01January 30 2014 - Roasted Tomato and Artichoke Heart Pasta

Made with Cucina-style Autumn Salad


Pasta- used TJ's organic Italian fusilli.  Cook a minute short of al dente, toss with evoo to await sauce.

Pasta Sauce
- half can of Italian Cenzo plum tomatoes
- 2 shallots, chopped
- 2 T white balsamic vinegar
- 3-4 tsp italian seasoning mix
- artichoke hearts, cooked (chez panisse style, see below)
- 1 container red/yellow small TJ's tomatoes
- evoo
- s/p

Toss tomatoes with evoo and s/p, spread on baking sheet and put in preheated oven at 400 for about 20 minutes or until they plump and are browning/charring on top.  Remove from oven and let rest.
Take about half of the tomatoes out of the can, use immersion blender to puree.
Saute shallots in heated evoo until almost picking up color, add in white balsamic vinegar, simmer liquid off.  Add pureed tomato and bring to simmer.  Add in herb mix and simmer to reduce by 1/4-1/3.  Add in roasted tomatoes and drained artichoke hearts, let simmer a few minutes until heated through.  Toss cooked pasta on top and fold together.  Allow to sit over heat another minute or so to heat through.  Serve topped with some shaved parmesan.

Artichoke Hearts
- 1 bag fzn artichoke hearts
- some white wine (1/3 c?) - left over Charles Shaw sauv blanc
- few sprigs thyme
- bay leaf
- crushed red pepper
Bring to a simmer, simmer 10 min, let cool in liquid.  Drain, remove thyme and bay leaf.

01January 29 - Farro salad with Paprika dressing, spinach salad with pancetta and roasted mushrooms

Spinach salad
- pancetta cubes
- mushrooms- roasted with coconut oil, salt/pepper
- red wine dijon vinaigrette

Farro Salad
inspiration from Giada's Feel Good Food -- smoked paprika whole wheat cous cous salad
*dressing
- 4-5 T apple cider vinegar
- 2-3 tsp paprika
- 0.5 tsp aleppo pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- .25 tsp pepper
- about .5 tsp honey
*salad
- 1 apple, diced- tossed with 1/2 meyer lemon juice and T apple cider vinegar
- 3 small fennel bulbs- bulb only, sliced
- 1/3 c parsley, chopped
- 3 stalks celery, sliced
- 1 watermelon radish, julienned
- 2 cups cooked farro
- 1/2 package tomatoes, halved

01January 25 2014 - Parmesan Broth with Kale and Tortellini

From Smitten Kitchen http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2014/01/parmesan-broth-with-kale-and-white-beans/#more-11298

Parm rinds at WF were $10/lb
Used Italian fresh tortellini
Used baby kale, couple of handfuls
* tossed in a couple handfuls of the kale, then the pasta about 30 sec later- cooked for 2 minutes only- then served into warmed bowls
Made about 3 main-course bowl sized servings of just over 2 cups each.  Could make a small bowl size for 6 servings.
Top with freshly ground pepper and salt

Next time, double broth to have more on hand for other soup, or risotto.

01January 24 2014 - Curried Lentil and Sweet Potato and Celery and butter lettuce salad

Curriend Lentil from SK http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2007/11/curried-lentils-and-sweet-potatoes/

Celery Salad with small lettuces, blood orange and argan oil vinegarette

01January 23 2014 Beautiful Baby Lettuce Rosettes with Celery Salad

Eaten quickly before heading to 50 Mason Social House to see Dave play with the Bronze Gods.  Stopped at FarmerBrown for cocktails in preparation of the show.

- Baby lettuce rosettes from Sunday farmer's market
- Celery from (Tomatillo??) farms

Ingredients:
- 10 or so baby lettuce rosettes
- 1 watermelon radish: thinly sliced, half julienned 
- 1 small bunch of celery- ribs and leaves sliced thinly
- most of a bunch of parsley
- honeycrisp apple
- salt/freshly ground pepper
Notes: maybe should have used more lemon and added a little honey to dressing; also should have topped with nuts, perhaps almonds

meyer lemon and champagne vinegarette

FarmerBrown- 
Best cocktail: Ruby Moonshine- bourbon, blood orange liqueur, ancho pepper, orange, grapefruit, housemade ginger nectar, paychauds bitters, tonic

01Jan 20 2014 - Flavorful Turkish Spinach, Skirt Steak, Chickweed Salad with argan oil, Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Flavorful Turkish Spinach, Skirt Steak, Chickweed Salad with argan oil, Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Eaten coursed


Turkish Spinach- used regular recipe, but added (about 1 tsp) Penzey's "Turkish Seasoning" in both sauce and spinach


Skirt Steak
- about 0.75 lb for two people
- Cooked on side 1 for 5 min, flipped, cooked for 2 more min: on grill pan
- marinated for a few hours: white wine, balsamic vinegar, 3 penzey's spice mixes (maybe only need 1)-- english prime rib rub, bbq of the americas, galena street

Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- potatoes boiled, sliced, leftovers from a week ago
- in rounds, sprayed with coconut oil, salt/pepper, in oven at 400 for about 20-30 min

Chickweek salad
- dressed with evoo, argan oil, salt and pepper

01January 10 2014 - Braised Shortribs, Endive with Gribiche Sauce, Layered Mashed Potatoes

Guests: ryan/whitney, dan/anamarie

Braised Shortribs- Smitten Kitchen beer braised
Notes:
- only had 1 can beef broth, used left over arrogant bastard pale ale to substitute
- used marin brew co San Quentin Breakout Stout
- next time- do reduce cooking liquid, the "jus" is not the same

Endrive with Gribiche- Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook
- try recipe with all herbs instead of just parsley
- smaller endive, used 1.5 heads per person- worked fine
- i like lots of "sauce", use 1 recipe per 2 people; for 6 people full bunch of parsley (leaves)

Layered mashed potatoes
From http://www.veggiebelly.com/2009/05/peruvian-causa-layered-potato-salad-with-creamy-avocado-dressing.html
- can use smaller mold- lots of food; 2" is fine
- 2 russets + 2 parsnips were about the right amount using the larger mold
- need density of potatoes to be higher- too smooth and they fold under their own weight: mash potatoes with only adding 1 T milk, use masher, not hand mixer
- veggie relish: forgot mint and parsley, added tomatoes
- didn't make dressing
- used yams instead of saffron cooked potatoes

01January07 2014 - Butter lettuce and celery salad

Dinner with J&P and Peter K

Serves 6 (served 5 with a serving left over)

2 small butter lettuce heads, chopped
celery core with leaves, chopped (probably 5-6 small ribs)
3 medium/larger ribs celery, chopped
1/4-1/3 cup chopped parsley
1 med apple, chopped/sliced
4 scallions, sliced, white parts only
~1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese 
1/4-1/3 cup toasted slivered almonds

dressing:
- 1 T each chia seeds, lemon juice, and champagne vinegar- let soak 10-20 min
- 1/4 mix of lemon juice and champagne vinegar
- 1 T dijon mustard
- evoo
- fresh ground pepper

NOTES:
- used the inner core of the celery with lots of yellow celery and leafs
- this is based on celery salad of celery, celery leafs, parsley
- use kirkland blue cheese- much more mild, more like jack cheese
- forgot the salt

01January04 2014 Thai Beef Salad (Yum Nuea)

Dinner with Ryan and Whitney

Thai Beef Salad
1 lb Niman Ranch flank steak
1 cucumber (regular)
1 red pepper
1 shallot
1 container yellow cherry tomatoes
2 limes
half bunch of cilantro
1 T brown sugar
fish sauce
soy sauce
marie sharps hot sauce or hot peppers

Preheat oven to 400+
Salt and pepper steak. 
Grill pan on high heat, sear both sides; put into oven.
Check steak around 8 minutes
Let steak rest for 15+ min; then slice thinly across the grain, put into sauce/dressing

Make dressing:
recommended ratio of fish sauce to lime is 1:1, I used more like twice lime to fish sauce
add sugar to lime and fish sauce to taste, some white pepper

Toss everything together and let marinate.



NOTES: 
- allow pan to get hotter next time, need higher sear
- serve over bed of lettuce (if you want it like restaurant)
- let steak marinate in juice longer
- might need ginger?