Grilled Halibut with Korean BBQ Sauce

Fridays call for easy recipes: few ingredients, simple preparation, and delicious healthy food. I've been looking at this epicurious.com recipe for some time as a potential Friday night candidate. I love grilled vegetables and I love the delicate heat of Serrano chilies. Fresh, unassuming halibut on a hot grill brushed with a simple Korean BBQ sauce? Vegetables? Perfect!

.ЯR. arrived Friday evening bearing a gift. We had checked out specialty salts at various little shops wondering what the fuss was all about. Salt is salt, right?!Even so, the myriad of colors, textures, and unknown flavors intrigued us. He revealed my present: a beautiful jar of Kilauea black sea salt from Williams-Sonoma. It looks like coarsely ground volcano in a jar!

This halibut and the recipe were both fantastic, but finishing the plate with my new sea salt put it right over the top! Who knew that a salt could add such crunch and intense bursts of flavor enhancing the fish and rounding out the meal? My advice: branch out a bit and explore some ingredients you have never tasted!

Let's talk about the perfect fresh-market dinner: Newly caught halibut; the bold beauty of eggplant; succulent, earthy shitakes; and the fresh crunch of baby bok choy. This fast and easy recipe gives you everything your body needs, and satisfies the palate beautifully. Dating an extremely talented bartender  also has its perks - the mystery Memorial Weekend Martini he made me was the perfect exit from a long work week! I can't divulge his secrets, but it had VOX vodka, Muscat (opened for last weekend's Tuscan Melon Sorbet), a hint of citrus, and a sink of POM.

INGREDIENTS:

* 2 pcs of halibut (a little under 1 lb total)
* 4 baby bok choy, sliced in half
* 1 large eggplant or 2 small eggplants (4 pcs total)
* 8 large shitake mushrooms
* 2 Tbsp olive oil
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 1-2 Serrano chilies, minced (with seeds!)
* 1/3 cup soy sauce
* 2 Tbsp brown sugar
* 3 Tbsp water
* 3 Tbsp rice vinegar
* 1 Tbsp Asian sesame oil
* 1 green onion, thinly sliced for garnish
* salt & cracked pepper
* Pinch of Black Sea Salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. In saucepan, saute garlic & chili with 1 tbsp olive oil until fragrant, 1 minute.

2. Stir soy sauce, vinegar, water & sugar until sugar dissolves & add to pan.

3. Bring to boil and reduce by half. Remove from heat & stir in sesame oil.

4. Reserve 1/4 cup sauce for drizzling over finished plate.

5. Rub veggies with olive oil, preheat grill over medium high and pat fish dry.

6. Sprinkle fish with salt & pepper and rub with a little olive oil.

8. Add fish to grill and brush generously with sauce.

9. Add veggies to grill and brush with sauce as well.

10. Flip fish after 3-5 minutes and brush again. Flip veggies and brush with sauce.

11. When fish is opaque and beginning to flake, remove from grill.

12. Arrange on plate and garnish with green onions & extra sauce.

13. Top with a finishing black sea salt!

Strudel - Daring Bakers May Challenge

Anyone who is part of The Daring Kitchen knows the anticipation of its monthly challenge! What will it be? Will it be difficult? What are the rules? How can I make it my own!? I confess, when I saw this month's Daring Bakers Challenge I winced. I am comfortable in my kitchen whether baking or cooking, but there are some recipes I have deftly avoided for years, and pastry nears the top of the list. Crisp, flaky, buttery, time-consuming, tear-threatening pastry. The way I see it, there are a million bakeries nearby that have professionally trained pastry chefs to make my pastry for me. If you know me, you know that's hard for me to say. I can make pasta, cheese, tarts, cakes... anything but pastry.

Yet, I am a Daring Baker not a Scaredy-Cat Baker. There it was... the May Challenge... Strudel... And strudel means pastry. I put it off weekend after weekend, avoiding it through distraction. The final Saturday came and as the due date loomed menacingly, I buckled down and went for it. I chose a blueberry and lightly sweetened homemade ricotta cheese filling. The cheese came out great, the blueberry filling looked divine and the pastry was manageable. I stretched, pulled, and eased it into a large rectangle. I rolled it up and stuck it in the oven feelin' pretty damn good about my skills. I took it out to cool on the counter and thought to myself, "Yes! I did this! Pastry, you are mine now!"

By now, I should know better than to gloat. In my experience, whenever I gloat or feel overconfident, I get smacked down promptly. Sure enough, my strudel ended up being... well... bready. Like a loaf stuffed with filling. Boring. Doughy. Un-pastry-like. I did learn that I should have used clarified butter when brushing the dough as non-clarified butter can make the dough soggy. I think I also used too much filling and that overburdened the delicate dough. Below you will find the original recipe given to the Daring Bakers. For some better examples of successful strudel, please visit The Daring Kitchen and check out the photos!

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Preparation time
Total: 2 hours 15 minutes – 3 hours 30 minutes
15-20 min to make dough
30-90 min to let dough rest/to prepare the filling
20-30 min to roll out and stretch dough
10 min to fill and roll dough
30 min to bake
30 min to cool
Apple strudel
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers
2 tablespoons (30 ml) golden rum
3 tablespoons (45 ml) raisins
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs
strudel dough (recipe below)
1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts
2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking)
1. Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.
2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.
3. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.
4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.
5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.
Strudel dough
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers
1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.
2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).
3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.
4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.
Tips
- Ingredients are cheap so we would recommend making a double batch of the dough, that way you can practice the pulling and stretching of the dough with the first batch and if it doesn't come out like it should you can use the second batch to give it another try;
- The tablecloth can be cotton or polyster;
- Before pulling and stretching the dough, remove your jewelry from hands and wrists, and wear short-sleeves;
- To make it easier to pull the dough, you can use your hip to secure the dough against the edge of the table;
- Few small holes in the dough is not a problem as the dough will be rolled, making (most of) the holes invisible.

Tuscan Melon Sorbet

Helllllloooooo summertime! I am so lucky to live in Southern California where summer runs May through September. I live year-round in sandals and sundresses and don't comprehend the idea of dressing seasonally. My rent may be astronomically high, but I can go to the beach in the mid-December and I've never shoveled snow off my driveway

Thus it is May and I am ready to sorbet it up in sweet summer style. Nothing goes down better on a balmy evening than a cool, crisp, refreshingly sweet bowl of sorbet. (Except, maybe, an ice-cold beer...) I grew up eating all kinds of melons: cantaloupes, watermelons, honeydews, crenshaws, you name it.

The Tuscan melon is like a cantaloupe, only 100 times better: Sweeter, richer, and honey-like on the tongue, it is everything a melon should be. Fortunately, Grower's Ranch carries them for next to nothing, price-wise. It is common practice in my house to cut one of these beauties in half, scrape the seeds out and devour it with a spoon.

As the weather warmed, I entertained thoughts of frosty treats and I realized I'd never seen a melon sorbet. They are surely out there, but I had never tasted one and had seen few recipes. Ice cream is delicious, but very time-consuming and fattening. I can count Tuscan Melon Sorbet as a serving of fruit and make it in 10 minutes. One ripe melon, a little dessert wine, brandy or liqueur and a little sugar is all it takes. What are you waiting for?!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2lb Tuscan Melon - cubed
• 1 cup sweet dessert wine (I used Muscat)
• 1/2 cup sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Dissolve sugar in dessert wine.
2. Puree all ingredients.
3. Place in ice cream maker and churn until mixed and ready to freeze.
4. Place in freezer-safe airtight container and freeze at least 4 hours.

Ahi Burger (revisited)

We spent a good chunk of Sunday baking bagels, eating bagels, sitting in the sun and drinking beer. When dinnertime came calling with the sun slipping past the edges of the rooftops we took a look at what we had on hand and what we could make that was satisfying, unique and used up the left-over food in the kitchen. We decided on Ahi Burgers.

Unique, satisfying, bursting with flavor and packed with a myriad of vegetables and healthy proteins. We rode our bikes down to the Irvine Ranch Market and picked up sashimi grade Ahi (I prefer fresh albacore, but they were out) and a few missing ingredients. .ЯR. was surprised at how un-fishy these tasted. I swear you could fool a meat eater!! They come off the grill burger-like, dense, meaty and delicious.

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

• 2/3 lb fresh Ahi or Albacore steak
• salt, cracked pepper, blackening seasoning
• 1 Green onion, thinly sliced
  
• 1 red or green jalapeno, minced
• 1/3 red onion, finely minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 bell pepper, finely minced
• handful cilantro, minced
  
• 1/3+ cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1 TBSP soy sauce
• 1.5 tsp molasses
• 1 tsp sesame oil

• Avocado, thinly sliced
• Onion, thinly sliced for grilling
• Thick slices (2) of tomato
• Jar of Wild Oats Mango Peach Salsa (spicy, sweet, tangy, INCREDIBLE)
• 2 Buns
• A few slices of Cheddar (we used a slightly aged white)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Chop fish in a food processor or pulse in blender.
2. Turn into a bowl and mix with everything through the sesame oil.
   
3. If it's too wet, add a little more panko, if it's too dry, add a little more soy sauce/sesame oil.
4. Form two patties with your hands, cover with plastic wrap & refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
5. Heat grill to high.
6. Place thinly sliced & separated onion rings on a bit of foil and place on the back of the grill.
7. Add patties and grill over high heat about 4 minutes per side.
8. Lightly grill buns and melt cheese on patties.
   
9. Spread avocado on bottom bun, top with tomato slice,burgers, grilled onions & mango salsa!
   

BAGELS!

I'm struggling to write this post about homemade bagels. I write, delete and re-write in a seemingly endless quest to find the perfect words to convey my sheer ecstasy with these doughy little rings of joy. Every time I think about them I find myself speechless again. .ЯR. and I sat down to our Bagel Brunch Feast on Sunday and after each bite, we would look at each other in complete awe, unable to comprehend our pleasure. You know you've made something special when your vocabulary is suddenly reduced to combinations of mmmm, wow, and omigod. Baking bagels is a two day event, so plan accordingly. The dough must proof, rise, rest and retard only to be boiled, topped and baked the next day. Bagels, like most things made from scratch, are well worth the time.

Our 2-day bagel tour began Saturday morning making the sponge from yeast, water and flour. After the sponge preparation, we had two hours with little to do but watch it rise. One of the joys of Costa Mesa Living is the abundance of places where you can kill a few hours, particularly on a sunny Saturday afternoon. We pedaled our way down to the beach for a leisurely cruise, had a light lunch, and returned to a large, sticky, doughy science-project resting comfortably in the mixing bowl (1). The next stage requires incorporating another 3 3/4 cups flour into this lump. My kitchen is without a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer (donations happily accepted!) so we got to work on it by hand. Kneading this massive, glutinous hunk of flour into something cohesive, smooth, and satiny was going to take some serious elbow grease and a lot of muscle. (2) Fortunately, my kitchen is equipped with a man with big hands, strong forearms, and a rigorous fitness schedule. We switched back and forth until the dough achieved the desired consistency.

We cut the dough into 12 parts which we kneaded into balls, reminiscing about Play-Doh. After laying the balls under a damp towel, we formed them into the traditional bagel shape by poking a hole in the center and twirling the dough around two fingers. (3) At this point, the dough rests again before it is put to sleep overnight in the refrigerator. (4) What a life, always resting and sleeping! We went to a party to even the score.
I awoke Sunday realizing I had been dreaming of making bagels! As flashes from the previous night flipped through my mind, I vaguely recalled making a few tipsy promises to have lox and bagel brunch at my house in the morning! Oi vey! I hopped out of bed and scrambled to make my house presentable. Bikinis, flour, beer bottles, sandals, who made this mess?! (I have a sneaking suspicion .ЯR. and myself are at fault, and not the beer fairy he keeps blaming...) All's well that ends well, though; and we heaved gentle sighs of relief as our guests slowly canceled, allowing us to leisurely approach the caffeinating (us), and boiling, topping, baking and consuming processes (bagels).

The bagels were surprisingly easy to cook and they came out golden, puffy and beautiful! We topped them with full-fat whipped cream cheese, Wild Nova Scotia lox, a thick slice from a massive heirloom tomato, and some thinly sliced Walla Walla onion. Absolute perfection in carbohydrate form!! Make these, you won't regret it!!

Recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart

Makes 12

SCHEDULE:Day 1:

• sponge: 2 hours rising time
• dough: 30 min+ kneading time
• balls, rest, holes, rise: 40 min
• retard: overnight

Day 2:

• prepare toppings
• boil: 2 minutes
• top
• bake: 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS: Sponge:

• 1 tsp instant yeast (active yeast)
• 4 cups bread flour
• 2 1/2 cups water (room temperature)

Dough:

• 1/2 tsp instant yeast
• 3 3/4 cups bread flour
• 2 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp malt syrup or honey (I used honey)

Finish:

• 1 tbsp baking soda
• cornmeal or semolina for dusting pan
• toppings! We used minced garlic, onion and sea salt
• egg wash (2 egg whites beaten with a little water)

DIRECTIONS: Day 1

1. Stir yeast into flour in large mixing bowl. Add water and whisk until it forms a smooth batter. Cover with plastic wrap and let double in size about 2 hours.
2. Add additional yeast into sponge and stir. Add salt and honey and mix, incorporating 3 3/4 cups flour as you go. Contineue kneading until all ingredients are blended. This will take awhile.
3. Turn dough out onto counter and contine to knead until there is no raw flour. We added about 1 tsp water as we went along.
4. You will know when you are done kneading by doing the "windowpane test". Take a small chunk of dough and stretch it, pulling it into a thin, trasnlucent membrane. If hte dough falls apart or tears before it makes a windowpane, you need to keep kneading.
5. Split dough into 12 equal size pieces and roll into balls. Cover them with a damp towel and let rest 20 minutes.
6. To shape the bagels, poke a hole in the center of the bagel with your thumb and gently rotate your thumb (or two fingers) around in the hole to get the hole about 2.5" in diameter. You want them evenly stretched!
7. Place the bagels on a lightly oiled parchment paper coated pan an inch apart. Cover with plastic and let rise another 20 minutes.
8. The bagels are now ready to 'retard'. In order to check their readiness, drop a bagel in a big bowl of cold water. IF it floats in 10 seconds, you are ready to stick them in the fridge for the night. If it does not float, continue to let them rise at room temperature another 10-20 minutes until it passes the test.

Day 2

1. Preheat oven to 500' and bring a very large pot of water to boil.
2. Prepare your toppings and get everything set up (baking sheet with cornmeal or semolina, a slotted spoon for removing bagels, toppings handy, etc...)
3. Add 1 tbsp baking soda to boiling water to alkalize it. Drop a few bagels in the pot and let them boil for 1 minute (2 minutes if you like them really chewy).
4. Remove the bagels and brush with egg wash on one side. Immediately press on toppings to adhere.
5. repeat and once tray is full (we boiled 2 at a time, then baked 6, ate and then repeated!) place in oven and bake for 5 minutes. Rotate pan and reduce heat to 450' and cook for another 10 minutes.
6. Remove from oven & cool on rack!

The Burger (with Rosemary BBQ Sauce)

Last Friday I wrecked a creole sauce that .ЯR. almost turned into the BBQ sauce of his dreams. He has raved incessantly about this unusual BBQ sauce at the Harbor Grill in Dana Point and how one day we would replicate it for ourselves. Fresh, tomato based, not too sweet or sticky (like most BBQ sauces), and finished with a definitive hint of rosemary. This Friday we decided to take what we had previously destroyed and resurrected and add a few things hoping to recreate the elusive sauce.

Our weekday diets are relatively clean and light due to a shared commitment for exercise and healthy eating. The weekends, however, are open to what we will call dietary interpretation. We opted for ground sirloin burgers coated with this magical BBQ sauce. Burgers usually sound so... Boring? Typical? Casual? Greasy? Yet there is a time and a place for taking your simple cravings and transforming them into something phenomenal. Using the freshest vegetables from Grower's Ranch we slow-simmered our sauce to perfection. We grilled Anaheim chilies and sweet onion rings and sliced up some sharp yellow cheddar.

The best ground beef around these parts is an expensive and lean ground sirloin from the Irvine Ranch Market. Some would argue that a cheaper, fattier ground beef makes a better burger. I dedicate the photograph below to anyone with such an opinion.

Look at the texture of that meat! It barely resembles the greasy ground beef I see at BBQ's and restaurants. The butcher at the Irvine Ranch Market treats his meats with such care that the combination of fats and meat that goes into his ground sirloin is well worth the butcher's bill of $6.99/lb. This burger tastes like steak and has a texture more of foie gras than gristly ground beef.

INGREDIENTS:

Sauce:

• 1 stick butter
• 1 tbsp Cajun or blackening seasoning
• juice of 1 lemon
• 5 oz Meyers Rum
• 6 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 3 tsp brown sugar
• 5 tomatoes (we mixed yellow and red)
  
• 5 rosemary sprigs

Burger:

• Buns
• 2 Anaheim chilies
• 2 thick slices sweet onion
• a few slices sharp yellow cheddar
• 3/4 lb lean ground sirloin
• salt & cracked pepper
• 1 tbsp Cajun seasoning
• 1/4 cup panko (optional) for helping to bind the meat
  

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat grill to medium. Core tomatoes and rub with a little olive oil. Place on grill and cook until slightly blackened and soft (about 10 minutes).
2. In medium saucepan, melt butter with the Cajun seasoning, juice of 1 lemon, 1 oz Meyers rum, 2 tbsp Worcestershire and 1 tsp brown sugar.
3. Simmer until butter is melted. Add tomatoes, mashing slightly, simmer on medium 5 minutes.
4. Puree in food processor and return to pan and keep sauce simmering on medium.
   
5. Toast 5 sprigs of rosemary in pan and add to sauce, crumbling them finely.
6. In separate pan, reduce 4 oz rum into 2 oz.
7. Add to sauce along with 2 tsp brown sugar and 3-4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce.
8. Reduce until thickened.
9. In bowl, mix sirloin with salt, cracked pepper, Cajun seasoning, 1/4 cup panko and 1/4 cup Rosemary BBQ Sauce.
10. Pat into patties and cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate 30 minutes+.
11. Increase heat to high and add burgers to grill, brushing with a little BBQ sauce. Cook about 4-5 minutes per side, depending on thickness of the burgers.
    
12. Halve chilies and thread them onto skewers, thread onion slices onto skewers as well. Coat both with a light brushing of oil and BBQ sauce.
13. Grill on back burners of grill until tender & blackened slightly.
14. Lightly grill buns and place cheese on burgers to melt.
15. Assembly: Bun, BBQ Sauce, Burger, Onions, Chilies, top Bun :) ENJOY!
    

Ricotta Gnocchi with Tuscan Ragu [Daring Cooks Challenge - May]

Daring Kitchen now has two separate monthly challenges: the preexisting Daring Bakers and the all- new Daring Cooks! Daring Cooks presented its first challenge in May and chose Ricotta Gnocchi from Judy Rogers’ The Zuni Café Cookbook. I have struggled with gnocchi for as long as I have been cooking and found myself immediately intimidated. Every single previous attempt has ended in complete disaster; a messy kitchen, a few tears, no dinner and a slightly tipsy chef.

Traditionally, gnocchi is made with potatoes and flour which lend each bite a doughy, dumplingy texture. In this unique recipe, Judy Rogers replaces riced potatoes with fresh, crumbly ricotta. Fortunately, I happen to excel at making homemade ricotta cheese and that skill buoyed my hopes and I rose to the challenge. I made the ricotta, rolled the dough, cut the gnocchi, and dropped them in boiling water...my anxiety was at its apex! I warned .ЯR. that we may need an alternate dinner ready in case of complete failure. I plated the ragu, topped with the gnocchi, and we sat down to eat. Surprisingly, every mouthful was a fluffy pillow saturated in the natural goodness of homemade cheese and a hint of freshly grated nutmeg.

I may never make potato gnocchi again!

Following rules and recipes is completely against my nature, so I had to modify the original instructions. Below you will find both my recipe for the gnocchi and a wonderful country-style ragu. If you have never made ragu from scratch, please set aside all complaints of it being time consuming and give it a try. The prep work is quick and the active cooking time is mostly spent occasionally stirring the ragu as it simmers on the stove for a few hours. Real ragu has a depth and a rich flavor that only time can impart!

I broke this meal up into a few manageable stages so that I could make it during the week.

Day 1: I made the fresh ricotta.
Day 2: I made the ragu and while it simmered I rolled, cut & froze the gnocchi.
Day 3: I re-warmed the ragu and cooked the gnocchi!

INGREDIENTS:

Ricotta Gnocchi:

• About 2 cups fresh ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan
• 1 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• ground pepper
• freshly grated nutmeg (about 1 tsp+)

DIRECTIONS:

After making & draining fresh ricotta, wrap in clean white dish towel and place underneath something heavy in the fridge for 1 hour. You want to remove all excess moisture from the cheese.

1. Mix ricotta, 1/2 cup flour, egg, Parmesan, melted butter, olive oil, salt, pepper & nutmeg in medium bowl. Add more flour if it is still sticky. do not add more than 4 tbsp.
2. Gather into a kneaded ball, cover and chill for 1 hour.
3. Sprinkle wax paper covered baking sheet and work surface with flour.
4. Cut dough into 4 pcs and roll each piece out into a 3/4" wide snake.
5. Cut into 1" pieces and place on baking sheet.
6. You can either COOK here immediately or FREEZE.
7. To COOK: Bring a large pot of water to boil. When roiling, drop gnocchi in. After they float to the top, let them cook for another 1.5-2 minutes longer. Remove with slotted spoon and proceed.
8. To FREEZE: Transfer baking sheet to freezer and freeze until gnocchi are solid. Then place in zip lock back until further use. Cook as directed above, except cook for 3-5 minutes after they begin to float.

Tuscan Ragu:

• 1 cup water
• 1 oz dried porcini mushrooms
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup parsley, minced + extra for garnish
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 lb spicy Italian sausage, removed from casing
• 3/4 lb ground veal
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 2 cans chicken broth (14 oz cans)
• 28-oz can whole tomatoes in juice
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 TBSP minced fresh sage
• 1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
• salt & pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Boil 1 cup water in microwave or in pan. Pour over mushrooms and let stand 15 minutes. Strain liquid into bowl & reserve. Chop mushrooms. Set both aside.

1. Heat oil in heavy skillet over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, garlic and 1/4 cup parsley. Saute until veggies are tender about 5 minutes. Push all veggies to side of pan.
2. Add sausage & cook until brown, breaking up with back of fork.
3. Add veal and saute until brown. Continue browning everything, stirring gently as to not disturb the browned crust on the bottom of the pan. When everything is sufficiently browned add the wine and bring to boil.
4. Continue to boil until almost all liquid is evaporated, scraping up browned bits and stirring everything together.
5. Add 1 cup chicken broth and boil 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add reserved mushroom liquid and simmer until liquid is almost absorbed.
6. Mix in tomatoes with juices, bay leaves, sage, fennel seed, salt, pepper & porcinis. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered until sauce thickens.
7. Add in rest of chicken broth in 1/2 cup increments every 15 minutes or so as you continue to cook uncovered 1-2 hours.

Ragu can be made up to 2 days in advance and refrigerated in a covered bowl.

CousCous with Seared Scallops & Grilled Veggies

Mmmmmmmm scallops! .ЯR. picked up four scallops while at Costco (of all places!) along with the prawns for the night before so that we could try them out. Saturday was a busy day and I was going out to a concert that night and needed to eat something before I left. I had cous cous on hand, left-over grilled vegetable salad and these four lonely scallops. Dinner! Done!

For the cous cous, I buy in the bulk bins at Henry's. It just tastes better than the boxed stuff. I heated 1 cup of water with a small pat of butter and a dash of salt until boiling. Then I added 3/4 cup+ cous cous and removed from heat. Cooking, covered, until all the rest of the stuff was done.

I sprinkled my scallops with salt & pepper and threw them in a pan with olive oil over high heat. Meanwhile I re-heated the grilled vegetable salad and flipped the scallops.

Once the scallops were done, I plated the couscous with the vegetables around it, then topped it off with the scallops. I immediately deglazed the pan with a little soy sauce (around 1/4 cup) and drizzled that over everything.

It was fast and absolutely delicious! A perfect meal for lunch or a light, elegant dinner!

ENJOY!

BBQ Prawns with Grilled Vegetable Salad

The original recipe was going to be based on this one until I added all the Worcestershire sauce and it went straight from Cajun to Hell. Maybe it was the gigantic Rum Runner I drank before I started cooking, maybe it was just too much Worcestershire, or maybe I was distracted. Whatever the reason, I ruined it completely. Fortunately for me (and our guests), .ЯR. was there to rescue the sauce. Not only did he rescue it, he turned it into almost the BBQ Sauce he has been wanting to duplicate for years! My colossal failure of a sauce became the base for The Perfect BBQ Sauce that will be getting tinkered with in the test kitchen shortly.

My sister & her boyfriend came over and we snacked on sliced smoked mozzarella, mild cheddar and a medley of grilled chicken sausages. This meal was easy to make and easy to handle with guests in the house! Everything except the sauce was done on the BBQ making clean up easier as well. The grilled corn & vegetable salad is going to definitely become a summer time staple at my house. It is versatile, good hot & cold and I can see it working its way into a number of dishes both as a side and incorporated into the dish.



The shrimp were delicious! I highly recommend grilling them in shell as the shell has so much flavor. I snipped down the backs of the prawns and removed the digestive tract (commonly referred to as the vein or in my house growing up the poop chute - thanks for that one mom!). Then threaded them onto skewers. It's a bit messier to eat them with the shells on, but in my world MESSY IS FUN so go at it. .ЯR. thought they would be better cooked in the pan with the sauce the whole time instead of grilling them, so we pulled them off the grill and cooked them in the sauce until they were thoroughly coated. Delicious!

Serves 4
BBQ PRAWNS
INGREDIENTS:

• 2.5 lbs medium or large prawns in shell
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 tsp+ chili powder
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 3-4 tsp worcestershire TASTE as you go!
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 6 tomatoes on vine, cored & halved
• 1-2 tsp brown sugar
• French Baguette, sliced (a must for soaking up the sauce!)
  

DIRECTIONS:

1. Snip the back of each prawn and remove the 'vein'. Wash and pat dry.
2. Mix olive oil, garlic, 1/2 tsp salt & some pepper in bowl. Toss shrimp gently with them.
3. Let marinate in refrigerator while you do everything else.
4. Remove shrimp from bowl and scoop garlic & oil into frying pan.
5. Add 1 tbsp olive oil to pan and add tomatoes. Cook on medium high until tomatoes are soft, slightly charred and turning into a paste.
   
6. Cube butter and add to frying pan. Mix in chili powder, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and salt.
   
7. Heat, whisking until butter is melted. Stir in lemon juice, tasting as necessary and add salt to taste. Add brown sugar bit by bit & increase heat. Simmer until thickened about 5-10 minutes
8. Puree sauce in food processor or using immersion blender, return to pan.
   
9. You can either grill the shrimp on the BBQ or add them to the pan at this point.
10. Cook until shrimp are opaque and firm.
11. Serve, pouring sauce over.
12. Definitely serve with a toasted baguette!

1. GRILLED CORN & VEGGIE SALAD
   INGREDIENTS:
   
   • 4 ears white corn, in husk
   • 1 onion, cut into thick rings
   • 1 large zucchini or two small, sliced lengthwise
   • 2 yellow bell peppers cored & quartered
   • 1 tbsp olive oil
   • 1 tbsp lemon juice
   • 1/4 tsp+ molasses
   • salt & pepper
   
   DIRECTIONS:
   
   1. rub all things (corn through bell peppers) with tiny bit of olive oil.
   2. Heat grill over medium high and add veggies.
   3. Cook until seared and tender
   4. remove from grill and chop veggies bite-sized.
   5. Slice corn off cob.
   6. Toss with oil, lemon, molasses, salt & pepper
   7. Good hot, warm or cold.
      

Scallop Skewers with Sesame-Sriracha Marinade

Sunday afternoons!! What gets better than a sunny day, little to do, a grill and great company? (Answer: not having to go to work on Monday). I did have to go to work today, but that didn't stop me from having an outstanding afternoon! The goal for our day was to cook with minimal effort, expenditure and trying to use what we had in our respective kitchens.

It was warm in the sun - somewhere around a pleasant 76-80'. Since we consumed our share of beer the night before I was in the mood for something non-beery, light and fruity. I happened to have a bottle of champagne, some ice cubes and lemons. My plan was adult lemonade.







These, however, were in the freezer:


















Which REALLY sounded better. I made them with a half glass of small ice, 1/2 of one of these frozen fruit bars (really, any fruity popsicle-ish thing would do) and then champagne over it all. Slightly muddled/mixed with a spoon and went to town. It was light & refreshing and I could have knocked back four more. *_* As you can see from the glass above, I couldn't even wait to shoot the photo before I put a good portion away, hah!

Continuing with our Lazy / Use-What-We-Have theme, we rooted around and found Trader Joe's Frozen Japanese Scallops, a sweet onion, bell peppers, zucchini, tomatoes on the vine, and 2 ears of white corn. We made a marinade of this delicious real sesame oil, a few cloves of garlic, brown sugar, soy sauce & sriracha. That blended quickly and then was brushed over the scallops to marinate about 5-10 minutes. We skewered everything and brushed the whole skewers with the marinade. Lastly, we shucked the corn and wrapped them in foil with a little butter, salt & cracked pepper.




















Everything was set over high heat on the grill until the veggies were lightly charred and the scallops cooked to perfection. This was a wonderful meal to end a great weekend!

Local Feature : Oliver's Olive Oil & Balsalmic Tasting Gallery

Sundays! They are just made for relaxing, being lazy, sitting in the sun and enjoying life. Saturday we headed down to San Clemente for lunch. I ended up getting a little mini-tour of the main drag which led us to this wonderful small store, Oliver's. Oliver's sells specialty and flavored olive oils, balsamic vinegars and specialty salts & peppers. Oliver's is located here on a street lined with quaint stores, wine bars and restaurants. If you live in the area, this makes a wonderful few-hour day-trip. Be sure to include lunch at Captain Mauri's or dinner at BeachFire.


The store is lined with barrels full of unique olive oils and vinegars that you can sample individually. The owner is a friendly gentleman who is obviously as passionate about high quality ingredients as we are. We sampled the Blood Orange Olive Oil and I fell in love! Blood Oranges on their own are beautiful, but rarely as flavorful or juicy as I'd like them to be. Used in baking, or as I learned, infused in oil, they become robust, bold representatives for the entire orange family. This oil is soft and smooth, with a definitive, but not overpowering flavor of blood orange. Just fantastic!

Next, the owner mixed the Blood Orange Olive Oil with an 18-Year Balsamic Vinegar. I could drink this mixture in 2 Liter bottles. I could bathe in it. I could sleep in it. If I was a fish, I would live in it. Rich, complex, beautiful. I think you could put this on anything, and I mean anything and find pleasure in it. We bought one bottle of each (roughly $15-$18 each) and headed out of the store before I could even start looking at the gorgeous salt selection!

We made a small salad of spinach, heirloom tomatoes and hot-house cucumbers. The balsamic & blood orange oil came together beautifully and was drizzled over the salad and topped with buffalo mozzarella cheese. The taste? Delightful! There is also a huge joy in knowing that the olive oil and balsamic vinegar that I'm using come from a local small business. I am a huge fan of supporting local business - not only are you getting a better quality, more unique and artisinal product, but you are giving your business directly to a person instead of to a corporation. I like that one-on-one interaction between owner and customer, it gives you a community feel that is hard to find.

EDITED TO ADD: Oliver's is owned by the nice gentleman who helped us and his wife Julie!

Artichoke Heart & Sun Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Happy Saturday! After a busy day all over Orange County, we ended up back at my house desperately seeking some sit-down-and-relax-with-beer-in-hand time. We ventured back out to two of my favorite stores (Grower's Ranch and the Irvine Ranch Market). As most of you know, I am extremely picky when it comes to the quality of my ingredients. So much that I will drive to multiple stores to get what I need for each meal.

It was at the Irvine Ranch Market where we were lured by these hand packed green olives in nondescript containers. So many pricey jarred olives are really worthless - whether it's for martinis, cooking or eating, they just aren't worth the price. These, in their unassuming packaging, looked delicious. We found a blue cheese we'd never seen before and the idea of hand stuffed blue cheese olives grew into martinis and became a reality.

The blue cheese was wrapped in three layers of plastic. Someone was smart, as this cheese unwrapped smelled strongly of... of... well...it wouldn't be appropriate for me to mention what I said it smelled like at the time... but you can imagine extremely pungent. The taste? Creamy, buttery, a forceful taste with a delicate finish. This was quite possibly one of the best martinis. EVER. Of course, we managed to polish off a fair quantity of blue cheese stuffed olives on the side as well!



























As we sipped our martinis and the sun began to go down, I fired up my grill (swoooon!) and we put a Jalapeno-Chicken Sausage on as an appetizer. There are a lot of sausages in the world, but the best sausages are made at the Irvine Ranch Market using their own high quality meats and produce. These chicken sausages are out of this world. Crisp on the outside, tender and moist on the inside, full of flavor and summer and joy!


























Finally! On to the main course! It doesn't get much easier or better than stuffed chicken breasts. We bought the biggest breasts (hey, it's Orange County after all) at the Irvine Ranch Market. When I think of chicken - I think boring. Not all chicken is boring though... I don't know what they do to these chickens (Swedish Massage? Tai Chi?) but the meat is simply astounding. It is tender, moist, FLAVORFUL (who knew that was possible?) and delicious. Check out the recipe below. Also, we grilled up more of that Pancetta Wrapped Asparagus (because it is so damn good) and a yellow bell pepper to add color and a sweet flavor to the plate!

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (trimmed of all tendon-y, fatty, needless stuff)
• 1/3 cup drained, chopped, oil-packed sun dried tomatoes (reserve oil for pan!)
• 1/3 cup water packed artichoke hearts, drained & chopped
• 1/3 cup shredded Fontina cheese
• handful of all purpose flour
• a few metal pins or skewers

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375'
2. Coat glass pan with cooking spray.
3. Wash & pat dry the chicken breasts. Place them smooth side up in a plastic bag and pound them gently to thin them out (be careful to not break through them).
4. remove from bag and place on cutting board.
5. Mix sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and fontina with a little salt & pepper. Grab a firm handful and place on one half of the chicken breast.
6. Roll up lengthwise and pin together with a metal pin or tie with kitchen string.
7. Pat flour gently on the outside of the chicken breast.
   
8. Heat reserved 1-2 tbsp sun dried tomato oil in frying pan till hot.
9. Add your chicken bundles and pan fry each side until golden.
10. Place in glass pan and bake in the oven for 20 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken!
11. Enjoy :)