5-Minute Side Dish

I had a really awesome girls-nite bbq party last night and I made the fastest and yummiest side dish. You must try it. It uses a few exciting ingredients, and because you really can't screw it up, this recipe is a great starting point to introduce these new items into your kitchen...

Spicy Mango Couscous Salad

• 1 jalepeno pepper
• 1 large (or two small) mangoes
• 2 or more green onions
• 1 box of plain couscous
• 1 fresh lime
• Olive Oil
• Garlic Salt

Prepare the couscous according to the box, or by adding one cup of dry couscous into 2 cups of boiling water, remove immediately from heat, add a splash of olive oil and garlic salt, and cover for a few minutes (it's done!). In the meantime, chop two or more green onions and set aside. Cut the jalepeno in half and pull out all the seeds (seeds are super spicy, not good for this recipe). Very finely chop a small amount of the jalepeno. At this point, you need to check and see how hot this pepper really is. Touch it to your tounge and decide for yourself. A little goes a long way so I usually use about 1/8 teaspoon (a pinch). Put this and the green onions into your covered and steaming couscous, and stir. The couscous will start to absorb the flavors of these ingredients.

Cutting a mango is kind of tricky. First, they are really slippery. But they also have this weird flat core, and they are hard to peel. So what I have found works best is to cut into the fruit like a pie. Cut about 8 sections to the core and then use your fingers to peel the skin down from each section. Once it's peeled, start chopping it from the core and leave somewhat large chunks. Add these to the mixture, stir, and put the salad into a bowl and into the fridge. It doesn't take long to cool down. When you are ready to serve, taste it for salt. And squeeze the lime over it for a little kick!!

Ummmm.... I need to mention also.... whatever you do, do NOT touch your eyes or go to the bathroom without very thoroughly washing your hands. :) Your leftover pepper can actually be chopped and frozen, or kept in the fridge for a few days to use in other things. Used in small amounts, it doesn't overwhelm recipes and actually adds some subtle spiciness to recipes and can be really awesome.

Turning Down the Heat

Congrats Jamie and Family for sweeping the fair contests! Woohoo!!! And she didn't mention that it was one of the hottest weeks we've seen here in the Valley. This week, completely tired of the 100+ degrees (and a horrible a/c), I decided to do a weeklong ban on cooking. With my stove, grill and oven off limits, what is there to make? I made some fantastic salads, sandwiches, got creative with leftovers, and overall had a fun time experimenting with cold options. One of my favorites-- instead of baking a dessert for the 4th of July, we had a fantastic fresh fruit salad with raspberries, plums, peaches and melon (all really sugary and sweet), and spooned large quantities of homemade whipped cream on top. To make it a little more classy, I added a splash of Grand Marinier in the whipped cream. Wow it was good. And not that bad for you either.

I also went very rustic one night for dinner, pulling out the old-school Italian sandwich idea and revamping it with a Napa flair. I bought a skinny baguette and fresh (in water) mozzerella, clipped some fresh tomatoes and basil, and made a really nice and basic sandwich. I mixed up a clove of minced garlic and a large amount of fresh chopped basil with some olive oil, salt, pepper and balsalmic and let it sit for a while. In the meantime, I thinly sliced the cheese and tomatoes and then tossed them in with the mixture. I let the whole thing marinate for a while and put it on bread. Wow so good. And really fresh flavors. Very filling and balanced meal - carbs, protein from the cheese, veges. Sometimes simple is a really good thing. In a smaller quantity this could easily be an appetizer, but why not make it a meal?

Family Sweep at the Grilling Contest!

Woo Hoo! Each one of us placed in our category yesterday, which was quite an accomplishment.

It was a hot day in Calistoga, at the Napa County Fair, and 25 dishes were entered. Dad was up first, and had a beautifully plated dish of Drilled Pork Tenderloin, garnished with grapes and rosemary.

How did he do it? First he froze tightly compacted pork tenderloins. He then used a 9/16 wood drill bit to carve a tunnel through the meat. Then, he par-cooked (that means halfway) some thick-sliced bacon sprinkled with brown sugar. He added some garlic, spices, olive oil and love, then marinated the stuffed tenderloin in yet more garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper for a day or two. Grill it over high heat for about 20 minutes, rest for a few more, then slice into the beautiful pieces you see to the right. And, he won second place in the Pork Category! Yay Dad!

For me, the day was finally here. A dish that I had tried, tweaked, and practiced over and over was finally to be put to the ultimate test, a grilling contest. The stakes were high; I was a past winner, I came from a culinarily-minded family and I had told everyone I knew I was doing it. To not garner some sort of victory would be a crushing, embarrassing blow. So, with some assembly assistance from Mom, quiet encouragement from the husband and lots of bacon fat, I was able to persevere.

The Deconstructed Beef Wellington was success due to a few last-minute factors. I knew that the key to awesome filet mignon was adding fat, so I fried up some bacon the day before and slathered the meat with the fat prior to grilling. I also used the tarragon horseradish cream as garnish (see post below), and the
great people at HALL Wines gave me a bottle of their spectacular Merlot to pour. I ended up winning first place in the Beef Category. Yay, Me!

Finally, it was Mom's turn, for her Grilled Lime Margarita. She and Dad sprinkled some fresh, thick-cut limes with Kosher salt, and grilled them over high heat on the barbecue. She also mixed up some home-made guacamole. To garnish her margaritas (which are a family secret, I'll ask if I can share), she placed the standard glasses on a plate. Two large leaves of endive were filled with the guacamole, and positioned next to the base of the glass. the grilled
limes were put on the rim of the glass, and garlic flowers were sprinkled on the plate below. The judges, who had been tasting 23 entries of fish, pork, game and beef all afternoon, were excited to have such a pretty, refreshing cocktail. Word spread around the grounds that this was an awesome margarita, and a line formed in front of our table for a sample. The crowd was quite impressed. So were the judges; Mom won third place in the Vegetarian category for her Grilled Lime Margarita. Yay, Mom!

None of us won best of show, as that honor went to a guy who actually has owned restaurants and has been a professional chef. BUT...we got what we came for: a ribbon in each category entered, and a fun day with family and friends!

(Sorry about the wonky photo placement; I'm still getting the hang of this thing!)

Practice, Practice

So, tonight I decided to practice the new garnish I wanted to do for the grilling contest. As you'll remember, I wanted to do the same flavor profile for the Deconstructed Beef Wellington, but I wanted to make it prettier. So, instead of using red wine to reduce the duxelle, I used white, and it was fabulous. I also layered it underneath the beef instead of on top. For the big garnish, I did a tarragon creme fraiche with horseradish. Sounds fancy, right? It's just a 1/3 horseradish, 2/3 sour cream mix to which I added a tablespoon of fresh chopped tarragon. I then used a spare tarragon sprig to top it, as you'll see in the photo. That was our dinner tonight, and it was quite yummy. More posts on the grilling contest to follow!

Lay Down the Smackdown!

Summertime, and the grilling gets competitive.
Two years ago, my Dad and I entered the BBQ Contest at the Napa County Fair in Calistoga. The entries are separated by meat type: I entered Spicy Shrimp (slathered in a spicy butter, covered with basil and wrapped with proscuitto) and my Dad entered his Sizzling Lamb Chops. We each won our own categories, and I won Best of Show (and a mini Webber Grill). We weren't able to enter last year, but have eagerly awaited this year's contest.
This year, I'm entering the Beef category, and will attempt a prettier, grilled version of the Deconstructed Beef Wellington from the Fancy Schmancy Dinner Party two weeks ago. Still mulling over the plating/garnish for this one. Ideas? Let me know!
Dad, however, will raise the bar with his Grilled Pork Tenderloin. And, Mom is going for the cuteness by entering the Vegetarian category with her Grilled Lime Margaritas.
I feel good about our entries, but am a bit nervous about the Best of Show prize. Honestly, I'll be happy as long as it goes to family, but anyone who knows me will tell you I'll have my game face on this Saturday. Wish me luck!

Saucy Tart

Baking and cooking require time, technique and personality. If you haven't guessed already, I'm not a detail-oriented person and I love recipies that allow creativity in presentation. So rather than putting together a tart (often these look like super-glazed thin pies with meticulously arranged fruit designs on top), I like baking galettes. A galette is the messy version of a tart. And it sounds so French. So fancy. So now we make a free-form tart, using the following technique, and involving ANYTHING you want for the filling (I'll explain later).

Savory Galette Appetizer:

• 1 frozen pie crust
• Crumbled fresh goat cheese or crumbled gorgonzola (small package)
• 6 or more fresh ripe plums or figs
• Fresh thyme or rosemary
• Splash of olive oil, pinch of salt and sugar if needed

Lay out the frozen pie crust on a cookie sheet. In the end, we want to fold the edges up and over the filling, by about an inch. Crumble a generous layer of cheese into the middle of the pie crust. Chop and crumble a nice amount of fresh thyme or rosemary on top of this layer. In a bowl, combine thinly sliced fruit, olive oil and salt. Taste and add sugar if needed, based on sweetness of the fruit. Put the fruit on top of cheese in a thin layer and wrap the edges of the crust up and around the fruit. Pop it in the oven at 375 for about 40 minutes, maybe more(check it after 30 to make sure the crust isn't overcooked). This is soooooo good. I made it last night for a dinner party and tried three different combinations. Goat cheese gets really creamy when it is cooked, but the flavor of the gorgonzola and figs with rosemary was the crowd favorite.

Now the great thing is that this Galette idea is super simple, and can be modified to be a dessert. Thinly slice apples. Add cinnamon and sugar, perhaps some currants too. Add about two tablespoons of flour. Toss and use this as your filling. The only secret you need to know is that when you use a runny fruit (apples get really juicy when you cook them - and peaches may just not work for this), you need to add some flour. Otherwise you will have serious issues with the crust, and may have a big puddle in your oven when you're done.

Going Bananas for the Bread

I had a request today! I'm heading over to a bbq reunion tomorrow with my leadership class, and we're all assigned to bring either a dessert or an app. My friend asked me to bring my infamously fabulous banana bread. I was of course flattered, but also a little embarrassed. It's so easy to make!

The only trick is to have some super-ripe bananas on hand. At a minimum the bananas should have dark speckles on the skin. For sugar content, for consistency, and for other reasons too I bet. For this reason, banana bread is something that demands to be made, rather than being able to seek it out. One rather gross but completely effective alternative is to freeze your bananas as you go. Before they rot, stick them in the freezer, and let them defrost before you begin this recipe. I've saved them for up to two months and they are totally fine. Be prepared though- the skins turn black in the freezer and look disgusting.

• 3 really ripe bananas


• 1/4 cup nonfat sour cream


• 2 eggs


• 6 tablespoons butter


• 1 tsp vanilla

(Mash the bananas well, and add the rest of the ingredients above in a large bowl)

• 2 cups flour


• 3/4 cup sugar


• 3/4 tsp baking soda


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Without stirring, put all these ingredients in the bowl- on top of the wet mixture. Give a superficial stir to the dry ingredients to make sure the soda and salt are mixed into the other dry ingredients. After this is done, then softly mix the entire bowl (Yes! ONE bowl to clean!!). If this, or any, dough is mixed too long, it will become very dense and chewy (like pizza dough, which is thrown around the room before it is baked). We don't want that here. So mix it only until you have to!

Pour this mixture into a greased loaf pan and pop it in the oven for probably 55 minutes on 350. Baking requires a much more evenly heated oven than cooking, so I suggest turning the pan every 20 minutes or so. The toothpick test (or a clean knife) can be used to see if this is done- if it comes out looking pretty clean, you're done. Isn't it embarrassingly simple???

Recipe from The Dinner Party: Smoked Salmon Pate Crostini

You wouldn't guess it by the way I've been totally obsessed with the main dish from The Big Dinner Party, but there were other courses. So, let's talk about the first course, which was Smoked Salmon Pate Crostini. I know, it sounds very posh, but it was easy peasy. Here's what you do:

Slice some French bread thinly, whatever width and length you'd like. Spray a cookie sheet with some sort of lubricant (I use spray olive oil), put the bread on it, and bake it until semi crispy, about 15 minutes at 300 degrees. Take it out and let it cool.

Meanwhile, use a food processor to mix the following:

* 6 oz. smoked salmon
* 3 oz. cream cheese
* 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
* freshly ground pepper to taste

Also, finely chop half of a white onion and put it in a mixing bowl. Once you've blended the other ingredients, dump that mixture into the bowl with the onions and mix well.

Smooth the spread onto the toasted French bread, which is now called crostini (see? fancy!). For the final flourish, chop some cilantro (or anything else green and pretty) and sprinkle on top.

Serve with a crispy Sauvignon Blanc!

Fancy-Schmancy Dinner Party

I'm sure you're wondering how the dinner party went, and while I'm still recovering from it, I can at least give you a quick overview:
When we last visited this subject, I was still toying around with ideas on how to do the deconstructed Beef Wellington. I came up with a solution that worked and it tasted wonderful, but was really ugly, as you can see in the photo. Here's what I did:
I cut puff pastry sheets into four squares each (I had ten guests, but made twelve in case some came out badly) and draped them over upside-down ramekins placed on a cookie sheet. I cooked them until golden. I also made a mushroom duxelle, with criminis, onion, basil and garlic. As for the filet mignon, I marinated them in red wine, olive oil, garlic, soy sauce and worcestershire sauce for a few hours. Then, about an hour before guests arrived, I put the filets in a couple of large skillets and sauteed them for about five minutes. I turned the heat off, let the pans cool down, then threw them in the fridge for two hours. When we were ready to serve the filets, I put them back on the stove, on high heat, for another seven minutes, turning once. I then placed them in the puff pastry cups, topped with the duxelle.
The taste? Simply divine. The look? Simply tragic. Because of the wine, the duxelle was purple. The filets were odd-shaped because I didn't think about making them round and holding them together with toothpicks. So, I will continue to play with this recipe, trying to find a way to make them prettier. Garnish ideas, anyone?

Cheater's Chili

I have a friend who makes a big, grand, fabulous-smelling entrance at football game parties, fall bbq's and other potluck events with his huge crockpot of homemade chili. I mean this stuff is spicy and tender and just the ultimate pot of yummy. Finally I hear the secret-- "... okay well you start with a base of CANNED chili and doctor it up". Now, I don't know if you've ever seen canned dog food, but this is basically what he starts with. Chili from a can!? Unacceptable.

There are really, really hard and lengthy recipies for chili. In fact, there are insanely large prizes at local, state and nationally televised chili cook-off competitions. Chili is an art and a science, with true connoiseurs and a practically-cult following. This dish is on the limited list of "manly" potluck dishes. So if you know absolutely nothing about how to make it, don't cry like a sissy. Read below and see how very simple life can be. It can become your foundation to create your own little chili-man legacy.

Cheater's Chili:

• 1 pound of lean ground meat (you can use turkey here as a healthier alternative, or go for the real thing- beef)


• 2 - 14oz cans of kidney beans that have been rinsed of all goo


• 1 - 14oz can of tomato sauce


• Splash (or more) of red wine


• 1 chopped cooking onion (yellow, of a medium-ish size. Cut this to pieces that are the same size as your pinkie fingernail)


• 3 cloves of garlic (crushed with a garlic press or chopped till they are mush)


• 2 teaspoons of chili powder (buy it and you'll use it for everything - a cheap and good investment)


• Salt and pepper

Here's the secret: chili is basically spaghetti sauce with beans. Chili without beans could be easily poured over pasta and be called an italian slow-simmer sauce, especially if you added some oregano, tarragon or basil. So basically, chili is meat sauce with different spices. So the real lesson today is, "how to make a meat sauce". In this case, with chili powder and beans. But think of the base as a completely adjustable canvas that you can paint with lots of different colors.

Back to the cooking-- you know the most important thing to me is to get it done in the shortest amount of time possible, with the least amount of steps, and with the biggest applause at the end. Hmmm.... now that I think of it, that's basically the motto of my whole life. But I digress. The first step here is to brown the things that need to be browned. If you put the meat in first, the natural juice would create water in the pan that makes it harder to brown your onions, so we do onions first.

Throw the onions into a large saucepan with a teaspoon of olive oil, over high heat. Continue to stir and brown for a couple minutes, or until the smell changes to be less spicy and more sweet. Throw in your crushed garlic and a splash of red wine.

To this mixture, add the ground meat. Season with a small amount of salt and a bigger amount of pepper. Continue stirring until you have removed all pink from the meat. Now turn the burner to medium, pour in the sauce and the beans, and continue cooking.

"Her emotions simmered below the surface". What does simmering really mean? Because that's what we need to do now with this sauce. Simmering, first of all, is generally done on low or almost-low heat. To simmer is to have a movement of your sauce, but no bubbles. So you're at a lower heat than boiling, but your sauce isn't sitting still. The traditional cooking method to achieve solid simmering is to bring it up to a boil then turn it down. This creates a universal heat that will continue... yes you guessed it.... below the surface. So get this baby pissed off at you for a good 20 minutes, and up to an hour or more. Your beans will start falling apart if you go too long, so really this is another quick timeline for preparation.

So this is the most simple and basic version of chili that you can possibly create. Feel free to change up the beans (remove them, use other kinds, whatever), throw in some different spices (try fresh hot peppers from the store, but test each before you add), use different meat (ground beef is just a start- people use all kinds of meats in this including steak or the ultra fatty/fabulous rib meat). This is a totally basic recipe, so you're going to want to garnish this to make it appear fabulous to the naked eye. Luckily, chili is one of the best foods to garnish, besides the potato of course. Pull out the shredded cheddar (or other exotic cheese to really entice), the sour cream (cool and tangy), chopped onions (green are pretty), strips of bbq steak (mouth watering), really cold beer (wow). This was the first meal I cooked on my own. I give it to you. You can't screw it up - promise.