Potato, Fennel, Leek Gratin

One might imagine with the holidays behind us that the concept of  "eating light" would kick in.  Oh well.  On our way to Rainbow Bridge this evening I suggest Potato Gratin and Eric said, "Yes.  That is What I Want."

1. Heat the Oven to 375.

2. Cut a piece of garlic in half and smear all the sides of a 9x12 baking dish.

3. In a heavy bottomed pan (like a Creuset Dutch oven) pour in a quart of milk.  (If you are trying to gain weight, make it a half n half creme to milk mixture).

4. Peal and thinly slice a lot of your favorite potatoes.  Tonight we used the Yellow Finnish ones they had a Rainbow.   I think i peeled and sliced about 9 or so.  Add to the milk as you go cuz peeled and sliced potatoes do not respond well to open air.

5. Thinly Slice 2 large leeks and wash.  Drain and add to milk mixture.

6. Thinly slice 3 cloves garlic and add to milk mixture.

7. Tonight I added 2 bay leaves, some dried thyme (fresh sprigs is also great), freshly ground nutmeg, white pepper (did not feel like grinding fresh so added already ground), and lots of freshly ground black pepper.  I think this is a pretty standard offering.  Obviously there is room for experimentation.

8.  I start the heat at medium under the milk and potato mixture.  I was busy blogging about class today and my latest discovery of my own depression and I did not want to watch the milk come to a boil.  So I set the timer for about 15 minutes and came back to check every so often.  In general, you want to bring the mixture to a boil slowly and then turn down and simmer until the potatoes become soft, but not to the point of falling apart.  

9. Slice up a big bulb of fennel as thinly as possible.  Once milk has come to boil and you are simmering it, add fennel.  

10. Grate the block of Gruyere that you can get at Rainbow.  Seems like a shy 2 cups but I did not measure.

11.. When ready, use a slotted spoon to bring some of the potato mixture into the gratin dish.  Sprinkle with some cheese, some ground black pepper and a little freshly grated nutmeg.  Layer some more potato mixture and repeat.  Layer the last layer and add enough of the milk to come up to the edge of the top potatoes.  Cover with remaining cheese and dot with butter.  (Clearly there was no resolution to lose weight!)

12. Put in oven and set timer to 45 minutes.  Check on gratin.  You want a nice toasty brown crust and not too much bubbling.  When done, remove and make a simple sharp green salad to cut it.

13. Tonight I made a dressing with garlic, shallots, Serrano, Meyer lemon rind, Meyer lemon juice, country mustard and olive oil.  The Salad was Butter Lettuce with cilantro and celery.  (Fridge Review, baby).

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.

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!

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.

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.

Grilled Scallops on Fennel Orange Salad

1. Start the grill.

2. Prep the giant diver scallops from Ric and Alicia with a little olive oil,pepper and salt. 4 to a skewer.

3. Thinly slice freshly picked fennel super thin and toss with orange zest, fresh orange juice, olive oil, fresh ground pepper and good salt. Arrange on Platter.

4. Finely chop some Tarragon.

5. Grill Scallops Perfectly like Eric does.

6. Arrange scallops on the fennel salad, sprinkle tarragon and serve.

Butter Lettuce, Radish, Fennel, Blood Orange Salad

Dressing
Mince Shallot and Combine with about 1.5 Tbl. Red Wine Vinegar
Let sit for about 15 minutes
Mix in 1.5 tsp. of country Dijon mustard
.5 tsp minced fresh green peppercorns
salt and pepper
1/4 cup + very good olive oil mixed in slowly and well

While shallots and vinegar are getting to know wash other, cut root off butter lettuce and wash and dry.

Slice Radishes.

Thinly Slice One Bulb of Fennel.

Using a knife, slice skin off 2 blood oranges to remove all white part. Thinly slice.

Toss Lettuce, radishes, fennel and blood oranges.

Toss with dressing.

(If I had been serving this salad with steak, an avocado might have been nice, but tonight with the potato gratin, the dinner was rich enough).

Butter Leaf Salaf with Fennel and Daikon

Dressing:
Minced Shallot
Red Wine Vinegar
Country Dijon Mustard
Chopped Capers
Salt and Pepper Olive Oil

To Make Dressing:
1. Mix Shallot with less than a tbl. of red wine vinegar. Let Sit for 15 minutes.
2. Add tsp. of mustard, about a tsp. of capers, freshly ground pepper and good sea salt.
3. Slowly wisk in good olive oil, about 3 tbl. or so.

Salad
Thinly Slice 1 bulb of Fennel and 1 Daikon Radish.
Wash and Trim Butter Lettuce.

Toss all the ingredients with the dressing.
(If I had a ripe avocado, I would have added it).

Thomas Meyerhoffer Returns Home

Our pal thomas showed up yesterday night for 2 days. I love when Thomas comes to visit.

Tonight we made this:

Grilled Scallops on Fennel, Radish and Lemon Salad

1. Start the grill.

2. Prep the giant diver scallops from Ric and Alicia with a little olive oil,pepper and salt. 3 to a skewer.

3. Slice some Pink and Red French Radishes and bulb of Fennel super thin and toss with a little lemon zest, lemon, olive oil, fresh ground pepper and good salt. Divide among 3 plates.

4. Finely chop some Tarragon.

5. Grill Scallops Perfectly like Eric did tonight.

6. Arrange scallops on the fennel salad, sprinkle tarragon and serve with a lemon wedge.


Yum. Then me and Thomas had vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce.

Endive, Fennel, Blood Orange and Avocado Salad

Uschi was my wingman on this one.

These proportions serve 20.

Use knife to slice all skin and white parts off the blood oranges. Squeeze juice out of the slices and reserve. Slice oranges into shy 1/4 rounds.
Slice 10 Endive diagonally. Toss with a few good squeezes of lemon.
Thinly slice 5 bulbs of fennel. Toss with juice of a lemon.
Open and pit 4 ripe avocados.

There are many ways you could assemble this salad. Last night we had a big round platter, so we arranged the ingredients on top of each other in circles.

Put endive down first and over the entire platter.
Layer Fennel on top but closer to the center so you can see the endive on the outside.
Layer blood oranges on top, but closer to the center.
Using sharp knife, slice avocados in radiating pattern while still in skin and use big spoon to scoop out. Fan avocado around the edges of the blood orange circle.

Mix the reserve blood orange dressing with finely diced red onion, a little maple syrup, salt and pepper to taste, and Ojai Olive Oil. Pour the dressing around the platter over the endive, fennel and avocados.

I wanted to put fresh mint on the salad, but could not find it in my packed fridge. So we used fresh rosemary and it worked great.