Category: On the Job

Ahhhhh, foie gras. Nothing says “I love you Mom”, like re-legalized fattened goose liver.

Seared foie gras/toasted brioche/pear and peach compote/tiny bantam egg.  Yes that egg is not a quail egg but a tiny chicken egg, from a fully grown tiny chicken.  Friends with chickens are good friends indeed and it’s always fun to bring new ingredients into peoples homes. This dish was an add on to a Mothers Day brunch I did for a lovely, awesome and entertaining San Diego family.  The menu below was highlighted by a fresh seafood pasta dish that had blue fin sashimi thrown in at the end, ohm nom nom.

French toast with Canadian syrup, butter, powdered sugar and bacon
Omelet (shaved ham/Gruyere/mushrooms/shallots/herbs)
Crepes with raspberry sauce and chantilly cream
Seared foie gras/toasted brioche/pear and peach compote/tiny chicken egg
Lobster bisque   
Potato leek soup with fresh bread              
Seafood pasta with fresh pasta
Ice cream profiteroles
Carrot cake bites
Macaroon blondies
Sundae bar

If you are in the San Diego area and looking to procure some foie; Iowa Meats and Siesel’s have it on hand for the same price as the interwebz. If you’re squeamish at the thought of it because of the “force” feeding aspect? Let me help a bit. The geese don’t care. They line up willfully like a chow line, then one by one, a farmer gently puts a funnel in the goose’s mouth/throat. They pour in a cup of grain, and send the bird on its way.

Recently I cooked a dinner in Rancho Santa Fe at a fancy shmancy resort. Twas a lovely group of ladies celebrating a 40th birthday party at Rancho Valencia.  

This Halibut with herbs was roasted over charred spring onion tops and is perched over English pea shell veloute, sauteed arugula and fresh English peas with lemon and honey aside roasted baby beets and fried purple spring onion.  This little dish was accompanied by several other dishes.  I leave a little mystery to each party depending on what direction the market takes us.  Here are some recent items I’ve done of late.  The first list is plated multi-course while the other is a casual family style menu.

Blue fin Sashimi with turnip tangerine noodles, salted bacon avocado, garlic croutons and fresh aioli
Perfect pork meatball with almond oil poached carrots, laurel roasted crushed potatoes
Grilled baby eggplant and tomato salad (baby eggplants and tomatoes, grilled and marinated)
Duck fat poached baby potatoes with duck broth and chives
Fresh Hawaiian Opah with ricotta gnocchi, porcini broth, gai lan and truffled gremolata
Red and gold beet stack with roasted spring onion, pistachio oil, orange supreme
Pear flan with poached and broiled pear

Apps:
Pickled cucumber, salmon tartare, wasabi peas, togarashi aioli
Buttered radish with sea salt
Avocado toast bites
Mini twice baked potatoes

Dinner:
Local halibut roasted over charred leeks with leek and squash blossom tossed celery root
Duck lumpia with sherrry/soy/truffle/chive dipping sauce
Roasted beets with beef marrow toasted sourdough, espresso walnut cream, and zaatar dusted carrot chips
Mushroom lentils and roasted pearl onions with balsamic/honey arugula
Beurre rouge stuffed pirogi with pepper grilled NY steak and smoked garlic spinach
Chocolate torte, raspberry sauce, freeze dried strawberries and vanilla/cardamom chantilly cream

Aluminum foil is one of the most important cooking tools in the history of man.

Aluminium foil. Yes I added an extra i…Saying it like the Brits is delightful. Say it… alu-min-ium; gives it a certain dignity that only the English can extol. Aluminum foil is one of the most important cooking tools in the history of man.

Foil acts as my Mcgyverist safety blanket. Whether I’m working or camping or wrapping a lovely holiday gift, I can’t imagine a world without it.  A little dramatic I know, but it really is an item I never forget for cooking and camping.  Check out these little bundles of joy we made over Easter weekend.  Meatloaf balls that were easy, fun and all kinds of delicious.  Just wrap ’em tight and throw ’em in the coals.  Give the kiddos some tongs, get yourself a beverage and call dinner…done.       

                                                                                                                      Just in case you grew up in a black hole and have no idea how to make meatloaf.  You can find a recipe like this, or, wait for my next update which I guess will be a meatloaf recipe :-|  Looking forward to the dessert versions which are chocolate cake cooked in a hollowed out orange and wrapped in  aluminium foil.

I know you know what water chestnuts are; they come in  small cans, sliced, quartered or whole. After passing them up for years, I recently picked up some fresh ones at 99 Ranch Market.

After fumbling my way through peeling them I just boiled them simply. Wow, much more flavor then what I grew up eating as the crunchy mystery vegetable in my cashew chicken.  When I found this video, I realized I wasn’t missing anything in regards to peeling them, such as blanching or something; you just get after it.  I did find that nipping the tops off and boiling with most of the skin on produced a flavor closer to artichoke.  That flavor was extremely exciting for me since before that, water chestnut flavor was empty.  Added them to salads that were heavy with fresh peas and strawberries.  

Arrowheads be cray. Very surprised these aren’t common and popular. Steamed or boiled they are a starchier sweet potato/parsnip.  Fried, they are light and wonderfully crisp.  Not only are they tasty, but they grow easily, peel easily and cook easily. (Bullet point of this presentation…they’re easy.) Shaved straight into a fryer, they easily crisp and brown to potato chip perfection. Perfection if you love Pringles…cause they taste just like friggin’ Pringles.  Also known as a Duck Potato, Wapato or Katniss.  Yes Katniss, like the heroine from the moving pictures.

It doesn’t matter how or why inspiration hits you, just as long as it does. For me, usually a little vacation gets me off to a yummy year. New ideas and experiences stoke my mental fires.

Looks good don’t it?  That my friends, was a wonderful bite we had in Oakland, at a place called Hopscotch.  Oyster, uni and salmon roe; it was like taking a bite of clean, buttery ocean.  I just wanted to show that pic because it’s beautiful and it was the impetus for being off to a yummy year. What I wanted to talk about is what I found on my way to a dinner party.  Didn’t really know how to best utilize use ’em, but figuring it out is part of the fun.

What a cool little fruit, like sour lime caviar.  The pulp is separated into perfect spheres and is quite easy to remove.  I ended up making a “salsa” for some lamb meatballs, the caviar texture and look made it a great citric additive. The meatball were perfect by themselves, but that pop of citrus really brought them home.

The one pictured has some pink rolling through but most are clear.  The skin is usable but powerful, so use with restraint.

Another year and another Louisiana style crustacean boil.  I’ve now been a part of 5 boils, and I tell you what…it just keeps gettin’ better!  But this year we were boiling in the cold because the weather gave us a hectic jen ne sais quoi.

Big brother is watching

My big brother was visiting and we wanted to recreate our boil from 2013. Not only did we do it…we did it perfectly.  Well, the potatoes were a touch over done but everything else was ridiculous.  Following the same basic procedure as last time, but letting the crabs soak about 30 minutes less.  I liked that because the crab didn’t absorb too much of the boil liquid. Don’t get me wrong, the boil spice and flavor is great, but I don’t think it needs to inundate everything. There is plenty of spice to be had in the corn, potatoes and sausage.  

So maybe boiling in the cold also reffers to our spicy palates.

As you can see from the pics, we went halvsies on the crab and cooked some lobsters as well.  Asian markets here have lobsters at around $9lb while the crab is $13lb.   Boy was it great to have both bugs.  I found the crab flavor more pleasurable, but the large meaty chunks of the lobster were a big hit.  
So, on a rainy December San Diego Saturday, 17 crab pickin’ amateurs got after it with the perfect amount of everything important.  

Next time…

Next time I’d like to make my own boil seasoning that is more representative of my home town.  Some amalgamation of California fresh with a Mexican accent. Not that I don’t love the flavors of the Southern style, I just want something that’s ours, something no one else has ever experienced.

Only slight changes to the original recipe posted in 2013.  We added the crabs, brought it back up to a full boil, covered and turned it off for an hour. The original recipe was to boil for three minutes and steep for an hour and a half. Which is too much  unneeded heat.

Bread pudding is a bit passé; but so what, so are a lot of things.  It became lazy and uninteresting because it was good and got beaten to death.  As a brunch or dessert, it’s a lovely fall/winter change of pace. Just give it a little originality.

Keeping moisture while adding interest is the goal.  Interest lies in your own tastes and desires, but moisture is the technical part.  Too much bread is often the fatal mistake, as is too little fat.  Same with holiday stuffing; after all, that’s just a savory, slightly looser bread pudding right?  This pumpkin version is a great way to incorporate that familiar holiday pumpkin flavor if you’re pied out.  If you’re not into the Guinness syrup, use pecan caramel, or raspberry coulis and chocolate sauce…you get the idea.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding with
Pumpkin Butter and Guinness Syrup

4T butter
¾lb bread, torn up (French, Brioche, croissant, what’evs)
6 large eggs
3c whole milk
1 cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
¾c sugar
1T vanilla extract
½tsp cinnamon

In a large bowl, whisk everything together and pour over the bread.  Toss to coat and let it soak in the fridge for an hour, stirring twice. Butter a 9” x 13” pan, pour in the mixture, cover with parchment and depress to compact.  Bake at 350° for 45-60 minutes.

¼c maple syrup
2T pumpkin puree
1/8tsp powdered ginger
1/8tsp fresh ground nutmeg
½c salted butter

Boil syrup until reduced by half then whisk in the pumpkin, spices and butter.

1/2c brown sugar
1 bottle Guinness

Combine in a small pot over medium heat. Reduce by 3/4 or until syrupy with thick bubbles.

We had my uncle over for a birthday dinner and ended up blowing my own mind. The gift of giving turned out to be a gift to myself as well.

The Unc

Uncle John has had my food countless times, just never in the multi-coursed style I do for work. Hell…I’ve never had it! I mean…I taste as I go, I cook all the time at home or for family but, I’ve just never been able to sit and enjoy the composed finished product as it is intended to be eaten. Same for my wife, bless her heart. She hears the details of the nights events with nary a crumb to speak of as her own.

Eating my own food?

There was one time back in ’07 while living in the bay area. I was able to sit down for something like this, but it was wine focused. The feel was much different then. Not being wine focused or planned allows a sense of freedom that feels relaxing. Speaking of relaxing; this marks the first dinner of this magnitude I’ve done while riding the sweet, sweet wave of a consistently filled vodka tonic, gigitty. Please keep in mind that I dropped the garnish ball on a few courses because of drinking, socializing, enjoying myself, parenting and keeping things relatively clean. Here is a photographic run through of what we had.

Pictures will never do this dinner justice because the depth and character of certain courses can’t come through this medium. The duck fat, fried potatoes in duck broth were luscious. A pork patty/meatball over the fresh pasta was ethereal. These roasted veggies were also shockingly good. Ahhhhh, the gift of giving was marvelous.

...relax, and float downstream. That lyric induces a dreamy feeling. However, instead of “turn off your mind.” I always appreciated the line I heard from another artist that said, “turn on your mind.” Seems more present.

A romantic dinner for two recently in Rancho Santa Fe was just lovely.  It was a staycation at home, for two people smart enough to actually set the weekend aside for themselves.  Taking some time to just relax at home, enjoy their home, and enjoy each other. Doesn’t that sound nice…I love marriage.  I’m always elated to cook for people that recognize the need to slow down and enjoy each other. Not that I’m that good at making time away from the rigmarole off life But I appreciate it when it’s done.

After the hors d’oeuvres and the first course, I can always feel the energy mellow down into satisfaction and relaxation. A result of good food and a situation handled. A contented vibe melts through the air while they sit back and enjoy what gastronomic surprise comes next. Maybe the key to the magic is to turn off your mind and turn on a different part?

Met with friends at Turtle Rock Ridge Winery and Vineyard for a wonderful and relaxing late afternoon.  (I’m not reviewing this place, just telling a story.)

I haven’t been wine tasting in Temecula for 10+ years.  Ramona has been my local wine region of choice and I enjoy it every time. Ramona wineries are chill and unpretentious. They have that approachable family vibe that Temecula did in the early 90’s.

 Now…I don’t usually do sangria, but it was hot, so I did.  Such a good decision; so damn good.  It’s a berry sangria that is balanced and illegally refreshing.  What’s better?  How about Sangria Jam made from the wine soaked berries that get strained from the sangria.  I’m not exaggerating when I say this is the best jam since the first time anyone has made jam…ever.  I’ve tried to be patient and use it for fancy desserts, or souped up PB and J’s, but I never get passed maowing it by the spoonful.

Turtle Rock has followed suit in the growing trend of breweries and wineries allowing tasting in a family friendly environment.  Parents get to relax with a glass and kids get to tweak out on legos and root beer; but without it being a restaurant.  For that, we went to Jeremy’s On The Hill.  Along with it being our friends favorite restaurant, it was nice to eat somewhere in East County that could be in North Park or Little Italy.  Fresh, local, real food from people that love families and community.