A memory of 4th of July as a child

When I was a child I remember the building anticipation of 4th of July and for me it was for the meal, not the fireworks….It was because we would go as a family for a picnic and watch fireworks – sometimes we would go to the Marin County fair but mostly to the beach – and while it may seem picture perfect, we might even take in the local parade. My mother would make from scratch lemonade, fried chicken, potato salad, and chocolate brownies! Some years the menu varied to include pea salad, corn on the cob, wine, fruit salads and or watermelon. We would gorge on the down home food, play with friends, nap, watch the show and head home with sand between our toes.

THE A LIST : Cypress Grove Chevre

As you can see I am currently obsessed with Cypress Grove cheese, especially the chevre - This is some of the best cheese I have ever had - and I really mean that. Its amazing. You can buy directly from them or from your local whole foods and or gourmet cheese shop......

Their contact information and weblink are listed below.

Try it - you will like it and try some of the recopies with goat cheese below

Cypress Grove Chevre

Arcata, CA

p 707.825.1100

f 707.825.1101

e info@cypressgrovechevre.com

w http://www.cypressgrovechevre.com

NOTE: Cypress Grove is a real place that as a child my parents would take us to visit a family friend who's estate was named Cypress Grove. More on that below...

Grilled Black Mission Figs Wrapped in Prosciutto with Humboldt Fog® Goat Cheese and Aged Balsamic Vinegar

Grilled Black Mission Figs Wrapped in Prosciutto with Humboldt Fog® Goat Cheese and Aged Balsamic Vinegar

12 black Mission figs, halved lengthwise

8 ounces Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog®

24 slices of prosciutto or Serrano ham, sliced very thin and wide enough to wrap around the middle of each fig half

8 ounces aged balsamic vinegar, reduced to 4 ounces

¼ cup walnut halves, toasted

1/8 cup pomegranate seeds

2 cups assorted baby lettuces or mixed greens

Method:
Simmer balsamic vinegar in a small sauce pan 5-7 minutes or until vinegar is reduced by half.

Press a small quantity of goat cheese into the sliced side of the fig half. Wrap a very thin slice of ham around the middle of the fig so that the stem and lower portion of the fig so that the flat front is smooth for grilling.

Heat a cast-iron grill on the stove or barbecue until very hot. Brush the face of the fig slightly with olive oil. Lay the figs face down on the grill for 20 seconds, rotate 45 degrees and cook for 20 seconds more. Turn the figs over and cook until warmed, about 1 minute.

Presentation:
Place baby lettuce in the center of an individual or large platter. Arrange figs around the lettuce, grilled side up. Drizzle balsamic vinegar reduction over figs and around plate. Finish presentation with a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds and toasted walnuts.

Serves 6.

Credit:
Chef Evan Treadwell, Dolphin Bay Hotel and Residences, Lido Restaurant

Baked Cypress Grove Fresh Chevre

Baked Goat Cheese

6 ounces Cypress Grove Fresh Chevre

½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves, crumbled

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

½ cup fresh bread

Method:
Shape or cut chevre into 4 equal pieces about ½-inch thick. Set on paper towels for about 30 minutes to dry. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine herbs and crumbs. Brush cheese with oil, then roll in crumb mix. Pour remaining oil into a shallow glass baking dish, then place coated chevre in dish. Bake 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool about 5 minutes to firm. Serve on top of mixed greens, on garlic croutons, or top pasta with a tomato-based sauce and baked chevre.

Linguini with Bay Scallops, Chevre, and Red Peppers

Linguini with Bay Scallops, Chevre, and Red Peppers

½ pound Fresh Linguini (lemon is nice)

3 tablespoons butter

½ cup red bell peppers, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons cream

½ cup chopped leaks

8 ounces bay scallops

6 ounces Cypress Grove Fresh Chevre

Salt and pepper

Method:
Cook pasta and drain. Sauté leeks and peppers in 2 tablespoons butter until tender. Stir in 1 tablespoon butter and scallops and sauté until opaque, about 1 minute. Add chevre, cream, and barely heat. Correct seasoning with salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste. Toss on hot pasta, sprinkle with chopped parsley and other herbs. Serve immediately.

Portobello Dumplings with Goat Cheese Sauce

Portobello Dumplings with Goat Cheese Sauce

Dumplings:
3 large Portobello mushroom caps

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon minced garlic

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, crushed (or adjust amount to taste)

5 scallions, sliced thin

3 ounces fresh chevre

24 won ton skins

1 tablespoons butterSalt and pepper

Method:
Mix together vinegar, oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Remove stems from mushrooms and marinate in the oil mixture for about minutes.

Grill over coals or on a grill pan for about 4 minutes on each side. Dice mushrooms and mix with the cheese and the onions.

Place a heaping teaspoon of filling in the center of each won ton skin and wet edges with water. Fold into a triangle and wet tip of long ends to seal together forming a dumpling.

Steam for 5 minutes. Sauté one side in butter to brown.

Goat Cheese Sauce :
1 shallot2 teaspoons butter1 cup white wine1 cup cream3 ounces fresh chevre

Method:
Sauté shallots in butter just until they’re limp. Add wine and reduce until thick and syrupy. Add cream and reduce slightly. Add cheese and stir until smooth. Serve immediately.

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