Taste of Toronto

This Summer I got a chance to visit Toronto and to attend the Taste of Toronto food festival. Lucky me! Quite a few years ago I attended Taste of London so I had a sense of what it would be like. The Taste food festivals are not your typical free for all food event, because the restaurants are really consistently high quality and included by invitation only.

This event is a particularly good one if you want to familiarize yourself with the Toronto restaurant scene. Here were some of my favorite dishes and the restaurants I would surely like to visit, on my next trip.

One of the first things I tried was a gazpacho like soup from The Harbord Room. The crushed heirloom tomato soup with spicy wild watercress, creamy buffalo mozzarella, crunchy toasted sourdough crumbs and a refreshing dollop of tomato and white balsamic sorbet was perfect on a fairly steamy evening. Truly a winner.

Khao San Road was the one booth where I tried all three offerings, starting with the cooling iced Thai shake. The crispy rice salad with ginger, cilantro, sour pork sausage, lime leaf and peanuts was the knock out dish for me, it was just an explosion of flavors and cooked to order so fresh and crunchy.

The final dish I tried from Khao San Road was the spicy shrimp salad with onion, red pepper, fish sauce, chili, garlic and cilantro. It was cool and perfectly cooked, but a tad too spicy.

I was curious to try something from Anthony Rose, the chef and restaurateur with three successful spots in Toronto. From Rose & Sons came a BLT with Dr. Pepper bacon (more like pork belly) fresh tomatoes, lettuce and a feta and herb mayonnaise. It was extremely succulent and I could understand why this nice Jewish boy is revered for his sandwiches, and the BLT in particular.

Two of my favorite dishes came from Yours Truly a cutting edge restaurant which sadly just closed. Needless to say I will keeping my eyes peeled for the next venture with chef Lachlan Culjak. The first dish was a creamy fresh made "queso" with early Summer garnishes and an orange blossom vinaigrette. It was bright and had layers of texture. The freshness of the produce including ramps, fiddle heard ferns, mushrooms and berries shone brightly. And the plating was gorgeous.

The other dish from Yours Truly was charred sous vide BC octopus with chorizo and green mango.

While I didn't necessarily think of maple syrup and Toronto before, I do now. Thats's because I got to try the maple products from Ninutik. They were serving a variety of cheese wrapped in maple taffy, thanks a bed of fluffy snow. The thick maple syrup is usually poured over fresh snow to make a chewy candy, but in this case, a popsicle stick with a piece of cheddar or blue cheese (yes!) was wrapped in ensconced in maple. It was divine! 

So too were the little buttons of maple sugar that melt in your mouth, nothing like the dry crusty maple sugar candy I was used to eating. They can also be used in cocktails. 

And best of all? Maple Supreme, something I've seen elsewhere before and which I have had in other parts of Canada too. But it never quite as good. It looks white and creamy but it really has the consistency of butter, and the flavor of maple. Divine! Wonderful on buttered toast, but also over ice cream or oatmeal. 

Toronto, you sure are a delicious town. And Taste of Toronto was only the tip of the iceberg... 

Disclaimer: My thanks to Tourism Toronto for hosting me on this trip. 

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Parmigiano Reggiano Night & Giveaway!

Parmigiano Reggiano display at Eataly, NYC 

Last year I wrote about my visit to a Parmigiano cheese maker and about Parmigiano Reggiano Night. This year, Parmigiano Reggiano Night is happening again. I�ve written something about the king of cheeses (and the pretenders to the crown), over at Culture (the best cheese magazine around). Please take a look! 

As you may recall, the idea of the global dinner party is is to pick some recipes, invite your friends over, cook, eat, and then share photos of your feast if you're so inclined. In the past there have been some very avant garde recipes made available, such as a broth made from the rind of the cheese, and risotto cacao e pepe, but you can make whatever you like as long as it includes Parmigiano Reggiano. There's a video about it from last year when it was celebrated at Eataly in NYC.

Parmigiano Reggiano is a cheese I fear sometimes gets taken for granted. When I was at Eataly in New York last week I saw a great selection of the cheese, including one of my favorites vacche rosse and some aged 30 months. I hope you�ll take this opportunity to celebrate it. Sign up on the Parmesan website and you'll be notified when the free app is ready. 

I�m very excited to be offering a fantastic giveaway basket courtesy of Zingerman's and Parmesan.com 

The gift basket is worth over $250 dollars and includes the following:

� Two wedges of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

� Paesano Bread

� Il Mongetto Diavola Sauce

� Rustichella Spaghetti

� Zingerman's Travel Olive Oil

� Leccino Olives

� Cristal Peppers

� Crespone Salami

� Antonio Mattei Biscotti

� Espresso Blend Coffee

� Zingerman's Wooden Crate

If you would like to win this fabulous gift basket, please leave a comment telling me your favorite way to use Parmigiano Reggiano. A winner will be picked at random. A winner will be chosen on October 7, 2014. You must have a mailing address in the continental US and you must include your email in the proper field to win, it will not be published and no one will see it but me. One comment per person, please. 

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Zucchini Noodles Recipe

My love of pasta is no secret, but I�m cutting back. An article in the New York Times covering the latest research about the benefit of low carbohydrate diets has me rethinking my noodle consumption. I won�t give them up completely but now and again I can see trying something different. Something like zucchini noodles. 

For a long time I�ve wanted one of those spiralizer type tools. But they are rather expensive and I just wasn�t sure how much use I�d get out of them. There is actually an easy way to make �noodles� out of zucchini or other vegetables using a box grater. You just lay the grater on its side like a mandoline! But I�ve just recently tried out the Microplane spiral cutter and it�s an even better option. At $14.95 it�s a lot less expensive than some of the other tools and takes up very little space. It also has two sizes so you can shred larger or smaller vegetables. 

The downside to using this gadget is that it takes some time to get used to it, and to figure out how much pressure to exert to get the thickness of noodles you like. It also leaves a little stubby core of the vegetable. But it�s relatively easy to use and clean once you get the hang of it. 

I don�t like raw zucchini, but by cooking the zucchini noodles in a pan sauce, you get a lovely texture and the zucchini does seem to absorb a bit of the sauce. You can also blanch the "noodles" quickly in boiling water to take off the raw edge and then toss them with a cool sauce like pesto. I�ve only begun experimenting with zucchini noodles but I�m enjoying them so far. While not chewy, they do have a lovely slippery feel. 

Zucchini Noodles with Fresh Tomato Sauce 

Makes 2 servings 

2 Tablespoons olive oil 

1 cup cherry tomatoes

2 medium zucchini 

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced 

1/3 cup peeled small to medium raw shrimp, optional 

Trim then shred the zucchini using the large holes on a box grater or using a �spiralizer� tool. Heat a skillet and add the olive oil. Add the tomatoes and cook gently until they begin to break down and become saucy.

Add the zucchini and garlic and cook until the sauce reduces by about half. Add the shrimp, if desired, and cook just until the shrimp are pink and cooked through, the time will vary depending upon the size of the shrimp but probably no more than a minute or so. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Enjoy! 

Disclaimer: My thanks to Microplane for providing me with the spiral cutter to test. 

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Peameal Bacon of Toronto

On my first trip to a city I always try to experience the things that the place is famous for, especially the food. Recently I was in Toronto which is a very diverse city with all kinds of food, but the peameal bacon sandwich is one of its most iconic specialties. 

Toronto was once known as Hogtown, thanks in part to the vast stockyards where in the mid to late 1800�s cured pork products like bacon were sent to the United Kingdom, where there was a shortage at the time. In 1900 over half a million pigs were processed for export in Toronto. 

So what is peameal bacon exactly? It�s what we call �Canadian bacon� in the US. It�s made from pork loin, rather than belly, so it�s much leaner than typical bacon. It�s brined and cured, not smoked. It was originally rolled in ground dried yellow peas to help preserve it, but cornmeal became much more widely available in the 1900�s and also preserved the meat better. 

Peameal bacon, also sometimes called back bacon, is juicy and salty but not nearly as salty as streaky bacon. It�s served sliced and makes a very fine sandwich. 

One place to try the famous peameal bacon sandwich is at the St. Lawrence Market. You can see peameal bacon in the cases of butcher shops and there are at least two places that serve the sandwich, Paddington�s Pump, a full service sit down restaurant and Carousel Bakery, a market stall. The Paddington�s Pump sandwich features thinly sliced peameal bacon and comes on a crusty roll with tomato and lettuce and some slaw and pickle on the side. At Carousel Bakery the sandwich is served on a hamburger bun with thick cut peameal bacon. You can also get the �breakfast on a bun� with peameal bacon, a fried egg and cheese. 

After you try the peameal bacon sandwich, I recommend trying the eggs benedict at the classic diner, The Senator which is Toronto�s oldest restaurant. It�s two poached eggs on peameal bacon with hollandaise sauce on a homemade biscuit. Both are so good that I'm not sure which I prefer!

Disclaimer: My thanks to Tourism Toronto for hosting me on this trip. 

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Tomato & Cheddar Cheese Pie

We're holding on to summer this Labor Day and celebrating with a beautiful Tomato & Cheddar Cheese Pie, with some squash blossoms on top for added wow!

I used my standard quiche custard of 2 eggs, 1 egg yolk, and half-and-half, enough to make 1 1/2 cups of custard, beaten.  I grated sharp cheddar cheese on the frozen pie crust and topped it with thinly sliced zucchini, sauteed with butter, minced garlic, and lemon juice.  Added a little crumbled goat cheese (use feta if you're not a fan). Sliced some amazing heirloom tomatoes and placed them on top, salt and fresh ground pepper, then topped with 1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar. Poured the custard on top and added a few torn orange zucchini blossoms on top and baked at 350 for 35 minutes. Perfect with a nice green salad and vinaigrette.

Happy Labor Day!

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Pack a Lunch! Cookbooks

It�s back to school and that means bag lunches. Or maybe like me, you don�t have school age kids, but still want to start packing lunch to take to work. It�s easy to get in a rut, but these three cookbooks offer many ways to jazz up your lunchbox. 

The Banh Mi Handbook is the latest book from Andrea Nguyen. In the past she has written about Vietnamese food, dumplings and tofu, perhaps convincing you to make your own. But I had to wonder, when I can get a terrific banh mi sandwich for just a couple bucks, would I want to make my own? The answer is YES because Nguyen goes well beyond what you might find at a Vietnamese sandwich shop. 

What I absolutely love the most about this book in addition to the versatility is the focus on ease and simplicity. There are lots of shortcuts and no shame if you choose to buy bread or mayonnaise or doctor some liverwurst to make a tasty pate. The book offers the basics and traditional recipes for fixings like carrot and daikon pickles, headcheese terrine and Chinese barbecue pork but also offers tons of non-traditional options too to keep things interesting. Go vegetarian with coconut curry tofu or an edamame pate. I know I�ll be making the warm sardine and tomato sauce sandwich and the oven fried chicken katsu. These are sandwiches that will make your mouth water! 

Mason Jar Salads, a slim volume of lunch and breakfast worthy recipes includes why-didn�t-I think-of-that ideas that are perfect for when you want to bring something delicious from home. The book includes smoothies, soups, dips and more. But salads are the main event and author Julia Mirabella comes up with very creative layered ones like spinach, blueberry and blue cheese, or barley and zucchini salad and even a layered cobb salad. Dressing layered on the bottom of the jar keeps everything from getting soggy and makes shaking the new tossing. So smart! This book will give your lunch a jolt.

A traditional Japanese lunch is bento, or box lunch. As someone who loves variety, I go crazy for bento boxes, especially the ones they sell at railway stations in Japan. They often contain 5 or 6 small nibbles like flavored rice balls, pickles, salads and all kinds of meats and vegetables. They might look complicated but they don�t have to be. That�s the message behind Effortless Bento. This book shows you how to make ahead over 300 items so you can create a tasty and exciting lunch in no time. The full color pictures really help to show how a few items come together to make a meal. There are single dish bentos too like dry curry bento. 

As long as you have access to a refrigerator, you can make all kinds of delectable vegetable and meat dishes, many can even be frozen ahead of time. The one caveat about this book is that the recipes are Asian, though not all Japanese, some do require a trip to an Asian market for specialty ingredients like burdock, dried shrimp or lotus root. But plenty of recipes use only 3-5 very basic ingredients.

Disclaimer: These books were provided as review copies and this post includes affiliate links. 

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Gluten-Free Squash Blossom Quiche

Tonight, I made this quiche with Whole Foods Gluten-Free frozen crust. 
So much better than the local store's regular frozen crust. I was stunned! I had bought these crusts as an experiment, but always thought of them as second tier. Mistake!  They are delicious!

This baby had grated sharp cheddar on the frozen crust, a thinly sliced zucchini, a few diced cherry tomatoes, a little spinach sauteed with butter, minced garlic, lemon juice and salt and pepper, a little chopped cilantro, a little chopped goat cheese, and some lovely squash blossoms added to the top of the custard to make it especially pretty. Baked in the oven for 35 mins at 375. Spectacular!

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Peach Ketchup Recipe & Ball Brand Giveaway!

I can, can you? Sure you can! Canning is not hard to do at all, especially if you pick a really easy project like canning fruit. This year I received a box of luscious peaches from Washington state. They were perfectly ripe, but a bit crushed in spots due to poor handling in transit. Instead of canning slices or halves, I used the fruit�some perfect and some not so perfect�to make peach ketchup! 

Peach ketchup is a lovely peachy color, but it tastes very much like tomato ketchup. Taste it before you can it, and adjust the spices and sugar to suit yourself. Use really great tasting fruit, it should not be brown or overripe, but if it is soft in spots, that's ok. Use the tangy sweet and sour ketchup just as you would regular tomato ketchup. It�s particularly great on potatoes. 

As in years past I am proud to be a  �Canbassador� for the Washington State Fruit Commission and to tell you about the Can-It-Forward event, sponsored by Ball Brand. 

August 16th, 2014 International Can-It-Forward Day

Check out this site for a live webcast of canning demonstrations with chefs, as well as recipes and tips 

Sweet Preservation

A go-to resource for canning and freezing stone fruits, offering how-to-tips, recipes, health information, customizable canning jar labels and more

Here are more of my picks for great canning resources:

Punk Domestics

A community site with recipes and tutorials for canning, preserving, cheese making, foraging, drying and dehydrating and pretty much anything that is culinary DIY 

National Center for Home Food Preservation

This is kind of the �bible� for learning how to safely preserve food at home, there�s even a self study course 

AND NOW THE GIVEAWAY! 

This year Ball Brand is offering one lucky reader a fabulous prize package of:

�   New Limited Edition Spring Green Heritage Collection Jars, these limited edition jars commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the Ball brothers� �Perfection� Jar and come in a beautiful green tint.  These are being produced only in 2014 and are available in both pint and quart varieties.  (Pint retail value: $9.99 per case/ Quart retail value $12.99 per case)

�   Fresh Herb Keeper is an ingenious container to keep herbs fresh for up to two weeks. (Retail value: $12.99)

�   Dry Herb Jars are a perfectly-sized solution for storing your dried herbs. Great for storing seasonings, spices and rubs too! Stackable, low-profile design makes pantry or drawer storage more efficient than old, mis-matched containers. (Retail value: $4.99)

�   Frozen Herb Starters preserve your fresh seasonings in ready to use cubes filled with butter, oil or other liquid for easy and flavorful meal starters. (Retail value: $11.99)

�   5 Blade Herb Scissors  with stainless steel blades to gently cut and evenly slice herbs like basil, parsley and cilantro. (Retail value: $9.99)

�   Ball Blue Book with 125 pages that will guide you while you learn about preserving, this book provides information on equipment, instructions for the preserving method and recipes! (Retail value: $6.49) 

Leave ONE comment telling me what you'd most like to can or preserve and I will choose a winner at random on Wednesday August 20th, 2014. In order to win you must have a US mailing address and you must include your email in the field where it is requested (it will not be publishes and no one will see it but me). 

Peach Ketchup 

Makes 8 1/2 pint jars

5 lbs fresh ripe peaches, pitted and peeled and cut into chunks*

2 - 3 cups brown sugar (start with 2 cups and add more to taste)

2 cups apple cider vinegar

1 Tablespoon onion powder

1 Tablespoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons mustard powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1 Tablespoon kosher salt 

In a large pot, bring peaches, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, seasonings to a simmer over high heat. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer about until peaches are very soft about 15 minutes. 

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the peaches to a blender or food processor. Process until pureed and return the peach puree to the pot. Gently simmer and reduce for hour and mixture is thickened. 

Transfer peach ketchup to hot sterilized canning jars. Wipe rims and seal with clean lids and rings. Process 15 minutes in a boiling water bath or according to manufacturers' instructions. Let cool to room temperature and store. Open jars should be stored in the refrigerator, just like tomato ketchup. 

*To peel the peaches you can score, blanch, and shock the fruit, but I find a very sharp vegetable peeler also works great and is much less bother. 

Enjoy! 

Disclaimer: My thanks to Washington State Fruit Commission for the fruit and Ball Brand for the canning and preserving supplies. 

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Highlights from the American Craft Council San Francisco Show

I went to the American Craft Council San Francisco Show to check out the craft food and beer, but I was blown away by the quality of the exhibition this year. There are very inspiring and beautiful things for your kitchen or dining room. This is a great place to look for a gift, a centerpiece, kitchen design element or functional kitchen tool. It runs all weekend, August 9 and 10, 2014 at Fort Mason, San Francisco. 

Here are some highlights:

I have two terrific  pepper grinders but I would trade them both for one of these stunning ones from Kermode Woodturnings. Jerry Kermode also makes a companion salt grinder, wood topped cork bottle stoppers and rolling pins.  His bowls of all sizes are also drop dead gorgeous. 

I�ve long admired these almost art nouveau or American craft porcelain pieces from Lynne Meade Porcelain. They are wheel thrown and then hand carved, and are inspired by shapes found in the natural world, often sea forms or plants. 

Many woodworkers make cutting boards, but the puzzle trivet boards from David Levy of Hardwood Creations are quite unusual and wonderful in that you can arrange them in a myriad of shapes. 

I was drawn to the handcrafted cherry wood spoons from Jonathan�s Spoons, but also spatulas, pie servers and the particularly lovely tea strainers.  

Robert Woldow of ArtsCraft Seattle fuses glass to make bold and eye-catching dishes, platters and bowls. Everyone who walking into this booth was drawn to a different piece with a different shape or set of colors.

Jewel like Italian inspired glass pieces from Peter Vizzusi or Magic Sands Glass are radiant and sparkly. I particularly like the ones with metallic swirls and ribbons.  

I was impressed by the lovely earthy color palette and natural designs to these luminous pieces from Natura Designs long before I even spoke to the artist, who is coincidentally a beekeeper. He makes them from an organic resin of  beeswax and embeds natural specimens like twigs or seed pods to create unique designs. 

This year the American Craft Council San Francisco Show is featuring a marketplace and taproom where you can find members of the Good Food Merchants Guild and San Francisco Brewers Guild offering speciality food and craft beer.  Participating Good Food Merchants Guild members include Vivid Foods, Sweet Dragon Baking Company, Rancho Llano Seco, Mead & Mead�s Maple Syrup, and Two Valleys Olive Oil. Over the weekend participating San Francisco Brewers Guild members include local microbreweries Anchor Brewing Co., Headlands Brewing Co., Magnolia Brewing Co. and Speakeasy Ales & Lagers. Be sure to head to the back of the hall and up the stairs to check it out. 

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Interview with Suvir Saran, Eat Drink SF

Suvir Saran and Azalina Eusope at the San Francisco Street Food Festival, 2012 

Eat Drink SF is a showcase for local chefs of San Francisco with events throughout the weekend of August 1-3, 2014. One chef giving a demo this Sunday is Suvir Saran, who is moving downtown and opening a restaurant in all likelihood before the end of the year. Experiencing Saran�s passion and enthusiasm for food, cooking, and life in San Francisco is reason enough to attend. 

What will you be serving at the event? 

I will be doing a demo, corn and shrimp curry, not a tasting but a sneak preview of what will be on the menu. It�s so easy, clean, delicious and seasonal; it�s everything good food should be. Come ready to be teased! Life is food and food is life. I�ll talk about my journey. 

I�ve seen you at the CIA Worlds of Flavor and the San Francisco Street Food Festival. Do you attend or participate in a lot of events? 

I�m a little selective, I used to go a lot to the bigger events, but it�s chefs doing everything they shouldn�t do. It�s my mission to get people to enjoy food and open their palates to the food of the world. When an opportunity to teach presents itself, I�m happy to do it. That�s what�s dear to my heart. It�s about honest interactions. I want to really connect with people.

How is the restaurant coming along? How did you choose San Francisco?

It�s coming along. It will probably open early Winter. It�s a very ambitious project. I�m hoping it�s my new anchor in life. It�s a bold move. I wanted to do something connected to a farm, but I�ve realized NY is not the place that gives you 12 months of magic. SF was a logical choice. I love the produce, it�s honest.

My grandparents lived in the Marina and we went to the farmer�s market back in the 80�s. I loved the peaches, and they had a Meyer lemon tree. I felt comfortable in SF and never had to hide who I was. I gave NYC 20 years and in San Francisco I hope to spend the next 20 years.

What are your plans for the restaurant?

We take possession of the apartment on August 1st and I will have many months to experiment. I�ll have to create new partnerships, work with farmers, new relationships. We may have farms growing things just for us. 

I don�t follow trends and I don�t have chef friends. They all talk together and there is too little variation. I talk differently and dress differently and I cook differently. We will have a wood fired oven but no traditional pizza with mozzarella. I come with the baggage of India where we are greedy for flavor. 

What foods are you enjoying this Summer? 

The other day I was pickling, making Hindu pickles. 90% of my friends are Jewish and I love pickles. 

In India we make onion and tomato masala and add spices coriander, cumin, turmeric and garlic and then cook until jammy. The peas are cooked in that. You eat them whole like edamame. That takes me back to my childhood. There�s an art form to making it and eating it. 

Before that dal, served with green beans, rice and potatoes. Cooking for dummies is what I do best. We eat a lot of pasta, depending on what vegetables are coming out of the garden we add those to a marinara sauce with lots of herbs, it�s a recipe from my most recent book, Masala Farm.

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Sockeye or King Salmon?

Both wild Sockeye and wild King salmon are in the market now, and available fresh and will be until late September or early October. Both types of wild Pacific salmon are a true delicacy, and very healthy. They are high in omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D and low in omega-6 and saturated fats. But King salmon is sometimes as much as twice the price of Sockeye. So which variety should you choose? 

In Northern California most of the King salmon comes from California, Oregon and Alaska. The local King salmon is exceptionally rich and has a creamy texture. It has a mild flavor, and is almost slightly sweet. But it�s the buttery texture that makes it so prized. It�s the richest in fat. 

Sockeye salmon often comes from Alaska. It�s generally less expensive than King salmon, because it�s harvested at a smaller size and takes less time to grow. It�s also very rich, but has a more intense flavor and firmer texture. 

While both fish are delicious and can be used interchangeably in recipes, I seared two pieces to compare them side by side.  Looking at the raw pieces you can see the King salmon is paler and thicker, the Sockeye brighter orange, almost red, and thinner. 

For me, King salmon was truly king and worth the higher price. The Sockeye has a deeper red color, and a stronger, almost nutty flavor. But if you cook the King gently, you�ll achieve a custard like consistency that is unparalleled. 

Both are delicious seared, but I would recommend using Sockeye if you want to make gravlax. It�s color, flavor and texture hold up well to the salt and sugar marinade. 

The King is best served very simply to highlight it�s delicate flavor and luxurious texture. I made a compound butter with white miso, honey and orange zest that complemented the fish beautifully. 

Friday July 25th, 2014, King salmon will be on sale at Whole Foods for just $11.99 per pound. Enjoy it! 

Disclaimer: My thanks to Whole Foods, they supplied portions of King salmon, I purchased Sockeye salmon for this taste test.

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Make way for Eclairs!

Cupcakes are cute and affordable and remind many people of their childhood birthday parties, but they were never a favorite of mine. That�s not to say I don�t have a favorite pastry from childhood. I do. It�s the �clair. 

Growing up I always scoured the bakery case for chocolate �clairs  The crunchy eggy pastry, the creamy filling and chocolate glaze were much more appealing than any sugar cookie or cupcake. Their appeal has not diminished and In recent years I�ve had some very memorable �clairs including a massive one at Cake Love in Washington DC and delicate skinny ones glazed with matcha and black sesame at Sarahau Aoki in Tokyo.

Though the oblong pastry made from pate a choux and filled with pastry cream and originally called the Petite Duchesse has been around since the 1800's, according to some reports I read last year (from David Lebovitz, The Independent and even the Financial Times) �clairs have become quite trendy in Europe recently. They certainly haven�t hit critical mass here yet. But perhaps that�s about to change.

Last week I got a chance to meet the James Beard award-winning pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini as he kicked off his �Eclair Diaries� a motorcycle adventure to find inspiration for 8 new �clairs for the Le Meridien hotels. As part of the program, each hotel will offer modern versions of three signature �clair flavors � coffee, chocolate and vanilla in addition to one locally inspired flavor created by Iuzzini.

In San Francisco he shared his coffee cardamom �clair topped with bits of edible gold leaf, crunchy chocolate balls and nibs and a bit of flaky salt. The coffee cardamom eclair recipe will be in his upcoming cookbook. After his kickoff at the Le Meridien he was heading out to visit bakeries including Craftsman and Wolves as well as local farmers markets and a distillery and to forage with Chef Daniel Patterson, all to get his creative juices flowing. What will the San Francisco �clair be? We will just have to wait to find out.

With different fillings and toppings, there might be infinite variations of the eclair. Much like, you know, cupcakes. 

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Zucchini & Spinach Quiche

Quiche is a very easy dish to prepare and the ideal make-ahead main for picnics, potlucks, and late summertime dinners. With a basic winning custard (2 eggs, 1 egg yolk, 1 1/2 cups half-and-half, salt and pepper, beaten),   this recipe adapts to endless varieties of vegetables, cheeses, and herbs.

This zucchini & spinach version was simply very thinly sliced zucchini sauteed with a little butter and garlic.  Added some chopped spinach at the end of the saute.  I used a pre-made crust,  l grated cheddar cheese onto the bottom of the crust and topped it with the sauteed vegetables. Added a  little chopped cilantro to the custard and poured that over the vegetables. Topped with some more grated cheddar and grated parmesan, and baked for 35 mins at 375 F degrees. Pour yourself a glass of wine and enjoy this homemade gem with salad or steamed/sauteed vegetables.  Enjoy!

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June 2014 Millennium Cooking Class

  

Oatmeal-Zucchini-Raisin cookie with creamy avocado ice cream and peaches marinated in rose geranium syrup! 

Must be another fab cooking class at Millennium, San Francisco's premiere vegan restaurant!

Why, yes, there's Eric now showing us how to make those incredible deep-fried mushrooms that no one can resist from Millennium's appetizer menu:

Photo credit: AudreyNickel

Sadly, I lost almost all of my 62 photos from the class to the ether - the strangest camera-computer download loss ever.  Many thanks to my classmate, Audrey Nickel, for sharing some of her shots with me.

While it's hard to beat that delicious cookie ice-cream sandwich combination, my favorite recipe this time around was the Asian Style Shredded Summer Salad with Kaffir Lime-Date Dressing:

Photo Credit: Audrey Nickel

 Served in a lettuce or cabbage leaf and served with black garlic marinated mushrooms and tempeh or tofu, spice toasted peanuts and vaudovan oil, this main salad dish had a wonderful combination of bright and smoky flavors.  The salad itself was made of thin ribbons of cucumber and carrot (we used a vegetable peeler), jicama matchsticks, green papaya, and fresh herbs (mint, thai basil, Italian mint).  I love the fresh flavor of the kaffir lime leaves that were in the dressing of lime juice, dates, ginger, chili and agave nectar.  Although the dish, as pictured above, took a while to prepare and had quite a few components, I'd definitely make a quick chopped salad with this dressing and some peanuts and marinated tofu just for myself.

For our second meal, we made papusas with masa and corn, topped with a delicious green salsa.  The papusas were filled with a tempeh picadillo and we enjoyed both pan-fried and deep-fried versions.

Many thanks, as always, to Eric, Ann, and Alison for all the hard work they put into making these classes such a cool experience.  Thanks also to Assistant Sam.

OMG! Class 26!

As always, here are links to my posts on my many previous Millennium cooking classes:

*June 2013 Cooking Class

*Millennium Cooking Class: Easter 2013

*Sept. 2012 Cooking Class

*June 2012 Cooking Class

* July 2011 Class

Chile Class 2011

July 2011 Class

Mushroom Cooking Class January 2011

Sept.2010 Cooking Class

July 2010 Cooking Class

June 2010 Cooking Class

Spring Cooking Class 2010

Chiles Cooking Class 2009

July Cooking Class 2009

June Cooking Class 2009

Spring Cooking Class 2009

Mushroom Cooking Class

Holiday Cooking Class

Fall Harvest 2008

Indian Summer

Southern Comfort Cooking Class

Spring Cooking Class

Fall Harvest Cooking Class

Chiles Class

Tomato Class

Résuméabuiyad