Category Archives: By Ingredient

Tomatoes

Letting the NORCATT Out of the Bag

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“Sungold Girl”

A couple weeks ago, we announced that there will be a free tomato tasting event in Northern California – NORCATT 2008 on Sunday, August 10. Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms is hosting this event on his farm in Suisun Valley, Solano County.

Brad cultivates some of the most beautiful and tasty tomatoes you’ve ever laid eyes on, with names such as “Beauty King”, “Berkeley Tie Dye”, “Pink Boar” and “Pork Chop”. He supplies these tomatoes to such noted restaurants as Chez Panisse and Brix. And now you have a chance to taste these amazing tomatoes for free!

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Barbecue, Fish

Evolution of Dinner: Grilled Halibut

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My previous post was about how the grilled pork tenderloin and nectarine-red onion chutney evolved over the course of the day. I started with the flavor profile I wanted first (Spanish, with lots of paprika) and moved to the ingredient list and finally cooking.

Annie had left me a couple of fillets of halibut that she wanted me to grill up after the pork was done. I wanted to continue with the Spanish flavor theme, so I did a lot of searching on Food Blog Search for “grilled halibut paprika”. For the life of me, I can’t remember which food blog post was the main inspiration for the recipe that eventually evolved. So I’ll say that I developed this recipe myself, and if any food bloggers out there recognize it as something they published, I will gladly give you the credit.
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Barbecue, Pork

Evolution of Dinner: Grilled Pork Tenderloin

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pork tenderloin sliced

When it comes to menu planning, Annie and I are from different schools of thought. Annie first builds a menu, then decides which ingredients she needs, and plans everything out before the actual execution of dinner. I start out first with the ingredients that I have on hand, then maybe come up with a menu, and start cooking before I completely figure out the order of execution. It frustrates Annie to no end when I am cooking, as the timing and rhythm are thrown off while I am still working out what I need to do next.

It’s insane, I know. Most times, she needs to step in and take the reins. But sometimes, SOMETIMES, the food I cook actually turns out better than expected.

This is the story of the evolution of my grilled pork tenderloin and halibut dinner.

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Spanish, Vegetables

Pimientos de Padron: How to Escape the Heat

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A Bag of Happy Quail Farms’ Pimientos de Padron Peppers

 

Happy Quail Farms' Pimientos de Padron

These little peppers may look sweet, but eat the wrong one, and you might be grasping for a glass of beer or a chunk of bread, your mouth on fire. Allegedly, one in ten of these peppers a tongue-scorcher. Chez Pim calls eating a mess of Pimientos de Padron “Culinary Russian Roulette”.

I’ve had these before, and my taste memory of them didn’t include searing pain and vigorous fanning of air onto my extended tongue. Of course, I only had a couple of them at the time. So when I read on Foodista and on We Heart Food that Pimientos de Padron were on sale again, I knew I had to get some. I convinced Annie to go to the Palo Alto Farmer’s Market and pick some up

Happy Quail Farms Pimientos de Padron Peppers on Sale

 

happy quail farms pimiento de padron peppers on sale

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