This is another family recipe and it wasn’t Sunday morning if our mom didn’t make these.
In my mind, there are two kinds of great waffles:
-Crispy, Golden Brown: Thinner Waffles, w/ a crunch & smaller grid
OR
-Bigger Belgian Waffles: Taste-Packed, more Cakey w/ bigger grid (This recipe!)
Persimmons are a California seasonal fruit and I always like to include them in salads when they are available.
We had this Sunset Magazine salad on Thanksgiving and the dressing was great!
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You have to start your own seasonal traditions and this is our new fall tradition. For the past few years we have headed to the beautiful Rodoni Farms Pumpkin Patch on HWY 1 just north of Santa Cruz to grab a pumpkin for an “all pumpkin” dinner.
The cute girls that sell the pumpkins at Rodoni Farms eyeball the size of your pumpkins and calculate the price as you walk up to pay. Not only do they have a way with judging size, but they know a thing or two about their produce and always advise us to buy the Jarrahdale Pumpkin, light green in color, for making any pumpkin foods. Last year we bought one that was so huge that it took about four Tupperware containers to store all of the puree. So this year we chose a smaller pumpkin, which made a huge difference in our prep and clean-up time. We were able to make the entire dish and a batch of chocolate chip pumpkin cookies with the smaller size pumpkin ($4 pumpkin) and still have leftovers for another dish and second batch of cookies.
Recipe after the jump… Click to continue »
When are too many cooks in the kitchen a good idea? When you’re making ravioli, of course!
This past weekend, we picked up beets and sage at the Aptos Farmers Market at Cabrillo, and a Pasta Machine from Ross: Dress for Less for $18. When I attempted to make my own ravioli in the past, it was pretty much a disaster. This time around, I discovered that making your own pasta is definitely a team effort. This is one of the only times when you might say that two to four people in your kitchen is actually helpful.
We had six for dinner and all agreed that it was a great dish. The presentation is just beautiful with the juxtaposition of the red beet inside inside the yellow ravioli, and the black poppyseed sauce covering it all. The poppy seeds were also great because their texture added to the overall eating experience. My best friend suggested putting fried sage on top of the pasta right before serving. That was a great idea that added a savory crunch!
Improvements for next time:
Some thought the butter sauce needed salt. Our pasta was a bit too thick and overpowered the beet filling flavor a bit, so next time we would make the pasta sheets thinner. Although, thinner pasta sheets may be difficult to keep the filling inside of the raviolis while they are boiling.
Recipe after the jump Click to continue »
These are just a few tastes of what we had over the weekend at the Ferry Building and farmers market. There are so many great places to try here on Saturday mornings that you just can’t get them all in one visit. I always tell out of town folks visiting SF to go the Ferry Building and Farmers Market because of the local foods and produce. It is hard to go wrong here!
We had:
From Lulu Petite:
This is the cafe option of Lulu located inside of the Ferry Building. They serve sandwiches and specialty take-home foods.
-Egg Salad Sandwich with tarragon, parsley, chives, and Lulu Truffle Artichoke Tapenade on Roasted Brioche. It was huge and very tasty with a sweet, challah-like bread.
-Homemade Potato Chips. These were pretty good but I thought they could benefit from some kind of creative salt (or pepper) kick.
-Crispy Chicken Sandwich. It was good but I think adding cheese would be a benefit to the overall flavor.
http://www.lulupetite.com/
The Padron Peppers look similar to jalapenos but have a very different flavor. We picked them up at the SC downtown farmers market on Wednesday from Oso Velloso Farm. They are pretty cute and great for a bite size accompaniment. We pan fried them in olive oil to a soft-ish texture, blackening the skin and then sprinkled them with some course sea salt. You can grab a stem and take a mild-pepper bite. I have heard that one in ten are hot but I haven’t landed one yet!
I first heard about these tomatoes from a relative in Santa Cruz. She said they were the best but expensive, so I had to try them. Dry farming is a technique that I had not heard of before coming to California. Basically, the soil is tilled to a sponge-like consistency before the dry season and the soil is rolled over to make a hard layer to lock in the moisture. The plants are then planted without irrigation to force the roots to grow deep towards the trapped moisture. This technique is best suited for dry climates. The process results in smaller crops that are far more concentrated in flavor, have a higher nutrient density and last longer. I’ve only had the tomatoes but I’m going to seek out other produce to try. The tomatoes are dense, sweet and delicious. I’m going to get more from Dirty Girl Produce this Wednesday at the Santa Cruz farmers’ market. Dirty Girl dry farmed tomatoes are available at other farmers’ markets in the Bay Area so check out their site for more details. If you are interested in the process check it out here.