Gobble Gobble...

It's that time of the year again, HOLIDAY TIME! And that means good friends, family and FOOD. Since we are spending Christmas this year in Denver with my in-laws, that meant that Thanksgiving was with my family here in Laguna Beach. My mother and father in law came out to spend the week with us, which was fantastic because my father-in-law is an excellent chef and I knew he and Louis could tackle the turkey like pros.

Because we had a guest list of 21 people, Louis decided to do one 24-lb turkey and 2 ducks. AND he decided to smoke them. The smell was simply delectable. After placing the turkey in brine for 24 hours in a mixture of apples, apple cider, sugar, salt and water - plus injecting the turkey with a mixture of butter, crushed apples and salt - the turkey was ready to go into the smoker.

While all of this was going on, my mom and I were busy prepping for the rest of the meal. Our menu consisted of:

Green Beans and Brussel Sprouts with a White Wine and Caramelized Onion Reduction

Yams and Marshmallows

Creamy Pureed Cauliflower "Mashed Potatoes"

Smoked Turkey and Duck Gravy

Braised Kale Stuffing

Roasted Root Vegetable and Cornbread Stuffing

Cranberry Sauce

Acorn Squash with Mint and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Roasted Bell Peppers

I don't typically make dessert and so others definitely came through in that area. My friend Mara brought a Cream Pie, Mini Pecan Tarts and a large Pecan Pie. My cousin brought brownies, my aunt brought pumpkin pie and my mom supplied the coconut ice cream.

Everything went shockingly well the entire day - but I have to say my main favorite was the two different types of stuffing. I can get bored with typical stuffing, so trying out these new recipes was quite a treat. The slow braised kale was spicy with the addition of chile-flavored oil (with rosemary) and worked great with the fennel that was also slow cooked with onions and plenty of white wine and chicken stock, and torn up Udi's gluten free bread. The root vegetables that I used for the cornbread stuffing (homemade cornbread provided by my father-in-law and gluten free) were rutabagas, parsnips, and pearl onions. It called for carrots - but I opted against them at the last minute. Almost all of the food could be made in advance, and just needed to be blasted right before serving.

Roasted Vegetable and Cornbread Stuffing

Slow cooked Kale Stuffing

It wouldn't be the holidays without making brussel sprouts - and I decided to pair mine with green beans that I blanched very quickly. Then I made a sauce of caramelized onions, added tons of white wine and chicken stock and reduced. Then quickly cooked the brussel sprouts - by sizzling them in an extremely hot pan so they caramelized without over cooking. Perfect.

I thought one of the main issues I would have could be people rejecting the idea of cauliflower "mashed potatoes" but surprisingly it was extremely well received. There were no complaints and I think people were somewhat delighted that they couldn't tell the difference. Of course all of the vegan butter I added probably help - plus the roasted garlic.

Cauliflower "Mashed Potatoes"

The rest of the dishes offered absolutely no problems and everyone raved about the acorn squash (a recipe from Bon Appetit) and the toasted pepitos were truly the added bit of delight to the dish.

Acorn Squash with Mint and Pepitos

One slight issue we ran into was when my mom was trying to serve the Yams and Marshmallows. Typically we have a troubled past with this dish as we have set ovens on fire, lit marshmallows on fire and pretty much have some seriously rotten luck with yams. Well, there weren't any fires but while placing the plate on the table my mom somehow flipped it - resulting in mashed yams all of the table. Fortunately due to some quick thinking from my father-in-law he was able to right the dish with minimal loss. Way to go!

It was an all-over great thanksgiving but the main star was the turkey. The smokiness came out and was truly, truly delicious. We couldn't have asked for a better day filled with fun, family, friends and food. 

Dark Meat

Light Meat

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Back in California

So I've been back in California for roughly a month. I didn't think this would be any sort of a transition as I've lived in California for most of my life, with the exception of my 2 year adventure in Texas. However, moving - moving anywhere - is a dreadful process. And needless to say, during this process, I did not cook a whole ton. However, now that Louis and I are more settled into our new (to us) home, I've had a few opportunities to start my cooking habits up again. We're still in the process of unpacking our boxes and boxes of, ehem, crap, but the first thing we did was set up our kitchen. And having a kitchen set up, despite the boxes everywhere else, does indeed make a house feel like a home.

Since moving back I've gotten very involved in the Sustainable Seafood program our company is attempting to launch as one of our goals, including me writing a blog of our One World One Ocean webpage. You can find that link here if interested: http://www.oneworldoneocean.org/blog. That blog is completely devoted to sustainable seafood information, recipes, interviews, and news. I thought I would keep this blog in order to illustrate my personal life in the kitchen.

To The Arctic Irvine event, Greg, Shaun and Barbara with Sylvia Earle.

To The Arctic Irvine Event: Sylvia Earle, Greg, Queen Noor, Katie, Shaun, Barbara and me.

We had several members of our board in town for the Irvine Premiere of "To The Arctic" and so I decided (with encouragement from Barbara) to make dinner for them one evening. Since we were thinking sustainably I decided to go with some nice fresh tilapia from Whole Foods (who has completely removed all of their red-item fish from their shelves, yay!) and then compiled my menu from there. Since it was warm I chose with a nice gazpacho made with bell peppers and tomatoes, with avocado on top. I thought the tilapia would be excellent roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper and then served with a home-made chipotle aioli.

Gazpacho (bell peppers and tomatoes) with avocado

Seasoned tilapia, roasted and served with chipotle aioli.

For side dishes I roasted tons of vegetables including: fennel, baby carrots, leeks, onions, bell peppers, sweet potatoes and asparagus. Just a simple olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper was all they needed for seasoning. I also made up a large salad with quinoa, arugula, shaved fennel and apple with a lemon and grapefruit vinaigrette. For appetizers I aimed for my traditional dairy-free smoked salmon dip, served with bell pepper and cucumber.

Roasted Veggies

Arugula, Quinoa, Fennel and Apple Salad

My mom set the tablescape beautifully and my dad prepared his usual pomegranent martini. All in all the night was a huge success and I think our board members were delighted with the fare. For myself, it just felt great being back in the kitchen, prepping and creating a meal. And with the view from my parent's house, who could blame me?

 

Sushi Making Party!

Ever since, on a dare 5 years ago that I wouldn't be able to go 3 days without eating meat, I've been a pescaterian. That means I aspire to only eat fish. During my times in culinary school this was increasingly difficult. It meant being unable to taste the meats I was preparing, making me rely on sight and feel to know when the correct temperature and firmness was completed. I soon realized that completing culinary school without eating any sort of meat or poultry was going to be impossible. So I decided that I would be a demi-vegetarian. I would stay away from meat, but allow myself to taste the sauce to know that the flavor was correct, I would allow myself to taste the chicken if necessary (and rarely), and to use stock in my sauces. It allowed me to complete culinary school with a sense that I do know my product and know how to cook food correctly, without depleting my sense of self. That said, being a demi-pescaterian has had its challenges. It has made me realize the importance of fish and how crucial it is to know how to use it in different and interesting ways. I also was blessed with a serious shellfish allergy, so even there my options are limited. (However, I did just discover that I can enjoy mollusks so look to new mussel, clam and oyster recipes in the future!)

One of my favorite things ever is sushi. Before I moved to Texas I enjoyed this delicacy almost 3 times a week. However, my family is very involved in ocean awareness and because of our new One World One Ocean concept and launch, we decided to only eat fish that were sustainable. So my options became even more increasingly limited. Add to the fact that I moved to Texas, where fish was not as abundant in stores as in California, and I had to start getting creative.

By chance I found a website dedicated to providing delicious, sustainable, sushi-grade fish delivered to your door. It's called "I Love Blue Sea" and its based in San Francisco. It's pricey, yes, but if you are a sushi fanatic like myself, it's well worth it to enjoy this increasingly rare commodity and know that you are not hurting the ocean in the process. My husband and I tried it out awhile ago and decided that we wanted to do a sushi party involving all of our Texas friends and providing them with the fish, seaweed, rice, and all the fixings to make the perfect sushi roll. We also made some fantastic sauces to go along with the rolls.

The fish we ordered were: albacore, yellowtail, yellowfin and 2 pounds of mussels. As I've never had mussels before I decided to leave the recipe up to him and he made a truly delicious dish consisting of course grain mustard, vermouth, white wine, shallots, salt and pepper, and butter. We put the mussels in and let them steam until open (they were green lipped mussels and were huge). Then we added french fries, sauce and mussels and had a remarkable dish!

Our friends were delighted by the opportunity to roll sushi and I think the dinner proved to be a success. My favorite roll that I made consisted of: albacore, yellowfin, avocado, mango, carrot, and then topped with a ponzu sauce on top. Very tasty. The best part was there was tons of fish left so I had some truly great options to make more delicious dishes.

It just goes to show that if you look for it you can create tasty and sustainable fish options that leave everyone satisfied and having fun. Here are some pictures:

Yellowfin, Asparagus, Carrot, Avocado Roll

Albacore, Avocado, Carrot, Cucumber, Asparagus Roll with Spicy Aioli

Green Lipped Mussels with Wine Sauce and French Fries

All of our delicious sauces: spicy aioli, ponzu, spicy cilantro sauce, and creamy cilantro sauce

Happy guests making sushi!

Mussel preparation

Sake Time

The stations and fixings

Tons of rice! Brown, white and sticky

Station for making sushi!

Cutting up some yellowfin

Yellowtail roll with spicy cilantro sauce

You can roll with seaweed on the inside or on the outside

More happy guests

Yep - I'm still cooking!!

Despite the fact that I'm no longer cooking in culinary school - I still try and get in the kitchen as much as possible. My husband and I are trying to work on a cookbook, so I'm going through all of my recipes and working through them attempting to find the best combinations worthy of going into the book. We've also been experimenting with different recipes and flavors, always attempting to create new sauces and spice rubs. I've also recently found out that I don't do well with gluten, after learning from my allergist that I have (although not celiac disease) a gluten intolerance. So, yet another limitation is placed on my dietary habits - although I relish the thought that this might make me feel better.

So we are now working on more recipes that appeal to both Louis and my very different eating habits, offering him the meat and potatoes that he craves, and the veggies that I desire. We've had a few mishaps with working through recipes, as some don't give him enough of a filling sensation - while items he makes are far too spicy for me. We're just trying to work them all out and figure out an appropriate mediation between us both. We've had some incredible successes including our Roasted Green Chile Sauce which was a mixture of roasted poblanos, anaheims, tomatillos, jalapenos, cilantro all blended together. It was truly fantastic.

Here are some pictures of a few of our meals that we've created - showing the vast difference in our eating habits. Christmas Breakfast, Broncos Dinner with Friends, Chinese Dinner with Friends, Fish Dinner, and Veggie Dinner.

Christmas Brunch

Veggie Scramble: eggs, tomatoes, onions, kale, spinach.

Fruit salad: mango, banana, apple. Mango Mimosa. Avocado on the side.

Maple and Pepper Bacon

Our breakfast

Broncos Taco Dinner with Friends

My fantastic Guacamole and Pico

Lou's excited for the Broncos

Homemade Roasted Green Chile Sauce - it was amazing.

The difference between Louis and I: chorizo and beef filling or spinach, kale, mushroom and onion filling?

Grilled Chicken with poblanos

Spinach, Kale, Green Bean, Mushroom and Onion

The whole setup

All the fillings

All of the toppings

 Chinese Dinner with Friends: Mushu

Our mushu filling: Snow peas, Peppers, Carrots, Bean Sprouts, Onions, Mushrooms, Water Chestnuts, Cabbage with Rice Noodles

Homemade Thin Pancakes

Mushu Filling - chicken added if desired - all done with a plum, mustard and spice rub

Plum Sauce: plums, hoisin, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, chili flakes

Chicken and Vegetable Mushu

Fish Dinner (just Lou and I)

This dinner consisted of 3 components: starch, protein and vegetable. Our starch was a quinoa salad that had avocado, garbanzo beans, tomatoes and a mustard lemon vinaigrette. The protein was blackened tilapia that was heavily spiced. The vegetable was sauteed spinach with asparagus, onion and kale spiced with basil, parsley, paprika, chili powder, garlic and oregano. It was all delicious.

 

My Vegetable Saute

This saute consisted of butternut squash, onion, mustard greens, edamame, carrots and quinoa. I cooked the vegetables together and then added the quinoa and mustard greens last. I spiced it with vegetable broth, paprika, chili flakes, lemon, salt, pepper, garlic, and basil. It was amazing and lasted for 2 days before I devoured it all. 

 

So I just plan on cranking out the recipes, tweaking things here and there and putting everything together in the hopes of getting a cookbook completed. I have absolutely no clue where to go from there, but it's a fun project that gets my creative juices flowing and allows me an excuse to cook up some delicious food!