close the lid.

3. In a bowl, Zest and Squeeze one lemon from your tree or someone elses. Add some olive oil. Add some green peppercorn dijon or other favorite mustard. Add some minced basil and some of Olivia's Dillweed from Farmer and the Cook. Salt and Pepper too.

4. When beans are done to your liking (we like them still a little crunchy), add to the lemon mustard herb dressing and toss to coat.

Late Summer Guacamole

1. Finely mince up 2 of Olivia's fresh local organic serrano chillies that she picked at 10pm on Saturday night by iphone light.

2. Mash up one clove of fresh garlic from Steve's farm

3. Mince up 1/2 red onion from same farm

4. Chop and mix the above together with some good salt. Squeeze in one or two limes. Add a little olive oil and stir.

5. Core and chop up several almost too ripe red heriloom tomotoes from the Sunday farmer's market. Mix in with the above.

6. Finely chop some cilantro from the Steve's Farm and mix in.

7. Open, Core and Cube several local avocados picked up at FnC. Gently mix in, not mashing.

8. Serve with favorite chips. Ours our 'Have a Corn Chip' made in Laguna Beach.



5.

Raw Corn Salad with Cherry Tomotoes and Avocado

Now that I am sober I am aware of how much of what I ate depended on how it went with red wine. Now what I make for dinner is pretty much only about what is available locally, as in local to my fridge.

After tonight's meeting I was right down the street from Farmer and the Cook, so I picked up some:

- golden cherry tomatoes
- 2 ripe avocados
- a bag of pre husked corn
- cilantro
- 2 jalepenos
- 3 limes
- some spelt tortillas
- some cheese
- some chips

All the produce was grown by Steve.

Obviously I was thinking quesadillas or just guacamole but when I got home eric said cheese sounded heavy.

So I made up a corn salad with the raw corn, halved cherry tomatoes, serranos olivia had given me the other day, red onion, cilantro, lime and salt.

Fried the tortillas up in olive oil.

Spooned the salad on top.
Sliced an avocado on top of each.
And put the last of the smoked salmon on top of that.

YUM.

Chard Pasta

Again, dinner depends on what is in the fridge and what got brought to the studio.

1. In a non-stick pan, heat a little olive oil and pan toast some pine nuts. Remove and reuse same pan.

2. Thinly slice up some shallots or onions or such
3. Mince up that last carrot or two from Steve's Farm
4. Thinly slice the stalks of home grown Rainbow Chard brought to you by Dennis in yesterday's yoga class.
5. Continue to thinly slice the chard leaves, separating them from the chard stalks.

6. Heat too much olive oil and some butter if you like in that non-stick pan.
7. Add 2 cloves of smooshed garlic and some red pepper flakes. Stir and quickly add the onions, carrots and chard stalks. Stir and eventually add the pasta. Stir and allow pasta to get chewy.

8. Eventually add the chard. Stir in and allow to wilt. Squeeze in some lemon juice. Add some lemon rind, some Parmesan, salt and pepper, stirring.

Steamed Salmon and Chard with Lemon Dill Mustard Sauce

So fast, so good.  So easy.  Recipe is for 2.  

The problem with this method is that it has no fat.  And I like fat.  So I made a fat sauce and used fat in my rice.   If you did not want any fat in your dinner, make sauce without the olive oil and butter and cook your rice without it.

1. Slice up 1/2 a head of beautiful yellow rainbow chard from Steve Sprinkle's Gozo Farm.  Wash.

2. Start rice if having.  Tonight I heated up some olive oil, threw in a bunch of fennel seeds and turmeric for a pretty color. Added the white basmati rice and toasted for a moment, then added the water.  Brought to boil and covered.  Takes 10 minutes.  About as long as the fish.

3. Heat a non stick pan and add the wet chard.  Add a little extra water.  Lay the two beautiful salmon fillets from Gee What a Deal Seafood on top of the chard.  Grind a little pepper and sprinkle some salt.  Cover and allow to steam.  (Takes between 8 to 10 minutes depending on size of fish, etc).

4. Meanwhile, make the sauce.  In a small saucepan, heat some butter and olive oil.  Add some fresh chopped scallions from B.D.  Eventually add some green peppercorn mustard (or other favorite Dijon), fresh chopped dill from B.D.,  a few dashes of  worshteshire sauce, tiny grated Meyer lemon rind, juice of one Meyer lemon and lots of black pepper.  Stir with enthusiasm to combine.  The worshteshire sauce is usually salty enough, but salt to your taste.

Everything finishes at once.  And the fish comes out so perfectly tender and tasty.  It's not as pretty as grilled or broiled fish, so the sauce is necessary.  Crispy potatoes would have been a nice textural addition, but crispy potatoes take time...

Fried Wontons and...Fried Rice!

Haha! I added to the Fried Rice tonight.

Anything can be stuffed in a wonton wrapper and fried up and served with a dipping sauce and be successful.

Tonight I did this:

1. Sauteed some minced shallot and garlic and red pepper flakes

2. Eventually added some drained soft minced tofu.

3. Eventually added some shredded napa valley cabbage

4. Eventually added some tamari soy sauce, rice wine and rice vinegar.  Allowed to saute for longer.  Eventually removed from heat and cuz I was in a rush, put in a bowl and put in freezer to cool it down.

5. Meanwhile, prepped veggies for fried rice.  Minced green onions, carrots and celery.  Sauteed these over high heat, eventually adding brown rice and eventually adding some tamari soy sauce. Allowed this to "fry".

6. When tofu mixture was cool, started to heat some oil in a non-stick pan.  Began wonton assembly.  When about 15 wontons were made, oil was hot enough.  Dropped wontons into pan to begin frying.

7. Meanwhile, added 2 eggs to rice mixture and rolled together, turning off heat when done.

8. Turned wontons as necessary and removed to paper towel on a plate to drain.

9. To serve, mixed soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, chili oil toasted sesame oil, a little sugar and a little water together for a dipping sauce.  Put rice, wontons and dipping sauce in small bowl on a plate.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Flu Season Chicken Soup

When Eric and I start to feel like we are getting sick, we make a pot of Chicken Ginger Soup. The heat of the onions, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes help to burn out the germ. We vary it depending on what we have in the house, but the basic recipe is something like this:

olive oil
1 Medium yellow or white onion halved and thinly sliced
1 Big Carrot Peeled and Sliced
3 cloves garlic smashed
1.5 inch piece ginger peeled and thinly sliced
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 carton of organic, free range chicken broth (we like Pacific brand the best)
(Optional: 1 organic free range boneless skinless chicken breast cut into even size pieces)
1 bunch black kale or chard or other bitter green washed and sliced into thin strips
Lemon
Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper

1. In a heavy pot, saute the onions and carrot. About a minute before desired softness achieved, add the whole smashed garlic cloves, ginger and red pepper flakes.

2. Add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then turn heat to low and simmer for at least 10 minutes. (Sometimes I will add cup soy sauce and rice wine to create a tastier broth, but if we are already sick, too much salt can cause mischief. Also, if we want a heartier soup, I will sometimes make some brown rice or noodles or orzo to add to the soup. But again, if we are already sick, I try to reduce the amount of grains in our diet).

3. If you are going to add the chicken, bring stock back to a boil and add chicken. Pay attention to not overcook. Usually takes less than 5 minutes.

4. Just before you are ready to eat, stir in the greens and allow to wilt. Squeeze in lemon juice and lots of freshly ground pepper.

Pre Holiday Meal

When you find yourself dropping massive amounts of money on the food for the holiday, it's easy to forget about what's for dinner.

Tonight we had melted cheese and ham sandwiches.
Recipe for 2 sandwiches.

1. Start the broiler.
2. Under the broiler, lightly toast 4 slices of Sourdough Bread.
3. Flip bread over and pile two slices with thinly sliced black forest ham from westridge. And pile the others with cheese. Eric chose thinly sliced Point Reyes Blue Cheese, I chose thinly sliced Gruyere. Before putting the sandwich slice back in the broiler, I put some slices of red onion on Eric's Blue Cheese. Drizzle olive oil over meat and cheese. Grind fresh black pepper over everything.
4. Once cheese is melted to desired meltiness, remove from under broiler. Assemble sandwiches and slice in half.

Lime Chicken Soup

Yesterday we had a ton of beautiful small tomatoes from Steve;s farm, a big white onion, lots of limes and poblanos and so the inspiration was born for a chicken lime soup.

1 White Onion
1 or 2 Carrots
3 Cloves Garlic
Mexican Oregano, Thyme and Cumin Sees
Chicken Broth
2 or 3 poblanos
2 Chicken Breasts
Lots of Fresh Tomatoes
8 Limes
2 ears corn (optional)
1 bunch cilantro
1 or 2 Avocado
1 or 2 jalepenos


1. Heat Olive oil in Big heavy Soup Pot.
2. Slice up white onion and throw in oil, stir and lower heat to slowly soften and brown.
3. Slice up a carrot or two, peal and smash a few cloves of garlic and add them to the pot.
4. Meanwhile, Roast, Peel and Thinly slice Poblanos
5. When onions and carrots are to your desired "cookedness", stir in desired amount of Mexican Oregano, Thyme and cumin seed. Stir and cook just a bit longer and then add chicken broth. (One tetrapak container for 2 peeps.)
6. Meanwhile, cube 2 chicken breasts.
7. When Broth is boiling, turn down heat and allow to simmer for a little bit while you prep the rest of the ingredients.
8. If you are lucky enough to have Steve's amazing small tomatoes on hand, cut them into half moon wedges. If not, the cut sweet cherry tomatoes in half or thinly slice Big tomatoes into half moon shapes.
9. Prep the Avocados by cutting in half, removing pit and slicing inside the peel.
10. Finely chop cilantro, thinly slice the jalapenos and juice the limes into a small bowl.
11. 10 minutes before you want to eat, bring broth back to boil and add chicken. Stir occasionally as it cooks. It cooks AMAZINGLY fast. Like 8 minutes or less. When chicken is cooked though (CHECK), add poblanos. Stir and add tomatoes. Add the Corn if using. Stir and remove from heat.
12. Stir in lime juice and salt to taste.
13. To serve, ladle soup into bowls. Spoon out half of a half of the avocado slices on top of soup and sprinkle with cilantro and jalepenos if desired.


Note: I made some white rice so Eric's would be a heartier, but I felt it was better without it.

Quick Chard Bruschetta

I came home late from teaching and wanted something yummy to go with a glass of red wine.

1. Thinly slice up some Russian Kale
2. Heat too much olive oil in a pan.
3. When hot, add kale and stir. Once it looks kinda fried and bright green (i think about 5 minutes), add some Fire Raisins and continue to cook until raisins plump up. Squeeze some lemon on the greens and remove from pan and put in a bowl. Grate Parmesan into warm greens and stir.
4. Add some more olive oil to the pan and "pan toast" up 2 slices of Pane Rustica Bread till desired toastiness is achieved.
6. Rub Toast with a cut piece of garlic.
7. Place toast on a plate and pile greens on top. Good Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper.

Eat with a knife and fork. Goes well with Bill Moses's Casa Barranca 2006 Pinot Noir.

Roasted Asparagus with Lemon, Toasted Almonds and Parmesan

Oven at 400 degrees
Lay Asparagus out on a baking sheet.
Toss with Olive Oil.
Salt and Pepper.
Roast for about 8 minutes or until done to your liking.

Arrange on platter.
Scatter with Lemon Zest and maybe a little lemon squeeze.
Toasted Almond slices.
And Parmesan Shavings.