entree

the big enchilada…er, tomato.

oxbow farm project: salmon with dill buerre blanc

09/14/2012 | 2 Comments | Topics: entree, food.

As a child I thought herbs were grayish green powder that came in small glass jars with green lids. Need an herb? Read the label, open and add dried powder to dish. Little did I know: herbs were a plant and can be found tucked in kitchen window boxes, flourishing gardens, farms and even growing wildly as an auspicious ‘weed.’
Oxbow Farm… [more] invited me to participate in the Oxbow Farm

American Lamb Pro-Am: what to do with a leg of lamb?

08/20/2012 | 7 Comments | Topics: contests, diy food, entree, food., recipes

VOTE NOW (until Aug 31) for my Cherry Chutney & Goat Cheese Stuffed Lamb with Lamb Jus!!! … [more]
Lamb is just as approachable as beef, pork or chicken. You can grill it, skewer it, roast it and enjoy fistfuls of ribs. It loves to be dressed up in Moroccan, Thai, Greek and Mediterranean flavors (to name but a few). When I think of lamb I think gyros and mint jelly, rosemary

Onion, balsamic and dandelion ravioli

04/21/2012 | Comments Off | Topics: edible weeds, entree, food., recipes

Now that dandelions are in bloom: harvest the leaves to fill this pasta and save the small buds for the sauce. Need a drink to go with your flowery meal? Make dandelion mojitos… [more]. Use the stem for straws. Float a yellow flower on top.
I love going for a walk around the neighborhood, ogling dandelions. No longer dismissed as an invasive weed, no longer safe to sulk for years:

foodbuzz 24×24 beyond the eggs: culling and cooking your urban hens

02/26/2012 | 14 Comments | Topics: contests, entree, farm., food., just talk, soups, urban livestock

This was a special dinner, an occasion for pulling out all the stops. Joshua McNichols—a childhood friend of mine AND co-author of The Urban Farm Handbook… [more]—and his wife Emily came to dinner. My teenage sons joined us for this formal dinner in. It was a meal bordering sacred: the six of us were eating a ‘gourmet’ feast to honor Joshua and Emily’s recently culled chickens.

Joshua and I butchered

eggplant ragu… on soft polenta.

02/16/2012 | 1 Comment | Topics: entree, food., Italian food & wine

I teach cooking classes at a nearby cooking school. It isn’t uncommon to have class participants who are vegetarian, gluten-free and/or have food allergies or restrictions. Offering substitutes or alternative dishes—aka accommodating those needs—is part and parcel to being a chef.
Sometimes during an iron chef event, we have a whole team dubbed ‘vegetarian.’ For example: a group of 60 might be participating in an iron chef event—each team of… [more]

delicata squash ‘pasta’ ribbons with chanterelle mushrooms

01/20/2012 | 13 Comments | Topics: entree, food., recipes, vegetables

What is this mom?
Not something the boys had seen before: ribbons of delicata squash made to look like pasta. A simple squash—skip the boiling water for this faux pasta—lightly sauteed, topped with toasted walnuts and chanterelle mushrooms. I LOVE this ingenious tip: you don’t even need to peel the squash.
This yummy little number was inspired by a recent night at the restaurant (I help at a neighborhood restaurant… [more]

swimming RAMA.

01/07/2012 | 4 Comments | Topics: entree

There is a place called Jai Thai… [more] in the Fremont and Capital Hill neighborhoods of Seattle; almost every time I go, I order the Swimming Rama. Chicken smothered in coconut-laced peanut sauce, swimming on a bed of fresh spinach? Sign me up. Besides, then I don’t feel over-full from eating piles of carbs.
This is as good a time as any to insert this chicken recipe onto our family table:

braised beef with red wine, onion brulee served on chive sweet potatoes

12/28/2011 | 3 Comments | Topics: entree, food.

I love a good roast. Especially this time of year. Not to mention finding yet another opportunity to use sweet potatoes.

This was grass-fed chuck roast. I trimmed it of silver skin, then seared the outside until nice and brown. Note: see picture of spices in a jar? I tossed spices (see below) into a jar, then shook it up and smeared it on the steak. THEN I seared it.… [more]

DaVinci Wine Cookbook: page 7 [of 10] SECONDI

10/07/2011 | 1 Comment | Topics: davinci wine, entree, food., Italian food & wine, recipes

Secondi.… [more] The second coarse is the main coarse of the meal: the protein climax. This is where you pull out the big forks and knives to dive into wild boar stew, tuna steaks, and fish or sausage nestled in a bed of cannellini beans with garlicky tomato sauce. This was when we were already happily stuffed to the gills with big samplings of salami and pecorino, chicken liver pate, a

Sausage stuffed Bell Peppers.

08/16/2011 | 7 Comments | Topics: entree, food focus, food., recipes

Now that I teach classes on my [under construction] urban farm, I have a built-in excuse to play with seasonal produce. I recently had a group of women choose the ‘seasonal class’ which roughly translates to: what is piled high at nearby farmer’s markets? And quintessentially: what amount of fun can we have with these ingredients? My goal is to take unusual… [more] ingredients—such as zucchini flowers, ramps or garlic scapes—and