How to hull a strawberry

With strawberry season upon us a mistake many of us make is wasting about a fourth of a strawberry whenever we slice them up. Check out this video on how to hull strawberries for a better yield of fruit.

How to hull a strawberry

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What to do with a small space

In the townhouse I live now we have a tiny back yard, maybe 16 x 12 ft, a yardlet if you will.  A few years back I put up planter boxes to grow fresh herbs and have been doing so since with good success.  Now the soil here isn’t much for growing (sandy loam) so to get much yield raised beds are the way to go.  Without much room I had to squeeze a  raised bed into my yardlet.  There are hundreds of plans online for making raised beds but all you really need is to build a box out of durable material.  I used landscaping timbers and the existing fence to make my bed.  This couldn’t have been easier and now I’m growing all sorts of veggies and having some good success.  Show me your small space and what you did to improve it.  Now some before and afters;

                    

The French Laundry

 Once you see it, it cannot be unseen.  This pretty much sums up the experience had at the French Laundry with slight modification, once you taste it, it cannot be untasted(?).

We were married at noon and we had reservations to one of Americas most exclusive restaurant at seven sharp.  We rolled into Yountville around four o clock and checked into the Vintage Inn.  We had a bottle of champagne waiting for us and a few hours to get unpacked, showered and dressed.  After a glass of the bubbly and a mad dash of “How does this outfit look?” we were ready to walk across the street and get in way over our heads.

My preconceived notion was that this place was going to be over the top pretentious and we would get half way through the meal and agree, we didn’t belong there.  We really couldn’t have been more wrong.  We showed up about fifteen minutes early because we were so close to the restaurant and the hostess had us seated right away.  We were greeted by at our table by our maitre de and later by the sommelier (wine guide) and were treated like we were the most important people in the place. The maitre de congratulated us on our very recent marriage and informed us that the chef would like to cook for us.  We were brought no menus but were asked if we had any aversions to any types of foods.  After telling him we were ready for anything the meal commenced.

The wait staff walked us through each of our amazing courses and the sommelier brought out a perfect pairing nearly every time.  I won’t get into each course but will list what we had and give my thoughts to a few of them.  Here was our course menu;

•  Greeted with Krug Champagne and pasties from Bouchon Bakery
• Salmon Lollipops- Salmon
• Veloute of Topinambours – Green apple, pine nuts and Nasturtium soup
• Oysters and Pearls – Sabayon of Pearl Tapioca with Oysters and Caviar
• Foie Gras en Terrine – Served with Bouchon Bakery bread and 2 different types of butter
• Cherry Blossom-cured Pacific Kanpachi
• Sweet Butter-Poached Maine Lobster Tail
• “Fricassee” Pork Belly
• Marcho Farms Nature Fed Veal
• Wild Honey Sorbet
• Fuyu Persimmon “en feuille de bric” – Glazed Pecans Molasses and Cream cheese ice cream
• Pastel de Tres Leches – 3 types of ice cream
• Chocolates and Pastries to take home

Overall this was the most interesting and best dining experience I’ve ever had.  The staff did an excellent job, the food was delicious and the wine pairings were perfect.  The taste of the food is only a part of enjoying a meal and they do everything to make the presentation and experience more than you could hope for without the stuffiness and pretentiousness you’ll find is lesser places.

There were a few first times for some of the courses we had.  I had never had caviar, fois gras or pork belly before.  I was impressed with the tastes and textures, the caviar “felt” good in the mouth, the fois gras was like a meaty butter and the pork belly was delicious and melted with each bite.  I would most likely have pork belly again and may even try it on my own.

Even though the courses only consisted of about three bites a piece, Stef and I walked out of there hurting and unable to get through all of the desserts.  Every course is very rich and delicious it gets very overwhelming to the palate near the end.  Your eyes keep saying yes but the stomach begs you to refuse.  When we started I never thought I’d be more than satisfied at the end.  If you ever have the chance to go to this wonderful place I would urge you to not give the chance up as this is the pinnacle of what a dining experience should be.

I didn’t dare take out my camera and start taking pictures but here is a link to another blogger who wasn’t as shy.  Take a look and you’ll get a good idea of the presentation and quality put in to each course.

http://hungryhedonist.blogspot.com/2005/12/french-laundry.html

Bills Cafe Steak and Eggs

So before the went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium we met up with my friend who insisted we eat at Bills Cafe that morning.  He insisted they had the best steak and eggs he’s ever had.  After a long drive from San Fran to San Jose we stopped at Bill’s Cafe.  It was rainy and we had been informed that the wait was going to be 45 minutes.  I’ve never waited 45 minutes for breakfast before but I was assured it would be worth it.
Bills Cafe was teaming with people and the standing room was shoulder to shoulder.  The one thing I noticed was everyone leaving looked extremely happy and satisfied.  I was going to wait.
We were seated and I ordered the one dish I knew I had no choice not to get, the steak and eggs.
It came out and it was bigger than anticipated.  It was perfectly cooked and I could practically cut it with my fork.  Everyone else’s dish looked great and the service was speedy considering how busy the place was.  I would recommend anyone in the San Jose area to check this place out. I would say it was one of the best steak and eggs I’ve eaten to date.

Ghirrardelli

We lay on the hotel bed not being able to move after such a huge and filling lunch. I knew that dinner was out of the question and I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to fit an ice cream sundae in me.
After a short nap and much back and forth we decided to try out the Ghirradelli ice cream shop. We took the trolley from the hotel to a few blocks from Ghirradelli square. After short walk we were greeted with a relatively short line at the sundae shop. We decided to split a banana split sundae.
Now I was told by many people and read many reviews that the ice cream sundaes here would change you life and you’d never get a better sundae in the city but I think I would have to disagree. We got double vanilla ice cream that was good but not great. The hot fudge was delicious but there was so little of it that there was none left halfway through the sundae eating experience. I’m not sure about you but when I get to the end of my sundae the last thing on my food better be some fudge. The highlight was the cup or cone cup that was dipped in chocolate and could be eaten. This was the best part as the cone was still relatively warm and the chocolate nice and thick. It was so thick it took some force to break it with the spoons we had.
If you do go ask for extra fudge but don’t expect anything special you can’t find at a marble slab. And don’t forget to grab a few bags of severely overpriced chocolates on your way out.

Lunch required

Our first stop after checking in at the hotel was Scala’s Bistro. With a little help from Yelp we found a top rated place right around the corner from the hotel. Going in we weren’t sure what to expect for lunch. We were greeted with a friendly hosts and a menu that was going to be hard to chose from.
The special was a prix fix (price fixed) choice of appetizer,salad, meal and small dessert and judging from the menu prices a pretty good deal. Due to the fact we did not have a refrigerator in the hotel we were not going to be leaving with leftovers.
The waiter was very friendly and very helpful when ordering. He suggested splitting the cod sandwich and an appetizer and that’s exactly what we did. We started with the Fritto misto. It was a fried combination of peppers, prawns, calamari, onions and fennel with a sherry-cayenne aioli. This had to be the best fried food I’ve ever had. Unlike the southern deep fried caked on batter I’ve gotten used to the food was very lightly coated and cooked perfectly. I’ve never thought of fried food as tasting light but that was exactly my first thought. The veggies were not overdone and crisp and tasted better than any fried food I’d ever had. The prawns and calamari were cooked perfectly. Stef and I them split the cod sandwich and pomme frittes. The bread was made in house and was delicious as was the cod. The fries were phenomenal and had to taken from our table for the fear of finishing them was immense. Overall our dining experience was great and the waiter had even taken the time to give us a city map and let us know what we needed to see.
If your ever in this area I implore you to check it out.

No Rice-a-roni here

About three weeks ago our stove went out, thanks Mark, I blame you. Mark had ask for recommendations on a new stove only moments before destroying ours with his voodoo.
A day a before we leave for San francisco the problem has been remedied and were back on track

Over the course of the week we will be eating at a wide vary of places on our honeymoon in San Francisco and I’ll try to share as much as I a can while I’m out here.

Boiler Room

Is there anything on this planet that’s as good as shrimp? Shrimp is one of the easiest things on the earth to cook but unfortunately so many people are afraid to mess it up.  Shrimp can be fried, sauteed, grilled, blackened, boiled and made just about anyway you like it.  The only real way to ruin shrimp is to overcook it when it then becomes tough and rubbery.  This happens to be the case with many varieties of sea foods by the way.  One of the easiest fool proof shrimp recipe I have found was a shrimp boil.  Potatoes, corn, sausage and shrimp, a perfect combination.
The only special equipment you need for a boil is a large stock pot.  Depending on the servings you will be making the larger the better.  Some people use a frying or boiling basket for ease of removing all your edibles but it’s not necessary if you have a colander.
After inviting four of our friends over we gathered the necessary equipment to feed a small army.  The amount of food can be multiplied easily to feed as many as needed.
Ingredients:

• 3 lbs 14-16 shrimp (royal reds are preferred)
• 5 lbs small fancy or fingerling potatoes (unpeeled, whole)
• 6 ears of corn (husked and halved)
• 2-3 lbs sausage (andouille, brats or any preference)
• 1 seasoning bag ( 4 bay leaves,1 tbsp. black peppercorns or coarse pepper,1 tbsp. salt,2 tsp. cayenne pepper, 1 tsp. celery seed, 1 tsp. whole cloves, 1 tsp. mustard seed, 1 tbsp. allspice,1 tsp. dry thyme leaves)
• 1 Lemon quartered

• Salt if desired

Directions;
Fill stockpot about a third of the way with water and bring to a boil.  When boiling add the seasoning bag, potatoes, corn and lemons.  Cover and let boil for 15 minutes then add the shrimp and sausage.  Continue to boil for 5 minutes then remove from the heat.  You will want to let the boil rest for about 20-30 minutes.  There is a lot of water so don’t be worried about cooling.  This resting period is crucial as the seasoning needs time to soak into the food.  Without letting the boil soak you will get bland shrimp.  That’s it, you are ready to serve.  Drain and put contents into a large bowl for everyone to share. This is a very hard recipe to mess up.  Boil, add food, boil, rest.  It’s really that easy.
I love making this for a large number of people because it is delicious and the ingredients really make the recipe.  You can get creative and look up many boil recipes online.  The next one I’d like to try is the Cajun boil.
A few tips, get quality ingredients.  I like to use fingerling potatoes as they have a good taste and you don’t have to chop or peel.  Another thing is to buy good shrimp.  I really like Royal Reds as they hold up to peeling better and they are a little sweeter and denser than regular gulf shrimp.  They are a colder water shrimp and many liken their taste to lobster although I find that a bit of a stretch but I do notice a difference.  I hope you all try this and let me know what you think.

Ragin Cajun – Red Beans and Rice (in under an hour)

When one mentions Cajun food it isn’t long until the thought of Red Beans and Rice pops up.  This is one of my favorite Cajun meals only out shined by a great Po’Boy and Craw fish Etoufee.  This also happens to be the time of year when some nice and spicy hearty meals are needed.
Now I decided to shy away from the truly authentic Cajun way of preparing this mostly due to time constraints of cooking down a ham bone, browning sausage and cooking for 2-4 hours.  Although I will get around to the traditional way for now I needed a recipe that would take under and hour to make, prep and all.  There were a few concessions I had to make but in the long run the recipe came out great and could be made after a long days work without a ton of effort.
After scouring the net and cookbooks I came up with a rough idea of what constitutes a basic Red Beans and Rice recipe.  Red Beans, Rice, tomato, onion, garlic and spices are the lowest common denominator her e.   There are truly countless Red Beans and Rice recipes out there so how do we know which one to chose or how do I create my own recipe that I know will taste good.  Since we want to mimic a traditional recipe we have to substitute for what we are missing.  Traditionally the base of the recipe uses a boiled down ham bone to make a stock. This gives off a lot of great flavor due to the fat content of the bone and fatty tissue still attached.  So we know we need a “fat” and some stock used for our liquid.  I would suggest making your rice with chicken stock. This will not give the same flavor as the traditional but great none the less.  As for fat I suggest using butter as well as some oil, olive is preferred choice and we just happened to have some local smoked sausage that would fit beautify in this dish.  For the Cajun seasoning we can make our own.  The kind you buy at the store is made up of mostly salt so you end up paying a premium for spicy salt.  You can make your own if a few minutes without MSG and store the rest for months.  So here’s the recipe that I cobbled together that turned out surprisingly well considering time it took to make.
Ingredients:
2 cans of diced tomatoes undrained
2 cans of Red Beans undrained (red kidney beans can be substituted)
1 small onion chopped or minced
1 green pepper chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil
4 large Smoked Sausage links cut on the bias about a ¼ – ½ thick
Cajun Seasoning (tbs parts salt, tbs chili powder, ½ tsp cayenne, tsp black pepper, tsp onion and garlic    powder, tsp cumin, tbs oregano, 2 bay leaves)
Rice
Directions
In a large skillet melt butter on medium heat. Add green pepper, garlic and onions and start to cook down.  When the butter is mostly absorbed and coated on the pepper mixture, add the olive oil and cook until the onions start to get translucent.  Add sausage and cook until slightly browned (our sausage had been previously grilled, preferred, so this step was skipped).  Add all other ingredients, stir, and raise heat to high and let it come to a boil.  After a good boil has started reduce heat to medium low and let simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the liquid thickens to a creamy consistency.  Taste and salt if needed.  You’re now ready to serve over rice.
This dish was as good as it was easy to make.  If you’re looking for some Cajun style food to warm you up during the winter months this will definitely do the trick.  At some point I will try the traditional ham bone recipe when I have more time but for now this has been a more than adequate substitute.
I am also looking for some ideas of foods to make on the weekends when I have more time to be enjoyed during the week so if you have any ideas for foods that taste good reheated I’d love to see them.  Thanks and enjoy.

 

All hail…the Caesar!

The word Authentic seems to be the latest buzzword out in the food world right now, you know, right after organic and all natural. You see this word all over the labels right now and I can only imagine they are referring to taste because the list of ingredients reads much the same as the product right next to it.
In my mind authentic means traditional, original or basic. This week I wanted to try to make an “authentic” meal. A dish that has become extremely popular as a side dish and as a meal would be my next venture. It’s time to make a Caesar Salad.

Up until this point the way I made Caesar Salad was with some Romaine, Parmesan and a bottle of “Caesar” dressing. There are countless varieties out there so finding a suitable replacement for ones favorite is not an easy task. After looking over the net and cookbooks there were many to choose from so where does one start. I wanted to make an authentic Caesar so I first started out with what constitutes a Caesar from the rest of the other salads. The answer was pretty easy to come by. The bottom line when making a Caesar salad is five ingredients; Garlic, egg, lemon juice, anchovies and REAL Parmesan. That seems easy enough so let’s run through how to make an authentic, basic Caesar salad. To make this an entree and not just a side were going to add a chicken breast atop our salad when finished made popular by American chain restaurants. Here’s what you’ll need for a dinner for 2;

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 eggs
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbs fresh lemon juice
• 5 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs minced anchovies or ½ tbs anchovy paste
• Worcestershire sauce
• Salt and Fresh ground black pepper
• Head of Romaine lettuce
• Croutons if desired
• 1 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
• A few large pieces of shaved Asiago cheese

Directions:
Start boiling a few cup of water or enough to cover 2 eggs. I then start cooking the chicken breasts then make the dressing while they are cooking. I like cooking my chicken in my cast iron pan (uncovered then covered). I start out on high heat, adding about a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan. I slice one clove of garlic and add to the oil. Upon the garlic turning brown I add the chicken breast to the pan and sear each side. I then turn down the heat to medium low and cover. When the dressing is finished I add about a half of a cup to the chicken and let it simmer in with it.
For the dressing, poke a pinhole in the broad side of the egg with a needle and place in the boiling water. Cook for 1 minute then remove from heat. Cut a clove of garlic in half and rub the inside of the salad bowl. Crack the egg and place in salad bowl. Scrape the inside of the egg with a spoon to get out all the egg white. Whisk the egg with a spoon then start to slowly wisk in the lemon juice and then the oil. Stir in the anchovies and a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Add a good amount of pepper and taste. At this stage in the game the Caesar is going to taste fishy and “dull”. There’s not a lot of kick but don’t worry yet just get an idea of your salt level. Anchovies and Parmesan (which hasn’t been added yet) are very salty and salt may not be needed here. I found I needed a few pinches of sea salt but use your own taste.
At this point you are supposed to add your lettuce, croutons and Parmesan but it looked as though I had too much liquid. I put the dressing in a separate bowl and added it to the Romaine instead of the other way round. I found I used just a bit over half and that was sufficient. Toss the grated Parmesan, Romaine and croutons as well as some crushed garlic if you like a kick to your meal. Plate the salad and check on the chicken. When the chicken is done cooking slice it into bite size pieces and place on the salad. Top with shaved Asiago cheese and a few more shakes of pepper. Serve immediately.
This one was a surprise to me. I had tasted the dressing before I tossed it with the Romaine and frankly I wasn’t impressed. There was no kick to it like I had been used to when ordering this and it was a bit fishy for my tastes. This is really a sum of the whole parts though. After tossing with the Parmesan and adding the garlic it really rounded the whole dish out for me. It all came together and blended almost perfectly. Now that I know what authentic Caesar is this gives me a whole new area to play around with. I can add more levels of flavors by adding different kinds of peppercorns, capers or vegetables. Once you know the basics it’s time to make it your own and improve on it however you wish. If you make this or have made this before, let me know what you think. Enjoy.