Herb Gardens.

These pics were taken only days after planting. I will upload more pics next week and let you see the progress.

Most home cooks waste a ton of money buying herbs in the local store, using less than half and letting the rest wilt and dry out in the refrigerator. For a small investment, you can set up your own organic herbs gardens. And the savings will be instant plus the added joy of using your own home grown organic herbs.

You don't need to go as elaborate as we did here. However, my cooks and I are getting a great yield out of these two raised gardens. We planted French Tarragon, Greek Oregano, Italian Parsley, Spicy Oregano, Thai Basil, Lemon Thyme, Chives, Cilantro, English Thyme, Curley Parsley, Marjoran, Mint & Rosemary.

Easy to maintain and easy to set up. Next week I will upload pictures of a more simple potted herb garden I established at home.

That's all for now, Happy cooking.

Copper River Salmon.

I love the call I get from my fish guy over at Santa Monica Seafood each May. "Copper River Salmon is here". And I usually order at least 30lb's right off the bat.

I have been having great fun creating some wonderful dishes with the salmon and will create an old classic later this week. Poached Copper River Salmon with a classic sorrel sauce. The richness of the salmon is balanced beautifully with the soft buttery bitterness of the baby sorrel.

(I will include some pics & recipes later)

What is all this fuss I hear you say.

Well, for one thing. The Copper River Salmon season is a short one, three or four weeks in May & June for the fresh salmon. The Copper River flows through the state of Alaska. Almost 300 miles in length, this rushing river empties into Prince William Sound at Cordova. Salmon that originate in these pristine waters are challenged by its length and its strong, chill rapids. Copper River salmon are strong & robust with a healthy store of natural oils and body fat. These qualities make the salmon among the richest, tastiest fish in the world. And it is loaded with Omega-3 oils. Those good one's we are told to look out for which are good for the heart.

And speaking of the heart. That is not the only part of your body that benefits from salmon consumption: studies have found that fish oil can help combat such ailments as psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, breast cancer and migraines.

And speaking of Sorrel, I recently started a raised herb garden. And included sorrel in the garden, can't wait to use it.

Later my fellow cooks.

Mark.

Healthy and Delicious

These organic beans are simply steamed and tossed with mint, garlic & lemon zest.

The cucumbers below are marinated with chili's & low sodium soy. Best to marinate at day or two before serving.

Healthy Potato Salad for Memorial Day or 4^TH of July

Having a Memorial Day or 4^th of July BBQ? How about a sweet potato salad? And it is not only healthy, but easy to make. Serve with grilled chicken, meat, or fish.

Yogurt and red-wine vinegar make a smooth and tasty dressing for this dish. Tarragon or Fresh Rosemary can be added instead of basil for a twist. Sweet potatoes are available year-round, and this dish works well served warm in winter months.

Drain the potatoes and don’t rinse them after cooking them but before adding the dressing.

1.5 LB’s 
Sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" cubes.

1/3 cup nonfat or low-fat plain yogurt.


1 small red bell pepper, diced.


2 scallions, thinly sliced.


3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or other herb of choice.

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon salt


1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place sweet potato chunks in a medium saucepan and add cold water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until tender, 8 to 10 minutes, drain.

In a large bowl, combine sweet potatoes, yogurt, bell pepper, scallions, basil, vinegar, salt, and black pepper. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Only 120 calories per cup size portion, 27 g carbohydrate


Entrance to the Mound of Hostages, "Hill of Tara".

This is the entrance to the "Mound of Hostages" which is the main ceremonial burial ground on the Hill of Tara. Notice the entrance stone on the left. The carvings and symbols tells of the importance of the "Mound". This stone dates back 3000 years and the carvings pre-date the pyramids of Giza.

Tara

Each of these sloping hills are about 15 or 20 feet high. On top was a wood and stone fort. These sloping hills have been here for over 3000 years. The center stone is a fertility stone. Numerous fertility stones can be found around Ireland.

Imagine these sloping hills were made over 3000 years ago with out the help of a "Caterpiller" digger. An amazingly peaceful place.
Below is the "Mound of Hostages". Below this mound the cremated remains of over 200 members of the ancient Irish royal family lay.

Hill of Tara

This ancient church dates back 300 years. It is now a cultural center and the path leads to the "Hill of Tara". Which dates back over 3000 years. (Yes, three thousand). The Hill of Tara is the ancient Hill of Irish Chieftain's and Queens. It was is a place of great importance in Irish History. The British actually tired to demolish it in the 17 & 18 hundreds. Thanks to local farmers and rebels it is still here.

Notice the entrance to the Church grounds. This narrow cut-out in the wall is to stop sheep, goats and cows from entering the Churchyard. Just look how green the moss on the tree is. Amazing.

Healthy options don't need to be boring.

Who said eating healthy needed to be boring. Here are some healthy, organic, sugar free items my cooks made for a recent function.

The Parfait is made with dried exotic fruits, organic granola, plain yogurt with fresh mint & lemon. The cucumber cups are filled with a medley of fresh vegetables, herbs, garlic and extra virgin olive oil, with a little avocado.

The fruit kebobs are served with a fresh Kiwi and cilantro dipping sauce. And the little expresso cups are filled with a puree of fresh berries and passion fruit.

All these items can be prepared in advance.

Happy eating.

Mark.

BBQ & Picnic Season:

The key to all successful catering events is planning. Get as much prep done the day before the event.

And yet another key factor is, (Help). You can never have enough help. Family and friends. Even if they just help with the clean-up afterwards.

"Keep it simple, prep ahead, have lots of help, and never ever stress. Guests will feel the stress and most times you are stressing for nothing worth stressing about anyway.

And as always try to have fun. Food and entertaining is all about fun.

Lastly, as we are getting into the summer season, which means BBQ's & Picnic's.

Please don't over cook the hamburgers & Chicken. They will continue to cook even when you remove them from the grill & if you close the cover on the grill they will turn into hockey pucks real fast.

I will be posting some great summer BBQ menu's very soon.

Lechon

Suckling Pig or “Lechon”

There are many recipes for suckling pig from ancient Roman and Chinese cuisine. Since the pig is one of the first animals domesticated for slaughter.

Within Chinese cuisine, the pig is usually consumed in small quantities via siu meat within the siu mei (A category of Cantonese cuisine).

Lechón is a pork dish in several regions of the world, most specifically Spain and its former colonies throughout the world. The word lechón originated from the Spanish term leche (milk); thus lechón refers to a suckling pig that is roasted. Lechón is a popular cuisine in Spain, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, other Spanish-speaking nations in Latin America, as well as in the Philippines. The dish features a whole roasted pig cooked over charcoal.

In most regions, lechón is prepared throughout the year for any special occasion or during festivals and holidays. After seasoning, the pig is cooked by skewering the entire animal, entrails removed, on a large stick and cooking it in a pit filled with charcoal. The pig is placed over the charcoal, and the stick or rod it is attached to is turned in a rotisserie action.

In the Philippines, lechón is often served with vinegar & lechon sauce (made out of chicken livers or liver pate combined with vinegar, garlic, and pepper)

Whole Roast Pig we served at a function yesterday.

Farmers Market in Ireland, seafood & Olive stand.

Look at that amazing monkfish & fresh plaice.

This guy sells all kinds of olives, Spanish, Turkish, Greek, French and Tapenades, pestos and grilled marinated vegetables in olive oil. My favorite stall.
Notice the marinated "Dublin Bay Prawns" on the bottom left of the picture.

Customer for Life. Not likely.

I know we are in a recession and restaurants are doing everything they can to make a buck these days. And I support them, particularly the small individual/Ma & Pop style restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries etc. But when a restaurant behaves in a greedy manner. Well, I for one will not be returning for seconds.

This morning, i decided to go for Sunday brunch in a "Scottish" themed restaurant & bar in Sherman Oaks. This place is about a year old and usually the owner who greets us as we enter is pleasant enough, as he was this morning.

Service was good, and it is always nice to dine "Al fresco". Especially on such a beautiful day. Anyway, having taken the advice of the server, i decided to order the poached eggs bruschetta & a side of spicy sausage. The dish arrived promptly and looked like a disaster on a plate. Looks can be deceiving, so I continued on and took my first bite.

Basically, it was a piece of Sliced bread, toasted with two hard as a rock poached eggs sitting on top. The Poached eggs were then completely covered with mushy diced tomatoes & feta cheese with way too much basil. The end result was a soggy piece of bread with hard as a rock eggs smothered with way too much of everything else.

I am usually not a complainer in restaurants, as I understand how difficult the business is and how mistakes can be make. I also understand how mistakes can be rectified. So when the server approached the table and asked how everything was, she noticed that I was not eating. I had already pushed the plate aside after just one mouthful. Without getting into too much detail I explained that is was not good. She offered me something else from the menu or a replacement, which I declined as i did not care too wait or eat alone.

So far so good. The server did her job. Now here is where it gets ridiculous. Later when I asked for the check, the hostess brings it over and says I believe you were not satisfied with your food. I nodded in a yes fashion and she proceeded to tell me that she has given me a $3.00 (Three) dollar discount.

I stared up at her, completely stuck for words. (And anyone who knows me, knows this rarely happens.) After a brief moment of silence, I asked her. Are you actually charging me for a dish I took one bite from and that was not good to begin with. And she replied, well, I can take it off the bill if you want. But you did order it".

To which I politely explained, yes I ordered what I though was going to be a poached egg bruschetta and a bruschetta is usually a grilled piece of crusty bread brushed with olive oil salt & pepper, not a soggy piece of toast with two dried out and over cooked eggs on it.

She promptly returned with a new check and low and behold the bruschetta was now gone. However she left on the side of sausage which I did not eat also. And was charging me $4.25 for one sausage link split in half. Now this is just plain greedy & tight. I again asked the waitress why she was charging me for something I had not eaten. As it was taken away on the same plate with the soggy bread and eggs.

The server looked at me as if I was insane. She wandered away and returned with yet another check. This one was correct. Now don't get me wrong. I don't usually complain, as a matter of fact i have been know to let quite a lot slip by in restaurants over these years. But when a restaurant is just being "tight". That is where i draw the line. After all, eating out these days is not cheap. So many restaurants these days seem to think they can serve mediocre food with an attitude and charge top dollar for it and we as consumers need to just shut up and accept it.

The servers, cooks, managers and owners all need to be retrained. Where has customer service gone. They need to put themselves in the customers shoes for one day and see if they would be happy paying good money.

What is hilarious about the dish I ordered is, that the hostess explained to me "Oh yes, we have had several complaints about this dish in the past. It does get soggy."

OMG Sister.

If i had a dish on my menu that was getting complaints I would remove it and re-work it until it was perfect. And with this particular dish simply removing the diced tomato, feta & basil & serving it on the side in a ramekin would have saved the dish. That and training the cook how to do a poached egg so it is not something that could be used to play Badminton.

"John O' Groats Restaurant & Bar". I for one will not be a customer for life.

Restaurant Disaster's - How to Avoid.

A Restaurant disaster isn’t just when a waiter spills a glass of Pinot down the back of your white shirt. (This actually happened to me many years ago) When it comes to your health, a catastrophe is what can happen in the first and last 10 minutes of a meal.

Here are a few tips on how to eat out and be healthy at the same time.

Don’t arrive starving. A little healthy fat – A handful of walnut halves or unsalted Almonds (6 or 8 pieces) before a meal. The healthy fat in the nuts triggers a chain reaction that slows the rate at which your stomach empties, you’ll feel fuller faster. The chain reaction takes about 20/30 minutes, so plan ahead.

Drink a full glass of water. This can fill you up, so you don’t overeat.

Cut-up veggies instead of bread. (Celery & Carrot Sticks, Zucchini or Cucumber) Most restaurants will provide this option. But forget the Bleu cheese or Ranch dip.

Ask for Whole Grain or Whole Wheat bread.

Olive oil. If the restaurant brings you whole-grain bread, dip it in olive oil.

Ask for olive oil and vinegar on the side. The kitchen will more than likely over dress your salad -- even with oil and vinegar -- can deliver as many as 400 extra calories!

Get one dessert for every four people, and have just a few bites. If there are just two of you, take half of the dessert home, and freeze it for another day.

Ending a meal with a glass of Red wine lets you avoid the cloying aftertaste of sweets, and helps you avoid calorie-bombs.

Do what the Europeans do: Make salad the last thing you eat. Helps with digestion and stops that craving for something sweet.

This pub and restaurant in situated in the small village of "Dalkey" south of Dublin. Notice the sign above the door. The pub opened for business in the 1700's.

This castle sits on the main street in the village of "Dalkey". It is now a small museum and information center. Behind the pub and Castle is the old "Tramyard" where the farmers markets is hosted.

Cheese & Breads at an Irish Farmers Market.

Markets in Beijing, China & Provence, France

Below is the famous "Flea Market" in Beijing. Here you can buy anything from spices & herbs to dried fish & snake to Jade & Silk. A must see if you are in Beijing.

Below is another market in Carpentras, Provence France. This market has been setting up every friday in the old Roman walled city since the time of ancient Rome. Everything from Pottery, Fruits & Vegetables, Baked goods, Linen, flowers, rugs etc. Vendors from North Africa, all over Europe & as far away as Asia set up stalls here. Another must see on your travels.

Farmers Market in Ireland

Just look at those gorgeous duck eggs.
Parsnips are one of my favorite vegetables, great for soups, roasted or just steamed. Check out that price. 4.5 Euro's is about 5.70 in US Dollars. Seems expensive for organic Parsnips. However 1 kilo is equal to 2.25 lb's. So not a bad deal at all.
I am a big fan of Rhubard. And this nice thinner stem variety is less bitter the larger stems. Great in crumbles, Crisps, Stewed Fruits & great for digestion.

Long before it was "Trendy" to shop at the Santa Monica farmers market, towns and villages the length and breath of Ireland have hosted markets for over a 1000 years, (Yes, I said one thousand). These markets sell everything from fresh fruits & vegetables, flowers, baked goods, fish, lamb, beef, poultry, cheese, milk eggs & anything else that might sell.

Ireland is not alone when it comes to local town & village markets. All across Europe, (France, Germany, Italy, Scotland, England, Spain etc) markets pop up and have been doing so for centuries. If you get a chance to get over to Europe, ask some locals about the nearest market. Even if you don't buy anything. They are great places to do some good food or people watching.

My students work.

I have to admit, i was quite impressed with my students tonight. They completed a Mediterranean buffet in record time and everything was exploding with great flavors. I tasted every dish, as I usually do and went back for seconds tonight. Great work guys.

Next class we will cover Mexico and the great flavors of the Yucatan.

Heirloom Tomato stuffed with a puree of warm Walnuts & smoked Burrata

This delicate dish is an amazing blend of textures. The tomato is slightly frozen on the "Anti Griddle" and the warm cheese & walnuts are piped inside. The dish is served with a Blackberry Gastrique.

Chinese Yams with sweet sauce.

This dish is perfect cooling your mouth and helps with digestion after eating spicy food. "Hunan" style dishes tend to be on the spicy side.

Eating Turtles

A small hole in the wall Beijing restaurant, the kind where they spend less on the décor than they do on the paper napkins. As is common in most Beijing restaurants, the menu features photos of the different dishes. I was looking at laminated page after page of classic Hunan style dishes, when, I came across a photo of a turtle, whole, cooked of course and it sat on an oval plate in a broth with a garnish of chilis and green onions.

I have learned that the Chinese have no qualms about eating certain animals, such as red-eared sliders (and other turtles, such as softshells and snapping turtles), that most Americans don’t consider standard fare.

For instance, also in Beijing is the famous Night Market (otherwise known as “Snack Street”), which has achieved notoriety as being a place where one could taste a large variety of food items that would shock or even disgust many people, (I will include pictures of the Night Market soon). I did try the “Grilled Land Snake”, the “Grilled Lamb Kidneys” & the “Braised Sea Cucumber” among many other scrumptious and unusual snack foods. And they were all delicious.

Anyway back to “Turtles”.

The ethical question in regard to the eating of turtles is a sticky one. Red ears are not an endangered species, and many are bred in captivity and shipped to Asia specifically for dining purposes. The revenue that results can help U.S. businesses. However, many wild turtles are also shipped there to be eaten, too, and many people, including myself, believe that this is an important factor in regard to imperiling the world’s turtle populations. Worse yet, the proclivity for turtle eating in Asia does not end with red-eared sliders. Endangered species are also eaten.

Because of this, in my case, when confronted with the Turtle on the menu, rather than try to differentiate between common or rare turtles and whether I thought it was acceptable to eat one but not the other, I decided to order something else from the menu.

However, my guest that evening, a well known Beijing Chef decided that he would order the “Hunan Style Braised Turtle” and insisted that I at least try one small bite. Not to disappoint my Chef friend and also curious, I agreed to at least try it.

And what a delight it was, slightly spicy in the “Hunan” style of cooking, but very tender delicious.

I don’t think it is something I will be serving at my next function or on my menu anytime soon, but quite tasty all the same.

It wasn’t however served on a nice platter with chili’s with a broth as in the picture, it was presented in a basket (Cooked). The waiter then carves the cooked Turtle tableside.

Seared Foie Gras with asparagus & ginger

The ginger add a nice balance to the buttery foie gras.