Charles Jones

I hope that I'm not doing anything terribly wrong by posting these photos out of one of my most cherished books.  They are the photographs of Charles Jones, an Englishman born in 1866.  Little is known of him, or his work, as he never left any notes or writings to explain his still - life photography of plants, fruits, flowers and vegetables.  

This is such a lovely book , I wanted to share this with you and encourage you to pick it up if you are at all interested in food and/or photography.  It's a beauty of a book.

Plant Kingdoms - The Photographs of Charles Jones,  Sean Sexton, Robert Flynn Johnson, 1998.

Update: I was contacted shortly after I posted this by the author of this book, Mr. Robert Flynn Johnson. (!!)  He was very kind and glad to see this posting.  In his email, he mentioned his two other books, Anonymous, and The Face in The Lens, (Available May, 2009).   Check them out, more beautiful photography.

Fried Rice

If you happen to have any left over rice, the only real way to salvage it is to fry it. I had brown rice from last nights' meal and a few sorted veggies and a couple of eggs. Amazing, since my refrigerator is generally bare on the weekends. In all of about 10 minutes, we had a lovely lunch of fried rice and arugula salad. (I love that!) Pull whatever veggies you have in the fridge and chop them up and throw into the pan. Here is a suggestion of some ingredients to throw in.

Quick Fried Rice

1 TBLS olive oil

2 cups cooked rice

2 eggs

4 - 5 cut scallions, use green tops and white base

2 carrots, diced

1/2 cup frozen or fresh peas

1/2 cup broccoli florets

dash of shoyu or tamari (these are natural soy sauces, without any added sodium. I highly suggest it for your pantry to have on hand.)

Heat olive oil in pan on medium heat. Add rice and stir to coat rice with oil. Add any veggies and allow to heat through, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid rice from sticking.

Crack eggs in a bowl and scramble just enough to combine. Make a well in the pan by pushing rice out of the bottom. Slowly add eggs and scramble as you incorporate into the rice and veggies. Once egg is cooked, add a dash of shoyu and serve.

Almost too easy...

There are days when dinner needs to be done quickly - here's something you can do which is healthy, fun and easily manipulated to your liking.  You can do this with chicken, beef, lamb, or keep it veggie.  The basic idea is build your own gyro.  All you need to do is heat up some delicious flat bread,  make a quick cucumber salad, raita add some feta - maybe a side of hummus or baba ganoush - and dinner is done.  Want to make it even easier?  Get a rotisserie chicken from the market. 

Ideas for you gyro bar:

Kalamata or any assortment of olives

Chopped iceberg or romaine

Cucumber salad (see below)

Cucumber/Yogurt sauce , aka Raita (see below)

Plum or cherry tomatoes - halved

Good quality Feta or goats cheese

Hummus and/or baba ganoush

Flat bread, Naan or pita bread, lightly warmed.

Chicken, beef or lamb - cooked to your liking

Cucumber Salad:

2 seedless cucumbers, peeled and thinly sliced

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

pinch of oregano

pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

salt and pepper

good quality olive oil

dash of red wine or sherry vinegar

Place cucumber and onion together in a bowl, drizzle with oil and vinegar and season with salt and pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes.

Cucumber Yogurt Sauce/Raita

1 cup Greek yogurt - plain

1 seedless cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely diced

juice of 1 lime or lemon

2 radish, finely diced

salt and pepper

Combine in a bowl and chill until serving.  Keeps for 2 days.

Basil Crusted Meat Loaf with Brandy, Walnuts and Spicy Tomato Sauce

It's a slippery slope - to admit to someone that you actually like meat loaf.  It should be done with caution and only around people whom you love and trust.  (Especially if you used to be a vegan, like I was!).  It's the kind of meal that you make only for your immediate family, once it's clear that everyone approves of the concoction and only if it comes smothered in ketchup and a side of creamy mashed potatoes.  Well, I'm about to turn your world upside down and propose that you throw out that old, dated recipe and update it with this one.  (It's best to keep it to your self that the recipe calls for prunes).  But, please trust me on this, it is absolutely delicious. The basil crust and home made tomato sauce put this over the top.  I served it with a large side of sauteed kale and mustard greens, no starchy potatoes.  You will never make grandma's meat loaf again.

Note: I tried to get a good photo of this, but the combination of using an iPhone and having meat loaf as my subject, it just didn't work out!

Basil Crusted Meat Loaf with Brandy, Walnuts and Spicy Tomato Sauce

From How to Cook Meat, by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby

Serves 4- 8

Crust:

1 Bunch basil - leaves only, roughly chopped

3 TBLS olive oil

4 Garlic cloves, peeled

salt and freshly cracked pepper

2 lbs ground beef, preferably grass fed.

2 tsp minced garlic

1 small onion - peeled and grated

1/2 cup walnuts -toasted and roughly chopped

1/2 cup prunes - pitted and roughly chopped

2 eggs

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

1/4 cup brandy

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 TBLS salt

1 tsp pepper

Sauce:

1/4 cup olive oil

2 medium onions - small dice

2 TBLS minced garlic

1 TBLS ground coriander

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 cup dry red wine

2 cup canned Italian crushed tomatoes, with liquid

1 bay leaf

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350*

Make the crust:

1. With food processor running, feed basil, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper through the feed tube - in that order.  Form a paste - do not over blend.  Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine ground beef, garlic, onion, walnuts, prunes, eggs, brandy, allspice, salt and pepper.  Mix well and shape into a loaf and place in a shallow baking dish.  Spread basil paste over the meat.  Bake for about an hour, or until juices run clear when you poke a knife through it. (About 130* with a meat thermometer).

3. While meat loaf is baking, prepare the tomato sauce.  In a large saute pan, heat oil on med high heat almost until smoking and add onions, and cook stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes, until they are golden.  Add garlic, coriander, cinnamon, and red pepper flakes and stir.  Add wine and stir once or twice, allow to simmer for about 4 minutes.  Add tomatoes and bay leaf and simmer, stirring frequently until sauce has thickened to your liking, about 45 minutes.

4. Cut the meat loaf into thick slabs and serve topped with tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese.

Long time - No see...

 Meals at Home is Back - now with more nuts!

Celery, Radish and Hazelnut Salad

I absolutely love making this.  It's a beautiful, low maintenance salad meaning, you can make everything in advance and then throw it together at the last minute.  The secret is in the knife - get creative with your veggie chopping by cutting the celery at an angle and the radish in a way to get the longest julienne. I have found that the ingredients here all work wonderfully together and the texture is a nice change from your usual salad.  I particularly like to add pomegranate seeds for garnish, they are so good for you and have such unique bite.  The avocado helps balance all that crunch.

CELERY, RADISH, AND HAZELNUT SALAD

1 head butter lettuce (also known as Boston Bibb)

5 stalks celery ribs, cut on a long bias

5 - 10 medium size radish, any color, mix it up - julienned

1/2 cup raw or toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped

2 large carrots, peeled and grated on box grater, or use veggie peeler to make long strips

1 ripe avocado, cut into long wide slices

pomegranate seeds for garnish.  

Prep the celery, radish, carrots and hazelnuts and place in a bowl. Add the dressing, some salt and pepper and set aside. 

(Note: this can marinate for up to an hour.)

When you are ready to serve, place some lettuce on a plate, turning upwards like a cup, and fill with celery mixture.  Add a few avocado slices to each plate and garnish with pomegranate seeds.

Dressing:

1/2 c Hazelnut oil, or olive oil

1/4 c Apple cider vinegar

1 TBLS Dijon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Combine everything in a bowl, except for Hazelnut oil, slowly drizzle in while stirring until dressing is incorporated.  Adjust flavor to your liking.

Great cookbook!

I picked this up on a whim because I liked the simplicity of the recipes and their philosophy that elegant food doesn't have to be complicated.  

The book focuses on two aspects of eating: the food we eat everyday and food we eat while entertaining.  It offers suggestions on how to narrow that gap, by following a general principle that any form of entertaining should be relaxed, yet rewarding.  An idea which appeals to me greatly!  

Living and Eating,  John Pawson and Annie Bell.

For the Soul...

I've been hearing more people around me with the sniffles lately, summoning that flu season is here. And what better for that than a hot bowl of home made chicken soup? Here is a very easy and quick recipe which has depth and rich flavor. I always buy organic chicken thighs with bone in and skin removed, (ask your butcher to do this for you), to enhance to flavor of the broth. This should take about 40 minutes start to finish.

Chicken Soup
serves 4 - 6

1 - 2 TBLS olive oil
6 Organic chicken thighs (bone in, skin removed)
1 cup sliced onion
3 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup diced celery
1 -2 cups washed, and cut green beans
approx 6 cups filtered water
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper

In a large pot, heat olive oil and add sliced onions. Saute for a few minutes, until soft. Add chicken thighs and carrots, celery and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Allow carrot and celery to sweat for about 5 minutes on med- low heat. Add water and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken and set aside to cool. Reduce heat and skim fat off the top of soup. Add green beans, season again with salt and pepper, bring to a simmer. Once chicken is cool enough to handle, remove chicken from bone and pull into nice pieces. Discard any fat or inedible pieces. Return chicken to pot and reheat gently.

Best. Birthday. Ever.

November 4th, 2008 will go down in history as the best birthday I have ever had. I feel proud to be an American, proud to be a part of a working democracy and proud to be a part of this new political era. Go USA!

Better with Butter

Ah, butter, the forbidden saturated fat, how do I love thee? There's no arguing that a little butter makes everything a just a little bit better. Whether used as a cooking medium or to make the perfect pastry or simply enhance your morning toast, this beautiful, ancient and ubiquitous fat has been used across the globe since as early as 8000 B.C. The chemistry is simple: agitate cream, either by whipping or churning, until fat globules are broken up, causing them to bond with other fats and congeal into a solid, beautiful mass. The result is a pure and simple cooking ingredient.

Entire books can be written, (and I'm sure that there are a few), about the uses of butter in everyday cooking. The purpose of this post is merely to celebrate butter and perhaps open your eyes to the more artisinal varieties available in the market today. No longer do you have to settle for Land-O-Lakes with added colors and flavors. Many supermarkets offer domestic and international brands, all of which have distinctly and delightfully different flavors. Recently, I brought home a nice crusty French baguette and instead of serving it with cheese, I laid out an Italian butter, (Delitia Ill Burro), made from the same cows' milk that goes into the famed parmigiano-regiano cheese. It was a nice change of pace and we recognized the same nutty flavor found in the region's cheese. I encourage you to eat your way through butters from around the world, they really are quite different.


COMPOUND BUTTERS

One of the most simple, yet sexy things you can do with butter is make a compound butter by adding herbs, spices or other flavorings to softened butter, then formed and chilled. These are amazing to keep on hand to top roasts, fish or sauteed vegetables. I slide a few slices under chicken skin before roasting. Compound butter can be used on an infinite number of foods, anywhere you would use butter. A classic combination is parsley, shallot, lemon zest or juice, salt and pepper. But the variety of ingredients is limitless. Try brown sugar and cinnamon for roasted butternut squash or yams, or on top french toast. Lavender, fennel seed and orange zest for chicken. And on and on...
Here's the technique for creating your own:

Blend together either by hand or food processor:
1 stick of butter, room temp
minced herbs, garlic, shallot, salt etc...
Take butter mixture and place on plastic wrap or parchment paper and form a log. Twist each end to seal.
Place in fridge and cool until it becomes hardened. Slice off as needed. Store in fridge, (or freezer), for a long time.




DECONSTRUCTED COMPOUND BUTTER

I like to get crazy sometimes and deconstruct my compound butter, it makes for a beautiful and impressive display for serving butter with bread at dinner. You can also set it on top of fish when it comes out of the oven. Place a pat on top while fish is still piping hot. But mostly, it's just pretty to look at. Get creative and people will be impressed by your effort.


Once again, amazing photos by Yvette, my hero!

Little Compton, RI

The next destination on our trip was Little Compton, Rhode Island to visit my mom and dad. I've been going to LC since I was ten as it was our escape from the brutal Florida summers. After renting the same house for years, mom and dad finally built a beautiful house and now spend about 5 months out of the year there. I love to visit and this year was the first time I had seen RI in the Fall since I usually visit during the Summer. Man, what a treat! Green and lush, due to heavy rains this summer and crisp, cool air. We were in heaven. It's likely that we will return again the same time next year...

One happy day, we walked to the Wishing Stone Farm, a co-operative organic farm, just up the road from my parents' house. (Check out their blog.) My mom has a membership which allows her weekly visits to take home a variety of organic produce. I can't imagine better way to grocery shop - it took me back to a place in time where farming and community went hand in hand. We ate freshly caught stripped sea bass (thanks to my hubby's 35 pounder!!) and Wishing Stone Farm veggies that night. I don't know how you can possibly beat that!

Mad River Valley, VT

Waitsfield, Vermont.

We spent last week visiting friends and family in the North East - partly in the Mad River Valley of Vermont and then off to Little Compton, Rhode Island. Let me tell you, fall is in full swing in New England! The leaves were peaking in Vermont and I can honestly say, I've never seen anything quite so spectacular; something we just don't get to see here in Southern California. In the small, quaint town of Waitsfield, we strolled through the chilly air to the Saturday farmer's market and joyfully ate our way through dozens of booths. The plan was to check out the scene, then go to breakfast, but we ended up eating freshly baked bread and drinking apple cider. After running into friends, we all walked around for a few hours, taking photos (with our cell phone) of the Fall harvest: pumpkins, gourds, brussel sprouts, cabbage, garlic, and tomatillos! Such a great day.