Family Night in San Diego

Date nights and couple’s celebrations are wonderful, and even better if you have kids; the time alone is golden.  But a real celebration needs the kids and family and friends.  That’s the only way to really have a festive occasion.  And if a couple of the friends are foodies or chefs and the kids eat or will try anything, even better.  In San Diego this month we spent a few days with some dear friends who are just as excited about food as we are. We ate like champs throughout the entire trip, but one night had a very special feast, all prepared by a dear friend who is an executive chef and serious foodie.  Take a look at these pictures….

A simple salad of butter lettuce and avocado.

Tri-tip roast and roasted veggies.

What I most appreciate about these meals is their simplicity.  There are no long processes.  No special techniques.  No prep aside from chopping.  This is simple, fresh food, prepared in a way that allows the food and its flavors to speak for themselves.  I could include a long description of how to do a meal like this….but seriously…just find your favorite veggies, chop them for the grill after tossing with some olive oil, or arrange for a salad… cover a roast with seasoning of your choice and through it on the grill.

So gather some friends, open a beer or some wine, let the kids run till they drop, raise a toast to friendship, and eat…simple.

Nature's Celebration

I really wish I could find the time to write here every day.  Between the meals I share with friends and family, articles I read, or even the latest episode of The Mind Of A Chef, I want to share something here all the time.  But more often than not, time does not allow it.  So after being away for two weeks, I intend to be back more consistently.  In the coming couple weeks I have some meals to share, some restaurant reviews, and certainly some random musings.  But let's start with a celebration.

My wife and I are concluding a month of celebrating our anniversary.  The truth is we celebrate anything.  In her family anything is an occasion to celebrate.  The sun came out?  Celebratory dinner!  A birthday?  That’s worth at least three days of special meals.  Sent an article to a potential publisher?  A celebratory toast at the very least.  My next few posts will, one way or another, involve some of these celebrations for our anniversary.  Allow me to begin with how nature joined in.  We visited with friends in San Diego to kick off all our celebrations.  For one of our meals nature surprised us with a pair of hearts encased in watermelon.

I have been blessed by a true partner that, I believe, really was destined for me and me for her.  We met a long, long time ago, not exactly in a galaxy far, far away, but close.  Circumstances separated us, life happened, and then brought us back together.  Sparing you the details, our story should have been written by Nora Ephron.  And this watermelon is just another crazy way I see us as one another's destiny.

  

Stamp Out Hunger

While we have developed the technology and techniques to produce more food than we need – some say as much as 2500 calories per person per day globally – we have poor distribution of this necessity.  Too much of this production is going into fuel and high fructose corn syrup and being consumed in excess by the richest few in this world.  We must do something to get food to the children – all children – all over the world.  We have hunger all around us, just as we have abundance.  Changing this takes an effort on the part of all of us.

You can start simply by getting informed.  Today…right now…go check out a couple web pages.

The Giving Table at http://www.givingtable.org/

A Place at the Table at http://www.takepart.com/place-at-the-table and see the movie

Share Our Strength at https://secure.strength.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=113

King Corn at http://www.kingcorn.net/ and see that movie

Then think about what you can do.  Do you live in an agricultural region?  Find a group that voluntarily gleans and donates their collection to the needy.  Work in a soup kitchen or food pantry.  Contribute food.  Educate your kids.  Demand that your representatives – from the school board to DC – act to provide healthy food at our schools. The bottom line - get informed, consider your talents and abilities and then do something with them to help others.

I am sharing the recipe below here and at The Giving Table’s Facebook page today (https://www.facebook.com/givingtable) because I think it is a great example of what can be done with common, inexpensive ingredients.  This is a rich recipe high in protein and carbs that could feed 6-8 on about $8 or less using kitchen staples. Throw together a simple salad and you have well balanced, inexpensive and simple meal.

Pasta alla Carbonara, in easy, inexpensive form…

(makes 6-8 rich servings)

1 lb rigatoni. 

4 egg yolks and one whole egg whisked together. 

8 oz. bacon, chopped.

1 ½ cups shredded Parmesan 

1 tbs olive oil

Pepper to taste, coarse ground – The occasional crunch of the coarse ground pepper adds an important heat and texture contrast

½ cup finely chopped fresh parsley

1 dance partner.  Finishing this dish is easiest with two sets of hands.  And dancing while cooking is fun.

1.       Bring a lot of well-salted water to a full boil. 

2.       Meanwhile, chop the bacon into pieces about the size of dimes.  This may be easier if it is frozen or at least very cold to start.  Fry it in about a tablespoon of olive oil and fry until it is almost crisp.  If you have any more than about 2tbs of oil and pork fat, pour some off and discard.

3.       Drop your pasta in the boiling water.

4.       Blend the egg yolks and whole egg well.  Mix in about 2tbs of the cheese and grind in a couple teaspoons of coarse ground pepper. 

5.       Just before the pasta is done take about 3/8 of a cup of the pasta water and blend this into the egg/cheese mixture.

6.       Invite your dinner guests to take a seat.  It’s best that they be seated before you’re done.  Pour them some red wine.  This dish needs to be served piping hot.

7.       Now move quickly with the help of a dance partner… Drain the pasta and quickly pour it back into the pot you cooked it in.

8.       While stirring the pasta pour the egg and cheese mixture over it, stirring vigorously.  The heat of the pasta and the pot will cook the egg.  The cheese and water you added, combined with moving quickly will create a creamy texture.  Moving too slow or having too much heat will scramble the eggs, creating a lumpy mess. 

9.       Just as soon as you’ve poured all the egg and cheese mix into the pasta pour in the bacon with its renderings.  Give it all a good stir. 

10.    Sprinkle in some of remaining cheese and stir. 

11.    Serving Suggestion – Using wide, shallow bowls, place a large scoop of pasta and quickly hollow out the middle.  Drop one egg yolk into the middle of the bowl.  Sprinkle some of the remaining cheese on the pasta, grind some pepper on the pasta and sprinkle a little fresh parsley.  Now it looks like a giant sunny-side-up fried egg and will be extra sensuous.