Improving Julia’s Most Popular Soup

The Julia Child oeuvre has already been well covered, most notable in the Julie Powell blog/book, “Julie & Julia,” (and charming film version starring Meryl Streep in serious platform shoes to make her 6’2″) so this post isn’t one of those. Rather, it’s a comment as well as encouragement for home cooks to not be afraid of changing recipes, even famous ones.  Maybe the famous ones should be changed, actually!

Help Out Farmers Suffering from the Pandemic — and Help Yourself

While one of the thrills for foodies going to the top-echelon Bay Area restaurants was getting to experience such remarkable ingredients — nothing like what consumers normally can access — there’s one small sliver of good news in the midst of such carnage for serious home cooks. Or just everyday cooks who want to help out farmers in need. Many high-end restaurant suppliers, faced with losing most of their business, have created a new sales channel via the internet, offering their goods directly to consumers, which has made some truly amazing ingredients at retail for the first time.  It’s a tragedy for these farmers but at least we eager consumers can help them a little by buying from them.

Three Great Asparagus Recipes

Asparagus has become so popular in recent years that it seems to be available in markets for many months past its spring season. Its fresh, “green” taste is terrific with all sorts of accompaniments or just roast or grill it all by itself. I definitely prefer thick stalks (they’re from a more mature plant) than the cheaper skinny ones and these larger ‘gus spears are also more tender and have more soluble fiber and vitamins than the thin ones.

Mountain View Baker Using Freshly Milled Grain

Organic flour milled on site sets The Midwife and the Baker apart from most of its peers. But it’s the outrageously craveable breads and pastries that are earning fans.  This incipient, healthy trend is spreading among the nation’s top artisan bakers, resulting in delicious baked goods like killer croissants bursting with chocolate, crusty, tasty whole-grain breads and other addictive items produced by baker “Mac” McConnell and his crew. Read all about it on KQED’s Bay Area Bites.

 

Good Grains

(Published by South Bay Accent magazine in July, 2019.)

They were once worshipped by the Egyptians, considered sacred by the Aztecs, found in King Tut’s tomb and were mentioned in the Old Testament.  First cultivated about 10,000 years ago, grains played a key role in turning prehistoric communities from hunter gatherers into farmers, helping usher in the creation of settlements and spurring population growth.  Much more recently, grains have become a potent food trend, with case shipments of whole-grain products to U.S. outlets jumping by double digits.

Meet Gail Hayden, the godmother of California farmers markets

Hayden has been at the forefront of the farmers market revolution in California for 40 years.

(Published by South Bay Accent magazine in May, 2019)

Farmers markets have been supplying towns and villages with fresh produce for eons, with these lively bazaars feeding citizens worldwide as well as serving as social institutions in the community. Thomas Jefferson reportedly bought his meat, eggs and vegetables in the early 1800s at a Georgetown farmers market and billions of less-renowned individuals have historically relied on such operations. But unlike in Europe and Asia, farmers markets in America dwindled away as industrialization rose, farms got fewer and larger and bureaucracies interceded.

Gail Hayden helped change that.

Where to Find the Best Fresh Pasta?

The carb-y comfort of fresh pasta can be found locally, at exacting restaurants and pasta purveyors.

(Published by South Bay Accent magazine in August, 2018)

One of the world’s most addictive carbs is pasta, from the dried, boiled spaghetti with red sauce from a jar that busy moms serve their hungry kids to exquisitely handmade noodles enveloped by made-from-scratch sauce in fine restaurants. Although it’s abundantly available in markets everywhere — typically dried or mass produced — pasta purists often seek out the fresh, local variety.  A must-have on Italian restaurant menus, pasta has slithered its delicious way into the happy mouths of patrons in many high-end restaurants in general, where a pasta dish or two is now common.

Utterly Delicous Albacore Tuna Crudo Recipe

“Crudo” is essentially an Italian way to present pristine raw fish — think sashimi but more interesting and varied — and this recipe is a winner.

Albacore Crudo with Strawberries and Nuoc Cham

This is a simple, absolutely wonderful recipe if you have super-fresh fish and want a quick way to prepare it.  Besides being utterly delicious, it’s pretty and lends itself well to adaptations.  For the uninitiated, “crudo” is the same concept as sashimi except the preparation is as varied as the cook’s imagination. While nominally an Italian dish, it’s prepared in all kinds of ways by fancy chefs and home cooks. In my dish, the richness of the fish is underscored by the light, slightly citrusy sauce with its Asian flavors, which I pump up a bit with the barest drizzle of lime oil.  The sweet/tart pop of strawberries goes quite well with this. Even if using strawberries with fish sounds weird to you, try it anyway and you won’t be sorry. Or use pomegranate seeds.

Where to Get Fresh Local Abalone

Once harvested commercially until few were left in the wild, California red abalone is so delicious that demand is ongoing.  Now the farmed abalone available at two Bay Area operations is said to taste even better than the wild kind and is a “best choice” according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch. Find out where to buy it in the Bay Area and learn about its interesting history. Read all about it on KQED’s Bay Area Bites here.

(Recipe) Try Delicious Cauliflower “Steaks”

Cauliflower is definitely having a moment, being discovered in recent years by chefs and home cooks who resonate with its mild, goes-with-anything flavor and appealing texture. I love, love this veggie and cook it frequently, including making up recipes using a relatively new offering from Trader Joe’s called “riced” cauliflower that looks a lot like the grain and can be whipped up as a non-starchy substitute. TJ’s also sells riced broccoli but I prefer the white stuff.

Thus I was primed to like a new recipe from UK-based Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi that appeared in Bon Appetit that is the best thing I’ve tried from this popular cookbook author.  The dish consists of “steaks” of thick-cut cauliflower with a puree of the veggie underneath, punched up with a “salsa” of walnuts, capers, parsley and currants that takes the delightful dish into new territories of delicious.

Where to Taste the Finest Olive Oils

Olives turned into luscious oil is not only healthful but this oil can be tasted in the Bay Area.

(Published by South Bay Accent magazine in October, 2016.)

It may often be called “liquid gold” but olive oil actually comes in a range of luscious hues from pale yellow to deep green, with an exquisite range of aromas and flavors that vary from oil to oil — grassy, acidic, buttery, bitter, floral, fruity, nutty, spicy and more.  This agricultural crop is booming in Northern California, where some have said it’s starting to  parallel our state’s thriving wine-grape sector while being heralded by foodies and health professionals as a beneficial, delicious substance. And like wine, it can be challenging to select an olive oil due to the abundant choices available as well as controversies that have muddled the minds of many consumers regarding what should be an essential culinary staple. Fortunately, it’s easy to get savvy about olive oil in the South Bay and beyond, including tasting this wondrous product right where it’s made.

Where to Find the Most Delectable Strawberries

Strawberries may have moved up into the most popular category of fruit but that doesn’t mean all strawberries are equal in the taste — and health — department. We present the most delicious, good-for-you varieties  along with some unforgettable strawberry cousins to grow at home. Read all about it on KQED’s food blog here.

Fresh Pasta Guide – Peninsula and South Bay

Where can you find the yummiest fresh pasta locally to cook at home?

In the running for most addictive carb has to be pasta, whether formed in toothy noodle strands or in fat ravioli pillows.  Although it’s abundantly available in markets everywhere — typically dried or mass produced — pasta purists often seek out the fresh, local variety.   Some better groceries and farmers markets are now fresh pasta destinations but our guide identifies local producers on the Peninsula and South Bay where purveyors are offering the tastiest pasta around. Read about in KQED’s Bay Area Bites here.

Wine Salt – Magical Ingredient for Improved Outcomes

How can something so simple be so transformative?  I read about wine salt in a New York Times article some years ago and the concept intrigued me. Combining the properties of marinades (adding flavor and tenderness) and dry rubs (helping create a crispy exterior and adding yet more flavor), wine salt is what it sounds like:  wine and salt (and a bit more). But its impact on proteins is magical. Besides tenderizing, it encourages juiciness and adds subtle but enhanced flavor. 

The “Vanilla Queen” Working to Save Vanilla from Extinction

While consumers likely aren’t paying much attention to the source of their vanilla fix, Patricia Rain of Santa Cruz has long headed a one-woman army attempting to raise demand for real vanilla — the world’s most labor-intensive agricultural product and in danger of following the carrier pigeon to extinction, she says. Sadly, almost 99% of “vanilla” products are made from fake flavorings while real vanilla has a rich, complex aroma that’s far superior. Read all about it on KQED’s food blog here.

“The Mulberry Guy” is Palo Alto’s most local farmer

The most hyper-local grower at a Bay Area farmers market must surely be Kevin Lynch, “the mulberry guy,” who travels all of two miles from his suburban micro-farm (otherwise known as his backyard) to the downtown Palo Alto farmers market. Now local chefs are using his delectable fruit and he has expanded into mint-and-mulberry-leaf tea, jam and lip balm, among other creations utilizing this ancient plant. The only problem with his candy-like fruit is that he doesn’t have enough of it to satisfy his many rabid fans. Read all about it on KQED’s food blog here.

Where the Buffalo Roam

Craig Ramini, 56, chucked his software career in 2009 to raise water buffalo in a leased former dairy in West Marin and produce what could be the only buffalo mozzarella in the United States.

(Published by the San Jose Mercury-News and its affiliates on March 6, 2014.)

Joan Jett sounds like a barking seal as she bellows at her son, Roy Orbison, hoping to keep him out of trouble. The 40-pound baby is adorable now but if he’s lucky, he’ll eventually take on the tall, dark Mediterranean looks of his dad, Van Morrison, rather than end up like Elvis or Neil Young — turned into steers.

It’s another idyllic day in the rolling, green West Marin countryside among Craig Ramini’s herd of 33 water buffalo named after aging rock stars. The reinvented dairyman is now firing on all cylinders after spending years in a trial-and-error period of learning how to raise these horned beasts, milk them and produce mozzarella di bufala as luscious as his Italian model.

Great Ingredients: Ultimate Strawberries

How do I love thee, let me count….well, you get the idea.   I think that strawberries are the most exquisite of fruit.  Not those hard, sour, supermarket berries consumed by many whose only positive quality is their red color, but the carefully tended varieties that strawberry lovers like me hunt down in farmers markets or in our own strawberry patch — and sometimes, in far-away lands.  More on that later.

(Recipe) Switch Duck Breast for Chicken in Pasta Recipes

It’s no contest when it comes to the deliciousness of duck vs. chicken.

One of my go-to pasta dishes is chicken breast with mushrooms and tomatoes on a toothy pasta.  Sometimes, I swap chicken demi-glace for a tomato-based sauce, to produce a dish that’s more refined and quite tasty.   Yet it never occurred to me until recently to use duck breast instead of ubiquitous chicken breast — a switch that turns this and any chicken-based pasta sauce into something extraordinary.

Great Ingredients — The Spice of Life

French-trained chef Lior Lev Sercarz is the spice blender of the stars.

Serious cooks who don’t pay proper attention to the spices they use — or worse yet, don’t use spices at all — are missing out on a higher realm of eating pleasure in their dishes.  “Spice” doesn’t automatically mean “hot,” although some cuisines like Indian can often be on the fiery side.  I adore spices and use them in many dishes, so during a trip to New York City recently, it was mandatory to visit La Boîte à Epice in a little art-gallery-like space in Hell’s Kitchen.