Tag Archives: cooking with herbs

Temecula Olive Oil Tasting Room, Seal Beach Feb. Cooking Demo

Temecula Olive Oil Tasting Room

Seal Beach

Thur. Feb. 4th  Sold Out!! Repeat class available Thur. Feb 18th, don’t miss out!

6:30 – 8:30, approximately

Also presenting this Valentine Day menu in the

Temecula Olive Oil, Temecula Tasting Room in Old Town

Sat. Feb. 13th, 12-2 Still some spots available

See below for reservations

Beef Wellington Tarts with Mushroom Blue Cheese Sauce 800 2765

Panzanella Salad with Ca. Avocado

            A classic Italian salad with Toasted Bread Cubes

Creamy Ca. Avocado & Blood Orange Olive Oil Vinaigrette

Individual Puff Pastry Filet Mignon Tarts

with Caramelized Onion-Mushroom & Blue Cheese Sauce

Grilled Asparagus with Lemon Gremolata

            Spring asparagus with a Garlic-Lemon Dust

Strawberry Brownie Bites 

For Seal Beach Reservations please call:

562-296-5421

For Temecula Reservations please call:
951-693-0607

Fried Blue Cheese Stuffed Olives

Here’s a great ‘From The Pantry’ appetizer, serve up with any dip or all alone!

 

Fried Blue Cheese Stuffed Olives

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Great out of the pantry appetizer….

  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 large eggs, beaten
  • 3/4 cup dried bread crumbs
  • 40 Blue Cheese Stuffed Olives
  • Vegetable oil, for deep frying
  • Lemon wedges, for serving

Fill three bowls, from left to right, with the flour, eggs, and bread crumbs. Stuff the olives with your choice of fillings.

Spear and olive with a toothpick (optional- you can use your hands if you like) and coat it in the flour evenly, shaking off the excess, into the egg, and then roll it in the bread crumbs. Use a fork to pop it off the toothpick onto a plate. Repeat until all of the olives are crumbed.

Heat 1 1/2 inches of oil in a medium saucepan until it reaches 350°F on a deep-fat thermometer or a candy thermometer. Place a few of the olives at a time in the bowl of a slotted metal spoon and lower them into the oil. Fry in batches until golden brown, less than 1 minute. Fish out the olives with a spoon and transfer them to paper towels. Spritz them with lemon while sizzling, if you like. Serve hot.

Bone Broth or Stock

24HeroJars-2204

 

There is very little difference between bone broth and stock, actually it’s just the addition of a good apple cider vinegar like Bragg. The terms broth and stock are confusing as they seem to be used interchangeably for one another. Broth is usually made from the meat where stock is made with bones. Stock is a little hardier and more flavorful, both enhance any dish you use them in or if you just heat and eat as a soup. They keep well for 3 days refrigerated, you can re-heat the stock and keep for another 3 days or freeze for up to 6 months. I like to freeze in 1/2 cup portions so I can use the stock to make rice instead of using water. Vegetables simmered in stock is also a great way to get extra flavor. When making stock be sure not to add salt until it is all finished, the stock will reduce as it cooks and if you salt it initially it will become over salted.

Here’s a quick little video that Christina Peters & I made

The Food Shooter and The Chef

Braised Short Ribs

short ribs-debskitchen

 

Easy Braised Short Ribs

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Braising a tough cut of meat over a long period of time makes the meat deep, rich and delicious. With a small amount of preparation and a long cooking time these are easy to make and warms you up on those cold winter days. Make extra! You’ll want them for leftovers, you can make a ragu out of them, a pot pie or even a Shepherds pie for quick weeknight dinners. You’ll get more flavor out of the short ribs if they are on the bone, they will fall right off the bone after their long slow cooking so they’ll be easy to remove.

Serves 4

  • Olive oil
  • 1/3 cup flour (or more as needed)
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground pepper
  • 4 pounds short ribs on the bone
  • 1 brown onion, chopped
  • 1 medium carrot, roughly chopped
  • 2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste (double concentrate from a tube-found in the ‘Italian’ section
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • ¼ cup dry red wine
  • 1 qt. beef stock, may use chicken stock
  • 1 bouquet garni (1 bay leaf, 1 sprig thyme, 2 sprigs Italian parsley tied together in cheesecloth

Heat oven to 350°.

Mix flour, salt and pepper together in a shallow bowl or on a plate.

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium high heat; add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan.

Dry short ribs well and dredge in the flour mixture, shake off the excess and place the meaty side into the hot oil. Do not crowd the meat in the pan or it will not brown properly. This is the most important step in braising so take your time. Remove the ribs, set aside and continue until all ribs are browned.

In the same pan, add more oil as necessary, add onions, carrots, celery to the pan and sauté until lightly browned.

Add tomato paste and stir to coat all the vegetables and cook the paste a little, about 2 minutes.

Add flour and stirring constantly cook for another 5 minutes without burning. The flour may turn a little dark but that’s fine.

Add the dry red wine to the pan and scrape the bits that have stuck to the bottom of the pan. Let reduce and thicken slightly. Remove from the heat.

Return the ribs to the pan, cover with stock and add the bouquet garni. Put the lid on the Dutch oven and bake for 3 hours. Remove bouquet garni.

Juices may be thickened into gravy with a beurre maníe, roux or cornstarch slurry.

Beurre Manie, Roux, Cornstarch Slurry

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Beurre Manie

Mix together equal parts softened butter and flour until it looks like thick butter and all the flour is incorporated.

Roux

Melt 2 Tb. butter in a pan, add 2 Tb. flour, whisk together and cook until lightly browned

Cornstarch Slurry

2 parts cold water mixed with 1 part cornstarch

Whisk any of these into your hot liquid, stirring until thickened. Don't over-cook the cornstarch slurry or it will start to break down and become thin again.

Chestnut-Apple Dressing

Love the taste of chestnuts in your dressing? It’s easy with Peeled & Steamed Chestnuts! I find them at Gelsons, Bristol Farms, Lazy Acres or you can order them direct from Melissas. Here’s my favorite recipe…

chestnuts

Chestnut-Apple Dressing

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  • 1 loaf artisan bread -- cut into cubes, toasted until lightly browned
  • 1 box cornbread mix -- baked and cut into pieces (Trader Joes has an excellent brand)
  • 1 onion -- diced
  • 4 ribs celery -- diced
  • 3 tablespoons minced fresh sage leaves
  • 2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme leaves
  • 1 stick unsalted butter -- (1/2 cup)
  • 1 pound fresh chestnuts -- shelled and peeled, chopped coarse, or 1pkg. vacuum-packed whole chestnuts, chopped
  • 2 small apples (organic) -- golden delicious, cut into 1" pieces with skin
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
  • 1 egg -- lightly beaten
  • 1 cup turkey stock -- or chicken stock, as needed

Fresh chestnuts in shell:

With a sharp knife cut an X on the round side of each chestnut. Spread the chestnuts in one layer on a baking sheet and bake the chestnuts in a preheated 450 oven for 10 minutes, or until the shells open. Remove the chestnuts, a handful at a time, and shell and peel them while they are still hot.

Preheat the oven to 350°

For dressing:

In a large pan, sauté the onions, celery, sage, thyme in the butter over moderately low heat, stirring, until the vegetables are softened, add apples and the chestnuts, and cook the mixture, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the vegetable mixture to the bread pieces, tossing the mixture well, stir in the parsley and salt and pepper to taste, and let the stuffing cool completely. Add the egg and enough of the stock to just bring the dressing together.

Bake for 20 minutes covered; uncover and continue baking 15 minutes or until lightly toasted on top.

Book Signing & Wine Tasting

Saturday & Sunday, Nov. 21 ~ 22 Events!

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DON’T MISS THIS WEEKEND
IN TEMECULA!
Mary Platis, Author of Cooking Techniques & Recipes with Olive Oil &
Chef Debbi, Author of ‘What’s In Your Pantry’
are teaming up to bring you
Cooking From The Pantry Series!

Book Covercover-award

First stop
Temecula Olive Oil Co.
Temecula tasting Room
Cooking Class Demo-Wine Tasting & Book Signing
Sat. Nov. 21st
12 – 2 $45.00

Menu
Mediterranean Vegetables in Olive Oil
Fresh Tomato Risotto
Baby Beets and Brussels sprouts Salad
Turkey Rollatini with White Wine, Porcini Mushroom Pan Sauce
Pumpkin Olive Oil Cake with Vanilla & Fig Balsamic Compote

For Temecula Reservations please call:
951-693-0607

Second stop

Sunday, Nov 22nd
Book Signing and Wine Tasting 12 ~ 2

Sponsored by

Pie Crust

Nothing beats a great pie, perfectly balanced filling and a tender, flaky piecrust. Piecrusts are easy to do, don’t let them intimidate you! My Grandmother taught me her secrets to a good crust, use good butter (unsalted), keep all of your ingredients very cold and work quickly. So there’s a little more to it than that but remember those three things and you’ll be fine.

pie-crust-guide

This recipe calls for shortening which creates a tender, flaky crust, my Grandmother used lard and if it’s available to you it may be a better choice than shortening (which is another discussion). If you’d rather not use lard or shortening you could use all butter and the pie will be just as delicious.

Another trick that I picked up from King Arthur Flour is instead of just cutting your piecrust in half; cut it in 2/3 and 1/3 discs. The bottom of the pie will take more crust because it will hold the entire filling and the top crust only needs to cover all the ingredients. Well, duh…..why we never thought of that before! (See this is probably why I don’t bake much).

If you’d like to pre-make your pie crust you could freeze it two ways; one freeze the disc or roll the crust out, fit it into the pan and freeze, defrost overnight in the refrigerator and then continue with the recipe.

I cut the butter into the dry ingredients in the food processor, it takes less time, and just pulse it a few times until it looks like peas and you’ll be fine. I like to put the flour/butter ingredients into a bowl and incorporate the ice water using my fingers and tossing the dough until it comes together, that way I make sure I’m not adding too much liquid. I turn it out onto a rolling mat while it’s still very crumbly and bring it all together quickly by rolling and kneading lightly. I add only enough flour to the rolling mat as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the mat; I use a bench or dough scraper to actually fold it all together. Once the water hits the dough you begin developing gluten, which can make the dough tough so work it as little as possible at this stage. Press the dough into discs and refrigerate for at least an hour and then roll out and blind bake as described in the recipe. Blind baking helps keep the crust light and flaky, especially with a wet filling. Protect the edges of the crust if they start to brown by using a pie shield or cover with the edges with foil. Bake up some pies today~ Happy Holidays!

Perfectly Flaky Pie Crust Recipe

Talisman Designs Adjustable Pie Crust Shield, BPA-free Silcone, Red, Fits 8.5″ – 11.5″ Rimmed Dish

Holiday Gifts to Make
Sat. Nov. 7th
10 – 11 a.m. Free

How to Make Gifts from the Garden

Chef Debbi will also have some seasonal spices and holiday botanicals
Pick up a copy of ‘What’s In Your Pantry’ for holiday gift giving
A great hostess gift!

Join us for some conversation and a tasty bite!

The Plant Stand 
2972-A Century Place
(In the back)
Costa Mesa, Ca
(714) 966-0797

Cooking Class

Temecula Olive Oil Co., Seal Beach

November Class

Thur. Nov. 12th
6:30-8:30 (approximately)
Braciole

 

Smoked Trout Canapés with Pickled Onions and Mascarpone

Pomegranate, Bacon and Brussels Sprouts Salad

Braciole

Italian Stuffed Beef Rolls

Mushroom Bolognese

Chocolate Raspberry Linzertorte

 

10 – 20% off on all purchases the night of the class

 

 

Class Sponsored by

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NOW TAKING RESERVATIONS!

Seal Beach Tasting Room By Reservation only, call: 562-296-5421

Classes are $45; Pre Paid Reservations only

Feel free to BYOB

DKB-12

Apple Recipes

Apple, Pomegranate & Gorgonzola Salad

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  • 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 apple, tart
  • 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
  • 2 ounces Gorgonzola cheese
  • Pomegranate seeds
  • Salad greens

Whisk the vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper in a small bowl.

Slice the apple into matchsticks.

Crumble the Gorgonzola cheese into small pieces.

Place your salad greens in a large bowl and toss with the seeds, pine nuts, cheese and apples, reserving a few of all the add-ins. Adjust the seasoning to your liking. Drizzle a little of the dressing onto the greens and toss gently. Drizzle just enough dressing onto the salad to lightly coat the leaves - not too much. Add additional salt and pepper if you like and scatter the reserved toppings over the salad.

Applesauce

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  • 3 pounds apples, Gala, Honeycrisp or Jonagold
  • 2/3 cup apple juice, orange juice or water
  • 8 tablespoons sugar
  • 3 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Core, peel and cut the apples into medium sized pieces. Place all ingredients into a saucepan with lid and simmer over low heat until apples are very tender, about 45 minutes. Put through a food mill to create a soft creamy applesauce or use a potato masher and serve chunky, best served warm.

Making an Herbal Wreath

herb wreath, garden therapy

Herb Wreath Directions

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  • Supplies Needed:
  • Wreath frame
  • Floral wire
  • Rubber bands
  • Twist ties
  • Herb stems, leaves and flowers

Gather your supplies and choose an herb to become the base of your wreath. I chose rosemary. Using twist ties and/or floral wire begin covering your wreath base. Be patient with this process. It takes longer to do than one would think.

Here are a few different techniques. Select 2-3 different herbs and create small bunches using rubber bands. Then add each bunch to the wreath, using floral wire to secure it. Or, simply poke individual sprigs into the wreath and securing them again with floral wire.

Directions and photo’s edited from Garden Therapy

Herb wreath #1Herb Wreath #2

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