Santa Barbara

With wedding season slowing down, I was able to get out of town for a couple of days.  A nice drive down the coast to Santa Barbara.  Mr PSC went to college there and we had our first apartment on campus.  I was the pastry chef at the Ojai Valley Inn and Country Club.  We walked the campus, looked up our old addresses and enjoyed the area.  Back in those days, as college students and newly weds, there was not extra cash to enjoy the many great restaurants.

This time however we took full advantage!  Hubby booked us a great room at the Canary Hotel, a wonderful boutique hotel, just 4 stories with a pool and lounge on the roof, and a nicely appointed restaurant/bar off the lobby.  An old building beautifully restored and modernized just enough.  The first evening there the restaurant was closed (for a special event) so they opened the bar by the pool to watch the sunset from the roof top; great way to start a vacation.

That evening we decided to walk down State street, the main shopping district.  After talking with our waitress on the roof top - always ask your servers where they go, they know the best spots - we headed out to her first recommendation, after strolling through the farmers market that just happened to be going on in the middle of State street.

Our first stop was Blush, a great night club and bar with patio seating in the perfect weather.  We love to sit at the bar to watch the cocktails being made.  They had an extraordinay tuna tartar that was drizzled with white soy, it truly was finger licking good.  Jim tried a Basil Strawberry Martini with Balsamic Glaze,  The strawberries had a perfect flavor and the basil came out in just a touch of the nose.  The hint of balsamic balanced out the sweetness.  Sitting next to us was a local couple enjoying the same sort of evening, who recommended our next stop Intermezzo.  Only a block off State street, but hard to find if you don't know about it.  The cocktails were well made, but the star of the show was the Seared Foie Gras with Plum Tartine and Saffron Ice Cream... OMG!

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A Perfect Pear

Here is my October column from the Petaluma Post, enjoy:

I say it every year, fall is my favorite time of the year.  I am not a sun girl, I love the fog and cool nights, and I am starting to get the bug for the first rain.  By mid-August I begin looking for the first signs of autumn to arrive.  The first note is fresh pears in the market place.

The first to arrive is my favorite, the Bartlett pear.  I am lucky that my mom-in-law has a great old tree that puts out a ton.  They are a tender fruit and their season is short lived.  But it just tells me that there is more to come.  This year I took several pounds and dried them.  Mr. PSC and I enjoy hiking and I thought I would take a shot at it.  Nothing fancy, no special equipment, I just used cookie sheets lined with sil pads (those French baking pads).  Washed the pears, left the skin on for more fiber, cut them into eighths, let them soak in lemon water as I was working (about 15 to 20 minutes) then laid them out tightly on the sheet pan, but not touching.  Placed them in a convection oven with just the fan on and door ajar (not lit, not even a pilot light) for about 5 hours, then turned the fruit and let them continue to finish overnight.  They made a great light weight snack.

Seckel and Comice pears will be the next two to arrive in the market and be available through the end of October, perhaps into November with the cool year that we have had.  Both of these pears are better fresh eating pears than baking.  Their soft sweet flesh is a great pairing with cheese.  Locally I love it with Point Reyes Blue.  This cheese is very bold and robust and with the sweetness of the pears is a wonderful combination.  When choosing your pears it is best to choose them just a little bit on the green side, they will ripen well on your kitchen counter.  Look for even color without bruises.  They are ripe when they yield to pressure around the stem area.

Bosc pears are the pear with the longest season running from July through August.  A tan green pear with a rough skin, its flesh is very firm and crisp.  This is my choice for baking and cooking, it holds up very well.  It is also the hardest pear to tell when ripened, it does not soften like other pears, however it will begin to shrivel near the stem when ripe.

Pears are very versatile from savory to sweet dishes.  I can say that you could do an entire pear themed meal.  Including cocktails.

Pear Martini for 2

4 oz Absolute Pear Vodka
4 oz Pear puree
1 oz lemon juice
1 oz agave syrup

For the pear puree I used a hand blender to combine equal amounts of pear and pear juice, but you could just buy pear sauce.  I often use agave syrup in place of simple syrup, but either will do.  Just shake hard with ice and serve up in a martini glass.  I also experimented with other recipes and several other ingredients, which I mentioned in my mid-September blog post.

Wild Arugula Salad with Comice Pear and Crumbled Blue Cheese

Serves 6
8 oz wild baby arugula
1 medium Comice pear
3 oz crumbled Point Reyes blue cheese

Dressing

1 lemon juice
3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbs honey
Salt and pepper to taste

Core and slice the pear to about ¼” thick, do not go too thin, this is a very delicate pear and will break apart.  Whisk the dressing ingredients together, then place the greens and cheese in the bowl first, then place the pear on top of salad.  Drizzle with dressing to cover the pears (the lemon juice will help them not brown).  Finally, toss lightly.  This is a great salad to add to, toasted walnuts, pecans, almond or pine nuts are great additions. Chèvre is also a great alternative to the blue. 

Roast Pork Loin with Rosemary Pears

Serves 6
3 lbs boneless center cut pork loin
½ Tbs dry rubbed sage
2 Tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
8 Bosc pears, cored and quartered
2 sprigs rosemary
1 Tbs olive oil

Rub the pork loin with salt and pepper, then brown in the olive oil in a heavy bottomed oven proof roasting pan.  Toss the pear quarters with rosemary and olive oil, and arrange around the sides of the pork loin.  Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 45 minutes, till the internal temperature is 145; the USDA has recently lowered the cooking temperature or pork, and it may still have a slightly pink interior.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest 5 to 8 minutes on the carving board.  During this time, remove the pears and place them on the serving tray, dispose of rosemary sprig.  Add a ½ cup of white wine to the bottom of the roasting pan, stir to loosen the fond (those good baked on bits and brown stuff at the bottom of the pan).  Return the pan to the stove and reduce by half, thicken with corn starch if desired.   Then just slice the loin, display nicely amongst the pear and dress with the gravy.

Pear has two great uses in baking.  First they bake great in coffee cakes and pound cakes.  Second with the low fat movement many recipes have started to use apple sauce in the place of oils and butter, but you can make great pear sauce and use it there too.

Pear Sauce

2 lbs peeled pears (I really like the Bartlett)
½ c sugar
½ c water
2 Tbs lemon juice

Place in a thick bottomed sauce pan, start by using a potato masher to break up the fruit, then bring to a low simmer; be very careful it will scald easily.  Simmer 30 to 45 minutes till the fruit is tender and you can mash it easily.  From here cook to desired thickness, up to 1¼  hours for baking uses.

Pear Cake

This is a very rich pound cake that we made when I was an apprentice pastry chef in Austria.  It is great with any fruit!
9 oz butter
9 oz sugar
4 egg yolks
3 eggs
12 oz flour
2 Pears - Peeled Bosc are best, halved, cored each half cut into thin wedges

Cream butter and sugar well, add the eggs and yolks till creamy - go slowly.  Fold in the butter till just combined, then pour into a  prepared 9” baking pan (if using larger it will be thin, so just watch the baking time).  Arrange the pears on top, taking your time and be artistic.  Bake at 325 for 12 to 30 minutes depending on thickness.  Allow to cool. Enjoy

Cocktail Week / Working for a Living

Being in foodservice, I have never had what anyone would call a normal schedule.  Hours are usually very early.  When I started out I was a baker for many years with 4am not uncommon.  Now as a caterer midnight in not uncommon and weekends are a must.  In the entire year I might have 2 Saturdays off and those are when we're away on vacation.  This schedule is both good and bad.  On one hand it means very few concerts or shows and dinners out with friends are restricted to those that can adapt to our schedule, but on the other hand there are very few lines at Home Depot on Tuesday morning,  no wait at breakfast at our favorite restaurant, and cheaper hotel rooms when we take a "weekend" (ie Tuesday/Wednesday) away.

Which bring me to todays blog; Recently I was a bit bummed that there is an event coming up in September in SF that I really wanted to go to, but could not work the schedule around.  It is called Cocktail Week.  A festival of artisanal cocktails and mixes, this is very trendy in the culinary world and I would love to attend - though it is a week, it is mostly on , you got it, the weekend.  Luckily I discovered a special preview event that was being held just this last Wednesday, yes Wednesday!  It was at the Ferry building and it was just that, a preview tasting from the participating bars and restaurants.

There were 16 different bartenders pouring cocktails made with local fresh farmers market produce and the 16 different sponsored spirits.  The entrance fee got you 2 full size cocktails and 14 tastes plus 4 food tastings.  We put all of a weekend into one evening. 

Mr. PSC and I took the ferry over from Larkspur.  Always a pleasant trip across the bay and a nice responsible pause on the return trip before we got to the car.  I love the Ferry building in SF, full of great shops and vendors with wonderful selections of produce, meats, cheeses, teas... everything, plus several great places to eat.  So we arrived early and enjoyed a stroll around the market place, then a cocktail at Slanted Door, one our favorite places (which in retrospect was unwise being on the way to the a cocktail festival).  Then a lite dinner at another restaurant (see we're not totally irresponsible).  Then on to the festival...

There is too much to describe it all.  Great food and beverages, of course, but also expert bartenders who enjoyed talking about their creations and representatives from the sponsoring spirits who were also interesting to chat with.  But some just have to be mentioned...

The PBnJ, a pork belly and peach jam slider with arugula from The Monk's Kettle was our favorite.  And the Jambalaya Croquet won the voting for best of the night.

The winning cocktail was a Melon Milk Tequila punch.  Sounds awful doesn't it?  But very very good.

Also of note were two spirits.  We enjoyed the cocktails they made with them and if you ask nicely they'll give a small sample of the profiled spirit.  The new Belvedere Intense, an unfiltered vodka, was quite nice, a true sipping vodka with a little bit of a sweetness to the flavor profile.  Neither of us had ever had an unfiltered vodka before, interesting.  The other was the Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur, an excellant flavor, something I'll have to track down and experiment with.

Belvedere Intense - a great unfiltered sipping vodka

The Melon Milk Punch with Tequila

PBandJ: Porkbelly and peach jam slider

Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur

A very pretty cocktail with Templeton Rye, I'm not a rye fan, but Jim thought it was quite nice.

Tsukunes Grilled Skewers were very tasty and paired well with the cocktailes.

Farmer's Market Report

Like everyone out there I have the best of intentions of making it to the farmer’s market.  But in the last month we have been so busy that I have missed several weeks.  But not this one.  I am happy to say that summer is really here.

Many of the growers that come to our area travel from sacramento or the valley, although we have not seen much summer heat yet, they have and it shows in the produce.  The booths are over flowing.  The stone fruits are in, I picked up rainier cherries (my favorites), apricots (a little early), and nectarines to make a tart. The summer squashes are all out there, it's time to go look for your favorite.  There are just the beginnings of tomatoes from a bit further south.  I only saw one booth with figs and the bell peppers don’t have much color yet.

The salad greens are great, and as we are all looking to put on those summer tops and shorts a great way to eat healthy.

The Sunday Marin market has so much going on that you are not only looking at produce.  Years ago I did my apprentice ship in Innsbruck Austria, and late at night after work we would grab a beer and go to the sausage cart ("da veiner vagon"), a very casual food truck.  The sausages were good but the bread they served them with was incredible.  I've been looking for it for years!  So today at market there was an authenic german bread booth, so I picked up a quarter loaf of german dark bread to try at home.  By the time we reached the car it already looked like a mouse was nibbling at it.  Now to find some sausage!

If you'd like a list of the farmers markets look at my Petaluma Post column from May, posted on the blog here http://blog.sonomacaterers.com/2011/05/visit-to-your-farmers-market.html

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A Visit to Your Farmer’s Market

Here's my May column from the Petaluma Post:

Spring time is here and the sun is shining, and we are all ready to through off the mantle of winter and jump out into the world. We are not the only ones that feel that way; the gardens are bursting with the first offerings of the season.

I do my best to make a habit of going to the farmer’s market once of a week; I probably make it three out of four times a month. I go not only to shop, but for inspiration and to see what is coming into season; one of my growers also sells at the Marin county farmers market so I can plan my ordering for later in the week.

As you can guess I cook a lot, yet like everyone I can have a hard time figuring out just what to cook for dinner. Is that not the age old question? A trip to the farmer’s market helps a lot. Just seeing what is fresh and new gets my mind thinking. Did you know that when kids help to grow or choose produce they are more likely to eat them. So, make it a family trip to the market. It does not have to be a whole day thing, depending on which one you go to it can be 30 minutes to 2 hours (with travel time).

There are many to choose from:

Petaluma has two farmers markets (same organization, but different feel). Saturdays in Walnut Park from 2 to 5pm (late May to October), and the Wednesday Night Market on 2nd Street from 4:30 to 8:00pm (June to September). The second one has more of a street fair feel.

The Sunday & Thursday morning (8am to 1pm) market in San Rafael is the one I most frequent. The time works for me, and they have a lot of producers. It is behind the Marin Civic Center.

Santa Rosa has two markets. Wednesday by Santa Rosa Plaza at B Street from 5 to 8pm, very street fair, a good place to wander and nibble. Or the more traditional market at the Veterans Building Wednesday and Saturday from 8:30 to noon.

And there are a lot more. Morning, noon and evening markets, and on just about every day of the week. Just Google Sonoma or Marin and Farmers Market and you will find them.

The market has so much to choose from, not just fruits and veggies. From fresh baked breads to organic meats and sea food. There is always local honey, and I’ve been seeing raw milk products lately. There is often music and entertainment. Grab a latte and just enjoy the stroll. My pattern is to walk the aisles looking at all of the booths, then to make a second round to make purchases. When I was little I was the only one that was willing to go to market with my Baba. It would be Sunday morning in Sacramento and we would go to the Roseville markets. We had to leave at 5:30 or 6 to be there when it opened. He knew so many of the vendors and enjoyed talking with them as much a buying. He never cooked a thing but would come back with crates of fruits and vegetables for my Grama to can and preserve.

On a recent trip to the market I picked up Red Frill Mustard. I had never seen it before and I fell in love. It is only in season for a short time, but that is what is great about going to the market, farmers will bring items that they cannot take to commercial stores. This delicate green is very similar to wild arugula with a deep red color. It was so delicate that I choose not to cook it, rather than that I simply let it wilt from the heat of the dish I plated on top of it. Perfect.

Seared Salmon with Wilted Red Mustard and Orange Fennel Relish
Serves 4

4 salmon filets (6 oz.), boneless, skin on
2 heads baby fennel, shaved
2 oranges, peeled and chopped
1 sprig of tarragon
2 T olive oil
1 T champagne vinegar
½ t honey
2 c red frill mustard or wild arugula
salt and pepper

Season the salmon with salt and pepper. Then heat a sauté pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil until just before the oils smoke point. Add the salmon flesh side down, and sear 3 to 4 minutes, till golden in color. Try not to touch and move around. If it is sticking give it another minute or 2. Place the pan in a 350 degree oven for 8 to12 minutes, till cooked through.

Combine all the other ingredients but the mustard to make a relish. Place the mustard greens on a plate, place the salmon over the mustard, and then top with the relish. This dish would also work well with chicken breast, pork loin chops or turkey breast. Enjoy.

This is fresh, gourmet, healthy and delicious. Healthy eating can be really good and a family experience; we should teach kids to be excited by healthy foods (just don’t tell them it’s healthy until after they eat it ;)

Blown Away at the Farmers Market

Blown away, almost literally, after 4 weeks I finally got back down to the farmer’s market this morning to see what has come into season. The market is packed!

I made my way round with canopies lifting from the gusts of wind.  The first cherries and apricots have made it, although they could use a few more weeks, they are here.  The strawberries smell like perfume and are red and vibrant.  Strawberreis are not hot weather plants, so right now is the perfect time of year for Jams and freezing them for later (3 baskets for $8.00).  I bought some for Mother’s day to dip in sour cream and brown sugar.  Try it sometime it's wonderful.

The asparagus is everywhere.  One of my favorite preperation is stimply to grill it or roast it in the oven, however this week we did a great salad with quinoa, asparagus tips, lemon and crumbled feta.  Fresh and light, plus you get your whole grains.

Greens, broccoli and cauliflower the size of your head are ready and steady at market.  The baby Bok Choy was abundant.

Are you getting the itch to garden?  There are a number of vendors with heirloom plant starts for your garden.  I grabbed lemon cucumbers, a chocolate bell pepper (no hubby, not flavor just color) and tomatoes to add in.

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