The Cypress Grove Research Center

The Story:

As children my parents would take us to visit a family friend who had an estate on the Tomales bay called Cypress Grove. Named in part due to the spectacular cypress trees that covered the grounds. Their was a modest main house, several guest cottages each with a different name and each decorated to match that name, a boat house, green houses, gardens, lawns and more. We would go and run wild playing, picking fruit, and doing what kids do – exploring. Our visits were frequently defined by some kind of modest but in fact real culinary delights including lunches on the lawn, dinners, snacks and or lunch in the water front dining room when the weather was cool. The meals were always stunning and it was in fact a period of my youth that got my culinary juices going. I can recall fondly the flavored lemonades and the fantastic meals always presented in such an exciting way.

As the years passed and Cypress Grove’s owners passing, the property was developed into part of the Audubon Canyon Ranch system in Marin and Sonoma County. Our family has been connected to the Audubon Canyon Ranch for over 35 years now. My parents got involved as volunteers in the beginning and as our lives changed and moved on; my father has continued to be directly involved in the development of the ranch and its programs. Now Cypress Grove is known as the Cypress Grove Research Center.

Audubon Canyon Ranch developed the Cypress Grove Research Center as a headquarters for its research and natural resource management programs, and to promote Tomales Bay as a valuable system for ecological study. The Tomales Bay estuary offers extraordinary opportunities for conservation biology, because of its simple shape, intermediate size, biological richness, and undisturbed quality relative to the nearby San Francisco estuary.

Audubon Canyon Ranch has a developing research facility on the east shore of Tomales Bay called Cypress Grove Research Center. Through Cypress Grove Research Center, ACR studies wintering shorebirds, monitors waterbirds on Tomales Bay, investigates processes for restoration of coastal marshes, tracks the reproductive performance of heron and egret colonies throughout the northern San Francisco Bay Area, and analyzes behaviors of Common Ravens. ACR owns and protects almost 500 acres of important and diverse lands on Tomales Bay.

For more information see the website for the Audubon Canyon Ranch: http://www.egret.org/

Vashon's Northwest Salmon Pasta Salad

Vashon's Northwest Salmon Pasta Salad

1 lb cooked whole wheat rotini, tossed with a little olive oil to keep from sticking
1 can garbanzo beans - rinsed
8 oz grape tomatoes, halved
1 each diced red and yellow bell pepper
¼ cup minced red onion
1 cup cooked salmon, (canned is not bad for this purpose)
¼ cup chopped basil
mayo to hold together
small handful of pink peppercorns
salt, pepper to taste

A big thanks to Tommy who LOVES a multi-ingredient salad

Early Summer Slaw

Early Summer Slaw (Mayo free!)

Ingredients:

3 medium fresh carrots; washed, greens removed
1 English Greenhouse Cucumber, washed
1 large Fuji Apple, cored
1 cup tripped and washed broccoli stems
¼ cup god olive oil
Grey French sea salt
Ground black pepper to taste
Juice of one lemon
½ cup crumbled mild blue cheese

Preparation:

In food processor or by hand, grate the carrots, cucumber, apple, and broccoli stems into a large bowl

Mix in lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper

Let stand 1 hour

Mix in blue cheese and serve

Eatwell Farm - Rosemary Salt and Lavender Salts

Those who know me know I never leave home without some of these or have gifted some so it can sit and wait for me to come cook in your kitchen.....


Lavender and Rosemary Sea Salts


It is easy to wonder what to do with this unique seasoning, but once used you may find it is more useful than unusual, more tasty than tricky, and as versatile as the flower that seasons it. It is made from our dried lavender flowers and French Grey Sea Salt. We also make a salt made from Rosemary and grey sea salt.


A flavor for meat:Lavender Salt is a delicious accompaniment to most meats. Lamb, chicken, and beef (recently tested at a Farmer's Market event) are well started with a lavender salt rub or finished with a sprinkle. One chef we know likes to use a small pinch of lavender salt on a 1/4 pound salmon steak before cooking.In any case keep it on your table:You never know when you are going to need a little salt on your stir fry, in your winter soup, or to help out your morning eggs. Avocado also does well with a little crushed garlic and lavender salt, as do tomatoes. Salad greens love the kiss of this high mineral salt and hearty floral herb.

For cooking with:If it would taste good with rosemary, it is probably good with lavender salt. Potatoes roast to perfection when lightly coated with olive oil and sprinkled with a layer of lavender salt in a roasting pan. At 375 degrees, I just leave the salt on top until about 30 minutes into the cooking, at which point I stir then roast until they melt in my mouth (about 1 hour total).

Not just for the kitchen:When you are tired of using it for your cooking, why not make a relaxing, soothing bath to ease any and all stresses. It is a good idea to make sure you have more on hand since a bath may use up a lot of your jar, depending on how strong you make your bath. Try a couple tablespoons to start.


Make the miscellaneous magnificent:Garlic bread, popcorn, pesto, ratatouille, jambalaya, and putanesco sauce (and maybe even the rim of a margarita glass when ground smaller with mortar and pestle) taste great with lavender salt, while omelet's, casseroles, and sandwiches become provincial treats. If you ever get tired of Lavender Salt, which is hard to imagine, we also have Rosemary Salt. Both of them make a great gift.

To order: http://www.lavenderfarm.com/where-orderform.htm

OR better yet - go to the farmers market at the ferry building in San Francisco on a Saturday and stop by the Eat Well farm stand

OR call 1-800-648-9894

Summer Squash, Tomato and Basil Gratin

Summer Squash, Tomato and Basil Gratin

2 medium summer squash

1lb tomatoes

6 large fresh basil leaves

1 garlic clove, halved

3 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Trim the ends of the summer squash. Cut into slices 1/4 inch thick. Cut the tomatoes into 1/4 inch thick slices also. Stack the basil leaves and cut into strips 1/4 inch wide. Set aside. Rub the garlic clove over the bottom of a shallow 10-inch-square glass or ceramic baking dish. Grease with 1 teaspoon of the oil.

Arrange the summer squash and tomato slices in a single layer in the dish., overlapping them tightly. Season well with salt and pepper. Scatter the basil strips evenly over the top, then drizzle with the remaining 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Finally, sprinkle the Parmesan over the top.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until the summer squash is tender.

Serve hot or at room temperature. Serves 4.

San Francisco: A Foodie Must: The Ferry Plaza Farmers Market

The Ferry Plaza Farmers Market

The Ferry Plaza Farmers Market is a California certified farmers market operated by the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA). The market is open two days a week—Tuesdays and Saturdays. The large Saturday market is held both in front of the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero and on the rear plaza overlooking the Bay. On Tuesday, the market spills out of the Arcades onto the Embarcadero sidewalk. The markets offer produce and flowers from small regional farmers and ranchers, many of whom are certified organic. A wealth of other products include regional artisan specialties such as breads, cheeses and jams.

Started as a one-time event in 1992, the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market's popularity led to the opening of a year-round market in May 1993. On Saturdays, 10 - 15,000 faithful shoppers attend the market because it reconnects them with their food sources. Shopping at a farmers market provides a forum for learning how food is grown, who grew it, and why it tastes so good. CUESA hosts weekly cooking demonstrations and interviews with farmers in the open-air Arcades along the front of the building, and these programs are free and open to the public

Website: http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/farmers_market.php

THE A LIST: BUTTER!!!!!!!!!

THE A LIST: 30 Great Butters (I mean really, could there be a better topic?)

This article was first published in Saveur in Issue #109

The variety of domestic and foreign butters available today—at supermarkets, gourmet stores, and farm markets and directly from creameries both in this country and abroad—is immense. Of the hundred or so butters we sampled during the making of this issue, the following 30 impressed us with their distinctive flavors, textures, and colors. With few exceptions, these butters are free of the added colorings (such as annatto seed extract) and flavorings found in many mass-produced butters. Below, you'll find serving suggestions and recommendations for the best ways to showcase the attributes of these unique butters. Most can be purchased in the United States.


Moorhayes Salted Farmhouse Butter (England) The owners of the Moorhayes dairy produce an amazingly distinctive cultured butter from whey instead of cream; it has a dense texture and a subtly vegetal flavor.


H. J. Wijsman & Zonen Preserved Dutch Butter (Netherlands) This long-keeping canned butter, preserved through the addition of extra salt, has an unctuous texture and a rich, cheeselike taste.


Meyenberg European Style Goat Milk Butter (California) Meyenberg, the biggest goats' milk dairy in the U.S., began making this sweet cream butter in 2004, to much acclaim. It has the lively pungency of fresh goat cheese.


Lactantia Light Butter (Ontario) Lactantia is the maker of Canada's best-selling butter. We loved its unsalted "light" butter. With a fat content of only 60 percent, it's not heavy on the tongue and yet possesses a remarkably distinctive, nuanced flavor.


Liberté Goat Milk Butter (Quebec) Good goats' milk butters like this one have subtle flavors utterly distinct from those of cows' milk products. This boldly flavored but balanced butter is excellent melted on steamed vegetables.


Anchor Salted Butter (New Zealand) This flavorful organic butter is made from the milk of cows that graze on open pasture year-round; its color varies from yellow in the spring to off-white in the colder months.


Pamplie Beurre Traditionnel des Deux-Sèvres (France) Made since 1905 by a cooperative of dairy farmers in Poîtou-Charentes, this is our favorite cultured butter. It's marked by a floral scent and a sweet, clean taste redolent of hazelnuts.


Meggle Unsalted Alpine Butter (Germany) This ivory-colored sweet cream butter has a sweet, nutty flavor reminiscent of mascarpone cheese's. It's the perfect choice for making fine-crumb pastries like shortbread.


Stirling Unsalted Butter (Ontario)
This large dairy company's unsalted sweet cream butter, found in grocery stores across Canada, has a smooth, luxurious consistency and lingers pleasantly on the palate.


Plugrá European Style Butter (Texas) This 82 percent–fat sweet cream butter has been popular with American bakers since the Keller's Creamery introduced it, in 1998, when high-fat butters were not readily available in the U.S.


Delitia Parmigiano Reggiano "Il Burro" (Italy) The same cows' milk that goes into Italy's famed parmigiano-reggiano cheese is used for making this cultured butter. Fans of the cheese will instantly notice the presence of its nutty flavor.


Challenge Butter (California) The sweet cream salted butter from Challenge, the most popular butter brand in the western U.S., is richer in flavor and texture than most supermarket sticks. It has a brie-like taste and a sumptuous texture. (Natural flavoring is added.)


PastureLand Summer Gold Salted Butter (Minnesota) This organic butter made from the cream of pasture-fed cows has a distinctly herbaceous flavor that makes it an excellent accompaniment to seafood.


Fattorie Garofalo Burro di Bufala (Italy) This buffalo milk butter, from a maker of excellent buffalo mozzarella, possesses an intense aromatic profile and grassy taste that go well with strong flavors like those of cured meats.


Amul Salted Butter (India) This sweet cream butter from India (to which annatto seed extract has been added, for color) has a slightly sharp, full-bodied taste, pleasantly reminiscent of cheddar cheese's.


Lurpak Salted Butter (Denmark) Made under the supervision of the Danish Dairy Board for more than a hundred years, this cultured butter has a rich taste that's balanced by a light texture and a bright acidity.


Double Devon Cream Butter (England) This lightly salted cultured butter is churned from the same milk used for making Devon's famous clotted cream and has a deep, slightly floral flavor. We use it on crudités in lieu of dip.


Evans' Farmhouse Creamery Butter (New York) Four organic farms supply the milk from which this butter is made. The bright yellow summer butter has a rich, cheesy flavor that we adored.


Le Gall Beurre de Barratte, Sel de Guérande (France) The marshes adjacent to the Breton town of Guérande yield a famously flavorful fleur de sel, which is the star ingredient in this excellent, ultracreamy artisanal butter.


Cabot 83 Unsalted Butter (Vermont) Cabot butters, made with fresh cream from a large cooperative of family farms, routinely win awards. This one, developed for chefs, is rich in fat but has a delicate flavor and mouth-feel.


Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter (Ireland) Kerrygold salted butter is much loved in Ireland. It has a rich, long, and balanced flavor, with an acidic edge. The unsalted version is ideal for baking.


Animal Farm Farmstead Butter (Vermont) This cultured butter, which has a fat content of 87 percent, is made by hand on a 30-acre family farm and has a bold, grassy flavor.


Horizon Organic European Style Butter (Colorado) As supermarket butters go, this organic version is hard to beat. Smooth but not overly unctuous on the palate, it has a clean, tangy flavor.


L'Ancêtre Bio Organic Salted Butter (Quebec) This is sweet cream butter at its best. A touch of sourness gives way to a long, creamy finish. We loved this organic butter as a base for brown butter sauce.


Fromagerie Jean-Yves Bordier Beurre de Baratte (France) This Breton creamery's handmade butters have earned a cult following in France (see A Butter Quest). A two-step slow-churning process yields a butter of unparalleled smoothness.


Guffanti Burro (Italy) This ultracreamy butter from Lombardy is made by the Guffanti family, which has been making cheeses since 1876. This butter's smooth consistency and fresh flavor make it ideal for baked desserts.


Sagar Pure Ghee (India) Clarified butter, called ghee in India, remains a homemade staple there, but excellent packaged versions are widely available. Sagar ghee has a robust, slightly fermented flavor that lends character to foods cooked in it.


Vermont Butter & Cheese Company Cultured Butter (Vermont) A cooperative of small farms supply the milk for this appealingly sharp-flavored cultured butter, which has a generous fat content of 86 percent.


Lescure Beurre des Charentes (France) "Lescure" is an A.O.C. designation for artisanal butters made in France's Charentes region. Pastry chefs like François Payard covet this butter because it caramelizes well and yields extra-moist crumb in baked desserts.


Straus Organic European Style Sweet Butter (California) This ultrarich sweet cream butter is made in small batches from the milk of pasture-fed cows. We liked its velvety texture and complex herbal notes.

THE A LIST: Be a local hero!

THE A LIST: Be a local hero: America is full of small family-run farms. Finding a nearby farmer’s market, farm stand, food co-op or community supported agriculture program is not as easy as it may seem. However, noted below are several web resources to assist you in your effort to find such things in your local area.

www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets

www.eatwellguide.org

www.buylocalfood.com

www.foodroutes.org

www.localharvest.org

www.sustainabletable.org

www.wilson.edu/csasearch

www.nimanranch.com

www.starroutefarms.com

www.farmtotable.org

THE A LIST: Eat More Responsibly

THE A LIST: Resources to keep up with the latest information about where our food comes from and how to eat more responsibly, check out the following sites.


www.earthpledge.org

www.factoryfarm.org

www.foodsecurity.org

www.growingpower.org

www.heritagefoodsusa.com

www.seedsofsolidarity.org

www.slowfood.com

www.truefoodnow.org

The Master: James Beard

The Master: James Beard

Born Portland, Ore., 1903; died 1985. Chef. Beard revolutionized American cooking with his emphasis on fine food prepared with fresh local ingredients. Beard appeared on television's first cooking segment on NBC in 1946; he went on to countless TV and radio appearances, wrote regular food columns for several national magazines, and penned more than a dozen cookbooks. In 1955, he established the James Beard School, one of the world's premier culinary institutes. The foundation bearing Beard's name continues to bestow the most prestigious annual culinary awards in America on the nation's top chefs, restaurants, and cookbooks.

The Master at Work: Hamburgers

James Beard’s Favorite Hamburgers

2 pounds ground beef

3 tablespoons finely grated onion

1 tablespoon heavy cream

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

4 hamburger buns, toasted.

Spread the beef onto a cutting board and sprinkle with the grated onion. Mix in the cream, salt and some freshly ground pepper. Form into patties and cook either on a hot grill or in a hot cast-iron pan, about 4 to 5 minutes per side for medium-rare. Serve each in a bun. Makes four bergers.

The Master at Work: James Beard

Cream Biscuits

5 tablespoons melted butter

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the surface

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar (optional)

1 ½ cups heavy cream.

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Brush a baking sheet with a little melted butter. Sift 2 cups flour, the baking powder, salt and (if using) sugar into a large bowl. Fold in 1 ¼ cups cream. If the dough is not soft or easily handled, fold in the remaining 1/4 cup cream, little by little.

2. Turn dough onto a floured surface, mound it into a ball and, using a rolling pin or your hands, press it to a thickness of about ¾ inch. Cut into rounds, 2 ½ inches in diameter. Gather dough scraps and continue to make rounds. Dip the top of each round in the remaining melted butter and arrange on the baking sheet. Bake until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve immediately. Makes about 9 biscuits. Adapted from “James Beard’s American Cookery.”