Broccoli Slaw Sesame Salad

1 stalk broccoli, stem only
1 small bunch mizuna, about 20 stems of different sizes
2 spring carrots, medium-small
2 radishes
1 1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 tsp seasoned rice vinegar
1/2 tsp gomashi
1tsp black sesame seeds

Wash all vegetables and peel the carrots as well as any easy areas of the broccoli stem. Cut both into julienne as best you’re able.

Wash & pat dry the mizuna, trimming excess stems. Wash & slice radish into even pieces, either julienne or in half rounds.

Whisk the oil, vinegar, and gomashi together. If you don’t have gomashi, crush sesame seeds with the back of a knife or in a mortar & pestal and mix with some salt. Coat the vegetables in the dressing and top with black sesame seeds when serving.

Impatient Pickles (quick Japanese pickle)

1 Japanese cucumber or equivalent other cucumber (seed other types, but not Japanese cucumber)
1 square kombu (1×1 inches or so, can use some you used to make stock, no problem; this is a type of kelp used to make stocks and other dishes in Japanese cuisine)
1/4 small head of Napa, Chinese, or Savoy Cabbage, sliced thinly and washed
Pinch salt

Add a pinch of salt to the cabbage once it’s sliced and let it sit while you chop the cucumber.

Prep your cucumber by slicing off the ends. Use a lot of salt in your hands to rub the cucumber vigorously; the salt will turn green and a bit of foam will appear. This is normal. Supposedly, it removes bitterness from the vegetable. Rinse it and pat it dry, then cut it into julienne by slicing dramatic diagonal ovals and then chopping them longways to have sticks with green tips.

Mix everything together with your hands, using a light and then a firmer touch to squeeze moisture out of the vegetables. Leave the moisture in the bowl, you’ll use it. When the vegetables are flexible and soft, add the kombu. Put it in a jar with a tight fitting lid or otherwise in a ceramic or glass container with a lid and let it sit at room temp for 1 hour or in the fridge for up to 3 days with the kombu. Remove the kombu and store it another 2 weeks if you want to, assuming it doesn’t smell or look funny.

Serve in small clumps in bowls.

You can add radish or carrot or substitute it as well.

A friend is moving back to her native Sicily and I hosted a brunch for her yesterday. There were 7 of us and our menu was:

- Butternut Squash & Kale gratin

- Southern Biscuits

- Trio of amazing fruit preserves

- Crispy Bacon

- Winter Fruit Salad

- Soft Scrambled Eggs

And a dear friend showed up with not only bubbly, guava, and peach juice, but also a big thing of tortellini salad. Thanks Lauren! (MR. Y finished it off after the movie!)

I’m not going to preach on the easiest of this list of dishes–a quick note about bacon and eggs.

Scrambled Eggs. The key to your success is low heat and lots of stirring. You know what most recipes tell you to do with risotto? Don’t do that with risotto. Do it with eggs. They will take longer, but they will not taste like you made them in the microwave.

Bacon should be served crispy and taken out of the pan just before you think it looks crispy. It’ll get there.

My no-fail recipe for Southern Biscuits comes from Alton Brown. Don’t try to outdo it, you won’t. I follow it to a T and end up making it several days in a row after reviving it for an occasion. In fact, I’m going to go buy more flour as soon as I finish writing this. I served them with fig-almond spread, plum preserves and peach preserves from local frog hollow farms. You can buy the latter ones on their website.

Winter Fruit Salad (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

3/4 Cup sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
3 star anise
zest of 1 lemon
10-12 dried apricots, sliced in half
Juice from the same lemon
3 firm pears of any variety (I used Comice, Bosc, and D’anjou)
1 tart apple

Bring 4 cups water and sugar to boil with star anise, vanilla bean. Add lemon zest and dried apricots, and let cool completely. Meanwhile, peel all of your remaining fruits and remove the cores (the easiest way to remove the core of an apple is to quarter it, and turn each quarter on its side, slicing diagonally the core area off). Slice the fruit thinly and evenly and toss in the lemon juice. When syrup is cooled, gently mix all together, cover, and store 8 hours or overnight in the fridge. Serve with slotted spoon. I reserved the remaining syrup for another use in the freezer.

Butternut Squash & Kale Gratin (also adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

For an oval gratin pan, 13″ long and 3″ deep
1.25 lb thinly sliced butternut squash
1.5 lb dino/lacinato kale and/or baby rainbow chard–I did 50% of each–clean & cut into small pieces
1 small onion, diced
pinch of nutmeg
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups heavy cream or whole milk
4 T butter
2 T flour
1 T fresh flatleaf/Italian parsley, minced
1 T fresh thyme, mined
1 1/4 C gruyere cheese (about 5 oz)
lots of salt & pepper

Start by washing and spinning dry your greens. Dice the onion and begin cooking it at medium low heat in a large pan in 2 T butter. When soft, add any chard stems you are using and a pinch of nutmeg, salt, pepper. Cook another 1-2 minutes. Add greens and keep adding & stirring until all are wilted. Turn off heat and place mixture in a fine collander to remove excess moisture.

Sauce: bring 2 C cream or milk to near boil with the garlic, being sure not to let it burn. Meanwhile, in a larger sauce pan, melt 2 T butter. When melted and water content is steamed off, add the flour and whisk, cooking 1-2 min more. Add the hot milk and whisk for 1-2 more minutes while bringing to a boil, turn off and leave it alone.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange 1/2 the butternut squash in your pan, evenly along the bottom. Add 1/4 the herbs, salt, pepper, and then top with 1/4 C of the cheese. Next, half the greens evenly on top. More salt & pepper, more herbs, more cheese. Pour 1/2 the sauce evenly over it at this point, and go back to the butternut squash slices. Add salt, pepper, then herbs, cheese. Add the rest of the greens, the herbs, salt & pepper. Top wit the rest of the sauce and then the rest of the cheese. Bake uncovered for the first 1/2 hour, throw foil on it for the 2nd half.

As an aside, I want to reitorate how happy I am in my new space. Oh my gosh, look at that, I have a entry table! With a place to–no, really?–place flowers. Incredible.

Some of you know that I have stolen my go-to pizza dough recipe from Wolfgang Puck. Here it is for your convenience.

1 pack dry yeast, with an expiration date we have not yet reached
1 tsp honey or brown sugar
1 cup warm water (about 105-115 degrees)
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 T olive oil

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup of the warm water & the honey/sugar. Let it get a bit frothy while you gather your other ingredients.

In a large bowl, whisk together the remaining dry ingredients. Create a well. Add the yeast mixture to the middle and the olive oil. Add the rest of the warm water, using it to get any yeast that stuck in the bowl. Mix together. It may be quite sticky. Add more flour and knead dough until smooth and supple.

Cover with thin, damp towel (well wrung out) and put in a warm spot like on top of your gas range. Let it sit at least an hour but more if you can.

Cut it into fourths. Grab a fourth and punch it down, gathering it back into a ball. Roll it out on a large floured surface with a rolling pin, until thin but not too thin to handle and put onto a well dusted cookie sheet without a lip or a piel, if you are fancy enough to own one. I was, but I gave it away several moves ago. So back to the cookie sheet.

You’ll want to cook this on a pizza stone–if you’re going to bother making your own dough, you should get one. It makes a huge, huge difference in the texture and moisture of the pizza and how well it holds up to your toppings. It also is handy to leave in a stubborn or unpredictable oven because it will help regulate heat.

Cook it as hot as your oven goes. Don’t over fill it. Too much = hard to handle & won’t cook right. Your pizza, when ready to cook, should NOT resemble any restaurants “veggie” pizza. Too much!

Butternut Squash Pizza
Sautee cubes of fresh butternut sqash in butter or olive oil. Add salt & pepper. When tender, add some fresh or dried sage.
Thinly coat pizza skin in olive oil, and add thin slices of red onion. Add cubes of fontina. Lastly, squash.

Sundried Tomato Reduction Margarita Pizza
My mom visited a while back and left us with a sundried tomato reduction which she had made to use in a risotto. Fancy. We put it on our pizza with some mozzarella and some thyme and it was deliciousss.

My mom is pretty well known for reducing things, too. For example, demi glace. Or, port reduction for sauces on beef or pork. She’s been known to boil beef bones for days. We once had a golden retriever who would lay next to that pot for days. My mom taught her the words “reduction sauce.” She would react like you said “cookie” or “walk.”

I recently got a promotion and have been working a bit harder than the last year and a half that I enjoyed a bit of cruise control, so going to the grocery and planning meals, sadly, has been a lesser priority. I came home yesterday to a near empty refrigerator, telling myself my farm shipment would come today and refill it. It didn’t show, so we ate the same thing again tonight.

For Two:

150g rigatoni (about 2.5 cups dry)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup chicken stock or other stock
2 T tomato paste, good quality
1 shallot
1-2 T butter
1/4 head garlic, minced
fresh parsley, chopped fine
1-2 cups fresh spinach

Start your water to boil in a large pot with a lid. Meanwhile, peel the shallot and cut into quarters lengthwise. Slice 1/8 inch thick strips crosswise. Mince your garlic.

Heat a nonstick pan with moderate sides to high, add the butter. When water evaporates from the butter, add the shallot and garlic, cooking for 30seconds. Reduce heat to medium and let cook until getting fragrant and colorful. Add the cream, and let cook together. Add the tomato paste and mix. When cream is reducing and mixture is thickened, add chicken stock 1/2 of it at a time. Feel free to adjust liquid ratios to your liking.

As the pasta becomes al dente, bring the sauce to a higher heat and strain the pasta, immediately adding the spinach on top of it as it steams.  Put the pasta and spinach into the sauce pan and mix until spinach is wilted. Heat two pasta plates/bowls in the micro for 2 minutes and serve with parmasean on top!

This is one of those things you call “bread” instead of “cake” just to make yourself feel better about it. Feel free to fool yourself. I won’t judge you, and your true friends won’t either.

This uses fresh pumpkin, you can use canned as a substitute but please don’t tell me about it. That was me judging you.

Make ahead in an ideal world:

Fresh Pumpkin Puree for baking
1 2lb sugarpie pumpkin
olive, canola, or other oil

Halve the pumpkin, remove the seeds, reserve them to clean & roast if you like. Lightly coat the exposed flesh of the pumpkin with oil, put into a close fitting pan with sides, add a cup or so of water and roast at 375 until the skin has puffed up from the pumpkin and it looks cooked, at least 45 minutes but probably more like 1.5 hours. If the water dries up consider adding a bit more as you check on it.

Remove the skin once it’s cooled enough to touch, and puree in a food processor or blender, cutting into chunks that your machine can process. If its excessively watery, put it in a cheesecloth and press, let it drain. Mine didn’t require this so I just used it like that.

Pumpkin Walnut Bread (Adapted from Joy the Baker) – Makes two loaves
3 cups All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup Buckwheat flour (sub whole wheat or all purpose if you must)
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice or baking spice mix
1/2 tsp cloves
2 cups pumpkin puree (15 oz or so)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup water
1 cup walnuts in any state you like

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour your 2 loaf pans or wait to grease if you’re using a spray oil like I did. Terrible for the environment, good for baking.

In large bowl, whisk flours, sugars, baking soda, powder, salt, spices.

In medium bowl, whisk pumpkin puree, oil, maple syrup, egg, water. Start with the egg to whisk it well.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Fold in some of the walnuts, but reserve some for top.

Put into the batter in the pans equally (I made do with one pan, for those of you who have seen my kitchen you probably understand why I only have one pan), top with walnut pieces. Bake for 1hr-1.25 hours, or until a skewer put into the center of the loaf comes out non-gooey.

Let it rest in the pan a bit before removing it, or you’ll lose some of the bottom of the cake.

This is best warm but you can freeze it for future eating and then toast it and serve with cream cheese or creme fraiche.

Wine: This is great with a young, inexpensive Sauternes. Yes, such a thing exists.

Fromage Blanc with herbs from Cowgirl Creamery (well actually, from somewhere else, but they carry it?), heirloom cherry/grape tomatoes from capay organics, olive oil, chili flakes, homemade pasta dough with yolks.

FAIL on recipe supply, I’m simply not in the mood and this one is overdue.

At a dinner party for six, I made a few quick courses that ended up with a fabulous “bang” on an easy, warm weeknight in the backyard.

- Pluot slices with seasoned Sheep’s ricotta and Prosciutto

- Grilled pork tenderloin with “5 spices” & rum braised peaches + rainbow chard

- Dark chocolate ice cream with bergamont olive oil & sea salt

The first and the last were partially stolen from a previous dinner and a local creamery, so aside from giving you a brief hint* on the first I’ll leave you to your own devices.

*mix your sheep’s milk ricotta with some orange or lemon zest, some bergamont olive oil, and vanilla salt, then drizzle the whole combo, once wrapped and held together by prosciutto, with balsamico.

1 pork tenderloin, rubbed generously with mixture of dried pepper & salt, and five spice powder. Allow to marinate as such for 30-1hr, then drizzle with high heat oil such as macadamia, and throw it on a medium grill, turning a little frequently to prevent charring.

1 bunch rainbow chard, stems removed and chopped 1 inch, cooked at medium heat in olive oil, with salt and pepper, the leaves added to wilt at the end.

Peaches into the chard pan once the chard is removed, brought to high heat with butter, get them golden on one side and douse in bacardi 151 or another rum (or calvados). Flip them, get them golden on the other side, add more rum. Cook it off and serve it all together!

Well, it’s not the first time I’ve taken a hint from something I enjoyed at The Sentinel in San Francisco. It’s probably not the last.

This serves 3-4 people.

1/2 lb ahi tuna, fresh
1/4 lb green beans, chopped evenly and blanched in salted water
1 gypsy pepper, sliced very, very thinly (this is a green mini bell pepper type thing)
1 T tomato paste (I use san marzano)
2 T Lemonaise (mayonaise with seasoning and lemon flavor)
1 T dijon mustard
1 tsp tumeric powder
1-2 T cajun seasoning (I made my own–chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, black pepper, salt, thyme, nutmeg/mace, etc)
juice of 1/2 lemon
handful cilantro, minced
3 T homemade bread n butter pickles, small dice (use your imagination to sub)

Cook the tuna in olive oil after seasoning with salt and pepper. Flake apart and chop. Mix the sauce using the lemonaise, dijon, lemon juice, tumeric, cajun powder (use more as necessary, feel free to add chili powder), tomato paste. Mix the tuna into it, then start adding green beans, gypsy pepper, cilantro, pickles. Adjust as needed. Enjoy.

I really enjoyed this, especially since these damn pickles have been sitting in my fridge almost as long as the homemade preserved lemons I made last year.

I rushed home from a Saturday morning outing to cook dinner for two boys. We ate in the backyard, it was gorgeous and sunny, and I had very little time to prep. I bought some amazing artisinal corn tortillas (taco size, one pack in chipotle and one in white corn), some pre-marinated tri tip (a faux paus but a sometimes necessary evil–I did not prep the night before), shallots, etc and made a pretty grand meal of it all. They were satisfied, anyway.

I got so excited, though, I failed to take a picture of an actual taco, instead only of the fixin’s. We had a size of grilled yellow squash, and cuban black beans too.

3 shallots, sliced thinly on the diagonal
4 radishes, sliced thinly
1 lime, cut into 12 peices (in half as if juicing, and then into 6 slices each half)
cilantro (washed, but let people pick off their own leaves to save time)
tortillas
1.5lb-2.5lb tri tip, marinated
hot salsa

Assemble as you please.

More Pizza at Home: this one with yellow flower squash, gypsy peppers, anchovies, mozarella & tomato.