Month: June 2015

I use the term foraging very loosely here. But foraging mt. Helix was a great way to start the day and a great party. 

A few weeks ago I cooked a lovely dinner party in Mission Bay for a ladies getaway weekend.  We had adventured up to Mount Helix that morning to play around. As we were exploring, we came across a lush patch of mustard flowers.  As discovered on one of our nature hikes on Dictionary Hill, mustard flowers have a taste more like cabbage/broccoli then mustard.  That instantly became the impetus for a dish.

What dish?

 I didn’t know…but I knew I’d use them to accentuate a random brassica driven dish.  So… while at the market later in the day, I came across illegally cute, Smurf size brussels sprouts.  I decided to go with a variation of a salad I did a year or two ago. One that was based on heavily marinated brussels sprouts and grilled mushrooms. The salad was soaked with a truffle vinaigrette along with fresh herbs and other points of interest.

Whether you are picking chrysanthemums, mustard flowers or lavender. Or whether you are foraging Mt. Helix or Jamul. Make sure the product is away for the world or chest high. Dogs and whatever urinate on everything they can reach.

I’m gonna get a little weird, but if done properly, a little weird in a culinary experience is just what the doctor ordered. Relax, because yes, this works.

Avocado mashed potatoes are coming to a fish dish near you…if I’m cooking.

A healthy and perfectly balanced little side dish that I’ve been enjoying at my diner parties of late.  The recipe forces itself into simplicity. If you get cute or fussy with it, the balance gets thrown into the bad side of weird.

Recipe

Peel, cut and boil potatoes. Mash with kosher salt, a little butter and a scant 1/3 the amount of avocado…preferably Fuerte.  That’s it. There is no lemon juice, so make it à la minute. 

Anything more, other than a few chives, takes away the purpose of the mixture; which is an avocado tasting mashed potato.  Also note the room temperature potatoes.  Hot avocado isn’t something I love, and it causes a loss of vibrancy when overheated.   Avocado can easily become something very expected and normal once you start adding ingredients.  Using it as the mashed potato fat with no other flavors allows the avocado to come through the perfectly textured potato.  Any more avocado and you get too close to guacamole as is the addition of lemon, garlic or chile.

This is achiote grilled halibut/avocado mash/baby lotus chimichurri 

This dish is mind-blowingly delicious. Perfectly balanced with acid, char, sweetness, earth and texture. Shocking that I’ve only repeated it once or twice over the years. Achiote marinated halibut came from a teacher during cooking school.

Ain’t nuthin’ but a G thang ba-by. Two loc’ed out chefs goin’ cra-zy. Haha, we have fun here, and we had fun there. Chef Gina is the Snoop to my Dre. Or, the Dre to my Suge. Or the other way around. Either way, this party was certainly a “G” thang.

As you probably know, I do mostly small parties.  Occasionally a big party rolls by, and I need some help.  For that, I go to my long time friend and cohort, Gina Bishop.  

She brought me in on a party recently that was an 80 person luau themed buffet, with hors d’oeuvres.  We had a blast and worked our tuchus’ off, which is always a great combination for good food.  Our styles and skill sets are almost opposite, but we are on the same page with flavor. Here is the menu we did for that party.  Everything was perfect, but that is to be expected :-)

Menu

Passed Appetizers:
Sweet potato maki with Mango/cucumber/ sweet soy  Spicy Toro with wasabi oil on taro chip
Teriyaki chicken satay/ coconut peanut dipping sauce
Glazed Spam/ pickled cucumber/ pineapple
Shrimp scampi with garlic chives
Huli huli chicken wonton tacos/dynamite sauce/broccoli  Chile/lime macaroons

Hawaiian dinner buffet:                                                                                                                                          Delicious Kalua pork
Plank grilled pineapple teriyaki salmon
Coconut rice
Thai sugarcane vinaigrette slaw with sesame and water chestnut
Green Salad with green and ripe papaya and chile guava dressing
Traditional island macaroni salad

Desserts: Traditional haupia with banana
Pina Colada Bread Pudding/ Rum Salted Caramel
Assorted Cookie Bar

Holy guacamole Batman. What a menu that is for one party! A lot of choices to satisfy a lot of people. I realized a sad truth during the party.  In all these years, I had never referred to her as G. That’s not like me and I’m disappointed in myself.  That is all.