Berry Caprese Salad

I love the traditional Caprese Salad and it's so easy and simple.  I made a summer version of it using berries the other day for a gathering and a friend wanted the recipe so here it is!

Ingredients
1 cup of organic cherries, pitted and sliced in half (red or white)

1/4 cup of good aged balsamic vinegar, I used aged modena version 

1/8 cup plus generous drizzle of really good olive oil that has a grassy taste finish

4-5 medium size organic tomatoes, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
1/2 tsp of kosher salt
1 pint of organic strawberries, stems removed and quartered
Handful of Italian parsley, teared or chiffonade
8oz package of burrata, quartered
Pepper to taste

-Combine cherries, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and put in a container with lid and set aside. Let it marinade for at least 30 minutes.

Assemble the rest of ingredients when ready to serve.
-Layer the tomato slices in a large platter, sprinkle 1/4 tsp of the salt
-Next layer the strawberries evenly on top of tomatoes
-Sprinkle the Italian parsley evenly
-Then layer the burrata, (if you are taking this dish to a party, omit this step and the cherry mixture until you arrive at the party)
-Give the cherry mixture a good toss then drizzle over the salad platter
-Sprinkle rest of salt and pepper to taste
-Drizzle additional olive oil and then serve

I wanted to keep the traditional colors of a caprese salad but change up the flavors.  However, you really can mix this up with different berries and herbs.  I used Italian parsley because I wanted a grassier taste to counter a bit more sweetness that comes with berries but it can easily be made with the traditional basil, as well as regular mozzarella.

Bea

I had brunch this morning at this fairly new restaurant in Madrona called Bea.  It's such a cute place and food was great!  I didn't have much expectations since my friends Hamed and Pascale picked the place and invited me.  


Check out what we had...


Crab Cakes Benedict

It had the loveliest and thinnest hollendaise sauce.


Lamb Burger with Sunchoke Chips

Caesar Salad

Side of Biscuits and Crepes

The biscuit was really nice, soft and pillowy in the center but crispy, flakey exterior.  The jam they served it with tasted homemade and not too sweet.


I now wished I took some pictures of the interior.  It was such a fresh and warm place! A quincidental neighborhood spot.  I wish it was a little closer to Ballard.  

Salad Nicoise

I used to be a pure vegetarian up until about five years ago. I started taking fish oil about six years ago and about a year in, I craved a little fish.  So I ate it and it was okay.  It didn't gross me out too much.  Now, I eat it for health benefits and protein.  One of my go to salad is the salad Nicoise.  

This is a composed French salad that typically has tuna, boiled eggs, green beans, tomatoes, boiled potatoes, onions, and served with a vinaigrette dressing.


I made my own version for a wine night at Joan's.  


You know I love my potatoes and I roasted them with onions rather than boiling them.  I also dressed the tomatoes with a reduced balsamic vinegar because I love the flavors of that combo.  I added my favorite lemon stuffed olives from the Spanish Table, added some fresh cucumber slices, and dressed the whole salad with a lovely grassy olive oil that I picked up from St. Helena Olive Oil co.  

The only thing I'm not happy about the final salad is the tuna. Originally, I wanted to pick up some fresh tuna and sear it then slice it.  I didn't have enough time.  Soung is also a pure veggie, so I wanted to add the tuna last minute. I had to transport it and so I just took one of my tuna packs.  Bad idea...not so pretty on the plate and I should have put tossed it a bit.  It would have also been nice to add some fresh herbs.  Woulda, shoulda, coulda....


It was fresh, delicious, easy, and makes great potluck food.


Here is a picture before I transported it, and without the ugly tuna.

Ma'ono Fried Chicken & Whisky

Ma'ono is formerly known as Spring Hill.  The past few years buzzed place in West Seattle.  Spring Hill has been on my list of places to try forever.  Especially after a book signing by Thomas Keller, where he announced he was going their for dinner after the signing.  I finally made plans to check out the place and find out it was changed to a Hawaiian inspired Fried Chicken & Whisky place.  As a veggie eater, didn't know if I would find anything to eat.  

The good news is that the place is still fabulous!  It has the same owner and chef Mark Fuller.  He was trained from CIA and worked under Tom Douglas.  He is from Hawaii and is reaching toward his roots with this place. I've heard the quality and level of food is the same.

There are a lot of Pork on the menu.  Where they can fit in a pork item they do.  Lot of comforting items but kicked it up a notch.

Bloody Mary with Housemade Pickles and Hamhock

Eggs Benedict

Hangtown Fry

Crispy fried pacific oysters, bacon & roasted pepper scramble, grilled bread

Pascale said this was good but needed more flavor.

The Half Pound Burger

House bacon, hand-crafted american cheese, special sauce, dill pickle, fries.

I had several a la carte items...

Popover with Nutella.

I have to be honest, I think they over heated or scorched the chocolate a bit too much, it wasn't smooth.  I'd rather had cold smooth Nutella than heated with texture.  The Popover was good but it was no Tyler Florence's Popover that you get for free from dining there.

Hashed Browned Potatoes

This was interesting.  It was prepared ahead of time and deep fried I believe.  It wasn't that spectacular, it was okay.  Their homemade ketchup was great though.

Butter Lettuce Salad

Tender herbs, radish, parmesan, citronette

This was good, fresh and punch of acid with the dressing.

I think for a meat eater...it will be paradise.  My guy friends and bro will love this place.  Will I go back? Definitely...but want to try dinner next time.

Jello Trifle

So...my family is Korean, very Korean, but we love "white trash food".  I say that with love.  Every holiday, we must have "Jello Salad".  Either myself, or my sis or bro will make this dish in different version but it always has the basics, jello, marshmallows, canned fruits, dried fruits, coconut, and cool whip. Yes cool whip, to use real whipped cream is no justice here.  I not gonna lie, it's best with the traditional canned, processed ingredients.  :)  I also made the jello with mango puree juice vs. just water and this added more flavor to the jello.

I also tried to "up" it with the presentation and thus this year...made it into a Trifle vs just the all mixed salad.  It looks quite pretty I think.  If you want the recipe, email me.  I doubt I will get many requests but it's good.  I'll try to show you how we up this dish each year.

Brunch for Gurls

Today was a fun day to catch up with friends from a software localization class we took at UW a few years ago.  I've ran into or come across these friends at some point since our class ended and we've been meaning to get together for some time.  So I shared my favorite meal of brunch.  The funny and cool thing is...all of these friends are major foodies!  They love food as much as I do.  

Huckleberry & Lime Coffee Cake

Here is the recipe for Shino...


1 C Sugar
1.5 C Flour
2 tsp  Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
2 Eggs
1 C Sour Cream
1 C Huckleberries (fresh or frozen)
1 C Powder Sugar
Zest of 1 Lime
Juice of 1/2 Lime

-Preheat oven to 350

-Butter or spray a 9" cake pan

-Mix the sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda in large bowl.

-In a smaller bowl, whip eggs and sour cream.

-Fold in the egg mixture to the dry flour mixture until well combined

-Pour the mixture into a cake pan and bake for about 35-40 min. Test with a tooth pick in the center until it comes out clean.  Let cake cool completely.

-Combine and mix the lime zest, juice, and the powder sugar.  Set aside and let it dissolve the sugar until all the lumps gone.

-When cake is cooled, spoon and drizzle the lime mixture onto the center of the cake.

Paprika Roasted Small Potatoes

Buttermilk Biscuits..
I actually made these for the Bacon & Egg Sandwiches but forgot to take photo of the actual sandwiches

Spinach & Feta Quiche

Beet Orange Salad with Pistachios

Delfina

Delfina is a gem of a place in the Mission district in San Francisco.  I made a visit for dinner last week to catch up with a local friend.  Here is a pic of the place from their website.

It's a bit of funny story actually...

It starts with my love of Tartine Bakery.  I try to get a chocolate eclair every time I visit.  It's a must because it's sooo good.  Back in October, I had the same plan...stop by Tartine before my departure flight.  I had stayed over the weekend after a business trip. My sis and my bestie came in as well, and we made a trip to Sonoma.  Anyways, we all went eagerly to Tartine and bought a butt load of goodies for the plane ride.  We were super hungry and wanted to grab a lunch too.  Tartine is packed and no where to sit, so we go to the next door pizza place that looked great.  We got a table outside and proceeded to order our pizzas and salads.  While waiting for our food, I decided I want to take a bite out of my chocolate eclair.  So, I take it out of the bag and ready to take a bite...but wait...who comes to our table but a snooty, pseudo intelligent, tall stick figure of a woman.  I get scolded like a child that I can't bring in outside food to their restaurant.  I'm like what?  I'm just taking a bite!  We already ordered our food I tell her but she said no. I say...we are already outside because that is where we are sitting!  Still no.  I put the eclair back in the box.  We sit just waiting for our pizza order but I am fuming!  How dare she?  There is no way, I will not enjoy that pizza or lunch there.  I tell my sis and bestie that I need leave.  They can eat if they want but I'm not!  They agree...so we get up.  I tell her to *%$@#!&. No I didn't.  :)  I just said we will take our business elsewhere.  I left a $2 tip because we had water.  My sis and bestie said why but it was a point...and it wasn't our waitress' fault.   We ended up back Tartine, waited for a table, got croque monsieurs, cookies, and ate the damn good eclair.

Back to the story, my friend said she tried this great new restaurant over the weekend and wanted to eat there again, it was  a place called Delfina.  Got great reviews, 2010 best restaurant. I was game!  I thought the name it sounded familiar but knew I hadn't been there before.  We left her place, plugged address into the GPS and it takes us to Mission district, looks familiar, I see Tartine. I point it out to Heather because she's not been there and I've been raving.  We park finally and walk to the address.  We get there...well...it's next door to Tartine Bakery.   :)  It was the same pizza place but the restaurant part of the place.  I looked around, no snooty tall stick figure of a woman. Actually they were really nice, I loved the vibe of the place, hustling and bustling.  Great place. Food was amazing!

Blood Orange Avocado Fennel Salad

Budino with Salted Caramel Ice Cream

This is one of the best budino's I've had.  Not quite in a pudding form but almost like a souffle.

We also each had their basic spaghetti.  It was great...no Scarpetta but good!

http://delfinasf.com/restaurant/

Farm To Table

I love, love farmer's market.  Today, I met my friend Kittie for brunch then we walk the market in Ballard.  Wow...amazing choices! September is such a great period for produce...the tomatoes (from my own garden too), corn, stone fruits like plums, huckleberries, peppers, and on an on. It's winding down for summer but there are so many amazing fruits and veggies.  

Friday night, I went to one of Tom Douglas' newer place Cuoco which an Italian place in his building of new restaurants in south Lake Union.  I had this amazing dish grilled corn salad that had such sweet corn and cherry tomatoes.  It was just a simple dish of grilled corn, tomatoes, salt and I think olive oil.  

When I saw the fresh corn at the market today, I wanted to recreate this dish.  I can't think of anything that is so good but so simple.  It totally relies on the freshness and flavors of the ingredients.   I was hosting a dinner for some friends so this is one of the side dishes I decided to make.  Here is my final dish.

Below are the amazing sweet corn.  I just grilled it and cut them off the cob.  

I also picked up this lovely spinach that you see in the colander above.  Oh boy...I forgot the name of.  It was such a lovely kind and how can I forget.  I'll have to go back next week to find out again.  It tasted a little bit bitter and bite than the regular green kind but it was lovely...especially with the sweet red plums I paired it with a for salad.

Back to the corn salad.  I grew cherry tomatoes this season.  OMG...so easy and so much more flavorful than the store bought kind.  It taste like a honey dew melon tomato.  Seriously! Really reminds you of what real veggies and fruit should taste like.  This is why I am trying to eat more organic and going to farmer's market more.  So...I mixed the grilled corn with cherry tomatoes sliced, grassy olive oil, some kosher salt, and peppers.  This was so good!

Farmer's markets are such a great way to spend your morning or afternoon on weekend.  It just gives me such joy and memorable time to spend.  I ended up buying a flat of raspberries that were picked the day before, huckleberries, red plums, mint, the corn, the spinach, kale that I'm going to juice, organic raised pork chops, and autumn color bouquet of flowers.  I also picked up some cinnamon soap.  This is another post later but it's one of my favorite things in the world.  

Cheers!  

Serious Pie with Not so Serious Friends

Serious Pie by Tom Douglas is the local Seattle pizza place.  This is not your traditional pizza, nor is it the true Neapolitan pizza.  It's in a world of it's own.  First off, it's oval and signal serving pie.  It also has great mix of toppings and unique flavors.  My favorite is the crust.  It's soooo good!  Chewy but buttery, smokey and crispy...so good.  I've been told by a local Italian restaurant owner that their pie has butter in the dough and that it's not traditional.  Well, it's good to me and I guess it is serious pie business.

I recently went there with my global friends from work and also with some close friends for my bday.    

They not only have great pizzas, but everything from drinks, to the salads, to the heavenly desserts are divine.

They serve Mexican Coke.  The main difference is that real sugar was used vs. corn syrup to sweeten.

The starters are simple and rustic.  

tuscan kale, pine nuts, calabria peppers, parmesan

ham hock, last summer's corn, parsley

baby lettuces, radish, moscatel vinaigrette  

The Pizzas

No matter how many fancy toppings, my favorite pizza is still the Margareta.  The tang of tomatoes, creaminess of the buffalo cheese, and fresh basil, and the olive oil that drizzles is still the best.

buffalo mozzarella, san marzano tomato

yellowfoot chanterelles, truffle cheese 

 sweet fennel sausage, roasted peppers, provolone

special of the night...blue cheese, apple, thyme, and some kind of cheese

The Sweets

My favorite is the below.  I had it the first time and then again on my bday.  It even inspired me to make my own.  The nice touch is the sea salt and alittle drizzle of very grassy olive oil. 

chocolate budino, sea salt

earl grey panna cotta, blood orange syrup

cannoli, sour cherry, dark chocolate 

Since it was my bday, I go my own budino and as you can see, none was wasted.....I was sooooo happy! Good food and great friends, nothing can be better....cheers!

ad hoc

Another place I got to try was my idol's place's ad hoc in Yountville.  This is the latest restaurant by Thomas Keller.  I tried to get a reservation at French Laundry but no chance.  I even called 2 months in advance.   

http://www.adhocrestaurant.com/ 

I love ad hoc.  It was better than I ever expected. The story of ad hoc is that  Thomas Keller wanted to do a burger place and when he found a space in Yountville that opened up, he secured it.  However, he didn't have time to work on the restaurant so he and his staff would do these one time dinners for the public.  It was 4 courses, $50, one menu, all served family style...vwahla...ad hoc.  It was such a success that he opened the place as a permanent restaurant, and a burger place would have to wait.  ad hoc is also about comfort food that he grew up with and one of his favorite meal is fried chicken so every Monday night is fried chicken night, otherwise the menu changes every night.

I went on a Saturday night and it was about the pork.  They also have a vegetarian entree option.  The other courses were all veggie friendly.  Here is what we had.

First Course was a citrus salad with fennel, and honey gastric.  It was light, tart, and sweet.

Second Course was the entree and sides.  Pork porterhouse was the main entree that Sue had. I had the veggie lasagna.  It was a deconstructed lasagna with greens and white sauce.  Our sides were butternut squash risotto and roasted greens with hazelnut.  I didn't even the need the lasagna. I loved the sides.  You also have the option to add a fish dish to this course and we did. It was a beautiful halibut with a light preparation that I can't remember exactly what it was.  We had so much food we didn't need it but wanted to try it all.

Third Course is the cheese course.  This was a sheep's milk cheese with olive tapanade, roasted tomato, and his famous croutons.  Thomas Keller is all about hand torn croutons.  It was a great dish with many accompanying flavors to highlight the cheese.

Fourth Course...my favorite was the dessert.  On this day was the pecan bar with caramel sauce.  This course I know so well and....it was okay.  Didn't know my socks off.  It was a traditional pecan bar but I think the prepared ahead of time didn't make it as fresh.  I also needed a little fruit to cut the richness.  Caramel was great but it was too heavy to the already heavy pecan bar.  A little banana or apple slices would have been a nice touch.

It was still an amazing dinner with all those courses.   We loved it!   Can't wait to go again.  

All of Thomas Keller's restaurant are in Yountville.  Bouchon looked like a little piece of Paris in CA, the Bouchon Bakery was right next door, and French Laundry is close by.  Those will be saved for another visit.