Panzanella Salad

This simple salad with a Italian origin only has a few ingredients, but relays on using only the best quality tomatoes and Basil that are in season. The next component of the salad is using good local artisan bread and extra virgin olive oil. A good well stocked farmers market should have everything you need. Classically this bread uses day old stale bread, but why would you use old bread in a fresh salad?

Ingredients:
fresh ripe tomatoes, rough cut (heirloom if possible)

Rustic artisan bread, cut into cubes

Sweet basil, rough chopped

Garlic clove, chopped

Sweet red onion, sliced thin

Extra virgin olive oil

Good quality vinegar (I am using Spanish sherry vinegar)

Sea salt/fresh cracked pepper

Mix all ingredients and let sit for awhile to let the flavors blend. Serve at room temperture.

Options can include: olives, parmeasan cheese, greens, white anchovies, grilled tuna, etc.

Ahi Tuna Stuffed with Dungeness Crab Salad

I did a small lunch today and this was the First course. I took a 2 ounce piece of raw sushi grade ahi tuna and put it between two plastic sheets, then carefully pounded it thin and flat. Next I made a simple crab salad with 2 ounces fresh lump crab meat, grated ginger, chopped scallions, lime juice, olive oil, a dash of soy sauce and a pinch of sugar to balance out the lime. I placed the salad on one end of the tuna, next I topped it with diakon radish sprouts and rolled it up. That's it, ready to eat with a drizzle of soy sauce and ginger. I served a chilled Haricot vert and radish salad with it.

Note: The key to this dish is using fresh crab meat and the freshest quality tuna you can buy.

Fresh Saffron Pasta

A decided on making a simple fresh pasta tonight using saffron, it will give a golden color as well flavor. Saffron needs to soak in a warm liquid to let the flavor and color steep out, very much like making a tea. Once you have this golden saffron water, you use it as the liquid in making pasta dough. Saffron is the stigma of the crocus flower and it takes about 14.000 flowers to make up a single ounce. A one ounce tin of Spanish saffron will set you back about $40-60 dollars depending on where you get it, I buy mine from a no frills Indian warehouse market in Berkley, California. Its the most expensive spice you can buy, but it will last you a long time and its good to have on hand for lots of recipes from around the world.

After rolling out the dough, I hand cut the sheets into wide ribbons and into boiling salted water. Only about a minute and its done. I made a quick saute of yellow onions, parsley, garlic, bacon and peas. Everything is carefully tossed together and its plate up time.

Thai Style Beef Salad

Next best thing to having steak and potatoes one night, is using the extra steak the second day. With a hot day today of 95 degrees, my first thought is to make a salad using the extra cooked beef. Maybe I will make a rustic style tomato, beef and bread salad? I choose instead to make a spicy Asian beef, crunchy vegetable and rice noodle salad. Here's how I did it.

the dressing:
1 inch knob grated ginger root
1 clove garlic
juice of one lime
1 t chili flakes
1 dash sugar
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 bunch cilantro
3 sprigs mint
1 dash fish sauce*
blend all ingredients till smooth

The salad:
1 peeled and shaved carrot
1 peeled and shaved cucumbers
1/2 package wide rice noodles* that have been soaked in hot water till soft, drained well
1 T chopped mint
1 T chopped basil
1 thin sliced jalapeno
1 pound Medium rare flank steak, chilled and sliced thin

Mix well with the dressing and arrange on a plate with the sliced beef on top, garnish with sliced green onions. Crunchy chopped peanuts would give good flavor and texture.
Serves 2-4 people

* Available at well stocked stores and Asian markets

Meat & Potatoes My Way

It is not offen that I eat red meat, but sometimes you get a craving and you have to go with it. I chose beef flank steak for its flavor and texture and the price won't kill my bank account. To start I did a quick marinade of quality red wine vinegar, fresh garden rosemary, crushed garlic and extra virgin olive oil which the steak was placed in to absorb flavor. Yukon gold potatoes were cut and tossed with salt, pepper and olive oil, then into a 400F oven to roast. My favorite sauce for meat and fish is Salsa Verde, made with garden parsley, capers, olive oil, garlic and lemon juice which is blended smooth. It is a strong tangy sauce that is addicting. By this time the meat had gained flavor from the marinade and reached room temperature which will aid in cooking. No grill tonight, so the blazing hot broiler worked great to sear and brown the flank steak. When done to a nice medium rare and a quick rest, its time to slice thin and serve along with the sauce and potatoes.

Note: When meat comes off the heat, the internal juices are so hot they will boil out if the meat is cut right away, when the meat cools, the juices will reabsorb into the meat fibers and not flow out and cause the meat to be dry.

Summer Dinner

Its June, warm and the kids are out of school, Summers here and its time to make warm weather foods. While doing the evening market stroll, I came across first of the season sweet white corn and golden chanterelle mushrooms for a good price. I had the idea of doing a salad using roasted chicken, chanterelles, corn and arugula with a simple dressing. I prepped and cooked all the individual ingredients and just tossed them together with the chicken on top of the salad as the center piece. I salad would be great on its own if you wanted to leave out the chicken. The addition of panchetta or smoky bacon would add nice flavor as well.

The Chicken:
organic deboned whole chicken legs
season with sea salt/fresh black pepper
Pan sear till golden brown and finish roasting 20-30 minutes in 400F oven

The salad:
Sweet white corn, shucked and briefly sauteed in olive oil
Golden chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned and sliced and quickly sauteed
Washed baby arugula


The Vinaigrette:
Sherry wine Vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt/fresh pepper
Whisk well

Roast red onions:
1 peeled red onion, sliced and sauteed in olive oil and a splash of quailty sherry vinegar.

Fresh Strawberries

Last year I planted strawberries for the kids to munch on, I was surprised that they made it through the winter and came back. The bush is full of big berries right now and I wish I planted more. I also feel good knowing that the kids can eat them because they are 100% organic.

Holiday Weekend Dinner

Its the holiday weekend and the official kick off to the summer season, Fire up the grill right? No this year its cloudy and cold with rain and fresh snow in the mountains. With the last breath of winter I decided on cold weather comfort food. Slow braised chicken legs with tomatoes and garlic over a pool of creamy soft polenta.

For the chicken:

2 organic whole chicken legs

1 t chopped rosemary

1 t chopped thyme

3 Roma tomatoes, large dice

5 cloves garlic

1 small onion, sliced

1 dash white wine

1 cup chicken stock

Kosher salt

fresh pepper

1. Season the chicken legs with salt/pepper and herbs, brown the legs in a pan with a dash of olive oil, add chopped tomatoes, garlic, stock and wine.

2. Cover pan and simmer for 45 minutes till tender.

3. Remove cover and reduce liquid till slightly thickened.

For the polenta:

3 cups chicken stock or water

Salt/pepper to taste

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Bring liquid to a simmer and slowly stir in polenta with a wire whisk to prevent lumps.

2. Slowly cook while stirring occasionally (about 20-30 minutes)

3. Stir in the cheese and check for proper seasoning, the cheese might give enough salt.

To serve: Spoon soft polenta on to plate, place one leg on top and spoon sauce over, can be garished with fresh chopped parsley.

Note: There is a lot of options to this recipe, try adding any of the following: chili flakes, capers, olives, fennel bulb, brocolini, wilted spinach, etc.... Any remaining polenta will get firm when cool and can be cut and grilled for other dishes.

Greek Style Eggplant

Did the common weeknight market stroll wondering what to make for dinner, when a perfect eggplant stood out and become the center piece of what was going on the plate. Olive oil drenched eggplant with green olives, feta cheese, fresh oregano and tomato was the plan. First the eggplant is sliced thick and salted with kosher salt to draw out what can be bitter juices. Next a quick saute with olive oil, then a scattering of olives, Greek feta cheese, parsley, oregano from the garden and a touch of Italian tomato paste. Served warm at room temperature all the flavors come through and its amazing! love this stuff. Give it a try as a side dish with grilled fish on a warm summer night.

Slovakia

Slovakia is a very common food in Greece and its neighboring countries, normally it is made up of chunks of marinated lamb that is skewered and grilled. I did a verison of this with large chunks of pork called "Souvlakia Hirina"marinated with red wine vinegar, lemon juice, oregano, cumin, garlic, kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper, this was allowed to marinade for a few hours then threaded onto bamboo skewers that have been soaked in water to prevent burning. It was faster for me to broil these instead of firing up the grill. Basted with marinade as it cooked to a crispy brown. In addition to the meat I rolled out some bread dough and cooked these small rounds on the pizza stone to resemble pita bread, a simple Greek style cucumber and cherry tomato salad was made also. To go with the skewers a simple plain yogurt sauce was made with shredded cucumber, lemon juice and ground cumin. It all came together and was Delicious.

For the Souvlakia:

1 pound large diced pork

1 cup red wine vinegar

1 T dried oregano

1 T ground cumin

1 dash kosher salt

1 t ground cinnamon

4 crushed garlic cloves

Yogurt sauce:

1 cucumber, shredded

1 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup chopped mint

1/2 cup chopped parsley

dash lemon juice

1 crushed garlic clove

ground pepper

Citrus Trees

It is always good to have a few citrus trees in your backyard. The juice and zest from orange, lemon and limes is very usefull in cooking as while as in making a varity of drinks. I have a meyer lemon and a kaffir lime tree in my back yard, its great to be able to go outside and grab citrus when you need it. The kaffir lime is not very common here in California, but it grows well because of the warm weather. Its use is mainly the leafs of the tree. The leaves are very fragrant and used in Southeast Asian cuisine. If you ever had a Thai coconut curry then you will have tasted it, it is a addicting flavor and I'm glad I have a tree close by. Look for the leaves in the frozen section of good Asian markets.

Gnocchi

I was watching a cooking show on cable with my daughter and the chef was making potato gnocchi, we looked at each other and said "lets make it". Gnocchi are small potato dumplings from Italy. The process is a lot like making pasta, but using cooked potato along with the flour and eggs. Start with whole unpeeled russet potatoes and simmered in water till tender about 45 minutes, remove and drain, while still hot, peel skins and pass through a potato ricer, allow to cool. Place potatoes on work surface and make a well in the center. Next add whole egg, salt and sprinkle the flour over the potatoes, gently knead the dough till it comes together into a ball. Cut into smaller chunks and roll these into long one inch thick pieces. Cut these into one inch pieces, dust with flour to keep them from sticking to each other. Using the back of a fork, press and roll to give it little ridges. These ridges will help hold the sauce. At this point you simply cook in simmering salted water til they float to the surface, remove with a slotted spoon and toss with your favorite sauce or cool down in ice water to save for later. Make a big batch because they freeze well too. Try adding fresh chopped herbs such as basil when making the dough.

Ingredients:

3 pounds russet potatoes

1 whole egg

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Yield = 4 entree or 8 appetizer

Quick & easy dinner for the kids

Me and my young daughter/Sous chef were thinking about what to make for dinner, I'm sure it would save time to plan and shop for the whole week, but we just buy and cook what we feel like having each day. A package of corn tortillas at home set the tone, next was a can of mild enchilada sauce, cheddar cheese, black beans and ground turkey. We browned the turkey and layered all ingredients in a shallow pan. Covered and baked for about a hour and it was ready. With the look of lasagna and the taste of enchiladas, we liked it a lot. There are other options like choice of meat, beans and hotness of sauce. Garnish with cilantro, avocado and sour cream if you like.

So much cheese, so little time

I decided on a new cheese to try with dinner tonight. A soft ripened goat with a ash rind from Spain called Cana de Cabra. Its a small barrel shape that is creamy with a slight sharpness maybe from the ash coating? It was really good and great with crusty bread and a glass of Pinot Grigio. The price was good at $3.50 for a small four ounce wheel. Remember to eat all cheese at room temperature so it will soften and you will get the best flavor.

A trip to Joe's Taco Lounge

There is a lot of trial and error when searching for a good taco joint, one of my favorites is Joe's taco lounge in Mill Valley, California. Its a very funky little restaurant that I think used to be a diner. It is small with counter seating in the middle of the room, there is a narrow aile in the center for the waitstaff to serve. On one wall are shrines to deecated to Jesus and there is also a small narrow shelf that wraps around the restaurant filled with every kind of hot sauce bottle you can think of. Grab a few to try with your food, but if you want the real good stuff, ask the guys in the kitchen for the snakebite sauce (it will bite you and its deadly hot) The menu has all the usual tacos, burritos and enchiladas which are all really good.The desserts here are also good and are made with fruit sorbet served in there hollow fruit shells (mango, lemon, etc) For drinks go with a Mexican beer or sangria, skip the cheap box wine. For the kids there is a also good menu, have them try the "build your own" mini tostadas. A big plus to the location is the famous local dive bar next door (2AM Bar) watch a game on the big screens and then go next door to Joe's for lunch or a late night snack.
I give it 4 out of 5 points

Joe's Taco Lounge 382 Miller Ave, Mill Valley California

(415) 383 8164