Saffron's Su-Mei Yu Featured in Sunday's Collaboration Kitchen

Su-Mei Yu, owner of Saffron and host of Savor San Diego on KPBS TV, will be featured, along with Ballast Point Brewing Co., at Sunday's Collaboration Kitchen, which runs from 5 to 8 p.m. at Catalina Offshore Products. There are limited tickets left.

What's on Su-Mei's Thai menu?

Thai Ceviche
Marinated salmon in seasoning paste, including chilies, garlic, shallot, krachai (Chinese keys) and lime juice, dressed with coconut cream, slivers of fresh Thai chilies, and shredded green mango – served with Belgian endive and rice/sesame seeds crackers. Pair with Calico Amber Ale with nice Madeira and toffee sweetness balanced with a citrus bite from Cascade hops.

Laab Goong
Northern Thai style salad with grilled marinated shrimp in Ballast Point’s Wahoo White beer, garlic, and olive oil and toss with chilies, Sichuan peppercorns, krachai (Chinese keys), shallot, green onion, kaffir lime leaves, culantro, mint and lime juice – served on lettuce leaves. Pair with Wahoo White Beer – Belgian wheat beer inspired ale with orange peel and coriander.

Grilled Mussels
Seasoned with Thai chilies, galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and rinds, Thai basils, coconut cream and Piper Down Scottish Ale. Pair with Indra Kunindra – export stout infused with madras curry, cumin, cayenne, kaffir lime leaves and toasted coconut.

Southern Thai Style Spicy Yellow Curry
Turmeric-infused curry paste with yellow tail and pineapple – served with red Thai organic rice. Pair with Dorado Double India Pale Ale with the bitterness that increases from heat from curry and hop aromas and flavors similar to that of pineapple and grapefruit.

Melon Balls with Coconut Syrup
Sweetened with maple syrup and infused with rose water. Pair with Sculpin India Pale Ale with a balance of bitterness with hop flavors of tangerine and ripe mango.

You'll enjoy hearty samples of all these dishes (along with tastes from Ballast Point) and the recipes will be on your seat waiting for you as Su-Mei demonstrates how they're created (I've been to a couple of her classes and she's a terrific teacher). And, of course, we'll have the enthusiastic comic duo of Tommy Gomes and Dan Nattrass emceeing the evening. Feel free to bring your own bottle of wine. And dress warmly; it gets chilly in there!

Tickets are $75 per person and can be purchased online here. All proceeds (yes, really, all proceeds) will be donated to the James Lebowitz Scholarship Fund, in honor of the 18-year-old Cal Poly Pomona student and San Diego native who died suddenly of an aneurysm in January. You can learn more about him and his amazing parents in a moving article by Ed Zieralski published in the U-T San Diego.

So, yes, your money is going to a great cause--but you'll also have a blast, learn a lot, and eat and drink well while doing good.

Collaboration Kitchen is a collaboration between Catalina Offshore Products and Specialty Produce. Catalina Offshore Products is located at 5202 Lovelock St. just off Morena Blvd.

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Ryan Studebaker's Roasted Vegetable and Goat Cheese Raviolini

The first time I encountered Chef Ryan Studebaker was several years ago at a Collaboration Kitchen event. I can't remember who the main attraction was that evening, but there was a bit of time at the end and ringleader--much more accurate than ringmaster--Tommy Gomes spotted Studebaker in the audience and dragged him up to the cooking dais to have him do an impromptu cooking lesson in making, I believe, salmon fillets. Studebaker, at the time the chef at Gingham in La Mesa, was a great sport. Whatever fear he may have had in performing without notice in front of a crowd of 75 or so people was undetectable. He made a terrific dish and did himself proud. I wasn't the only one who was impressed with this young guy.

I also fell in love with his food. He invited me to dine at the posh Gaslamp restaurant Encore Champagne Bar and Dining Room, his next gig, and prepared some stunning dishes that clued me into his range. There was the New York Strip Carpaccio. The Potato Gnocchi with Lardon. Braised Pork Cheeks. And a lovely Scottish Salmon. Oh, and dessert? Yes, he does dessert. Like an Apple and Black Fig Tart.

But Encore didn't make it. Now, this Michigan native who learned to cook at his dad's restaurant and got his first job in San Diego at Mr. A's, is running the kitchen at MIHO. Originally a top food truck in San Diego, Studebaker explained that the business is branching out to events and catering. Weddings now make up 70 to 80 percent of their business, but they are also engaged in large events, like the upcoming Art Alive at the San Diego Museum of Art in April. So, MIHO Gastrotruck is transitioning to A MIHO Experience that includes The Vetted Table, the business' catering arm.

Studebaker is relishing this new gig. "There's so much more I get to do than in a restaurant," he says. "For instance, I get clients who want something they've seen somewhere else, like a slider. But I couldn't find any great slider buns, so I started experimenting with making my own. I tried four times and failed before finally succeeding. Now I'm the bread master! I love those opportunities we have when we're a little slow to do research and test recipes."

That includes making his own pastries, which is a pressure situation given that he's married to one of San Diego's premier pastry chefs, Rachel King of NINE-TEN. Friend him on Facebook or follow him on Instagram to watch his progress.

I finally got into the kitchen with him last week and he showed me his tricks for making a sublime roasted vegetable and goat cheese raviolini--a dish that will actually be a passed app at Art Alive.

Before we dive into the recipe, here are a few tips Studebaker shared for successfully making this dish:

• Anytime you roast or saute vegetables, get the color you want first before seasoning. Cooking pulls out the water from vegetables and your seasoning may get pulled out with it--and you won't get the color you're after.
• Studebaker oven roasts the vegetables for this dish, but for this small batch he sauteed them. Individually. "Saute vegetables one at a time because different vegetables cook at different rates," he says. "You can oven roast a variety of vegetables together as long as they have a similar density."
• To saute or roast the vegetables use a 75/25 blend of canola oil and olive oil. "Olive oil can be too strong a flavor and it will smoke once you reach a high heat. Canola oil creates a more neutral flavor for you to incorporate other herbs and spices and it has a higher smoke point."

Raviolini with Seasonal Vegetables, Pistachio Pesto, and Parmesan
from Ryan Studebaker
(printable recipe)

Serves 4 to 6

This dish is hugely flexible--in the type of vegetables you use and the pesto. For the pesto, use your favorite recipe and substitute traditional pine nuts with pistachios and you're good to go.

Filling
3 cups of seasonal vegetables (In our version, he used yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant, and red bell pepper), small dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, minced
75/25 blend of canola and extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Whatever herbs and/or spices you want to include
3/4 cup goat cheese

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Toss the vegetables, garlic, and shallots in the oil mixture and spread onto a heavy baking sheet or pan. Roast until caramelized. Alternately, you can saute each of the vegetables, including the shallots and garlic, separately until they begin to brown and then mix together. Let cool and drain. Once the vegetables reach room temperature mix in the goat cheese. Set aside.

Egg Pasta Dough
Yield: About 1 pound

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
6 egg yolks
1 whole egg
1 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon milk

Let's address making the pasta, which is the one issue many home cooks will find intimidating, although Studebaker calls it a labor of love. I videoed Studebaker in two crucial steps so that you can see how simple this actually is.

On a clean and dry table or counter, create a well with flour. (Studebaker suggests making the well wide so you have more room to move your hand and not break the wall.) Pour yolks, egg, olive oil, and milk into the center. Using your finger, break the yolks and begin swirling without spilling over the edge of the well.

Continue this motion while occasionally pushing small amounts of flour into the center, making sure you're slowly incorporating the flour to avoid lumpy dough.

Once the dough begins to pull away from the table, begin adding flour more quickly by sprinkling it over the top and kneading.

Continue kneading the dough until it has a nice sheen. The kneading process can take 10 to 15 minutes. The dough is ready when you can pull your finger through it and it snaps back into place. You cannot over-knead this dough.

Wrap in plastic and let rest at least one hour before rolling out. If refrigerated, let the dough come to room temperature before handling.

Now you're going to put it all together. Using a pasta machine or attachment, set the stop at number 1. Pull off a chunk of dough and flatten it so it fits into the opening and run it through. You'll do this four times, increasing the stop each time until you reach number 4.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add plenty of salt.

Make a wash with egg and water. Place about a tablespoon of filling in mounds along one piece of dough. Gently cover with a second piece of rolled out dough. Then gently push the top dough around the filling mounds and push out any air. Lightly brush with the egg wash.

Using a round 2-inch cookie cutter, cut each of the raviolini circles. Using a fork, press the tines gently around the edges to seal.

 
Boil the raviolini about two minutes and drain. Plate the raviolini, top with pesto and freshly grated parmesan.

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Why Aren't You Using Chili Threads?

I always learn a lot when I attend Collaboration Kitchen at Catalina Offshore Products, but it's the small unusual stuff that I'm exposed to that tickles me the most. Last month's Collaboration Kitchen featured Cafe Chloe's new chef Devon Junkin and he created a variety of wonderful, very accessible seafood dishes for the crowd. There's not one that I can't see myself making in my kitchen, from the delightful Hamachi Crudo with its crunchy apple and radish slaw to the divine Nicoise Salad and Bouillabaisse. But the folks I was surrounded by did double and triple takes when we were brought the Seabass with Vegetable Nage. Yes, the dish was warming and packed with lovely flavors--but what we were all spellbound by were the skinny long red threads perched atop the seabass filet. Chili threads.

All of us had to have them. Had to know where we could get them. Very simply, they were the coolest garnish ever.

I did a bit of research on them and found that they're Korean in origin so I got in touch with my friend Debbie Lee, an L.A.-based Korean-American chef and the author of Seoultown Kitchen. Debbie said, "Oh, you mean Silgochu! Yes, they are basically shredded from the pepper and dried. They can be very spicy as well. I use them to enhance soups, stews, and often use inside my Jeon items to add color and a kick of heat. My grandmother put them in her celebratory mung bean pancakes as well." (Jeon-style refers to dishes that are dredged in flour, then dipped in egg batter and fried.)

The threads can be found at Specialty Produce, but also at Korean markets and online spice shops. I bought a bag of them at Zion Market  for less than three dollars. They aren't crispy--more like elongated saffron threads. I tried toasting them, but they burn quickly. Toasting brought out some pepper aroma and a bit of heat, but I don't think you need to toast them and Debbie said she doesn't.

I added the chili threads to a luxurious cauliflower soup my friend Candy Wallace gave me. They added color and a little bite at the back of the throat to the creamy texture. They make even scrambled eggs look ravishing. I even found a delightful sounding recipe for warm rosemary olives with chili threads on the blog Feasting at Home. You can get even more ideas on Pinterest.

But, how about enjoying Devon Junkin's lovely Seabass with Vegetable Nage? It's a perfect cold-weather meal, thanks to the sauteed savoy cabbage and that dreamy light broth that makes the nage.

Seabass with Vegetable Nage
from Devon Junkin of Cafe Chloe
(printable recipe)

Serves 4 to 6

1 1/2 pounds seabass filets, skin on
1 savoy cabbage, sliced
3 yellow onions, 2 of them sliced
2 turnips, sliced
2 celery roots, sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 bunch fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
1/2 pound butter
1 cup white wine
Chili threads

For the nage:
Sweat down two onions, the turnips, celery root, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, and peppercorns in two tablespoons butter. Add wine and reduced by half. Add one gallon of water, bring the nage to a simmer, and cook for one hour. Season and strain through a chinois. Slowly whisk in all but two tablespoons of the remaining butter.

Pre-heat oven to 350° F.

For the cabbage:
Cut out the cor and cut the cabbage into long strips. Julienne the remaining onion and sweat down in two tablespoons butter. Add the cabbage and sweat down. Add one cup of the nage, season, and cook until the cabbage is tender.

Sear the seabass, skin side down, until crispy. Flip and finish in the oven.

In a shallow bowl, add the cabbage and nage. Top with sea bass and garnish with chili threads.




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Hanis Cavin's Crab Meatball and New England Chowder

Last Sunday night, the pork dude did seafood. Chef Hanis Cavin, owner with wife Sara Stroud of Carnitas Snack Shack and the new Smokehouse Kings, is known and revered for all things porcine in San Diego. But long before he make pigs his purview, he had a long and distinguished career as a fine dining chef at places like Mixx, Pacifica Del Mar, the Kensington Grill, Dakota Grill, and Chive. Trained at the New England Culinary Institute, he earned the Chef of the Year award in 2009 from the California Restaurant Association and was recently inducted into the San Diego Home/Garden Chef's Hall of Fame.

All this is to say that the guy behind the Shack is no culinary one-note. And this was oh so clear Sunday night at Collaboration Kitchen, where he showed the audience how to make dishes such as SoNo Habanero Mustard-Crusted White Sea Bass in Cheerios Dust with Tomato Gastrique and Red Pepper Confit, Chicharon-Crusted Wahoo Milanese with Stone Fruit Compote on Arugula in Lemon Oil, and what I'm going to share with you here, Crab Meatball with Yukon Gold Potatoes and Lardons in New England Chowder.

The dish is fairly simple to make but packed with surf-and-turf flavor. All of six ingredients make up the crab balls, which are sauteed before being added to the chowder, which also has minimal ingredients--just very good ones. It would be a Cavin dish without some sort of porcine ingredient and here it takes the form of bacon lardons, which Hanis assured everyone was nothing fancy, just thick cut slices of bacon. The Yukon potatoes, once diced and added to the soup, become tender and add heartiness.

So, here it is, courtesy of Hanis:

Crab Meatball/Yukon/Lardoons/"New England" Chowder
(printable recipe)
from Hanis Cavin
Makes 4 dinner-size portions or 8 appetizer-size portions

Ingredients
1/2 pound crab, finely chopped
1/2 pound ground white fish
1 whole egg
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1 teaspoon fresh tarragon, chopped fine
1 teaspoon fresh shallot, chopped fine
1/4 cup diced onion
2 strips extra thick bacon cut in 1/8-inch pieces
2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
2 cups clam juice
2 cups cream
1/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon canola
Salt
Pepper

Directions
For the crab meatball:
Mix together the first six ingredients in a large bowl. Form into one-ounce balls and place on a cold sheet pan into the refrigerator for one hour or overnight.

For the chowder:
Saute the bacon and onion in the canola oil until cooked thoroughly. Add flour to create a roux over low to medium heat. It should reach a wet sand-like consistency in about five minutes. Add all the liquid and vegetables and cook on low to medium heat until the potatoes are almost tender. Saute the crab meatballs until browned. Add the balls to the chowder and cook for five to eight minutes.


Pour chowder into bowls.

Enjoy.

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Collaboration Kitchen: Christopher Logan's Easy Pickles

Chef Christopher Logan of Creative Flavors Catering

Collaboration Kitchen, the unusual but always fun monthly cooking demo featuring San Diego's top chefs at Catalina Offshore Products, is, of course, about the seafood. And Chef Christopher Logan of Creative Flavors Catering presented several mouth-watering seafood dishes last Sunday night. But what  struck me that evening was the variety of pickles he made to accompany his Peruvian-Style Bay  Scallop Ceviche. That one dish came with pickled red onions, pickled kumquats, and pickled purple carrot. Each flavor profile was unique in its own way, but together they further brightened what is always a fresh tasting dish, ceviche. I can see each of these three pickles served throughout the summer with many other dishes--grilled flank steak, fish tacos, sushi/sashimi, and even burgers--so I asked Logan for more detailed recipes than what he distributed that night.

Here Logan created a marinade for the scallops of lime zest and juice, garlic, basil, serrano chili (with seeds), cilantro, and sea salt. Blend the ingredients in a blender or food processor, then pour over the scallops and refrigerate.

Once the scallops have been "cooked" by the marinade, you can plate it with the pickles and add a little micro cilantro for garnish.

Peruvian-Style Bay Scallop Ceviche with pickled red onion, pickled purple carrots, and pickled kumquats

But before you get there, you've got to make those pickles. Here's how:

Pickled Red Onion
from Christopher Logan

1 medium red onion
Sweet rice vinegar, enough to cover the onions in a bowl
1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons of white sugar

Peel and slice the onion--either whole or cut in half--and place in a metal or glass bowl. Mix together the salt, sugar, and vinegar until the salt and sugar dissolve. Pour over the onion and cover the mixture in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight. The color should be a nice purple. Refrigerated, it can keep for a week.

Fresh kumquats

Pickled Kumquats
from Christopher Logan

1 pound kumquats, washed in warm water and drained dry
2 cups sweet rice vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup kosher salt,
1/4 cup whole allspice
1 cup peeled whole garlic cloves
4 sticks fresh rosemary
1/8 cup red chile pepper
1/8 cup cracked black pepper

Place dry kumquats in a glass or metal bowl. Combine the vinegar, brown sugar, salt, and allspice in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once the sugar has dissolved taste to be sure you have the flavor you want, then adjust to more sweet or spicy or salty. Add the garlic, rosemary, red chile pepper, and black pepper. Stir, and then pour over kumquats. To be sure the kumquats are covered, weigh them down with a plate. Let cool, then place in refrigerator for two days, mixing the pickles twice, tasting for the flavors you want and adjusting over that time. These can be kept for up to a month, covered, in the refrigerator.

Purple carrots with kumquats, lemons, and asparagus

Pickled Purple Carrots
from Christopher Logan

It's tempting to blanch or roast these gorgeous carrots so they'll retain their color, but Chef Logan says that, in fact, the color will end up bleeding in this recipe. So, instead, just peel them very thinly and enjoy the vibrant color that results.

3 to 4 pounds purple carrots (You can find these at Specialty Produce; you can also use conventional carrots.)
1 cup white sugar
4 cups white distilled vinegar (or just enough to cover the sliced carrots)
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup whole cloves
1/8 cup black peppercorns
1/2 cup fresh tarragon

Peel and slice the carrots and place in a glass or metal bowl. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a saucepan. Heat until the sugar is dissolved. Pour over the carrots. Let cool, then cover and place in the refrigerator for two days, periodically stirring and tasting. At that point, they're ready to use. They can be kept for up to one month, covered, in the refrigerator.

###

Logan operates his catering company out of Carlsbad. You can also find him most Fridays at Catalina Offshore Products helping Tommy Gomes with seafood demos for customers. I've had several of his tastings and can vouch for Tommy's brilliance in having him show off what you can do with seafood.


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Eat, Drink Local Week: Brought to You By Edible San Diego

As you may know, I am a regular contributor to Edible San Diego. In fact, I can't think of any publishers I've worked with who are hungrier to learn about and advocate for our local food community than Riley Davenport and John Vawter. (And as delightful to work with!)

So, it was no surprise to find out that they are launching a new week-long community event--or, actually, series of events--to celebrate just that, local food and the many diverse people who bring it to us--the farmers and ranchers and fishermen, the winemakers, the olive and avocado oil producers, the coffee roasters and brewpubs. We're rich in talent and commitment to creating healthier and more sustainable methods of bringing food and drink to the table and these producers often go unacknowledged.

Time now, San Diego, to meet Edible San Diego's first annual Eat, Drink Local Week, which will be held September 1 through 8.

Eat, Drink Local events--and there are a whole bunch of them--will raise funds for three non-profits that promote healthy food and agriculture education: Olivewood Gardens (which I volunteer for as a cooking teacher), Seeds @ City Urban Farm, and Wild Willow Farm.

But, first let's talk about the restaurants. More than two dozen restaurants, all of which source locally, have donated funds to the event to participate and support its goals. Edible San Diego is encouraging us, in turn, to dine at these restaurants, which include Alchemy, Blue Ribbon Artisan Pizzeria, Cafe Merlot, Carnitas Snack Shack, Craftsmen New American Tavern, Cups, El Take It Easy, Estancia, Farm House Cafe, Healthy Creations, Jeremy's on the Hill, JSix Restaurant, Leroy's Kitchen + Lounge, Local Habit, El Q'ero Restaurant, Restaurant at The Pearl, Saltbox, Sbicca, Sea Rocket Bistro, SOL Bistro, Starlite, Stone World Bistro & Gardens, Tender Greens, The Fishery, The Linkery, The Lions Share, The Red Door and Wine Bar, The Tractor Room, and The Wellington. (P.S. if you're a locally sourcing restaurant and want to participate, contact Riley at info@ediblesandiego.com)

And then there are the events--truly something for everyone and all of which will feature local food and beverage artisans--and some with local musicians. Some require purchasing tickets online. Others you can just show up to. Here are the events and you can go to Edible San Diego's website for more information and the eventbrite link to purchase tickets.

Kickoff: Cocktails, Appetizers, and Live Jazz
Saturday, Sept. 1 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Top of the Park, with live jazz, beverages, and hors d'oeuvres. It's also the fall issue release party, with new magazines hot off the press.

Taste of Local
Sunday, Sept. 2 from noon to 3 p.m. at Whole Foods Market Hillcrest, featuring local growers and food vendors and a chef demo. Proceeds from food sales will be donated to the three non-profit beneficiaries of Eat, Drink Local

Collaboration Kitchen
Sunday, Sept. 2 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Catalina Offshore Products, featuring a cooking demo by Chef/Owner Olivier Bioteau of Farm House Cafe. Warehouse chic decor and BYOB

Coffee & Chocolate Indulgence with Jazz
Monday, Sept. 3 from 6 to 8 p.m. at SOL Markets in Liberty Station, with jazz, locally made chocolates and locally roasted coffee--for $20.

Farm-to-Table Beer Dinner
Tuesday, Sept. 4 from 5 to 9 p.m. at Local Habit, with a three-course dinner and beer pairings created by Chef Nick Brune

Moonlight Jazz & Local Wine Tasting
Wednesday, Sept. 5 from 6 to 9 p.m. at LOUNGEsix at Hotel Solamar--a rooftop evening of jazz, wines, and Chef Christian Grave's locally sourced hors d'oeurves

Free Subscription Night
The first 10 patrons to dine at any of the participating restaurants for Eat, Drink Local Week will receive a free, one-year subscription to Edible San Diego; all other diners that night can get a one-year subscription for half off.

Beerfest & Foodtrucks
Saturday, Sept. 8 from 2 to 5 p.m. at Fixtures Living--a great way to conclude the week by enjoying local beer crafters and food trucks. The ticket price includes a $10 ticket to the food truck of your choice, a taste of every beer offered, and live music by the Bayou Brothers.


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Dollar a Dish: We're Back, Raising $ for Hungry Kids

It's a little disconcerting to return to my office just a little too full from a hearty breakfast with visiting family and sit down to write a piece about kids in my city who don't have nearly enough to eat. But there you have it. Even in San Diego, with all its abundance, we are surrounded by chronically hungry elementary school children. Yes, those enrolled in school free breakfast and lunch programs get meals during the week, but there's no TGIF for them. Once they hit the weekend, there may be nothing for them to eat until they get back to school Monday morning.

Which is why the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank launched the Food 4 Kids Backpack Program. The program discretely provides weekend backpacks filled with nutritious, child-friendly food to these kids to stave off hunger for those two days. And these children often share the kid-friendly food with their siblings and other family members.

The program, of course, needs financial support so they can enroll more children in need. That's where you come in. We've got 43 very generous restaurants, caterers, food trucks, and farmers market vendors participating in our now annual Dollar a Dish fundraiser. Each has selected a featured dish or food and will donate money to the Food 4 Kids Backpack Program every time it is ordered during the month of August. Starting today through August 31, all you have to do is visit them and order the dish. How cool is that!

Last year we raised almost $9,000. That's great, but I think we can do much better this year, if you help. Please spread the word to your family and friends in San Diego, write your own blog post about it, let your tweeps and FB friends know--and get together a group of people and start visiting restaurants and ordering the featured dish. You'll dine very well and you'll help make sure that hungry kids get the food they need to make it through the weekend.

Here's the list of participants and their dishes (Click on the links to see the chefs show off their featured dishes.):

Acqua Al 2 Ristorante: Assaggio di Primi
Alchemy: Pan Roasted Sea Bass
Carnitas Snack Shack: BLT
Caxao Chocolates: SOFIA75 (3.5 oz)
Cowboy Star: 8 oz. Filet
Crepes Bonaparte: Crepe with Peanut Butter, Sliced Bananas & Nutella
Croce's Restaurant & Jazz Bar: Watermelon or Tomato Gazpacho and the   Alaskan Halibut
Cucina Urbana: Any Pizza During Lunch
Farm House Café: Fettuccine with Moroccan Spiced Lamb Bolognese
Finch's Bistro & Wine Bar: Catch of the Day
First Ave Bar & Grill: Roasted Halibut
Flying Elephant Pub: Elephant Burger
Georges at the Cove: Date Salad in California Modern
Indulge Catering: General Proceeds from Sales
Jenny Wenny Cakes: Dozen Hummingbird Cupcakes ($3)
Katsuya: Crispy Rice with Spicy Tuna
Michele Coulon Dessertier: Gateau Aileen
Millies Gelato: Vegan Strawberry Sherbet
NINE-TEN: NINE-TEN Burger
Poppa's Fresh Fish Co.: Dozen Oysters
Praline Patisserie: Fleur de Sel Caramel
Puesto Mexican Street Food: Frozen Horchata
Quality Social: Grilled Flatbread, Portabella Sandwich, and the Chili Dog
Rimel's: Grass-Fed Sirloin Burger
Ritual Tavern: Seafood Bouillabaisse
Salt Farm: 5-Pack Sampler
Saltbox: Oxtail Jam
Sessions Public: Sessions Dog
Solace & the Moonlight Lounge: Beef Cheeks
St. Germain's Cafe & Bistro: Pan-Seared Wild Atlantic Salmon
Terra: Housemade Chicken and Mushroom Risotto
The Palette at the Art Institute: Chicken Breast-Prosciutto Paupiette
The Red Door: Garden Vegetable Plate
The Wild Thyme Company: Artisan Cheese Board
Toast Enoteca & Cucina: Lasagna Degli Asparagi
Two for the Road: Cap'n Crunch Crab Cakes
Urban Chicken: Whole Chicken with 3 Sides
Urban Solace: Beef Cheeks
Via Lago: Rigatoni Contadina
Villa Capri: Penne Elena
Viva Pops: Dollar a Dish Pop
The Wellington: Duroc Pork Chop
Zenbu: Hot Rock New York Strip Steak

Garden Plate from The Red Door

And that's not all. We'll have three events that you'll want to attend as well: 

• Fixtures Living is holding a fundraiser at the end of August for the Food 4 Kids Backpack Program. 
• Catalina Offshore Products, with support from Specialty Produce, is dedicating its August Collaboration Kitchen to raising funds for the kids. 
• The Red Door--along with participating in Dollar a Dish--is donating part of the proceeds from its August 15 Chefs Market Dinner celebrating Julia Child's birthday, featuring chef/writer Amy Finley, author of How to Eat a Small Country, and The Red Door's chef Miguel Valdez.

More details on these three events will come soon. We've got a very generous food community doing their part to raise money for hungry kids. We just need you to come in and eat! (And, if you don't live in San Diego or can't make it to one of our restaurants or want to give more, feel free to make a generous donation here!)

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Summer Crab Fuji Apple Salad

In June, Catalina Offshore Products' Collaboration Kitchen--a monthly evening of often wacky BYOB seafood cooking demos with "hosts" Tommy Gomes and Dan Nattrass playing off each other like the car guys, Tom and Ray Magliozzi--went "back to basics." Meaning that instead of featuring a local star chef, it was Tommy and friends demonstrating seafood recipes.

We started with delightful and unusual Mauritian "soul food" from Fazil Osman, who has a blog called Martian Foodie. Wild Mexican shrimp were doused in a fragrant and spicy tomato sauce and paired with crispy "gateau piments," spicy fried little ringlets of split yellow peas, turmeric, and hot chile.

Then Tommy grilled up his white sea bass fish tacos, wrapped in flatbread instead of a tortilla, filled with cabbage crunch.

Tommy's buddy Ken Gardon followed with his first dish, white sea bass picatta--unusual in that it was sans flour. So, you had the pure sea bass flavor with white wine, olive oil, and capers mingling with pan-grilled summer veggies topped by a balsamic glaze.

We did have a couple of professional chefs in the audience--Olivier Bioteau of Farm House Cafe, scoping out the event in anticipation of his appearance in September, and Ryan Studebaker of Gingham, just there to hang out. Tommy pulled Ryan out of the audience and all of the sudden, the prep chefs in the back were quick fire prepping salmon and vegetables for an impromptu demo by Ryan. Kudos to them--and to Ryan--for speed, accuracy, and deliciousness.

The evening ended with what turned out to be my favorite dish, made with one of my favorite ingredients, crab. Ken Gardon's Crab Fuji Apple Salad is the perfect summer lunch. It also makes for a great appetizer. The ingredients are straightforward (you can get a container of pasteurized crab at Catalina Offshore Products, of course) and the dish itself is easy to make--perfect for a 4th of July party. Ken gave me the recipe to share.

Crab Fuji Apple Salad

from Ken Gardon

(printable recipe)

This recipe will provide 4 servings as a luncheon, or meal salad, 6 as an appetizer, and approximately 14 as an amuse bouche.

Ingredients:
1 pound container of Baja Stone Crab meat
1 medium sweet or Maui onion
2 tablespoons golden brown sugar
3-5 celery stalks, tops and butts removed
2 Fuji, or similar apples
2 large lemons
Cranberry walnut or similar bread, sliced about ½ inch thick
Unsalted butter
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (homemade or premium store bought)

Method:
Turn crab out into large, non reactive bowl. Break apart lightly with hands, endeavoring to maintain “chunkiness.”

Add finely diced onion, sugar and mayo and combine lightly. Take care to keep mixture as “dry" as possible, adding mayo a bit at a time.

Once combined, cover with plastic wrap, place in coldest spot (bottom) of refrigerator for at least an hour, preferably 3 hours for flavors to combine.

Shortly before serving time, prepare the bread by removing the crusts, cut into desired shape (triangles have least waste), butter lightly both sides with unsalted butter, and toast in a pan on stovetop. A light golden brown color is your goal. Set aside on a tray to cool and do not allow overlap of slices.

Finely dice the celery, make a small julienne of the apples. Place apples in a bowl and squeeze lemon juice over them, tossing to coat.

Remove chilled salad, correct seasoning with sea salt, and fold in celery.

To serve, place a toast on serving dish, use a tablespoon to create a quenelle (football-shaped ball) or a sherbet scoop for a sphere, and place on top. Garnish with a tent of apple “matchsticks” and serve immediately.

Recommended wine pairing: crisp Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc , Prosecco, or of course, Champagne.

Catalina Offshore Products teams up with Specialty Produce for "Collaboration Kitchen" events monthly on Sunday evenings. Follow them on Facebook to learn when they'll be held and to buy tickets. Proceeds support non-profits around town. I'm especially excited about the August event, since Tommy and crew will be dedicating the proceeds to the San Diego Food Bank's Food 4 Kids Backpack Program during our Dollar-a-Dish fundraiser.
 

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Tajin: This is Not a Candy

Every once in awhile a product that's been around for who knows how long basically smacks me upside the head to pay attention to it.

Most recently, that product is Tajin "classico seasoning." I first noticed it a summer or two ago at the Hillcrest Farmers Market. Once tomatoes are in season, Valdivia Farms, which sells marvelous heirloom tomatoes, chops a bunch up, mixes the pieces with olive oil and a little seasoning and puts the mixture on platters with toothpicks to sample. Customers gobble them up and wonder why they taste so delicious. Well, sure, the tomatoes are great but they're also using the Tajin -- and they sell 5 oz. plastic shaker bottles of it along with the tomatoes. Did I buy one? No, because I suspected their  price was quite a bit more than I'd have to pay at the market. Sure enough, a visit to Northgate Gonzalez turned up the Tajin for less than two bucks. I'm in bliss.

So, what is Tajin seasoning? Very simple. A powder blend of chiles, salt, and dehydrated lime juice. It's the lime juice you really taste when it hits your tongue. It's all about the salty tang. And, as they carefully print on the cap, this is not a candy.

Tajin seasoning can be used for all sorts of dishes. Here's a little salad of chopped tomatoes and garlic scapes. Like Valdivia Farms, I tossed them with olive oil and Tajin. It was delicious on a slice of sour dough bread and I used the bread, of course, to sop up the Tajin-flavored tomato juices.

 

I've also used it as part of a marinade for roasting and grilling chicken. At the recent Collaboration Kitchen at Catalina Offshore Products, chef Melissa Mayer offered a delicious recipe of Hamachi Crudo with Watermelon Carpaccio, Tangerine, and Hazelnut Oil Emulsion with Cilantro Flowers. Tucked into the recipe to season the yellowtail was about a teaspoon of Tajin.

And, at the 4th of July party I attended, chef Andrew Spurgin whipped up the most delicious Michelada beer cocktail. The mixture of Tecate beer, lime juice, and clamato juice was perfection, but what sent it truly over the top was the rimming along the top of the cup with Tajin seasoning.

Try it out and let me know what you do with it.


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