artichoke

 

 


 June 2012

 

"Non-cooks think it's silly to invest 2 hours work into 2 minutes enjoyment"

- Julia Child

 

 Upcoming Events

 
June 21
Food & Wine Pairing Class - $49
 
Please see more details in the main section of the newsletter after Featured Recipe

 

June 13

 
June 23



In This Issue
11th Annual Cooking For Solutions at Monterey Bay Aquarium
James Beard 2012
Featured Recipe with Wine Pairing
Food & Wine Pairing Class
What's in Season
Tips - Techniques - Fun Facts

 About Us



We offer:
 Catering
Dinner Parties
Cooking Lessons
Team Building Events
Variety of Food & Wine Pairing Events
 
Please contact us for more information and pricing.
408-826-2004





Greetings!

 

June is the start of summer. Which means graduations, Father's Day, and grilling recipes everywhere you look. So instead of giving you yet another "Grilled This" or "Grilled That" recipe, and being inspired by our recent visit to Monterey Bay Aquarium's Cooking For Solutions event, I resisted the temptation and thought, let's get dad out of the hot sun and into the air conditioned house and offer an easy weeknight meal. See below Featured Recipe

 

Look for a "Grilled This" or "Grilled That" recipe in one of our Fall issues - when everyone one else has forgotten about grilling.

 

 

Elham S. 

Executive Chef, Blue Sage 

 

Michele Snock

Sommelier, Wine Events Connection

 

 

Helping raise money for cancer by doing a cooking demo at Relay For Life in Willow Glen
  

 

11th Annual Cooking for Solutions at Monterey Bay Aquarium

 

We had the opportunity to learn about sustainable seafood and watch two cooking demonstrations by Alton Brown and Michael Chiorello.   

 

Alton Brown 

The main thing to remember is to buy fish and seafood from the U.S. There are also three categories for selecting which seafood to buy and eat:

 

Best Choice - Abundant, well-managed and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways.

 

Good Alternative - An option, but there are concerns with how they're caught or farmed - or with the health of their habitat due to other human impacts.

 

Avoid - These items are caught or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment. 

 

For more information, visit Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Guide

 

 

James Beard 2012

 

The 2012 James Beard awards are in! And the awards go to...

 

Best New Restaurant

Next, Chicago

 

Outstanding Chef

Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park in New York

 

Outstanding Pastry Chef

Mindy Segal of Mindy's Hot Chocolate in Chicago

 

Outstanding Restaurant

Boulevard in San Francisco

 

Outstanding Wine Program

No. 9 Park in Boston

 

Rising Star Chef Of The Year

Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar in New York

 
Very glad to see two women's names on the list. 

 

Seared Salmon with Sesame Soba Noodles
Salmon with Soba
  • 8 oz dried Soba Noodles*
  • � teaspoons sea salt
  • � cup toasted sesame oil, plus 1 teaspoon for tossing with noodles
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2-3 scallions, thinly sliced
  • � cup shredded carrots
  • � cup of chopped cilantro
  • 4 salmon filets - about 6 ounces each
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • � cup vegetable oil

For the Noodles:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil; add � teaspoon salt. Add noodles and boil until al dente, about 5 minutes. Rinse with cold water and transfer to a mixing bowl. Toss with 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Set aside.

 

Whisk the remaining � cup sesame oil with the rice vinegar and soy sauce in a small bowl. Pour � of the dressing over the noodles and toss. Add the scallions, carrots, and cilantro and toss again. Taste and add more dressing if needed.

 

For the Salmon:

Season both sides of the salmon filets with salt and pepper. Heat a non-stick pan on medium-high heat. Add the oil. (You can't skimp here. You need to add enough oil to generously cover the bottom of the pan. Otherwise you will not get the searing effect you want.) Once the oil is hot, add the salmon and cook until brown on one side. About 3-4 minutes, depending on the thickness of the salmon fillet. Flip to cook the other side, another 3-4 minutes. Transfer to a plate and cover loosely with foil. Let rest for 5 minutes.

 

To serve, place noodles on the plate and top with a piece of seared salmon. Garnish with sesame seeds.

 

Serves 4

 

*Soba - Japanese Buckwheat noodles - can be purchased at Asian stores or at the Asian section of your supermarket. The technique for cooking these noodles is slightly different than regular spaghetti:

  • The amount of salt added to the boiling water is much less.
  • Although dry noodles, they take only about 5 minutes to cook.
  • And they need to be rinsed, otherwise you will not get the right consistency. 

 

Wine Pairing:  

A Pinot Noir with sublte fruit and just a light touch of French oak pairs beautifully with the pan seared fresh salmon in this dish.  The light tannins in the wine support the richness of the fish.  The delightful sesame oil and cilantro flavors are distinctive but light enough that they don't overpower the wine.

 

Try this dish with a California Pinot Noir such as the 2009 Scribe-Carneros or a 2008 Regale Winery-Windor Oaks, Russian River. 

Food & Wine Pairing Class 
June 21
food and wine

Food and wine are natural partners, each with complex flavor profiles that change the other.

 

In this lesson, we will explore how the basic components of both food - acid, fat, protein, sweetness- and wine - tannin, acid, body, sweetness - complement one another as you taste through wine and food pairings.

 

You will taste four wines with a range of foods. Through tastings, we will demonstrate why many of the combinations work and why some of them do not. 

 

Think of it as an educational cocktail party!

 

$49 per person
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
San Jose/Los Gatos
 
For questions or to register, please call 408-826-2004

 

What's in Season in Northern California
apricots

 

Purchasing local foods in-season, not only tastes better, but will help eliminate the environmental damage caused by shipping foods thousands of miles. Also local food dollar goes directly to the farmer.

 

Apricots, Artichokes, Asparagus, Blueberries, Cantaloupe, Cherries, Corn, Green Beans, Honeydew, Okra, Peaches, Raspberries, Rhubarb, Strawberries, Watermelon

 

King Salmon

 

Tips - Techniques - Fun Facts
catloupe

 

Selecting and Storing Cantaloupes

 

Named for a castle in Italy, the true cantaloupe  is a European melon that is not exported. American "cantaloupes" are actually muskmelons. When selecting cantaloupes, choose ones that are heavy for their size, have a sweet, fruity fragrance, and yield slightly to pressure at the blossom end. The stem end should be smooth and not jagged (a sign that the fruit was underripe when picked. Avoid melons with with soft spots or an overly strong odor. Store unripe cantaloupes at room temperature, ripe melons in the refrigerator. Cantaloupes easily absorb other food odors so be sure to wrap in plastic wrap. They are an excellent source of vitamins A and C.

 

 

 

Ask a Question - Share Ideas