A couple weeks ago, the Amazon video shoot for the “Tom Douglas by Pinzon” product line took place at Tom and Jackie’s house. Tom demo’d his line of cooking tools both in the kitchen and outside the house using his charcoal grill. On the charcoal grill, Tom cooked up a prawn and zucchini dish using his Grill Top Frying Pan with Lid. The next day, Tom talked me through his method, and I took a stainless steel mesh frying pan home to develop a tested recipe using my own charcoal grill.
The Grill Top Pan, is, as the name implies, intended to be used right on the grill. To get everything well cooked, you can also flip the pan upside down. When upside down, the handle of the lid will fit neatly between the grates. As needed, flip the pan back and forth. I found this fun to do, easy and quick. Next time, I’ll get my fire hotter because I think I let the coals burn down a little too much on this first try. You should use the grill top pan over a hot fire- similar to stir frying with a wok.
The trick is to slice all the vegetables fairly thin, so they cook in the same time as the prawns.
If my fire had been hotter, I would have gotten a bit more caramelization on the zucchini slices, and that would have made the dish a perfect success. The zucchini was tender and cooked, but not as browned as I would have liked. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and juicy, and the onions and peppers were tender and sweet. This was a truly delicious dinner that I would absolutely make again.
By the way, my husband, Frank, loved this dish, but said he wouldn’t have minded a bit of spice. Any of the Rubs would be a good addition. I would pick the Peri Peri (one of my faves). Or the Smoked Paprika would give a nice color and smoky-sweet flavor.
Here’s the recipe: Read the rest of this entry »
August 31st, 2009 | No Comments »
Ripe, delicious garden or local farm tomatoes!! This platter of tomatoes is waiting for a drizzle of olive oil (from my stash from Florence) and torn basil leaves.
August 31st, 2009 | No Comments »
I brewed a dark wheat for the first batch with one change to the recipe. I switched out a yeast strain called for, replacing it with a Belgian “Trappist” yeast strain for my desired flavor profile. Thus I’m calling it “Funky Monk” in reference to the Monastery. This batch of beer spent two weeks in fermentation followed by two weeks of bottle conditioning. It will be ready to taste on Sept 14. Wish for good luck!
(Editor’s note: we photographed Warren’s beer bottle in the Palace Kitchen bar, but this is Warren’s home brew; it is not served at Palace.)
August 27th, 2009 | 2 Comments »
I showed my boyfriend,Tom, Amy P’s comment that we should prune our tomato plants (see Amy’s comment on this post.) Tom went out and pruned the heck out of our plants. It looks a lot cleaner now, though we found this cherry tomato vine that we didn’t even know was there growing over everything.
August 27th, 2009 | No Comments »
My husband, Frank, and I had a pitch perfect dinner at Melissa Nyffeler’s Dinette yesterday: corn fritters (photo center left- more like pan fried corn pancakes than what I think of as a deep fried fritter- but very yummy) with a cherry tomato relish, crisp, savory toasts topped with a fig-anchovy relish and prosciutto (photo center right), a mizuna salad with hazelnuts, green beans and just the right amount of perfectly balanced shallot vinaigrette, a fragrant, swoon-worthy plate of tajarin pasta with lobster mushrooms and chanterelles (bottom photo), and an earthy, perfectly cooked hanger steak with panzanella (top photo). For dessert we shared a delicately textured bread pudding with caramel sauce and whip and a summery blueberry apricot crisp with vanilla ice cream. We enjoyed the bottle of wine recommended by our waiter (half price on Wednesdays!): A Chateau de Suronde Anjou which had a luscious, full-bodied mouthfeel. The place was buzzing (including an adorable bridal shower table of young women in sorbet-colored fancy dresses), and Mel was too busy at the dishwashing station to chat with us. (It’s so glamorous to own a restaurant!)
August 27th, 2009 | No Comments »
Nancy Leson reports that Chef Thierry Rautureau is looking for investors for a new place called Bistro Luc which will be located at 28th and Madison, adjacent to Thierry’s restaurant, Rover’s.
August 27th, 2009 | No Comments »
Just trucked in from Prosser Farm by Head Farmer Jackie Cross!
August 26th, 2009 | No Comments »
Last week the Amazon team was at Tom and Jackie’s house shooting videos (photo top) for the Amazon website featuring Tom’s new Pinzon line of kitchen tools! Check out Tom’s new line of awesome knives and lots of other fabulous tools here. My favorite of Tom’s line right now is the mortar and pestle. Nothing like freshly made pesto for dinner….and it’s a bargain at $12.99. Photo bottom is a display of Tom’s kitchen tools all laid out at an Amazon company meeting.
August 26th, 2009 | No Comments »
César is right next to Chez Panisse in Berkeley.
The olives at César are incredibly gorgeous and taste even better than they look. (Photo top left)
Photo top right is of stuffed pequillo peppers and an empanada.
These fried potatoes with herbs and sea salt were soooo delicious. (Bottom photo) I loved the tall towering plate of them arriving at the table! The herbs were sage leaves and rosemary, fried with the potatoes…. I want to make them at home. Why do fried items taste so damned good?
August 26th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
An article in Time magazine reports on a new study of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). This mysterious phenomenon has caused nearly one third of all honeybee colonies to disappear over the last few years. CCD is no small thing, considering the worth of honeybees’ pollination of farmers’ crops is valued at over $15 billion dollars.
The study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that CCD may be caused by a “perfect storm” of viruses. “The sick bees exhibited genetic damage that could account for the die-off, and that damage indicated that they might be afflicted with multiple viruses simultaneously. This could weaken them enough to trigger CCD.”
The good news? “The phenomenon seems to be in decline. The most vulnerable populations may have already crashed.”
(By the way I found the link to the Time article on one of my favorite food blogs, Serious Eats.)
August 25th, 2009 | No Comments »
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