¼ cup white wine vinegar
(chardonnay or champagne)
1 T minced shallots
1/2 tsp sugar
1 shot good quality tequila
1Tbl fresh lime juice
2 tsp each finely diced red and yellow bell pepper
a pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbt chopped cilantro leaves
Sea salt to taste
In a small saucepan combine vinegar, shallots and sugar and reduce by half. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients, adjust seasoning and refrigerate until ready to use.
¼ cup red wine vinegar or chardonnay vinegar
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
2tsp finely chopped shallots or red onion
Pinch of fresh ground black pepper
Combine, refrigerate to allow flavors to marry for up to two days. Ready to serve with your freshly shucked oysters.
Let me introduce my latest fancy and fun food item…Duck! I am enamored with the taste of smoked duck marinated and basted in soy citrus and honey. The rich-flavored duck leg is served on a bed of horseradish mashed potato or rice pilaf with sautéed seasonal vegetables and to top this off we add a touch of zesty mango chutney. If there is a season for wild game it is the holiday season. You may be only able to find the whole duck in the grocery stores, but don’t worry about it, you will enjoy the rich dark meat of the entire bird. What makes the duck so desirable world wide is the flavor of its fat, which will baste the bird throughout its baking or rotisserie cooking.
In preparation for a new year I tend to look back on the past year and identify things I want to repeat and things I wish never happened. I’m sure you have done or are doing the same. This holds true for both my personal life as well as my business life. As a restaurant owner in Downtown Visalia, I and my neighbor restaurants have seen first hand the effects of our economy in 2008 and are adapting to it. At my restaurant Cafe 225, we added a full bar and eliminated breakfast service (Yes, I know it was a distinctive menu, and sadly missed by many of our regulars as well as my immediate family) and most recently I’ve been working on a redirection of the menus. My motivation is two fold. First, to bring my prices down and make for a more affordable dining experience and secondly to add bold flavors and items for guests to enjoy.
I’m sharing a Valentine’s Dinner menu special from my restaurant, Café 225 and we will be serving it as a dinner special for the month of February. I call it Mediterranean Chicken and Prawns. It consists of chicken breast and prawns sautéed with olive oil, artichoke quarters, calamata olives, capers, lemon, garlic, wine, fresh basil and tomatoes. I want to draw your attention to the lemon, wine, capers and garlic. This is used very often when preparing chicken, veal and seafood and something that I have in my refrigerator at home at all times. The use of the other ingredients adds and develops character to the dish and play with your emotions.
Peach Melba is a classic French dessert that was created by Escoffier at the end of the 19th century for Dame Nellie Melba, an Australian opera singer. It combines poached peaches with raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream. The various components can be made ahead of time, making quick work of the actual assembly.
My parents are the epitome of striving to live a healthful life. They eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, use as little salt as possible, exercise and take care of their bodies. You know, we are what we eat! Many times we go for salt as the one stop seasoning but the use of wet marinades, dry rubs and fresh herbs make wonderful healthy alternatives to the usual heavy dose of salt and pepper. Here are a few ideas of flavor enhancements minus the heavy dosage of salt.
Over the years I have prepared the salad grilled as a wilted salad topped with grilled chicken. And our favorite at my restaurant is the blackened salmon Caesar, one of the popular entrée salads since opening the Café in 1995. But today, the version of the Caesar that is most popular is our Sante Fe Blackened Chicken Caesar. I’ve added a black bean & corn salsa to the salad and topped it with crisp fried tortilla strips. I called it Sante Fe because within the salsa I add cumin a very popular spice in New Mexico cooking, plus it pays homage to corn, a predominant south western ingredient.
Mac & Cheese Serves 6
A creamy macaroni and cheese recipe, made with cheese sauce, cooked macaroni, and seasonings. Top this with buttered bread crumbs, if you wish.
Ingredients:
· 5 cups cooked macaroni (8 ounces raw)
· 4 tablespoons butter
· 4 tablespoons flour
· 1/4 teaspoon salt
· 1/8 pepper, or to taste
· 2 cups milk
· 3/4 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, or a blend of cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan
· paprika, optional
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New England Clam Chowder (yield 1 gal)
1 large yellow onion diced
1/2 stalk celery diced
1 T ground or crushed fresh garlic
48 oz can chopped sea clams
48-60 oz clam juice
5-6 peeled and diced potato or you may substitute left over mashed potato
1 T chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste
½ gal hot milk
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 cup melted butter
