Tuesday, March 8, 2011

martha stewart radio....


please tune in this friday, march 11 at 11am ET to "everyday food" on the martha stewart radio station on sirius.  i will be doing my first radio interview...wish me luck!  i am so nervous.  i really hope i don't botch the whole thing.  we will be talking about how to make biscuits and scones a little more healthy.   those who know me, know i am not the "healthy chef" that food and wine mag makes me out to be.  i'm sure i could bake instead of fry, use whole wheat instead of all purpose flour, but why do that when the unhealthy way tastes so damn good!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

a soolip wedding 2011...


today, i went to a soolip wedding to support four amazing women.  sarah tivel and robin baab of gather events and occasions and stephanie bone and elizabeth griffiths of whoa nelly! catering had the most beautiful booth, filled with gorgeous flowers and tasty bites.  they definitely stole the show at the event today with their unique style.  whoa nelly! catering had yummy little ricotta tartlettes with asparagus and meyer lemon, hook's cheddar cheese straws (i love hook's cheddar), and gougere sandwiches with proscuitto and gruyere.  even though i am completely bias and think all of these ladies are totally brilliant, they really did have the most stunning table.  check out their sites and see for yourselves.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

chocolate chip cookies...


after 2 years of people asking for the recipe, i am finally posting it.  i really wasn't trying to keep it a secret, i just kept forgetting to do it.  almost every guest at the larder at tavern orders a chocolate chip cookie...chewy or crispy...they are our top seller.  i think the secret to our cookies isn't the recipe, its the amazing chocolate we get and the amount of chocolate we pack into each cookie.  we use 65% chocolate coins from cordillera.  they are an amazing company that produces 100% colombian chocolates.  they were gracious enough to send me there last year to learn more about their company and their products.  i will post more about my trip there next time.  so now, on to the chocolatiest chocolate chip cookies...

chocolate chip cookies:

8oz          butter, room temperature
1 1/4c      dark brown sugar
3/4c         granulated sugar
2each       eggs
1 1/2tsp   vanilla extract
3c            pastry flour
1tsp         baking soda
2tsp         kosher salt
24oz       65% cordillera chocolate coins (or whatever your favorite chocolate is.  make sure to chop it into large quarter-size chunks)

method:
in a kitchen aid bowl, fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars until all combined.  do not beat until pale or your cookies will be too flat.
add the eggs, one at a time, until well combined.
stop the mixer and scrap the sides of the bowl.
add the vanilla extract and mix for 10 seconds.
sift the pastry flour, baking soda and salt and slowly add it to the mixer with the mixer on the lowest setting.
when you see that almost all the flour has been incorporated, add the chocolate and mix just until combined.

we use an ice cream scoop at the restaurant to ensure consistency in size.  choose your weapon and form the dough into balls the size of golf balls.

for chewy cookies:
chill the dough for 2 hours
place the balls of cookie dough on a parchment lined cookie sheet 3" apart and bake at 350F for 10 minutes.
rotate.
and bake for another 5-7 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
cool completely or just dig in!

for crispy cookies:
no need to chill the dough.
with very clean fingers, flatten each ball of dough as thin as possible.  it should be the size of a cd.
bake the cookies at 350F for 12 minutes.
rotate.
bake for another 12-15 minutes or until the entire cookie is delicious caramel color.
again, cool completely or eat 'em while their hot!

extra notes:
sub the chocolate chips for dried fruits and/or nuts, peanut butter chips...whatever you like.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

food and wine...

© Alex Farnum/Con Poulos

i'm so excited!  the march issue of food and wine has 5 of my recipes from tavern.  every month, they have a section called "chef's recipes made easy" and thats where you will find some tavern treats.  ironically, i'm in the "healthy" issue.  when they requested the recipe for the sweet potato donuts with bacon caramel i initially thought they were joking.  But it turns out if you leave out the fatty (but extremely yummy) bacon caramel sauce and you opt to bake them instead of frying they aren't so bad for you after all.  buy a copy or just check it out on the web (link provided above).  enjoy!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

valentine's day treat in the huffington post...



this one is an oldie but goodie.  here is the link to the recipe wildflower honey panna cotta with blood orange granita in the Huffington Post

Thursday, June 10, 2010

punjabi rice pudding and c magazine...



check out this month's issue of "California style" magazine and try out my punjabi rice pudding!

a few months ago i had a major craving for indian rice pudding (remember in my last post i was working on it). i went to a few indian shops to satisfy my sweet tooth but nothing lived up to my memory of the indian rice pudding i had growing up. i know that sounds strange because as some of you know, i am not indian. every summer for as long as i could remember, i would go up north to san jose and stay with my cousins. as soon as i got there they would ask me where i wanted to go and what i wanted to do that summer. my top pick every summer was this little indian restaurant where they had the best rice pudding. it was sort of soupy, not thick like the american version, and scented with jaggery and cardamom and made with fragrant basmati rice. i absolutely HAD to have the rice pudding i remembered and so i decided to try to make it myself. (i was also on a major middle eastern and indian food kick during that time.) i consulted my good friend and trusted resource to all things indian aarti(check out her blog!)

her recipe had some ingredients that i didn't have available or didn't like too much (like rose water) so i added, subtracted and tweaked it to fit my memory of the rice pudding i had in my childhood years in san jose. the one thing that was a completely new addition was topping it with a dessert masala (this idea came from her recipe). p.s. i love the word masala! it means a paste or dry mixture of spices and other ingredients like ginger. the dessert masala for the rice pudding has pistachios, cashews, tangelo zest, cardamom and other fun surprises in it. a little bit really goes a long way with this stuff, but it adds so much depth of flavor. so, please try it out and let me know what you think.

one last thing....
check out my friend aarti sequeira on "the next food network star" on the food network! you can also show her some love by watching her online cooking show "quick bites" on youtube.

you can also check out my cousin's blog "my foggy brain" as she chronicles her daily highs and lows living with fibromyalgia.

Friday, March 12, 2010

things i'm working on...


this is just a teaser. a quick glimpse of what i've been working on the past few weeks. enjoy!



my version of a shaker lemon pie

meyer lemon done a la shaker with a caramelized puff pastry top.



pistachio and chocolate coupe

layers of pistachio ice cream, chocolate ice cream, olive oil sorbet, mascarpone and magical goodness.



black sesame cookies

they look kind of crazy but they taste amazing!



indian rice pudding with sweet masala

basmati rice pudding with crushed cardamom and tangelo zest topped with masala
(pistachios, cashews, pistachio oil and piloncillo syrup)



the beginnings of my spring garden cake

carrots, gourds, cabbage, spring onions, potatoes, cauliflower and strawberries...the turnips didn't make the picture.