Blossoming in the Kitchen

So I'm at the farmer's market with one of my bestest foodie friends, Glenn. It was pretty amazing how we both honed in on a basket brimming with squash blossoms at precisely the same time. Between the two of us, we bought out the farmer's stash for the day, before the market had officially even opened (we're no dummies - we were there 15 minutes before the official opening time, cash in hand).

Of course we got to talking how we were going to prepare our little treasures, and of course the fall-back way is to stuff them with some cheesy gooeyness, batter and fry them. Glenn was going to do just that, but as good as that sounds (and is!) - I told Glenn that I was going to challenge myself to come up with a lighter version of the dish that was every bit as delicious.

Mission accomplished - and it was altogether a much easier, quicker dish to prepare than the fried version. Here's what I did:

• I still wanted a creamy, soft inside, so I went with a fat-free ricotta.
  
• To the ricotta, I added some fresh chopped herbs (basil, oregano), some roasted and chopped garlic, and some chopped up sundried tomatoes that I had packed in olive oil.
  
• I scooped a generous tablespoon of the mixture into the blossoms, and twisted the open end to hold it all together.
  
• I dunked each blossom in an egg white bath (I added a tablespoon of water for every two egg whites and whisked until frothy)
• Rolled the stuffed/dunked blossoms in panko bread crumbs
• Baked at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes (turning once) until they were browned and the filling was warmed through

How about that, huh? Totally my new go-to method of making squash blossoms. Eat your heart out, Glenn!

Cheesy Fun

So here's a fun Thanksgiving Day idea: have a cheese tasting! I know I'm gunna. It makes for a fun and interesting appetizer course... not to mention oh-so-freaking tasty.

Here's the deal: I recently got a gift membership to an artisan cheese of the month club. Imagine: four different artisan cheeses from all over the world delivered right to your door once a month, complete with fromager tasting notes. It's heaven I tell ya. Along with the cheese itself, the shipments come with a guide for how to conduct a cheese tasting based on a "cheese clock" where the mildest of cheeses is placed on a platter at 6:00, and the selection gets subsequently more bold as you move clockwise. Also included are beverage pairing recommendations, which are pretty much as you would suspect: white wines, champagnes and lighter style beers with the mild cheeses; bold red wines, dessert wines or dark beers as you move to the stronger cheeses.

At a recent dinner party with friends, I gave it a whirl. I loaded up a cheese clock with my monthly club cheeses, as well as a selection I had picked up at the Winters Cheese Company (you did read my love letter to Winters, right?). In all, eight different cheeses, each with its own very distinct flavor profile. No two were similar in the least, and it made for some great tasty nibbles and some lively comparison notes. We did the whole shebang - beverage pairings and all. Here's what was on our cheese clock that night:

• Laurier (goat's milk; Vermont): "Adorned with hand-selected bay leaves that give it a gentle bit of spiciness. The cheese's white bloomy rind protects the protects the rind protects the cheese while creating wonderful layers of flavor and texture."
• Camembert (sheep and cow's milk; Hudson Valley, New York): "Meltingly smooth and buttery with the texture of a triple-creme."
• Caerphilly (cow's milk; Winters, California): "A light-coloured (almost white), crumbly cheese with a pleasant sour tang."
• Garlic and Chive Cheddar (cow's milk; Winters, California): "Chive gives a slight onion flavor with just enough garlic to compliment it. This cheese is reminiscent of a traditional English Cotswald."
• Sage Cheddar (cow's milk; Winters, California): "Sage adds a fragrant herbal aroma and a slightly sweet taste to the Cheddar flavors."
• Smoked Cheddar (cow's milk; Winters, California): "Hickory wood chips give the traditional Cheddar a sweet and delicate smokey flavor and aroma."
• Appenzeller (cow's milk; Switzerland): "This cheese receives its unique flavors from the herbs, liquors and wines that comprise the solution in which the wheels are bathed. It has an herbaceous, nutty flavor and a smooth milky finish."
• Stilton (cow's milk; Great Britain): "Rich, creamy and characterized by its typical blue veining with rich complex flavors and a piquant finish."

We tasted the cheeses with a variety of crackers, as well as with apples and pears, and paired the cheeses with the appropriate wines. I, of course, loved every cheese. I honestly didn't have a favorite. The rest of the tasters were divided: two people picked the Stilton as their favorite, while two others picked the Sage Cheddar. Everyone - hands-down - enjoyed the Laurier.

At any rate, it was a fun casual activity to pass the time before dinner as we chatted and sipped our various wines. It's a great cocktail party activity because it's interactive, and certainly (if you build your clock right), there will be something for everyone.

At any rate, if you'd like to get a really good overview of how to create a cheese clock and pair your cheeses with the appropriate beverages, check out artisanalcheese.com.

Snack Attack! Spicy Baked Chick Peas

Boy, it's Sunday night, and I actually felt like I had a weekend. A bona fide weekend with a couple of days off in a row and no obligations. And a great weekend it was! I got to celebrate my big 4-0 (again!) with a delightful dinner at Bouchon in Yountville, a treat by my bestest gal pal, Carolyn (she spoils me rotten....), revel as the Giants took Game 1 in the National League Conference Series, enjoy lazy mornings where I got to sleep late and read the paper in bed, and - joy of joys - actually spend time in the kitchen.

This morning arrived with a gray drizzle. Perfect. The first rain of the year coincided with my lazy attitude, so it completely confirmed my homebody status. Since the sun wasn't shining, I had no guilt that I wasn't out hiking, walking the dog, exploring or otherwise soaking in a spectacular Autumn day. Nope - we lit a fire in the fireplace and basically hunkered down, Ran in front of the various sporting match-ups that dominate the Sunday television lineup, and me puttering in the kitchen with ideas aplenty on how to stock my larder for the coming week (stock my larder? Who says that?).

At any rate, my oven was on all afternoon, and the stovetop hardly saw an idle moment. I'll probably blog later in the week about many of the things I made today (stay tuned!), but first and foremost on the list was taking care of snack food for the afternoon. I mean, what is watching sports all day without snacks? And since I've outlawed packaged snack food in my house, I needed to come up with something on my own. Chick peas to the rescue.

The humble chick pea. Garbanzo bean if you'd like. I love the little buggers. I eat them in some form nearly every day of the week (seriously - hummus is a staple of my diet). I've written about roasting raw chick peas in the husk on the BBQ grill (one of my all-time fave snacks) - but you just can't count on walking into a store and finding raw, in-the-husk garbanzo beans. It rarely happens. But you know what? You can find pre-cooked garbanzos in a can anywhere, anytime, and with the addition of just a couple spices and a preheated oven, healthy snack time is less than an hour away.

Imagine: crunchy, spicy garbanzo beans that you can Hoover up all you'd like because they're low-cal, no carb, and full of fiber and protein. These baked chick peas rate right up there with kale chips as being one of my favorite go-to healthy snack options.

Preparation couldn't be simpler:

• Open a can of garbanzo beans, rinse and drain. (Although seriously, one can's worth will vanish in a heartbeat. Bust open a couple. Trust me.)
• Pat dry with paper towels.
• In a mixing bowl, toss the garbanzos with a glug of olive oil. Not too much - just enough to coat. I use one of my favoritist olive oils of all time from The Smoked Olive - their chili pepper smoked olive oil. Sheer Heaven. If you don't know about The Smoked Olive - learn now! (I wrote about it here more than a year ago. My love has not waned.)
• Season. Just plain Kosher salt will do the trick, but if you want to make the spicy version I like, also add a heavy dusting of paprika (smoked paprika being my choice), some garlic powder, and a couple of shots of your favorite hot chili sauce or Tabasco. Stir to coat well. Taste them - if you like how they taste before going in the oven, you'll like the finished product times ten.
• Pour the seasoned garbanzos onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and pop into a preheated 350-degree oven for 45 minutes.

When you pull them from the oven and let them cool just a bit, they get crunchy. And addictive. Voila - perfect snack food for a couch potato marathon. Speaking of... Giants are on (and losing....). Later peeps!

There's an App For That!

Well, I'm down with the sniffles, so I might as well catch up on some blogging. Nothing too in-depth here - I will likely fall asleep before I fini....


.....zzzzz



Oh! See? This nodding off business is getting old. Another 45 minutes vanished in to the vortex. Let's see if I can stay awake long enough to write about bacon (bacon fixes everything, right?).

A couple of weeks back, I was charged with bringing appetizers to a gathering with friends. My tendency would be to throw together a veggie platter with some hummus and call it good since that's what I like to nibble on, but this particular dinner party called for goodies that I had actually put some thought into. I made two different hors d'oeuvres: mini onion tarts with gorgonzola and cherries, and bacon-wrapped shrimp skewers with a sorrel pesto dip. The tarts turned out to be amazing; the skewers, on the other hand, were good - great flavors - but not as perfectly executed as I had hoped (I'll ask y'all for pointers later).


So the onion tarts. I was the grateful recipient of some gorgeous red torpedo onions from my friend Kristin's garden - they were the inspiration for this dish. As in my typical fashion, there's not so much a recipe for these tasty tarts as some guidelines. Here's what I did:

• Sliced the onions into thin slivers, then caramelized them on the stove.
• Added a few shots of balsamic vinegar and some chopped rosemary to the caramelized onions; let the vinegar reduce until the onions were sticky and sweet
• Added a heaping teaspoon of the onions to pre-made filo pastry tart shells
• Added a few crumbles of gorgonzola
• Baked until golden and the cheese was melted

That was the first pass. The tarts were good... but seemed a bit too savory. Like they were missing just a little something something. I decided they needed a kick of sweetness, and the plump, juicy cherries sitting on the counter right in front of me proved to be the answer. I plopped a pitted cherry half in each tart for all the subsequent rounds, and they were perfect. So, if you're looking for a simple little appetizer in the few scant weeks that are left of cherry season, this is the one!

My other app, the shrimp and bacon skewers, left me slightly disappointed. Why? What's not to like about prawns? Wrapped in BACON? Well.... my problem was that the two ingredients have vastly different cooking times. Shrimp cooks in an instant, while bacon takes quite a bit longer. So I was stuck with the dilemma of overcooked shrimp/undercooked bacon, no matter what cooking method I attempted. I wound up going with grilling - it seemed to have the best results - but my question for you, dear readers: how do I make this work?! Help me!

Despite this little mishap, the skewers were still very well received at the dinner party. The flavors were awesome. (I served the skewers with a sorrel pesto dip, but failed to get a picture. You can find the sorrel pesto recipe here.) So if I can just get a little advice, I'm certain I'll make these again.

And that's it for this time. I'm due for a nap.....

Tiny Slices of Heaven: My Burrata Splurge

I had a pretty darn good week. Had a few successes, felt good about a couple of milestones, got some great feedback on a couple of personal projects. So, I decided to celebrate. What does that mean? Cheese, of course! I got myself some gorgeous heirloom tomatoes, my favorite multigrain crackers, fresh-cut basil from the garden, coursely-ground sea salt.... and the piece de resistance: Burrata!

If you're not familiar with burrata, first - I'm so sorry. Second, a primer thanks to wikipedia: "Burrata is a fresh Italian cheese, made from mozzarella and cream. The outer shell is solid mozzarella while the inside contains both mozzarella and cream, giving it an unusual, soft texture. It is usually served fresh, at room temperature. The name burrata means 'buttered' in Italian."
I know, huh? Needless to say, it was one decadent treat. But I only had enough to really make it feel like a treat - a couple ounces of the cheese at most. But man - it was heaven.

What do you like to treat yourself with when you feel very accomplished?

I'm Stuffed: Seriously Addicting Stuffed Mushrooms

I contributed these stuffed shrooms to the appetizer bonanza at the recent Fare to Remember holiday soiree. They turned out to be a pretty big hit, so I promised I would share the recipe here. They might look pretty harmless, but I found that I couldn't stop popping them in my mouth. I think I walked away after about a dozen. Baker's dozen, that is! :)

Stuffed Mushrooms

• 2 dozen large mushroom caps, stems removed and chopped
• 4 mild Italian-style chicken sausages, casings removed
• 1 cup cooked wild rice
• 1/4 cup fresh sage, chopped
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Combine the chopped stems of the mushrooms with all other ingredients; combine into a meatloaf consistency. Place a heaping tablespoon of the mixture into each mushroom cap, forming a mound. Bake in a 400-degree oven for 25-30 minutes, or until sausage is cooked through. Garnish with a dab of Dijon mustard and chive spear.

Working Out, Dining In

What would you get if you put a half dozen hardcore workout fanatics and fitness freaks in a room together for a dinner party? (No - this isn't the opening line of a joke...) Protein shakes? Egg white omelets with steamed broccoli? Brown rice heaped with lean protein? (Oh wait- maybe that opening line was a joke! Those are all things I eat on a regular basis!)

But no. Not this time around.

Last weekend, my oh-so-fun group of workout partners and their spouses got together for a long-overdue dinner party, and let me tell you: we all know how to appreciate a good meal.

A little background on our group: I have been a devoted member of the Napa Adventure Boot Camp for more than three years (has it really been that long?). Once I signed on for their outdoor boot camp-style fitness program, I never looked back. Buh-bye gym! Working out has always been a priority in my life; a requirement for not only my physical well-being, but my mental health as well. Boot camp just turned the heat up on the intensity of my fitness training, at precisely a time when my body started to betray me and I was having to abandon some of my long-time, much-loved physical pursuits in search of something different. Boot camp has since become my drug, my addiction, my sanity. Along the way, I have met some truly incredible people, and have forged wonderful new friendships - also very much needed, since I scarcely knew a soul in Napa prior to joining the camp. I am an unabashed fan, and can't imagine my life without it.

That being said, about a year or so ago, a small group of us from camp started Kettelbell training twice a week with our fearless leader, Jeff. Read up on Kettelbells if you're not familiar; to say that it is the toughest, most intense, most effective workout I've ever subjected myself to is an understatement. I love it. Our group is there to train rain or shine, every Monday and Wednesday; if one of us is unexpectedly absent, it is cause for concern. I spend more time with these people than anyone, with the exception of coworkers and my husband (we all also attend regular boot camp on the other nights of the week). Lucky for us, we all click. It's a great group of people, and we have entirely too much fun for people who may appear utterly insane (swinging hulking balls of iron around isn't exactly an everyday sight). This group motivates me, challenges me and keeps me striving to do my best (I'm the youngest in the group, but by far the weakest, slowest and most in need of physical improvement. I'm working on it!)

But it's a strange phenomenon: nearly every one of our workout conversations inevitably gets steered toward the topic of food. It seems as though almost everyone there is like me: food is fuel, yes, but it's also one of the great pleasures in life. We all are very conscious of our diets, and do watch what we eat, but we'll work out harder if it means we can earn a cheeseburger from Taylor's.

So after a year of our bonding over intense physical exertion and much talk of our dining habits, we finally made it official and had a dinner party. And what a dinner party it was.

Allison, our gracious hostess, opened her beautiful home to us for the evening, and we all contributed to the meal, pot-luck style. The wine was free-flowing (thanks Rick!), and the appetizers got us off to a delicious start: Rick's wife Terri made decadent cheese-stuffed and bacon-wrapped jalepenos (my version below); Melodie pitched in an amazing artichoke and spinach dip unlike any I've ever had before (if I beg, can I get the recipe?!!).

We sat down to a dinner table resplendent with grilled beef filet topped with homemade chimichurri sauce, courtesy of Alison and Tom; a grilled vegetable pasta salad of Glen's creation (does Dolly get any credit?) that would have fed an Army; my favorite raddichio salad; and a Caprese-style salad that was a bit of a group effort, made with some of the season's last gorgeous heirloom tomatoes. Dessert came in the form of a dozen Kara's Cupcakes, as well as Carmelita Bars from The Model Bakery about which Jeff had been tempting us for weeks.

Calorie and carb counters flew out the window that night. We were just there to enjoy and, of course, make some memories. So we ate and we ate; we talked and we talked. There were many laughs, lots of stories, and plenty of chatter about the detox workout that would inevitably follow sometime this week.

So to Jeff, Tiff, Glen, Dolly, Alison, Rick and Melodie: thank you for the good food and good times. Looking forward to more of the same down the line. Keep on swinging!

As I mentioned, Rick's wife brought along this amazing appetizer to the party. I happened to have reason to bring an appetizer to a mixer the very next afternoon, so I gave my hand at recreating her dish. I used Anaheim chilis, whereas she used jalepenos, but they turned out to be just as decadent and delicious. Clear out your arteries and make way for this snack - it's a keeper!

Cheese Stuffed and Bacon-Wrapped Peppers

• Anaheim chili peppers, sliced lengthwise, seeds removed
• Cheddar cheese, cut into long, thin rectangles to fit inside the chili pepper halves
• Applewood smoked bacon, 1 strip per pepper half

Place the cheese inside the cleaned chile pepper half; wrap with a strip of uncooked bacon. Place on a baking sheet; roast in a preheated 400-degree oven until cheese is melted and bacon is cooked to your preferred crispness (mine went for about 10 minutes).

Roasted Fig Puff Pastry Shells

During my Wine Gala weekend of gluttony, I had a few hours to kill between duties with a few of my fellow coworkers and volunteers. Lucky for me, I consider this particular group of working stiffs to be some of my most favorite people in the world; spending time with them was going to be a pleasure. On our itinerary: dinner, of course!

We wound up at one of our local favorites, Bistro Don Giovanni, known for good food, great ambiance, and a chance to rub elbows with Napa Valley's wine industry insiders (true to form, Randall spotted no fewer than three people he knew immediately upon our arrival). Settling in for what was anticipated to be a great dining experience, we all came away just a little disappointed (poor service being the main culprit). Although the food was good (my main entree of trenne pasta with braised lamb shoulder, artichokes, olives, goat cheese and a touch of fresh mint was a surprisingly stunning flavor combination) - it wasn't great.

Perhaps the biggest letdown was our appetizer pizza. If Bistro Don Giovanni were famous for only one thing, it would be its wood-fired pizzas. We ordered the seasonal special: a pizza topped with carmelized onions, goat cheese and figs - a delicious flavor combination, eagerly anticipated by all. But when the pie arrived, it certainly was better in theory than reality. The thin crust was soggy, making the individual slices limp and impossible to transfer from pizza dish to plate - even more impossible to eat without a fork. And the figs were fairly nonexistent - only a few of them dotted the entire pie, perhaps 1/2 a fig per slice. Oh well. At least, as expected, the company of my dinner guests was delightful.

But with that pie on the brain, I knew I had to reproduce something with that same flavor combination - something to remedy the pizza's failure. And wouldn't you know it, here's what was waiting for me when I arrived at the office on Monday morning:

Fresh figs! Not sure who brought in these lovely figs from their tree, but I thank you. I whisked them all away from the "up-for-grabs" counter in the coffee room, and in that moment, the idea for these puff pastry bites was born. I used the same ingredients as the doomed pizza: carmelized onions, goat cheese and figs - but put my own little spin on it as well: I oven-roasted the figs, glazed them with some local honey, and added fresh chopped rosemary to give it all a fragrant kick. And the store-bought puff pastry shells held up beautifully to the ingredients - nothing soggy or droopy about them.


Once again, I don't really have a recipe for this creation, just some guidelines:

• Prepare the puff pastry shells according to package directions, removing the tops when cool
• Slice figs in half, remove stems, and roast under the broiler until soft
• At the last minute or two of cooking the figs, brush with melted honey and sprinkle with chopped rosemary; return to broiler and let the honey form a glaze
• Thinly slice a yellow onion; carmelize in a sauce pan with a bit of butter or olive oil
• Fill the puff pastry shells with the still-warm carmelized onions and roasted figs; layer with a sprinkling of crumbled goat cheese
• Return the shells to the broiler to melt the cheese; serve while warm

Sage Advice, Part 1: Windowpane Potato Chips

My dear faithful readers - remember that herb garden I planted several months ago? The one with all the adorable little seedlings and nothing but potential? Funny how a little water and sun can work their magic, because I now find myself with more mature herbs than really is fair. Not complaining - in fact, I'm loving it. Pestos are lining my freezer for the winter ahead, and I'm freezing various herb combinations with chicken stock into ice cubes for future use as handy seasoning for soups, stews and sauces. But honestly - I'm either going to need a bigger freezer, OR, I'm going to have to start using up my fresh herbs right now, in pretty much everything I make.

So, the next couple of posts you'll be reading all have a theme: using my garden's bounty in fun and delicious ways. The most prolific of the herbs right now are my two sage plants. I have a pineapple sage and an elephant sage, and my weekend was devoted to getting them reduced to a manageable size.

First up: after seeing the recipe in Cooking Light for these stunning windowpane potato chips, I knew I had to make some, simply for the WOW factor. I mean really - aren't they gorgeous? Like little stained glass windows - that you can eat! (Petty aside: is it just me, or is Cooking Light magazine often anything but? Maybe I'm missing what "Light" is intended to mean? To their credit, it's not Cooking "Lite".... but I digress.)

At any rate, I followed their recipe to a T (once I actually unearthed two baking sheets of approximately the same size - difficult in my non-baking arsenal of cookware), and they turned out beautifully. It's a bit labor intensive, albeit simple, but see for yourselves - the results are elegant. Almost too pretty to eat. Notice I said "almost"....


Windowpane Potato Chips

• 2 medium baking potatoes
• Cooking spray
• Assorted fresh herb sprigs (such as dill, chives, and sage)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Set mandoline on thinnest slicing setting. Cut each potato lengthwise using the mandoline. Arrange potato slices in a single layer on several layers of paper towels; cover with additional paper towels, and press lightly. Let stand 5 minutes.

Arrange half of the potato slices in a single layer on each of two baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Place a small herb sprig on each potato slice; cover with another potato slice. Press gently to adhere. Coat potato stacks with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with salt. Working with one sheet at a time, cover potato stacks with parchment paper. Place an empty baking sheet on top of parchment paper; set a cast-iron or heavy ovenproof skillet on second baking sheet to act as a weight (will keep the potato chips flat). Bake for 25 minutes.

Remove skillet. Remove baking sheets from oven; remove top baking sheet and parchment paper. Remove browned potato chips from pan; place on a wire rack. Turn any unbrowned potato chips over on sheet. Replace parchment paper and top baking sheet; return pan to oven. Replace skillet on top of baking sheet. Bake 5 more minutes or until browned. Cool chips on wire racks. Repeat procedure with remaining potatoes. Store chips in an airtight container up to 2 days.

Which Cracker Takes the Cheese?

Now I love me some cookbooks. I collect them, I read them, I look to them for inspiration, I drool on them. Rarely do I use them as intended: to actually follow a recipe. My friend Carolyn, on the other hand, not only takes cookbook worship to a whole other level (to say her collection is impressive is an understatement), but she is a devout, by-the-book recipe follower. Which is great news for me, since I'm often on the receiving end of her recipe religion.

Such was the case recently when Carolyn appeared with two packed tubs of cheese crackers. Apparently, she had been skimming her vast cookbook collection, and came across two eerily-similar cheese cracker recipes from two of her favorite authors and Food Network stars: Giada De Laurentiis and Ina Garten. What's a girl to do but make a batch of both to compare and contrast?

So we munched: both were cheesy, flavorful, and ridiculously addictive. But a clear winner? Giada's version used pecorino cheese vs. Ina's parmesan; Giada's had little kick in the form of cayenne, whereas Ina's were infused with the flavor of fresh thyme. I'm not so sure - I'd be hard pressed to choose one over the other, and in fact, thought a combination of the two would make for an ideal cracker. If I were to make them - and obvioiusly deviate from both recipes, as is my nature - I'd use Giada's pecorino together with Ina's fresh thyme. See? A new recipe is born!

But for those of you who are more like Carolyn and want a straight-up good recipe, here's both of them. Say cheese!

Pecorino Crackers
By Giada De Laurentiis

• 1 1/4 cups grated pecorino Romano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the cheese, salt, pepper, and cayenne in a medium bowl and stir to combine. Add the butter. Using a hand mixer, beat the cheese mixture and butter until combined. Add the flour 1/4 cup at a time, mixing only until incorporated and the mixture holds together.

Place tablespoon-sized balls of the dough on 1 or 2 parchment paper-lined baking sheets, tapping the dough down gently with your fingertips. Bake until just beginning to brown at the edges, about 15 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transfering to a serving plate.

Parmesan Black Pepper Crackers
By Ina Garten

• 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 3 ounces grated Parmesan
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix until creamy. Add the Parmesan, flour, salt, thyme and pepper and combine. Dump the dough on a lightly floured board and roll into a 13-inch long log. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and
place in the freezer for 30 minutes to harden. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the log crosswise into 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick slices. Place the slices on a sheet pan and bake for 22
minutes.

Big Flavors, Small Package: Smoky Red Pepper Crostini

Fair readers, I lied to you. I swore up and down just a couple weeks ago that I was done with the bacon bread. Over it. Ready to move on. Alas, I am weak and mortal. I bought more.

But I had to. The vision of this appetizer was swimming in my head; the distraction was not going to go away until I actually made them. The flavors in these little bites pack a punch, thanks to a host of complementary ingredients: bacon bread, smoked chili-infused olive oil, fire-roasted red peppers, and two different types of decadent cheeses (Le Fumaison from Auvergne, France - described as "meaty and firm with a big lingering finish, delicately smoked"; and Mimolette from Normandy, France - "visually intense with a chewy texture and a smoky, almost bacon-like flavor").

The assembly is simple - but I'm afraid the result wouldn't be quite as drool-worthy if you didn't use pretty much use the exact ingredients. But if you can get your hands on these various items, you're in for a treat for sure.

Smoky Red Pepper Crostini

• Place slices of a bacon bread baguette (available weekends at The Model Bakery in Napa) on a baking sheet
• Brush tops of the slices with chili-infused smoked olive oil (from The Smoked Olive - see my earlier Shameless Plug)
• Top with strips of fire-roasted red bell peppers; season with a sprinkle of salt
• Top the peppers with slices of Le Fumaison or Mimolette cheese
• Place under a broiler and cook until the cheese is melted and bubbly

The Radishes, Oh How They Taunt

So all spring I've been ogling the breakfast radishes at the farmers market. They are just so beautiful, sitting there all pretty-like, with their leafy green tops. They beckon, they tantalize - their candy cane-colored red and white tubers still dusted with the earth from which they were recently plucked. I finally had to break down and get a bunch. I love the spicy radishes for their crunch and their tang, perfectly accentuated with a sprinkling of salt - a tasty, quirky snack.

Alas,there really are only so many radishes a person can eat in a sitting, so I shared my pretties with some party guests in the form of these colorful little canapes. They make fantastic, fresh appetizers - and they are simple enough to explain without a formal recipe. Here goes:

• Slice up a sourdough baguette in to thin rounds
• Top each round with a schmear of cream cheese that you've gussied up with fresh, chopped dill, a squeeze of lime, and garlic salt (to taste)
• Top with thin (almost translucent!) layers of sliced radishes and cucumbers (I use a mandolin to get a nice, even slice)
• Season with fresh-cracked sea salt

Snack on, my friends, snack on.

Thai One On: Reconnecting Over Thai Food

You know those people in your life that are friends always? Regardless of time or distance or intent to communicate? Last night, Randall and I shared our evening with some dear friends of just that sort, and enjoyed not only a rekindled friendship, but some damn good fare to remember as well! I'm thrilled that circumstance has finally closed the geographic divide and that more good times are forthcoming with Jeff and Shannon, especially considering that Jeff is an immensely good chef.... how self-serving is that?! And to top it off, he's the winemaker of an up-and-coming brand (see my earlier shameless wine plug for his ridiculously yummy Chariot)... again, self-serving! The following are two of Jeff's Thai-inspired recipes that he prepared last night. The company was delightful, the sake was free-flowing (Yae Gaki Nigori, if you must know - delicious), and the meal scrumptious. Enjoy his recipes - maybe even as you reconnect with old friends yourself!


Thai-Style Ceviche
Contributed by Jeff Hunsaker

• 3/4 pound scallops
• 3/4 pound shrimp, deveined
• 1/2 pound halibut (or any other white fish would work as well: talapia, snapper, etc.)
• The juice of 2 lemons
• The juice of two limes
• 1 blood orange, segmented and chopped into cubes
• 1 tangerine, segmented and chopped into cubes
• 1/3 of a red onion, diced fine
• 1-2 jalepeno peppers (to desired heat), diced fine
• 1 celery stalk, diced fine
• 1 bunch mint, chopped fine
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped fine
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger root, grated
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon lemongrass, minced fine
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced fine

Cut the fish in to 1/2-inch chunks and toss with the lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate for 1-1/2 hours. The lemon juice's acidity will go to work and "cook" the fish. Once removed from the refrigerator, drain excess liquid. Add all other ingredients and combine well; refrigerate for another hour to let flavors fully develop. Serve with fried wonton crisps (fry wonton skins in a wok or pan with oil over medium heat).


Thai-Style Chicken Coconut Soup
Contributed by Jeff Hunsaker

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 tablespoon red curry paste
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/3 cup lemongrass, diced fine
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger
• cayenne pepper, to desired heat
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
• 8-10 mushrooms of your choice (crimini, oyster, button)
• 1 red bell pepper, julienned
• 6 1/4" slices (coins) of ginger
• Cilantro, to taste as garnish

Start by cooking the chicken breasts with a bit of oil that have been cut into bite-sized chunks in a heavy pot or Dutch Oven. Once cooked, remove the chicken, but leave any drippings. To the drippings, add the curry paste, lemongrass, cayenne, grated ginger and coconut milk. Simmer for 2-5 minutes. Next, add the chicken breast back to the pot along with the remaining ingredients (except the cilantro). Simmer for 20 minutes. Add the cilantro right before service.

Varitions: Jeff urges creativity with this dish! The soup would also be excellent using shrimp, or adding other vegetables of your choosing. Suggestions include baby corn, bamboo shoots, tomatoes, etc.

Take a Dip!

Want an easy and tasty dip recipe for the holidays? This one's a real crowd pleaser - and super easy! Great for veggies, chips, crackers... anything dip-able.

Ultimate Dip
Contributed by Cheryl Paddack

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning
• 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
• 2 shots Worcestershire sauce
• Squeeze of lemon juice

Mix all ingredients (measurements are approximate - add according to your taste). Commence dipping!

Finding a Cure: Let the Olive Harvest Begin!

Check out my latest endeavor: curing olives! Courtesy of four very ripe olive trees on the property of the winery tasting room where my husband, Randall, works, we harvested a new hobby. We were out plucking the olives from the trees with Italian music on the stereo and a glass of champagne in our hands - an impromptu tango interrupting the picking. Such a fun morning!

But actually getting the bitter raw olives cured into something palatable is a whole other story. I've never done it before - so I'm hoping the experiment bears fruit, so to speak! I scoured the internet for curing recipes - and they are all over the map; none very specific. Oil cured? Salt cured? Lye cured? (I don't think so!) So, I cobbled together a brine - the quantities of the ingredients purely an educated guess at this point. But I'm recording it here for future reference, successful or not!

Cured Olives

• 1 10-gallon bucket of ripe olives
• 1 pound sea salt
• 2 ounces citric acid
• 12 lemons, halved
• 5 heads of garlic
• 24 dried Bay leaves

After individually scoring each and every single olive by hand (there goes my day!) - I then soaked and rinsed them in clear, cold water, filling and draining the bucket probably 5 times until the water ran clear of debris. I then filled the bucket one last time, submerging the olives by about 1 inch. To the water, I then added all of the other ingredients, and mixed well. I placed a large dinner plate weighted with a rock over the water to keep the olives submerged. And now I wait. I guess I change the brine solution every few days, or as bubbles and scum start to form around the edges of the plate. I'll test them after a week or two to see if the bitterness has been leeched, and hopefully I'll have something edible by Christmas! Stay tuned...