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This dish is great as a side or as a base to stack things like cooked greens and grains on. I like to use a rack to cook these on so they can crisp on both sides, but if you don’t have a rack, just use a well oiled piece of foil on a sheet pan.
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Another iteration of “Honey Lacquered Cauliflower”. This one is quite easy and gives a subtler variation to pan cooking it. It also yields a beautiful golden color, which orange cauliflower could accentuate. Marinating time is important to the success of this dish, so plan a little ahead so there is at least a half hour for marinating.
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From Chef Colin Moody
Makes 4 Cups
32 ounces plain whole milk yogurt* 1 vanilla bean, scrapedContinue reading »
This dish was inspired by a 12 pound tub of Kimes Apiary honey from the main farm I was gifted this winter. The flavor of this honey is phenomenal and brings a lot to the dish. The leeks have an earthy funky note that marries so well with honey. If you don’t have access to the Kimes Apiary honey, look for something that is floral, buttery, and low-key, and not cloyingly sweet for best results. Use these leeks as a starter dish or a side to something braised in wine or vinegar, or something fried like chicken or squid.
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Tagged with: greens
Sometimes you just have to peel and seed your tomatoes. There are times the dish just calls for them this way, or sometimes the peels are just plain tough and you don’t feel like eating them. Peeling tomatoes is great for when you are making a sauce where you want to cook the tomatoes all the way down to a puree and do not want to strain the sauce for skins, or you want a softer texture.
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Tagged with: tomatoes
Eggs in Hell, or Purgatory sometimes, are eggs poached in tomato sauce that can be mild of flaming hot. I think the name comes from the look-little islands of sunny yellow and white in a sea of lava-like tomato. The smell will be anything but brimstone-like as long as the eggs are fresh. This makes a great breakfast (some say the name is derived because it is thought to be a hangover curative) or light dinner. Use a spoon to scoop the eggs and sauce onto thick slices of grilled rustic bread. The “Spanish Style” comes from the use of pimenton and padrons.
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I love the smokey sweet flavor of Pimenton de la Vera ( Spanish smoked paprika) and am always looking for ways to show it off in dishes. This was a dish that came together on the fly to complement an herbed grilled steak and grilled Padron peppers, and I was quite happy with the results.
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Tagged with: potatoes
Although this salad is known to many as Israeli salad, it seems it is more commonly called Arab salad in Israel. No matter what it is called, a variant of this exists in most places throughout the Middle East, and in Israel- a country of immigrants-there are hundreds of versions all based on family heritage or personal preference.
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Tagged with: bell peppers • cilantro • Corno di Toro peppers • cucumbers • mint • parsley • peppers • salad • scallions • summer squash • tomatoes
This is pretty much just what it says, a typical pico de gallo salsa, but made with summer squash rather than cucumbers, and scallions stand in for white or yellow onions, and mild sweet Gypsy peppers replace the typical jalapeño. Basil and lemon replace the cilantro and lime, making this an “alternate dimension” salsa fresca. If you like it hot, add a spicy chili or two or scatter some pizza-house chili flakes in.
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Tagged with: basil • green onions • Gypsy peppers • peppers • salsa • scallions • summer squash • tomatoes
This is a lovely recipe that can be made as vegetarian or can have Italian sausage added for the non- vegetarian.
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This is a dish that straddles the line between soup and stew. It is similar to Ribbolita or Minestrone, and is the sort of thing you can eat for 2-3 days, changing it each day by adding something or other to the pot and cooking it a little longer. Also, if you have a Parmesan cheese rind, this is a great time to use it.
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Tagged with: beans • carrots • celery • cranberry shelling beans • herbs • lacinato kale • oregano • parsley • sausage • soup
I am not kidding when I call this recipe “Italian Style”. I got it while standing in line at the Aptos Farmers Market from two elderly Italian women. Their conversation was a pastiche of both English and Italian, and finally I just asked them for the recipe because it sounded so good. They were happy to share it with a “nice young boy”… The recipe is about balance of flavors, and the quantities are approximate. The onion is the bass-line, the peppers are the high notes. The sweetness of both links them in the middle and the raisins and pine nuts round out the flavors. I use this as a dish on it’s own, and use it as a part or base for many other dishes. Mix in other things to make it a main dish, or use it on pizza or in pasta.
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This is a dish you want a Ben-Riner or mandolin. If you have a sharp grater that produces almost matchstick thick results, that could work also. This dish uses mirin and shiro-shoyu, a.k.a. white soy sauce. This is a very light colored soy with a lighter body and flavor than regular soy sauce. It adds a light umami quality dishes as well as a little salinity, so you can ease up on salting a dish, and helps bring out the nuances of vegetable flavors. It is great when you want the effect of soy sauce without wanting to taste it or have it stand out in a dish. This dish is beautiful when made with multi-colored carrots, but mature chantenay carrots work really well also.
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With the sweet and nutty tasting dressing, this is a cole slaw even kids love. My kids are always happy to see this salad, and I took it to a couple different school potlucks and discovered it was a hit there, both with the parents and the kids. Again, this is so easy with a fixed-blade slicer. Use the medium comb for the carrots, and just the blade for the cabbage, and slice it thinly.
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A bit of a fusion combing some Western technique and Japanese, and pretty much all traditional Japanese flavors.
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Tagged with: green onions • Japanese • mizuna • mushrooms • shiitake mushrooms • Tokyo turnips • turnips
1 pound Kabocha squash, seeded
2 cups dashi* or water
1 tablespoon sake
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon of sugar (or less, to taste. This will be based on how sweet the squash is and how sweet you like this dish.)
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This does not use as much oil as a standard vinaigrette, so is much lighter. Excellent on cucumbers or a “slaw” of savoy or nappa cabbage with grated carrots. For sesame oil, I favor Kadoya brand for its pure clean flavor and aroma. If you can find it, try the Black Sesame seed oil for a deeper flavor. Using a blender for this dressing makes it a snap, although shaking it up in a quart jar with a tight fitting lid is good too.
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This does not use as much oil as a standard vinaigrette, so is much lighter. Excellent on cucumbers or a “slaw” of savoy or nappa cabbage with grated carrots. For sesame oil, I favor Kadoya brand for its pure clean flavor and aroma. If you can find it, try the Black Sesame seed oil for a deeper flavor. Using a blender for this dressing makes it a snap, although shaking it up in a quart jar with a tight fitting lid is good too.
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This does not use as much oil as a standard vinaigrette nor the Japanese Style Sesame Dressing v.1, and is closer to a traditional sanbaizu (three-taste) dressing. This version was concocted for a “soba” made with threads of summer squash standing in for soba noodles. It is quite good on cucumbers or a “slaw” of savoy cabbage with grated carrots and slivered mei-quin choi. For sesame oil, I favor Kadoya brand for its pure clean flavor and aroma. If you can find it, try the Black Sesame seed oil for a deeper flavor. Using a blender for this dressing makes it a snap, although shaking it up in a quart jar with a tight fitting lid is good too.
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Westernized variations of traditional Japanese dips and sauces. For the Tuna Tobiko Cucumber dish, use sparingly. You can use this for sashimi, as a noodle dip, or on a salad.
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This recipe comes from my sushi bar days. This is based on the frugality typical of Japanese Buddhist cuisine. We used a lot of spinach and had a lot of stems sitting around. I had seen a recipe where the “root crowns”-the cluster of stems that gather into the root at the end of the bunch- were blanched and dressed and served as a little side dish. We served these as a little gift from the chef when people first sat down. The hardest part of this recipe is cleaning the crowns. Lots of water is the trick here. You won’t get a lot of these from a bunch, but they are worth doing as the take little time and are very good.
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This recipe comes by way of my friend Jeff, who not only makes great wine but also this killer dessert. He gave me the recipe over the phone, and as so many recipes are given, it was just a list of ingredients, not much in the way of amounts, loose instructions for the method, and the addendum of, “You get extra points for serving it with vanilla ice cream and rhubarb bitters.” I agree. We like the crumble topping, and the filling is almost just there to sauce it, but you can add more rhubarb to the dish if you wish.
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INGREDIENTS:
15 oz (approximately 1 3/4 c.) roasted and cooled kabocha3 1/2 c. flour2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. sea salt (use regular salt if you must)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
3/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
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Here is a variation of the beet and kale salad. Using a mandolin for this is ideal, but a grater could be used, although the beets will bleed and the apples will break down more rapidly.
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Tagged with: apples • beets • carrots • Granny Smith apples • kale • lemon • Meyer lemon • Red Ace Beets • salad • scotch kale • slaw
This salad uses two quickles (the carrots were a spin-off of the cauliflower) that, with a little study of the recipe, could be made all together, and you could reduce the volume of final product. Both the quickles are quite good, and last a long while in the refrigerator, so doing them both is a nice way to set yourself up for a couple weeks of crunchy sweet-tart vegetables that are easy to deploy. If lavender is not your thing, use the recipe for Cauliflower, Romanesco, and Carrot Quickles on site (which makes this simpler in that you do the carrots and cauliflower together, and the flavor is a more “traditional” pickle flavor), skipping the romanesco and celery and switching the dressing to a white wine vinaigrette with a very little rosemary in it along with some thyme and a hint of garlic.
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Here is a twist on a favorite, the “Golden Beets and Kale Salad with Orange Cilantro Vinaigrette”. Here we see Orange Hokkaido fill in for golden beets, and some orange flavored cranberries are added for interest, and the dressing is changed up a little to back off the cilantro a bit, and an Orange Shiso dressing is offered as well, for those that have easy access to shiso.
For tips on peeling and cutting winter squash, see the article “Winter Squash” on the website.
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This is something that was inspired by a bag of frozen black-eyed peas I bought on an impulse one time. I have since made it using dried beans and canned beans as well. I have varied it using various beans and different pork products, changing the seasonings as well. I have even substituted mushrooms for the meat. This version goes great with cornbread. Pass the Tabasco, please.
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