The little neighborhood is squeezed in a valley between the hills. And the hills think that they own the place. The coyotes cry in the hills every night, the hawks fly overhead, looking for rabbits. The rabbits and deer on the road keep me alert when driving at night. . . . → Read More: Turkey and tomatoes]]> I live too close to the hills.

The little neighborhood is squeezed in a valley between the hills. And the hills think that they own the place. The coyotes cry in the hills every night, the hawks fly overhead, looking for rabbits. The rabbits and deer on the road keep me alert when driving at night. I got a whole range of birds in my backyard; from hummingbirds, to finches (who destroy the vegetables seedlings), to the mourning doves (three generations hatched in my garden shed so far), and now, the turkeys.

Last week wild turkeys from the hills found a way into my yard, and destroyed all my beautiful tomato plants. I cried for a whole day, replanted the tomatoes, put a 3-foot high fence around them, and now I am offering turkey and tomato dishes to everyone, in a way of a revenge. It feels very satisfying to take the body of your enemy, ground, form it into bite-sized meatballs, and fry in oil.

I like to use quinoa cereal instead of the breadcrumbs to make my meatballs fluffy. Whole Foods sells it. If you can’t get this, use Panco breadcrumbs.

For the sauce:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 carrots, coarsely grated
3 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 large can whole peeled tomatoes in tomato juice
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1 cup white wine

For the meatballs:
1-1/2 lb ground turkey (dark meat)
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 egg
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs or quinoa cereal, more if needed
Salt, pepper

1/2 cup olive oil

Make the tomato sauce:
Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, carrots, and celery. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables are soft and begin to brown. Remove half of the cooked vegetables to a mixing bowl, set aside to cool. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and white wine to the pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to maintain a slow simmer, cook, stirring occasionally, until most liquid evaporates and the sauce has good, solid texture, but not dry.

In a large pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Dip your hands in cold water to prevent the mixture from sticking to them. Take a walnut-sized piece of the turkey mixture, shape into a ball, then flatten it to make a small patty. Cook briefly, turning once, until cooked through. Taste. Adjust the seasoning. Repeat, if necessary.

Serve over pasta, rice, or mixed vegetables.

The rest of the menu on one of my “turkey and tomato” days:

Vegetable soup with pesto
Pan-fried cod, tomato and olive topping
Green beans and peas ragout
Spring onion tart with bacon and gruyere
Baby arugula salad with walnuts and goat cheese
Pulled pork
Roasted yams
Turkey meatballs, tomato sauce
Spaghetti with garlic and olive oil

Location:San Rafael,United States

In my line of work, I don’t get to set up the table very often. Normally, I cook and package food . . . → Read More: Table settings]]> If there is anything that I love as much as good food, it’s a good table setting. Even before you start the dinner, seeing the table can get you in the mood and excite your appetite.

In my line of work, I don’t get to set up the table very often. Normally, I cook and package food for my clients, and they serve it later, in whatever setting they like.

This weekend I was lucky to have a chance to decorate the table twice.

Saturday was an all-girls birthday party, themed “50 Shades of Grey”.

Soup
Butternut squash soup with orange and chai spices

Salad
Roasted beets with baby arugula, goat cheese, and walnuts; sherry vinaigrette

Entree
Halibut Meyer lemon butter
Roasted Brussels sprouts with orange
Baby root vegetables bagna cauda
Wild rice pilaf

Dessert
Chocolate cake with salted caramel sauce

On Sunday I prepared a very similar menu for an early dinner in my sunny backyard with my dear friends I. and V. The table setting made it look and feel completely different.
I. follows a gluten- and dairy-free diet, so I couldn’t make my favorite savory tart. I could treat her to a cream of cauliflower soup, that doesn’t contain any cream but still has a creamy texture from the pureed cauliflower. However she brought a delicious pear tart for the dessert that she couldn’t eat herself. V. And I enjoyed it a lot!

Cream of cauliflower soup

Baby arugula salad with roasted beets and walnuts

Halibut baked in parchment with baby root vegetables
Meyer lemon asparagus
Orange Brussels sprouts

Pear tart from Trader Joe’s

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Location:San Rafael, CA

Chicken soup with mushrooms and brown rice

Hake, creamy mushroom sauce Farro risotto

Tuna and noodles casserole Spinach salad with oranges and walnuts

Lemon and herb roasted chicken . . . → Read More: Last winter day’s menu]]> Today’s menu was mostly client-requested comfort foods, with a few of my seasonal favorites thrown in.

Chicken soup with mushrooms and brown rice

Hake, creamy mushroom sauce
Farro risotto

Tuna and noodles casserole
Spinach salad with oranges and walnuts

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Location:Burlingame, CA

So here is a comforting winter menu that I cooked today. It’s full of hearty meats, mushrooms, . . . → Read More: Winter menu for today]]> Our winter is mild, there is no snow, the mimosa is blooming, and we get a couple of hours of short sleeves almost every day. But by the dinner time it’s usually cold and dark. Dark, cold, and windy. Cold.

So here is a comforting winter menu that I cooked today. It’s full of hearty meats, mushrooms, citrus fruits that are natural antidepressants and are in season right now, and it even includes my Grandma’s meat pies, directly from Russia, recipe follows.

Salmon with lemon and parsley gremolata
Fennel gratin

Farfalle with creamy chicken and mushroom sauce

Roasted pork loin with honey and orange glaze
Braised red cabbage

Meat pies
Spinach salad with walnuts, orange, and goat cheese

For the dough:
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 packets active dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1-1/2 cup of warm water, or enough to form a soft, pliable dough

For the filling:
1 lb ground grass-fed beef
12 oz ground lamb
2 medium onions, minced
1 small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, minced
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, or to taste
Sea salt, fresh ground black pepper to taste

For cooking: 1/2 cup grape seed oil, or other high temperature, neutral-tasting oil

In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, sugar, salt, egg. Add water, a little at a time, and mix with your hands to make a soft dough, about the texture of pizza dough. Knead for 5 minutes. Form the dough into a neat ball, put in the bowl, cover with a napkin, and set in a warm place to rise. After about 1 hour the dough should double in size. Pinch it back and fold 2-3 times. Let rise and double in size again.

Combine ground beef, ground lamb, onions, parsley, and Worcestershire sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Fry a bite-size piece of the filling and taste for seasoning. Adjust the seasoning. Divide the filling into 12 more or less equal portions.

Remove the dough onto a surface dusted with flour. Cut the dough into 12 equal portions; roll each portion into a ball. Roll out each ball into a 6-inch disc. Place a portion of the filling in the middle of a disk, gather the sides and pinch them together to enclose the filling, leaving a small opening in the middle. Flatten the pie with your palm into 1-inch thick disk. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Let the pies rest 20-25 minutes.

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Location:Palo Alto, CA

Cream of cauliflower soup

Cod with caper-tomato topping Brown rice with vegetables

Dijon chicken Quinoa with orange

Swiss . . . → Read More: Menu today]]> OK, done with my sales pitch, now back to the kitchen. Today’s menu (without pricing; the pricing was, in fact, very similar to that in the previous post)

Cod with caper-tomato topping
Brown rice with vegetables

Dijon chicken
Quinoa with orange

Swiss chard beef rolls
Parsnip and carrot puree

Beef and beer stew
Garlic green beans

1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter (optional)
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 small parsnip, peeled and chopped
Sea salt
2 medium heads white cauliflower, leaves discarded, stems chopped, crowns separated into florets

Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onions, cook until soft and begin to turn golden. Add butter, if using. Add parsnip, cook until it begins to soften, 5-6 minutes.

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a 6-quart soup pot. Add salt to taste. Add onions, parsnip, cauliflower, bring back to boil, reduce heat to low, to maintain slow simmer. Cook until cauliflower is very soft, 25-30 minutes. Puree in blender, leaving some chunks of cauliflower for texture, if desired. Adjust seasoning and serve.

Location:Palo Alto, CA

When I cook a week’s or two week’s worth of meals for my client, I work all day in their kitchen, so they have . . . → Read More: How much does a personal chef cost? A case study]]> People often tell me: we love what you do; such a wonderful service, we wish we could afford it. In most cases they don’t realize that they actually can afford the service.

When I cook a week’s or two week’s worth of meals for my client, I work all day in their kitchen, so they have to pay me for a whole day of work; and I buy tons of groceries to put all these meals together. The total price looks big. But when you consider the amounts of food that you get as a result, the price per meal is actually lower than when you dine in a mid-range restaurant.

Today’s package was a “4×6″: 4 main dishes, with sides, 6 servings each, and a pot of soup. 24 complete dinners.

The menu:

Soup
Wild mushroom and barley soup

Main
Steelhead trout fillet, dill sauce
Roasted duck legs with rosemary and orange
Fillet mignon, creamy mushroom sauce
Caribbean pulled pork

Location:Mill Valley, CA

Winter vegetables come in a palette of . . . → Read More: Colors of winter]]>
Short days, cold rains, the flu season… This is when we need more vitamins in our diet, to fight off this cold, and more colors on our plates, to add cheer to the long nights in front of the fire. Luckily, here in California, the winter farmers market supplies both.

Winter vegetables come in a palette of soft whites, muted purples, deep greens, and warm yellows; they go well with the gold of roasted chicken and duck, deep browns of braised meats, and the neutral tones of earthy grains. They prefer slow, thoughtful cooking techniques; they are complimented with sturdy winter herbs – thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano, parsley. Winter vegetables are full of vitamins, minerals, and micro-nutrients that help us survive the cold and boost our energy when we need it most.

Beets come in a rainbow of colors: red, pink, golden, white. Slice very young, tender raw beets for salads, both roots and tops. Roast larger beets for salads, soups, or to serve as a side dish: trim the greens, leaving 1 inch attached (save the greens to add to soups or braised greens), wash the beets, place them in an oven-proof dish, add 2-3 Tbsp water, cover with aluminum foil, roast at 400 degrees until tender (pierce with a wooden pick through the foil to check), 30-60 minutes, depending on the size; let cool, peel. The beets are complimented with balsamic vinegar, roasted garlic, truffle oil, thyme.

Broccoli adds emerald green color and a wealth of minerals to the plate. Separate the florets, peel and slice the stems, steam in a steamer or in a microwave until tender, refresh in ice water to stop cooking and to preserve the color. My favorite way to serve the broccoli is as a cold salad with dried cranberries and sliced almonds, with a dressing of almond butter, Tamari soy sauce, and olive oil.

Brussels sprouts like to steam, sauté, or roast. They are complimented by garlic, lemon (grate the rind over them, squeeze the juice), and mild olive oil.

Cabbage comes in green and red, and in plain and crinkled Savoy varieties. The large outer leaves, blanched, make wrappers for cabbage rolls, with rice, vegetables, meats, or anything. The tender center leaves go into soups and sautés. Green cabbages have an affinity with apples, pears, caraway seed, white wine, and onions. All cabbages go beautifully with bacon and smoked meats.

Carrot adds sunny color, sweetness and vitamins to everything it touches. There are white, gold, and purple varieties too. Love it raw!

Cauliflower is not just a white flower. It’s also gold, green, and purple flower! All colors do well steamed until almost tender, then sautéed, or prepared ou gratin. Cream of cauliflower soup is a life-saver for people who can’t tolerate milk products: the pureed cauliflower supplies the creamy texture, no cream needed.

Celery: the crunchy stalks are a perfect snack, great for dipping; the classic combination of chopped onions, celery, and carrot, sautéed in a mixture of olive oil and butter, can enhance any soup or transform a grain dish. Celery also makes a great soup on it’s own. Did I mention Bloody Mary?

Chard is a close relative of beets, and the leaves come in the same palette of jewel colors, and can be used the same ways as the beet tops. Steam, sauté, braise.

Fennel, thinly sliced, adds subtle anise flavor to salads, soups and stews. It’s also great prepared au gratin.

Garlic is love, and an indispensable ingredient in almost every savory, and some sweet dishes. Every time I heat up an oven to roast anything, I also toss in a head of garlic, wrapped in aluminum foil. Serve roasted garlic with a cheese and fruit plate, add it to mashed potatoes, spread it on top of steaks, mix it into sauces for roasted meats and vegetables. Large garlic cloves, sliced thin and fried in olive oil, make garlic chips, a nice garnish to meat dishes.

Grapefruit – juice it! This time of the year, we need tons of vitamin C, and the grapefruit delivers it, together with the tangy and pleasantly bitter flavor, and a wonderful aroma. Like most citrus fruits, it’s a natural antidepressant.

Kale is a leafy cabbage, and it works well in the same types of preparations. I love to use kale leaves to wrap rice, vegetables, and meats, to make kale rolls. I also like it braised with onion, bacon, and white wine. Black Tuscan kale, aka Dino kale, aka “the favorite”, is the darkest of them all, and has the deepest flavor and the highest vitamin content. It is friends with white beans, tomatoes, onions and garlic.

Leek, a mild, subtle green onion, works well in delicate soups. Also, try browning it in butter, than braising it with white wine and shallots, low and slow, until it’s melting tender. Addictive. The white part is to eat; I use the green part to flavor stocks.

Lemon, my second main staple after garlic, is indispensable with fish and shellfish; it takes any green vegetable dish to the next level (think garlic and lemon green beans, or Meyer lemon roasted Brussels sprouts), and it’s one of the best flavorings for a roasted chicken.

Mandarin: eat it out of hand, or add it to a green salad.

Onion, you already know… I like to marinate thin slices of red onion in 1 part sherry vinegar, 3 parts boiling water, with salt, sugar, and spices (whatever I’m in a mood for; say, allspice, cloves and cinnamon), to top burgers

Parsley root adds deeper, earthier flavor than parsley leaves to soups and stocks. My grandma always used the whole parsley plant, tops and roots, to make a soup. I like it her way. The root also roasts well, and is a nice, flavorful addition to roasted root vegetables.

Parsnip used to be a European staple food, before the potatoes arrived. It still mashes well, and a combination of mashed parsnips and potatoes is even better.

Potato. They say that the classic chefs toque has 101 pleats that represent 101 potato dishes that the chef knows how to make. I’m not there yet: I routinely make about 40 potato dishes. But my toque only has 17 pleats! I need a new toque. My latest favorite potato dish is smashed potatoes with garlic and herbs: boil gold, red, and purple potatoes until tender; let cool; mince garlic, thyme, rosemary, and parsley with some sea salt; spread the herb mixture on the cutting board; with the palm of your hand, smash the potatoes into the herb mixture; heat 1 Tbsp olive oil and 1 Tbsp butter in a large pan over medium heat; transfer smashed potatoes to the pan, cook until fragrant and golden, turning once.

Radish: winter radishes have thick skins and strong flavors. I like to peel them and cook them. Black Spanish and Watermelon radishes are great roasted.

Rutabaga: the big gentle “Swede” is sweet, and is at it’s best roasted, or as a puree.

Turnip is sweet and crunchy. Peel it and roast it, boil it, or sauté it, then glaze it with honey and apple juice, balsamic vinegar, or soy sauce.

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Location:San Carlos, CA

Our destination was Tonga, an island kingdom located between Fiji, Samoa, and Cooks Islands, a short three-hour flight from New Zealand. From Auckland we took an Air New . . . → Read More: The island feast]]> It’s always hard to come back from a vacation, especially one so perfect and food-centered as this one. Here are a few pictures from our South Pacific island feast.

Our destination was Tonga, an island kingdom located between Fiji, Samoa, and Cooks Islands, a short three-hour flight from New Zealand. From Auckland we took an Air New Zealand flight to the Tonga capital Nuku’alofa, then a charter flight in an antique 1944 DC3 airplane to the Vava’u island group, where we chartered a sailing catamaran to sail between the islands.

Picture a perfect tropical island, with a coral reef, a sandy beach, and coconut palms swaying in the warm breeze, surrounded by deep blue waters, full of fish, dolphins, and whales. Now picture sixty of these islands, a few of them with little native villages or fishing resorts, most of them uninhibited, within one-hour sail from each other. This is Vava’u island group.

Tongans love their food, and are very proud of it. The local diet is based on tropical vegetables (taro, sweet potato) and fruits (coconut, pineapple, bananas), with a lot of fresh fish and shellfish, and some pork, with some potatoes, tomatoes, chili peppers, and lettuce thrown in. At the farmers market in the main town Neiafu you get a large basket of coconuts for $7 paangas ($1 paanga roughly equals 60 US cents), and a bunch of bananas or a pile of pineapples for $3 paangas.

Farmers market in Neiafu:

This is what we were using for snacks while sailing. Our regular afternoon after diving and snorkeling snack consisted of New Zealand cheese, salami, and crackers with bananas and pineapple slices, and a drink of an unripe coconut with a shot of rum poured in.

For breakfasts, I made simple omelets with bacon and cheese for those who were hungry in the morning; those who were not subsided on instant porridge, bananas, Turkish coffee and green tea.

Our divers and fishing lines proved to be useless in the South seas: the fish shied away from the divers, and it never got the lure. I had to go fishing at the farmers market. Fortunately, the local fishermen they sell them (cheap) at the farmers market: spiny lobsters, barracuda, Pacific snapper, grouper, parrot fish, jacks, etc., come in fresh every morning. We grilled the snapper and trevally on board on our gas grill, and I pan-fried parrot fish fillets with fresh coconut flakes – all delicious, accompanied with a rice and vegetable pilaf, green salad, or boiled potatoes.

Parrot fish:

Cutting up a trevally:

Spiny lobster:

The highlight of the island cuisine is ota ika – raw fish – bite-size pieces of firm white fish, marinated with lemon juice, coconut cream, and vegetables, served with potato fries. This is addictive! Their fish soup is also coconut-based and delicious.

Ota ika:

Fish coconut soup:

Back to New Zealand, it was a completely different food experience. The country’s main feature is rolling green hills, where they raise sheep, cows, and deer. New Zealand lamb feeds the world, but it tastes the best in New Zealand in spring. Beef and venison are fresh and tender. Even in the most touristy places you get a tender cut of meat, cooked to perfection and plated beautifully.

Rack of lamb:

Lamb chops:

Venison cooked on a hot stone:

Steaks:

Fish and seafood:

In Auckland, fish and seafood are great, and they do mind the presentation.

Street sushi is a Southrn Hermispere exotic, and, surprisingly, they are edible, and tasty.

Breakfasts and snacks:

Our captain’s birthday falls on December, 1st. The International Date Line is set up all crooked and twisted in the South Pacific, to make sure that all the island nations are on the same time and date. So, after celebrating our captain’s first ever summer birthday in Auckland by bar-hopping, we got on the plane to San Francisco on December, 2nd, and we flew into December, 1st and back into December 2nd, three more times. The turbulences didn’t allow for a proper celebration on the plane, but we held tight to our wine glasses, and we toasted every one of our captains birthdays in and out!

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Location:Kingdom of Tonga; New Zealand