Garden Fresh

A side dish straight from the side yard. Steamed carrots, yellow and green beans and snap peas with zesty carrot top pesto. Nasturtium flowers and leaves as a flavorful garnish for the peppery taste James loves.

Two Kinds Of Beans

A trip to the farmer's market and a vegetable dinner wasn't far behind. A bundle of fresh green beans instead of calling out for crisp cooking and  tangy lemony vinaigrette as they do in summer seemed to ask to be slow cooked until sweet and melt in your mouth tender. I started a pot with chopped onions, chopped carrots, crushed garlic cloves and olive oil. After about 5 minutes I added in the beans and a good sized pinch of salt. While the covered pot simmered I splashed in a little chicken broth here and there to make sure the beans didn't scorch. After 40 minutes what emerged was in no way a modern dish but comfort food from years gone by before haute cuisine gave vegetables a new identity and a new resilience on our plates.

Another market treat -- fresh shell beans, right from the pod. I dropped my shelled beans into a pot of boiling salted water with a smashed clove of garlic and one bay leaf. The beans simmered for about 30 minutes until tender and creamy. While still warm, inspired by Marcella Hazan's fresh bean salad, I dressed the beans with a vinaigrette of juice of one lemon (a beautiful shiny Meyer right off our tree), 1/4 cup olive oil, minced garlic, crushed red peppers, 2 anchovy filets, chopped parsley and S&P. I tossed the warm beans in the dressing along with a handful of fresh arugula and parmesan cheese. The arugula wilted slightly and soaked up the lemony dressing making a dish as good in summer and it is in late fall -- whenever fresh beans are ready for harvest.
Two Italian dishes, two types of beans one weekend dinner from our little kitchen in the valley.

Big On Flavor Not On Looks

Yes I know, a hot chicken mess on a plate.

To be honest the adventure of not having an oven (well at least in the kitchen I use day to day) is losing it's charm. I had no idea how much I rely on it and now I have to think about our dinners in a whole new way.  I could have roasted this bird in the other oven, walking across the yard feeling like Martha Washington's household "help" trundling off to the summer kitchen carrying pots and pans. I just didn't want to (besides I was drying yesterday's tomato harvest in there). So I started to scratch my head for a stove top, not fried, one pot easy chicken dinner. 

I figured I'd start with bacon, pancetta to be exact since it is what I had in the fridge. I tossed chopped pancetta and onion in a dutch oven with butter and olive oil and then added in a few cloves of garlic. After a couple minutes I put in the seasoned chicken -- skin side down -- and a couple of cubed potatoes. My pan wasn't big enough for everything and so the chicken didn't get quite as brown and crispy as I would have liked. None the less I let the chicken cook for around 10 minutes and then added in about 1/4 cup white wine and the same measure of water. I brought the liquid up to a simmer and let the covered pan bubble away for another 15 minutes until the potatoes were tender and the chicken just cooked through. I served the bird, savory sauce, potatoes and all over fresh steamed green beans.

"This is better than our turkey," James said recalling our Thanksgiving dinner out and knowing just how to get my attention. Looks or not I might just try this dish again.

Start The Weekend Right

Time for steak. Our CSA meat package held a beautiful grass-fed sirloin steak begging to be pan-fried. I started a skillet with thinly sliced onions and a bit of garlic sautéing in butter and olive oil. About 15 minutes later I removed the onions from the pan, added a bit more oil, and laid in the steak aggressively seasoned with S&P. After around 5 minutes on each side the steak was set to rest on a platter while I added about 1/2 cup of bourbon to the pan. The bourbon reduced by about half and then the onions went back in along with a knob of butter and the juices that accumulated under the resting steak to smooth out the sauce. I served the steak on top of fluffy brown rice to soak up the delicious sauce.
As a side a dish from James' childhood -- green beans and potatoes long stewed in bacon and chicken broth. More delicious sauce to soak up.

Pork And Beans

Beans and potatoes from the garden and thin slices of pork for a fast dinner. I sliced the potatoes and popped them in a saucepan with olive oil and a sprig of rosemary. The beans -- a mix of yellow wax, Romanos, and flashy purple-striped dragon tongue -- were sautéed in hot oil with shallots, garlic, chiles, and plenty of oregano. Cherry tomatoes and a splash of balsamic vinegar turned the beans into a warm salad. While the potatoes bubbled and the beans softened I quickly dipped the pork slices in beaten, seasoned egg and crusted them in a thick, crunchy coating of bread crumbs and parmesan cheese, a greta way to use up stale bread. I pan fried the pork in olive oil and butter for a crispy exterior James loves. I topped the pork Milanese with a zesty radish green pesto sauce.
"Don't forget how to make this one," James said while carrying dishes to the sink. Not a chance!

Chicken And Gone Again

A plate of home. Heavily spiced high heat roast chicken (50 minutes at 450º) stuffed with home grown whole cippolini onions, sautéed zucchini and green beans from out garden and oven baked potatoes. Nothing fancy but plenty of leftovers for a first meal after I've left. Chicago here I come.

Southern Vegetables

We couldn't resist the steam rising off tonight's dinner. James snapped this pic on the way to the table. A Southern style vegetable dinner, flavored -- to be more diet friendly -- with smoky flavored turkey bacon and chicken broth. Long cooking stewed green beans and potatoes, quickly sautéed bitter greens (turnip, radish, spring onions and mustard greens from our own garden) and buttery soft buttermilk cornbread for sopping up the flavorful "pot likker."

Chicken Dinner

I clearly have not gotten the hang of photography in my new kitchen yet. I never thought I would, but oh how I miss the clean blue light of my Viking range hood. Nevertheless dinners are inching up to our old standard.

Tonight I offered James creamy parmesan polenta topped with a pan fried chicken breast cutlet, coated in panko crumbs and plenty of fresh herbs. On the side a sautéed tangle of Romano beans scored at the nearby farmers market. Working loosely off a recipe from Chez Panisse I started some olive oil heating in a pan and flavored it by letting chopped shallot and garlic sauté in the oil for about 3 minutes. I removed the aromatics and added in the beans, cut in to 2 inch lengths, along with a sprig of rosemary, some dried oregano and fresh thyme (the original recipe called for only fresh oregano but we didn't have any)-- and tossed it all around in the oil (here and there) for about 10 minutes until they were just tender and brown in spots. Then I added back in the garlic and shallots along with two small chopped tomatoes and cooked the mixture for about 2 minutes more. After cooling for a minute or so I drizzled the beans with about a tsp of balsamic vinegar and served the dish room temperature over the hot polenta.

James went back for seconds.

Dinner With Eric and Shari

We started dinner with another great appetizer courtesy of Nancy Silverton. Her caprese with roasted tomatoes is always a hit around here. The September issue of Bon Appetit featured Silverton's recipe for home made ricotta with oven baked peperonata. We have a yard full of peppers and though I have made ricotta many times the goal of dinner was to use up ingredients in the fridge and freezer so I spread the pre-made ricotta on garlic rubbed crostini and topped with the pepper stew. I added a little olive oil to the mix and sprinkled the crostini with chopped basil for rave reviews.
Mini potatoes from our garden doused in olive oil and roasted in a hot oven (450º) with rosemary sprigs until they were crisp outside and tender inside. A perfect way to use those tiny potatoes. The steaks were the last of our store from Hearst Ranch. I marinated them in garlic, olive oil and lemon and gave them a turn on the grill.
Oven roasted green beans and grilled squash. I'd never tried roasting the beans before and I will certainly do that again. Tossed in olive oil and salt, after 15 minutes at 425º these were a real treat.
Simple ice cream sundaes for dessert. A couple days ago I put aside a bowl of plums, nectarines and grapes that were a bit past their prime. Today I cut the fruit into small pieces, mixed it with sugar and delicious, flowery Navarro vineyards Gewurztraminer grape juice and bubbled it down to a loose jam to use as a syrup with pistachio gelato and marsala whipped cream. I served cornmeal thyme cookies on the side.

Steamed Vegetable Salad

Vegetables tend to pile up in the drawer. They look so beautiful in the garden or at the farmer's market and I tuck them away in the crisper, usually with no idea of what I intend to make. Today I looked in and realized it was time to put those veggies to work. James and I are popping out of town and I didn't want them to wait on our return. So and unusual combo of vegetables turned into a summer salad. I steamed broccoli rabe and yellow beans and dressed them (while still warm so they soaked up the flavor) in olive oil, S&P. Then I roasted a couple of red peppers over a flame (right on the gas stove) and added them, peeled and chopped, into the bowl. Before serving I dressed the mixture with lemon juice, more olive oil, oregano, chile peppers, peperoncini, and a sprinkle of feta cheese. I cooked some quinoa in the slightly colored and flavored water left from steaming the vegetables and brought this salad of necessity to the table. A cleaner fridge and a summer salad dinner. James never suspected.

Pesto Spaghetti

Every now and then (more often than not) I wake up in the middle of the night and flip around for something to watch on TV. Last night I caught Chef Sara Foster of Foster's Market, a cook I have long admired, showing Martha Stewart how to make a green bean salad with arugula pesto.

Through the day I couldn't stop thinking about that pesto. I had all the ingredients in the house. I just wasn't sure how James feels about pesto -- whether an uncooked sauce on his pasta would be a disappointment.

None the less I loaded the food processor with 4 cups of arugula, 1 cup of shredded parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup of slivered almonds, juice of one lemon, 4 peeled cloves of garlic, S&P, and 1/2 cup of olive oil. I pulsed a couple times along the way adding ingredients and gave everything a final whirl to arrive at a chunky texture. I cooked green beans and peas in boiling water and tossed them, along with the drained pasta and a good sized dollop of the sauce for James' dinner.

This pesto is so delicious I may forget all about basil. I will certainly make it again, and I may conveniently forget it is not my recipe. It would be perfect as a dressing for summer salads, spread onto a grilled sandwich, or as a topping for house appetizer favorite caprese salad. It is light and rich and playful all a once.

James went back for seconds.

Grilled Halibut with Smashed Potates

I'm trying to get back on the diet -- I have been pretty lax lately. And so I plunged head first with the dieter's stand-by -- grilled fish. For me I coated halibut filets with a mixture of chopped parsley, oregano, and basil and grilled them over high heat for about 3-4 minutes a side. For James I took a grilled, herb-coated filet and served it over smashed potatoes (boiled potatoes cooked in a skillet with olive oil, sliced shallots, garlic, crushed red chiles and smashed down into the hot oil to make brown and crispy bits) with a drizzle of brown butter and fried basil leaves.

Diet dinner does double duty.

One pot dinner?

I love Thomas Keller. He is probably my favorite chef and I aspire to his totally unachievable greatness.

But, one of his greatest talents is his uncanny ability to turn a one pot peasant dish into a kitchen full of dirty pans and trays and seemingly endless hands on work.

Admittedly I was particularly proud of the carrots in our yard and wanted to find a dish to highlight them. Pride, as they say, goes before a fall.

But, the asparagus in the fridge was calling my name. It was just so fresh and springy. This was no time to listen to reason or be seduced by haute French chef Daniel Boulud's one pot soup.

While mindlessly flipping through the Ad Hoc at Home cookbook, looking for what the super chef might do with asparagus, I had already spied a recipe for Spring Vegetable Garbure. The photograph showed spring produce at it's just harvested best, food porn for gardeners. Didn't the carrots, potatoes, fava beans and green beans I had labored over and raised from sprouts deserve this royal treatment? I was hooked.

I didn't know at the time but a Garbure is a thick vegetable stew from Southwest France often flavored with pork, and sausage or duck confit. Keller's recipe starts with cooking down carrots, leeks, and onions (2 cups each) under a cover of pork skin -- yes the skin off a slab of bacon -- for 35 minutes. Once the fat has rendered out and the vegetables are soft he instructs to remove the pork and add in 8 cups of chicken broth and simmer for 20 minutes more. That pot is drained (into a second pot) to leave the flavorful broth that is the soup's base.

Meanwhile a host of other vegetables: fava beans, English peas, green beans, cabbage wedges, and asparagus are individually blanched in boiling water (the fava beans are peeled), shocked in an ice bath and laid on paper towels to drain. Small creamer potatoes (both red and yellow) are peeled and cut into eighths and brought to a boil along with a sachet of bay leaves, thyme, peppercorns, and garlic then cooked until tender. The carrots get a similar treatment with a teaspoon of honey and another sachet. Five pots, two trays, three colanders, a drawer full of utensils and counting.

"This looks healthy," James said as he pulled his spoon through the brightly colored bowl. He nodded as I, his dinner time tour guide, pointed out the ingredients that had come from our yard. "It's good," he said reaching for another slice of the cheese toast I offered on the side. "We can eat healthy," he declared.

Now I just have to worry about the dishes. Sigh.

Our Friends Eric and Shari

Another lazy holiday weekend evening. Friends for a barbeque.

As always I thought I'd be home sooner, but as I dashed in the door at 5 PM with friends coming at 5:30 and no appetizer planned I dashed for the pantry and lo and behold two jars of ready to eat treats just waiting for crackers or crostini. Last fall when our garden was spilling over I canned up jars of "hot" (not really too hot) peppers and "pickled eggplant". For just such an occasion. I tried not to look too proud when our friends noticed the custom labels. Add some crackers, cheese, olives and a couple slices of salami an there was plenty to munch on while we got down to the work of what I'm calling "audience participation dinner."
While I was in santa Fe I bought a bag of blue corn flour, thinking I would give it as a gift. I never did so today seemed like a good time to use it up with a batch of homemade warm tortillas. I poured enough boiling water into the flour to make a thick, but not sticky dough. Eric rolled the dough into balls, Shari flattened them and I laid them on the waiting heating iron pans to cook through. Not the prettiest tortillas I've ever seen -- none of us will be mistaken for Jane Russell in "The Outlaw" but they were warm and chewy and all together not too bad for a first attempt. I started thinking about tortillas because, having a stock of chickens in the freezer from our poultry CSA, I had zeroed in on a grilled chicken recipe from Rick Bayless that coats the flattened (spatchcocked actually) birds with a mixture of chili powder, orange juice, oregano, cinnamon, clove, and apple cider vinegar before grilling them over indirect heat for 45 minutes. In the last 10 minutes I added some lightly oiled and salted green onions to the flaming side of the grill. Bayless serves his chicken with a tomatillo salsa. We had fresh avocados, which James loves, so I whipped up a quick guacamole with chopped onion, cilantro, jalapeno peppers, and lime juice.
More homegrown showing off. These lima beans and wax beans are from our garden. I blanched the beans until tender, added some thinly sliced red onions (also from our garden) and dressed the mixture in red wine vinegar, sherry vinegar (2 TB each) and about 1/4 cup of roasted walnut oil. Salt pepper and a handful of chopped fresh mint finished off this easy summer salad.
Speaking of salad. Since the grill was going I decided to give a grilled romaine salad a try. I brushed the quartered heads with olive oil and salt and tinged the leaves with the flames for about 20 seconds on a side. A feta cheese vinaigrette (3 oz feta cheese, 5 TB olive oil, 1 tsp oregano, 1 TB water, 2 1/2 TB red wine vinegar all whirled in the blender until creamy, it's a food and Wine recipe) along with oven roasted cherry tomatoes I had made earlier in the day. My favorite dish of the night. My favorite dish for quite some time.
Dessert? Well it was sort of a barbeque. I blended up a quart of blueberries, lime juice and some simple syrup and poured it into popsicle molds. Done.

What Wes and Eric Had For Dinner

The boss comes to dinner -- circa 2010. How to master the art of looking prepared yet causal Have everything ready without seeming like you made an effort at all. How to, in short, be the perfect hostess -- more June Cleaver than Lucy Riccardo. Start with cheese.

At the risk of alerting the authorities I'll point out a delicious Alpine style saucisson sec a French friend carried lovingly (and illegally I might add) in his suitcase for us. Wild boar with just a hint of spice and a healthy (as in heavy not good for you ;-)) dose of tasty fat. "This is the real thing," he assured, "Not what you get in a supermarket."

I pared that treat with a selection of cheeses, A slightly peppery sheep's milk Manchego from Spain, Petit Basque -- also sheep (not such great planning there I guess) but smoother and nuttier, always a great paring with saucisson, Humboldt Fog, a soft goat cheese with a center line of ash from Northern California, and Pt Reyes blue a cow's milk treat from Marin County, CA. Alongside this selection I offered a few loaves of homemade bread (Stecca from Jim Lahey's killer cookbook, My Bread), and piping hot gourgères -- the French bits of magic that turn flour, water, butter and eggs into airy puffs just begging to be filled with a thin slice of saucisson and cheese (they made killer hors d'oeuvre mini BLTs!) or popped in your mouth warm from the oven.

Now onto dinner -- served family style.

I tried to come up with sides that could be made in advance and tucked away to serve at room temperature leaving just one or two things to finish while guests are watching . . . you know -- just to prove you really made it all. A killer plan for easy hostessing.

The farmer's market is full of irresistible spring veggies so I shopped and then decided on our dishes. What could be simpler than quickly blanched asparagus served room temperature with hazelnut dressing and finely chopped eggs -- from our "girls" of course

This delicious tangle combines arugula, parsley and grilled apricots (I did that earlier in the day and had them waiting to toss the salad) with a rosemary vinaigrette and serves the crisp veggies on a bed of thinly sliced prosciutto. Salty, sweet, crunchy all at once and all I had to do was toss it together before bringing the salad to the table.

Here is the super simple, prepped in advance, star of the dinner show -- a salt-crusted sirloin (Chateaubriand cut -- extra thick), impressive, easy, and can be prepped an hour before roasting -- gave me just enough time to get the kitchen cleared up before guests arrived.

To assemble I coated the steak with pepper and seared it on all sides in a pan with hot olive oil. I let the meat cool for about 15 minutes while I made up a paste of kosher salt and water (might have been better to use egg whites). When the steak had cooled down I fully covered the meat with the salt paste -- I used about 4 cups of salt but I probably could have gotten away with less. After 25 minutes at 425 degrees and 30 minutes resting time (before cracking the crust) the grass fed steak, which can be tough or even dry, was perfectly cooked and tender.

That's our friend Eric cracking the crust before serving.

And the beauty on the plate, thinly sliced and served with a delicate butter lettuce pesto.
I just had to show off our home-grown potatoes with another make ahead dish. Crisp tender green beans, and steamed potato wedges tossed together (while still warm for maximum flavor) in olive oil with plentiful chopped herbs (thyme, chives, parsley and mint).

Dessert went by so quickly I barely got a picture. This is all that's left of a blood orange crostada I made with the fruit from our front yard tree and had waiting in the freezer for just such an occasion. We served the ruby colored tart with vanilla gelato and a drizzle of salted caramel sauce. Another make ahead success.

Daddy's Home

James finally made it home from his job in Denver -- eating burgers and hotel restaurant food. The dogs (cat and birds too) are much happier now that he's back.

But, I've been so swamped on my job that I've hardly had time to think about dinner -- much less shop, so I needed a ready menu with little hands on time and ingredients I could scavenge from around the house.

The beans (Chinese Red Long Beans -- lima beans are coming up soon) in our garden have been growing like weeds -- everyday it seems there is another big bunch to pick. The remaining potatoes from our last harvest were wrapped in burlap in the garage. So the first thing I planned to make was long cooking but little effort needed, stewed green (well in this case red) beans with potatoes. I put some bacon (ummmm bacon!) in a cold pan and rendered out the fat over low heat -- then I stirred in one sliced onion and a clove of garlic, gave it a good stir in the bacon grease and let it cook slowly until the onions were nice and soft, added in the beans, covered them with chicken broth and allowed it all to simmer on medium low heat for 30 minutes. Then I added in the half-peeled potatoes (all small new potato size), covered and cooked another 30 minutes. After the potatoes were tender I left the pot half covered for about 15 minutes more to reduce the flavorful broth.

Digging through the freezer I found a couple sirloin steaks from the mound of Hearst Ranch grass fed beef we ordered in the spring. Since sirloin isn't exactly the most luxurious of cuts I wanted to give it a little flavor punch. So, while the beans cooked I marinated the beef in a mixture of soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, garlic, red pepper, S&P, and a dash of our own backyard honey. Just before I uncovered the pot of beans to cook down the broth, I laid the steaks on the grill -- they only need 6-8 minutes with the lid closed (gas grill) -- and once they were cooked allowed the sirloins to rest 10 minutes before slicing thinly and topping with a little sweet butter. This dinner needed a little bit of toasty cornbread to sop up the "pot liker" from the beans. I happened to have half a pan waiting in the freezer from the last time we stewed beans. I toasted up a few slices and served up a "please don't go away again dinner": Maple Marinated Sirloin Steaks with Stewed Beans and Potatoes and Toasted Whole Kernel Cornbread.

Before and After

Before: Sunday Morning's Harvest

After: Thai Eggplant and Long Bean Salad with Tomatoes and Peanuts

Suddenly we have beans everywhere -- beautiful red Chinese long long beans. For the longest time I was thinking we'd see a few measly beans and the vines would die out. But, after a slow start and losing a few pods to garden pests of various kinds we are getting a good handful of beans just about every other day.

The front garden is bursting with late summer eggplant. I love eggplant. Fried, roasted, baked, stewed-- eggplant also loves oil. I was looking for something a little lighter to combat California's warm September. And so, starting with a recipe I found on Epicurious I broiled the eggplant slices quickly and tossed them in a dressing of fish sauce, sugar and lime juice. The I added in the quickly boiled long beans, small quartered heirloom tomatoes (not ours -- alas -- we are between tomato harvests), fresh cilantro and plenty of chopped peanuts. A tangy summer salad served with brown rice. Just because we were in the Thai mode I whipped up some quick chicken satays with peanut dipping sauce. Another simple supper for LA's Indian summer.

Down Home Labor Day

Put away the white shoes for another season. Labor Day has come and gone, and with it goes the restless summer ramblings that makes us all feel like kids out of school well past our school years.

Certain days call for special foods. Thanksgiving demands pumpkin pie, Easter practically requires a ham, and no Valentine's Day is complete without chocolate. For me Labor Day has to have barbeque -- not grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, but real, slow cooked, patiently tended barbeque -- even when it's just for two. In theory, I suppose, it's the last lazy warm day with time to spare for tending cooking fires -- but it's also pretty easy to cheat. Dabbling with a recipe I found from the Bronx based owner of Mogridder's BBQ truck (not exactly down home, eh?), I cooked these sticky ribs in a slow oven (sprinkled with salt, pepper, garlic powder and cloves) wrapped in tin foil with a bottle of beer for moisture. After two hours I strained the pan drippings into a saucepan with 1 cup of ketchup, 1 cup of homemade spiced peach jam, and 3 TBs of lemon juice -- reduced the sauce down to a sticky glaze, brushed it over the already tender ribs and passed it under the broiler for convincing BBQ char.

Barbeque sides are usually simple treats, but somehow, as I am mourning the loss of a summer that never really was, tomato salad and corn on the cob seemed to mock the carefree days we missed. I moved towards fall with stewed green beans (pole beans as The Big Man would say) and new (homegrown) potatoes. These are Southern style vegetables no vegetarian would dare try -- bathed in bacon fat and rich chicken broth. A wedge of buttermilk cornbread, extra rich with plenty of melted sweet butter, stood by to gather up sticky sauce and tasty "pot liker" (hmm can it really be pot liker if you're not cooking greens?). Comfort food from the land of "meat and three" -- as far away from California cuisine as this gal can get.