Quick & Easy Pizza

So you have two chefs making Thanksgiving dinner for themselves and its lunch time, what do you make to go along with the beers? Pizza of course! A quick whole wheat crust, fresh grated mozzarella cheese, sliced tomatoes and chopped Oregano from the garden. 30 minutes to prep and 15 minutes in a 450F oven.

Prickly Pears

On a recent Napa Valley road trip I came across these nice Prickly Pears, they are the edible fruit of Cactus plants. Mostly used in making desserts and drinks. They have large thorns and need to be peeled before use. I think I might have to get some for a Prickly Pear Margarita!

Not so traditional Thanksgiving

This year a co chef from work was the guest and co-cook for the day, He being Jewish and having chef cooking experience from Israel came up with a Kosher thanksgiving menu. Basically its the same food but using a Kosher fresh turkey from a Kosher butcher shop in San Francisco, I knew I was in the right place with a Rabbi standing in line with me. There is too much to explain now how and why food is Kosher, but the rules regarding kosher food are very complex and strict, So another time. The menu was roast herb and citrus turkey, rosemary roasted red potatoes, caramelized root vegetables, celery and apple stuffing, orange cranberry compote, natural pan gravy, simple green salad and freshly made apple pie. Everything was made from scratch in a few easy hours, a glass of wine and beers always within easy reach. We even made fresh pizza for a snack while cooking (good with the beer) When it was all done, it looked great, but was way too much food, a few phone calls to find more eaters didn't work out either. The turkey itself was amazing, perfectly cooked and very moist with a lot of flavor. Never going back to non kosher. Also for the meal to be Kosher it could not include any diary, so not having any cream or butter made it very healthy.

Miso Glazed Sea Bass

There is a fish recipe made famous by the Japanese chef Nobu the chef/owner of the chain of restaurants by the same name. It is fish that marinates in a mixture of Miso, Sake, Mirin and brown sugar. It has a amazing flavor of sweet and salty with the flavors of the Sake and Mirin rice wine. Here I took a nice fillet of California Corvina sea bass and marinated it for a day then roasted it in the oven till golden on the outside while still being moist inside. I served it with lemongrass infused jasmine rice and pickled cucumbers and peppers.

Artic Char

There is a Fish called Artic Char which is in the same family as salmon but also resembles a big trout, its a Northern fish from Artic regins around Norway and other Northern Countries. It has orange flesh with a beautifully colored skin. Its best when cooked like Salmon. Here is a dish I made with Pan seared Char using brasied white beans and flavors of orange and fennel.