Smoked paprika, meals with a twist!

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:24:35 -0700

I was recently asked by Heinz 57 Sauce and the folks at Good Bite what my favorite “flavor twist” was. They wanted to know what simple addition could be made to meals that would take them from simple to special. The answer was easy-- Smoked Paprika.

Smoked Paprika, Pimenton de la Vera or Pimenton Ahumada comes from Eastern Spain. The red peppers are gently dried with smoke, usually from oak, before being processed into paprika. You can find it at fancy food markets, on-line and even in the spice rack at the supermarket. In fact, a McCormick rep told Bon Appetit Food Editor Sarah Tenaglia, that their jars of smoked paprika were one of their hottest sellers. So, I guess I’m not the only one who likes to add zip to dishes with Smoked Paprika.

The Spanish varieties, available in little tins, come in dulce--sweet or mild, and picante-- hot. If you like things spicy, go for the picante, but a little cayenne pepper can be added to the dulce for the same effect. The tin pictured was a gift from my friend Pierre, who just returned from a trip to Spain. The sticker on the top of the can is printed:

SENSACIONES! El Aroma del Fuego, El Color del Sol, El Sabor de la Raza, La Fuerza del Viento. -- Wow! I want to add that to ALL my dishes!

Here is my recipe for Roast Pork Tenderloin with Smoked Paprika for Good Bite and Heinz 57. Enjoy! (P.S. Aarti does a great demo, but I would use a large, metal roasting pan-- like a 12x16x1-- for better browning!)

Harvesting honey

Thu, 8 Jul 2010 15:25:13 -0700

The conditions had to be perfect. We knew there was a ton of honey in the hive. June is the time to harvest, and it was already July. I recently had an unpleasant encounter with the bees when a photographer came to take some pictures of me, my garden, my birds and my bees. (It was late in the afternoon, I was nervous and, was he wearing after-shave? I’m not sure what set the bees off, but they got so feisty. The photographer was stung three times and a persistent bug managed its way into my hood and sent me running and yelping!) So, how to get back to the pleasant calm that husband Martin and I had on our April visit?

Advice from fellow beekeeping friend Ilse, who tends bees and chickens at Sky Farm Red was taken: “Visit the bees between 12 and two, be super clean with no scent and freshly laundered bee suits.”

An offer of help from Bee Buddy Bruno was accepted.

So on a recent sunny day, we suited up, sipped our pre-hive-tending-calming beer and went for it.

The bees were out doing their job, so our job was easy. We removed six frames, filled with capped honeycomb. We replaced the frames with empty ones and checked out the box of frames we placed on the hive in April. Honey production was in full force there too, so it looks like we’ll be harvesting another six to eight frames in a few weeks.

Working inside so that the bees wouldn’t try to get their honey back, we cut the honey comb from the frames into our honey sieve, fashioned from two industrial buckets, one with a portion of the bottom cut out and topped with a strainer (actually a spatter guard).

The honey and honey comb come in varying shades of amber, based on the age of the honey and the nectar from varying blossoms. We kept the super light and the extra-dark separate, and the difference in taste is remarkable-- the former being so delicate and the latter, robust.

After breaking up the honey comb with a large knife, and okay, an occasional squeeze, the honey slowly dripped out of the wax. After 2 days of dripping, we got about 30 cups of honey. If our next harvest yields as much, you might find a posting on Craigslist: Wild Los Angeles Honey--hand harvested under perfect conditions.

June Covers

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:19:36 -0700

I’ve had the June issues of Bon Appetit and Cooking Light on my desk for a while, and today, I just happened to notice that I have the cover recipe on BOTH magazines.

The recipes, if I don’t say so myself, are great--simple, fresh and flavorful. I can’t say delicious, because it is apparently one of the top ten most hated food words compiled by Squid Ink’s Amy Scattergood. If you glance at the comments, you’ll see all sorts of food writers/bloggers putting their two cents in--it’s rather amusing. Thank goodness Jonathan Gold defends the words “Artisanal” and “Delicious.” My two cents?
Who cares? Besides, I’m busy making recipes for future magazine covers.

Here is the recipe for GRILLED HALIBUT FOR PEACH AND PEPPER SALSA.

Here’s the one for GRILLED SHRIMP AND SAUSAGE WITH SMOKEY PAPRIKA GLAZE.

Enjoy--They’re delicious, especially when made with Artisanal ingredients!

Braggy? No, “Aspirational” Post

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 16:04:49 -0700

Okay. Take a gander at what’s growing in my vegetable patch. Is it not awesome? I have mixed lettuce greens, loads of soon-to-be-ripe tomatoes, green and yellow zucchini, wax and purple green beans, pumpkins in barrels, cucumbers in pots, about-to-die-back fingerling potatoes (I can’t wait to dig them up in a few weeks), herbs. bunching onions and MORE TOMATOES.
Now, I don’t mean this post as a brag-fest. No,YOU can still plant a summer vegetable garden, especially if you live in a cooler planting zone than Los Angeles. It’s not even summer yet, so you have a few more days to plant. But hurry! See? This post is “aspirational.” If you aspire to plant a vegetable garden, you can do it!
You just can’t have this cute guy water it for you. He’s mine. (Now that last sentence WAS braggy......)

Fresh Fava Beans

Wed, 9 Jun 2010 18:38:48 -0700

A photographer came by to take some pictures of me and my garden this week. He was sent by an art director based in San Francisco, who specifically requested some images of fava beans. Well, fava beans are long gone in my Southern California garden, but they at their peak in cooler, slightly more northern climes, such as the Bay Area.

If you have never eaten fresh fava beans, don’t miss out this delicately flavored, tender textured bean-treat. If you live near me, you can still get favas at some of the So. Cal farmers’ markets, and I even saw some good looking pods at my local Vons. If you live further north, you’re in luck!.

Preparing favas is a total chore. The beans are the seeds inside thick, green pods that resemble supple leather. The pods peel off rather easily, but once shelled, each bean is encased in a tough, clear-plastic-like skin, that’s edible, but not tasty. To remove these skins, the favas must be par-boiled in salted water for about 5 minutes, drained, cooled and then individually peeled. (1/2 pounds of pods, shelled [pictured] yielded just about 1 cup of nude favas [pictured].)

Fava beans grow super easily, almost like a weed. The pods grow out of the central bean stalk. I have heard that the Jack-and-the-Beanstalk fairy tale is imagined on the fava bean stalk-- couldn’t you just see climbing the pictured stalk?

I like to eat favas briefly sautéed in a little good olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and chopped fresh mint, or stirred into some Meyer Lemon Risotto.

This recipe for Sizzling Halloumi Cheese with Fava Beans and Mint is a decent dish. I would use only one 8-ounce package of cheese, leave out the peas and the perperoncini and serve just four as an appetizer. But whatever way you choose to prepare Favas, just do it soon!

Worth the drive

Wed, 2 Jun 2010 07:45:00 -0700

For the holiday weekend, we hopped in the car and drove to Santa Fe for my Sister’s birthday dinner. I hadn’t been to Santa Fe in a long time, and it was wonderful to spend time, though not enough, in her lovely home. We prepared a birthday feast with our beautiful daughters for her friends and family.

Meyer Lemon Pudding Cake

Thu, 27 May 2010 07:20:11 -0700

Or, what’s left of my Pudding Cake. Can I tell you how awesome this dessert is? It’s light and lemony. All by itself, it separates while baking into a layer of mild lemon pudding topped with a moist, fluffy cake. It’s good warm or cold, with berries or whipped cream. I made this for my brother’s birthday dinner the other night, and everybody loved it and wondered where I got the recipe.... “Uh, it’s in that cookbook I wrote that you all own.” (It was all family present.)
Coincidentally, that afternoon I had been told by an acquaintance that she had searched my site for the Pudding Cake recipe to share with a friend. She said “I guess it’s not there because you want people to buy the book.”.... (Um, yes?) She proceeded to tell me that they photocopied the recipe.
So to save you the trouble, here it is. Make it. Really. You’ll thank me.

Meyer Lemon Pudding Cake
6 to 8 servings
4 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar, divided
1 tablespoon grated Meyer lemon peel
1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup Meyer lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Generously butter an 8x8 baking dish or a 5-cup soufflé dish. Using a standing mixer, beat the egg whites with 1/4 cup sugar until medium-stiff peaks form. Transfer the egg whites to a large bowl. With the mixer (no need to wash the mixer bowl), beat the yolks with the remaining 3/4 cup sugar and lemon peel until very thick and pale, about 3 minutes. Beat in the flour, butter and salt, then the buttermilk and lemon juice. Gently stir 1/4 of the egg whites into the yolk mixture; fold the yolk mixture into the whites. Pour the batter into prepared dish. Set the dish in a baking pan; add hot water to the baking pan to come halfway up sides of the batter in dish. Place the baking pan in the oven and bake the pudding cake until it is just golden brown and slightly springy to touch, about 45 minutes. Serve warm or chilled.

Aprihop Beer

Fri, 14 May 2010 12:04:11 -0700

Last night husband Martin and I were feeling a bit restless--nothing that an ale at the Verdugo couldn’t fix. The Verdugo is our (somewhat) local bar. It has an awesome selection of craft beers on tap, and really, is there anything as good as a good beer on draught? Beer geeks LOVE this place-- it has Pliny the Elder, Craftsman, Sour Beers, Belgians, stouts, meads-- you name it--on tap. Dudes love the place because the bartenders are pretty, and there is a flat screen t.v. at the bar, where if you ask nicely, they will turn on the ball game. Chicks love the place because, er, the beer is so fine? Also, if you happen to have unenlightened friends who don’t appreciate fine beer, there is a full bar.

So last night perusing the beer list, we both fixed on Aprihop by Dogfish Head. We requested a small taste (they will let you do that!) and we both ordered a pint. Dogfish is an interesting brewery. It’s in Delaware and there was an entertaining article about it in the New Yorker a couple of years ago. Unbeknownst to us, Bryant Goulding, Dogfish’s West Coast Regional Sales Manager was sitting a few seats down, and we got to chat him up about the beer and brewery.

Aprihop, as the name implies, is brewed with fresh apricots and lots of hops. I don’t usually like fruit beers, they tend too sweet. I like my beer to taste like beer, and not sodie pop, but apricots are such a sweet-sour fruit, and the beer is subtly flavored with the more aromatic and tangy notes of the fruit, rather than the fruity sweetness. There is also a wonderful balance of citrusy hops. The brewery refers to Aprihop as a fruit beer for hop heads. Indeed! My only complaint: it’s their seasonal beer for Spring, not summer, and I would love to pair the beer with some grilled pork chops with apricots. I guess I will have to put a six-pack, I mean four-pack (Dogfish beers come in fours, so that you won’t notice how spendy it is), aside for a month or two.

Here is the recipe incase you want to do the same.

Grilled Pork Chops with Apricots
I like to use thin pork chops, because they cook quickly and you get more of the grilled herb and spice flavor per bite.
4 servings

4 pork loin chops, about 1/2-inch thick
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh marjoram
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
6 ripe apricots, cut in half, pitted
Olive oil

Prepare the barbecue (medium heat). Rub both sides of the pork chops with 1 tablespoon marjoram, garlic and allspice. Season the pork with salt and pepper. Brush the apricots lightly with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill the pork until it is browned and cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Grill the apricots until just tender, turning occasionally, about 5 minutes. Transfer the pork chops to a platter; surround with the apricots. Sprinkle with remaining marjoram and serve.

Poached eggs

Mon, 10 May 2010 15:13:38 -0700

So folks are embracing “Meatless Mondays”-- from L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (maybe he’s also embracing meatless policies) to celebrity chef Mario Battali (who might consider some meal-less mondays-- I know, I know, who am I to talk), but what about “Meatless Mostdays?” That’s what’s getting embraced around my house,

Chalk it up to my trying to “live off our land” or to me being too tired to go to the market, we’ve been eating eggs, not meat, for dinner. To make the eggs-seem-special-for-dinner, I have been serving them poached. Poached eggs are fancier than fried eggs--the delicate cooking results in tender whites and creamy, pudding-like yolks. I’ve served poached eggs with salad, croutons and bacon, poached eggs on root vegetable hash, poached eggs and Serrano jamon on toast with grilled green onion, arugula and Romesco sauce, poached eggs on whole wheat pasta with whole wheat bread crumbs and Swiss chard. (Yes, I know-- there is bacon and Spanish ham in these dishes--so maybe Mostly Meatless Mostdays?--Is that better?)

Poached eggs are pretty simple, but they can also be pretty easy to mess up. If the water is simmering too fast or too slow, you can lose your white. Using super-fresh eggs makes it easier-- which of course is not a problem for me as I’ve got those chickens just outside my door. When you make poached eggs, make sure that the water is just gently bubbling when you slip in the freshest eggs you can find, and don’t cook more than four at a time. If you need to poach a lot of eggs, you can always transfer the just cooked eggs to a pan of ice water and keep them up to one hour, then gently reheat them (like 30 seconds) in simmering water.

Bring a medium-sized skillet of water to simmer. Add 1 tablespoon vinegar. Working one at a time, crack an egg into a small bowl and gently slide into simmering water in skillet. Poach eggs, gently pushing simmering water over very tops of eggs until the whites are cooked through but the yolks are not set, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove egg from the water and drain on clean, damp towel.

My Salmon recipe on good bite!

Tue, 4 May 2010 15:00:17 -0700

Roasted Salmon with Herb Salad and Lemon-Pepper Sour Cream
Roasting seals in the moistness and brings out the flavor of the salmon. The preparation is super simple, making this the perfect “family celebration” meal. You can roast fingerling potatoes while you cook the fish—simply cut 1 pound of small fingerling potatoes (no larger than your thumb) in half lengthwise. Arrange the potatoes, cut side down on a heavy baking sheet that has been brushed generously with olive oil. Sprinkle the potatoes lightly with salt and roast in the same oven until tender when pierced with a small sharp knife, about 18 minutes.
6 servings

Sauce
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ tablespoon minced fresh dill
½ tablespoon minced fresh tarragon
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Salmon
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons lemon juice, divided
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

6 5-ounce skinless salmon filets (about 1 3/4-inch thick)

2 cups lightly packed arugula or watercress
2 tablespoons small dill fronds
2 tablespoons tarragon leaves
Lemon wedges

For Sauce: Stir the ingredients to blend in small bowl. Season the sauce with salt and generously with black pepper. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

For Salmon: Whisk honey, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 tablespoon olive oil, garlic, paprika and lemon peel to blend in large shallow baking dish. Add salmon; turn to coat with marinade. Cover and refrigerate 15 minutes to 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400º F. Brush a heavy large baking sheet generously with olive oil. Remove the salmon from the marinade and transfer the salmon to the prepared baking sheet; season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until the salmon is just opaque in the center, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile: toss the arugula, dill and tarragon with the remaining 2 teaspoons lemon juice and 2 teaspoons olive oil. Season the salad lightly with salt and pepper.

Transfer salmon to each of six plates. Spoon the salad alongside the salmon, dividing evenly. Drizzle sour cream on and around salmon. Garnish with lemon wedges and serve.