FamilyFood

White Asparagus with Ham and Gruyere

For this easy side dish, I tossed a bunch of white asparagus gently with a little olive oil (not too much as the cheese will release some oil), salt, and pepper.  I arranged it in a baking dish and topped with:

• 1 large slice or 2 small slices of Black Forest Ham, julienned
• a handful of grated gruyere
• a handful of grated parmesan

Bake at 350º until asparagus are tender but crisp, about 10-15 minutes depending.

Simple Sides: Roasted King Trumpet Mushrooms

I love King Trumpet (or Oyster) mushrooms because they have the same meaty texture of fresh porcinis (which are nigh impossible to find) even if they don't exactly have a fresh porcini's rich flavor. They also don't have the creepy gills and unappealing sponginess that portobellos have. (I love mushrooms and simply cannot choke down a portobello.)

The easiest way I know to make them is just to stick 'em in a hot oven and don't bother them too much.  You begin with beautiful raw mushrooms, ends trimmed. Toss them with olive oil, garlic, and alae (pink) Hawaiian salt (or sea salt).

Get into my belly!

Put them into a 375º oven for about 25 minutes. You can give them a gentle stir about half-way through the cooking time.  When they are done, they come out looking like this:

Chewy, garlicky yumminess.

I served these alongside lamb chops when the smart and soignée Katherine came to dinner a few weeks ago.

Crunchy Korean Cucumber Salad

This salad is so easy to prepare it's stoopid.  The key, though, it making sure you serve it immediately after you toss it so that the salt doesn't have a chance to wilt the cukes. I like it when the cucumbers are still icy-cold from the fridge and you get the pleasant crunch of sea salt with every bite. The recipe calls for ground toasted sesame seeds (You can find sesame seed grinders at any Japanese market.), but if you can't find a grinder a mortar and pestle will work.  Or just sprinkle them on without grinding.

KOREAN CUCUMBER SALAD

• 2 medium-sized cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and chopped into chunks
• half a thinly-sliced small yellow onion, or 1-2 green onions, thinly-sliced
• a drizzle of toasted sesame oil (maybe a teaspoon or two)
• a hefty grinding of toasted sesame seeds (see photo)
• sea salt to taste (large flakes are great, but avoid large the coarse rocks usu. found in salt grinders)
• optional: shaved garlic is great in this, so are a few very thinly-sliced green chilis.

Toss everything together and serve immediately. Serves 4 as a side dish (or two of my children--they love this).  We had this along-side kalbi (Korean BBQ ribs) last night.

Creamy Brussels Sprouts

When Mary Tsao mentioned the creamy brussels sprouts the first time, I sat up and took notice. When she mentioned them a second time, I knew I would be making them ASAP.

ASAP was last night. I cooked up two pounds of sprouts and Bunny, my five-year-old brussels sprouts freak, ate about a pound and a half of them. Next time I think I'll double the recipe and that'll be dinner along with a loaf of crusty bread.

They were creamy and cheesy and nutty and in a word: gooooooooood.

"Steakhouse" Salad: Tomatoes, Sweet Onions, and Blue Cheese

This salad, is hands-down, my family's favorite. What's not to love about thick slabs of sweet, juicy heirloom tomatoes; thinly-sliced piquant onions; and crumbles of sharp and salty blue cheese (in this case Stilton and gorgonzola)?

Bunny and Wallie love blue cheese (just like their parents) and by the time I get around to serving this salad, I notice that there are far fewer crumbles on it than I thought...Hmmmm...

Simply arrange the tomato slices on a plate and lightly salt them (just a touch to bring out the tomato flavor; the cheese is salty), top with onions and cheese and fresh ground pepper, then drizzle with fruity olive oil.  We had this alongside grassfed tri-tip from Whole Foods, and it was the perfect complement to the meal.

Farmer's Market Inspiration and Motivation: Fall is upon us!

Last week we trotted off to the farmer's market and were disappointed to learn that for that week only, our beloved market was replaced by a cultural fair. It was all jewelry and candles and pottery and not what we were looking for, so we were forced to duck into our local natural foods for our weekly supply of peaches and nectarines, but it wasn't the same.

The farmer's market was back in effect this weekend ,and because I can feel a chill in the air in the mornings (and our heat even kicked on one day), I was hunting for fall ingredients.

The mesclun lettuces—accented with autumal-colored flowers—looked gorgeous (my camera phone doesn't do it justice) and the fresh okra and golden cauliflower looked mouth watering. Several vendors had heirloom squash out and even pumpkins. Fall is here!

Bunny woke up in the middle of the night last night complaining that she wasn't feeling good, so we decided to make a big batch of vegetable soup today. She chose beautiful dark green green beans, red and yellow chard, curly spinach, and zucchini for the soup. I got a rotisserie chicken, boned it for our lunch then threw the carcass into a large soup pot along with a parmesan rind to start the stock.

We picked up a jar of Happy Girl Kitchen's pesto which will be our "pistou" to top our veggie soup along with shavings of salty, earthy pecorino romano. And on the side, a loaf of freshly baked whole grain bread.

I love the farmer's market when summertime produce is bountiful, and indeed, we are lucky to live in California where we get great produce all year, but I also love it in the fall and winter (our market is year-round) when the pickings are slimmer forcing one to be more creative about what to cook.

Just when I think I can't eat one more leaf of basil or one more heirloom tomato (who could ever imagine thinking such a thing!), fall is upon us with new culinary possibilities. Just in time.

Sauteed Italian runner beans

Runner beans (aka Italian flat beans) have been so delicious from our local farmer's market lately.  My favorite way to do 'em up is to saute some smashed garlic and sweet red onion in olive oil until the onions go all caramel-y. (In winter time I also add a bit of diced pancetta.) Then I dump in the beans (ends snapped) and sauté until they are crisp-tender. Sea salt and fresh ground pepper are the finishing touch.  We had these along side grilled lamb tonight.

Pasta, Heirloom Tomato Sauce, Mozarella, Eggplant

The key to making pasta with tomato and eggplant sauce is to fry up the eggplant first and let it drain on paper towels while you make the sauce. That way it retains its crispy crunch at little longer. I like to toss the pasta with the tomato sauce, then add the eggplant, then add the fresh, chopped basil and cheese.

The simple tomato sauce was made with three types of tomatoes: Early Girls from the farmer's market, yellow tomatoes from the hippy church campfire night, and sweet cherry tomatoes from my friend Lia's garden. I sauteed sweet onions, lots of garlic, the tomatoes and a branch of basil from my patio until a uniform sauciness (heh) is achieved. I remove the basil branch before tossing the sauce with the pasta.

Along with the eggplant, I added cubed buffalo mozzarella (which I froze for about 10 minutes so it would retain its shape). It took the pasta over the top. J. loves to say that he can never order pasta in a restaurant ever. He said that about this, and I take that as the highest compliment.

Pappardelle with Tartufata (Truffle sauce)

Tonight's dinner was a meal that came together in about 5 minutes once the pappardelle was boiled. 

Tartufata is definitely not something we eat everyday, but it makes such an easy and delicious pasta sauce (or bruschetta topping) that it's a no-brainer when you have guests or just want to cook something special for no reason.

I wanted tonight's dinner to be special because I had just been gone for 3 days at BlogHer and I wanted to make something yummy for my family (esp. after eating all that conference food.)

I used to bring tartufata back from Italy, but you can now find it in Italian specialty shops here in the states. To make the pasta:

• Cook 2 8-oz. packages of pappardelle until al dente. Drain and reserve about 2 tbsps of pasta water.
• Toss pappardelle with 3/4 of a stick of butter and 1/2 to a full jar of tartufata (depending on your taste).
• Use the pasta water to loosen the sauce if needed (using warmed cream is good, too.) Season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper.
• Top with grated pecorino romano and a sprinkling of finely chopped parsley. Serve at once.

Serves 4-5

Pasta with fresh white corn, heirloom tomatoes, and herbs

This is that salad that everyone makes in the summertime. I just love fresh (raw) corn, just off the cob, and summer tomatoes together.  When I want to make it into a heartier main dish or side, I add pasta to it, and perhaps some cheese (crumbled sheep's milk chevre is wonderful in this).

The tomatoes (especially the Green Zebras) were so outstanding that I didn't add cheese to it. I didn't want to take away from their sweetness.  I simply dressed the pasta with olive oil, salt and pepper and tossed it with the tomatoes and corn which I seasoned separately with salt, pepper, olive oil, and a splash of white balsamic vinegar. The final touch was the addition of freshly pick oregano and Italian and Thai basil, all of which I grow in pots on my patio.

We had company and I served this alongside grilled chicken paillard. It was a match made in heaven. It tasted so good sitting outside in our backyard sipping wine and chatting with our guest.  We had leftovers of both so I just chopped the chicken into the pasta and we ate it the next day for lunch.