MB's Cooking: Let's Eat

Guest Chefs

2010-06-16T19:43:00.000-07:00

My daughter Livy and her friend Ashi made dinner tonight. I kind of finagled them into it so I didn't have to, hee hee hee. I asked them what they were going to do and threw a few ideas out there and also told them there was chicken and a some veggies in the fridge if they wanted to cook and come up with their own creation for dinner. Smart, huh!! They made a yummy, juicy roast chicken with loads of herbs and lemon, romanesco broccoli with caramelized red and yellow onions and parmesan cheese, and steamed quinoa. For dessert they made a blueberry and raspberry cobbler. Ron did the dishes. Call me lady luck tonight!

Words From The Guest Chefs

Ashi: We had so much fun making dinner! It felt like we were real chefs!

Livy: I agree! The kitchen is such a fun and relaxing environment.

Ashi: Except when you get overwhelmed with food being done, or ready for the next step and your in the middle of something else.

Livy: It was especially nice to sit down and eat our delicious dinner after cooking it.

Ashi: My favorite thing to cook was the the chicken.

Livy: My favorite thing to eat was the chicken skin, and to cook it was to sauté the onions with garlic and cheese and the broccoli Ashi made.

Ashi: I think the easiest part was to steam the broccoli because all I had to do was put it in a colander on top of a pot of boiling water! But even though it was so easy it was still very exciting and fun!!!

Livy: I think that making the quinoa was easiest. And like Ashi said it was still very exciting and fun.

Ashi/Livy: It was so much fun to make dinner for the family.

Livy: Check out my blog, click on my name at the top of this post!

Ashi: PS. I am the dirty blonde with braids and I want to be a chef!

Livy: PSS. I am the brunette with hair down and I want to be a fashion designer!

Sourdough Starter

2010-03-14T10:21:00.000-07:00

My friend Julie gave me some sourdough starter* which she got from a popular bakery which I can't remember the name of. I am extremely grateful to receive this gift. I made a boule, my favorite kind of bread. It is hearty and tasty. I love it toasted and slathered with butter. I was lazy and used my bread machine for making the dough. This is how I did it; I put about 2 cups of the sourdough starter and 1 cup of water in machine. I added about 2 Tablespoons vital gluten (I used my fingers, no measuring spoons) about 3/4 cup dark rye flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 2 cups all purpose flour, a small pinch of yeast and about a tablespoon of course grey sea salt. Set machine to dough only cycle setting. When cycle was done I removed dough from machine and punched out. I shaped into a round and place on a piece of parchment and covered with a floured towel. I left it for a few hours to rise again. (We went out to dinner) When we returned, I pre-heated the oven to 500 degrees with my le creuset dutch oven inside. When heated, I slashed the top of the bread and lift it up by parchment and dropped the whole loaf parchment and all, into dutch oven and covered with lid**. Baked 30 minutes. Then removed cover and baked 5 additional minutes.

This baking method is part of the Jim Layey no knead bread method as seen in the NYT. Baking in the covered pot catches the steam released from the bread and creates a crisp crust. I think my oven was too hot and next time will cook at 450 degrees as the bottom was quite dark. Other than that, the bread came out very good with good size bubbles and a nice chew.

*Not everyone has a Julie to gift them sourdough starters. You can look on the web for instructions to start your own or buy freeze dried starter. I have started several starters over the years, but I have to admit none have been as good as this one. Thanks Julie!!

**If your Le Creuset or dutch oven lid has a plastic handle on top cover the handle with foil to avoid melting/smoking of plastic. There is a metal substitute available. I covered mine with foil and it was fine.

Moqueca - Brazilian Fish Stew

2010-03-10T20:51:00.000-08:00

I do follow recipes occasionally and this is one from a blog I subscribe to. It sounded so good and so easy that I followed it pretty closely (I don't measure except when baking) with the exception of the addition of mussels. One pot to clean, tasty and easy. Find the recipe here at Simply Recipes.

Eggs from my neigbor

2010-03-10T20:48:00.000-08:00

Just some pictures of the beautiful eggs I purchase weekly from a neighbor.

Beef Shanks with Morels

2010-03-10T20:23:00.000-08:00

The Beef shanks in this dinner are from the Black Angus cow I purchased in November. Shanks are very tasty with lots of gelatinous fat between the muscles, which adds richness and flavor, but they need to be braised till fork tender. The Morels were wild foraged by my friends Elizabeth and Danny. They were up in northern California in early winter and foraged a whole grocery bag of morels and boletes. The mushrooms were dried in a dehydrator and I received a quart of morels and a quart of boletes. Just for being me. Aren't I lucky to have such good friends.

I started by seasoning with salt and pepper browning the shanks in a little olive oil till nice and caramelized. While meat is caramelizing, cover a large handful or two of dried morels with boiling water. Once softened cut morels in half and rinse in cold running water to remove any grit. Strain soaking liquid and reserve. Alternately you can add fresh mushrooms of your choice to the pot after caramelizing the meat.

I added 1/2 chopped onion, a couple of crushed garlic cloves, 5 slender carrots halved, a bay leaf and a few sprigs thyme to pot. When the onions were soft I added 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar and 2 cups red wine and reduced by about half. I added 4 chopped tomatoes from a can of whole peeled tomatoes, 1 cup of very rich beef stock, strained mushroom liquid and water to bring liquid level about 2/3 of the way up the side of the meat. Meat should not be completely immersed in liquid. Add cleaned mushrooms. Bring to a boil, cover with foil and pot lid and put in a cool (310 degree) oven for about 3 hours or till meat is fork tender. Remove meat from pot, skim fat from sauce and if desired separate meat from bones and gelatinous tendons/fat. I don't mind the fat in my dish but my husband and children don't like it. Served with wide noodles.

Enjoy! xo

Arroz Con Pollo with a mediterranean touch

2010-03-08T21:05:00.000-08:00

My plan for tonight's dinner started with a package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Oh what to do, what to do? I started going through the pantry and came back with this: rice, can of artichoke hearts in water, container of organic chicken stock, a can of whole, peeled tomatoes, kalamata olives and capers. Here is what I did.

Season the chicken with salt, pepper and Piment d'espelette, (ground chili pepper from Basque country) and lightly dust with flour. In a hot pan add olive oil and brown the chicken pieces. Remove Chicken and add a little more olive oil if needed, 1/2 diced onion and 4 cloves chopped garlic. Sweat till soft and just starting to brown. Chop and add 4 whole peeled tomatoes. Saute a bit then add 1 1/2 to 2 cups rice and saute. add drained and rinsed artichoke hearts, a handful of olives and capers 2 cups chicken stock and 2 cups water. Check seasoning and add salt if needed. Arrange the chicken on top, bring to a boil and simmer covered 30 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove the lid and let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

Sorry no pictures again, but this was pretty delicious for being thrown together quickly and I loved that there was only 1 pan to clean. Or rather my husband loved that there was just 1 pan to clean.

Oldie but Goodie, My Favorite Asparagus, Quinoa

2010-03-02T19:05:00.000-08:00

Here is one of the first restaurant dishes I put on the menu in the first restaurant I cooked at about 25 years ago. This was back before cooking school. The dish, Chicken Saute Sec was on a lot of restaurant menus way back when. It is simple and tasty and doesn't require a lot of ingredients. Tonight I served it with Red Quinoa with grated carrot, green onions and toasted almonds and Roasted Asparagus.

Chicken Saute Sec

Boneless skinless chicken breast

flour (white flour or whole wheat pastry flour)

shallots, chopped (I used a garlic clove and chopped green onions, because no shallots)

white wine

Salt and Pepper

butter and olive oil

Season the chicken with S&P and dust with flour. Heat a saute pan over high heat, add a little olive oil to cover and a knob of butter. When butter is melted add chicken. Depending on how many servings you are making you may do in batches, avoid overcrowding, brown and turn to brown on other side, reduce heat if necessary. As they are browned remove from pan. When all the chicken is browned, add a little more olive oil of necessary and add the shallots (or onions and garlic). Saute a bit and deglaze with a nice helping of white wine, about a cup. Reduce a bit then add chicken back. Lower heat and and finish cooking chicken turning over to coat and cook both sides. If you like a little more sauce you can add a little water. Done, easy peasy!

Quinoa

You can use regular or red quinoa. Rinse quinoa under cold water. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil on stove. Add a little salt and 1 cup rinsed quinoa. Return to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes. While quinoa is cooking grate a large carrot, slice a couple of green onions and chop a handful of toasted almonds and toss together in a bowl. When quinoa is done cooking (quinoa is done when a little spiral opens up and is tender) strain and add to bowl, toss with a little olive oil and season with S & P. Any leftovers are great served cold as a salad the next day. Toss with salad greens if you like.

note; I toasted the almonds over low heat in the saute pan I used later for the chicken. No need to wash before using again.

Roasted Asparagus

With spring coming and asparagus appearing in the market I would like to share my favorite way to cook asparagus.

Break or cut off bottom ends of spear. Soak in cold water to remove any grit. Drain and dry. Line a sheet pan with foil (for easy clean-up, not required) and line up asparagus. Pour on a few splashes of olive oil (I like to use lemon infused olive oil) and season with salt and pepper. You can also grate lemon zest over it. Put in a hot oven about 410 degrees for about 10 minutes. Best with a little brownage on the edges. You can put it under the broiler briefly if you like.

Oops, I forgot to take pictures.

Baked Rigatoni with Little Meatballs

2010-02-27T18:24:00.000-08:00

I was not really in the mood to cook today, but I knew it would't be wise to suggest eating out as we had pizza last night and I feel guilty not cooking 2 days in a row. Livy is at a sleepover and Henry has his friend Callum over for a sleepover and I know pasta would satisfy them since that is pretty much what they would prefer to eat 7 days a week, Henry's faux palio diet aside. While perusing my google reader I came across this interesting tasty looking recipe from Smitten Kitchen. So when it was decided on pasta I remembered I had about 1/3 of a pound of ground beef left from hamburgers Thursday night and decided to make my own version of Rigatoni with Little Meatballs.

For the meatballs I used the ground beef and the tiniest egg I had and some leftover artichoke roast garlic bread soaked in milk along with a grated garlic clove (I grate garlic cloves on my microplane grater) and a few grates of parmigiano reggiano. Pinched off pieces and rolled and dusted with flour and browned in my cast iron skillet heated with olive oil to cover. I removed them from pan and swiped the pan with a paper towel to remove any burnt pieces.

I opened a can of San Marzano tomatoes and scooped out the tomatoes leaving the liquid behind. I put the tomatoes in a roasting pan and sprinkled with olive oil, S & P. Put in a slow oven (350) to intensify and concentrate the flavor.

I added the meatballs back to the skillet with some olive oil, grated garlic cloves. I added the remaining liquid from the can of tomatoes and simmered covered till almost dry. The tomato sauce will become very concentrated. Add the roasted tomatoes to the sauce and reduce any remaining runny liquid.

While your sauce is cooking boil a box of rigatoni pasta. Drain the pasta into a colander and make a simple bechamel in your pot: Melt 3 Tablespoons of butter and add 3 Tablespoons of flour and S& P. Stir and cook about 2 minutes without browning. Slowly add 2 1/4 cups of milk (I used half whole and half nonfat). Whisk vigorously while adding. Bring to a boil stirring. Sauce will thicken. Lower heat and let simmer a few minutes to cook the flour. Remove from heat and whisk in a shake or grate of nutmeg and about 3/4 cup grated parmagiano reggiano.

Put rigatoni in a baking pan with meatballs and sauce. Cover with Bechamel. Bake in 400 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes until browed.

Buon Appetito

Meyer Lemon Bars

2010-02-25T15:13:00.000-08:00

Meyer Lemon Bars just went in the oven. I found the recipe over here. I just checked out the blog lauracarmen.com for the first time yesterday. I found it through a link in my feeder called tastespotting that collects food pictures and links from all over the web and the world. Lots of interesting recipes and very pretty food photography. I recommend you check it out too. Don't look when your hungry!

Lemon Bars are out of the oven and cooled and we just tried them. Livy and I both agree that they are a little bitter. This recipe is different than most lemon bars. The directions have you put a cut up meyer lemon, skin and all, minus the seeds in the food processor and pulse till roughly chopped. This is what caused the bitterness. I should have tasted the skin and pith of the lemon before this step. Next time I will leave this step out and add some extra juice. They are still good enough to eat though!!

Pork Stew

2010-02-24T14:31:00.000-08:00

My friend DAnny has been raising 2 berkshire pigs and feeding them on the spent grain from the local micro brewery. The pigs are probably about 600 pounds or more. Just after the New Year Danny slaughtered one pig. The day after slaughter he brought the primal cuts and everything else to my house for a day of sausage making, Headcheese and butchery. He also came with 3 very awesome friends, 2 from the Ukraine and one guy from indonesia. We had a long day of cooking and ended up with some very awesome chorizo,german style sausage, blood sausage and head cheese, cured and smoked hams and proscuitto style ham. We also portioned all the fresh meat into family size portions.

Today I am cooking the cut of pork that would be flank on a beef. It is very marbled piece of meat but a little tough. I chopped the meat into 1-2 inch cubes seasoned with grey salt and seared in olive oil in a very hot pan till very brown and caramelized. Then I added 1 course chopped onion, 5 crushed garlic cloves, 1 course chopped poblano chili and a deseeded serano, and 3 course chopped carrots. I deglazed with a little white wine then added about 2 cups water and a few shakes of oregano. Brought to a boil and simmered about 1 hour. Served over rice.

It was very good with a beautiful and tasty clear broth. The meat was dark and rich and the chile's add just a little sweet, mild heat. The kids loved it and since Henry has decided to go on a Palio diet he ate all his veggies and meat, no rice. Since he doesn't quite understand what he is doing and just wants to be like Dad, it didn't bother him that he followed up dinner with a bowl of cheerios and nutella on whole grain bread sandwich. I think he is having a growth spurt. He is very proud of himself today. He started going to bed on his own and reading himself to sleep. He started book 1 in the Bone Series last night, a graphic novel series, and he so proud that he read over 100 pages since he started. I guess it helps that he is suspended from school and has all the time in the world. Whatever, I am happy he is reading and proud of himself, it is just what the boy needs.

Happy to be communicating to you all again.

Missed You, braising beef, and making prepared horseradish

2010-02-22T14:27:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry for not posting for such a long time. I've been cooking quite a bit since I last posted, but I was not able to blog. I think it was a mental thing. I actually purchased half a side of organic grass fed black angus beef from my neighbor in late November and I've made some beautiful braised dishes over the cold, wet winter.

At Christmas I received 2 new cookbooks; Ad Hoc by Thomas Keller and Sunday Suppers at Luque's by Suzanne Goin. They are both fantastic and I've used quite a few recipe ideas for my braises. One I especially loved was the Braised Short ribs from Sunday Suppers at Lucque's. The recipe used balsamic vinegar and a whole bottle of wine. It is served with mashed potatoes, horseradish cream and kale. I followed the recipe as written and it was perfect. For the horseradish cream, I used my own prepared horseradish which I made like this: Peel and clean 1 large horseradish root. The root is a very large hairy root. It is very "hot" so be prepared on inhaling that your eyes may tear. Yikes, but it is worth it. Cut the large peeled root into smaller pieces that you can grate in your food processor. Alternately grate by hand. Change to regular processer blade and process grated root with 1/2 cup vinegar and 1 tablespoon sea salt. Transfer to glass jars and press down, add additional vinegar if necessary to cover.

Another braise I did was my own recipe that I threw together and it came out fantastic. I had a bone in chuck roast from my cow. It was huge, about 8 pounds, 3 inches think and 12 inches in length. I cut it in half and browned it in my le creuset one at a time till very nicely browned. Then I added 1 onion, julienned, 2 celery stalks chopped and about 4 large carrots chopped. I also threw in a very generous handful of peeled garlic cloves. I deglazed the whole thing with a full bottle of red wine and reduced by half, then added about 2 cups very rich beef stock (again made from my cow). I threw in a handful of thyme sprigs, a chile de arbol and covered the pot with foil and a lid. I cooked for 3-4 hours in a slow oven, about 300 degrees. Cooked until it broke easily apart with a fork. I served this with wide egg noodles. My intention was to cook this for my family and a friend's husband and kids while I went to knit night at my friend's. The message got crossed and friend's husband and kids ate before they came. Well, they had 2 dinners that night and my friend Linda really would like me to teach her to cook this for her man. He loved it.

Chicken and Cornmeal Dumplings

2009-10-28T20:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I last blogged, father I; went to Disneyland for 4 days, went to a Mika concert, googled and cooked a recipe for kabocha squash and chicken which I will not dare to repeat here, took care of a sick child and...finally cooked a decent meal!

I buy a lot of organic boneless skinless chicken thighs. At Costco now they have it in pre-portioned packages that I freeze and pull out a package in the morning for that evening. It has the perfect amount of chicken for a family of four, sometimes with a little leftover for lunch the next day.

Tonight I cut each thigh into 3 pieces, seasoned with sea salt and pepper and lightly dusted with flour. I browned the pieces in a little olive oil in the dutch oven a few minutes on each side. Then I added a sliced onion, 3 carrots cut in 1 inch pieces, 2 celery stalks a parsnip and a handful of green beans all in 1 inch pieces. I sauteed the vegetables a bit with the chicken then added about 3 -4 cups chicken stock and a few sprigs fresh thyme.

While the veggies were sauteeing I made dumpling batter:

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup cornmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

scant 1/2 cup milk

1 egg

Blend the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. You can add some fresh, chopped herbs here if you like, such as chives or dill or parsley.

After the stock comes to a boil, Lower heat, check and correct seasoning and then drop dumpling batter by the tablespoon into pot and cover and simmer on low for 20 minutes.

You can make this dish with bone-in chicken as well. Just let it cook a little longer before you add the dumplings.

Julia Child Cooking Club

2009-10-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

My friend Fran recently invited me to join a cooking club that was being formed by a friend Jonna, I was asked to invite a friend and I asked Michelle. Two other women were also invited, my friend Heather and a new friend Patricia. The M.O. of the club is to create a menu based on recipes by Julia Child, prepare them in the host kitchen and enjoy them together. Well, we did that last night and it was a pretty fun and filling night.

Jonna hosted at her house not a 1/2 block from the beach. We started in her lush backyard kitchen so Heather could prepare the creme brulee for dessert while we enjoyed appetizers and champagne and got to know one another. We finally moved it inside to start prepping for dinner. The main living/cooking/dining area is on the second floor so we were able to enjoy a beautiful sunset view. My contribution was the cheese course so, no cooking there!! Fran made the main dish of Supreme de Volaille aux Champignons or chicken cutlets with mushroom cream sauce. Patricia prepared Pomme de Terre a l'ail, Garlic mashed potatoes. Both of these recipes are from Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume 1 as well as the Creme Brulee. Michelle made Courgette aux Epinards, saute of grated zucchini with chopped spinach, this recipe from Volume 2.

I think everyone used a technique or style of cooking in their dish that they hadn't done before; for example, the potatoes had a roux, the chicken cutlets were just rolled in the hot butter briefly and finished in the oven, with no browning and the creme brulee was completely finished on top of the stove in the pot and not baked in the ramekins. Even the vegetable dish was a little different as the spinach was blanched before cooking and the zucchini was salted and squeezed dry of water.

For the cheese course we had "Haystack Peak" an artisinal cheese from Colorado. It is a pyramid shaped goat cheese, slightly aged, with a bloomy rind. I served it with a jam I made this summer of Local Blenheim Apricots and also a few recently harvested walnuts.

Everything prepared was done well and delicious. Lots of great wine too. My only concern was that there was so much richness in each dish, I could hardly communicate at the end of the night. My stomach was in so much pain. I didn't have to eat as much as I did, but I love food and always eat everything on my plate. Just call me Miss Piggy!

Chicken: In the Style of The Hunter

2009-10-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

Chicken Cacciatore means hunter style, the french version is called Poulet Chasseur. The dish should include mushrooms, meat broth or sauce and tomato (sauce). This is a favorite of my family and here is my fairly easy version. I always use dark meat because this is a braised dish and I like what braising does with dark meat, where breast meat will often dry out. If you do use the breast you may want to pull it out early in the cooking process and add it later to finish.

In a dutch oven or large pot add about 2 Tablespoons olive oil and heat pan on high. When hot add seasoned chicken, I used boneless skinless thighs tonight, but you can use bone in just as easily. Brown the chicken pieces well. Add 1 chopped onion, 2 chopped carrots, 1 stalk chopped celery and 3 cloves chopped garlic and about 8-10 sliced mushrooms. Saute a bit and if you like add about 1/2 cup red wine and reduce. I also added dry porcini mushrooms because I had them and they add good flavor. To use dried mushrooms, place a handful in a glass bowl and pour boiling water to just cover. When reconstituted gingerly remove mushrooms and strain liquid into the cooking pot. Add soaked mushrooms to pot.

Add about a cup of chicken broth and a can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed and a sprig of rosemary and a few grinds of black pepper. See my note on canned tomatoes here. Bring to a boil, reduce to low and simmer covered till meat is very tender. Remove meat from pot and reduce sauce to a thicker consistency if necessary. Check seasoning. Serve with creamy polenta.

Birthday Party Taco Bar

2009-10-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

Saturday was my daughter's 10th birthday and we had a dance party with all the boys and girls in the 5th and 6th grade. For dinner we served a Taco Bar and Chicken Enchiladas. I have a few favorite recipes I'd like to share with you.

The recipe for guacamole came from a man I once worked for. I was the family's personal chef. He was from Mexico City and there was only one way he like his guacamole prepared and this is it: Mash several avocados. Season with salt and lime juice. Add chopped jalapeno to taste and lots of chopped cilantro. Very simple yet very delicious. All the flavors really shine through.

My carnitas recipe is from Diane Kennedy's The Art of Mexican Cooking cookbook. The recipe is simple and I get raves every time I make it.

Cut up 3 pounds of pork shoulder into 2 inches cubes. Heat some lard or oil in a heavy dutch oven and fry the pieces till brown. Don't crowd pan, do in batches if you need to. Add 1 roughly chopped onion and saute for about 5 minutes with the meat. Add 1 orange cut in 1/8ths, 10 crushed black peppercorns, salt, marjoram 1/4 tsp dried or a few sprigs, thyme 1/4 teaspoon dry or a few springs, 3 bay leaves and 1 cup milk. Simmer covered about 1/2 an hour until meat is very tender. Remove lid and reduce down liquid till just clear oil and meat remain. Remove orange pieces. Serve in corn tortillas with salsa fresca, guacamole and a squeeze of lime.

Peperone

2009-10-11T20:59:00.000-07:00

Tonight I made 15 pounds of beef peperoni with my friend Danny. It was made from a cow that was raised a mile and half down the road from my house by a lovely lady named Doreen whom I buy my eggs from. All her animals are well cared for and fed organically. Doreen gave me my first cheese recipe and I bought my goats from her.

10 pounds of the peperoni we seasoned with paprika and piment d'espelette, a spicy ground red pepper from basque region. It also had fennel, allspice, salt and red wine along with a starter for the fermentation. The last 5 pounds we seasoned with green and black peppercorns, fennel, red wine and piment de espelette. This will probable be more like a french saucisson.

Now the sausages will hang in Danny's distillery to ferment and dry. With the big storm that is expected to come in the humidity and temperature should be just right.

Not Kentucky Fried Chicken

2009-10-07T20:43:00.001-07:00

Today we were driving home from running errands, sitting in traffic in front of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Both my kids called out for KFC. No Way, kiddos! Don't even ask. "Oh but we love that popcorn chicken" they chanted. Well, lucky for me I was planning chicken for dinner tonight so I made it fried and it was good. I even made some popcorn chicken.

I used boneless, skinless thighs and breast, which I cut up into smaller pieces, each thigh became 2 or three pieces and the breast was 4 including the tender. I removed the little oyster nuggets from the thighs and these were the "popcorn".

I arranged flour, egg and bread crumbs in three bowls. I seasoned the flour with salt and pepper and to the whole wheat breadcrumbs I added a good amount of raw sesame seeds. Each piece of chicken was dusted with flour, dipped in egg and coated in crumbs. When all pieces were coated I fried them in about 3/8 inch canola oil. Since they were small and boneless they cooked pretty quick, about 2-3 minutes each side.

I served the chicken with steamed green beans and a plate of sliced avocado and tomato seasoned with lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper. The breading was our starch tonight.

There is enough leftover chicken for lunch boxes tomorrow. And my kids do love this much more than KFC.

Cajun Shrimp and Sausage

2009-10-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

When my brothers and sister and I were growing up in Queens, NY we would often visit Aunt Nancy in The City. Nancy had a great job at the New York Times, was very sophisticated, was a "foodie" even in the 60's and 70's and had cable TV!! Me and my wild siblings would go into her East Side apartment and examine every antique, every magazine and book and piece of art. We'd go into her walk in closet and examine her shoes and try on her fur coats and fancy scarves. Come to think of it we still do all that when we visit Aunt Nancy! Nancy would often make us this great dish, I am sure it came from either Gourmet magazine or the New York Times or a from a cookbook published by NYT. I think she called it Creole Shrimp. Nancy had and I am sure she still has, this gorgeous red enameled cast iron Danish covered pot, that she cooked and served this dish in. I sure wish I had that pot. I have the next best though, a bright red Le Creuset dutch oven that I cooked my rendition of Aunt Nancy's creole shrimp.

A few notes on ingredients. I prefer Wild gulf white Shrimp (prawns) over tiger Prawns. I just don't like the taste of farmed tiger prawns, but love the sweetness of wild Gulf White Shrimp. I never eat prawns or seafood stews or pastas in a restaurant because they will inevitably use farmed tiger prawns. If I do see Wild Gulf White Shrimp on the menu I will usually order them. They seem to be much more available these days here on the West Coast than in the past. East Coast often has great shrimp. And when I say shrimp I mean prawns. I never heard of prawns until I moved to CA. So in this recipe I mean the larger shrimp, or prawns. Not bay shrimp, the tiny ones.

THe sausage I used was Turkey Andouille Sausage from Garrett Farms. It was from my local natural food store. You can use pork sausage also. And any spicy cajun stlye sausage will work. You can also leave the sausage out altogether, like Nancy did.

In a dutch oven, Melt 2-3 tablespoons butter with a little olive oil. Add 1 chopped yellow onion, 1 diced celery stalk and 1 chopped red bell pepper. Sweat over low heat till softtened. Add 1 to 3 tsp cajun spice depending on how hot you want it. See my recipe for blackened spice here. Season with salt.
Chop the andouille sausage (I used a package of 4) into 3/4 inch pieces and add to pot. Saute a bit and then add 1 can peeled tomatoes that you crushed with your hands or chopped. (I used a 16 ounce can - if you have a 28 ounce maybe only add 3/4's of the can. If you like it more saucy, go ahead and add the whole thing.)
Cover and simmer on low till sauce has reduced and thickened. Add your clean and peeled shrimp and simmer till cooked through, stirring occasionally. Check your seasoning and adjust if necessary.

Serve over buttered white rice.

Livy and Henry with Livy's friend Ashi at dinner. 2 Thumbs up from all!

Dragon Blood Soup

2009-10-04T15:43:00.000-07:00

I received a load of heirloom tomatoes from my friend Elizabeth the other day. Red and yellow, big and small. I've been eating them on my english muffin in the morning with yarlsburg cheese. MY kids had a sleepover at her house last night with her kids and this morning they picked all the ripe tomatoes on her plants. Then they took the tomatoes to our little mountain store, Casalegno's and sold them to the proprietress, Gina, and each kid made a little mad money. I hit up Casalegno's this afternoon and bought a bunch of the tomatoes to supplement the big pot of tomato soup I made today. We call it Dragon's Blood Soup because that is what they call it at Excaliber in Vegas!

I started with about 10-12 tomatoes of varying sizes (about 5 pounds) and about 1/2 pint assorted cherry tomatoes. Rinse, core and cut tomatoes in half. Keep Cherries whole. Place on a rimmed sheet pan. Season with salt and pepper. Roast in a 375 degree oven about 45 minutes to concentrate the flavors. While the tomatoes are roasting, Heat about 2 tablespoons olive oil in a soup pot, add 1 chopped onion and 3-4 cloves chopped garlic. Saute until soft. When tomatoes are done roasting, add to pot. Add 3-4 cups water or stock. Bring to a boil and simmer about 25 minutes covered. Towards end add a few leaves of basil. Puree. If you like it a little creamier you can 1/2 cup cream at the end. It also adds extra fat. You can also choose to serve it with a dollop of creme fraiche or yogurt and let your eaters decide if they want the extra creaminess (fat).

I served the soup with croutons I made from days-old rosemary focaccia bread cut in small cubes and fried in olive oil.

Friday Fish

2009-10-03T14:06:00.000-07:00

Last week we hit a rough spot with my seven year old Henry and my mind (and life) was pre-occupied with him. I wasn't in the blogging mood. This week he had a good week, we spent a lot of time at the skate park after school and following up on ideas from friends to help Henry. Also trying to make healthy meals that Henry will eat.
Henry helped me shop for last nights dinner and picked out a lot of the menu. We settled on fresh wild Alaskan King Salmon and asparagus. Henry also picked out a lovely cheese from Bellwether farms, carmody, which was like a good cheddar, we munched on the cheese before dinner with some nuts and raisins. It's good to see Henry eating cheese and picking out interesting cheeses, he hasn't always been a big cheese eater and it's a good source of protein that masquerades as a snack.

We also were gifted some just picked beets from my friend Devon. Devon went on a field trip with her son Kai's class to an organic farm to glean a beet field for a food bank. If you don't know what gleaning is here is the definition; Glean: to collect the remaining grain, etc. from a reaped field. I only recently found this out through my children's 4H leader as they will be participating in gleaning a field for a food bank as well. Devon got to keep a paper bag full of beets and shared them with me.
I also discovered a delicious marinated Feta from Yarra Valley Farms. Both of these went into dinner as well.

Here's how I prepared everything quite simply:

I removed the feather bones from the salmon (using needle nose pliers) and placed the filet on a foil covered sheet pan. I seasoned it with sea salt and cracked pepper, and few knobs of butter and some fresh chopped dill (that I had bought earlier in the week for chicken noodle soup - I will share that recipe soon as I make Chicken noodle soup almost weekly in the winter).
I roast the salmon in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes checking after 10 minutes. I insert a knife in thickest part of the fillet. When done the fish should still be slightly translucent and still bright pink.

The asparagus I snapped off the bottoms, soaked briefly in cold water and placed in a shallow pan or on a sheet pan. Toss with s&p and olive oil to coat. Put in the oven at the same time as the fish. Roasting the asparagus this way really concentrates the flavor.

I cleaned the beets,rinsed and separated the tops. The beets I roasted in a small ceramic roasting pan salted and covered with foil and placed in the hot oven as well. The beets will cook for about an hour and I will use them in a salad another day.

Th beet tops were rinsed and roughly chopped. I added about a tablespoon olive oil to a pot with a sliced garlic clove and a big pinch of crushed red pepper. Place over medium heat and when the oil is starting to sizzle add the greens. stir about, lower the heat and cover till tender and bright about 5 minutes. The beet greens cook almost as fast as spinach. Sprinkle with the marinated Feta if you like.

Blackened Rock Cod with Crispy Skin

2009-09-23T19:36:00.000-07:00

I did buy that beautiful orange rock cod yesterday at Staff of Life, because I knew I wanted to cook it with the skin on and crispy, and it is not often they don't just filet and skin all the cod before I get there. Staff of Life has the freshest fish counter in Santa Cruz by the way. When I was there yesterday I also made friends with the new Cheese monger! He is awesome, friendly and knows his stuff. He just moved down from Napa where he ran a cheese shop there. Originally from the Basque region of France, I know I am going to enjoy being friends with him! I love the staff at Staff of Life.

Here is the menu for tonight: Blackened Rock Cod, Cumin scented black beans, fresh corn cakes, and sauteed zucchini.

I used this recipe for the corn cakes. The beans came right out of a can and I seasoned them with ground cumin. I sliced the zukes into moons and sauteed in a little olive oil in a very hot pan to get brownage on them and sprinkled with sea salt. For the fish I cut slits in the skin and seasoned with salt. The flesh side I seasoned with blackened seasoning mixture and salt. In a very hot cast iron skillet with a little olive oil I placed the fish flesh side down for about 3 minutes then flipped it and finished cooking it on the skin side till the flesh was barely cooked through and the skin crispy.

Blackened seasoning: 3 Tablespoons Paprika, 1 teaspoon each of the following: black pepper, cayenne pepper, white pepper, salt, garlic powder, dried oregano and dried thyme. This is a general guideline, taste and adjust heat and salt to your preference. Or buy Paul Prudhomme's!

Wild Sea Scallops!! Let them eat leftovers!

2009-09-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

I went to the fish counter today at Staff of Life and everything looked so fresh and so good I wanted to take it all home and have a seafood party. The Tombo (Albacore) Tuna was bright pink and glistening, the sable fish filets (aka black cod or butter fish - very high in Omegas) looked perfect. This is what I originally came in for. Then I spotted the Rock Cod still on the bone, gutted and scaled. The skin a beautiful orange - I knew i wanted to pan fry it till the skin was nice and crispy. But then I noticed the huge Wild Day Boat Sea Scallops. Whoa, that was it, that's what we're having for dinner.

I also picked up a bunch of green onion and an eggplant to round out my menu. I am really lucky to have several farms on my road where I can pick up fresh vegetables daily. Yesterday (from Everett Family Farm) I picked up some zucchini, sweet red pepper and 2 kinds of tomato; purple cherokee and early girl. I also had some basil with roots sitting in a vase on my counter from the weekend.

This is what I planned:

Grilled, eggplant, zucchini and sweet red pepper with basil. A tomato salsa with green onions, sea salt and raw grated garlic. Steamed Rice. Seared Day Boat Sea Scallops finished with butter.

Slice veggies and season with sea salt and pepper. Coat generously with olive oil and sprinkle with julienne basil. You can grill these, fry in a pan or roast in the oven. I grilled them so I wouldn't have to dirty a pan. Roasting is a favorite way too. I like the way the roasting brings out the flavor of vegetables. Just place in an even layer on a sheet pan and roast in a 400 degree oven. Turning once. Total cooking time about 20 minutes.

For the salsa I chopped 2 tomatoes and 2 green onions. I used a microplane grater to grate a large garlic clove into the tomatoes and sprinkled with sea salt.

Now for the sweet succulent scallops. First be sure to check with your fish seller that your scallops are wild dayboat scallops. If the scallops came out of can, it means they were caught at sea, shucked and placed in a brine or saline solution to keep them fresh. You will not achieve the proper brownage or have the true sweetness of a fresh sea scallop. Dayboat scallops are caught by divers and delivered fresh in a sack.

To prepare the scallops remove the little flap of meat you may find on the side of each scallop and discard. Rinse the scallops lightly and pat dry with a towel. I stack mine between 2 paper towels. To cook, place a large skillet over very high heat. When hot add olive oil to just cover bottom of pan. Pan should be close to smoking. Season scallops with salt and pepper. Gently add each scallop and let brown. Don't move your pan around and don't move your scallops, just let them brown, about 2 minutes. When you have a nice brown crust gently turn over each scallop. If it is sticking slide a metal spatula under to loosen. Let 2nd side brown. After 2nd side is browned throw in a knob of butter (about 2 teaspoons) and swirl around pan. Remove pan from heat and serve.

I never made scallops for my children before. I usually give them salmon or some other white fish and they are happy. Crab and lobster thrills them. I was a little surprised when they wouldn't eat them. Livy told me tonight she is a vegetarian, Henry said he is a fastfoodatarian. We told Henry he would starve to death. Livy changed to a meatatarian after I heated up yesterday's leftover chicken.

That's ok, more for me and Ron. They were to die for.

Excaliber Baby Chickens, no forks allowed

2009-09-21T20:37:00.000-07:00

On our way home from Zion National Park and a fun visit with an old friend, James and a new friend Debbi, we stopped in Vegas, baby! We stayed at the Excaliber and went to the Tournament of Kings dinner show to watch the knights jousting. Henry really liked the dinner of Dragon's Blood Soup, Games Hens, fried steak cut potatoes, broccoli and dried out dinner roll. He mostly enjoyed the privilege of eating with his hands. Henry is a picky eater, so when he likes something (that is healthy and the rest of us will eat it) I will make a point to cook it. Game hens seem like a complicated meal to eat on a

weeknight, but this dinner was simple.

I don't think I've written about salt here yet. I use course grey sea salt. I guess it's from France. I buy it in bulk at the Natural Food Store. My sister, the real salt freak, buys it by the barrel. I joke, but she does buy like 30 pounds of it every year and then hands it out to us through the year. She saves a lot of money buying it in bulk. Something like $1 or 2/pound to my $6.

I use a big mortar and pestle to grind up my salt into smaller crystals, about a tablespoon at a time or as I need it. I really like using the grey sea salt. It makes the food taste really good and it has lots of minerals in it. I read articles on salt where they stated there is no difference in taste between the pink salt from this tiny island near japan, the grey salt from France,etc... and the diamond crystal from mines in Pennsylvania, that all salt has the same composition.

But the way the salt crystals melt on the food, or in your mouth, I guess that is what makes a difference.

Anyway, if you see it in your store pick it up and give it a try. Try it on fresh lettuce greens with good olive oil and a sprinkle of vinegar and cracked black pepper. Let me know if you notice a difference.

Excaliber Game Hens

For the baby chickens I ground about a tablespoon salt with the leaves of about 8 springs fresh thyme and a bunch of cracked pepper wiht my mortar and pestle. I rubbed this mixture all of the birds and put a little inside the cavity. Place the birds on a roasting pan (covered with foil for easy clean-up) and put a pat of butter on each bird. Place in a 375 degree* oven for about an hour. Baste the birds when you think about it and half way through the cooking time flip the birds to brown the backs. flip back after 15 minutes and finish breast side up.

After you get the birds in the oven cut 2 or 3 large idaho potatoes lengthwise into 8ths. Toss with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place on a sheet pan and put in oven with chicks. I also wrapped a bulb of garlic sprinkled with olive oil and a little salt in foil and baked in the oven too.

Steam a head of broccoli. Skip the dried out rolls.

Serve with or without silverware.

Henry said the only thing missing was the rolls!!

* I use the convection roast mode on my oven. If your oven cooks slow, increase heat to 390 degrees or so.

I never remember to take a picture of the food when it is finished. I am always too hungry and ready to eat. Here's a picture a few minutes after it went in the oven.

Tortilla Soup

2009-09-20T21:26:00.000-07:00

Yu-um.

Cover an assortment of dried chilis with boiling water to soften. Remove seeds and stems then puree softened pods. (I used pasilla, california, new mexico). (You can use dry chili powder in place of this homemade paste if you want to.) Saute an onion and a couple of chopped garlic cloves in olive oil. Add 4 chopped boneless chicken thighs. Stir in some of the chili puree to taste and a 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano. Add about a quart of chicken stock. Throw in some chopped tomatoes, a can of black beans and some frozen corn. Bring to a boil and simmer about 20 minutes. Season with salt. While soup is simmering cut about 6 corn tortillas into strips and fry in oil till crispy.

Finish soup with a half bunch of chopped cilantro.

Serve soup with fried tortilla strips, chopped avocado, lime wedges, sliced jalapenos and sour cream.

Cooking St. Patrick's Day Feast for 90 Friends

2009-03-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

We had our 4th annual St. Patrick's Day Party yesterday. Friends and family started arriving around 4:30. There were about 40 kids who took over our property with a friendly game of war that was fantastic to watch. The boys (and a few brave girls) ranging in age from about 4 to 13 had sticks and branches and divided themselves into 2 sides. They traversed hills, zip lines, fences and trees. I love this, because today you hardly get to see a big group of kids just do what is natural and fun. We all did this as youngsters. We were more free to roam our neighborhoods and use our imagination to have fun with what is available outside our front doors. For me this was the best part of the party.

The food was pretty good too. Here's the menu:

The best corned beef from Staff of Life my favorite natural food store butcher anywhere, but this one happens to be in Santa Cruz and is operated by Ken Miller with the help of some fantastic butchers, especially Joseph.

I put the 50#'s of corned beef on to simmer about 11:30am. At about 3:30 It was nice and tender. I took it out of the pots and added 15 # of new potatoes and 10# carrots and simmered till tender. Then I added 9 heads of cabbage cut in 1/8ths. I sliced the corned beef while this cooked.

You must serve corned beef with coleman's spicy mustard (the dry stuff in the yellow can that you mix with water.)

I also roasted 2 sides of salmon (farmed - due to the shortage of salmon and restrictions on the industry, hopefully next year we will have a salmon fishery).

We had 6 loaves of homemade Irish Soda Bread (recipe included)

For dessert we had brownies, green jello jigglers, (thanks Joyce) homemade boston cream pie, and delicious cookies from the buttery (thanks Jodee).

My son Henry never came around when we serving cake, so I made him the Chocolate Cake in a Mug at around 9:30. (He is spoiled, but his Mama loves him).

The beer and wine were flowing and I heard that Robert Hyde brought a bottle of awesome Irish Whiskey. We were also gifted a lovely bottle of Hendrick's Gin. Yum.

I think everyone left content and with a full belly by 10. The lovelies Sherri Hyde and Deirdre Smith didn't make it to the party this year so things kind of petered out early.

Here is the recipe for Irish Soda Bread

Sift Together:

4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 3 teaspoon baking powder

Add:

1 cup raisins, 1 Tablspoons Caraway seeds

Mix Together:

1 cup sour cream, 1 cup milk

Blean liquid into dry ingredients and knead about 10 times.

Pat into a buttered cake pan and cut an X or Cross on top

Bake in 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes or till toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Happy St. Patrick's to Everyone!