6:30 – 8:30Temecula Olive Oil Company’s
Seal Beach Tasting Room
148 Main Street, Seal Beach
$35.00
Pre-paid reservations only, please call
(562) 296-5421
Menu
Blood Orange ‘Punch’
Ingredients
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 Pinch sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 ounces blue cheese — crumbled
4 cups baby mix lettuce
1 pomegranate — seeded
1 tart apple — cored and diced
Instructions
In a small bowl, whisk together mustard, large pinch of salt, large pinch
of pepper, and the sugar. Add vinegar, and whisk to combine. While
whisking, drizzle in oil. Continue whisking until emulsified. Add blue
cheese, and stir gently to combine.
In a large bowl toss lettuce with dressing and plate. Top with apple and
pomegranate seeds. Serve immediately.
Frosting:
Frosting:
As summer begins to fade away and the feel of fall comes creeping in so does some wonderful fruit, pomegranates, all kinds of citrus, apples and eventually pears. Have you ever been apple picking? With the smell of apples lightly scenting the air, it’s intoxicating. So too is the smell of apples being prepared in a myriad of recipes for the fall. Do you know which apples are best for cooking, how to choose and store them?
Here are a few guidelines and some recipe suggestions. An apple a day keeps the doctor away may be just another saying but there is some truth behind that. Apples are the ultimate fruit, low in calories with no fat, sodium or cholesterol. The pectin in apples actually helps to dissolve the cholesterol in ones blood stream. High in fiber, anti-oxidants, potassium, niacin and a variety of vitamins, apples are a near perfect fruit.
Choose organic apples as apples have topped the Environmental Working Groups ‘Dirty Dozen’ list, which identifies the most pest laden fruit and vegetables. You’ll want to eat the skin of the apple as disease-fighting pectin (fiber) lies directly under the skin.
Cooking Apples
For more information on apples or to order some types not available in your regular market check Melissa’s Produce here (click).
I usually freeze my tomatoes until I have time later to make sauce, ketchup or just can some chopped tomatoes for later use. (I freeze them by washing and drying them, placing them on a baking sheet and freezing until solid. No, I do not peel or seed them as the skin comes off easily when they are defrosted. Once frozen, I place into an airtight freezer bag and return to the freezer. This allows me to defrost one or ten, however many I need at the time.)
I like to do ‘small batch’ canning, which means I can do a few jars at a time. Of course when my tomatoes come in all at once, I haul out the big canner and fill it up. The basic procedure for canning small or large batches is the same only the equipment varies slightly. If I’m canning a small batch instead of the big canner, I can usually use a large stockpot, deep enough for the water to cover the jars by 2″. I use a cake rack for the bottom of the stockpot so the jars don’t sit on the bottom of the pot where they could possibly break. That’s it!
Tomatoes-I do not peel or seed my tomatoes, just pack them raw
Tomato juice (you could also use hot water)
Lemons
Sea salt
Fresh herbs, optional
For Processing Tomatoes You will need:
Place the rack in the bottom of your stockpot. Make sure to choose a deep enough pot so that the jars will be covered 2″ of water.
Fill the pot with water and begin to bring to a boil. Line a baking sheet with a clean tea towel.
Wash and dry the jars, lids and screw bands. Place lids into a small saucepan with hot water.
Prepare tomatoes by washing and lying out on a towel to air dry (they don’t have to be totally dry). If desired, cut tomatoes into quarters and set aside. I don’t peel or seed my tomatoes before packing as the skin comes right off when I take them out of the jar. If I don’t want to use the seeds, I simply strain them out.
Heat jars by placing them into the stockpot while you bring the water to a boil. Remove them to the cloth lined baking sheet when you are ready to fill with tomatoes. (The water in the stockpot should be boiling or very close to it).
Place one or two slices of lemon on the bottom of your jar.
Fill your jars with tomatoes, really squish them in there, and use a wooden spoon to smash them down. Add a sprinkle of sea salt and a tablespoon of lemon juice (from a real lemon). You can also add herbs such as basil, thyme or parsley. Using a plastic knife or chopstick, slide it down the side of the jar removing any air bubbles. Add tomato juice to cover the tomatoes and a slice of lemon at the top of the jar before sealing. Leave a 1/2″ headspace.
Wipe the top of the jar, removing any debris from the screw area and the top of the jar. Place the lid and the screw top on the jar, closing only finger tight, and place on the rack in the canner or stockpot. Make sure the jars are covered by 2″ water, bring to a boil and time for 40 minutes (for pints) or 45 (for qts). The water must be boiling the entire 40 minutes or you’ll need to restart the timer from the beginning. Remove to a cloth lined baking sheet and let cool for 24 hours before moving.
After 24 hours, if the center of the lid still moves up and down the jar has not sealed properly. You can reprocess this jar once or just put it in the refrigerator and use within a few days.
Cambria & Paso Robles
California’s Beautiful Central Coast
Accommodations at Cambria Pines Lodge
Did you know October is Scarecrow Harvest Festival in Cambria, don’t miss them!
Friday Evening Events
Incredible Cambria Fall Farmers Market
Self-Guided Tour, Optional
Italian Style Dinner Party Cooking Class
Learn to make your own mozzarella cheese
Your own handmade grilled pizza
Italian Salads, Local Wine & Fun!
Saturday Events
10:00 – 3:00 (approximately)
Tour with Wine Wrangler
Vineyard Wine Tour and Tasting
Private ‘Vineyard’ Lunch and Tasting at Croad Winery
and more…..
Sunday Events
10 – 2 (approximately)
Biodynamic Farm Tour & Lunch
Join Bill & Barbara Spencer for a unique farm tour and learn all about Biodynamic Farming and why it should be important to you and your food supply. Spend a few hours on a real working family farm then relax under the huge oak tree with a seasonal farm to table lunch prepared with ingredients that are found on the farm that day. Well, maybe a few extra treats thrown in! It’s a day you soon won’t forget
Summer is the time that I am refilling my pantry with my own canned goods, jams, brandied fruit, pickle relish, and all kinds of pickled fruit and vegetables. Some purchased items round out the summer pantry. Here’s what you’ll find in mine, ‘What’s In Your Pantry?’©
Anchovy paste – for great salad dressings and more
Artichoke Hearts – Salads, antipasto platter, or mix in pasta
BBQ sauce – for quick grilled meals
Canned or dried beans – I keep some refrigerated for tossing in salads
Canned Tomatoes and Pasta sauce – indispensible for all sorts of dishes
Chicken Stock – canned or homemade
Chili sauce – Ketchup – Horseradish – Worcestershire sauce
Crackers – Mixed
Dried Pasta – Great for cold salads and fast meals
Dried Italian sausage – for hot, hot nights, a cold platter of cheese, sausage, some pickled veggies and a hunk of fresh bread, but don’t forget the wine!
Hearts of Palm – antipasto platter or salads
Italian Tuna in olive oil –
Potatoes – Small fingerling type for salads, frittatas and roasting
Rice – Bomba (for paella), Carnaroli or Arborio (for risotto) and Jasmine for everything else
Tapenades – unexpected company? easy appetizers
Nuts – almonds, pine nuts (fresh pesto anyone?), walnuts
Oats – for yummy cobblers, muffins and fruit crisps
Olives – Can you tell I love antipasto platters?
Cold Pantry
Cheese – cheddar, jack, mozzarella, fontina, Swiss and blue
Pizza dough (in the freezer, of course), quick to defrost and throw on a grill topped with anything!
Frozen fruit – from the garden or the farmers market. Freeze individually then place in a quart-sized bag, for fruit tart, crisp or pie
Don’t forget your pantry basics either:
Flour, Sugars, Baking Powder/Soda, Baking mix, Cocoa powder, Cornstarch, Honey, Molasses, Vanilla, Vinegars, Yeast, Olive Oil………………
For more pantry stocking ideas, check my book ‘What’s In Your Pantry?’©
Dress your pumpkin with anything but no carving allowed. Pumpkins must come ready to go, no primping on site!
Saturday October 26th
10 am
The Plant Stand
2972-A Century Place
Costa Mesa, California 92626-4324
Toll Free: (800) 698-1077
Filling
4 cups peeled, chopped fresh peaches
1 cup sugar, approximately
¼ cup cornstarch
pinch sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup Grand Marnier
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Batter
½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 egg, lightly beaten
Preheat the oven to 375°. Butter a 9” square baking pan and set aside.
Filling:
Add peaches to a medium sized bowl and toss gently with sugar. Depending on how sweet the peaches are, add more or less sugar.
In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch, sea salt, cinnamon and Grand Marnier. Toss the peaches with the cornstarch mixture and lemon juice.
Add the filling to the prepared pan.
Batter:
Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and sea salt, mix well. Add the butter and egg, stir together until the batter is smooth.
Drop the batter by spoonfuls onto the fruit mixture and bake 40 – 45 minutes or until bubbly and golden.
Remove from oven and cool before serving.
Oh all those beautiful rosy peaches from the farmers market! They smell like summer and I don’t know about you but I wait all year for them to show up!
I have a peach tree but that in no way yields enough peaches to satisfy my sweet tooth. Seasonal peaches are available in California from June to Sept. Peaches from other parts of the world are usually picked hard and mostly premature and will never develop that sweet summer flavor.
The following is part of the prologue to David Mas Masumoto’s book ‘Epitaph for a Peach’, he is talking about the Sun Crest peach but I think it reflects all good peaches. “Sun Crest is one of the last remaining truly juicy peaches. When you wash that treasure under a stream of cooling water, your fingertips instinctively search for the gushy side of the fruit. Your mouth waters in anticipation. You lean over the sink to make sure you don’t drip on yourself. Then you sink your teeth into the flesh and the juices trickle down your cheeks and dangle on your chin. This is a real bite, a primal act, a magical sensory celebration announcing that summer has arrived. “
Choose peaches that yield slightly to pressure, hard fruit isn’t ripe and though it will get softer, it won’t get tastier. Peaches need to develop flavor and sweetness while still hanging on the tree, color will vary with peach varieties but avoid and peaches that show any sign of green. Smell the peach for sweetness and you’ll be fine.
Peaches should be kept at room temperature until soft and then refrigerated but don’t wait too long to eat them or they’ll over ripen.
I find it pretty easy to peel a ripe peach with a sharp paring knife or you can blanch in boiling water for a few seconds, don’t over do or you’ll start to cook the fruit flesh.
Here’s my favorite cobbler recipe that I pieced together from two different recipes that I use. One from my favorite boysenberry pie and the cobbler batter from Marcy Masumoto’s ‘French Peach Cobbler’ recipe from The Perfect Peach: Recipes and Stories from The Masumoto Family Farm.
Debbi’s Peach Cobbler recipe
