2 T melted butter

4 eggs, beaten

2 cups milk

¾ cup mashed or pureed pumpkin

¾ cups sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground ginger

a grating of nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla

A bit of something to eat, a sip of Sake, good friends, great conversation…

Izakaya, Japanese Pub Style eating is nothing new.  In fact, it dates back many years.  It’s usually  a very simple, inexpensive establishment  where Japanese workers could go after a long day for a beer, some sake and a bit of something to eat. Think of your favorite local watering hole with clean, tasty food to eat while you and your friends discuss the days events. Most common dishes served are Yakatori, Sashimi, Kushiyaki, Agedashi Tofu served with Beer and Sake. Of course everyone knows about Spanish Tapas but this type of eating establishment can be found in many regions of the world. Argentina has Picadas, Koreans serve Anju and all throughout the North America, England and Ireland, pub food is very common.

Our favorite, go-to Izakaya in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, hands down is Ebisu. I recently spent an evening at Ebisu with my good friends Kyle Petersen and Amanda Wiles-Petersen, who were in town on some Business/Honeymoon duties and we ate, drank, ate and drank some more for a very reasonable price. The decor is homey, fishing village like with large ropes as dividers and interesting little items placed ever so perfectly and the service is very attentive. They also have a great Happy Hour with amazing deals on drink and food from 5:30pm to 7:00pm and late night night from 11:00pm till closing.

A perfect way to spend the evening after a hard days work or for a quick bite during lunch hour. There are many Izakaya Pubs throughout Los Angeles as well as Seattle, Portland, Chicago and New York. So, go try some things on the menu and find your own favorite.

Arigatou gozaimasu. ありがとうございます

Food, Stewed and Tattooed

I’ve been kind off obsessed lately with making shrub syrups.  They are
sweet, tart, easy to make and last a long time. Back in the old days
shrubs were developed as a way to preserve fruits through the winter
months.  A practical way of keeping the summer flavors alive year round!
The main components are fruit or berries, sugar, water, and
vinegar. You can add herbs to jazz it up a bit. Rosemary, Tarragon, Sage
all work well.

I start off by making a simple syrup (1 part water to 1 part sugar)

1 cup water, 1 cup sugar heat up to dissolve bring to boil

Add 2 pints fresh Raspberries

Stir occasionally for ten minutes

Add 2 cups of White Wine Vinegar and boil for 2 minutes

Let cool strain it and bottle it.

It should keep for a month or so!

• Let it sit for 5 hours or more…. then cut the top horizontally
• Cut sections out and serve
• WARNING! The sections pack a punch!
• Whatever is left cut out and put in a large jar and fill with your favorite Vodka, let stand overnight
• Strain it back into the Vodka bottle and you have Watermelon Vodka!

I’ve seen a million cheeses…AND I’VE ROCKED THEM ALL!

What an amazing week I just had. The Food, Stewed and Tattooed Summer 2011 North American Cheese Tour was in full effect. Mexico, New York and Montreal all in one week! My obsession with Cheese has started to take me to the deep corners of the Earth in search of the Piece de Resistance. That ultimate bite. That smooth, stinky, oozy, creamy, salty, gooey, barnyardy piece of goodness that makes you close your eyes and ponder all things that are good in the world. I’m not sure if that perfect bite will ever happen but if I didn’t find something on last week’s whirlwind adventure to satisfy my cravings, something is just not right with me.

Living in Los Angeles has blessed me with the opportunity to explore many parts of Baja, Mexico. The close proximity of Tijuana and Ensenada in particular, make it an easy 1-2 day trip and every time I’m there, it blows my mind of how much I discover and how much I still want to explore. Recently, I have been researching Artisanal Cheese production in Mexico and the list of makers, to say the least is…TINY! If fact, most books about Cheese and Cheese Makers do not mention ANY.

After hours of investigation and information gathering, I was ecstatic to find Ramonetti and La Cava de Marcelo, a small batch cheese producer located in Real de Castillio, near Los Osos, just a short drive out of Ensenada proper. Ramonetti’s history dates back many generations to 1911, when Swiss/Italian immigrant Don Pedro Ramonetti Bonetti came to Baja Mexico. Today, the farm and operation is run by Great Grandson Don Marcelo Castro, a big man in every sense of the word, his wife Lina and a staff of amazing, knowledgeable people whom are obviously dedicated to making La Cava de Marcelo the World Class operation that it is.

The Visit.

After spending the night in Ensenada, eating Erizo (Sea Urchin), Shrimp, Pismo Clams, Mussel and Octopus Cocktails from local street vendors, La Guerrerense and Mariscos Valle  (a must when visiting Ensenada or any coastal area of The Mexican Pacific), drinking Mas Cerveza and enjoying all the nightlife of this fine city, we set out for Los Osos to find “The Cave.”

Heading out on Carretera Federal 3/Mexico 3 towards Real del Castillio, the craziness and congestion of Ensenada slowly dissipates and the beautiful landscape of the Ojos Negros Valley comes into view and the flora and fauna is just spectacular. The lower slopes of the western flank are covered mainly by chaparral. The Mazdarati loved the open road and listening to Cream (fitting for a trip to a cheese farm) made the ride easy and super enjoyable. Pass a military checkpoint, head towards Los Osos, drive on some dirt roads (follow signs for Cava de Quesos) and you’re there! The first thing you notice when pulling up to Ramonetti are the big, healthy, happy Cows and the size of the very modern out buildings on the farm where the milking area is located. They are not fooling around here!

After arriving, we got our bearings and got down to business. We were asked to sit down and were given these beautifully produced wooden menus to look at while we enjoyed a cold beer. The menu looked incredible and featured Rib Eye Steaks, Smoked Sardines with Ricotta de Recason and a homemade Habanero Salsa (very hot and very tasty), Oysters and other specialty dishes prepared in their outdoor kitchen by a Chef in Chef’s Whites! Where am I, I thought to myself? I did not expect this at all! It felt more like Napa then Napa ever did. We ordered the Cheese Tasting. After all, we were here to see the magic and taste some cheese.  Don Marcelo’s Cava de Queso is a fairly new addition to the farm, built just a few years ago. It features a balcony with a photo history of the family, the operations and the large, beautifully appointed tasting  room, surrounded by aging wheels of cheese, located downstairs that can easily hold 40-50 people. Joining us in the tasting room on this day was group of 20 students from a culinary school in Toluca, Mexico. It was great to see them showing interest in the burgeoning organic, artisanal food movement that as Americans, we now take for granted but is something of a new mind set in Mexico.

We followed the stairs down to the tasting room where we were seated at a table for two with a glass of Red Wine from  Valle de Guadalupe, Baja’s Wine Region and presented with seven different cheeses, sliced fruit and a homemade Strawberry marmalade. Plated in front of us were four fresh cheeses, a six month aged, one year aged and two year aged. All of Ramonetti’s cheeses are made from Raw Milk which lends itself to a really rich, full bodied cheese. The four fresh cheeses were clean, crisp, natural and very good. Three were flavored, one with Basil, one with Black Pepper and one Rosemary speckled.  The aged cheeses were AMAZING! Creamy, sharp, complex, obviously well taken care of with the one year aged being my all around favorite and definitely worth getting caught smuggling some back to The States.

So, there you have it. A trip that I’m sure I’ll be doing many more times over my lifetime and an experience that was eye opening, inspirational , incredibly delicious and not to be missed. The Castro Family, the location, the food, the presentation were all sabor un poco del cielo, a little taste of heaven. Go now!

Gravlax is one of those foods that, for many home cooks, somehow inexplicably still has the air of something exotic and mysterious.  In the States, you never see it in ordinary grocery stores, and rarely in specialty food shops or restaurants (whereas smoked salmon is fairly common, but is not true “gravlax”).  Is it raw?  Dangerous?  Healthy?  Newfangled or ancient?  What’s the deal?  As it turns out, gravlax is a many-centuries old Nordic means of preserving fish.  It is simple, inexpensive, healthy, easy to make, and divinely delicious.  It’s just salt and sugar cured salmon!  That’s it!  In the curing process, you can fancy it up with dill, pine needle branches, Pernod or brandy, but honestly, none of that adds much to the end result as far as I can tell, and– particularly in the case of adding alcohol- can even muddle up the pure cured fish flavor.  When it comes to curing salmon, I think simple is better.  Wild caught salmon, salt, sugar.  Three or four days to cure, done.  To eat it, I pop a slice in my mouth straight up, and relish its cool, buttery texture and delicate fresh fish aroma.  A sublime and light meal (breakfast, lunch, snack) is simply this: onto a few slices of toaster-crisped white, pumpernickel, or rye bread place (an optional) smear of softened cream cheese, several slices of gravlax, sliced tomatoes, and top with any of the following: scallions, red onion, dill, capers, lemon.  Perfect!

GRAVLAX
Skin and remove the pin bones from a fillet of salmon that’s a good size for fitting into your flat-bottomed, non-reactive container (glass or ceramic are good choices).  (If you are unfamiliar with filleting and removing pin bones, no worries, it’s easy.  You can find many demonstrations on the internet.  Your best friends for these jobs will be a long sharp knife, and needle nose pliers.)  In the photo, I used one very long fillet that I cut in half and stacked in order to fit into my dish; layering fillets is an option but not a rule.

Combine
½ cup salt
1 cup sugar
(freshly ground black pepper, optional)

Rub this mixture liberally into your fish on both sides.  You may have too much of the mixture, but don’t be shy with it.  The fish needs to be covered with a thin layer of the salt-sugar mixture.  Set aside extra for the next time you cure salmon!

Optional:
Lay a layer of fresh dill on both sides of the fillet(s).
(In my experience the dill imparts little flavor in the cure, although I keep trying it because of the irresistible pull of tradition.  I find the best way to enjoy the fantastic flavor combination of dill and salmon is to add freshly chopped dill to your gravlax once it is already cured and you are eating it.)

Wrap the fillet(s) tightly with plastic wrap, or lay plastic wrap directly on top of the fillet(s) and over the sides of the dish.  Lay something heavy on top of the fish to compress it; I have a block of wood cut to fit my dish that I lay on top of the fillet(s) at this point, and additionally stack something heavy on top of the wood, but you can use anything with some heft to it, like another dish and a couple unopened cans of whatever. Leave it in the fridge like this for 3-4 days.  Through the process of osmosis liquid will start to leach out of the fillet(s), and you can use this to baste the fish once or twice a day.  You will see the fish start to turn opaque after a couple days, and at this point it is ready to slice and eat.  It doesn’t need to be rinsed or anything like that, simply rewrap in fresh plastic and store it in your fridge.

STRAWBERRIES WITH VANILLA PUDDING
In a small saucepan, mix
½ cup sugar
3 Tbs cornstarch
pinch of salt
In a separate bowl, whisk together
3 large eggs
2 ½ cups whole milk

Turn the heat under the saucepan to medium, and whisk the egg and milk mixture into the sugar mixture. Whisk vigorously and as constantly as you can bear. Try to avoid making the mistake of forcing the “gelling” process to happen faster by turning up the heat too high. I know, I’ve done it a number of times. The temptation is strong; it can get tiring whisking the damn liquid, waiting for results. It will seem you’ve been whisking for a couple years while nothing is happening. But it is, it’s subtle. It’s molecular! And the payoff will be worth it. If you aren’t patient, you’ll end up with weird, pearly lumps that will give away your amateur status. You’re basically scrambling the eggs if the heat is too hot. You’ll find plenty of recipes that say it starts to thicken in 10-15 minutes, but in my experience it simply takes longer than that. If you are patient you will get the lovely, flawless, creamy texture of a well-made pudding. Which in fact is easy to do, and kind of magical when it happens. So grab a magazine or book, set it near your pan (not too near you idiot), and enjoy a good read while you whisk your liquid for 20 minutes or so. When it has become a pudding, you’ll know it. It’s thick and fabulous.

The pudding will cling to a spoon when it is done.

Turn off the heat, and add, stirring,
2 Tbs butter
1 tsp vanilla extract (or the scraping from a vanilla bean if you want to get fancy)
It’s done! You’ll be tempted to taste it now, and go ahead, taste it. Taste a lot of it. It’s really good warm! It’s also fantastic chilled, which is how it is traditionally served. At this point, decide if you’d like to serve it in individual bowls or ramekins, or in one big bowl, and pour it accordingly. Cover the surface of the pudding (so it doesn’t develop a “skin”), and chill.

Serve with any fresh seasonal fruit; it’s a perfect marriage with most. In fact, I can’t think of a single fruit that isn’t happy to make the acquaintance of a good vanilla pudding. It will last in your fridge for several days, but only add the fruit just before eating (otherwise the fruit juices will bleed into the pudding and it will look a mess and may become watery). Enjoy!

The Tequila Shrub at Quarter Bar

2 oz Hornitos Reposado
I/2 oz Rosemary Pineapple Shrub
1/2 oz Lime Juice
Shake and strain into a coupe and float a few drops of Mezcal infused with Serrano Chili Peppers On top.

Here’s what it’s all about…Del Maguey (pronounced: ma-gay) brings you a collection of fine, rare, unblended mezcals made by individual family producers in tiny remote villages scattered throughout the state of Oaxaca (prounced: wah-ha-kah), Mexico. Each Del Maguey Mezcal bears the name of the village where it is produced. The highest level of integrity is maintained in order to preserve this art which is revered by the peoples of the mountains, plains and fertile valleys of this magical region.
Using natural processes over four hundred years old, the village palenquero (maker) captures the true body and spirit of mezcal with only two ingredients: water and the heart of the maguey (agave).
The hearts of maguey are roasted over hot stones in a pit in the ground for three to five days covered with earth. They are then ground to a mash using horse-powered stone mills, followed by a long period of natural fermentation in wooden vats and finally distilled twice, very slowly, in wood-fired clay or copper stills.

These mezcals are truly unlike any others. They are the most rare, pure and finest available in the world. Their flavor has been described as smokey, true, deep and warm. The production is only available in exclusive quantities, for each different village’s mezcal, to preserve 16th century style and quality. Truly amazing!

“FEW SPIRITS TAP INTO THE MYTHIC PAST QUITE LIKE MEZCAL -
AT ITS HEART, THIS MEXICAN SPIRIT HAS RETAINED ITS MYSTERY,
AND STILL EMBRACES THE ANCIENT NOTION OF ALCOHOL AS A
GIFT FROM THE GODS.”

Seven master suites, all of which face the pool and ocean, embody the casual sophistication so intrinsic to Baja and are named after the peninsula’s indigenous plants. Each room’s airy decor is comfortable as well as beautiful. This is just an amazing place to get away from it all for a few days. Bring your own Corona!