When I moved into my new house in June 2011, I was very happy to have all the mature trees, rose garden and an established lawn. The back yard had two big palm trees and two smaller green leafed trees which provided really nice shade. Well, I was busy moving in and unpacking, then working and blogging and I didn’t go in the back yard at all, until a couple of months later. And lo and behold, one of the small trees had little green citrus fruits of some kind all over it. A couple of months after that it was covered with hundreds of huge oranges. So many, we didn’t know what to do with them. You guys with all the zucchini have nothing on us, believe me.

I have never had any kind of fruit tree in my yard anywhere I’ve lived, so this is such a revelation. If I want an orange, I walk 20 feet and pick one. We even found an orange picker on a pole in the garage, so we could get the ones on the top. So we have been eating a lot of oranges and I have had to get creative to use them up. That is where this recipe came from. Desperation. To use up the oranges. And now that there are only a few oranges left on the tree, there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of new little ones about the size of a walnut busily growing bigger. And bigger. It’s a good thing they are seedless, brightly sweet-tart, juicy and really delicious.

While I was shooting this salad, my 24-year old son, Brian, came in and asked what smelled so good. Orange salad, I answered. He came over and inspected my photo setup. Oh, that’s really beautiful, he said. He wandered into the kitchen and discovered the bowl with the remainder of the salsa. He grabbed a spoon and took a big bite. Oh my god, this is delicious!!, he exclaimed. Can I have the rest of this? I’m eating this, he proclaimed, whether you like it or not. And waltzed off with the bowl.

Well, maybe it won’t be so hard to use up all those oranges after all.

Do you have your plans all ready for Super Bowl Sunday? Your guest list and your shopping list for all those goodies you’ll be chowing down on during the game. If you invited me to your house and had these little bits of pizza heaven stuffed in a mushroom waiting on the table, I would be so happy. And during the game, I am one of those guys who yell, cheer, and jump up and down. Just so you know in advance.

Super Bowl XLVI will be the 46th annual addition of the Super Bowl in American Football. It will be played in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday, February 5, 2012. Organizers are expecting 150,000 people to come to Indiana for the big game. The Conference Championships will be determined on January 22 between the AFC (the New England Patriots or the Baltimore Ravens) and the NFC (the New York Giants or the San Francisco 49ers). I can’t wait to see who the final teams will be!

Former American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson will sing the National Anthem and the halftime show will feature Madonna and Cirque du Soleil. The commercials for the game sold for an average price of $3.5 million per thirty-second ad, the highest in the event’s history. Anheuser-Busch has purchased nine slots during the game. So even if your favorite team isn’t playing, there will still be plenty of great stuff to watch. Yea team!

The week before Christmas I received an advertising brochure in the mail from my local Ralph’s Market with coupons and appetizer recipes. The photograph that accompanied this Bacon Wrapped Date recipe was taken really close-up, and if you didn’t know what it was, you never could have guessed. But the bacon was shiny with oil and the primitive part of my brain recognized meat with fat, compelling me to read the recipe. I already had the goat cheese from an appetizer I didn’t get around to making for my Christmas feast, and I had the Mulay’s Chorizo frozen from when I made the Chorizo and White Bean Soup. All I had to get was the dates and bacon. No problem.

I imagined how the four ingredients, Medjool dates, goat cheese, chorizo and bacon, would taste together and decided I had to make it. Sweet, spicy, salty, creamy, smoky. Oh yes.

The Medjool dates were slit open and the pits removed. Very sticky. But meaty and luxurious. I halved the bacon lengthwise, but next time I may cut it crosswise. I know I will be making these again because they disappeared really fast. I had them on the serving plate covered with plastic wrap and first it was, “What are those bacon wrapped things in the fridge?” Then, “When can I have one?” Then, “Are you done photographing those bacon wrapped things yet?” When I finally released them for consumption, there were two left for me. Sheesh.

Each date is filled with about ½ tablespoon each of chorizo and goat cheese. It is an awkward job to fill them… the stuff falls out… but persevere, because it is so worth it.

The best way I found to wrap the bacon is to place a strip of bacon flat, then set a date in the middle. Pick up one end of the bacon and wrap it around and under the date, then pick up the other end of the bacon, wrap it around and under. Set the bundle with the ends of the bacon on the bottom, so it holds them in place.

I taste tested them as soon as they came out of the oven and had cooled a little, but they were pretty soft and and too hot to really taste the ingredients. I also burned my tongue in my gluttonous haste. They were refrigerated over night and I next tried them cold. Whoa. So much better. But at room temperature they really sang. A veritable jazz trio of flavors and textures. Soft and crunchy. Caramelized sugar from the dates. Sweet tangy goat cheese. Chewy smoky salty bacon. Spicy chorizo. You get the idea. You must make these!

So what was I talking about Christmas bokeh? What is bokeh anyway? Well, I knew what it looked like, but I didn’t know it had a special name. Bokeh is the appearance of the out of focus points of light in the background of a photo. Actually, anything out of focus in the background is called bokeh, but points of light are the most beautiful. I learned the term bokeh when I was reading a post about photography on Pioneer Woman. Then I googled and got Wikipedia and Ken Rockwell with detailed information and examples. Christmas trees and lights give great bokeh and I was very excited to see if I could create this effect. I think my photo turned out pretty cool.

This recipe was inspired by the one tablespoon of Ceviche prepared by Mary Sue Milliken that I had at the Cadillac Culinary Challenge in October. It was served in a little plastic glass, but the taste impact of the Aji Amarillo Pepper Sauce was so profound I had to try to make it myself. I can’t remember the last time I experienced a totally new taste or ingredient, but this was definitely one of those times. I watched her prepare the ceviche and listened carefully as she explained the recipe as she went along. As I prepared my version I wrote down the amount of each ingredient I used and was very satisfied with my end result. More than satisfied, I was ecstatic.

Chef Mary Sue used Red Snapper in her recipe, but I chose to use a less expensive (think cheap) fish called Swai, which is a fresh water Catfish from Vietnam found in the Mekong River Basin. I, however, bought it frozen at Ralph’s Market. Each fillet was individually frozen in cryovac, and thawed quickly in a warm water bath.

Ceviche is fresh raw fish that is “cooked” by marinating in citrus juice, usually lime juice. The proteins in the fish are denatured by the acid in the juice, which means their chemical bonds come apart. It is the same chemical undoing that happens when meat, fish or eggs are exposed to high heat.

I found the jarred Aji Amarillo Peppers and the Aji Amarillo Pepper Paste at El Gaucho Latino Market in Manhattan Beach. They have a whole panoply of South American items, including Peruvian beer. I asked the checkout lady if she cooked with the Aji Amarillo peppers and she said to go on the computer and look up Aji de Gallina. So I did, and it turns out to be one of the Peruvian national dishes, made with chicken, condensed milk and the Aji Amarillo peppers. Peruvian cuisine has been influenced by immigrants from Spain, Africa, China and Japan. Many recipes might be familiar because they are a twist on Japanese dishes. Like ceviche. Raw fish. There is an interesting article in The Wall Street Journal about Peruvian food being “The Next big Thing.” If you live in Los Angeles, have you been to Mo-Chica or Picca, two of our Peruvian restaurants? I see them in my near future.

This is the way my plate looked when I actually ate my Ceviche. I loved the Aji Amarillo Pepper Paste so much that I put some in a little bowl to be spooned onto the tortilla chip before piling on the ceviche. Just a small smear, however, because it does have significant heat and will make your nose run. But the taste is so sublime, it’s worth it.

Fete your Holiday guests with Aji Amarillo Ceviche and some Peruvian Cusquena Malt Lager Beer. They’ll never forget it and they will love you forever.

Aji Amarillo Ceviche by Chef Mary Sue Milliken

The Cadillac Culinary Challenge I attended took place on a beautiful, hot, Southern California day in the Irvine Spectrum Center courtyard next to the ferris wheel in a black open-sided tent. Inside there was a stage in front with two cooking counters for the two challengers, celebrity Chef Mary Sue Milliken of Border Grill in Los Angeles, and local Chef Yvon Goetz of The Winery Restaurant in Tustin, CA. There were about 100 seats in the audience for all the people who were test driving the new Cadillacs and attending the Culinary Challenge. This event was also sponsored by Epicurious, Bon Appetit, Share Our Strength and TasteBook. And I got to be one of the judges and sit in the front row. I had no idea what to expect.

Sustainable seafood was the common ingredient in both chefs’ dishes. Chef Mary Sue chose Wild Alaska Halibut and Chef Goetz used Mahi Mahi. Chef Mary Sue talked at length about her concern with sustainability and that she used only Best Choice Seafood in her restaurants, as did Chef Goetz. Part of the PR package we received was a pamphlet from Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch listing Best Choice, Good Alternatives and fish to Avoid. Chef Mary Sue asked us to find another fish to love beside salmon.

Chef Mary Sue prepared two dishes: a Grilled Fish Taco with Cucumber Citrus Salsa, and a Ceviche with Aji Amarillo Peppers. Little plates were served to everyone in the audience, including the food bloggers who were the judges. I had to shoot the little plate as it was sitting on my lap. Very awkward. There was a camera man with a huge camera on his shoulder filming everything. After we tasted our dishes, the announcer asked us to speak into the microphone and tell our name, where we were from, the name of our food blog, and what we liked about the Taco and Ceviche. I said I liked the orange pepper in the ceviche. It really was marvelous. The Aji Amarillo peppers left a warm tingling sensation in my mouth that was so interesting and unique. The first photo at the top of this post is the full dish as it is served in the restaurant, with plantain chips and pickled onions.

Next Chef Goetz prepared his Chili Lime Rubbed Hawaiian Mahi Mahi with Ginger Jasmine Rice and Roasted Tropical Fruit Chutney. We got our little sample plates and, while being filmed, were asked what we liked about it. I said I liked the Chili Lime rub on the fish. But my taste buds were still singing about the Aji Amarillo peppers, which left this dish pale in comparison.

My fellow food blogger judges were Derrick and Quyen of Kitchen Runway,
and Rachael of La Fuji Mama.

We had one last task, which was the final vote for which chefs’ dishes we liked the best. We judges were asked to raise our hands as each name was called and I raised my hand for Chef Mary Sue Milliken. She won the Food Blogger vote hands down. Next the audience was asked to cheer for their favorite and the noise meter would determine their winner. Chef Goetz won the popular vote by a landslide. He must have had customers in the audience. The chefs met in the middle and had a handshake. Very civilized.

Each chef prepared their dish the way it is served in the restaurant so we could photograph it. This is Chef Goetz’ Chili Lime Rubbed Hawaiian Mahi Mahi with Ginger Jasmine Rice and Roasted Tropical Fruit Chutney. It had a pretty presentation.

This is the Grilled Fish Tacos with Cucumber Citrus Salsa restaurant presentation plate. We received the recipes for Chef Goetz’ Mahi Mahi and Chef Mary Sue’s Tacos, which are at the end of this post. We did not receive the recipe for the Aji Amarillo Ceviche; however, I did write down the ingredients as Chef Mary Sue was making it. The Ceviche contained red snapper, grated ginger, Aji Amarillo peppers, red onion, jalapeno, lime juice and cilantro, and was garnished with plantain chips and pickled onions. I am planning on making this in the future and I will be able to give you the ingredient amounts. It was amazing! I bought the Aji Amarillo Peppers, which are from Peru, at El Gaucho Latino Market in Redondo Beach, so I am ready to go.

During her presentation, Chef Mary Sue told us that she was going to be in Glendale the next weekend challenging Piero Topputo of Trattoria Amici. Chef Goetz said he would be happy to go along and help her. Chef Mary Sue looked at the audience, winked and said, “I don’t need your help, believe me.” All is fair in love and culinary war, I guess.

The Cadillac Culinary Challenge will be in Atlanta, GA on November 5-6, 2011 with Marcus Samuelsson of Red Rooster Harlem vs. Kenneth Bills of Flemings Steak House.

Then on to Ft. Lauderdale, FL November 12-13, 2011 with Marcus Samuelsson vs. Oliver Saucy of Cafe Maxx. Go to Cadillac Challenge for the details.

I recently wrote a post about the book Chicken and Egg by Janice Cole and my fascination with keeping chickens. If I lived in a place where that was possible, I would have a whole flock, I think. So when Kim, of Rustic Garden Bistro, invited me to a little blogger get-together to see her beautiful newly remodeled kitchen, I was thrilled, because guess what, she also keeps chickens. Yes!

Everyone who was invited brought a little dish to share, and I brought Kalamata Olive and Sun-Dried Tomato on Pesto Toasts. It is an easy little appetizer to transport because you can make the toasts ahead of time, and bring the olive and tomato mixture in a container. When you arrive you spread a little extra pesto on the toasts before spooning the olive and tomato mixture on top. I like the saltiness of the olives paired with the sweet punch of the sun-dried tomatoes, with the added herby note of the flat leaf parsley. Add that to the basil pesto and you get a perfect flavor combination. In my opinion. If you can’t tell from the photo, the toasts are about 2 inches square.

Here is a photo of Kim’s new kitchen. And what a beauty it is. My photo really isn’t doing it justice, but you can see better photos on her blog. She designed it herself and it has everything! Nice work, Kim.

These are her beautiful chickens and I spent quite a time watching them. They are so interesting. She also has about twenty new baby chicks that recently were allowed to go into the yard. You can see photos of them here.

I photographed my toasts the next day, as I had extra olive and tomato topping. The close-up photos turned out, well… really close up. Sometimes I think my camera is a wizard, the things it can do. Maybe its mother was an electron microscope. Thank you for your patience.

I have several ways I usually prepare potatoes: mashed, baked, fried, in latkes, in potato salad, Potatoes Anna, scalloped potatoes, the usual American fare. So when Frieda’s Specialty Produce Company contacted me and offered to send me some little potatoes, I decided I wanted to do something different with them, that I had never done before. Time to get creative.

A couple of days later, the FedEx man was knocking on the door and my babies had arrived. Frieda’s had sent me two different varieties. One package was called Terrific Trio, which contained yellow, red skin and blue baby potatoes. The other package was called Piccolo, which were teeny yellow potatoes, none larger than 1¼ inch. They were so cute!

I thought I would start with the Terrific Trio, because I had never seen a blue potato and I wanted to see if it was also blue inside. These are grown by The Little Potato Company, which is based in Canada, and they harvest their potatoes in Nebraska and Washington. LPC is a small, family business, with a woman CEO, Angela Santiago. Their potatoes are not runts or rejects, but are a special small potato variety. And guess what? You can find them at Ralph’s Stores throughout Southern California! You can rush right out and get some, and make this terrific recipe!

Since these potatoes are little, they are perfect for appetizers, which is what got me thinking about how I could create a one-bite item. Initially I was going to make potato salad, but when I cut open those blue babies and saw the amazing color, I decided to make a deconstructed version, putting the egg-y salad part in the potato, instead of the potato in the salad. So that’s what I did. The contrast between the brilliant color of the potato and the yellow egg salad with the radish haystack on top looked so happy to me. These are one bite, maybe two, and would look great on your buffet table or passed hors d’oeuvres.

Did you know that Frieda’s Inc. is celebrating its 50th birthday? It is a woman-owned family business that was founded in 1962 by Frieda Caplan, who is an icon in the produce industry as the first woman to own a produce company in the United States. Her mission of changing the way America eats fruits and vegetables is credited with introducing such table-staples as Kiwifruit, Brown Mushrooms, Spaghetti Squash, Shallots, Donut Peaches and a wide variety of Latin and Asian Specialties. They are based in Los Alamitos, California, where Frieda serves as Chairman of the Board, and her daughters are President and CEO. Thank you Frieda’s for sending me these great little Baby Potatoes!

So you may be wondering about the Blue Baby Potato Salad in the top photo. After I filled enough potatoes to photograph, I still had some of the egg salad mixture left over. I also had all of the little scooped out blue potato rounds made with my melon baller. I didn’t want to throw them away, so I folded them into the egg mixture. It was so pretty I had to shoot it and that’s where that photo comes from. I think I will use these in a potato salad in the future. They are pre-washed; thin skin, so no peeling; microwave in five minutes and they’re at Ralph’s! What could be better?

The theme for the cooking class at Grace-Marie’s Kitchen last Saturday was Concert in the Park Picnic, featuring dishes that could be make ahead of time and eaten at picnic temperature. The menu included this Chilled Leek and Zucchini Soup, Tuscan Picnic Chicken Wings, Mini-Red Bell Pepper & Pesto Bites, and Limoncello Squares. I hope your mouth is watering, because each of these dishes was fantastic. Better even.

I am writing about the Leek and Zucchini Soup first, because I want to show you an absolutely brilliant technique for prepping the leeks that Grace-Marie showed us. I have never seen this technique in any cookbook, class or cooking show and it is so logical I can’t figure out why I haven’t seen it demonstrated someplace before.

Some of the dark green leaves are cut off the end and discarded. If you look at that end, you will see the light yellow and green core of the new leaves inside. So the tough, dark green leaves are pared away, with knife strokes away from you, until only the light edible interior parts remain. Genius!

Next the pancetta was diced and sautéed. I love these salty crispy little bits. The pan was sitting on the stove and I have to admit a few were surreptitiously tested for poison. They were ok, thank goodness.

The diced leeks, potatoes and zucchini were sautéed in the drippings from the pancetta, adding its salty porky-ness to the soup’s flavor. This smelled so good while it was cooking, especially since there was a bunch of garlic in the mix.

Chicken stock was added and the pot was left to simmer for about 20 minutes until the potatoes began to fall apart. Cream and flat leaf parsley were added and everything was pureed in a blender. It was a beautiful creamy soup bejeweled with little flecks of parsley. And finally garnished with brilliant green flat leafed parsley and crispy knobs of pancetta. Perfect for a picnic. Take it in a thermos and serve in plastic wine glasses. Very fun.

For additional recipes from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen, look under Categories in the right-hand column.

Grace-Marie Johnston

For more information about the new schedule of cooking classes, visit Grace-Marie online at Bristol Farms or email her at gmj@bristolfarms.com.

Tale One

One afternoon last week my doorbell rang, which was a surprise, because I wasn’t expecting anyone. I opened the door and there stood a beautiful young woman with a toddler clinging to her knee, holding a huge platter piled with fresh vegetables. “Hi,” she said, “I’m your next door neighbor and I have a garden that is making more stuff than I can possibly use. So I am going door to door in the neighborhood and trying to get rid of it. Do you want some?”

Since we hadn’t met, she had no idea her new neighbor (me) was a hardcore foodie and a platter of just-picked veggies was like finding the gold at the end of the rainbow. Especially since about half of the platter was piled high with tomatillos. So I invited her in, of course. In the end I had all of her tomatillos, plus a few jalapenos and serranos, and a tour of her garden, which was beautiful and growing like crazy. She said she didn’t know what to do with all the tomatillos except make salsa, so I gave her the recipe for this Tomatillo Albondigas Soup and one for a Jicama, Mango and Fresh Tomatillo Salad. A sweet new neighbor and a bunch of tomatillos. Sometimes life just gives you lemonade, you know.

Tale Two

When I was doing my cooking internship at Campanile for culinary school, I worked every Saturday for nine months doing prep work in the kitchen from about 8AM until 3PM. Then the prep cooks would go home, and the line cooks would come in and I would do whatever they asked to help them prep their stations. From 6 to 8PM I would watch Chef Mark Peel work the grill and observe the line cooks at work, running whatever little errands they asked of me.

My boss during the day was the head prep cook, Eloy. He had the kitchen manager’s to-do list hanging over his cutting board station, and crossed off and assigned the various tasks to be accomplished. The four or five other prep cooks had their cutting boards down the counter to Eloy’s left and I had my cutting board on his right, where he could show me how he wanted everything done in minute detail and keep an eagle eye on me. Since I had no restaurant cooking experience and rudimentary knife skills, I was pretty much the comic relief for the whole prep crew. Eloy didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak Spanish, so communication was by sign language, pointing, elbowing my arm, grunting, laughing, and when necessary having someone act as translator. We chuckled a lot.

Eloy was about forty, not much taller than my five feet, but stocky and barrel-chested, with forearms like Popeye. I have never seen anyone with such amazing knife skills as this man and I am still trying to emulate him. With those strong wrists and hands he made quick work of every task. Perfectly.

One morning, as I was working away, Eloy gave me an elbow in the arm and pointed down at his cutting board. There sat a big clove of peeled garlic. At this point all of the other prep cooks were jostling into position so they could see what he was going to do. They all had big grins on their faces. Eloy looked at me, raised an eyebrow and looked down at the garlic. He picked up his chef’s knife and with just the up and down movement of his hand from the wrist, reduced that garlic clove into about 30 paper thin slices in 3 seconds. The knife was a blur. This would have been an amazing feat in and of itself, except that he was looking over his shoulder in the opposite direction from the cutting board.

Next, Eloy picked up another garlic clove and put it on my cutting board. He gave a little lift of his chin and pointed at me and the garlic. Everybody was really grinning by now. So I got my chef’s knife and slowly sliced it into about 10 slices. This time Eloy had the big grin on his face as he patted me on the back, like, nice try kid. So we all went back to work with little smiles on our faces.

On my last day at Campanile, all the prep cooks had gone home and I was cleaning up my cutting board station. When I turned around, the clean stainless steel counter behind me held nothing but a bowl of soup. None of the line cooks had arrived yet, so I was alone with that bowl. I had no idea whose it was or what kind of soup it was, but it looked really interesting. I got a spoon and looking around to see if anyone could see me, surreptitiously ate a spoonful. Oh my gosh, it was one of the most amazing and delicious things I had ever tasted. I had never tasted a tomatillo in my life and had no idea that was what I had eaten. But there was no one around to ask. At that point it didn’t occur to me that Eloy had left me a parting gift. I had no way to get the recipe, so I just filed away the delicious memory.

A couple of years later, I was at a book store and was paging through the new cookbook The Food of Campanile. There on page 80 was the recipe “Eloy Mondez’s Albondigas Soup”. I almost started jumping up and down! This was the recipe for the soup he’d made! Tomatillos. So that was what that mysterious ingredient was. The notes said Eloy made this soup for the staff meal and it was so popular they ended up putting it on the menu when they opened for lunch. I immediately bought that book and have been happily making this soup for the past 14 years. I hope you make this soup, too and enjoy it as much as I have. Thank you, Eloy!

Last Saturday I attended the third annual Trufflepalooza, a totally truffle-infused party given by Erika of In Erika’s Kitchen. About 75 people were served 16 dishes which had some form of truffle goodness in each recipe, such as grated fresh truffles, truffle butter, truffle salt, truffle honey, truffle oil or a combination. Erika must be Super Woman, because she prepared all of the dishes by herself, with just a little help on the day of the bash.

Last year I helped in the kitchen on the day, and by the time the party started I was too worn out to take any photos. So this year I gave up the fun of helping in the kitchen, and decided to chronicle all the wonderful and beautiful dishes so you could see them. The photo above is of Truffled Shrimp and Pork Shu Mai, and the names of the dishes in the following gallery can be found by placing your cursor in the middle of the photo. Links to several of the recipes found on Erika’s website are at the end of this post. I hope you enjoy looking at these photos as much as I enjoyed shooting them.

If you’ve made it this far, I salute you. Imagine having tasted all those wonderful dishes and how truffle-infused you yourself would feel. It was fantastic!

Thank you Erika. Bravo!!

Twisted Puff Pastry Straws with Truffles and Parmesan
Truffled Pork and Shrimp Shu Mai
Truffled Twice Baked Potatoes
Filet Mignon with Truffle Butter
Emery’s Salad with Pancetta and Truffle Vinaigrette
Truffled Egg Salad
Pacific Rockfish Brandade with Truffles
Roasted Figs with Goat Cheese and Truffle Honey
How to Make Truffle Butter
Truffled Brown Butter Rice Krispies Treats

Have you ever gotten up in the morning and said to yourself, today I have got to make me some fried green tomatoes? Yeah, me neither. In fact I never even ate my first fried green tomato until I was about 45 years old, and it was this very recipe with the tomato chutney. I guess if you grew up in the South, where they are part of the fabric of life, you would be eating this traditional side dish frequently. But I made it once, liked it very much, especially with this killer chutney, and then moved on to the next culinary experiment. But I filed it in my mental file of great recipes that I would like to do again some time in the future.

One of the impediments to making fried green tomatoes is that the local grocery markets don’t carry them here in California. I could have made a midnight foray to my neighbor’s tomato plants, I suppose, but opted to try to get my gourmet market, Bristol Farms, to get some for me. That didn’t pan out either.

So last Saturday, my friend and fellow blogger Adair, of Lentil Breakdown fame, and I walked over to the Torrance Farmers Market, which is two blocks from my new house. We made an initial scouting tour first to see what was available, and lo and behold, hidden behind the containers of big red ripe tomatoes was one little container of, you guessed it, GREEN TOMATOES. Yes!! I think I started jumping up and down and doing fist pumps. Ok, I’m a weirdo. I bought them immediately to make sure I had them firmly in hand. I could hardly wait to get them home and get started on my Fried Green Tomato Project.

In New Orleans, fried green tomatoes are sometimes served with Shrimp Remoulade, a Creole mayonnaise based sauce, so I decided to include some shrimp in my dish. I sprinkled them with Old Bay Seasoning and sautéed them in butter.

Fried green tomatoes, by themselves, are not pretty or photogenic. They are brown and sort of lumpy and wrinkled, and the beautiful green tomato inside is hidden by the buttermilk and flour coating. However, the Tomato Brown Sugar Chutney is lustrous with the deep colors of caramelized sugar and tomatoes. It looks like jewels spread atop the brown crusty cloak of the fried green tomato. And the flavor of the sweet chutney with the tart tomato is sublime.

I think very soon you are going to wake up one morning and say to yourself, today I have got to make me some fried green tomatoes!

When I was looking through my appetizer recipes last week, trying to find something good to take to the FBLA meeting, I ran into a bunch of really fun things to eat. The recipes were mostly from the beginning of last year and the photos were less than stellar. Consequently, they weren’t accepted by the food photo sites, like TasteSpotting and FoodGawker. Or they were buried in a post where they weren’t the major recipe and got lost in the shuffle.

So I decided to give these lovelies an encore. A second chance to entertain and inspire you.

Above are Mini-Croissants with Melted Brie and Onion Jam from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen at Bristol Farms. I just want to sink my teeth into that crunchy, oozy, sweet onion jammy morsel.

The Maple-Pecan Bread in this recipe is so aromatic with maple syrup, it makes your mouth water to smell it. Here it is capped with a swirl of minced apricot-infused cream cheese and an apple slice. You could also try melted Teleme cheese topped with a shard of applewood smoked bacon.

I made these Cheesy Mini Bites with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto for Thanksgiving 2009. My son had a friend visiting, and every time he went past the hors d’oeuvre table, the friend snatched up one of these bites. And he went by a lot. It’s nice to have your food appreciated.

The Sliced Sirloin with Maytag Blue and Watercress was originally created to enhance the beautiful plates created by Barbara Schaefer of MyKickAssGlass. This would have been my second choice to take to FBLA, but the timing wasn’t right. This is one of those where people take a bite, shut their eyes and go Mmmm.

The Summer Savory Stuffed Mushrooms are also from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen at Bristol Farms. This photo was rejected by TasteSpotting and FoodGawker for white balance reasons. Greg of SippitySup photoshopped it for me, but they both rejected it again, causing a lot of people to miss out on a really good recipe. Oh well.

I took this Spinach and Feta Quiche with Kalamata Olive Tapenade to a previous FBLA meeting, so it couldn’t go along again. When the quiche is cut into these little squares, I love the way the quenelle of tapenade looks on the top. It makes such a nice presentation.

So there is my appetizer recipe round-up, which you may want to consider for the upcoming celebrations on St. Patrick’s Day and Easter. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day!

Last Saturday the FBLA (Food Bloggers Los Angeles) group got together to discuss the relationship between bloggers and PR people. And as we are all foodies, we all brought dishes for the buffet table to share. You can see in the photo above some of these marvelous creations.

I was so busy photographing everyone elses plates that I forgot to shoot my own Spanakopita, which were crunchy filo triangles filled with spinach and feta cheese.  So my wonderful friend and fellow blogger, Adair of Lentil Breakdown, gave me one of her terrific photos to use. On the right are Bourekakia, filo filled with lamb and eggplant.  The recipe for the Spanakopita is below.

After we had noshed to our satisfaction, we moved to the living room where Patti Londre gave us a great presentation on PR companies and how food bloggers can have the best relationship with them. She really knows her stuff!

We also had a drawing for two books written by the world famous premier food stylist Denise Vivaldo, who also attended our meeting. Her most recent, The Food Stylist’s Handbook, is a stunning volume full of useful information. I didn’t win. Darn. Now I have to buy it.

The wonderful and talented food bloggers who attended this meeting were:

Adair of Lentil Breakdown
Cheryl of Black Girl Chefs Whites
Denise Vivaldo  ~ Renaissance Woman
Dorothy of Shockingly Delicious
Erika of In Erika’s Kitchen
Greg of SippitySup
Jennifer of Domestic Diva
Lana of Bibberche
Louise of 2 Be Satisfied
Lynne of Cook & Be Merry
Melissa of The Fresh 20
Michael of South Bay Foodies
Nancy of A Communal Table
Patricia of Fresh Food in a Flash
Patti of Worth the Whisk
Suz of You Can’t Eat What

(Photo courtesy of Patti Londre)

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This tasty appetizer was served as part of an Afternoon Tea which also included Holiday Sweet Potato and Turkey Empanadas, Roasted Pear and Blue Cheese Salad, Green Onion Scones, Toffee Pumpkin Bars and Chocolate Pecan Praline Tassies. Grace-Marie has a wonderful ability for creating a medley of dishes that work together and totally satisfy your taste buds and your holiday menu.

The dried fruit for these appetizers is cooked with apple cider and Port wine until they are soft and luscious. The Cheddar cheese spread that tops the wheat crackers is tangy and spicy with Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard and hot sauce. This is a starter worthy of any brunch, tea or dinner party.

I had been attending Grace-Marie’s classes at Bristol Farms for about 14 years, way before I decided to create my food blog. I sat at the tables in front of her work counter and stove, totally enjoying her recipes and charismatic presentation. Grace-Marie is one of those people who is smart and funny, and you wish she was your best friend. But one of the mysteries of the kitchen was the back room, from which emanated the hustle and bustle of cooking assistants and the plated dishes. I really wanted to know what was back there in that room, but it would have been the height of impropriety to walk back and look into that private, off-limits place.

So now, as I have the run of the entire Kitchen, I can reveal to you the mysteries of the back room. That is, if you haven’t seen it and are dying to know.

This little room is a paradigm of organization, with every space neatly occupied. I would bet that Grace-Marie could find whatever she needed in the dark. Also, all the white china plates, bowls and cups are stacked up neatly in a floor to ceiling closet that takes up one whole wall. In the middle of the room is a cloth covered platform, upon which the food is plated. I think I would like Grace-Marie to come and organize my closets and maybe my garage. Definitely the garage.

For additional recipes from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen, look under Categories in the right-hand column.

Grace-Marie Johnston

For more information about the new schedule of cooking classes, visit Grace-Marie online at Bristol Farms or email her at gmj@bristolfarms.com.

The Holiday Harvest Afternoon Tea at Grace-Marie’s Kitchen was a cornucopia of six delicious dishes that could be prepared for your own holiday gatherings. It started off with Spirited Fruit and Cheese Hors d’Oeuvres, Roasted Pear and Blue Cheese Salad, and Savory Green Onion Scones. Then when our taste buds were all tingly with anticipation, we were treated to the wonderful Holiday Sweet Potato Empanadas with Mango Chutney Dipping Sauce, which were the highlight of our tea, with their beautiful color and savory sweet flavor. And we ended with Toffee Pumpkin Bars that were drizzled with caramel sauce and Chocolate Pecan Praline Tassies. Just reading this, isn’t it making your mouth water?

To make the Empanadas, Grace-Marie started off by dicing the sweet potato and sautéing it with the turkey, cumin and cinnamon. When the sweet potato was fork tender and the mixture cooled completely, she stirred in Jack cheese, mango chutney and cilantro to complete the filling.

Next, the prepared pie dough was unrolled, circles were cut out and about a tablespoon of filling placed on each round. Then each circle of dough was folded over and the edges pressed down to seal them.

The edges were crimped with a fork, brushed with beaten egg and dusted with a smokey Spanish Paprika. I could hardly wait to taste these babies, with all the wonderful ingredients in the filling. They were baked for about 15 minutes and they smelled so good.

Here they are with their beautiful appetizing color, all ready to be dipped in the Mango Chutney and Sour Cream Sauce. Grace-Marie has outdone herself again. Can you imagine these empanadas on your brunch table. Oh yes!

This class was really fun, with everyone very chatty and laughing. And of course the food was marvelous. These are the Ladies and Gentleman who came to tea. Thank you so much and I hope to see you all again.

For additional recipes from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen, look under Categories in the right-hand column.

Grace-Marie Johnston

For more information about the new schedule of cooking classes, visit Grace-Marie online at Bristol Farms or email her at gmj@bristolfarms.com.