Seared chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese

What can you do with leftovers? start with a little bit of tomato-caper sauce, grab the goat cheese and thaw the organic boneless chicken breasts.
Pound the breasts thin with a meat mallet, spread the goat cheese in the middle with a little rosemary from the garden, roll up and secure with a few toothpicks, sear in a hot saute pan with olive oil, pour tomato sauce over and cover, simmer till done, about ten minutes. I recommend pasta to serve with it. Dinners done and I stayed out of the market today.

Home made pizza

Making pizza from scratch is not as hard as it seems and everyone can have a lot of fun making there own. The kids chose cheese and Italian sausage, I went upscale with extra virgin olive oil, garlic, Sonoma goat cheese, sausage and fresh arugula. The dough has only a few ingredients and goes together very fast, a electric mixer with a dough hook is a huge plus because it does all the mixing and kneading If you want to make your own pizza and bread doughs then you will need one.

Basic pizza dough recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup quality flour

1 cup lukewarm water (98F)

1 package dry bread yeast

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup good quality olive oil

1.Add yeast and sugar to water, let sit 15 minutes till bubbly

2.Add yeast/water to rest of ingredients, put in electric mixer

3.Mix for about 5 minutes or knead by hand for 15 minutes

4.Divide in half and roll out, put on baking sheets dusted with corn meal

5.Add your favorite toppings and place in 500 degree preheated oven

6.Bake till golden brown, around 10 minutes, cut and serve

Yield=2 small pizzas

My newest kitchen toy, the juicer

I have been wanting to get a juicer for a long time and now with the help of a huge industry professional discount, I bought one. Its a simple heavy duty commercial model that in the home kitchen will last forever. Also another huge plus is that its very easy to use and clean, most appliances end up on a kitchen shelf because they take too much time to clean. I now keep a big supply of fruits and vegetables on hand, ready to juice for a very healthy drink or to be added to one of my recipes. One of my tricks is to juice carrots and celery and add it to my basic tomato sauce recipe, it adds a lot of flavor and nutrition. Sometimes its hard to get children to eat there vegetables, now the pasta with tomato sauce does the job! here is a common juice I make daily.

Ingredients:

small knob of ginger
3 carrots
2 stalks celery
1 orange
1 apple
2-3 strawberries





Method: Wash all ingredients, core the apple and cut everything small enough to fit in the feed tube, thats it, no peeling required, makes about two cups.

Fresh mozzarella bruschetta

I love this in the summer! The most well known version is the classic fresh tomato, olive oil and basil. I had some very nice fresh mozzarella cheese and I thought this would be a simple way to eat it while maintaining its fresh flavor.

Ingredients:
the best fresh mozzarella cheese available
Italian style rustic loaf of bread
good quality extra virgin olive oil
sea or kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper
fresh garlic cloves

Method:
1.Fire up your grill, gas, charcoal or stove top pan
2. Slice the bread into half inch thick pieces
3. Brush the bread with the extra virgin olive oil
4. Place the bread slices on grill and cook till golden brown
remove from grill and rub the bread with the garlic cloves
5. Arrange bread slices on plate and top with sliced mozzarella cheese
6. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper

Note: A recipe with only four ingredients relies on using only the best ingredients, I served the bruschetta along with a baby arugula salad

Grilling lunch on the bay!

Sailing on San Francisco bay can be a lot of work and will make you real hungry, sometimes sandwiches are OK, but not today. Before I reached the very windy central bay area, I fired up a propane gas grill mounted on the back of the boat. With the auto pilot steering for me its time to cook, the menu is simple and easy, a pair of spicy locally made pork sausages on toasted sourdough rolls with whole grain brown mustard. Being a warm day on the water you can bet there also is plenty of beers and bottled waters on ice.

mint juleps for the Kentucky derby

Today is the Kentucky Derby which means there will be a mint shortage tomorrow, next to the famous horse race these drinks will be consumed by the gallon in little silver cups. The mint julep is the perfect southern hot weather drink next to lemonade, its sweet and icy cold with flavors of mint and smoky Kentucky bourbon. Bourbon whisky is regional and can only be from the Southern state of Kentucky. A popular and personal favorite of mine is Makers Mark Bourbon whisky with the signature red wax neck. The bottles are hand dipped and each person dipping the bottles has his or her own way of doing it, which gives the bottles there own distinct look. There are many variations of the Mint Julep, here's one:

Mint Julep recipe:

10 large sprig of fresh mint

2 cups good quality water

2 cups granulated sugar

1 bottle of good quality bourbon (Makers Mark)

lots of crushed ice

Method:

1. Boil the water and dissolve the sugar in it, cool.

2. In a pitcher add the mint and crush to a paste with a wooden spoon.

3. add ice and bourbon.

4. add sugar/water mixture (simple sugar) to taste.

more syrup for a sweeter drink.

5. fill glasses or silver cups with crushed ice and pour the good stuff in, garnish with mint.

A bottle might seem like a lot,
but it will be gone soon guarantied!

Berkeley's Takara Sake

There is a big Sake producer right off the local freeway in Berkeley California, I know its products well and have been driving by the Sake plant for years, Now is a good time as any for a visit. Takara Sake USA carries the "Sho Chiku Bai" brand as well as Mirin rice wine, plum wine and shochu. (a distilled spirit) Berkeley turns out to be a great place to make sake because of its access to fresh clean water from the Sierra mountain range and the huge amount of quality rice grown in the Sacramento valley and not to mention the port of Oakland for shipping products overseas. Check it out!

Takara Sake U.S.A., 708 Addison street, Berkeley, California 510 540 8250

fresh charred tomato salsa

Its almost Cinco de Mayo which might as well be a state holiday here in California. Mexican food is very common here but Mexico's holiday is a good excuse to go all out with the food and drinks. My daughter is having a party in her schools Spanish class and she wants to make chips and salsa, no problem lets do it! The most common salsa is using a mixture of fresh chopped tomato, onion, jalapeno, cilantro and lime juice, only we will grill the vegetables till they are charred and smoky then quickly blend the mixture so its still somewhat chunky.





Ingredients:
15 Roma tomatoes
1/2 Red onion, skewered
1 Jalapeno peppers
1/2 cilantro bunch
juice of 2 limes
kosher salt/pepper
water to thin if necessary
optional: 1 dried Ancho chili pepper

1. Cut tomatoes and peeled onions in half, lightly oil and place on hot grill.
2. Cut stem off peppers and cut out seeds for a less spicy salsa, place on grill.
3. Turn vegetables on grill so all sides are charred black, remove and cool.
4. Lightly remove most of black charred skins and put in blender with lime juice, cilantro and seasonings.
5. Pulse the blender till smooth, thin with the water if its too thick, check seasonings and serve with the best chips you can buy or make them yourself!

Note: the salsa was later voted "best salsa" in the class Cinco de Mayo salsa contest

Papaya, Tropical flavors right in your kitchen

When you come across a nice ripe fragrant papaya, buy it. You can use them for a lot of different recipes. Very good at breakfast in smoothies or with cereal, diced in a salad with chicken and a citrus dressing for lunch or the base of a tropical fruit salsa for grilled fish tacos. Sometimes simple is the best way with just a wedge of lime squeezed over it.There are many varieties around the world in different sizes and shapes, you can always use the papaya as your excuse to travel the world.

Spring sweet pea risotto

I found these beautiful and fresh English peas at the local farmers market. I had to buy a big bag because most of the year only frozen peas are available, you have to jump on them when you see them. This simple classic risotto is a great way of using them and they will still retain there bright color and fresh flavor.

Ingredients:

1 cup shelled fresh peas

dash olive oil

1 cup arborio rice

1 clove garlic, sliced

4 cups fresh made seasoned chicken stock, simmering

kosher salt and fresh pepper to taste

half cup fresh shaved Parmesan cheese

method:

1. Saute the rice and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes.

2. Slowly laddle stock into rice while stirring, wait for rice to absorb the stock before adding another laddle.

3. When last laddle goes into the rice add the peas, when the rice is creamy and tender it is ready to plate, check seasoning.

4. serve in pre-warmed plates with grated cheese sprinkled on top.

Rain on the grill? no problem

If your food drys out while cooking on the grill, just do it in the rain. Just kidding, but the show must go on. When family from out of town and a rained out softball game forces a quick game plan. I turn to the grill (this also keeps the stove clean) The menu is simple Latin flavors like ancho chili-lime grilled chicken, a big pot of spicy black beans, Spanish style rice, plenty of hot sauce and warmed flour tortillas.

Nothing like fresh herbs

I have always grown the hardy herbs such as rosemary, thyme and sage, but this year I planted parsley and cilantro from seed. They are growing really well and I am able to go outside and snip a bunch for what ever I am cooking. I am counting on them to reseed themselves for next years crop too.

Almost Summer grilled chicken skewers

I have looked at the cover on the outdoor grill all Winter long, I know it was not much of a Winter but I still had it covered. Anyway the cover is off and let the grilling begin. Over the weekend my Daughter and I bought some nice organic chicken from the local store and we discussed what we were going to make. I then remembered the long bamboo skewers in the kitchen drawer and I idea was born. We cut large cubes of the chicken and threaded on wet skewers. (so they won't burn) Then a quick marinate of fresh chopped rosemary, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice. We then placed the skewers on the hot clean preheated grill and turned every few minutes until done. We served one skewer per person along with red skinned mashed potatoes.

Curried yellow split peas with rock snapper

This was a fast one pan dinner of garlic, onion, curry paste simmered with yellow split peas, then when tender rock snapper fillets were quickly poached in the peas. A note when buying fish, check the label after purchase, I didn't and was charged $22 for 8 ounces of the wrong fish, was it worth it the price? yes!

shellfish risotto

I had family in town from Maui, Hawaii recently and it was a opportunity to do my verison of some of my favorite local flavors. First I started with Acme crusty sourdough bread and with cowgirl creamery Red hawk cheese, then a classic Caesar salad with home made croutons and dressing, for the main course it was prawn, mussel, clam and dungeness crab "cioppino style" risotto. They loved it and vowed to make back home in Maui, I hope to be there when that happens.