FIVE O'CLOCK FOOD

Sweet Tooth Candy Co.

2011-12-08T10:48:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

Please visit my catering web site by clicking here to see the specials I am offering this Holiday season courtesy of my new confections side gig - Sweet Tooth Candy Company.

We are making amazing Peanut Brittle, Old Fashioned Butter Nut Toffee, Original Peppermint Bark, and "Lucy Paws" (also known as caramel-pecan chocolate covered turtles). All items are made to order using the highest of quality ingredients, providing you with a fresher and better tasting candy to share with your family and friends!

Great as gifts, stocking stuffers, or just to enjoy on your own. Pricing and shipping information available!

Enjoy all the sweetness this Holiday season has to offer by choosing Sweet Tooth Candy Co.!

2011-12-01T17:10:00.001-08:00

Hey all! This holiday season I am launching a "pop up" candy company, called Sweet Tooth, offering the best peppermint bark, peanut brittle, chocolate covered toffee, and salted caramel pecan turtles - just to start! More info to be posted tomorrow. If you are interested please message me for gifts for your friends and family. And, I will ship!

Have a great Thursday night - oh, and it's five o'clock, time to pour a glass of wine!

Cheers and enjoy - back tomorrow with more!

The Perfect Four Day Turkey - DAY TWO, AIR CHILLING

2011-11-22T09:18:00.001-08:00

On to day two: 24 hours later and the turkey has enjoyed its bath in the brine. Now for the air chill.

Some may ask, why air chill the bird for another 24 hours? Well, to half answer that, I ask you a question: have you noticed at your market or butcher that your options for chicken range not only from organic to all natural but also include the option of "air chilled"? Air chilling poultry is an alternative method of cooling the chicken down after it has been defeathered, cleaned, and processed, which is actually better for the bird, and for the consumer. See a small video here to explain.

In essence, I am doing a similar method for the turkey - removing it from the liquid and allowing it to rest not only to remove all of the liquid but also to preserve that "turkey flavor". Plus, I personally find it makes for crispier skin during the roasting process.

So, pat that bird as dry as you can get it. Set the bird on top of paper towels in a roasting pan in the fridge to absorb up as much moisture as possible. If you want to turn the turkey over after 12 hours go ahead! It will only help to remove all of the liquid still left behind from the brining.

Another 24 hours and we are ready to make the pancetta-sage compound butter to go under the skin!

The Perfect Four Day Turkey - DAY ONE, BRINING

2011-11-21T15:54:00.001-08:00

It's turkey time, that's for sure. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite meals to plan for as well as to cook. FINALLY this year my mom is letting me have full reign over the entire menu, from apps to dessert, leaving the traditional and untraditional to my discretion.

And beyond the sides, salads, and stuffings (even the "ever necessary" Honey Baked Ham that always seems to find its way to our plate), the star of the meal, as in THE TURKEY, is always my favorite to make as well as execute.

Over the last few years I have experimented with what many have been referred to as "new", "innovative", and "creative" techniques to make the bird more flavorful, tender, and juicy. These include brining, using a compound butter, different temperatures during roasting, you get the point. The irony is that these techniques and methods have been around for decades, even centuries. For some reason now they are just becoming more main stream.

Whatever the case, I love to use all of these methods in creating what I think is one of the most flavorful and tender birds I have ever had. You can even use this recipe on other types of poultry, such as chicken. It's a four-day process, but I promise each step is worth it in the end. I choose a flavorful 24 hour brine, followed up by a 24 hour air chill in the fridge, followed by a schmearing of a herb and pancetta compound butter, and then after its last 24 hour rest, the turkey is ready for roasting.

This year, I wanted to share each step with you, one day at a time. If you want to follow along and make your turkey just like mine, you can shorten the brining and air chilling times, making a three day turkey rather an a four.Or, just save this recipe to practice on a whole chicken or save for next year!

DAY ONE - PICK UP TURKEY AND BRINEFor a 14-20# turkey, defrosted, neck and giblets removed

4 quarts (16 C) apple cider or apple juice
1 1/2 C kosher salt (preferrably Morton)
1/3 C whole all spice berries
2 tbsp whole peppercorns
10 dried bay leaves
4-5 sprigs fresh thyme
1 head garlic, sliced in half horizontally
4 quarts (16 C) cold water

(Special equipment - 20 quart barrel or a 20 quart cooler)

Making the brine: Bring 1 quart (4 cups) apple cider, salt, all spice berries, peppercorns, bay leaves, thyme, and garlic to a simmer to dissolve all of the salt.

Once all of the salt has dissolved, add mixture to vessel and continue to add 3 more quarts of apple cider and 4 quarts of cold water (or ice if using cooler).

Meanwhile, rinse the turkey and remove the neck and giblets.

Slowly submerge the turkey, leg side up (neck side down) into the brining liquid.

And let brine/marinate for 24 hours.

Next step tomorrow - we will remove the turkey and allow to air dry!

Happy first night of the Four Day Turkey Experience!

"Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme" Roasted Chicken

2011-10-13T15:30:00.000-07:00

For some obscure reason I always have a song stuck in my head. Maybe because I am always listening to music whatever I am doing. I used to have speakers at my desk at work just to have music on in the background. Even if the TV is on in the living room one room away, I will turn on my iPod while cooking in the kitchen. I always have a radio station tuned while driving. Hell, I have the TV tuned to a music station as I type right this right now.

But listening to music has never been an inspiration in cooking for me. As in, I don't hear music and say, "damn, that Frank Sinatra song inspired me to make a mean Bolognese sauce". If you are like me and actually pay attention to lyrics, you will understand most are written about love, sex, drugs, tangents, dreams (you get the point) - not, in fact FOOD. Only exception in my book would be Jimmy Buffet's "Cheeseburger in Paradise", and although the whole song is devoted to a time, place, and feeling about a cheeseburger, it never once has drawn me to either eat one or make one.

But last week, while driving to the supermarket, changing the radio channels as I always do, one extremely random yet specific line from Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair" played across the airwaves. The line: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme.

To be honest, I don't even like Simon and Garfunkel, let alone do I know any words to the song, even more I don't even know what the song means. Except I know that line.

But, I realized as familiar as I was with the line from the song and the herbs themselves, I hadn't, to my knowledge, ever cooked with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme all together at once. So, with "chicken" on my list of grocery items to pick up and a garden overflowing with the "fabulous four" team of herbs, I decided to make a lovely compound butter to rub under the skin and add a little lemon and shallot as well.

And for the first time, I turned to a song for culinary inspiration.

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1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
1 tbsp sage, finely chopped
1 tbsp rosemary, finely chopped
1 tbsp thyme, finely chopped
1 small shallot, chopped
zest and juice of 1 lemon, separated
2 sticks (8 oz) butter, completely soft at room temperature
1 small roasting chicken (giblet package removed if included)
salt and pepper

special equipment: roasting rack (optional)

Parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, lemon zest, and shallot

Preheat oven to 425F.

In a bowl, combine parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, shallot, lemon zest, lemon juice, and butter using either a whisk or a plastic spatula (can also be done in a food processor). Blend until smoothly incorporated.

Compound butter using herbs, lemon zest, and shallot

Carefully run your fingers between the chicken skin and breast meat, separating the two from each other to create a pocket. Move your hands gently down toward the drumsticks, using the same technique.

Using spoon, spatula, or hands, smear herb butter underneath skin, moving butter down to the drumsticks, making sure that the butter is evenly distributed on the chicken meat under the skin. Any left over butter can be lightly smeared on the top of the skin. Season generously with salt and pepper. (Place the excess lemon in the cavity of the chicken, and truss the chicken if you want but it isn't necessary).

Place the chicken on the roasting rack or straight into roasting pan and place in oven for 20 minutes, allowing the skin to slightly brown and crisp up. Turn down the oven heat to 350F and roast the chicken for 1 hr 15 mins or until thermometer inserted between the thigh and body of the chicken reads 160F. Remove chicken from oven and cover loosely with foil for 10 minutes to allow juices to settle. Serve as desired.

All in all, this chicken was simply divine. Easy enough for a weekday dinner, but even better as leftovers the next day.

Coca-Cola Braised Pork Shoulder

2011-10-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

Coca-Cola Braised Pork Shoulder with Sauce and Creamy Chive Polenta

While cleaning out the refrigerator the other day, I came across a few cans of this:

As I am not a soda drinker, and as this stuff is rarely in our house, I thought best to put it to some culinary use rather than pour it down the drain. Also finding a few pieces of bacon in the fridge, I began thinking about the sweet yet "caramel-y" flavors that come from Coke and how they probably would balance really well with pork, evoking memories of the brown-sugar "candied" bacon I had made a while back. I immediately remembered a friend of mine telling me about her crock pot pork shoulder she makes using nothing more than a can of coke for the liquid. I found some chicken broth, bought some pork shoulder, and crossed my fingers that this would be a hit of a recipe.

AND I ended up with one of the best pork shoulder recipes I have ever tasted let alone created.Who would have thought - inspired by a soda.

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Ingredients:

3-4 # pork shoulder, boneless, cut into "baseball-sized" chunks
salt and pepper
2-3 slices bacon (or 2-3 tbsp olive oil)
2C chicken broth
3 cans coca-cola

Boneless pork shoulder

Pork shoulder cut into baseball size chunks, seasoned with salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350F

Heat a large cast iron "dutch oven" over medium heat, add bacon to pan and cook bacon, allowing fat to render out completely. When bacon is cooked, remove from pan (you do not need to do bacon step - can just heat olive oil listed above in ingredients).

Begin searing the pork in batches (2-3 pieces at a time) to brown evenly on each side; remove browned pork and set aside while browning off all pork.

Add chicken broth to pan, scraping up all bits on the bottom of the pan.

Add each can of coke slowly as the carbonation will make it bubble up pretty fast.

Add pork back to liquid, making sure that the liquid either completely covers or just barely covers the meat (add more chicken broth or coke if necessary). Bring liquid to a simmer, place lid on top of pot, and place in oven for about 3.5 to 4 hours, until the pork is extremely tender and easily shredded.

At this point, you can serve the pork in its whole shape or shred for any other use.

OR.........................

FOR BEST RESULTS: Turn heat off and allow pork and liquid to cool to room temperature. Store pork in refrigerator overnight in cooking liquid. When ready to serve, remove desired amount of pork from cooking liquid and place in baking vessel with a few spoonfuls of cooking liquid. Preheat oven to 350F and place pork in oven to heat through and create a "light crust", about 12-15 minutes. Serve with sauce.

That night, we devoured dinner. The slow braise left us with one of the finest, most tender, most moist and utterly delicious pieces of pork shoulder I had ever had. The sweetness from the soda permeated the meat, begging us to come back for bite after bite. Served with a drizzling of the sauce over a mound of polenta, we felt we were eating like king and queen for the night. And I owe it all to a lowly can of Coca Cola.

Cauliflower Puree with Sauteed Leeks

2011-09-29T17:09:00.000-07:00

Looks like mashed potatoes, right????

I think that cauliflower is an extremely "underestimated" vegetable. If there were a "Tug O' War" rope fighting over this veg, I would be on the side rooting on "give it a try!".

It just so happens that at a past dinner party, a guest happily forked at the velvety-side in accompany to his salmon and remarked, "Lesley, these mashed potatoes are delicious. What did you do to them?"

My response, "Thank you, but it's cauliflower."

My guest, perplexed and bewildered, dumbfoundedly gazed at me as if he were asking me, "how could this be? It can't be cauliflower!"

I gave the "eyebrow-raised, smile on the face, 'fooled-you' " look right back at him, affirming that yes, in fact what he thought were mashed potatoes was CAULIFLOWER.

At this point, other guests began to question me, and then each other; was this really cauliflower? It was like utter befuddlery.

But the truth of the matter was I had made a side dish of cauliflower puree with sauteed leeks that most people discerned as mashed potatoes.

Deliciously nutritious, this cauliflower puree has become a staple in my house - the sauteed leeks only make this smooth puree even more flavorful. Move over, mashed potatoes, there is a new side in town.

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Ingredients:

12 - 16 oz cauliflower florets, broken up into similar sized pieces
1 garlic clove
1-2 thyme sprigs
1/2 -3/4C chicken broth
1/4 C heavy cream or milk
2T (1oz) butter
salt and pepper

1 leek, dark green removed, sliced down middle and cut into 1/4" slivers
2T (1oz) butter
salt and pepper

In a medium saute pan, add cauliflower, garlic, thyme, and chicken broth. Heat over medium high heat until broth begins to boil. Cover and reduce heat to low and allow cauliflower to simmer in broth, about 5-7 minutes, until cauliflower is extremely tender. Remove from heat (discard thyme and save or discard garlic).

Meanwhile, for the leeks, heat another saute pan with the butter over medium heat and add the leeks, seasoning with salt and pepper. Cook the leeks slowly to allow them to caramelize gently, about 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat.

While leeks are sauteeing, add cooked cauliflower, excess liquid, garlic clove (optional), butter, and cream or milk to food processor and process until smooth. It should look like mashed potatoes.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

To reheat, add puree back to a saute pan over medium to medium low heat and add the sauteed leeks; fold all together and season again with salt and pepper.

Jamie Oliver's Favorite Hot and Sour Rhubarb and Crispy Pork with Noodles

2011-09-19T14:56:00.000-07:00

I absolutely crave braising my food during the cooler months of the year. Pork shoulder, beef short ribs, chicken thighs - you name it - it's a reason to keep me in my favorite room of the house (ahem, the kitchen) with a glass of wine, waiting with drooling pleasure as my meat cooks ever so slowly with herbs and aromatics, creating a tender, moist dish full of robust flavors in the end.

Fellow Foodie and I have recently taken to Jamie Oliver's Jamie at Home mostly because we have been cooking so much from our garden and Jamie just happened to have a cooking show about recipes from his garden on The Cooking Channel. We were intrigued by this different but utterly delicious recipe for Jamie's Favorite Hot and Sour Rhubarb and Crispy Pork with Noodles. Combining the braising technique with some lighter and very interesting flavors, we thought we would give it a go, changing up ours a bit to our liking.

Where Jamie's calls for pork belly, we opted for the inexpensive pork shoulder which was just as delicious. And the flavor combination with the rhubarb and other asian-inspired ingredients was a sure hit with our taste buds as well as our guests.

If you like pork shoulder and are up for something new and different, I strongly suggest you give this recipe a whirl.

(note: rhubarb is definitely a Spring season produce item, most commonly thought of as a fruit but is actually more like an herb; it looks just like red celery stalks and has a fantastic sour flavor that when cooked becomes slightly sweet with the appropriate acidity - if you can find it this Fall try this recipe, or put it in your "to do" list for next Spring).

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Ingredients:

3 lbs boneless pork shoulder, cut into small baseball-sized chunks
1 lb (about 4-5 large stalks) rhubarb, cut into large chunks, about 1"
4 tbsp honey
4 tbsp soy sauce
6-8 garlic cloves, peeled
1-2 fresh red chilies, halved and deseeded
1 heaping tsp Chinese five spice powder
2" piece of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

about 3-4 cups chicken broth (roughly 1 x 32oz box)

Canola or peanut oil
Salt and pepper

Soba or udon noodles, boiled according to directions on package
A couple of green onions/scallions, thinly sliced
Toasted sesame seeds
Fresh lime wedges

(this recipe can be made in a slow cooker/crock pot as well - I prefer the oven method for this recipe)

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a food processor, add the rhubarb, honey, soy sauce, garlic, chilies, Chinese five spice, and ginger. Blend together until mixture is pretty smooth.

Meanwhile, cut your pork shoulder into small baseball-sized portions or chunks.

Season with salt and pepper.

Heat a large dutch oven or baking vessel over high heat; add the meat and the rhubarb marinade and enough chicken broth to slightly cover the meat. Bring mixture to a simmer, remove from heat, place lid on top (or cover with foil) and place in preheated oven for 2-3 hours (or longer) until pork is extremely tender and "shreds" when you fork at it.

Remove pork from pan and allow to rest a bit, about 20 minutes. Cut pork into small chunks.

In a saute pan over medium high heat, add 1-2 tbsp of oil and add each smaller pork chunk to the oil to crisp up on each side, about 30 seconds a side. When desired caramelization is reached, remove from pan and set aside.

Serve pork over noodles garnished with some green onions, sesame seeds, and lime wedges with a drizzle of the cooking liquid from the braise.

This was one of the most unique meals I had made in a long time, and the flavors and textures left not only us but also our guests to sneak back into the kitchen for seconds, not knowing if it was the tang of the rhubarb, the caramelization of the pork in the saute pan, or just the well roundedness of all of the flavors melting together that they liked the best. Try this recipe next time instead of your traditional carnitas recipe for an exciting and flavorful departure your taste buds will thank you for.

Creamy Avocado and Green Chile Sauce

2011-07-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

(This is part one of three avocado recipes I will be posting from the Hass Avocado Board lunch that I recently catered)

Oh the mighty avocado - how I love thee...let me count the ways. There are some days I can simply cut you in half, season you with a little sea salt, cracked pepper, and a squeeze of lime, and grab a spoon and eat you like ice cream.

Ok, for some, maybe that is taking it too far, but you get my love affair with avocados - Hass Avocados - that is. Creamy in texture, high in protein and in the "good fats", as well as a source of about 20 vitamins, these avocados are one of my super foods. And we Californians are spoiled rotten that they are available year round.

I had the amazing pleasure in June to cater a luncheon for the Hass Avocado Board here in Orange County. With about 40 growers, ranchers, and members of the board in attendance, part of the job was not only to create a great lunch for these hungry avocado gurus, but to use the avocados in as many aspects of the meal. It was a creative challenge for sure, as I scoured cookbooks, blogs, and the board's website for interesting recipes and different ways to use avocados - like, did you know you can use an avocado in place of butter for some cookie recipes? More to come on that topic.

As I decided to do a Spice Roasted Chicken Breast as the entree (recipe to come), I thought to pair it with a creative yet simple avocado sauce I found using green chiles, tomatillos, onions, garlic, and jalapeno. Skewering all of these ingredients and giving them a nice char on the BBQ really enhanced each flavor element, most importantly the avocado. This smoky yet spicy sauce can also act as a salsa or other condiment for beef, shrimp, even pork and is a bright alternative to use this Summer. It got rave reviews from the board, especially because the flavor of avocado is not lost due to the power of the other ingredients.

NOTE: if you want little to no heat, adjust how much of the jalapeno you would like to use, if any at all.

Ingredients:

(makes about 2 cups)

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* 1 ripe but semi firm avocado, quartered, pitted, and skin left on for grilling

* 1 small onion, quartered and outer peel removed

* 2 tomatillos, husk removed and halved

* 4 garlic cloves, peeled

* 1 jalapeno, stemmed, seeded, and quartered

* 1 poblano or anaheim chile (fresh and which ever you can find), stemmed, seeded, and quartered

* olive oil

* 1/4 C (about a handful) cilantro leaves

* 1/4 C white wine vinegar or water

* 1/4 C fresh lime juice (or more per your taste)

salt and pepper

** extra need: skewers (if wooden, soak in water for at least 30 minutes before grilling with)

Thread the avocado, onion, tomatillos, garlic, and jalapeno onto skewers (keep the pepper separate - makes it easier). Brush all of the vegetables with some olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on grill over high heat, making sure to turn often while charring the vegetables.

Remove from grill (about 20 minutes) and allow to cool slightly on a sheet pan before blending.

Remove vegetables from skewers and remove skin from the avocado. Add all ingredients to a food processor with the cilantro, white wine vinegar, and lime juice. Puree until desired consistency (can leave chunky, but I prefer a smoother sauce). Season with salt and add more lime juice and/or water/white wine vinegar as desired.

Green Bean Salad with Fava Beans, Fingerling Potatoes, Radishes, Pine Nuts, and Shallot-Sherry VInaigrette

2011-06-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

In my culinary world, not all dishes called "salads" have to consist of mainly leafy greens. Don't get me wrong, I love my baby romaine, mesculun, iceberg wedge, and butter lettuce salads just as much as the next person. But, to me, a salad can be as simple as composing fruits and/or vegetables together with a light dressing of some sort, creating a wonderful and tasty dish. Take, for example, "fruit salad" - you aren't going to find any leafy greens in that bowl - rather simply seasonal fruit tossed together.

Last fall, Fellow Foodie and I made Thomas Keller's Green Bean and Potato Salad, which was a delicious composition of green beans, figs, potatoes, and walnuts. Using its simplicity as inspiration, I decided to make a fresh, Spring-Summer composed salad using (again) green beans, but instead pair them with radishes, fava beans, and new potatoes garnished with pinenuts and chives. Lightly dressed with sherry vinaigrette, this salad was a hit with my Buttermilk Fried Chicken - the acidity from the sherry vinegar plays off the natural sweetness of the favas and green beans, while the radishes and potatoes add differential textures to the rest of the salad. Enjoy this dish as a side salad or add some goat cheese or cooked chicken to make it a full meal.

Ingredients:

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1 pound green beans (preferrably haricot verts), trimmed and washed
5-6 large pods of fava beans, shelled
3-4 radishes, very thinly sliced
4-5 small to medium red or yellow skinned potatoes (or fingerlings), sliced 1/8" thick
small handful/bunch of chives, finely chopped (for garnish)
1/3 C toasted pine nuts (for garnish)

1 small shallot, minced
1/4 C sherry wine vinegar
1/4 C red wine vinegar
1 C extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and pepper

All of the components, prepped and ready to go!

For the potatoes: in a small pot, add cold water and the potatoes and set over medium-high heat; bring the water to a boil and add some sea salt; cook the potatoes until fork tender, about 10-12 minutes. Drain potatoes and run under cold water to cool them down to room temperature.

For the green beans: In a medium pot (or the one you used for the potatoes), add water and salt and bring to a boil; add the beans and blanch for 4-5 minutes, or until the beans turn a bright green and are still crisp but slightly pliable when bent. Drain beans and immediately place in an ice bath to shock the beans and stop cooking (or run under cold water to cool to room temperature).

Blanching the green beans

For the fava beans: in a medium pot (or the same pot you have been using for the potatoes and beans), add water and salt and bring to a boil. Add the fava beans to the boiling water and cook for 1-2 minutes; drain and immediately run under cold water until cool to the touch to work with. Carefully remove outer skin to reveal a bright green bean.

Boiling the favas

Removing outer shell from favas

For the dressing: whisk together the sherry vinegar and red wine vinegar with the minced shallot; slowly whisk in the extra virgin olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.

To compose: in a large bowl, add the green beans, favas, potatoes, and radishes; toss lightly with the dressing, enough to coat the vegetables but not drown them (you will have extra dressing). Plate the salad and sprinkle pine nuts and chives on top.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken (Ad Hoc At Home)

2011-06-14T07:29:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite restaurants is Ad Hoc in Yountville, CA, and to understand a little bit about my love for the place, click here to read about it in previous post.

One of the best things about the restaurant is their daily changing menu written around what is available that day - literally from farm to table. Each morning, Ad Hoc posts the menu for that evenings meal on their website, plus you can sign up to receive the menu via email. Though the daily menus change with vegetables and proteins, it has become a tradition that on Monday nights that they feature one of their most popular meals: Buttermilk Fried Chicken. And, the Monday reservations are sold out in minutes.

I have had a few friends lucky enough to land one of these coveted Monday reservations, and some of their overly-descriptive memories of the experience have included: "the best meal I have ever eaten" and "how do they get the chicken so moist" and "Thomas Keller is a Fried Chicken God".

Thomas Keller, the man known specifically for his restaurant, The French Laundry, who is also known as one of the best chefs in America, who is also known for his insanely provocative tasting menu, and who is also known for all things fine dining...is ALSO known for his Fried Chicken?

Of course, this begs, TRY ME PLEASE.

I needed to figure out how to get up to Napa to enjoy this amazing meal, but on a Monday?

And then, I bought Thomas Keller's cookbook, Ad Hoc at Home, and lucky for me, as I flipped through the first few pages I came across this recipe in the poultry section:

"BUTTERMILK FRIED CHICKEN"

Picture of Buttermilk Fried Chicken from the Ad Hoc at Home Cookbook

I have been waiting to try this recipe out for about a year, and I finally got my chance last week. It was a true test to see if my "Ad Hoc at Home" fried chicken could come even slightly close to my friends comments of "Ad Hoc's" restaurant chicken.

And, before you get to the bottom of this post, let me just say, IT DID. This is the most tender and tasty fried chicken I have ever had, mostly due in part to the chicken brine step that infuses moisture and flavor to the chicken in a relatively short period of time. The combination of dry ingredients coating the chicken, layered with the buttermilk and another roll in the dry coating leaves the crust smoky and salty but extra crunchy. A quick deep-fry in oil and a finishing roast in the oven leaves this incredible fried chicken leftover-less - as all of the chicken was devoured on site.

In the words of Thomas Keller, taken straight from Ad Hoc At Home:

"If there's a better fried chicken, I haven't tasted it."

Well said, Mr. Keller. Well said.

(Recipe taken and adapted from Ad Hoc At Home Cookbook)

(I have reduced the original amounts of ingredients from the original recipes for the amount of chicken I used, plus I have added one step in the cooking process; after deep frying the chicken, I placed all chicken in the oven to roast as they were not cooked all of the way through, plus this just made the skin even more crispy and yummy - would suggest using my recipe below, or follow along with the real recipe from the book)

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Chicken Brine

3 lemons, quartered
12 bay leaves
1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley
1/2 bunch fresh thyme
1/4 c honey
1 small head of garlic, halved through the middle
2 tbsp black peppercorns
1 C kosher salt
1 gallon water

Add all ingredients to a large pot; cover; bring to a boil and stir to dissolve salt and honey, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and cool completely before using.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

5-6 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, cut in half
2-4 drumsticks
2-4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
1 x chicken brine recipe (above)

3 C AP flour
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp onion powder
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Peanut or Canola oil for deep frying
1 quart buttermilk
kosher salt and fresh black pepper

Additional gadgets: meat thermometer (to test chicken doneness) and candy thermometer (to measure oil temperature)

Breasts halved and drumsticks ready for a submerge in the chicken brine

Add all of the chicken pieces to a large pot or plastic bag and cover with cooled chicken brine; place in refrigerator for up to and no more than 12 hours (I only brined for 6 and it was fabulous).

Chicken brining with the solution - if you brine over 12 hours, the chicken will be too salty.

Remove chicken from brine and pat dry - allow to come to room temperature (about 25 minutes) before beginning to fry.

Make the dry coating combining the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper using a whisk.

Preheat the oven to 400F. In a large pot, heat enough peanut or canola oil so that the oil comes up about 2" high; attach the candy thermometer to the side of the pan (as in the pic below) and heat oil to 320F (we will be cooking the drumsticks and the thighs first.

Meanwhile, place all combined dry ingredients in a large pyrex and the buttermilk in another pyrex, setting up a "breading station".

The dry ingredients, buttermilk, and oil heating on stove ready for fried chicken goodness (oh and of course a glass of Rose in the background is most important)

Start with the drumsticks and begin to roll them in the dry ingredients, coating thoroughly and patting lightly to dust off any excess flour.

Then, add the chicken to the buttermilk for a quick coat of liquid.

Then return back to the dry ingredients for a quick last coating; remove chicken from dry ingredients and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Ready to fry!

When the oil reaches 320F, add the chicken drumsticks and thighs, 1-2 pieces at a time, carefully monitoring the heat and adjusting the temperature as needed (note: the second the chicken hits the oil, the temperature is going to drop - so you will need to turn the heat up and then watch that it doesn't exceed 320F). Fry for 2 minutes and then turn pieces over in oil using tongs to get a crisp, thorough, golden-brown fry on the outside, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from oil and place on a foil lined cookie sheet. Set aside.

Drumstick frying - note the level of oil in the pan relative to size of pan - you want a larger pot for frying to prevent any oil spilling over during frying process.

Once done with the drumsticks and thighs, raise heat of oil to 340F and begin to add chicken breast pieces, about 2-3 pieces at a time, and repeat procedure as with the drumsticks and thighs. Cook to a golden brown, about 7-9 minutes, and remove from oil and place on same sheet pan with thighs and drumsticks.

Once all chicken has been fried, place that sheet pan in the preheated oven until the chicken breasts register about 160F when a meat thermometer is inserted (170F for the drumsticks and thighs), roughly 15 minutes (may be longer). Remove chicken from oven and tent with foil lightly and all chicken to rest for 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

The BEST fried chicken coming out of the final roasting in the oven.

And there you have it, folks - the tried-and-true tested Ad Hoc Buttermilk Fried Chicken. Worth every second of preparation, and worth every last bite off the bone. It may be a while before I find myself in Napa on a Monday night, sitting down over a glass of wine at Ad Hoc to enjoy their fine fried chicken meal, but at least Thomas Keller shared his recipe, allowing all of us at home to enjoy one of his yummiest creations.

Breakfast Frittata with Pancetta, Mushrooms, Spinach, Sun Dried Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

2011-06-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

Brunch takes the award as one of my favorite meals of the week, most often enjoyed at our house on lazy Sunday mornings, where plain-old-Sunday-Breakfast turns into a form of "Sunday Funday" with the arrival of a few friends to enjoy a great meal while basking in the sun in our backyard and, of course, a few bottles of bubbly.

Cheers!

But, amidst the sea of mimosas there must be something to eat, and that is where the humble frittata comes in.

Humble, I say, because essentially it is a basic egg dish heightened by whatever ingredients you throw into it.

If you can make scrambled eggs, you can make a frittata. Quite frankly, I think it is one of the easiest egg dishes to make, because all you do is whisk together eggs with your favorite ingredients, pour it into a skillet over low heat, and then pop it in the oven to "set up" and voila, your frittata turns out to be the hit of the party. It's like a crustless quiche, and if you are needing to clean out your refrigerator, it can be a dumping ground for what you need to use up. And, you may surprise yourself at what you can create.

And on that Sunday, I took stock of what we had laying around and created a frittata fit for kings and queens (well, maybe not kings and queens - that could have been the champagne talking...) and found spinach, crimini mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, goat cheese, chives, and...

...pancetta.

Bacon and eggs...need I say more?

The beauty of a frittata is that there really is no need for set measurements on ingredients, just add what you want. But, for the sake of this recipe, I have listed a rough estimate of the amounts I used below.

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(serves 4 people)
Ingredients:

6-7 large eggs, preferably organic-free range
about 2 tbsp milk
about 1/4 lb (4 ounces) pancetta, cut into small chunks
1 large handful baby spinach leaves
6-8 crimini mushrooms, sliced
about 1/4 C sun dried tomatoes, thinly sliced
about 2oz goat cheese, crumbled
about 1/2 a small bunch of chives, minced
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 325F.

Add the pancetta to a cold saute pan (that you intend to cook the frittata in) and turn on heat to medium; render out fat from pancetta as it slowly cooks and crisps up, about 7-10 minutes.

Remove pancetta from pan, reserving some of the rendered out fat, and place pancetta on a paper towel to drain and cool. Add the mushrooms to the pan and saute mushrooms over medium heat until soft and slightly browned, about 8-10 minutes.

Add the spinach to the mushroom mixture and cook for about 2 minutes or until the spinach begins to wilt. Set pan aside.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and salt and pepper. Add the mushroom and spinach mix, sun dried tomatoes, pancetta, goat cheese, and chives to the eggs and whisk together to combine throughly.

In the same saute pan you used for the pancetta/mushroom/spinach, pour the egg mixture into pan and set over medium heat on the stove, just until the sides of the egg start to set. Turn off stove and place frittata, uncovered, in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the middle of the frittata is set (no runny eggs and firmly jiggles when you shake the pan).

Adding the egg mixture to the saute pan on stove - wait for sides to set before placing in oven

The finished frittata

Allow to rest for about 1 minute before sliding onto a plate. Cut frittata in wedges and serve.

Farro Risotto with Fava Beans, Asparagus, and Fresh Herbs

2011-06-09T16:46:00.000-07:00

Mmm, farro. If you don't know this grain, you are truly missing out. Truly. Big time.

Farro has been around for a long, long, LONG time, dating its origins back to Mesopotamia a few thousand years ago. Widely popular in areas of Italy, farro took the "backseat" to the growing and harvesting of other grains (like wheat) over the last 100 years but is making a huge comeback on the culinary track, mostly for its amazingly nutty flavor and nutritional value.

High in fiber and protein, farro also is nutrient-rich in B vitamins. It's a "good carb", to say the least, and it is unbelievably easy to cook and versatile in so many dishes - simply boil like pasta and add to salads, side dish to entree, etc. Herbs and nuts and dried fruit are pairing friends of farro, making for one tasty plate of goodness. Chefs all over the world are re-introducing it to their cooking repertoire, so why shouldn't everyone?

Move over brown rice - and HELLO farro.

I receive emails from chow.com (you should sign up for these recipes of you don't already) and came across this recipe for Farro Risotto with Fava Beans and Asparagus. Fellow Foodie and I decided to try it out for dinner one night with chicken, and we were overwhelmed with how amazing this recipe is. You cook the farro like risotto, but it isn't as daunting or fickle as making traditional risotto with arborio rice. Quite frankly, you can' mess this risotto up because the farro's texture always stays slightly firm.

This side dish is so flavorful with the herbs, asparagus, and fava beans, I had to re-share it. If you don't have tarragon, don't worry - we made it again with chives and it was even more fabulous.

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Ingredients:

1 C farro, rinsed in cold water
6-8 stalks large asparagus (about 3 cups), cut into 1/2" thick slices on the bias and blanched
1 pound (about 5 pods) fava beans, shelled
2 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots, minced
2/3 C dry white wine
2 C chicken broth or vegetable broth (I prefer chicken)
1 tbsp fresh tarragon, finely chopped (optional)
2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp butter
sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Dried farro grains

First, bring a pot of water to a boil; add some salt and add farro to boiling water. Cook over medium high heat for 20 minutes until farro is cooked and slightly "puffy". Drain thoroughly and cool completely under running cold water. Set aside.

While the farro is cooking, shell the fava beans from their pods.

Fava bean pods

Fava beans with outer shell

Bring a pot of water to a boil; add some salt, and add the un-shelled fava beans to the water. Cook for 1-2 minutes and drain. Cool the beans down by running under cold water until able to touch.

Boiling fava beans with outer shell still intact

Drained and cooled fava beans

Peel the outer shell/membrane from the fava beans, exposing the bright green bean. Remove shell and set aside fava bean.

Removing outer shell from fava bean

Shelled fava beans ready to eat!

In a pot over medium heat, add the olive oil and then add the shallot and then sweat the shallot (no caramelization) for about 5 minutes or until the shallot get soft.

(Meanwhile, heat the chicken stock in another pot until just under a boil - you will need this for the risotto)

Add the cooked farro to the shallot and bring heat to medium high, allowing the grains to slightly toast with the olive oil and shallots, stirring constantly, about 3 minutes.

Add the white wine and cook until no liquid is left in the pan.

Once the wine has cooked off, begin adding one ladle at a time of hot chicken broth to the farro, cooking over medium heat, until there is almost no liquid left in the pan. Continue this procedure until all of the chicken stock has been absorbed by the farro and becomes slightly "creamy" in look and texture (about 20 minutes - but may vary).

Add the cooked fava beans, blanched asparagus, and butter to the farro and mix well.

Add the herbs and season with salt and pepper.

And voila - farro risotto with fava beans and asparagus.

This dish is our new go-to side dish for just about any lean protein. It is amazingly fresh in flavor, healthy, and loaded with veggies reminiscent of Spring and Summer. Cheers and enjoy!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble

2011-05-04T11:57:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite and easy desserts to make is a fruit crumble...or cobbler...or crisp, depending on what you call it. This versatile baked dish oozing with sugary fruit juices around a crunchy crumbly topping lends itself beautifully to whatever fruit is in season. I love to work with stone fruits in the late Summer and apples and pears into the Fall months. Even better is using mixed berries such as blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries with a little vanilla bean and voila - you have a delicious end to a meal that everyone will be talking about.

But, as we slowly move from Spring to Summer, there is one combination of fruit that I love to work with: strawberries and rhubarb. Though we won't be seeing the best of the strawberry harvest until early June, right now at the Farmer's Markets they are starting to look (and taste) great. Rhubarb is also in season until about September, so this is a recipe that can (and will) last you throughout the Summer months with the abundance of these two great ingredients.

Rhubarb, being slightly uncommon to most, is a celery-like looking stalk that is red to light green in color. It is a very tart fruit (or vegetable, depending on what part of the world you are in) that when cooked with strawberries, sugar, spices, and orange zest, turns into a lovely soft texture, melting together with all of the other flavors. If you have never worked with rhubarb before, you are missing out. This dish is a true crowd pleaser, especially served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

(*I have adapted this recipe for my own private use from Barefoot Contessa and Epicurious.com)

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Ingredients:

Filling:

* about 5 cups (about 2 pounds) rhubarb stalks, cut into 1/4"-1/2" slices

* 2 cups strawberries, stemmed and halved

* 3/4 C sugar

* 1/3 C fresh orange juice

* 2 tbsp AP flour

* 1 small orange, grated

* 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

* pinch of kosher salt

Crumble:

* 1 1/2 C AP flour

* 3/4 C sugar

* 3/4 C brown sugar

* 1/2 tsp kosher salt

* 1 C dry oatmeal

* 8oz (2 sticks) butter, cut into small cubes and chilled

Rhubarb stalk

Rhubarb diced

Strawberries halved

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a large bowl, combine, rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, orange juice, flour, orange peel, nutmeg, and salt; stir well to combine. Allow to sit for about 10 minutes (while making crisp) to allow juices to form.

Using a standing mixer with a paddle attachment, add flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt, and oatmeal to the bowl and combine with paddle on low speed to combine.

Begin to add in the small cubed and chilled butter to the bowl ; after all has been added, turn mixer on low speed and slowly increase speed to break up butter and allow it to form into a "crumbly sand" like consistency, about 5 minutes.

Add the rhubarb/strawberry mix to a 13" or 14" x 9" x 2" baking dish with all of the juices.

Spread out evenly in the pan.

Sprinkle the crumble evenly over the top of the fruit.

Place the pan on top of a cookie sheet (to prevent spillage in the oven) and place in oven for 45 minutes. The juices and fruit will be bubbling up and around the crumble topping.

Allow to rest for at least 30 minutes to cool before serving. When ready, use a spoon or a spatula to remove a portion and serve with a generous scoop of ice cream.

Cheers and enjoy!

Roasted Double Lamb Chops with Kale-Walnut Pesto

2011-04-27T14:43:00.000-07:00

In the last few years I have really come to like lamb, specifically rack of lamb for its tenderness and mild flavor. Instead of using the entire rack whole, I prefer to cut the rack into double "chops" and simply roast or grill them.

Best of all, lamb shines beautifully when marinated with pesto. On a recent trip to Sun Valley, Idaho, Fellow Foodie and I had the opportunity to not only dine but work at Riccabona's, one of the best restaurants in town. One dish on the menu was pesto-marinated rack of lamb, where the chef cut the rack into double chops and grilled the lamb to perfection.

We had to try it out when we got home. Instead of using the traditional basil/pine nut combo for pesto, we opted for kale and walnuts which add a wonderful extra bite and nutty flavor to the lamb (plus the fact they are both healthy and good for you too). The pesto can be made ahead and frozen for up to 6 months and is great as a substitute for traditional pesto with pastas and sauces.

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Ingredients:

* 1 lamb rack, frenched, cut into 4 portions (see below)
* 1/3 - 1/2 C walnuts, toasted
* 5 stalks (about 1 bunch) Tuscan kale, rinsed
* 1/4 C parmesan cheese
* 1 clove garlic
* 1 - 1 1/2 C olive oil
* 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
* sea salt and fresh ground pepper

It is very important to toast the walnuts. If they are raw they are slightly bitter - toasting them brings out their natural oils and gives them a deeper, nuttier flavor and texture. Toast until light brown.

Next up, attacking the kale.

To remove the leaves from the rib, pull the leaves away in a downward motion running your hands against the rib. (The rib is extremely bitter so make sure to remove)

Bring a pot to a boil with some lightly salted water and add the kale leaves to the pot to blanch, about 1 minute, until slightly wilted. Drain and cool under running cold water.

pat the kale dry on paper towels.

Add the walnuts, kale, parmesan cheese, garlic, and red pepper flakes to a food processor and blend until smooth. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil until the pesto forms into a paste. Season with salt and pepper.

Now, up for the lamb...

Start by slicing the lamb into double chops by carefully cutting between the bones.

With a normal rack with 8 bones, you will have 4 double chops.

Coat the lamb with the pesto and place in a plastic bag or dish for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

When ready, preheat oven to 350F. Heat up a grill or saute pan (or a barbeque) over medium-high and add some olive oil to the pan; place lamb chops skin-side down in pan to begin to caramelize, about 5-7 minutes.

Place in the oven for 15-18 minutes, or until medium rare. This night we paired the lamb simply with amazing roasted baby fingerling potatoes and asparagus.

The nuttiness from the pesto when caramelized with the lamb is fantastic. This really screams Spring with the bright flavors of kale paired with the lamb and the crisp asparagus spears from a quick roast in the oven. Cheers and enjoy!

Linguine with Spring Asparagus, Shiitake and Chanterelle Mushrooms

2011-04-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

Asparagus is one of my absolute favorite spring vegetables. I love them grilled and roasted as a side dish as well as chopped in salads, pureed in soups, and simply sliced as an addition to a simple pasta.

As with this creation I made from leftovers in my fridge last week. I had plenty of asparagus left over from an event along with some shiitake and chanterelle mushrooms - I decided to make a light Spring pasta that turned out to be such a simple hit we had it again the next night for a planned dinner.

With asparagus at its peak during the latter part of April through about the beginning of July, I know I will be making this dish over and over again. You can substitute any type of mushroom, but I happen to favor shiitakes and chanterelles for their meaty texture. Only a dash of cream is used to make this a pasta dish you may find a bit indulging, but worth every bite.

Ingredients (2 servings)

* 8 large shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced about 1/4" thick
* 6-8 large chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned of dirt and sliced about 1/4" thick
* 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
* 8 asparagus spears, sliced into 1/4" coins
* 1/4C dry white wine (or vegetable or chicken stock)
* 1/2 C heavy cream
* 3-4 oz dried pasta, cooked and drained
* sea salt and fresh ground pepper

First, heat up a skillet with the olive oil over medium high heat; add mushrooms and season with salt and pepper; saute until mushrooms are soft and have a little bit of color on them.

Add the white wine to the mushrooms and cook until there is no liquid left in the pan.

Add the asparagus to the mushroom mixture.

Add the cream to the pan and bring to a slight boil then reduce to low.

With the heat on low, cover the pan to "steam" the asparagus in the liquid, about 5-7 minutes, until asparagus is tender and the cream reduces to thicken.

Add the cooked pasta to the mushroom and asparagus sauce.

And voila!

The cream should lightly coat the pasta and the vegetables, creating a wonderful harmony of flavors. A little shaved parmesan cheese on top would be a great addition. I hope you enjoy this simple yet delicious Spring pasta, as we are again having it for dinner tonight - cheers and enjoy!

Quinoa Pancakes with Honey

2011-04-08T11:00:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, I am not the biggest pancake fan.

I know there are pancake "purists" out there scoffing at me right now, but I prefer a breakfast of "bacon and eggs" (for those who know me well, you may quote me).

But, upon a visit to True Food Kitchen in Newport Beach, CA, the simple pancake was transformed into "Quinoa Johnny Cakes" - a heavenly mound of essentially pancakes, mixed with quinoa, and topped with a dollop of Greek yogurt and drizzled with honey.

Untraditional Deliciousness. And good for you too. Quinoa is considered a superfood because it contains more protein than any other grain.

These are not your standard pancakes. These are over-the-top-filled-with-goodness-that-even-a-picky-eater-who-likes-pancakes-would-scream-WOW. The addition of quinoa is a different twist, but the quinoa adds a lot of moisture and texture, making these pancakes one of a kind.

I set out to recreate them for a Sunday Brunch, and they were scarfed down in seconds. What is great too with this recipe is you can make the batter the night before - leave it covered in the fridge and you have one easy and yummy breakfast waiting for you the next day.

Ingredients: (yields about 20 4"-5" round pancakes)

1 1/2 C flour
3 tbsp sugar
6 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 3/4 C milk
3 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 1/2 C cooked quinoa
(cooking spray for pan)

cooked quinoa

Begin by mixing the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together in a bowl to combine ingredients. In another bowl, whisk together milk, canola oil, vanilla, and eggs and add to dry ingredients. Whisk well together so there are no lumps.

Add quinoa to pancake batter and whisk to combine thoroughly.

Heat a non-stick skillet to medium heat and coat with some cooking spray to prevent sticking. Begin by pouring desired amount of batter into the pan, allow bubbles to form around the edges of pancakes, the "tell-tale" sign that they are ready to flip.

And serve. I love these fluffy pancakes with butter and a little clover honey instead of traditional syrup.

Of course, for Sunday Brunch, a little "bubbly" must be poured. These pancakes are so satisfying. The quinoa adds so much flavor and texture you may never go back to plain pancakes. Since quinoa is slightly nutty, the addition of honey in place of syrup is a great flavor combo. Cheers and enjoy.

Chimichurri Marinated Flank Steak

2011-04-01T09:54:00.000-07:00

MMM, chimichurri. How I love this aromatic, vibrant green sauce. Made with explosively flavorful ingredients – garlic, chili flakes, fresh oregano, shallots, sherry wine vinegar, olive oil – combined together and your taste buds are in for a one-two punch. It is extremely easy to make - all you need is a food processor - and best yet, it freezes well! Use as a fantastic dipping sauce for a simple chunk of bread that soaks up all of the goodness; but better yet, use as a wonderful marinade for chicken, seafood, and best yet – steak.

Any steak gets better from just a mere hour marinade in chimichurri. My favorite way is to marinate flank steak with chimichurri overnight and allow the flavors brighten as they infuse the meat. Simply throw on the grill until medium rare, slice it up, and you are left with one heavenly bite after another. Or, simply use the chimichurri sauce as a quick condiment to liven up your favorite protein.

Ingredients:

* roughly 1 C Italian parsley
* 2-3 tbsp fresh oregano leaves
* 4-6 garlic cloves, smashed
* 1/2 - 1 tsp red chili flakes
* 1 small shallot, roughly chopped
* 1/4 C sherry wine vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
* 2 tbsp lemon juice
* 2/3 C olive oil
* sea salt and freshly ground pepper

In a food processor, add the parsley, oregano, garlic, red chili flakes, and shallot. Process until almost a smooth paste.

Add sherry vinegar, lemon juice, and olive oil, and process until mixture is smooth and completely combined.

Season chimichurri with salt and pepper.

Now for the meat.

Place the meat in a large plastic bag or baking dish and cover entirely with the chimichurri sauce.

Marinate the meat for at least 1-2 hours or preferrably overnight. I would suggest NOT to marinate more than 24 hours as the acid from the vinegar and lemon may change the texture of the meat and may become mushy.

When you are ready, heat up the grill, take that amazingly flavored meat and get it cooking!

After about 5-7 minutes a side (for medium rare-medium flank steak), remove from the grill and allow it to rest covered with foil for about 10 minutes. Slice thinly, about 1/4" thick.

And serve with some extra chimichurri sauce on the side. I love to make mini tacos with the steak and drizzle the sauce on top.

Honestly, the bold flavors in this chimichurri are fantastic and deliciously simple to make and really pairs well with the meatiness flank steak. Sometimes I whisk a little into sour cream or Greek yogurt for a kicked up dipping sauce or salad dressing, or I drizzle a bit on goat cheese to add a zip to a yummy cheese platter. Use it in place of pesto for pasta or spread it on some bread rounds for crostini. Best advice: keep this sauce around as a staple.

Blood Orange Flan with Blood Orange Caramel

2011-02-19T11:40:00.000-08:00

Blood Oranges...one of my favorite fruits. I patiently look forward to early winter, here in the US, when these beauties begin to appear at my local super market and farmers market. From about December to April, I use blood oranges as much as possible, even squeezing and freezing the juice for future use throughout the year. Their distinct skin, marked by shades of orange, pink, and red, help them stand out amongst other citrus fruit, begging me to buy them and put them to good use!

Bright orange-to-crimson-red segments are striking when used in salads; blood orange zest added to Lemon Cornmeal Cookies or Citrus Glazed Pound Cake (instead of the lemon zest) adds a new brightness to these simple, classic recipes; and, one of my favorites - add freshly squeezed blood orange juice to enhance your favorite glass of champagne for a new twist on a Mimosa.

But, one of my favorite uses for blood oranges is incorporating them into a traditional flan. Made with eggs and egg yolks, milk and cream, this custard is only heightened with the added caramel that liquefies when cooked and pools around the flan when un-molded and served. The addition of the sweetness and tartness from the citrus plays beautifully with the lightness of the custard, especially with the addition of vanilla beans. And, combining the blood orange juice with the caramel rounds out the entire dessert.

Blood oranges

squeezing fresh blood orange juice!

Blood Orange Caramel Sauce poured into bottom of ramekins before adding the Flan custard

Yields about 8 flans using 10-12 oz ramekins
Ingredients:

Blood Orange Caramel Sauce
*1 1/3 C sugar
*1/2 C water
*1/3 C fresh squeezed blood orange juice (strained)

Flan/Custard
*3 C heavy cream
*3 C whole milk
*1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
*1 tbsp blood orange zest
*9 whole large eggs
*6 large egg yolks
*1 1/2 C sugar

Preheat oven to 325F.

First things first, get started on the caramel. Combine the sugar and the water in a CLEAN sauce pot. Turn the heat up to high, and allow the water and sugar to come to a boil. Let the sugar and water boil, about 10-12 minutes, until the sugar turns an amber/caramel color.

beginning stage of melting sugar and water together

sugar and water just beginning to boil

sugar "bubbles" getting bigger as water evaporates from pot during cooking process

sugar reaching amber/caramel color

Once the caramel reaches the amber color "state", remove from heat and allow bubbles to subside a bit - at this point the sugar will keep cooking and getting darker. Make sure not to take the sugar TOO DARK as the flavor will taste burnt. Using a wooden spoon or whisk, SLOWLY add the blood orange juice in small increments to the caramel, stirring constantly, being careful of the extremely hot steam that will emit from the caramel. Continue to add juice until all is added to caramel, and continue to whisk/stir until all of the caramel is thoroughly combined.

whisking the blood orange juice into the caramel

Pour the blood orange caramel sauce into a pourable container (such as a measuring cup), and pour into ramekins until the bottom is covered, about 1/4" thick. Do this with each ramekin and chill to harden and set.

While the caramel is setting/hardening, prepare the flan custard. In a large pot, bring cream, milk, vanilla bean (scraped seeds and pod), and orange zest to a simmer over medium high heat. Turn off heat and allow mixture to steep for 10-15 minutes.

blood orange zest

cream, milk, vanilla, and orange zest in pot

Meanwhile, whisk together eggs, egg yolks, and sugar.

Once egg mixture is ready, add the cream/milk mixture, SLOWLY, to the eggs using whisk to completely combine. Strain mixture through fine sieve to remove vanilla bean pod and orange zest.

eggs and milk/cream mixture

straining the vanilla bean pod and zest from custard

Place prepared caramel ramekins in a large baking vessel - you will be creating a "water bath" around the ramekins to assist in baking the custard, so make sure that there is at least enough room for the water to come AT LEAST half way up the outside of the ramekins.

Pour about 1 cup of the custard mixture over the caramel.

Place baking vessel with ramekins in the oven, and fill a measuring cup with hot water. Carefully pour the water into the baking vessel AROUND the ramekins, trying not to get any water into the ramekins. Fill the water up about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up around the ramekins. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until completely "set" (meaning when you shake one of the ramekins the custard doesn't move, rather it is SET). Remove baking vessel from oven and allow ramekins to cool slightly.

Remove ramekins from baking vessel and water, dry off bottom, and chill in the refrigerator AT LEAST 12 hours, but more preferably overnight. Make sure to wrap with plastic wrap after an hour of cooling.

When ready to plate, run a knife around the outside of the flan between the flan and the ramekin, and invert the ramekin onto a plate. The flan should gently slide out, and the caramel sauce that once was on the bottom should pour out over the custard and flood the plate.

Blood Orange Flan with Blood Orange Caramel

This dessert is so simply delicious. You can't beat the subtle combinations of blood orange with the caramel and blood orange with the flan custard. Though this may be a little time consuming, its presentation and flavor pays off in the end. Especially with a blood orange Mimosa!

Cheers and enjoy!

Dom's Short Ribs Braised with Apple Cider, Cinnamon, and Garlic

2011-02-07T13:01:00.000-08:00

Over the years I have experimented with different ways to make short ribs, stepping away from the traditional red wine braise with a lot of onions, carrots, herbs, etc. I have made some with white wine and mustard; "Asian-style" with star anise and soy sauce; even just a couple of cans of Coke and peppercorns. All turned out fantastic.

But, if someone had handed me a container of apple cider and a few short ribs and said, "trust me, these will be some of the best short ribs you have ever had," I would never have believed them.

Until this past week...when Fellow Foodie decided to get "crazy" with some leftover apple cider, garlic, and a bunch of aromatics. As I had never attempted before, he decided to go more of the sweet/savory route, infusing the not-all-so-common-with-beef flavor agents, such as nutmeg, cinnamon, and brown sugar.

This was complete "uncharted territory" for me. Cinnamon and nutmeg...with beef? And apple cider too? Half of me was thinking, "What IS he thinking?" and the other half of me was focused on how this could be the next best recipe of all time.

And, I have to say, this IS now one of my top three short rib dishes I have EVER HAD. All of the flavors are reminiscent of Fall and Winter months, and the sweetness from the apple cider slightly caramelizes on the beef, creating a wonderful, flavorful crust. All of the other ingredients just seem to fall into place during the overnight marinade and the final braising process. This is a must try recipe before February is over. It would be best served with some yummy mashed potatoes or parsnips and roasted baby carrots.

Hats off to Fellow Foodie and his untraditional approach to the short rib. My current obsession for this fabulous dish is forever indebted in your unbelievable creativity.

Ingredients:

12-16 beef short ribs, "short cut" or 8-10 regular cut beef short ribs
1 gallon apple juice or apple cider
1/2 C honey
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C whole black peppercorns
6 cloves garlic, smashed
3 bay leaves
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tbsp red pepper flakes
1tbsp ground cinnamon
1tsp ground nutmeg
salt and pepper
olive oil

In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients and pour over short ribs; marinate overnight in a large bag, pot, bowl, or baking vessel.

Next day: preheat oven to 350F.

When ready, remove short ribs from marinade and pat dry (save marinade - do not discard); season generously with salt and pepper.

Place a roasting pan over two stove burners (or do this in batches in a saute pan) and turn heat on to high; add olive oil to lightly coat bottom of pan and begin adding each short rib; brown on each side (about 4 minutes a side) until all ribs are browned.

Add reserved marinade to the pan and bring to a boil on stove top; once boiling, remove roasting pan from stove and tent with foil; place pan in oven* for about 4-6 hours, checking often**.

* This recipe can be done in a crock pot/slow cooker or on the stove top as well. Make sure to brown off the ribs first in either case.

**NOTE: "checking often" refers to watching if the temperature is too high or too low. If the liquid is bubbling any more than a simmer, turn the oven temperature down to 325F. If there is no rolling bubbles in the liquid, turn the oven up to 375F.

And, after waiting those 4-6 hours, the ribs are extremely tender and smell AH-MAZING.

Remove the ribs from the pan and allow to cool slightly before serving, if you can wait.

The aromas of apple, cinnamon, and garlic are intoxicating when taking a bite of these luscious short ribs. The "crunchy" outside of the rib, flavored with the essence of brown sugar and cider, are texture-ly heaven-ly with the moist, tender, slow cooked goodness of the meat closest to the bone. I can honestly say I am addicted to these ribs, and I think I can say the same for our dinner guests that night too as not one plate came back with any food on it. And the leftovers are even more divine.

The creation of these ribs led to more culinary creativity that night, and perhaps a grilled cheese with these short ribs, sliced apples, and a melted sharp cheddar cheese will end up on this blog soon. Until then, enjoy this wonderful recipe. Cheers and enjoy!

Currant Scones

2011-02-01T18:46:00.000-08:00

Mmm, scones. When scones are done right, they are one of my favorite accompaniments to an equally "done right" cup of coffee. But, as many others may have experienced too, I have fallen victim to a dry, dense, flavorless mound of flour and butter that some bakers try to pass off as a scone, only to leave me less than satisfied.

Working as pastry chef at a restaurant here in Newport Beach, I "inherited" a recipe for scones that I swear by. The dough produces a tender crumb, is a balance of sugar and flour, and (dare I say) is extremely light. We used to use currants for these scones when served for brunch, but you could use any other dried fruit with the same end product.

I recently catered a baby shower where these were served with tea sandwiches - to which the scones received rave reviews. I thought it best to share something lovely and delicious.

Ingredients:

4 C All Purpose flour
4 tbsp sugar
1 tsp kosher or sea salt
5 tsp baking powder
8 oz butter, cold, and cubed into pea-size (see photo below)
1 C currants
1 1/2 C (plus extra for brushing) heavy cream

Ok, "pea size" cubed butter: this is what it looks like. It is easiest (and best) to cut the butter when it is right out of the refrigerator. Once cut, put onto a plate and put back into the refrigerator or freezer to "chill" the butter. This is an important step as the colder the butter is the flakier the dough will be.

Preheat oven to 375*F.

Using a standing mixer with the paddle attachment (you could use a food processor, but I prefer this method), add the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder to the mixing bowl; turn on mixer and thoroughly combine dry ingredients.

Next, add chilled butter to the dry ingredients. Make sure to try to separate each of the cubes into the flour.

Turn the mixer on, starting slow and working up to medium speed, allowing the butter to "break up" or "cut" into the flour mixture, creating what sort of looks like crumbly sand. This will take about 8 minutes if not longer.

Next, add the currants to the butter-flour mixture. Turn mixer on to low to combine all of the ingredients thoroughly.

Add the cream to the mixer, and starting on low mix the ingredients together until the dough just comes together. Then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface; lightly knead the dough until it comes together in one cohesive mass.

Roll out the dough to about 1" thick, and cut as you desire. I prefer cutting the dough into triangular shaped wedges. Brush each scone with a little cream and sprinkle with a little sugar.

Bake at 375*F for about 10-15 minutes or until light brown on top and appears cooked through on the sides. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 8-10 minutes before serving.

These scones are perfectly light, not too sweet, and the flavor of the currants balances very well with all of the other flavors. You can use this "base" scone recipe and add a myriad of ingredients: chocolate chips, cinnamon and apples, lemon zest...the sky's the limit.

Lesley's Famous White Chicken Chili

2011-01-24T13:34:00.000-08:00

Football is almost officially over - one of my favorite times of the year, not only for enjoying the sport and times spent with friends at tailgates and game parties (plus a few beers...), but also because of all of the tasty "football food" associated with a Saturday or Sunday. From ribs and burgers on the BBQ, to chips and salsa with a beverage of choice in hand - there is something so laid back and relaxed about the "season" of football, but it is also to be said about the comfort food we enjoy at the same time. With friends coming over yesterday for some Sunday afternoon fun watching football, I knew what I had to make.

A few years back, my Mom was a guest at a Sunday football "get together", and one of her best friends had made white chicken chili. The following morning, I got an earful about just how "amazing" this chili was, and that she had the recipe for me. I had never even heard of a version of chili described as "white", as I was more accustomed to traditional red, meaty chilis full of different beans and herbs and spices. But, this "new" chili was intriguing, so I thought I would give it a try...

...and now, it virtually is the only chili I enjoy making, and eating.

Full of white beans, chicken, sour cream, onions, garlic, and spices - this white chili is hands down my go-to recipe for any group get together. It's been a hit (and repeated request) at tailgates for USC games, so many times in fact that this chili simply became known as "Lesley's Famous Chili".

Ingredients:

PRINTABLE VERSION

(note: this chili is best made at least one day ahead to let the flavors develop. It can be frozen up to 6 months. It also doubles and triples extremely well, but 1 times this recipe is plenty for 6-8 people, especially if there is other food involved!)

1 pound bag dried white beans (such as great northern), rinsed
6 C chicken broth or vegetable broth
olive oil
salt and pepper
2-3 large chicken breasts, boneless and skinless, cooked, and cubed (about 4 C)
2 medium onions, chopped
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (7oz) Ortega whole chilis, seeded and chopped
4 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp dried oregano
1 C sour cream
1C shredded Monterey jack cheese

First, in a large stock pot, combine the beans and the chicken broth. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer and cook the beans until extremely tender, about 1 1/2 hours. (Make sure to simmer, NOT boil, the beans as they will break down and too much liquid will evaporate.) This will take a bit of time, but the flavor infused into the beans is worth it in the end.

Next, in a large saute pan, heat up some olive oil and add your onions with some salt and pepper and "sweat" them (no browning) for about 10 minutes or until they look slightly translucent.

Meanwhile, time to chop up the garlic - yes, that is a lot of garlic, but the flavors mellow out during the entire cooking process.

Add the garlic, cumin, oregano, and chiles to the onions and cook for about 5 minutes until all of the ingredients are mixed together well.

Next, add the cooked chicken to the onion mixture (my trick: preheat oven to 350F, season chicken with a little salt, pepper, and drizzle with olive oil, bake for 20 minutes and allow to cool before cubing).

When the beans are ready, add the onion-chicken mixture to the beans with the sour cream and cheese. Bring chili to a boil and reduce to a simmer for about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

My preference is to cool the chili down by removing from heat, and chill in the refrigerator overnight, but you can serve it immediately. When ready, I like to serve with a little queso fresco and a dash of ancho chile powder and ground cumin.

And, once again, this chili was an absolute party hit - even after plenty of grilled sausage, sliders, and 7 layer dip. Bowl after bowl was consumed, with a few beers to help wash it all down, leaving my friends happy and full after a wonderful Sunday.

Beet Cured Salmon Gravlax with Wild Arugula Salad

2011-01-19T13:40:00.000-08:00

Salmon - one of my favorite, versatile fishes to eat. I adore raw salmon as carpaccio or sushi, pan seared salmon with sea salt and pepper, delicately poached salmon with whole grain mustard sauce, barbequed salmon with a tangy glaze...and then there is salmon gravlax.

The term gravlax comes from an old Scandinavian way of preserving salmon by lightly salting it and burying it in the ground, normally near the sea line, where it would ferment/"cure" the fish to last through the long winters. Nowadays, we don't necessarily follow these old traditions - rather today's gravlax is generally made with a mixture of sugar, salt, spices, and herbs that is packed over the salmon to withdraw the moisture and add flavor. The end product is a sweet, briny slice of salmon, similar in texture to smoked salmon, that is perfect with salads and appetizers, or just on its own. I used to make my own gravlax a lot for catered parties as it is a fantastic and dramatic alternative to smoked salmon or lox.

Recently, Fellow Foodie and I were in Las Vegas and had the opportunity to dine at Aureole (by Charlie Palmer) - on the menu was "Beet Cured Salmon Gravlax", of which we were eagerly curious to try. When it arrived, all we could say was ""WOW". The beet juice had perfectly tinted the edges of the salmon slices a bright rosy red color, and the flavor was so subtely salmon with the essence of beets and a bit of sugar and salt. We thought this dish was so sublimely simple, we had to give it a go at home.

After researching a few recipes, we collaborated and came up with our own, which is as close as we could get to the wonderful dish we had at Aureole.

Ingredients:

2 pounds of salmon, with skin
1/2 C sugar
1/3 C kosher salt
1 medium sized red beet, washed clean and grated (no need to peel)
1 medium sized orange, grated
1 tbsp whole black peppercorns, crushed

You can cure the whole piece of fish whole, but I prefer to cut mine down the middle.

Next up, in a small bowl, mix together the sugar, salt, and grated orange peel with the crushed peppercorns.

Add the grated beets to the sugar-salt mixture and stir well to combine all ingredients. The sugar and salt will begin to "melt" with the liquid from the beets - this is fine.

Place half of the salmon, skin side DOWN, in a baking dish. Cover with half of the salt-sugar-beet mixture.

Place other side of salmon FLESH SIDE DOWN on top of the other piece of salmon and cover with remaining beet mixture, making sure every part of the salmon is covered.

Cover dish with plastic wrap, and place salmon in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours, but preferably 24 hours.

When the salmon is ready, remove it from the sugar-salt-beet mixture and wipe off any extra mix. The salmon will feel stiff, perhaps a bit leathery - this is from the cure. The salt draws out the moisture in the salmon, replacing it with the flavor of the sugar and orange zest. And, when you begin to slice it, the salmon should look just like this:

Beautifully bright red on the outside, and perfectly orange still on the inside!

Thinly slice the salmon into about 1/8" thick slices, carefully carving towards the skin. Make sure to use a well sharpened knife.

Many slices of the salmon didn't make it to our plates as we could not stop snacking on our creation! But, with the slices that we did manage to keep around, we decided to plate in a circular form, almost "mimicking" the look of carpaccio.

Next up, we took some wild baby arugula, some of my Basic Vinaigrette, and gave it a good toss with some sea salt and pepper.

Plated with a knob of burrata cheese, this was one of the yummiest salads/appetizer plates.

The color from the beets contrasting with the orange from the salmon was beautiful - and oh-so delicious. You could taste a hint of beet flavor but most importantly the salmon was perfectly balanced with the salt, sugar, and orange zest flavors that came through with every bite. The peppery arugula, paired with the citrus and shallots from the vinaigrette, were fantastic with the creaminess of the salmon and the burrata cheese. Drizzled with a little Meyer Lemon Olive Oil, this salmon was heavenly. And, beyond being delicious, this salmon was easy and fun to make.

Pan Seared Local Halibut with Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Red Quinoa, and Chive-Shallot Vinaigrette

2011-01-13T18:54:00.000-08:00

It seems every that every January, with the holiday season behind us, I take a break from pouring over all of my cookbooks and magazines and recipes - with good reason! Come January 2nd, I am ready to rid my refrigerator of any and all leftovers from holiday parties and gatherings and once again turn back towards healthy ingredients I love to eat and to cook with.

And some of those delicious and "good for you" ingredients found their way to my plate last week in the form of the picture above: Pan Seared Local Halibut with Red Quinoa, Roasted Brussel Sprouts, and Chive-Shallot Vinaigrette. Simple, oh-so-delicious, easy, and healthy.

I am one who falls in the category of "LOVER" when it comes to brussel sprouts. Simply halved, tossed in olive oil with salt and pepper and roasted at a high temperature until the outside leaves get crispy and the insides get soft = LOVE. I am also a huge fan of quinoa, a "grain" that has is very high in protein and contains a balanced set of essential amino acids - it is also gluten free and high in fiber. And, it is extremely easy to cook - just like rice.

This is a well-balanced meal that will not only tantalize your tastebuds, but it will also leave you wondering, how can something this healthy taste this good?

Cheers and enjoy!

***

Ingredients: (2 portions)

8-10 brussel sprouts, outer leaves removed and cut in half1 C dry quinoa (red or white)
1 C chicken stock (or water or vegetable stock)
2 6oz portions halibut (or other firm whitefish), skin removed
olive oil
salt and pepper
shallot and chive vinaigrette (click on link)

Preheat oven to 375F; toss halved brussel sprouts with 2 tablespoons olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Place in roasting dish and put in oven for 15 minutes or until outer leaves are crisp and slightly brown and insides are tender. Keep warm.

Meanwhile, in a small sauce pot, bring chicken stock to a boil. Add quinoa and reduce heat to medium low, cover with lid and cook, covered, for about 25 minutes or until all liquid is completely absorbed.

Heat a nonstick skillet over medium high heat and add about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil to pan. Season both fillets of fish with salt and pepper, and add to pan. Sear fish until a light brown crust begins to form, about 5 minutes; flip fish and cook on other side until cooked through, about 4 more minutes.

Plate all together with a drizzle of the chive-shallot vinaigrette on the fish, the quinoa, and the brussel sprouts.

Pumpkin Crème brûlée

2010-12-02T16:45:00.000-08:00

I have always had a "love affair" with crème brûlée. Literally translated to "burnt cream", it is a classic dessert, simply made with egg yolks, heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla beans. This mixture is whisked together, baked until the custard sets, chilled, and then "brûléed" with a little sugar on top (with help from a blowtorch) for an added sugary crust. Nothing beats tapping your spoon on top of the crust to break it, getting that perfect crust-to-custard ratio, and delighting in the burst of flavor and texture as it hits your mouth.

When I was a pastry chef, I strangely fell in love with making crème brûlées. I favored trying to create new and innovative ways of taking the basic flavors of the custard's base and changing things up a bit: some of the most popular brûlée flavors I concocted were Irish coffee, ginger infused with mango puree, and white chocolate with raspberry puree.

But the one that still stands out as my favorite to make is pumpkin crème brûlée. This recipe was handed down to me from the exiting pastry chef, and it was the first one I made at the restaurant I was working for. Due to the fact it was Thanksgiving-time when I started, we were elbow-deep in making hundreds of these crème brûlées for parties and events, as they were one of the most popular items on the dessert menu.

Being "that time of year" where pumpkin is everywhere, I decided to make them recently for a girl's dinner and then for Thanksgiving, to which rave reviews were handed down again. I had to pass it along.

(note: crème brûlées, though may appear daunting at first, are quite frankly very easy to make)

Recipe (makes about 5-6 regular ramekins and 10-12 small ramekins)

Ingredients:

1 1/4 C heavy whipping cream
1/2 fresh vanilla bean, split and beans scraped (or substitute 1 tsp vanilla extract)
5 egg yolks
6 tbsp sugar, plus extra for "brûlée"
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 C solid packed pumpkin (canned version)
2 tbsp orange liqueur (optional)

Preheat oven to 325F.

First things first, add the cream to a small sauce pot; and the vanilla bean pod and beans to the cream; bring to a low boil (small bubbles all around edge of cream in pot) and turn off heat to allow vanilla to "steep" in cream, about 10 minutes.

While vanilla and cream are steeping, mix together egg yolks, sugar, nutmeg, pumpkin, and orange liqueur (optional). Whisk together well to combine.

After 10 minutes of cream and vanilla steeping, bring cream back up to a low boil. Remove from heat, and SLOWLY pour cream into egg-pumpkin mixture, whisking constantly. Make sure to scrape all leftover vanilla beans left in bottom of the pan into the mixture.

Remove vanilla bean pod from the mixture as you do not want to bake with these!

(This step can be made 1-2 days ahead; cover with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator until ready to use)

Next, pour pumpkin batter into ramekins. Place into large baking vessels where the lip of the vessel is higher than the ramekins because they will be baking in a water bath.

Fill the baking vessels with water, enough to almost reach the lip of each ramekin (by "lip" in the above photo, I am referring to the top portion of the ramekin where it is a bit thicker). Place in oven and bake until custard is set, about 20 minutes for regular ramekins and about 15 minutes for small ramekins (make sure to judge for yourself, every oven can be and is different!).

Remove baking vessels from oven, and place ramekins on a cookie sheet; wrap each individually with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight, to allow the custard to set.

When ready to serve, sprinkle some sugar on top of the custard, and using a blow torch, brûlée the sugar on top to a golden brown.

And serve.

Slightly crunchy, sublimely creamy = just what you are looking for in a perfect crème brûlée. The added pumpkin and spices is just the hint of what is needed for this holiday season, and they balance beautifully with the richness from the eggs and cream.

And, with the now HUNDREDS of these pumpkin crème brûlées I have made over the last decade, the smiles on my guests faces in their sheer delight of this simple yet oh-so-flavorful dessert are indeed priceless.

Penne Pasta with Roasted Acorn Squash, Sweet Italian Sausage, Wilted Arugula and a White Wine Reduction

2010-12-02T10:30:00.000-08:00

In the Fall and Winter months, squash is everywhere. And beyond the traditional carving pumpkin, there are some excellent varietals that can be transformed into fantastic soups, sides, gnocchi, and pasta dishes. Some of my favorite are Butternut squash, Acorn squash, and sugar pie pumpkin. Simply quartered, seeded, drizzled with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and then roasted until soft, these lovely squash take on a sweet, nutty flavor that is fantastic on its own or added to any dish.

I recently created this simple yet savory pasta dish with leftover Italian sausage and arugula I had in my fridge, and it was delicious. The sweetness of the roasted squash with the sausage was a perfect pairing, and the slight pepper from the arugula was a great addition. The white wine and chicken stock reduction keeps this dish light (and on the healthy side). Enjoy this excellent pasta dish throughout the cold Winter months!

Recipe: (makes 3 large or 4 medium servings)

1 acorn squash (or small butternut squash), quartered and seeds removed
olive oil
4 links sweet/mild Italian sausage, casings removed
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
¼ cup of white wine
2 cups chicken stock
1 bag (6-7oz) spinach or arugula
3 cups penne pasta
2 tbsp parsley, finely chopped for garnish
grated Parmesan for garnish
sea salt & cracked pepper
toasted pumpkin seeds (or pepitas) for garnish

Preheat oven to 375F; place quartered acorn squash on foil lined baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place in oven and roast 35 – 45 minutes or until fork tender, remove from oven and allow to cool. When cool remove skin from squash and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.

In a large pot bring water to boil and add penne pasta, cook to al dente. In a sauté pan over medium high heat, add 2 tbsp olive oil, and add sausage to sauté pan using a spatula break up sausage into smaller pieces while browning. Sauté for 10 – 12 minutes or until sausage is cooked through. Remove sausage from pan onto paper towel lined plate.

Over medium heat in the same sauté pan add onion; sweat onions until soft about 7 minutes, add garlic and stir. Add white wine and scrape up brown bits while reducing down until almost dry. Add chicken stock and reduce by 2/3. Add squash to pan and remove from heat.

Drain penne pasta into a large bowl and add spinach; stir to wilt completely, add squash mixture, and sausage to bowl and gently stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

Plate pasta and garnish with parsley, Parmesan, and toasted pumpkin seeds.

The Very Best Herb and Lemon Roasted Chicken

2010-10-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love cooking with herbs, and with the abundance I have growing on my deck I find myself using them all of the time - chives and parsley to garnish a green bean salad, rosemary and thyme with a little lemon for a compound butter, or throwing a bunch in a sachet to season the water in a pot of simmering fingerling potatoes.

But, tried and true, my favorite use for all of them at the same time is...chicken. This bird just takes on the flavors of any herbs so well that I usually end up slicing up some lemon, chopping some rosemary or basil, and stuff it right under its skin, pop it in the oven to roast up crisp, and serve simply with a green salad and crusty bread. May not sound the most exciting, but simple can be (and 99% of the time is) the most delicious and satisfying.

Looking for some new inspiration, I have been reading and re-reading some of my favorite "go-to" food magazines, cookbooks, and blogs lately, and came across a recipe from Tyler Florence for herb-infused-oil-marinated chicken breasts that sounded so lovely and easy I had to give it a try. Besides, marinating in the herb oil would impart more flavor than just stuffing herbs under its skin, and I had PLENTY of herbs at my disposal.

And, as it turned out, this ended up as one of the top herb roasted chicken dishes I have ever had or created. Juicy, herbaceous, and down right delicious. I obviously had to share.

Ingredients:

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Zest of 1 lemon, peeled in big strips
4 garlic cloves, smashed
4 fresh thyme sprigs
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh tarragon
1 lemon, sliced in paper-thin circles
2 bone-in chicken breasts, skin on
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Just had to add, as this recipe calls for "smashed" garlic, you don't need to spend wasted time mincing it all up. Grab a clove, use the back of your knife, and pound down on the clove just to break it up a bit.

First things first, get the herb-infused oil going. In a sauce pot, combine the extra virgin olive oil, lemon peel, garlic, rosemary sprigs, thyme sprigs, and bay leaves.

Use a vegetable peeler to remove the skins of the lemon in strips.

Over very low heat, bring the oil mixture to a simmer, as to not "cook" or "burn" the herbs and aromatics. This technique is a lot like steeping tea.

When the oil starts to simmer or start to slightly bubble, turn off heat and allow to cool completely. I prefer to pour into another bowl, herbs and all, and place in the fridge for about 45 minutes to an hour.

While the oil is cooling, slice the lemon into "paper thin" slices.

Now we have our stuffing ingredients ready! Chives, tarragon, parsley, and lemons.

Begin to stuff the birds with the above herbs and lemons: using your index finger, carefully separate the skin from the breast meat, slowly moving your finger all under the skin to create a cavity to hold the herbs and lemon.

Next up, (I like using a spoon) mix up the chives, tarragon, and parsley and "stuff" under skin in the "cavity", making sure to spread around as much as possible. Shove about 2-3 lemon slices under the skin as well over the herbs.

The herbs smelled sooooo good.

Place all of the chicken breasts in resealable bags and dump in any unused chopped chives, tarragon, and parsley. Pour chilled herb-oil over chicken, seal bag, and place in refrigerator for AT LEAST 8 hours, but preferably overnight. Best to let these chicken breasts take full advantage of their "herb bath" to infuse as much flavor as possible!

24 hours later (in my case), the chicken breasts are ready for some browning and roasting time. Season generously with sea salt and cracked black pepper.

Preheat oven to 375*F. Heat up a saute pan over medium high heat with a little olive oil. Sear breasts, skin side down, for about 7 minutes, crisping up the skin and browning slightly. Remove from pan and place on foil lined cookie sheet. Repeat with all chicken breasts.

Roast chicken breasts for 35-40 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads at least 160*F. Remove cookie sheet from oven and "tent" chicken with foil for about 10 minutes to allow the juices to rest - the chicken will continue to cook slightly.

And serve.

In this evening's case, I served the chicken with some sautéed French green beans with goat cheese and caramelized onions and corn soufflé. The chicken was so moist and extra flavorful from the herb oil plus the extra herbs under the skin, plus the skin was super crispy from both browning and roasting. Though the herb oil is an extra step, it is totally worth it in the end. This is a great year round chicken recipe that would also be fantastic with a whole bird on a rotisserie or simply cooked on a BBQ. Thanks to Tyler Florence for the inspiration for another tried and true classic recipe for my repertoire.

The Infamous Crispy Shiitake Mushrooms

2010-10-12T09:45:00.000-07:00

Ironically, some of the best inventions are created from the worst mistakes. In any industry this is true, but this is often NOT the case in the culinary world, where the words "burned", "charred", "overcooked", and "way too well done" seem to plague any chef trying to make something good out of something that went terribly bad.

Or, in one fantastic case, I gained the opportunity to create sometime sublimely delicious out of what could have been one of the biggest catering "mistakes" of my career. All involving one of my favorite ingredients: the shiitake mushroom.

With lack of stove top space left in the tight-spaced kitchen and pounds of mushrooms to sauté for service as a garnish for filet mignon, I figured I had to "improvize". Knowing my ovens weren't being used at the moment, I decided to toss all of the mushrooms with olive oil, salt and pepper, get them onto sheet pans, throw them in a 400*F oven, and "sauté", or "roast" them until they began to slightly caramelize.

But, being sidetracked with other catering issues (and forgetting to set my timer), I absentmindedly forgot about checking on the 10 pounds of mushrooms now wasting away in the oven's inferno. About 30 minutes after succumbing my funghi to the perils of the oven, I thought I was doomed. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, opened the oven doors.

Instead of finding ashen remnants of what "were" mushrooms, I found shrunken, perfectly browned and slightly crisp slivers of shiitakes. I took the sheet pans out, drained the mushrooms on paper towels (which allowed them to cool and crisp up even more), took a bite, and this deep, earthy, and salty flavor flooded my taste buds. This was something unlike anything I had ever tasted before, and with each sampling, these mushrooms were becoming slightly addicting.

My clients and their guests raved about the meal, but most importantly they all wanted to know, "what were those crunchy, yummy things on top of the filet?" With conviction that it was my "plan" all along to make these shiitakes, I told the guests what they were and explained how I made them, to which my client asked if I could leave all of the leftover shiitakes behind as she wanted to use them as a salad topping the next day.

And, with a diverted mistake, my famous crispy shiitakes were created.

Garnish a salad, soup, meat, pasta dish, or simply enjoy these crunchy little devils on their own. I promise, if you are a mushroom fan, you too will become slightly addicted.

Ingredients:

fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, and thinly sliced (see below)
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt

Preheat oven to 350*F. Stem and slice the shiitake mushrooms.

The thinner you slice the mushrooms, the quicker and more evenly they will cook and the crispier they will turn out. I slice mine about 1/4" thick.

Toss shiitakes on cookie sheet and coat heavily with olive oil.

Here's the trick: you want to use more olive oil than you think. The mushrooms will soak up the oil at this stage, but they will release it during the cooking process. If you don't have enough oil on the mushrooms, they will dry out and burn, so make sure to add enough olive oil. Heavily season with salt.

Pop the sheet pan in the oven, and wait about 20-30 minutes (may be longer or shorter depending on how much you are cooking), and watch the shiitakes shrink, brown, and crisp (see in this picture how the olive oil is released).

YUM.

Drain on paper towels and allow to cool, unless you can't contain yourself, like me, and start snacking on them immediately.

Earthy, crunchy, salty, yummy. These shiitakes are so versatile and always good to have on hand. Store in a plastic bag or container with a paper towel (to soak up any moisture) - these mushrooms will last up to a week stored in fridge or room temperature. If they get a little soggy, just throw back on a cookie sheet and pop in oven to crisp up.

Cheers and enjoy.

Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Fried Sage and Browned Butter

2010-10-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

Fall is finally upon us, a grouping of a couple of months that keep my mind day dreaming about simple yet comforting foods, using all ingredients that September, October, and November have to offer. I love to see all of the pumpkins showing up at markets, reminding me vividly of the corner Pumpkin Patch my Mom used to take us as kids to pick out - my sister being obsessed with carving, I being obsessed with toasting the pumpkin seeds with salt and devouring each and every crunchy, nutty morsel.

Call it a hunch I would be involved in the culinary field one day...

But, thinking about the squash/gourd family of vegetables, one of my all-star ingredients to work with in the Fall is butternut squash. It's nutty yet naturally sweet flavor lends itself beautifully to soups, casseroles, pasta dishes, even roasted on its own with some herbs and olive oil - yet, in my favorite case, it is a welcome addition to homemade potato gnocchi.

I adore these soft, Italian "pasta" dumplings that literally melt in your mouth when cooked perfectly. Fellow Foodie and I recently saw a recipe that Lidia Bastianich wrote for Bon Appetit and had to take a stab at it - however, we have changed it up a bit.

Homemade gnocchi can be and usually is a little labor intensive (as you will see by the steps/photos below), but the work is absolutely worth every fantastic flavorful bite in the end. Especially when quickly sauteed in a little browned butter and garnished with some crispy fried sage leaves.

Time to devour.

Ingredients:

1 1-pound butternut squash, halved, seeds scooped out, and then quartered
olive oil
2 medium sized russet potatoes, peeled and cut in half
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for plating
1 large egg, beaten to blend
2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 3/4 cups (or more) all purpose flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
a huge handful of fresh sage leaves
Sea salt and cracked black pepper

Special items: either a potato ricer or a colander

First things first: preheat the oven to 400*F; place the quartered pieces of squash on a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a little sea salt and cracked pepper.

Roast in oven for about 30-40 minutes or until the squash gets browned in spots and is extremely fork tender.

Allow squash to cool slightly, then scoop flesh into a food processor to puree until smooth.

The next step is key to producing a great gnocchi: cooking the liquid out of the butternut squash puree. Easiest way to do this (outside of using cheesecloth) is to cook the puree down to a thick paste, allowing the water to evaporate from the puree. So, add the squash puree to a small sauce pan and cook over medium high heat until mixture begins to thicken, about 5-10 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from pan and allow to cool completely (can be made at least a day ahead).

Next up, the main ingredient for proper gnocchi: the potatoes.

Peel and halve the potatoes and add them to a sauce pot filled with cold water and a lot of sea salt. Bring to a boil and cook potatoes until fork tender. Drain completely and make sure the potatoes are very dry.

Next, if you have a potato ricer, use it. If you don't (or "insert here": "I don't know what a potato ricer is...") don't worry. If you have a colander, which I hope you do, you are in luck. A potato ricer is a kitchen gadget that generally looks like an oversized garlic press, only it is used to "crush" the potatoes through small holes and make them lighter and airier. But, as I said, if you don't have one, use a colander. As I don't own one either, I first mashed the potatoes.

Then, using a spatula, I ran the mashed potatoes against the small holes of a colander, creating the same end product a potato ricer would (oh, the ingenuity using other gadgets in the kitchen...).

Yes, folks, this is what the potatoes should look like, colander or ricer...

Next up, add 1 C of the butternut squash puree to the potatoes, parmesan cheese, nutmeg, egg, and salt and pepper. Mix together well.

Sift the flour before adding to the squash/potato mixture. Start with 1 3/4C. The dough will be tacky, and you can add up to 1/4C more if you feel you need to. Allow the "dough" to sit for about 30 minutes. In the meantime, pour yourself a glass of wine...(I'm just saying...)

After letting the dough rest (and finishing your glass of wine...), portion the dough out into small balls and, on a lightly floured surface, begin rolling out into long strands, about 3/4" thick.

Cut the strands into 3/4" - 1" long pieces.

And then, begin the "gnocchi" making process.

Take each little gnocchi "pillow", and, using the back of a fork, gently roll the dough down the fork, gently pressing against the tines to create the dimpled lines in the dough.

All of this can be done at least 24 hours ahead of time.

When ready, bring heavily salted water to a boil and pop in your gnocchi. They will take about 13-15 minutes to cook.

Drain the gnocchi and start on the fried sage leaves. Heat a large skillet with a giant knob of butter, toss in a bunch of fresh sage leaves, and cook over medium heat until sage starts to crisp.

Remove from pan and drain on paper towels.

And, to the same pan, add a little bit more butter, allow to "brown" a bit, and then toss int he drained gnocchi to saute.

A quick flip...

YUMMMM...

And plate.

Butternut squash gnocchi with fried sage leaves and browned butter.

I cannot explain how heavenly this dish was. Worth every moment of effort. The sweetness of the squash balanced perfectly with the potatoes, and the hint of nutmeg added the right level of depth. And, obviously the browned butter with the fried sage leaves only made the dish that much more jaw-dropping-delicious.

Sauteeing these lovely gnocchi gave them a lovely, light crust. When you bite into them, literally, it is like, once again, heaven. Kinda like being transported to northern Italy, with a brisk chill in the air, sitting down to a warming plate of these pillows of deliciousness.

Cheers and enjoy.

Apple Tarte Tatin with Red Wine-Vanilla Caramel Sauce

2010-09-20T07:46:00.000-07:00

Fall is one of my favorite seasons: watching the changing of leaves on the trees, smelling the burning of firewood coming from neighbor's chimneys in the early evening, having college football back in full swing (of course), and finding apples showing up everywhere at Farmer's Markets.

Though here in California they are available throughout the year, I prefer to rapidly consume this fantastic fruit during its peak season during the Fall months. And, one of my all-time favorite way to use them is in a flaky and subtle-y sweet Apple Tarte Tatin.

To those unfamiliar with an apple tarte tatin, it literally is an upside down apple tart that consists of apples sauteed in butter and sugar, topped with puff pastry, baked until golden brown, and then is inverted onto a plate to showcase the ooey-gooey caramelized goodness of Granny Smith apples on top of a crisp, layered crust. And, in the case for this recipe, I have added some Pinot Noir to the process, leaving this dessert even more decadent and tasty.

So, move over, apple pie - and welcome a "grown up" version of the iconically classic dessert that is extremely easy to make and "leaves-you-speechless"-ly delicious.

Ingredients:

(I have adapted this recipe from Tyler Florence - this makes 1 tarte tatin, but you will see in the photos I have doubled the recipe)

4 tablespoons (2oz) butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream, plus 1 C heavy cream
3/4 cup red wine, preferably Pinot Noir
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, halved, and cored
1 sheet puff pastry from box, defrosted, and slightly rolled out

1 8" - 10" ramekin, cake pan (with solid bottom), or skillet/cast iron pan

Pre-heat the oven to 350*F.

First, begin by making the Pinot Noir caramel sauce that will coat the bottom of the pan; in a sauce pot, melt together the butter and sugar until mixture starts to caramelize and turns deep brown in color, constantly stirring (about 8-10 minutes).

Remove from heat, and carefully and slowly begin to stir in 1/4 C cream (there will be a lot of release of steam from the sugar, so be careful while doing this step). Caramel will start to bubble, and continue to stir cream until bubbles subside.

Next, slowly stir in wine to caramel, being careful as once again steam will be released from the pot and caramel will bubble.

After wine in completely incorporated, add the vanilla beans. Split the bean down the middle lengthwise, and using the back of your knife, scrape out the vanilla from the pod.

Add to the caramel and stir together well, as vanilla beans will tend to clump up together.

Pour caramel into prepared dishes for tarte tatin, about 1/2" thick.

The caramel will be dark, but not this dark - the photo just didn't come out that well. With the leftover caramel, add the 1C of cream, return pot back to stove, heat caramel until bubbles form and remove fro heat. Reserve for topping at the end.

Next, onto the apples. Peel, halve, core, and slice into 8 large chunks from each half.

You can use a melon baller or ice cream scoop (as I have done) to remove the core.

Next, starting around the outside of your baking vessel of choice, start to "pack" the apples into the caramel sauce. This is a key step to make sure the apples are tightly shoved in to keep the caramel from oozing up too much.

Next up, the puff pastry topping. I like to put the ramekin on top of the pastry to help measure the size I need to cut. Use a knife and cut out a circle of the dough that is slightly bigger than the ramekin.

Put the puff pastry on top of the apples, and prick the dough with a fork - this will help the pastry in the baking process from not over "inflating". The tarte tatins are now ready for their time in the oven. Place on cookie sheet (caramel may ooze over the ramekins), and bake at 350*F for 30 minutes or until puff pastry is golden brown.

Honestly, it doesn't get much better than this.

Once out of the oven, allow the tarts to rest for about 15 minutes to cool off. Using a large plate, place on top of the ramekin and carefully "flip" the ramekin onto the plate so that the puff pastry is on the bottom and the apples are on top (tarts can also be completely cooled overnight and reheated, inverted, and served the next day or the following).

Slice into wedges, and serve with some vanilla bean ice cream and a drizzle of the red wine caramel sauce. And then, DEVOUR.

This dessert is perfectly sweet - not too much or too little, it's just about perfect. The addition of the red wine in the sauce is a fantastic balance to the natural sugar from the apples and the sugar and butter from the caramel. And, anything with puff pastry is just plain delicious. My girlfriends who were over for dinner raved about this "twist" on the classic apple pie, as did dinner guests last night.

And, as I have been told I never add any pics of myself to this blog, I thought it fitting to put this one up, seeing as I was pretty happy to be plating one of my all-time favorite desserts. I hope it becomes one of your too - cheers and enjoy!

Sunday Morning French Toast with Caramelized Banana and Pecan Compote

2010-09-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

When it comes to breakfast, anyone who knows me knows damn well there are only two things I ever want, whether at a restaurant or enjoying the first meal of the day at home: bacon and eggs. Honestly, I find perfectly cooked bacon and freshly cracked eggs simply scrambled or "fried" over medium absolutely heavenly.

But, from time to time, I resort back to my childhood cravings of pancakes, French toast, Belgian waffles, crepes, omelets...

As was the case this past Sunday morning. Coming off of a socially busy Saturday filled with lots of cocktails and plenty of college football, something extremely comforting, like French toast, was calling my name. And, what started out as "simply French toast" turned out to be a masterpiece of breakfast-deliciousness.

May I present the ultimate French Toast with Banana and Pecan Compote.

Oh yeah. Commence drooling.

French Toast:

1 loaf Dutch Crunch or other dense white bread, cut into 1" slices
6 eggs
1/2 C milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Banana and Pecan Compote

2 bananas, sliced into 1/2" slices
1/4 stick (1oz) butter
1/2 C maple syrup
1/4 C honey
1/3 C toasted pecans, chopped

First, slice the bread, love me some Dutch Crunch:

Next, start the bananas: melt the butter in a large sauce pan and add bananas when hot; saute for about 3 minutes until golden brown on one side (they will get soft, so make sure not to over cook).

Add the honey and the syrup and reduce a bit, until slightly thick:

Add chopped pecans to the banana mixture:

Allow banana mixture to sit while preparing the french toast. Whisk together the eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Begin by dredging each slice of bread through the egg mixture.

Heat a skillet over medium heat with a little butter and add each slice to the pan. Cook on each side for about 5 minutes, or until they are a deep golden brown.

Once every slice has been cooked, PLATE!

As it was such a gorgeous morning, Fellow Foodie, myself, and a best friend enjoyed this amazing breakfast outside on the patio, taking in the sunshine as well as gorging ourselves on fresh Farmer's Market fruit, French toast, and, of course, some bacon...

Heavenly.

Loading up my plate with a few slices of the toast, slathering each with a little butter, topping with some banana-pecan compote, and drizzling a little more maple syrup on top - I couldn't help but be transported to childhood breakfasts where I couldn't wait to dive in to a sugary, syrupy mess.

And boy, was it deliciously incredible. The caramelized bananas were deliciously sweet with the added honey and syrup, and the pecans were a fantastic crunch to the softness of the toast. I could have eaten the entire bowl of banana compote over even oatmeal it was so good. Next time, I may throw in some rum, you know, just to "spice" it up a bit!

All in all, it was a fabulous breakfast. I think it definitely helped to "soak up" the shenanigans from the day and night before, as any good French Toast does.

But, this French Toast was definitely taken to the next level, and I can't wait to make it again. Cheers and enjoy!

Spinach Salad with Kalamata Olives, Sun Dried Tomatoes, Marcona Almonds, and Burrata Cheese

2010-09-07T09:10:00.000-07:00

For some, cleaning out the refrigerator can be a chore. I am not referring to actually cleaning the fridge with spray and a sponge; I mean, trying to figure out what to do with whatever is still lingering on the shelves and in the drawers.

For me, it is a culinary "mystery box"; as in, what can I put together to create a new and inspiring meal? As I have written about in other mystery box entries, I really like the "creativity cloud" that hovers over me when I am forced to make something yummy out of what is leftover in my fridge.

And, with the fact I was headed out of town for a bit, I opened the fridge last week to find these little gems of ingredients for my dinner:

"Mystery Box" ingredients:

Organic baby spinach
Kalamata olives, pitted
Sun dried tomatoes, julienned
Burrata cheese
Fresh chives
Lemon
Marcona almonds
(oh, and some vino...)

These ingredients were just screaming to be converted into a fantastic salad, and that is what I set out to make.

Vinaigrette:

1 tbsp chives, finely chopped
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Add all of the ingredients to a bowl, taste for seasoning, and whisk with a fork

I prefer to slice the olives in half...

The rest of the ingredients I used:

1 tbsp chives, finely chopped
1/4 c sun dried tomatoes
1/4 c marcona almonds
1/4 c sliced kalamata olives
1 giant wedge burrata cheese

Oh, burrata, how I love to use you, as I have so many times this Summer.

Oh, and don't forget the spinach! I just grabbed a huge handful. Toss spinach in bowl with vinaigrette and plate.

Next, top off with burrata cheese and drizzle what vinaigrette is left in the bowl on top of the cheese.

Last, but not least, top with olives, sun dried tomatoes, almonds, and chives.

This salad was literally thrown together in about five minutes and was absolutely fantastic. The lemon and chives were fantastic together with the spinach, and the creaminess of the burrata cheese helped to round out the salty olives and the sweet-yet-slightly-acidic sun dried tomatoes. The almonds were just a great crunchy addition.

While I was on vacation I actually thought about this salad and how I couldn't wait to make it again when I got home. So, instead of making it a "mystery box", I went straight to the market and bought the same ingredients just to keep on hand (and another bottle of wine...). I am looking forward to keeping this dish around as a staple, and I wonder what will be lurking around the corners of my fridge in the next few weeks to create another fantastic meal!