the first beets

it's salmon season!

Salmon season opened this week and I bought my first fish last evening

from Bill Arana. His catch wasn't so big but the season is early.

Today, watching the Pelicans fly along the coast bring Spring

present and full of gifts.

I hate to waste any of the fish so i made these salmon cakes today with

the scrapings off the bone. i had a 10 pound salmon and got about a cup and a half

of fish off of it. I added 1 egg, a generous teaspoon of Shichimi Togarashi, a Japanese 7 pepper blend, the juice of one lime a generous tablespoon of grated fresh ginger and 2 tablespoons of organic brown rice flour,  a tablespoon of mayonaise and a handful of fresh chives. a tiny splish of wheat free tamari.

Mix well and let sit a bit before you sear them.

I then seared them in a cast iron skillet with sunflower oil ( make sure your oil is very hot) until crisp and then flipped and cooked

just a couple of minutes more.

i served them with tangy baby asian greens, the first new greens my garden offers and dressed those lightly with a wee bit of rice vinegar and oil.

The sauces are Ponzu and a Wasabi mayonaise.

Slow Roasted Legs of Lamb with Local Honey and Rosemary, tonight at Handley Cellars! Accompanied with Butternut Squash and Leek Fritters !

Leek & Fontina Tart with Roasted Garlic , Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Sherry Vinegar and Olive Oil il

Lamb Tagine with Sundried Olives & Preserved Lemons for Easter Dinner

Lamb Tagine with Sundried Olives & Preserved Lemons

for Easter Dinner

This is a very simple dish to prepare. I call it my 

lazy wife cooking.  In a bowl season the lamb with a good quality Morrocan Spice *,

Ras El Hanout, sea salt and black pepper.

I then seared large pieces of lamb shoulder in a mixture of

olive oil and butter in a cast iron skillet.

Remove the lamb and then add 2 poblano chilis, cut in strips

one yellow onion sliced, 4 cloves of garlic crushed and one preserved lemon, also cut in strips.

sautee until soft.

Remove from pan and add to the lamb in the tagine pot

deglaze the pan with juice from the preserved lemons

a wee bit of water or stock.

pour over the lamb

scatter the sundried olives

cover and 

bake at 375 degrees F

for a couple of hours until lamb is

tender and falling apart.

lovely with couscous.

*Ras El Hanout

Ras El Hanout is a complex, aromatic Moroccan spice blend. Most recipes include cardamom, nutmeg, anise, mace, cinnamon, ginger, various peppers, and turmeric, but 30 or more ingredients might be used. Typically prepared by grinding together whole spices, dried roots and leaves, this recipe keeps things simple by using ground spices.

Ras El Hanout's literal translation from Arabic is “head of the shop," or the best of the shop."

• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cardamon
• 2 teaspoons ground mace
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground anise seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Obsession: Vintage Aprons

                                            one year later, the ever growing collection

Beautiful Leek Blooms

cleaning out the winter garden, these quirky beautiful blooms arrive to my table.

Beautiful Boletus Edulis

Sungold Tomato Jam

right now my kitchen is redolent with the most amazing smells. I am making this tomato jam from my sungolds and it will take an hour or so to simmer before I can process it. The ingredients are a yellow onion, a table spoon of finely minced garlic,two pasilla chilis,a generous pinch of spanish saffron, a huge chunk of finely chopped fresh ginger, a tablespoon of toasted cumin seed, a generous bit of aleppo pepper, red chili flake, thyme, lemon zest and the juice of two lemons, a shot of rice vinegar, sea salt and cracked peppercorns. About 1 cup of organic cane sugar. I sauteed the onions,ginger, chilis and garlic in about a quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil, and then added the saffron and dry ingredients. I let these simmer a bit to infuse the elements then added the tomatoes, and the rest of the ingredients. After the jam has formed, i'll process for about 20 minutes. One can also skip the processing and refrigerate and they should keep well a couple of weeks. a perfect condiment for grilled meats, or even a fine cheese on artisan bread!

Apples!

today i began harvesting apples. the precious pink pearls and gravensteins. today i made a wild blackberry, pink pearl apple galette, tomorrow, apple sauce then cider, then....butter! chutney!