my inspirations

it’s hot; it’s cold; it’s both: zucchini and sorrel velouté

April 29th, 2012

 

Healthy Soup warm or cold

it’s hot; it’s cold; it’s both:
zucchini and sorrel velouté

Raining one day; hot and sunny the next. While the calendar says spring, the weather weaves in and out of winter (and apparently this will continue). Unpredictable weather can be problematic when menu planning (and ordering) because the temperature necessarily affects how and what we eat. You would not want to eat cassoulet in July any more than you would crave a tomato-based gazpacho on a cold December day. Generally speaking, the beauty of nature is that if we eat seasonally, the food “in season” mirrors what our bodies need and crave: heavier, more filling foods in the winter to keep us warm (i.e., winter squashes and cauliflower) and lighter, hydrating foods in the summer (i.e., watermelon and tomatoes). But the climate change is throwing off our “food-dar.” It was the need to create meals that combine chilly-weather comfort with the lightness of spring (and that can be enjoyed whatever the temperature) which inspired this week’s simple pleasure: zucchini and sorrel velouté (served hot or chilled). Read the rest of this entry »

 

gâteau au yaourt (yogurt cake)

April 21st, 2012

A sweet cake for kids without too much sugar

vive le grignotage ! 
(long live snacking) 

tea time, goûter and “un peu sucré ou pas du tout”:
gâteau au yaourt (yogurt cake)

One day a friend and I were having tea. He works in the culinary television industry and like most Parisians, he is passionate about food and so our conversation revolved around food, of course. As he poured the tea, he shared with me a saying his grandmother had when she served tea. She would say, “une sucré ou pas du tout” (meaning, take one sugar or take nothing at all). Thinking of childrens’ fondness for sugar (and for snacking), his grandmother’s comment stuck with me and it inspired this week’s simple pleasure: gâteau au yaourt. Read the rest of this entry »

 

deep roots

April 15th, 2012

Chef Morgan at McGrath Family Farm 

deep roots, significant growth, and organically so:
McGrath Family Farms and three fresh salads for spring

kale and turnip slaw with mustard seed dressing
strawberry and wild arugula salad on a Ciabatta plank
spring pea and fava bean salad with fava leaves

Mustard seeds are powerful things. When I was a girl my mother gave me a necklace with mustard seeds in a little locket. It represented a parable about the power of faith and how significant growth can come from humble beginnings (tiny seeds). It was also significant to me because her family came from generations of famers. I wore it all the time and when it broke I was girlishly devastated. 

My draw to the mustard plant was not unique. In 1868, Dominick McGrath, a sheep herder from Northern California, journeyed to Southern California where he discovered six foot high mustard plants.  Significant growth from tiny seeds. Dominick McGrath had found fertile soil and the place where he would sow seeds and plant his family’s roots. McGrath Family Farms was born. I recently visited the McGrath Family Farm and as I picked (and ate) my way through the organic fields, it was the very soil underneath my feet which inspired our lunch that day and this week’s simple pleasure: three fresh salads for spring (and yes, one includes mustard seeds). 

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hungry no more: The Hunger Games menu

April 1st, 2012

 hungry no more: The Hunger Games Menu 

Peeta’s nut and raisin bread with Prim goat cheese

Rue dandelion salad with tracker jacker dressing

Katniss’s rabbit (or chicken) chasseur

 Roasted blackberries on a vanilla pod bow with vanilla seed ice cream
and fresh violets for Gale

Impossible for me to resist. I love food. I love books. The title is The Hunger Games. Coincidentally the book (part of a trilogy by Suzanne Collins) is a fad among tweens and teens and it was race with my eldest daughter to see who could finish the book first. She won. We both loved the book and the food references throughout sent my creativity into orbit. However, the power of this book goes beyond the ability to encourage a child’s love of literature, it can also encourage them to eat good food (unbeknownst to them), and as I quickly turned the pages, this week’s simple pleasure, a Hunger Games menu, was born.  

Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favor.” 

Hunger Games Loaf of Bread with and arrow stuck in it

“Gale holds up a loaf of bread with an arrow stuck in it, and I laugh. It’s real bakery bread, not the flat dense loaves we make from our grain rations.” (page 7)

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spiced rosemary pecans

March 24th, 2012

spiced rosemary pecans

just hungry, getting spicy, and going nuts:
spiced rosemary pecans

Innocent comments, taken out of context or just plain misconstrued, can lead to life’s awkward, sometimes funny moments. It is one of those moments and a party favorite recipe that bring us this week’s simple pleasure: spiced rosemary pecans. 

 It was a first date and he was a brave man. He was brave because he not only

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rose water and saffron pistachio ice cream

March 18th, 2012

Nowruz Pistachio Ice Cream with Rose Water

 Celebrating spring and the
sameness of our ingredients:
rose water and saffron pistachio ice cream 

I have Persian neighbors and friends in both Los Angeles and Paris. Soon (March 19 in Los Angeles, March 20 in Paris) the Persian community will celebrate Nowruz. Nowruz is not a religious holiday but it celebrates the first day of spring and the beginning of the Iranian calendar new year. Although my gardeners pruned my roses to the nub, this week a singular rose burst open as if it was announcing the onset of spring, and I thought of how rose water is used in both Persian and French cooking. From this rose bloomed this week’s simple pleasure just in time for Nowruz: rose water and saffron pistachio ice cream.

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It is just the way I see things; baby spring vegetable and Puy lentil salad

March 10th, 2012

 

It is just the way I see things; baby spring vegetable
and Puy lentil salad

Spring is my favorite season. Budding bulbs and blossoming trees bring a sense of renewal and the promise of a fresh start. Returning to my apartment from my baguette run, I was filled with anticipation. Partly, because I could not wait to slather apricot jam on this airy piece of crispy goodness I clutched in my hand, but also because the morning air was filled with the smell of narcissus, daffodils, and hyacinths. The corner florist had opened their doors. Spring has sprung and the evidence was artfully presented in round baskets for shoppers to take home and bring a little bit of spring indoors (even if the radiators were still turned on). I stopped and as I looked at the displays this week’s simple pleasure was born: baby spring vegetable and Puy lentil salad. Read the rest of this entry »

 

blood orangetini

February 25th, 2012

Blood Orangetini Or Blood Orange Martini

 gone in 60 seconds, expiring in 15 minutes,
and a new house cocktail for Oscar: 
(freshly squeezed) blood orangetini 

I was writing a menu for a martini party when someone told me that a particular “racy” song reminded him of me. We thought that the song was from the movie soundtrack Gone in 60 Seconds which was about the rapid thievery of cars. Now, I do not know if his allusion was making light of my love of cars with a minimum 369 torque or my relationship flight-risk behavior, but it is not important and we were wrong about the song coming from that movie anyway. However, the “Gone in 60 Seconds” reference made me think of my father telling me that the “nutritional benefits of orange juice are gone in 15 minutes after you squeeze the orange”, vanishing as rapidly as the cars in that movie. So there I was, writing a menu, thinking of fast cars, then my favorite car, then the actor known for driving that car (but not the reason I like it), then his cocktail of choice (“shaken not stirred”), and within 60 seconds I came full circle in my thoughts which culminated in this week’s simple pleasure just in time for your Oscar party: a (freshly squeezed) blood orangetini. Read the rest of this entry »

 

hungry in love…Valentine’s Day Menu 2012

February 11th, 2012

Chocolate Tart Crust

hungry in love: a Valentine’s Day menu to make your heart skip a beat

 I often say that I know I am in love if the thought or sight of that person inspires moments of complete abandon of time and self. I use the example that if I were greeted at the airport by that person, even if the separation was brief, I would instinctively, and without hesitation, run to him, forgetting my surroundings, and the moment would only be interrupted by TSA asking me if the bags scattered twenty feet behind me, are mine. I tell my children that if you do not instinctively feel that way about the person with whom you have chosen to spend your time, then you did not choose correctly because anything less is existing; not living. I have done both. There is something to be said for following your instincts.

 

Harriet Van Horne wisely said that “cooking is like love [and that] [i]t should be entered into with abandon or not at all.” I agree and Saint Valentine’s Day is the perfect day to reinforce that notion. Inspired by thoughts of culinary seduction, the desire to spoil those we care for in a thoughtful, sincere way yet keeping in mind the practical demands of a mid-week busy schedule, this week’s simple pleasure is a Valentine’s Day menu that has a little something for everyone.  Read the rest of this entry »

 

my garbure

January 26th, 2012

Garbure or stone soup

Peasant stew.  Fit for a king and royally good: 
my garbure

This month second graders all across America are reading as many books as they can that have been awarded the Caldecott Honor.  One of my favorite Caldecott books is Stone Soup by Marcia Brown. The book is about three hungry soldiers who convince (or trick) a town of peasants to make soup from stones (and other on-hand, but hidden, ingredients). The effort culminates in a soup that the peasants declare is “fit for a king.” While we are not making soup from stones, the ability to make a simple yet hearty soup with on-hand ingredients (and a few seasonal vegetables which I consider under-used but easily obtainable) is the inspiration for this week’s simple pleasure, my garbure. Read the rest of this entry »