To Market, To Market with San Diego Foodstuff

Shaya at Lawrence Family JCC June 28

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 22:37:00 +0000

Do you read cookbooks? I don't mean simply dipping into them for recipes. I mean really reading them. Because if your idea of a perfect evening or weekend is settling in with a cup of tea or glass of wine and a good cookbook--and you're curious about how Israeli and American Southern food interconnect--then you'll enjoy "Shaya: An Odyssey of Food, My Journey Back to Israel" by Alon Shaya.

Shaya has won two James Beard awards for his restaurants Shaya, Domenica, and Pizza Domenica in New Orleans. He was born in Tel Aviv to parents originally from Bulgaria (mom) and Romania (dad). But at age four his mother moved his older sister Anit and him to Philadelphia to reunite with his father, who had moved to the U.S. years before. The marriage broke up and Shaya was left to mostly fend for himself.

"Shaya" is a memoir/cookbook that traces his life through food. The sense of family he gained from his maternal grandparents--and the food his safta (grandmother) made for him when they visited from Israel, starting with Lutenitsa (a dish of roasted red peppers and eggplant). The first dish he made (hamantashen). Finding himself in a home ec class with the teacher of every student's dreams and making Linguine and Clams "Carbonara." Landing at the CIA, then going out to Vegas to work in a casino, and eventually New Orleans, where he would settle. The recipes in each chapter are connected to these memories that eventually take us through the trauma of Hurricane Katrina, when he worked for chef John Besh, to Italy and Israel, and then back to New Orleans.

Because, once upon a time, I worked in publishing in New York I have a habit of reading the acknowledgments first in books. And I knew I'd be smitten by this book with the story he tells there in praise of his collaborator Tina Antolini. He initially showed her some stories he'd written and she sent him off to read one of her favorite cookbooks, "Home Cooking" by Laurie Colwin because his writing reminded her of the narrative form Laurie used in her book. Then, he worked with editor Vicky Wilson, a legendary Knopf editor, whose sister I worked with back in the day at The William Morris Agency. And she told Shaya that the only cookbook she'd ever published was "Home Cooking." That was kismet for him but why would that matter to me? Because back then I was friends with Laurie, who was the godmother to my boss's daughter. Laurie passed away quite young, but "Home Cooking" and "Home Cooking II" as well as novels and tons of fabulous short stories are some of my favorite reading dating back to my early 20s.

So, there's that connection. But even if that weren't there, I'd still encourage you to get this book. Shaya is a terrific storyteller and his story is unusual. So are the recipes, and that's part of their charm. Are they Jewish? (His Kugel in Crisis features bacon.) Are they Southern? Or Italian? Or Israeli? You'll have to read the book to learn how he pulls together all these traditions and flavors. All I can say is that I'm looking forward not only to trying his recipes but meeting him.

Yes, meeting him. Shaya will be appearing Friday, June 28 at the Lawrence Family JCC for Shabbat dinner. And I'll be conducting the interview. Dinner will be dishes from "Shaya," including Chilled Yogurt Soup with Crushed Walnuts, Mom's Leek Patties with Lutenitsa, Pan-Seared Yellowfin Tuna with Harissa, and Malai with Strawberries (trust me, these are dishes you're going to want to make).

Tickets are available online. I'm already working on my interview questions. Hope to see you there!

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Urban Solace's Biscuits Live On

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 14:48:00 +0000

Last week San Diego lost two of its favorite restaurants. I say this with remorse because if all of us who loved both Urban Solace and Solace and the Moonlight Lounge had eaten there more frequently we wouldn't be mourning them. And chef/owner Matt Gordon would still be working way too hard feeding us.

It's all our fault.

Years ago I used to say that if you discover a great restaurant in New York or L.A., you keep it to yourself so you can continue to get in. But in San Diego you have to tell everyone you know and even strangers so it'll stay in business. Sadly, that still appears to be true.

It's all our fault.

I met up with friends for Urban Solace's final service and it was, ironically, packed. And it seemed that everyone was eating Matt's Cheese and Chive biscuits. For years we've all loved the biscuits. They were perfection. Flaky, just thick enough and with a texture that didn't stick in your throat like Bisquick biscuits, but glided down--lubricated with Matt's sweet and creamy Orange Honey Butter.

So, here's the good news if you missed the meal or are missing Urban Solace. I have the recipes for both. In fact, I also have the Basil Cream Biscuit recipe from Matt's late Sea & Smoke restaurant in Del Mar.

You may already have them yourself. You see, I wrote about Matt and his biscuits, along with his tips for making them, back in 2015 for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Want a laugh? Even Matt's wife Young Mi was thrilled to know they exist because Matt's restaurant version that was posted in the kitchen is scaled for like 100. These recipes call for a much more reasonable 15.

So, if you're in mourning for Urban Solace and Solace and the Moonlight Lounge, here's my contribution to the shiva.

And, fair warning: Don't neglect your favorite restaurants! Support them so you can continue to enjoy them.

Matt, thank you for so many years of so many delicious, creative meals! I can't wait to see what you do next!

The Rise of the Biscuit

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Truffles for Your Chakras

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 00:06:00 +0000

Love chocolate but trying to avoid refined sugar? Love truffles but can't eat dairy?

If all goes well, there's going to be a local alternative chocolate truffle that is total indulgence but far healthier than your conventional sweet.

Kathryn Rogers, founder and CEO of Vivacious Dish, is now making Maya Moon Chakra Chocolate Truffles. The truffles are made with honey, coconut milk, and coconut butter, instead of sugar, cream, and butter. The fair trade cocoa is organic and sourced from Peruvian farmers. The coconut milk and butter is also is organic and from a community collaborative in Sri Lanka. The raw clover blossom honey is local, from Mikolich Family Honey.

Rogers is making her truffles out of a 2,400 square-foot bakery in Bay Park. The idea, she said, came from a collaboration a couple of years back at a yoga studio. The owner wanted healthy chocolates without refined sugar and with energy-activating ingredients. Rogers had been experimenting with herbal flavors and from there the idea was born to have truffles that connected with energy centers in the body. She spent the following two years refining the recipe to get the consistency right and perfection in the flavor profiles.

"It took a long time to get ther recipe and consistency down," she said.

So a box of seven truffles will include:

Clarifying Coconut (for cosmic consciousness)
Third Eye Triple Berry (for tuning into your intuition)
Throat Opening Peppermint (for speaking your truth)
Heart Warming Cinnamon (for opening to give and receive love)
Energizing Bee Pollen (for igniting your inner fire)
Luscious Lemon Mango Berry (for activating pleasure sensors)
Rooted Raspberry Ginger (for grounding)

Each of the truffles is dusted in one of these ingredients. The flavors are subtle. You'll take a bite and get a lovely hit of coconut or peppermint or berry and then sink into a luscious chocolate. I didn't miss the dairy and loved the depth of flavor the honey provides.

Right now Rogers is in the midst of a Kickstarter to raise $25,000 to launch the project. She's raised just over $13,000 so far and the fundraiser ends on March 6 at midnight. With this fundraiser she hopes to:

1. Order packaging and source organic ingredients to ship the first run of gift boxes to backers.

2. Launch monthly chocolate truffle subscription program, including monthly meditations.

3. Expand into retail locations and natural markets throughout California.

I can't tell you to put money into the Kickstarter. I can tell you that these truffles are sublime and it would be so cool to have a local chocolate that is something you can "indulge in and feel good," as Rogers said.

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Air Fryer Shishito Peppers with Togarashi

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 15:21:00 +0000

I remember a time not all that long ago when shishito peppers--those crinkly mild green Japanese chiles--were hard to find in markets and just a little less so as a bar app at hip restaurants. It was a big score back when Susie's Farms was in farmers markets and had them in season.

I now regularly see them--no surprise here--at Japanese markets--but last week I found shishito peppers in a produce display at Sprouts. And bought a bag.

It coincided with my recent purchase of my second air fryer. Air fryer number one was big--too big for my countertop so I had to use it on my stove--and the one time I used it, the house stank from burning plastic. So back it went. Then I read about a much smaller, much less expensive air fryer that would be perfect for my single-person household. The brand is Dash and they have the fryers in multiple cool coolers with a small compact footprint, and both manual and digital displays.

Here's mine (and no, I don't get any payment from either Dash or Amazon):

I used it for the first time over the weekend on, what else, the shishito peppers. Normally, I would toss them in a little oil and let them blister in a hot cast iron skillet. It's not a big undertaking, unless the temperature is soaring in the summer. But cooking them up in the air fryer--essentially using convection heat--was even better because I didn't have to hover over the skillet and deal with peppers so twisted they wouldn't stay where you turned them.

With the air fryer all I had to do was toss them in a little vegetable oil and place them in a single layer in the crisper basket, which rests in the crisper drawer. The downside? Because it's a small unit I had to do two batches, but it wasn't a big deal since the cooking time is a mere five minutes. This particular air fryer is very intuitive so you press the power button and it immediately shows the temperature, which I turned up from its default 360° to 390° with the + button.

Then you press the timer/temperature button, which displays the default time of 10 minutes and move it to 5 minutes using the - button. Press the start arrow button and it takes care of the rest. In fact, the temperature and timer alternate on the display so you know exactly what is going on as it counts down. And once it hits the one-minute mark, it counts down in seconds.

Midway, pull out the basket and shake, then put it back into the machine. When the timer beeper goes off, check and make sure your shishitos are sufficiently blistered. If so, pull out the basket and use tongs to pull out the shishitos (excess oil may have collected in the bottom of the crisper drawer below the basket so you don't want to risk burning yourself by flipping it over).

Now how do you season your shishitos? If you're like most people you salt the shishitos, then squeeze lemon juice over them. And that's perfectly wonderful. I'm fond of ponzu sauce on them as well. But with this batch I sprinkled coarse sea salt and shichimi togarashi, which is a traditional Japanese seasoning mix.

It has a bite, thanks to chili pepper and szechuan pepper. But it also contains black and white sesame seeds, orange peel, and dried basil. So it offers plenty of zesty flavor, too, and pairs beautifully with the blistered shishitos.

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Kitchens for Good Launching "Dinners for Good"

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 00:03:00 +0000

I've been a fan of Kitchens for Good since, well, before it even launched just a couple of years ago.

Never heard of the organization? Well, top of line, it's a San Diego culinary school designed for people 18 and older with barriers to employment—youths aging out of foster care, veterans or people who were formerly incarcerated, for example. The program, which is free to the students, uses curriculum developed by LA Kitchen and DC Central Kitchen, which together have graduated more than 1,500 students over 25 years and have a 90 percent success rate of full-time employment within three months of graduation. Kitchens for Good teaches both fundamental culinary skills, including knife skills, baking, fish fabrication and plating, and what founder and president Chuck Samuelson called “soft skills,” like anger management, résumé writing and professional social interaction. Students graduate the program with ServSafe certification and job placement assistance.

And it's graduated hundreds of students so far. But Kitchens for Good is more than just a culinary school. It's an advocate and example of reducing food waste. It provides nutritious meals for families in need. And it funds jobs and supports local farmers.

Any nonprofit that is juggling this many projects needs financial support. And Kitchens for Good used the collective smart noggins and came up with a new fundraising program: Dinners for Good.

Dinners for Good is a combination chef demo and tasting series sponsored by Catalina Offshore Products and Specialty Produce (yes, the same folks who have brought us Collaboration Kitchen). It will be hosted by Catalina Offshore Products' Tommy Gomes. Each event will consist of a five-course tasting menu with paired drinks--all prepared by some of San Diego's best chefs during a live cooking demonstration.

Tommy Gomes

The kickoff event will be held on March 24 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at Kitchens for Good. It will feature Gomes, with Hanis Cavin of Carnitas Snack Shack and "Sam the Cooking Guy" Zien of Not Not Tacos.

Hanis Cavin

Here's the menu:
1st course:
Shaved squash / roasted cherry tomato / almond
tapenade / manchego / sherry vinaigrette

2nd course:
Smoked pork stuffed sweet-pepper / corn puree / corn-
pork belly sauté / chive oil

3rd course:
Roasted black cod / mussels / sweet garlic / toasted
focaccia / mirepoix / black pepper butter

4th course:
Seared NY strip / crisp potato cake /
mushroom-onion-lardon hash / port reduction

5th course:
Mini ice cream cookie sandwiches /
white chocolate dipped

Sam "the Cooking Guy" Zien

On April 28, the next Dinners for Good program will feature Gomes with Matt Gordon of Urban Solace and Solace & the Moonlight Lounge and Sam Zien.

On June 30, the program will feature Karen Barnett of Small Bar, Logan Mitchell of Cellar Door, and Coral Fodor of Garden Kitchen.

Tickets for Dinners for Good are $115--remember, the proceeds from the events support Kitchens for Good and their culinary job training program!

Kitchens for Good is located at 404 Euclid Avenue Suite 102, San Diego 92114.

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Miso Butter Turkey Thigh

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 00:30:00 +0000

Long before I knew the term "compound butter"--and I mean really long before--I was enjoying a version of compound butter at my summer camp. At breakfast some of us got into the habit of mixing soft butter with brown sugar, both of which were in bowls on the long dining hall tables for pancakes or French toast or oatmeal, and eating this mixture with a spoon. Yeah, it was as weirdly wonderful as it sounds, especially to a preteen away from home whose parents weren't around to put a stop to it.

So imagine how happy my taste buds were when I discovered years later that you could blend soft butter with all kinds of ingredients and spread it on really great bread or toast.

Or cook with it.

Compound butters are truly a gift to a home cook with some vegetables, or chicken, or fish--and odds and ends of ingredients. The other night I decided to make myself a roasted turkey thigh but I'd also just cleaned my refrigerator and realized I had a container of miso hidden in the back of a shelf. My usual go to with miso is to make a marinade or glaze for an oily fish like salmon or black cod. But I thought miso could work with turkey and decided to pair it with butter.

And several other ingredients.

I riffled around my pantry and pulled out honey and rice vinegar. Back in the fridge I got out soy sauce. Garlic and ginger made sense--and I remembered my ginger garlic bombs in the freezer (a great hack from Bon Appétit) and got one out to defrost.

After I let the butter soften and the ginger garlic bomb defrost, I mashed the butter and miso and started adding the rest: a teaspoon each of honey and rice vinegar, half a teaspoon of soy sauce, and the ginger garlic bomb. I wanted to relive my youth and just eat the creamy mixture with a spoon; it was salty and sweet with a kick from the vinegar and a little spice from the garlic and ginger.

Instead I smeared it over the large turkey thigh, but once I did that I still had some left over. I pulled out an eggplant from the refrigerator and cut some slices, then smeared the slices with the miso butter. They all went into the oven to roast and within about 10 minutes my entire house already smelled dreamy.

Within 45 minutes I had a beautifully browned turkey thigh and perhaps the most delicious slices of eggplant I'd ever eaten. The miso butter had infused the eggplant with all those flavors and made each slice melt in my mouth.

This is one of those concoctions I'd make again in a heartbeat not just for the turkey and the eggplant, but to smear on fish or chicken or winter squash slices. I'd toss it in pasta or hot whole grains.

Or just use a spoon and eat it.

Miso Butter Turkey Thigh
Serves 1 or 2, depending on the size of the turkey thigh
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoons miso
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon plain rice vinegar
1 ginger garlic bomb
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
1 large turkey thigh

Directions
Mash together all the ingredients except the turkey to make the compound butter.

Spread as much of the compound butter as you need all over the turkey thigh. If you have any left over, refrigerate it or spread over vegetables.

Preheat oven to 375°. Place the turkey thigh and any vegetables you plan to roast in a roasting pan and cook for 45 minutes or until the internal temperature of the turkey reaches 170° and 175°. Remove from oven. Let rest about 10 minutes, then slice the turkey.

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Sourdough Oats and Nuts Granola

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Tue, 29 Jan 2019 15:35:00 +0000

Every Sunday morning, once I get back from the dog park, I take out my ceramic canister of sourdough starter and let it come to room temperature. Then I empty out about two ounces and feed it equal parts flour and water--two ounces each (which is call 100 percent hydration). It's my weekend ritual--and no surprise to anyone who reads San Diego Foodstuff.

Today, instead of tossing or giving away the discards I used them--actually a little more than usual--to make granola. Weird, huh? Usually, I include my starter in some kind of baking project. But it was an intriguing idea I had found online and since I enjoy granola and had the main ingredients in my pantry and freezer I thought I'd try it out.

What does the sourdough starter add to granola? Think of it as a tangy binder. Once it's added and then baked you can't see it. But, thanks to its subtle flavor, you'll know it's there.

Now while you can use the spent starter you will want to refresh it a bit. So the first thing to do is mix it with a little water, a little flour, and some brown sugar. Then, let it sit on the counter for three or four hours. It'll get a little bubbly. This releases more flavor than it would straight out of the fridge and the flavor is what you're after here.

Once your starter is ready, preheat your oven and start mixing the other ingredients. The dry ones obviously go together first. And you can be flexible with the type, amount, and proportion of nuts and seeds you use.

Add your honey or maple syrup to the starter mixture, along with vanilla and oil, then whisk it together and pour over the dry ingredients. Stir it all up and spread it onto a half sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. Off into the oven it goes. After it's baked, let it cool before breaking it up into little pieces and adding dried fruit, cocoa nibs, or whatever strikes your fancy. I had lots of different packages of dried fruit, some chocolate-covered cocoa nibs, and dried coconut flakes that I added.

The result is a great mix for cocktail parties--or in a bowl with milk. It's sweet and savory and very crunchy. And it's a versatile foundation for creating a snack based on your specific tastes or needs. You can add more brown sugar or honey/maple syrup for a sweeter flavor--or add mini chocolate chips or other sweets as well as cinnamon or cardamom. Alternately, you can minimize the sweetness and create a savory granola with more seeds and the addition of dried herbs. Even as is I sprinkled a handful into a bowl of my Roasted Red Kuri Squash Soup and the sweetness really complemented the sweet spicy soup and gave that thick texture some crunch.

Sourdough Oats and Nuts Granola
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
4 ounces sourdough starter (100 percent hydration--meaning equal parts flour and water)
1 ounce room temperature water
2 ounces brown sugar (light or dark)
1 ounce flour (AP, white whole wheat, or whole wheat)
½ teaspoon sea salt
5 ½ ounces rolled oats
2 ½ ounces lightly toasted nuts
2 ounces mixed seeds
2 ounces honey or maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ ounces neutral oil, like grapeseed
Dried fruit, cacao nibs, crystallized ginger, coconut flakes, or other add ins

Directions
Mix first 4 ingredients and let sit at room temperature to ferment for 4 hours.

Pre-heat oven to 300 F.

Combine salt, rolled oats, nuts, and seeds in a large bowl.

Whisk honey/maple syrup, vanilla, and oil into the starter mixture, then pour wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Spread in a thin layer on a silicone- or parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake for about 40 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Check in between to make sure your granola isn't getting too brown. Remove from oven and let cool for about 15 minutes. Then break the granola into pieces and add dried fruit, etc. once completely cool. Store in airtight container.

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Crisp-Stuffed Baked Apples

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 15:41:00 +0000

Last year I wrote about my childhood making custard for my mom. The ancillary to this was making baked apples for my dad--really, the whole family, but my dad was the driver; he loved them. In fact, years later when I had "graduated" to making apple pies he always said as he got older that he wasn't a crust guy. He just loved the apples. So I started making him apple crisps--and always kept a bag of crisp mixture in my freezer so I could make them for him at a moment's notice.

I wish it had occurred to me while he was still with us to make him a baked apple stuffed with the crisp mixture. He would have loved it! But it didn't, until now.

I got a craving for baked apples in December when the weather was so bizarrely stormy. When I made them for my family back in the day, my memory is we used either granulated sugar or brown sugar and cinnamon, along with butter, with water in the baking dish. Very straightforward. I think we also sliced off the top before hollowing out the apple--and added the top to bake, too. My dad's cousin Debbie told me her mom used to use diet soda as the liquid. Chef Matt Gordon of Urban Solace and Solace and the Moonlight Lounge said he used Dr. Brown's Black Cherry Soda.

But as I got to thinking about how to flavor them, I realized that all the ingredients I wanted--brown sugar, cinnamon, toasted nuts, and butter--were in my latest batch of crumble in my freezer, accompanied, of course, by oats. So why not just use the crumble?

And I did.

The bigger question, of course, was what kind of apple to use. Back in the day, my mom, who initiated me into making baked apples, used Pippins. But, here's the problem. Pippins, a wonderful tart/sweet green apple variety, are no longer around. There are fads in apple varieties, too, it seems. When I posted my baked apples on Facebook, I heard from friends that they have also seen their favorite baked apple varieties leave the markets: Braeburns, Roman Beauties, Gravensteins. (Although, I think I have seen Braeburns around.)

I did some research and found Fujis highly recommended. That's what I used but while they certainly kept their shape, I don't think they softened enough. My bet next time will be on McIntosh. The risk is, though, that if you aren't observant enough, the McIntosh apples will collapse. So, my search will likely go on. (Tip: my mom used to serve collapsed apples in custard cups to hold them together)

But don't let that deter you. Your favorite apples, baked with spices, sugar, and a little crunch, are the perfect winter dessert. Add a drizzle of cream and you'll be swooning.

Crisp-Stuffed Baked Apples
Yield: 2 servings
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
2 apples
4 tablespoons crisp mixture below
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup Grand Marnier or other liqueur or apple juice/cider (optional)
Water to fill up 1-inch of the baking dish

Caron's Crisp Mix
Yield: Makes 8 to 10 servings, depending on how much you use per serving

Mix together:

2 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
1 ½ cups lightly packed brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon fennel pollen
1 cup unsalted butter, melted

Store in the freezer until you’re ready to bake.

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350°.

Peel about an inch around the top of the apple.

Rotate a paring knife into the core of the apple to begin hollowing out the middle. Don't go all the way down, just about three quarters to leave the bottom intact. Take out what you can and use a melon baller to dig deeper and remove the seeds and tough core.

Fill the hollow with 2 tablespoons of crisp mixture in each apple. Place in a baking dish with high sides that just fit the apples. Top the apples with butter. Mix water with liqueur or cider and pour around the apples.

Cover with foil, place in oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. If the apples have still not softened to your desired texture, continue baking for another 10 minutes or so.

Try to serve immediately--but, you can also refrigerate them and warm them up later in the microwave.

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Moro Beans with Lacinato Kale and Shiitake Mushrooms

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 15:35:00 +0000

With this chill in the air it feels like bean time. The last time I wrote about beans was to rave about Alubia Blancas, which are still my favorite. But I recently tried Moro beans, which are a project of Rancho Gordo with XOXOC. Moros are black beans indigenous to Mexico and grown by small farmers.

Uncooked, the beans are like little gems. You would hardly be surprised to see them along a sea shore like little pebbles you'd want to collect. They appear to be a cross between pintos and black beans and when cooked, release a delicious broth. The website notes that they should be cooked as simply as possible, which is fine. I, of course, played around with them a bit and came up with a very basic first batch, which was delicious, then turned them from there into an even more flavorful, nutritious soup. It was perfect for our recent chilly, rainy weather.

First things first--actually cooking the beans. You can do this in all sorts of ways: in your basic pot on the stove, in a slow cooker, or in a pressure cooker. You can soak them. Or not. You can add all sorts of flavorings to the cooking water. Or not. It all depends on what you want the results to be and how you want to use them.

Here's what I did: First, I picked the beans over to remove any non-bean debris (little stones can inadvertently get into batches of packaged beans so always do this). Then I rinsed them and soaked them in a bowl of water covering them by about two inches. I did this in the morning and let them soak for about six hours. I did not toss the soaking liquid because that's where the flavor and some of the nutrition of the beans can leach out.

For the flavorings I diced and gently sautéed a couple of slices of bacon, not to crisp them but to render the fat, and then added diced onions and smashed garlic cloves. Once they turned opaque I added a couple of bay leaves along with the beans and soaking water. I brought the bean mixture to a boil, then lowered the heat after 10 minutes and partially covered the post with its lid (oooh, new brilliant red Staub 4 quart Dutch oven!). I simmered the beans for a little over two hours until they were al dente, adding more boiling water (to maintain the temperature in the pot) as needed. Then I added salt and enjoyed them as a side dish.

After a couple of days I revisited my leftover beans and decided they'd make a nice soup. I'm growing lacinato kale in my garden--a wonderful variety that I think is much more tender than standard kale). I lopped off half a dozen leaves, clipped a couple of Serrano chilies from their plant, and opened a bag of shiitake mushrooms, pulling out half a dozen or so to hydrate for several hours until nice and chewy.

As you'd expect, I kept the mushroom's soaking liquid and sliced the mushrooms. I roughly chopped the kale, and minced the chilies, along with a few cloves of garlic. The garlic started the sauté process. Then I added the chilies, then the mushrooms. The trick to getting the most beautiful and flavorful mushrooms is to place them in a single layer in your pan and just let them brown. Then flip and repeat. At that point I added the kale and sautéed them briefly--just until they began to wilt.

At this point I was ready to put the soup together. The beans went into my go-to little white Le Creuset pot with the remaining bean liquid and the sautéed vegetables. Then I added the mushroom liquid, stirred it all together, and brought it to the boil. Now it was ready to simmer gentle for about an hour. During that hour, when it started to look a little less soupy, I added a little more water to get it to the consistency I wanted. If you don't want it to be soup, let the liquid cook down. After an hour I salted it and dug in. I ate about half and when I had the leftovers the next day, it was even better.

Moro Beans with Lacinato Kale and Shiitake Mushrooms
Serves 4
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
1 cup Moro beans
Water
2 slices bacon, diced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
2 bay leaves
Sea salt to taste

6-8 dried shiitake mushrooms
Water
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 red Serrano chilies, minced
6 large leaves lacinato kale, chopped
Sea salt to taste

Directions
Pick through beans and remove any debris. Rinse well, then place in a bowl and cover with water. Soak for several hours.

Sauté the bacon just enough to render the fat, then add the onions and garlic. The goal is for them to soften and become opaque, not brown.

Add bay leaves, the beans and the soaking water. Add more water if necessary so that it is about two inches higher than the beans. Bring to the boil and continue boiling for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to as low a simmer as possible and partially cover the pot to allow for evaporation. Cook until the beans are al dente. If necessary add more boiling water (to keep the temperature up). Remove and discard the bay leaves.

At this point they are ready to enjoy. However you can add additional ingredients to create more flavor and even turn the mixture into a hearty soup.

Soak the shiitake mushrooms in a bowl of water until they are soft. Remove the mushrooms and set aside the liquid. Slice the mushrooms.

Heat olive oil in a skillet and add minced garlic. Sauté until fragrant then add the chilies and sauté another minute. Add the sliced mushrooms, spread them into a single layer and let them slightly brown. Turn them and repeat. Add the kale and sauté until slightly wilted.

Place the prepared beans and any bean liquid in a pot with the sautéed vegetables. Add the mushroom liquid. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cover. Simmer for an hour, adding a little water if necessary. Add sea salt to taste and serve. It’s even better the next day.

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Roasted Red Kuri Squash Soup

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 17:44:00 +0000

You can keep your butternut and spaghetti squashes. Your acorns and calabasas. When I see a red kuri squash, I kind of melt a little. Actually, I do love the others, too, but there's something about the magnificent red orange coloring and slight teardrop shape that makes me feel I'm not just going to eat something special, but that until I do, I've got a beautiful piece of nature's art to admire in my kitchen.

Perhaps more importantly, though, is the flavor of this Japanese squash. If you love chestnuts, you'll fall for the red kuri squash's rich chestnutty flavor. You can bake with this squash, but you more than likely will enjoy it in a stew, casserole, or soup.

And soup is just what I made with the one I recently bought. A thick, rich soup with chicken stock and coconut milk, ginger and dried peppers, roasted carrots and both roasted and sautéed garlic.

Because winter squash soups can be a little one note--the squash can dominate even the freshest spices--my goal with this soup was to create the now clichéd but truly relevant "layers of flavor." So I roasted the squash with carrots and garlic. I added fresh ginger and fresh garlic--and shallots. I broke up dried serranos from my garden. In went garam masala and its fragrant spices. But I also added tomato paste. And lots of fresh lime juice from limes in my garden.

All these ingredients together were able to hold up and match the squash and together they created soup magic.

Roasting the squash, carrots, and garlic took about an hour and once it had cooled enough to handle and I removed the meat of the squash from its skin and sliced the carrots I had decided I had done enough cooking for the day. So I wrapped the squash meat and carrots in the parchment paper it roasted on and bagged it, making it easy to remove the following day. I also wrapped up the garlic paste I had squeezed from the roasted head.

So, the next day making the soup was a breeze. In a four-quart Dutch oven I heated up a combination of vegetable oil and butter to sauté the fresh garlic, shallots, and ginger. Once they softened, I added the tomato paste, roasted garlic, and garam masala, and crumbled in the dried serranos and continued sautéing. Then, in went the squash meat and carrots. After about five minutes I souped it up, pouring in both the chicken broth and coconut milk. Once it was all stirred together well and come to just a simmer, I lowered the heat, covered the pot and let it cook for half an hour. At that point, I used my immersion blender to puree it into a smooth, creamy texture. Finally, I added salt and the lime juice.

I loved the kick the lime juice and serranos gave the soup. All that mellow chestnut flavor needed a little something to give the soup a little spark. And it was all built up by the many spices and aromatics that were its foundation.

You can serve the soup with toppings--perhaps those cool coconut chips or fried onions (or both) that Trader Joe's sells. Then you get a little crunch with your creamy soup. Or, you can do what I've been doing. Add a few dollops of chili oil with crunchy garlic. I found this made by S&B on Amazon by chance and it really appealed to me, being a garlic lover. It has a slight kick to it but it's not especially spicy hot. What it has is great flavor and texture. The perfect condiment for all sorts of dishes--roasted vegetables, dumplings, noodles--and this soup.

Roasted Red Kuri Squash Soup
Serves 6
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
3 to 4 pounds red Kuri squash
4 or 5 medium-size carrots, peeled and trimmed
1 large head of garlic
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vegetable oil or butter
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 large shallots, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger, from a 3-inch long piece
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons garam masala (or curry powder)
2 dried red serrano chilis
1 (13.5-ounce) can coconut milk
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt or to taste
Juice of 2 limes (about 4 tablespoons)

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 400°F. Cut the squash into quarters, remove the seeds and fibrous material, and place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Add the carrots. Slice the top off of the garlic head, drizzle with a teaspoon of vegetable oil and wrap in foil. Place that on the sheet pan as well. Roast for 1 hour.

Let the squash cool for 15 minutes until it can be easily handled. Then peel the skin away from the squash flesh.

In a 4-quart Dutch oven, heat the oil and butter over medium heat. When the oil is hot and the butter melted, add the garlic, shallots, and ginger. Sauté for about a minute. Add the tomato paste, roasted garlic, and the garam masala and crumble in the dried serranos. Sauté for another minute, then add the squash and carrots. Turn the heat back up to medium to cook the squash and carrots with the aromatics for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the coconut milk and chicken broth, stir well to mix, and bring to a light simmer. Lower the heat and cover the pot. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Turn off the heat and puree the soup with an immersion blender. Alternately you can puree it in a blender in batches, holding the top down with a towel. Add the salt a little at a time, tasting until it reaches the right balance with the soup, and stir in the lime juice. Serve immediately.

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Patisserie Melanie's Kouign-Amanns

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 01:53:00 +0000

You'd be forgiven if, after stepping into Melanie Dunn's Pâtisserie Mélanie in Hillcrest, you thought you had been transported to a sweet little Parisian bakery. French posters and art rest on soft blue walls. A counter is stocked with pastries, baked in small batches. There's a small seating area and vintage/retro housewares and cookbooks for sale. It's very sweet, very sophisticated, and reflects Dunn's pastry training at Le Condon Bleu in Paris over three summers. Heck, she and her husband and young daughter even live above the shop. It's where Dunn does her baking with an assistant.

The pastries are stunning. Flaky butter, chocolate, and pistachio croissants. Pain aux Raisins. Chocolate and lemon tarts. Cannelés Bordelais. And, oh, Kouign-Amanns, both classic and cinnamon. Dunn also makes caramels, macarons (of course), sable cookies, and preserves. The flavors change with the seasons. In fact, her holiday collection--Macarons "Les Fêtes"--is a box of four apple cider, fig, hazelnut, and pumpkin macarons.

Dunn opened Pâtisserie Mélanie on Valentine's Day 2018. Previously, the native Hawaiian had been an English teacher at Crawford High School for 15 years. She had thought about being a graphic designer. Then she applied to law school and got into USD. But law school wasn't for her so, with some experience teaching, she opted instead to get her teaching credential. All the while she felt she wanted something else and at the 10-year point as a teacher, burnt out and ready for a change she headed into a direction that had always intrigued her: baking.

"I was a picky eater as a child and didn't get to eat desserts, which made me obsessed with them," she says. "I have a persona that likes things just so and that fit with baking."

Dunn (who taught and is friends with San Diego chef Katherine Humphus) made use of her summer vacations from teaching to attend Le Cordon Bleu in Paris for eight-week sessions focused on pastry. After three years she earned her Diplôme de Pâtisserie. Initially, her plan was to stop teaching and work in the industry. But around 2015 she and husband Axel Schwarz, also a teacher, started house hunting. They stumbled upon a townhouse in Hillcrest on Park Blvd. that had a large room at the entrance, with the rest of the space behind the room and upstairs. That front room could be a bakery--and with new cottage food laws in place, she could do her baking in her own kitchen. It took awhile to make it all work, mostly because she decided to pause her plans with the birth of her daughter. But by the beginning of 2018 Dunn was ready to launch. Now she's contemplating ways to expand.

I spent a wonderful morning with Dunn, learning how to make her Kouign-Amann. This is a Breton cake, filled with butter and still more butter. It's the perfect introduction to lamination--the process of folding butter into dough to get the flaky layers you enjoy in puff pastry and croissants. There aren't nearly as many turns with Kouign-Amann, so if you've been wanting to try making a laminated pastry, this is perfect. And, damn, they're both delicious and beautiful!

It also takes awhile. Dunn suggests making this a weekend process with the first day making the dough, then refrigerating it overnight and returning to it the next day to roll, fold, and bake the pastries.

This recipe makes 9 good-sized pastries. You can mix the dough in a 4-quart stand mixer using a dough hook, but if you have the larger 6-quart bowl, the hook won't engage. The recipe is too small. So, you can either double the recipe--or do what Dunn did and mix it by hand.

Let's do it by hand. It's pretty easy, especially if you have a thin scraper to pull ingredients from the side of the bowl.

You'll start with flour, salt, and 10 grams of unsalted butter in a bowl. Rub the butter into the flour-salt mixture to incorporate it. Then mix together year with water and add it to the flour mixture, using the scraper to bring the ingredients together to form the dough.

Once it's all mixed, turn it out onto your counter (I have a marble slab that works well; granite countertops are equally good.). You'll knead the dough for up to 8 minutes until it has an elastic quality. Shape it and wrap it in plastic and let it chill overnight.

The next day, you'll preheat the oven, depending on whether you have a convection or conventional oven, to either 350 or 375 degrees. Then you'll get out your butter (Dunn suggests that it be at least 85 percent butter fat) and shape it into a rectangle (you could also do this the day before and wrap it up to chill).

Now it gets real. You're going to start laminating. Pull the dough from the fridge and use just enough flour on the counter--or "bench"--to keep it from sticking. Roll it into a long rectangle, the same width as the butter's length and place the butter in the center. Now fold the top and bottom of the dough over the butter so they meet in the middle. Turn it over so the seam is underneath.

Dunn's helpful hint is to create a grid of indentations using your rolling pin to help you roll the dough straight. Then roll it out to 24 inches in length. Now for your first fold. It's called a "double book fold"--what that means is you'll fold one end to mid point of length of dough over the butter, fold the other end to same mid point, then fold one 'side' of the book on top of the other.

Now you'll create another grid of indentations and roll it out again. Then you'll do a letter/envelope fold, meaning you fold it in thirds. One end is folded two-thirds of the way up the length of the dough. Then you'll pull the other end over to the opposite side to cover the first fold. Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest for at least an hour.

Now it's time to get it ready for baking. Get out one of your muffin/cupcake pans. Set it aside, along with a ruler and a knife.

Sprinkle half the sugar on the bench. Unwrap the dough and place it on top, then sprinkle the rest of the sugar on the dough. Roll out the dough and do your last turn, an envelope fold, and sprinkle any remaining sugar on the bench onto the dough.

Roll the dough into a 12-inch square. Using your ruler, mark a 3 by 3 grid of 9, with each square 4 inches. Trim the edges so they're straight and cut out the squares.

With each square, you'll pull in the four corners and press into the center. Place/push each piece into a muffin pan opening and gently press the center down. Dunn suggests using the outer spaces.

Bake! It'll be about an hour for the convection oven and an hour and 15 minutes for conventional ovens. Get out a rack while they're baking and place it on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan to catch drips. The butter will leave a pool at the bottom but what you're looking for is a caramelized, golden brown bottom.

Too light on the left; just right on the right

The best tool for pulling out the pastries is a pasta tongs, Dunn says. When they're done, place each pastry upside down on the rack to cool.

Then eat! Oh, you did it!

Kouign-Amann
From Melanie Dunn, Patisserie Melanie
Yield: 9 pastries
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
275 grams all-purpose flour
5 grams salt
10 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
2.5 grams instant yeast
165 milliliters water
225 grams unsalted butter (85% butter fat or higher preferred), chilled in the fridge
225 grams granulated sugar

Directions
Place flour, salt, and 10 grams of butter in a bowl and rub the butter into flour-salt mixture.

Mix yeast with water and add to flour mixture. Use a thin scraper to bring ingredients together and form dough.

Turn dough onto counter or other surface and knead from 6 to 8 minutes until it develops elasticity.

Shape the dough into a square, double wrap in plastic wrap, and place in a ziplock bag. Chill in refrigerator overnight.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees for a convection oven and 375 for a conventional oven.

Place the 225 grams of butter on a piece of parchment paper. Using a rolling pin smack it around and roll it out into a 5-inch by 7-inch rectangle. It should be about the same texture as the dough. Set aside.

Remove dough from refrigerator, unwrap and, using just a little flour to prevent sticking, roll it out into a 10-inch by 7-inch rectangle. Place the slab of butter in the center. Its length should be equal to the rolled out dough's width. Fold top of the dough over the butter so it reaches the halfway point of the butter. Repeat with the bottom of the dough.

Turn over so it’s seam side down and with the rolling pin, create a grid of indentations to help you roll the dough straight. Roll the dough out to 24 inches long. Do one double book fold (fold one end to mid point of length of dough over the butter, fold the other end to same mid point, then fold one 'side' of the book on top of the other). Create another grid of indentations and roll out again. Do a letter/envelope fold (fold in thirds = fold one end two-thirds of the way up the length of dough, then take the other end and stretch it to the opposite side to 'cover' the first fold ). Wrap it in plastic and let it rest for at least one hour.

Sprinkle half the sugar on the bench—your flat surface. Unwrap and place dough on top. Add the rest of the sugar on the dough. Roll to 22 inches by 9 inches. Do one envelope fold and then sprinkle any sugar remaining on the bench on top.

Roll to a 12-inch square. Using a ruler, mark a grid of 9 (3 by 3). Each small square should be 4 inches. Trim the edge so they’re straight, then cut the grid into squares.

Take one square and fold in all four corners, pressing toward the center. Place into a muffin cup and gently press the center down. Repeat for each around the edges of the muffin pan.

Bake at 350 degrees in a convection oven for about an hour or 375 degrees in a conventional oven for about an hour and 15 minutes. Check for caramelization by lifting up one of the pastries with a pasta tongs and looking at the bottom. If it’s still a little light and a little wet, return the pastry to the muffin cup and bake another 5 minutes. Check again. The bottom should be golden brown and caramelized.

Prepare a rack by placing it a sheet pan lined with parchment paper (to catch the butter and sugar drips. Remove each pastry immediately from the muffin cups and place upside down on the rack to cool.

Pâtisserie Mélanie is located at 3788 Park Blvd., Suite 4 in Hillcrest.

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Holiday Gift Ideas for Your Favorite Locavores

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Tue, 18 Dec 2018 17:35:00 +0000

Trish Watlington of Two Forks Farm (and former owner of The Red Door) is the founder of Farm to Fork San Diego, a membership organization of local farmers, chefs/restaurants, fishermen, distilleries, wineries, caterers, and related professionals that focuses on supporting local food, farm families and their workers, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by lowering the number of miles food travels to the plate. Farm to Fork San Diego helps consumers and others interested in supporting this mission by verifying through local farmers that participating chefs and restaurants are actually buying from them.

Now I can only think of two times I've let someone guest post on San Diego Foodstuff in the blog's 11 (almost 12) years. But as a member of Farm to Fork San Diego I want to help Trish highlight some of the amazing offerings other members have for holiday gifting. So, I'm turning today's post over to Trish. You'll love these unique gift ideas!

Struggling to find fabulous gifts and stay true to supporting local farms, friends, and neighbors? Or maybe you’re just looking for something unique or delicious that your family or co-workers will absolutely love. Farm to Fork San Diego has the perfect gift guide for San Diegans who want to pick up a fabulous gift and stay close to home.

Fork over a locavore feast with these unique tokens of holiday giving.

Cider from award winning Bivouac Ciderworks, brewed right in North Park is a rich, refreshing, complex and intoxicating beverage good for any occasion.

Farm to Table gift baskets from Garden Kitchen’s 100 percent scratch kitchen are full of local artisan jams, pickles, tea towels and soaps. Stop by Garden Kitchen to pick one up.

How about a little glitz and glam with gourmet local food. Grab a gift card to Kettner Exchange or gift tickets to any of the their upcoming events.

Go hog wild with some tickets to BIGA’s Third Anniversary Hog Roast.

Find holiday cheer and locavore luxuries at the Little Italy Wednesday or Saturday markets. From apples to zany custom creations, San Diego Markets have everything for everyone.

Make a memory with friends and family.

Join a cooking or gardening class at Olivewood Gardens. Meet new friends, learn new skills, and enjoy a day in a beautiful organic garden. All proceeds support the garden and nutrition education programs at Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center.

Grab some of your favorite folks and build a private food, farm, and libation tour. Whether your group is 4 or 40, Epicurean San Diego has an experience just for you.

Relax with friends, music and wine at Ramona Ranch Winery while selecting unique gifts including award-winning wines, jewelry, gift cards, and more from specialty vendors and family artisans.

Outfit the gardener in your life.

Our friend Nan Sterman, host of KPBS TV’s A Growing Passion, has the perfect book for plant lovers wanting beauty while still being mindful of water saving. Order a signed copy of Hot Color, Dry Garden or any of Nan’s books here.

Mission Hills Nursery can fill all your gardening gifts from gnomes to tools. Or stop by to pick up a Christmas tree.

Buy them Soil Food, humus-rich compost made locally in small batches, or a compost bin to make their own. Food2Soil is a compost collective reducing the amount of food waste that lands in landfills.

Gift locally grown and climatically adapted seeds from our very own San Diego Seed Company. Choose some of your favorite varieties or buy a gift certificate so that gardeners can choose their own.

Or check out all the local member farms, restaurants, and businesses at www.farmtoforksd.com.

And join us January 12-19, 2019 for Farm 2 Fork San Diego's Local Libations Week, focusing on local beverages and their place with and without food. Caron promises more information here on the various events coming up, but we launch at BIGA with their Third Annual Hog Roast and tap takeover on the 12th (see above).

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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Double Chocolate Sourdough Banana Bread

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 15:40:00 +0000

Yeah, it happened again--as it almost always does. I buy bananas, vow to eat them--and life gets in the way and those sleek yellow fruits transition into ugly brown reminders of my lack of follow through.

And become banana bread.

Now I enjoy a good banana bread as much as anyone. But I also love chocolate. And, well, I have that sourdough starter in my refrigerator which I like to give a purpose to when I can. So I started to wonder if there was a way to incorporate all of them into one sweet bread.

Turns out there is. I just had to juggle the ingredients to make it work. This is an exercise my pastry chef friends do all the time, albeit on a much more sophisticated scale. I, however, am obviously not a pastry chef nor am I a science geek. If I goofed I could have had a cake/bread that didn't rise, was tough, was goopy, or... well, who knows what.

I did know that by adding a cup of starter I was adding half a cup of flour and half a cup of water. Both would have to come out of the usual ingredient measurements. But banana bread doesn't add liquid specifically. Tricky. Plus, the starter would be live, not discard that simply adds flavor. So, I had to take into account the amount of baking soda I would add (or, rather, subtract).

I scoured my favorite banana bread recipes and figured that if I left out the sour cream of one, along with reducing the amount of flour I would get what I was after. The starter would take on both the tang and moisture/texture of the sour cream and make up for some of the flour. And I'd subtract half the amount of baking soda since a newly fed active starter would contribute to the rise.

Hey, hey, hey, it worked. Really well. I got a beautiful crumb, huge crowns--and beautiful flavor. Oh, and did I even mention the chocolate? The gorgeous, deeply, richly brown chocolate which pairs so well with the banana? With slightly sour notes?

When preparing the batter, think of the process as setting it up in thirds:

Sifting together then mixing the dry ingredients
Creaming the butter with the sugar and then adding the other "liquid" ingredients
Mashing the bananas before adding the starter

It will all come together in the bowl of your stand mixer with the addition of chocolate chips. You could use semi-sweet chips, but be bold and go for dark chocolate. My brand pick is Guittard, along with their Cocoa Rouge unsweetened cocoa. They make this bread magical.

This is a bread you can gift. And I'd suggest baking not one huge loaf--although you could--but a few mini loaves. You can gift them or, if you keep them, you'll have one to indulge in now, and two to wrap and freeze.

Note: A word on starters. King Arthur has a great primer on how to make your own starter from scratch here. And they do sell starter online. However, if you are in San Diego, you can take advantage of the generosity of Cardamom Cafe & Bakery's Joanne Sherif, who loves to share her starter discards with others. I'm happy to gift discards as well. Or in San Diego or beyond, find a friend with starter to share. At that point, all you have to do is feed it (add equal amounts of flour and water--as in 2 ounces each--stir well and let sit at room temperature to rise and bubble before using or refrigerating). Each week, you'll take some out (hence, "discard") and then feed it with fresh flour and water. And, with a starter in your fridge, you can gift the discards to others or use it to make a variety of breads and desserts--even pancakes/waffles.

Double Chocolate Sourdough Banana Bread
Yield: One loaf pan or three mini loaves
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, soft and cut into chunks
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fresh sourdough starter
2 very ripe bananas
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350°. Lightly grease 1 large loaf pan or three mini loaf pans with butter or spray with Pam.

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a bowl and stir to mix them thoroughly.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and sugar and beat until light and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and continue beating until fully incorporated.

In another bowl, mash the bananas, then stir in the sourdough starter.

Add the banana/starter mixture to the butter mixture and mix together at low speed. Then slowly add the dry ingredients. Don't over-mix. Finally, slowly add the chocolate chips and mix until incorporated.

Pour the batter into the loaf pans and place the mini loaf pans, if using, on a baking sheet to make getting them in and out of the oven easier.

Bake for 45 minutes (mini loaf pans) to an hour (1 large loaf pan). Use a cake tester or toothpick to insert into the center. If it comes out clean, the bake is done.

Remove from the oven and let rest in the loaf pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then carefully remove the breads from the pan and place on the rack to completely cool.

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Time for Latkes

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 15:45:00 +0000

Chanukah began last Sunday night. Were your frying pans, potatoes, and oil at the ready?

Like most Jewish kids of Eastern European, or Ashkenazic, descent, I grew up eating potato latkes, or pancakes, every Chanukah. My extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins would gather on the first night of the holiday at one of our homes and the air would soon be heavy with the aroma of potatoes cooking in oil. Because it was technically a full meal, someone would make brisket or roast chicken. Someone else would make vegetables and salad. But the centerpiece of the meal, the only dish that counted that evening, was the latkes—crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. And we’d take sides over what accompanied them. Those who were on the savory side ate them with salt and sour cream. The rest would go for sugar and/or applesauce.

Latkes may be iconic Ashkenazic Chanukah food now, but they’re actually relatively new in Jewish history. The Maccabees—the priestly family who led the successful rebellion against the Syrians back in 168 B.C.E. which the holiday celebrates—never would have had latkes since they would never have seen a potato. It was only at the end of the 18th century that German Jews began making potato pancakes, but not for Chanukah. And these potato pancakes weren’t just from grated spuds, as we’ve come to assume are traditional, but also mashed, according to Gil Marks’ Encyclopedia of Jewish Food.

But potatoes became a staple of Eastern European Jewish food and eventually the potato latke, made from hand-grated russet potatoes, became associated with Chanukah in Eastern Europe and then the U.S. by the mid-19th century, as immigrants arrived here.

Given how relatively recently the potato latke became part of Jewish history, why not riff on tradition and create other forms of pancakes from different root vegetables to celebrate the festival of lights? After all, the main point of the holiday is celebrating the miracle of the single jar of oil that burned for eight days.

Baby Turnip Latkes frying

No matter what root vegetable you use, here are some tips for getting them as crispy as possible:

Be sure to squeeze all the liquid out of the grated vegetables. Cheesecloth is good for this.
You don't have to deep fry the latkes. Just use enough oil to cook them.
Make sure that the oil has a high smoke point, like canola or avocado oil.
Fry them in cast iron skillets to get them really crispy.
And, if you’re entertaining the crowd, make them ahead of time and freeze them. Then reheat them in the oven. Making latkes is a hot and messy affair. It’s fun, but it may not be what you want to do when company is there.

Evie's Latkes

Adapted from Molly Goldberg

Makes 20 pancakes
(printable recipe)

Ingredients

Five russet potatoes

One onion, grated

2 eggs, beaten

3 tablespoons matzoh meals

½ teaspoon baking powder

2 slices eggbread, softened and squeezed of water (Nana)

Vegetable or peanut oil (or shortening)

Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Put grated potato and onion in strainer over a large bowl. Knead it to get moisture out, the let sit in bowl to draw out potato starch. Dump water but keep starch at bottom of bowl.

2. Put potatoes/onion in tea towel and wring to get out moisture.

3. Add to bowl with other ingredients, Mix well, including starch.

4. Fry in cast iron pans. Drain on paper towels and keep warm on cookie sheets in 200º oven.

Carrot Turnip Latkes

From Caron Golden

Makes about two dozen, three-inch pancakes
(printable recipe)

Here’s a colorful variation from the traditional potato latkes I grew up with. In winter, you can make these pancakes with any root vegetable. Try sweet potatoes, parsnips, or beets, separately or in combination. For a more traditional latke, use an onion instead of the green onions and leave out the garlic and herbs. My grandmother used to add two slices of eggbread, crusts removed, softened with water and then squeezed of the moisture. My mom still makes traditional latkes this way.

Ingredients

½ pound of carrots, trimmed and peeled

½ pound of turnips, trimmed and peeled (look for sweeter baby turnips if available)

6 large green onions, trimmed

3 cloves garlic

4 tablespoons matzoh meal or flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons fresh, chopped herbs (parsley, oregano, thyme, etc.)

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

Salt and pepper to taste

Vegetable or peanut oil or duck fat

Directions

1. Grate the turnips and carrots coarsely, using the large holes of a box grater or food processor grater. Place in large bowl.

2. Chop the green onions coarsely and add to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the chopping blade. Add the garlic and pulse until the onions and garlic are minced.

3. Put all the vegetables in a large bowl and add the matzoh meal, baking powder, herbs, garlic, salt, and pepper. Stir it all together to fully mix the ingredients.

4. Add the eggs and mix well. The batter should be moist but not runny.

5. Heat 1/4-inch of oil or duck fat in a hot pan. Place a tiny bit of the batter in the pan. If it begins to sizzle, the fat is hot enough for the batter. Use a large spoon and drop the batter into the pan, then flatten into a pancake. Don't crowd the pancakes by putting too many in at one time. Cook for several minutes on each side until the pancakes are golden brown. Put the pancakes on a plate with paper towels placed on top to drain the fat. You can also heat your oven to 200 degrees, place the pancakes on a baking sheet, and keep them warm until you serve them.

6. Serve (with applesauce, sour cream, or creme fraiche).

Curried Sweet Potato Latkes

From the New York Times via David Wasserman/Joes on the Nose

Yield- 16, 3-inch pancakes

(printable recipe)

Ingredients

1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled

1/2 cup flour

2 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste

2 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon cumin

Salt and pepper to taste

2 large eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup milk approximately

Peanut oil for frying

Directions

1.Grate the sweet potatoes coarsely. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, cayenne pepper, curry powder, cumin, salt and pepper.

2. Add the eggs and just enough milk to the dry ingredients to make a stiff batter. Add the potatoes and mix. The batter should be moist but not runny. If too stiff, add more milk.

3. Heat 1/4 inch of peanut oil in a sauté pan until it is barely smoking. Drop in the batter by tablespoons and flatten. Cook several minutes on each side until golden. Drain, serve.

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Bánh Mì Hôi An's Spring Rolls, Peanut Sauce, and Nuoc Cham

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 15:35:00 +0000

Are you still lolling on your couch in a Thanksgiving food coma? Brace yourself! Chanukah and potato latkes hit this weekend and then comes Christmas, followed by New Years.

You need a culinary break. A meal that will feel refreshing with bright flavors. A meal that will give your overworked tummy a bit of a reprieve from richness but still leave you satisfied--even happy.

That's where spring rolls come in. They're fresh and light. They're pretty easy for home cooks to make. And they really pack a lot of flavor in a convenient package.

Spring rolls can be found across Asia. But I'm going to share with you the Vietnamese version made by Duy Nguyen, the owner of the relatively new and delightful Bánh Mì Hôi An on Rosecrans in Point Loma. I was introduced to it by my friend, chef Jack Monaco, and immediately set about organizing a cook date with Nguyen, which Jack also participated in.

Nguyen, who opened the restaurant in July, is a long-time enthusiastic home cook. It started back in the '90s when he was a student at UCSD. His dish was pasta and his roommates were grateful. Then he started gathering Vietnamese recipes from his mother, who was from the French resort town of Dalat in a mountain region near Saigon.

Nguyen himself left Vietnam with his parents when he was 11. He had grown up under the communist regime and, not surprisingly, was taught Russian in school as a child. His father, an officer in the South Vietnamese army, was sent to a re-education camp for six years. The family spent the five years trying to escape Vietnam and when they were caught, the child Duy was jailed for what was perhaps a few weeks. He can't really remember. The family finally was able to get to Thailand in 1986, escaping through Cambodia via a fishing boat, and they stayed in a Thai refugee camp for about a year before moving on to the Philippines.

"We were placed in a refugee camp near the U.S. base," Nguyen explained. "The orientation was on American life so we would be acclimated when we finally arrived."

By then he was 15 years old. The family settled in San Diego where extended family had already moved, and Nguyen eventually enrolled in UCSD as an engineering student before switching to economics. He pursued a career in management consulting, working in the oil and gas business. After earning his MBA at Cal State San Marcos, Nguyen worked for a debt management company, all the while cooking at home, for church fundraisers, and family parties. It took a leap of faith, but he chucked his management job and opened his fast casual restaurant last summer.

Bánh Mì Hôi An, of course, features banh mi sandwiches on the menu. But there are also a variety of vermicelli salads, grilled meats served with jasmine rice, spring and summer rolls, pork skewers, marinated tofu, crispy fried chicken wings, and a fabulous cold cut sampler plate--with the cold cuts all house made.

But let's stick with the spring rolls.

It can be overwhelming for the unfamiliar to figure out which brands and products to buy. These are what Nguyen recommends. You can find them at Vietnamese markets or 99 Ranch Market.

Among the ingredients you'll need are rice paper, 41-50 size shrimp, pork loin, vermicelli (rice noodles), green leaf lettuce, mint leaves, and, if you like, bean sprouts, whole chives, cucumber, carrots, peanuts, and daikon. Want to add some crunch? Pick up some egg roll wrappers, roll them individually and fry them.

Oh, and to make it easy to get the size uniform, pick up an 8 X 10-inch cutting board with a ridge around the edge. Nguyen uses one, placing the ingredients between the ridges to keep them the same size.

You have to work fairly quickly on spring rolls, so you'll want to have everything prepped and ready to go. The vermicelli needs to be cooked like pasta in salted boiling water for about 20 minutes. You'll want to bring another pot of water to the boil to cook first the shrimp and then, with the addition of salt and fish sauce, the pork loin, which will boil for about 15 minutes. You could also substitute the pork with chicken and instead add a couple of slices of ginger.

And, don't toss the liquid after you've cooked the meat. It's the makings of a great soup, Nguyen said.

Once everything is prepped and laid out--you'll have sliced the shrimp in half lengthwise. sliced the cooled pork, keep the rice noodles in a bowl covered with plastic wrap, fill a large bowl with hot water for dipping the rice paper, and have your herbs and vegetables prepped--you can get to the filling and rolling.

Step one is a quick dip of the rice paper into that bowl of very hot water. Dip it and do one turn. Your goal is to keep it stretchy, not soggy.

Then place the rice paper on the cutting board. Layer three shrimp slices, the outside on the bottom, then three pork slices below. Top with a leaf of green leaf lettuce, then four mint leaves and whatever other herbs or vegetables you like and/or the fried egg wrapper--just don't overfill. You'll end with about 1.5 ounces of the cooked vermicelli spread across the other ingredients.

And here's Nguyen demonstrating the actual rolling process:

And, here's how it should look:

I still need practice. I made the long one in the middle.

Pretty cool, huh?

Here's Jack Monaco turning his hand at the process:

Now you need a couple of dipping sauces. Nguyen shared both his peanut sauce and nuoc cham, which are very simple to make.

One last word about the spring rolls. If you're not going to serve them immediately, roll each in plastic wrap so they won't dry out or stick to one another. Here's a tip: fold the edge of the plastic wrap back and over so you'll have an easier time finding it and unrolling it.

Spring Rolls
from Duy Nguyen of Bánh Mì Hôi An
Yield: 6 rolls
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
18 shrimp, cooked or raw, 41-50 (or small--but not bay--shrimp)
1 pound pork loin, with fat left on
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 package 903 vermicelli
6 sheets rice paper
6 leaves green leaf lettuce
24 mint leaves
6 egg roll wrappers, rolled and fried (optional)
Carrots, daikon, cucumber, sliced into thin sticks (optional)
Bean sprouts (optional)
Crushed peanuts (optional)

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to the boil. If the shrimp is raw, add them briefly until they turn pink. Remove and let cool. Add the fish sauce and salt to the water and add the pork loin. Boil for 15 minutes, then remove and let cool.

Bring another pot of water to the boil. While the water is heating, rinse the rice noodles in cold water until the water runs clear to remove starch. Boil the vermicelli per the package directions. Remove the noodles from the water, drain, and place in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap.

Slice the shrimp in half lengthwise and thinly slice the pork loin. Set aside. Set out the rest of the ingredients you're going to add to the roll.

In a bowl of very hot water, dip then turn one sheet of rice paper. Place on a cutting board. Start layering, first with three pieces of shrimp across the center of the wrapper, outer side on the bottom. Then place three slices of pork across the rice paper just below the shrimp. Top with the leaf of lettuce, mint leaves, bean sprouts, egg roll wrappers, or whatever else you want, and finally the vermicelli.

Gently pull the bottom of the rice paper up and over the ingredients and firmly tuck in. Then start rolling. Pull in each side to the middle and finish rolling, tucking in as you continue. Think of it like rolling a burrito.

Set aside until you've made all six. Then serve with sauces or wrap in plastic and refrigerate.

Peanut Sauce
from Duy Nguyen of Bánh Mì Hôi An
Yield: 1 1/4 cup
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup coconut water or Sprite
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup peanut butter--creamy or crunchy

Directions

Whisk ingredients together or blend in a blender or small food processor. When ready to serve top with Sriracha sauce and crushed peanuts.

Peanut Sauce will be good refrigerated for a week.

Nuoc Cham
from Duy Nguyen of Bánh Mì Hôi An
Yield: 4 cups
(printable recipe)

This is a very versatile sauce. Not only is it a great dipping sauce but if you add some oil and more vinegar you have a salad dressing. Or, as is, use it to pickle vegetables.

Ingredients
1/2 cup fish sauce
1 cup sugar
2 cups warm water
1/2 cup distilled vinegar or fresh lime juice (to taste)
Juice of 1 or 2 kumquats if available
1 clove garlic, crushed (optional)

Directions
Mix together ingredients. Add chili paste to taste when serving at the table. Can last for months refrigerated.

Bánh Mì Hôi An is located at 3145 Rosecrans St., Suite A in Point Loma (next to the Bookstar bookstore).

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Mom's Mashed Potatoes

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Mon, 19 Nov 2018 20:58:00 +0000

I live in a community in which neighbors know each other by the alleys they live on. It's rare to go to someone's front door here. All the action is in the alley. The kids play there. Puppies learn to walk on leashes there. You go to borrow a cup of sugar or drop off a mis-delivered package through the alley.

So, it's natural that it's where we celebrate major holidays. Last Sunday night we held our annual Alley Thanksgiving and about 20 people, including all the little kids--and some of the grown kids--showed up for the ultimate potluck. A juicy smoked turkey. Honey-baked ham. Stuffing, of course. Lots of rolls and lots of salad. String beans. And, I brought the mashed potatoes.

Normally, mashed potatoes isn't something I make, particularly for a crowd. It's a whole lot of carbs. But I'm not hosting Thanksgiving this year and my mom, who loves to make mashed potatoes, won't be making them. So I decided to step up with them for our Alley Thanksgiving. Who better to turn to than Evie for a primer on making them for a crowd?

My mom believes in using russets, not Yukon Golds. They mash more smoothly, she says. She uses butter, cream cheese, and evaporated milk to get just the right consistency and boosts the flavor with roasted garlic and the oil they roast in, as well as a big helping of grated Parmesan cheese and some salt.

As a dish to make in a hurry, it's close to being that. The prep is easy; it's just waiting for a large pot of water filled with peeled and quartered potatoes can be a finger-tapping experience. So, go do something else in the meantime.

Now, the good thing about this recipe--other than how deeply luscious and delicious it is--is that you can improvise a bit based on your own tastebuds. Add more garlic or leave it out entirely. Add herbs (I garnished the top with chives from my garden). Add a different grated hard cheese. Or no cheese. Add pepper, of course. Add boiled, peeled celery root. So, riff on this as you will, but with this recipe you have a foundation for your own version of perfection.

I returned home with just enough to share with Mom.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Mom’s Mashed Potatoes
Serves 10 to 12
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
2 heads garlic
1 teaspoon olive oil
5 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
1/2 stick butter or more, melted
1, 8-ounce package cream cheese, cut into one-inch pieces
1, 12-ounce can evaporated milk (or cream or whole milk, depending on your preference)
1/2 cup or more (depending on your preference) Parmesan cheese, grated
Salt to taste

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 400°. Slice off top of the garlic heads enough to just expose the cloves inside. Place the garlic heads on a piece of foil, drizzle them with olive oil and wrap in the foil. Place in the oven and roast about 30 minutes, until cloves are just browning and tender. Remove from oven and let cool. Squeeze each clove into a small bowl, add the olive oil from the foil and a little more if necessary and mash. Set aside.

Put potatoes in big pot of cold salted water to cover. Cover loosely and bring to the boil. Turn down heat and simmer until soft. Remove from heat and drain the water.

Put potatoes in a large bowl with butter and mashed garlic. Start mashing and stir in cream cheese while potatoes are still hot. Then gradually add evaporated milk and continue mashing until the potatoes reach the consistency you want. Mix in Parmesan cheese and salt to taste.

Can be refrigerated and reheated in microwave. Keep additional evaporated milk in case you need to thin it out after reheating.

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Delicata Squash Roasted with Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Tue, 13 Nov 2018 15:22:00 +0000

Another roasted winter squash recipe? Really? How many does a home cook really need?

I hear you. Really I do. But I just know you're going to fall over for this--and maybe want to add it as a Thanksgiving side. Yeah, it's that good.

My inspiration was a bottle of Trader Joe's Organic Vermont Maple Syrup, Bourbon Barrel Aged. I admit it. I was lured by the Fearless Flyer's description and bought a bottle within the week. Then it sat in my pantry until I picked up a Delicata squash last week.

I love this squash. It's already sweet, the skin is tender--even the seeds are delicious roasted. I literally stood and stared at it the other night, willing inspiration. And it hit. I peeled and minced a couple of cloves of garlic, pulled out some dried Greek oregano and Chimayo red chile powder, which has a smoky heat I love (you can use regular chile powder if you can't easily access this), and ground some sea salt.

Next I pre-heated my oven to 400°. Then I sliced the squash in half lengthwise, cleaned the seeds and pulp out of the center, then sliced the halves crosswise into pieces about half an inch wide. I put them into a medium-size bowl, and added the garlic, oregano, chile powder, and salt. I mixed it all up with a nice helping of extra virgin olive oil, then spread the pieces onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. And, then, of course, came the maple syrup. I drizzled the syrup over the pieces, then grabbed a pastry brush and made sure each piece was covered in the syrup. Into the oven the baking sheet went.

Half an hour later, the Delicata squash was beautifully browned. I popped a piece into my mouth and swooned. The syrup had permeated the squash and married with the chile powder to give a sweet, smoky heat. The garlic made sure it wasn't cloyingly sweet. It was like eating veggie candy.

Eat. Repeat next week.

Delicata Squash Roasted with Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup
Serves 2
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
1 Delicata squash
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 teaspoon dried Greek oregano
1 teaspoon Chimayo red chile powder
Sea salt to taste
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Organic Vermont maple syrup, preferably bourbon barrel aged

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 400°.

Slice the squash in half lengthwise, clean the fibrous pulp and seeds (save for roasting) out of the center, then slice the halves crosswise into pieces about half an inch wide. Place in a medium-size bowl.

Add the garlic, oregano, chile powder, and salt. Mix together with the olive oil.

Spread out the Delicata squash slices onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Make sure they don't overlap. Then drizzle the maple syrup over the slices. Use a pastry brush to brush the syrup onto each slice of squash. Place in the center of the oven and roast for 30 minutes or until golden brown. It's best served immediately, but, surprise, it's also delicious cold the next day.

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Catalina Offshore Products Gets Opah Grant

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 15:27:00 +0000

photo courtesy of Catalina Offshore Products

Catalina Offshore Products announced last week that it has been awarded a $139,700 grant from the 2018 National Marine Fisheries Service's Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program for a project to grow demand for opah and other underutilized and undervalued species. The project, which could be scaled to a national level, is based on a year-long project that may help increase revenue to local fleets while also offering consumers new options for locally sourced seafood. The project will consist of data collection, roundtables with fishermen and consumers, kitchen workshops, recipe development, culinary demonstrations, and an “Ocean to Table” finale event. During this public showcase, project outcomes will be presented along with a suite of dishes highlighting different culinary applications for opah, as well as other Pacific highly migratory species currently being discarded but identified through research as having market potential.

One of the reasons opah, also known as "moonfish," is an ideal subject for this project is that it is a fish that tends to be caught as incidental or a by-catch of tuna fishing. Historically elusive, Pacific opah has been showing up more frequently in recent years. But instead of being discarded as waste, opah, which can weigh up to 200 pounds, can be enjoyed as food and represent increased profitability to fisherman, who can responsibly harvest it. There's no need to worry about overfishing it since U.S. fisheries are regulated.

Another benefit is that opah can be fully utilized. The belly, the loin, the top back strap, and the adductor/abductor make up most of the fish, and all have unique colors, flavors, and textures and, consequently, unique applications. This is rare; the flesh of other fish species tends to be the same throughout the fish. Below you can see the belly and back tail removed to the right and the section on the left that held the lean scarlet abductor (affectionately called the "tri tip" at COP). The adductor is below the abductor and with its elongated shape, is known as the "tenderloin" given that it looks like a beef or pork tenderloin. The belly is a pale pink and very fatty--and utterly delicious.

photo courtesy Catalina Offshore Products

So, what it comes down to educating the public. Instead of choosing what we already know and buy too much of--salmon, tuna, swordfish, and halibut, for example--we should open our minds to more options that would take pressure off those fisheries.

And, as Tommy Gomes of Catalina Offshore Products, says, "The big picture is to get people to eat beyond the fillet, which is only 20 percent of a fish."

Opah, which is sustainable and versatile, is one of those options. It's also not "fishy" tasting; instead basically a blank canvas for how you want to flavor it. It's also a leaner, healthier protein than red meat--and, when cooking up the abductor, can be used in many of the same applications as red meat. Steak, meatballs, tacos, sausage, and skewers just skim the surface.

Here's a very cool short video of Gomes breaking down a huge opah:

San Diego chefs have understood the value and potential of opah for quite awhile. Big fans of opah include Davin Waite of Wrench and Rodent Seabasstropub and Rob Ruiz of The Land and Water Company. The two are engaged with Catalina Offshore Products in the project.

Gomes first encountered opah back in the early 1980s as a fisherman. Working with Koreans, he found that they served the fish pickled, then barbecued on deck, served on skewers with kimchee and rice. "For them it was just an edible piece of meat," he recalled.

So, imagine dining on this poached opah belly made by chef Nick Brune.

photo by Sam Wells

Or, this slab of opah bacon togarashi.

photo courtesy of Catalina Offshore Products

I sliced a piece of the belly and fried it in peanut oil until both sides were a golden brown, then sprinkled it with sea salt. It was like the best fish stick you could imagine--moist and succulent. You can also turn the belly into chicharones. Or grind it with the abductor meat to make a full-flavored burger, meatballs, or meatloaf.

As for the abductor, I cut a portion into pieces and stir fried them with garlic, hoisin sauce, and garlic chili sauce. I had some leftover shrimp chow mein from lunch at Steamy Piggy the day before. So I emptied that into the wok with the opah to heat up for a more protein filled dish.

opah side fillet; photo courtesy of Catalina Offshore Products

Mitch Conniff of Mitch's Seafood in Point Loma, said Gomes, makes corndogs with opah. Chef Miguel Valdez makes opah carne asada and burgers.

Still not sure? Then catch one of Gomes' demos on Saturdays in the Catalina Offshore Products parking lot. Catalina Offshore Products is located at 5202 Lovelock St. in the Morena district.

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Civita in Mission Valley Opens Farmers Market

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 14:10:00 +0000

San Diegans, if you've been waiting for the return of a farmers market in Mission Valley, your wait is over. On Fridays from 3 to 7 p.m. you'll find the Mission Valley Farmers Market at Civita Park, just off Mission Center Road, north of Friars Road. The market is being operated by the San Diego Farm Bureau and just opened Oct. 5.

(And, for transparency's sake, you'll notice that they are also now advertisers on San Diego Foodstuff for the next couple of months.)

The market is on a long, easy-to-navigate stretch of pavement in the park. Parking is easy, there are tables if you want to nosh on any of the variety of global dishes sold by vendors. And, when I was there, a clown was ready to face paint and Bruce Gemmell, co-founder and research director of the Art Science Complex held court at a table filled with paper and writing/coloring tools to work with kids and adults on art projects.

But, of course, you want to know about the vendors. According to market managers Tasha Ardalan and Brandon Janiss, there are about three dozen of them--mostly people they work with at the other markets they manage around San Diego County. So, many will be familiar to regular market shoppers, including Da-Le Ranch, Majestic Garlic, Pacifica Culinaria, and Kawano Farms.

I bought some beautiful young broccoli from IRC grower Felicia Venegas. I bought persimmons from Valley Center Growers, which also had some magnificent oranges (and they give huge orange samples, by the way). I had plenty of honey at home, but am eager to return to buy more from Bee Safe Honey, which also does safe and humane bee removal (it's how they get the honey). Need cheese? You'll find it at Thyme of Essence. You can start a succulent garden, or replenish your current one, with beautiful plants from Farmers Nerceri.

Hungry or thirsty from shopping? You can travel the globe along this stretch of market. There's Full Belly Barbecue, SoCal Lemonade, House of Bao, Chilanga with Mexico City street food, Bam! Bun! with Filipino dishes--both traditional, like citrus-infused Chicken Adobo, and vegan, Barbecue Pulled Jack Fruit--and Little Someone Hong Kong Cuisine. Owner Syrus Kwan will make you a Hong Kong-style milk tea made with strong black tea and condensed milk. At Yipao Coffee, you can get free-trade Colombian coffee roasted in San Diego. Aya Cafe makes and sells banana brittle, kale chips, and walnut butter.

Finally, for dessert, stop by Flora Bake Shop with the kids for gorgeously decorated vegan cupcakes baked by owner Camille Dumbrique. Or Donut, Hello's PB&J or S'mores mini donuts.

According to Ardalan, the market is expected to grow as more vendors join the line up. She also noted that if you don't have enough cash to pay vendors, you can stop by the market manager's booth and use your credit or debit card to get market tokens. There is a dollar surcharge.

The official farmers market address is 7964 Civita Blvd.

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Everything Sourdough Popovers

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 14:26:00 +0000

Consider this post another chapter in my quest to identify ways to use excess sourdough starter when I do my weekly feeding. I've made cake, crackers, and biscuits so far. Unlike fresh starter, the pre-fed starter doesn't contribute much to rise. Its role instead is flavor.

This week I've made popovers. Who doesn't adore airy popovers? Along with the intriguing sourdough flavor these have, I've added something a little extra: everything topping--you know, the topping you find on bagels. You can find everything seasoning online at King Arthur Flour and locally at Trader Joe's. If you're not a fan, no worries. You can leave them naked and dunk into a gravy or sauce. You can make them a little sweet by topping them in cinnamon sugar. You could also top them with finely chopped toasted nuts with or without sugar. Be bold! Or not if you're a purist.

The other delightful aspect of these popovers is how ridiculously easy they are to make. You'll heat up milk until it's just warm--not hot! Then you'll combine the milk with eggs, the sourdough starter, and a little salt.

Whisk in the flour--but don't over mix. Even a few lumps are just fine. This batter is very forgiving. Notice I used the word batter, not dough. This mixture is very loose--like heavy cream. Don't worry. It'll work just fine.

It'll start baking in a very hot oven. After 15 minutes you'll turn down the heat and continue baking for another 15 to 20 minutes. Try as hard as you can to time this with when you want to serve the popovers because these guys demand being eaten right away.

If you are going to add a topping, melt butter in a wide little bowl just before the popovers come out of the oven. Then pull them out of the cups, dip, and roll.

And eat!

Everything Sourdough Popovers
Adapted from King Arthur Flour
(printable recipe)
Makes 6 popovers

Ingredients
8 ounces milk
3 large eggs
4 ounces sourdough starter, fed or discard
¾ teaspoon salt
4 ¼ ounces all-purpose flour
¼ cup melted unsalted butter
¼ cup everything topping (available from Trader Joe’s or King Arthur Flour)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450° and add muffin or popover pan.

Warm milk in the microwave or a small saucepan until it’s just warm to the touch.

Combine warm milk with eggs, sourdough starter, and salt. Gradually whisk in flour until it just comes together. Don’t worry about eliminating all lumps.
The batter will be loose, about the consistency of heavy cream.

Remove hot pan from the oven and spray it thoroughly with non-stick pan spray or brush generously with oil or melted unsalted butter.

Pour batter into the popover cups about ¾ of the way up. If you’re using a muffin tin, fill all the way to the top. Space the popovers around so each one is surrounded by empty cups to allow the popovers to expand while they bake.

Bake popovers for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven heat to 375° and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Remove the popovers from the oven. Dip the top into a small bowl of melted butter and roll in everything mixture. Serve immediately.

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Pasta Mama!

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 14:36:00 +0000

This week marks my 30th anniversary of my move to San Diego from Los Angeles. I grew up in L.A., attended UCLA, and--after several post-college years living in New York--returned to L.A., where I worked for four years before deciding to relocate to San Diego.

I still have a big place in my heart for my hometown, but the reality is L.A. is no longer the place I knew so well. Like any city, so much has changed and disappeared. It's the very definition of a city. So many of my personal landmarks are gone. Movie theaters and bookstores. Childhood restaurants like Mike's Pizza (best garlic rolls ever), the Encino Dupars, and the Encino Deli. Even neighborhood names have changed to become more hip. I know this from watching House Hunters and looking up places that I'd never heard of in the San Fernando Valley, where I grew up. But there's still one place I enjoyed that's still there--and still has its landmark item on its menu. The place is a restaurant called Hugo's and the dish is Pasta Mama.

Back in the day Hugo's had only one location: in West Hollywood. Now it's also in Agoura Hills and Studio City. I, of course, went to the original one in West Hollywood.

I don't know why I started thinking about this dish recently. I know I loved it, but I hadn't sought to recreate it. But why not? Pasta Mama combines the best of breakfast and dinner: pasta and scrambled eggs. Toss in some garlic, herbs, and grated parmesan cheese and you've got a dish that works from morning till night. It's a compound comfort food dish since it's a mix of two others.

And, there's no reason you can't riff and add other ingredients. Bacon, of course, but also roasted shrimp. Seasonal herbs. Or vegetables like spinach, mushrooms, Swiss chard, tomatoes. Or lush, gooey cheeses. You can see where I'm going here. Mama's flexible.

I scrounged around online to refresh my memory and found lots of versions of this dish. Here's my "best of" version. And I made it using, not spaghetti, but a really cute seasonal butternut squash zucchette pasta I just found at Trader Joe's.

The trick to making this dish is to have all your ingredients prepped in advance. Once the pasta is cooked it all goes very fast. So mince your garlic, place your garlic powder, oregano, seasoning salt, and onion powder together in a little bowl, chop your parsley, beat the eggs, and grate your Parmesan cheese.

Ready? All you need to do is cook the pasta (and save the hot pasta water). Heat a sauté pan, add the oil or butter, and then add the garlic and seasonings. Stir it around for up to two minutes, then add the parsley. Mix together and add the pasta and hot pasta water. If you're reheating pasta, use hot water. Once it's all stirred together, add the beaten eggs. Pretend you're scrambling them, but with lots of other goodies added. Once the eggs are just cooked through, stir in the Parmesan cheese. If you're adding other ingredients, add them when it makes sense. Cooked bacon should be chopped into pieces and added at the end to maintain the texture. Same with the vegetables--or cook them in advance if they need it. Add a cheese that will soften and run after you've cooked the eggs.

You get the idea. Just know you need to serve it immediately. It's not a dish that sits around well.

Enjoy--and happy San Diego anniversary to me! Cheers, L.A. I still love you--just from a distance.

Pasta Mama
Serves 1 to 2 people
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
5 ounces pasta (about 1/3 lb. fresh or dry)
1 tablespoon olive oil (or unsalted butter)
2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced
1⁄4 teaspoon garlic powder
1⁄4 teaspoon oregano
1⁄4 teaspoon seasoning salt
1⁄4 teaspoon onion powder
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon hot pasta water
2 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Directions
Cook pasta according to directions or measure out leftover pasta that you’ve warmed up.

Turn on burner to medium. Pour oil (or melt butter) in a 10-inch sauté pan.

Add minced garlic and the seasonings; sauté together for one to two minutes.

Stir in fresh, chopped parsley. Then add pasta with 1 tablespoon hot pasta water.

Add beaten eggs and stir in well.

Add Parmesan cheese, mix in and cook through. Serve immediately.

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Dorie Greenspan's Lemon Goop

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 23:03:00 +0000

When it comes to condiments I have to admit, I think I'm a hoarder. Some of it has to do quite simply with my food writing. If I'm at a farmers market or ethnic market and see something I want to try and then write about, it goes home with me into my fridge or pantry. If I discover some marvelous sauce from a chef, I want to make it for my kitchen. One of my favorites is preserved lemon, which, yes, I've written about.

So, when I got Dorie Greenspan's new cookbook, Everyday Dorie: The Way I Cook (HMH/Rux Martin Books, $35), which I'm writing a story about for the San Diego Union-Tribune, and I saw that she had a recipe at the back of the book she calls Lemon "Goop" I had to check it out. It's like preserved lemons, but it's a jammy-like condiment. And it's made with both salt and sugar. And in making it you also get lemon syrup. So it's also a two-fer.

Lemon goop and syrup ares easy to make. You're going to peel the zest from 6 large lemons, then cut off the top and bottom of each lemon and cut off the rest of the rind and pith so all that's left is the fruit.

From there you'll section the lemons. Then you'll combine sugar, salt, and water in a pot and bring the mixture to the boil. Add the zest and the lemon sections, bring back to the boil, then lower the heat so that it just simmers. Leave it for about an hour. Once it's cooked down and nice and syrupy, remove it from the heat, and strain the syrup from the lemon solids. Puree the solids in a food processor or blender, using some of the syrup to create the texture you want. That's it.

Lemon goop is just the acidic/sweet note you want to hit to balance the richness of a fatty fish. Or a pork chop. Or roasted chicken. The syrup can play all sorts of roles. Dorie adds it to vinaigrettes, as she mentions below. How about mixing it with garlic and ginger and a little neutral oil to brush onto shrimp for roasting? Or add to a seafood salad?

The great thing is that you have plenty of time to consider how to use the lemon goop and syrup because it lasts in your refrigerator for ages--like forever--until you use it up. Just keep it tightly covered.

Oh, and one more thing. Dorie Greenspan will be visiting San Diego on November 11. She’ll be appearing first at The Chino Farm in Rancho Santa Fe from 10:30 to 12:30 as part of the Good Earth/Great Chefs series to sign books purchased at the event. The event occurs rain or shine and is free to the public. In the evening, I’ll be interviewing her at the Lawrence Family JCC, starting at 5 p.m. General admission tickets are $18 and can be purchased online at www.lfjcc.org.

Lemon "Goop" and Syrup
from Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan
(printable recipe)

Makes about ⅔ cup goop and ¾ cup syrup

I had something like this years and years ago at a restaurant near Le Dôme in Paris. It was served with tuna; perhaps tuna cooked in olive oil, I don’t remember. What I do remember is that I loved it, went home, tried to re-create it and came up short. The second time I had it was at a Paris bistro called Les Enfants Rouges, where the chef, Daï Shinozuka, served a dab of it with fish. Daï gave me a recipe — and this is based on it — but his started with preserved lemons. The recipe I finally came up with uses ordinary lemons and finishes up as a glossy jam that tastes a little like preserved lemons but is sweeter and more complex.

You’ll have more syrup than you need to make the jam — aka “goop” — but the syrup is as good as the jam. I’ve added it to vinaigrettes (page 307), roasted beets, sautéed green beans, tuna salad, chicken salad and more. It’s a terrific “tool” to have in the fridge.

I serve the goop with fish and shellfish, pork and chicken. To start you on the road to playing around with this, try it on Twice-Flavored Scallops (page 193).

6 large lemons
2 cups (480 ml) water
1½ cups (300 grams) sugar
2 teaspoons fine sea salt

WORKING AHEAD Refrigerate the goop and syrup separately until needed. In a tightly covered container, the syrup will keep forever, and the goop’s lifespan is only slightly shorter.

1. Using a vegetable peeler or small paring knife, remove the zest from 3 of the lemons, taking care not to include any of the white pith; set aside.
2. One by one, cut a slice from the top and bottom of each lemon, cutting deeply enough to reveal the fruit. Stand the lemon upright on a cutting board and, cutting from top to bottom, slice away the rind and pith, again cutting until the fruit is revealed. Slice between the membranes of each lemon to release the segments.
3. Bring the water, sugar and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan. Drop in the segments and reserved zest and bring back to a boil, then lower the heat so that the syrup simmers gently. Cook for about 1 hour, at which point the syrup will have thickened and the lemons will have pretty much fallen apart. It might look as though the lemons have dissolved, but there’ll still be fruit in the pan. Remove from the heat.
4. The fruit needs to be pureed, a job you can do with a blender (regular or immersion) or a food processor; if you have a mini-blender or mini-processor, use it.
5. Strain the syrup into a bowl and put the fruit in the blender or processor. (Save the syrup in the bowl!) Add a spoonful of the syrup to the lemons and whir until you have a smooth, glistening puree. Add more syrup as needed to keep the fruit moving and to get the consistency you want. I like the goop when it’s thick enough to form a ribbon when dropped from a spoon. Thicker is better than thinner, because you can always adjust the consistency with more of the reserved syrup.

LEMON “GOOP” AND SYRUP is excerpted from Everyday Dorie © 2018 by Dorie Greenspan. Photography © 2018 by Ellen Silverman. Reproduced by permission of Rux Martin Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.

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Wasted: A Celebration of Sustainable Food

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 15:05:00 +0000

My last post was about Imperfect Produce, a company selling "ugly" produce to consumers to keep them from heading to the landfill.

This week's post also addresses food waste--but from a slightly different perspective: Celebrating chefs and organizations that prepare dishes and cocktails using food that would otherwise be tossed out.

Wasted: A Celebration of Sustainable Food is an event being held by Kitchens for Good on October 14 from 2 to 6 p.m. at Liberty Station. It's going to feature a competition between 30 local and national chefs and mixologists. Among them are James Beard Nominee Javier Plascencia, Bravo TV's Top Chef Katsuji Tanabe, Executive Chef Davin Waite of Wrench and Rodent, Bravo TV's Top Chef Brian Malarkey, Sugar & Scribe's Maeve Rochford--who was Food Network's Holiday Baking Champion, Elizabeth Faulkner, Danilo Tangalin, Keith Lord, and Martin San Román.

Kitchens for Good got involved in this project because it reflects core values of their mission. "We have long been inspired by creative challenge of reducing food waste, Aviva Paley, Kitchens for Good's co-founder and senior director explained. "We do this everyday in our kitchen by taking surplus and cosmetically imperfect produce and turning it into gourmet meals for hungry families. We wanted to extend that challenge to chefs and have them reimagine the possibilities of food that might otherwise go to waste. Partnering with Chef Works made this all possible with their $25,000 grant, and their incredible connections to the top chefs across the country."

Chefs, of course, are always keen to cut waste. Even if it isn't part of an environmental ethos it's critical to their profit margins. So, who better to learn from? Wasted attendees can see how chefs can repurpose day-old bread, bruised fruit, bits and pieces of leftover vegetables and meats.

And then we can vote on the winning dishes and cocktails based on these and other underutilized foods. Ideally we'll also be inspired to rethink how we address food waste in our households.

Another reason to attend Wasted is to celebrate the programs of Kitchens for Good, a local non-profit that trains men and women previously perceived as unemployable for careers in the culinary industry. These are students who had been in the foster care system, homeless, or incarcerated and who are now earning a place in San Diego's food establishment. In just two-and-a-half years Kitchens for Good has graduated 162 students and has a 90 percent post-graduation employment rate. Among the skills the students learn is food sustainability.

"Our culinary students learn about food sustainability from day one in their program. They are taught how to compost any scraps in the kitchen, how to use the whole product and avoid waste, and how to use by products to create things like stocks, sauces, and soups. Further, our students are exposed to the huge amount of food waste in San Diego, as they take thousands of pounds of surplus produce that we rescue from wholesalers and farmers markets, and turn it into thousands of nutritious and delicious meals for hungry San Diegans," Paley said.

In fact, Kitchens for Good has rescued 86,591 pounds of surplus food and turned it into 121,227 nutritious meals for the homeless, at-risk youth, and homebound seniors.

The Kitchens for Good van filled with surplus produce from partners like Specialty Produce, ProduceGood, and Senior Gleanors of San Diego County

At Wasted, Kitchens for Good culinary students will be paired with the competing chefs to help prep the dishes.

Along with the food and cocktail competition, there will be live entertainment and a silent auction. Proceeds will support Kitchens for Good.

General admission tickets are $90 and can be purchased online here. The event will be held at Luce Court and Legacy Plaza in Liberty Station at 2641 Truxton Road.

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Imperfect Produce Comes to San Diego

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 14:41:00 +0000

How long do you spend in front of a display of apples or tomatoes or berries searching for the items that are just the right size, are unblemished, and with the coloring you consider the right stage of ripeness? In other words, seeking perfection...

Yeah, we all do it. But what you may not know is that all that produce already has to conform to grocery store sizes and qualities. The produce that doesn't make the cosmetic grade tends to get tossed. Yeah, we're talking about quirky shaped carrots and oblong yellow onions or really small avocados. According to UNESCO and the Environmental Working Group, 1 in 5 of these fruits and vegetables don't meet cosmetic standards and go to waste. All of them food we could eat and enjoy.

Now you might find ugly produce at your local farmers market--and you should buy them since there's nothing wrong with the quality. But here's another option for your "no-waste" tool belt: Buying from a San Francisco-based food subscription company called Imperfect Produce.

Imperfect Produce was founded in 2015 by Ben Simon and Ben Chesler. Simon had originally founded the Food Recovery Network as a student at the University of Maryland after noticing food going to waste in the cafeteria. The FRN has since expanded to more than 180 colleges and universities across the country. Simon and Chesler decided to scale the concept nationally and to source "ugly" produce directly from farms. They would then deliver it directly to consumers' homes at a discount. They claim their pricing is about 30 percent less than grocery store prices.

The produce arrives in a recyclable cardboard box--and nothing else--to limit waste. Like a CSA, you can choose from a small, medium, large, or extra-large shipment, organic, all fruit, all veggies, or mixed, with costs ranging from $11 to $13 weekly or bi-weekly for a small (7- to 9-pound) box of conventional produce to $39 to $43 for an extra-large (23- to 25-pound) box of organic produce. And you can customize your order. A few days before your delivery is scheduled to arrive you'll be notified that you can log in and select from 30 to 40 items what you want--you know, so you won't waste either. So if you hate beets or want all fruit, you can skip the beets and order citrus or whatever else is available. The site has tips for how to get the most from customizing--for instance, stocking up on items with a long shelf-life and multiple uses, like onions, potatoes, and hard squash that can be used in soups.

Imperfect Produce has already launched in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Orange County, Portland, OR, Seattle/Tacoma, Chicago, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and San Antonio. And in keeping with its mission, any produce that doesn't go to customers goes to a food bank or other nonprofit. According to the company, it has recovered 30 million pounds since its launch.

The company also collaborates with local restaurants. So far, Puesto is lined up with Chef Katy Smith using "ugly" carrots in the restaurant's escabeche and other produce in an upcoming "Taco of the Month." Modern Times will brew a collaboration beer utilizing Imperfect Produce. They expect other restaurants to come on board soon.

While Imperfect Produce tries to source locally, the options vary by the day and week, depending on the seasons and weather. Their company philosophy is "follow the waste" and, they note, since more than 80 percent of the U.S.'s produce is grown in California, this is where they source most of their fruits and vegetables. But, they also source from out of state and Mexico when it's necessary and seasonally appropriate.

"Our primary focus is reducing waste. Food waste has no borders," their website notes. "Waste is a problem worldwide, and we do what we can to reduce waste wherever and however we can. In the winter, this means sourcing from Mexico and beyond."

I got a sample box that contained four Roma tomatoes, a very small head of green cauliflower, a grapefruit, several apples, a couple of small oblong yellow onions, three small avocados, a bunch of carrots, and several small red potatoes. All look very appetizing. I've been enjoying the carrots (as has my dog Ketzel, who scarfed one from the counter), the potatoes, and the tomatoes so far.

For those who say, "Keep it local," I'm with you. First choice is to buy local and from our farmers. But I consider Imperfect Produce to be a great tool for those who can't get to a farmers market. In San Diego, admittedly it's not as critical. But for the time pressed, it's a great convenience. And consider some of the markets they're in that don't have a year-round growing season. I hope some of our farmers can get in on this so that eaters in Milwaukee or Indianapolis or Chicago can enjoy what we enjoy in January--and save food from landfills!

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Imperfect Produce Comes to San Diego

noreply@blogger.com (carondg) — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 21:20:00 +0000

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