Respecting the Weather and the Bounty

I hold my breath for the summer months – certainly because the weather is warm, but mainly because great fresh produce is so abundant. Stone fruits, tomatoes, gypsy peppers, Romano beans, gem lettuces, berries - so much good stuff! This potato salad is the perfect accompaniment to a meal enjoyed outside on a porch. It makes a great side for other grilled things like fish or chicken or can be enjoyed as an afternoon snack on its own. I like to use multi-colored potatoes because they are so pretty in the bowl. On my most recent cook-up, I paired with a pint of Pliny the Elder (and you should too).

Ahhhhh Summer.

Grilled Potato Salad

Heat grill to medium heat (conversely you can roast potatoes in the oven – on a baking sheet in an oven preheated to 350 bake until browned and starting to crisp on the outside – about 45 minutes).

5 red (Colorado Rose) medium sized potatoes (skins on) – wash, cut to uniform bite-size
5 purple (All Blue) medium sized potatoes (skins on) – wash, cut to uniform bite-size
5 yellow (Yukon Gold) medium sized potatoes (skins on) – wash, cut to uniform bite-size
2+ T olive oil
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 cup kale (chiffonaded into ribbons)
30 Haricot Verts/slender green beans (tipped and tailed and cut into 1 inch pieces)

3 T Mayonnaise
2 T Low-fat plain yogurt
2 T Dijon mustard
Splash balsamic vinegar (to taste)
1 T fresh dill, finely chopped
1 T fresh chives, finely chopped
1 T fresh parsley, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste

1) In a bowl drizzle olive oil on potato pieces to coat lightly and evenly. Salt and pepper.

2) Spread out potato pieces in a single layer skin side down on tin foil (make sure you can move the foil to the grill without the potatoes falling all over). Grill on medium heat until potatoes start to brown and start to crisp on the outside 45 minutes – 1 hour depending on grill.

3) When potatoes are nearly done cooking, add 1-2 T of olive oil to a sauté pan, get oil very hot but not smoking, add haricot verts pieces and cook for 2 minutes to sear. You’ll want to stir occasionally so they don’t burn. Set aside when finished.

4) Put grilled potatoes in a bowl, while still hot add raw kale and mix so kale wilts slightly with the heat. Mix in sautéed haricot verts. Let cool to just above room temperature.

5) Add mayo/yogurt/herb dressing to grilled potato mix. Mix well so salad is evenly saucy.

Enjoy!

Serves 4 as a side

Sonnet for Solbar

Recently, I was asked for 100 words on my favorite restaurant. Feeling bold I gave 104 words (title not included).

Sonnet for Solbar, at Spa Solage Calistoga, California

In one hundred words no justice is done

Color so vivid the first course was served

Like eating a rainbow kissed by the sun

So easily ‘favorite’ is deserved

Silken smoked trout rillete, crunchy romaine

Hearts broke under the weight of a gold egg

Panko crusted, whites like custard, tongue tamed

Oh, one thousand more plates of this, I beg

View of crushed oyster shells, bocce balls rolled

A soft glow from an outdoor fireplace

“Sex in the Valley”, these cocktails are bold

Can I stop time as light fades in this place?

Is light-weight soul food oxymoronic?

Certainly not, this kitchen’s iconic.

In case you haven't been up there, you really should go. Stay at Solage or just eat and while you are poking around Calistoga, stop in for a tasting at Lava Vine just around the corner on Silverado Trail. 

Aloha Time

Still dripping wet from a strong snorkel session in Shark's Cove, it starts to drizzle. The air is warm, the light rain is warm, (this is Hawaii after all) and we're cued up in front of the Pupukea Grill lunch truck about to order Ahi Tuna bowls. Really, life couldn't get much better...but then it does. Across the road, out past the Cove, we see movement in the water. Two spinner dolphins are involved in some five alarm aerial play, twirling and leaping. Did Pupukea book out this live action entertainment? Hardly. But somehow it feels personal.

From guava jelly to a plethora of fresh fish and fruit, Hawaii excels in delish eats. The irony of course is that there is also an abundance of processed food, oversalted and laden with MSG, perhaps even more readily available, that has caused an obesity epidemic among locals. But then again, where is that not the case these days?

While we were wooed successfully by Li Hing Mui sour candies and wasabi peas we mostly kept our eating to healthy outstanding meals out: Cafe Haleiwa and Apartment3 and fantastic meals in: Saturday night's baked Japanese sweet potatoes with miso butter, grilled rice balls with soy sauce, and steamed Opa with shitake mushrooms, executed by the lovely and capable Gaoline. Sunday night's home made pork laulau and stuffed inari from Yvonne at the Elliman family home in Manoa valley was no joke either.

On the eating front we crushed it. On the water front we dominated (stand up paddle boarding, snorkeling, and a rush hour paddle-out/surf in Waikiki). And on the hard partying front we prevailed (Mad Men night with $3 Kettle One cocktails at Apartment 3 followed by "industry night" at Lulu's).

If Sage isn't prepared for married life following this bachelorette blowout, I'll eat my hat, which, covered in Li Hing powder, might not even be that bad. 

Food for thought

Most of the time I think about my personal consumption. How well I'm eating: got to try the new Basque endeavor from the Naked Lunch team last Sunday night, wasn't quite what I hoped but had some lip smacking umami-licious wild mushroom arroz. Or how poorly: this morning for breakfast I ate water crackers with almond butter because I had nothing more suitable in the house. Even at my worst (when I make popcorn for dinner) it's better than most (I usually pop it myself and add butter, sea salt, and nutritional yeast). What I don't usually think about is what the people that I'm not hanging out with (school kids and inmates) are eating.

Here is an interesting comparison of how a lunch tray at school, stacks up next to a lunch tray in prison.

From Good. www.good.is

Uva Enoteca – 568 Haight St. San Francisco, CA

In an evolving culinary landscape that seems to favor the anti-restaurant: pop-ups, food trucks, and underground dining groups, Uva Enoteca in San Francisco’s ambiguously hip Lower Haight neighborhood remains steadfast in its execution of perfect plates and inviting ambiance. On a recent evening circa 10:00 pm, convivial conversation ensued between the bartender (pouring Italian wine Quartino style), a neighborhood regular (who also tends bar at the Toronado, the famed beer mecca across the street) and two women out for a post-yoga bite, all seated on stools at the marble bar. In the back dining area date-nighty couples gazed longingly over perfectly blistered pizzas, eggplant caponata with tangy caper berries, salumi, and succulent wild boar ragu. Uva Enoteca co-owner Boris Nemchenok is a Batali disciple and sweet Uva pays homage to his teacher while exhibiting a West Coast lean that says it’s our attitudes that should be checked at the door and our coats we can carry to the table.

Intrepid experiments

I'm blushing. The ever famous food blogger Sodium Girl (soon to be the ever famous blogger AND cook book author) played around with an idea I shot her.

She's salt free, so nothing says gauntlet like asking her to attempt a sodium free version of the world's tastiest yet saltiest snack...

Witness her genius here.