Kitchens for Good Launching "Dinners for Good"

I've been a fan of Kitchens for Good since, well, before it even launched just a couple of years ago.

Never heard of the organization? Well, top of line, it's a San Diego culinary school designed for people 18 and older with barriers to employment—youths aging out of foster care, veterans or people who were formerly incarcerated, for example. The program, which is free to the students, uses curriculum developed by LA Kitchen and DC Central Kitchen, which together have graduated more than 1,500 students over 25 years and have a 90 percent success rate of full-time employment within three months of graduation. Kitchens for Good teaches both fundamental culinary skills, including knife skills, baking, fish fabrication and plating, and what founder and president Chuck Samuelson called “soft skills,” like anger management, résumé writing and professional social interaction. Students graduate the program with ServSafe certification and job placement assistance.

And it's graduated hundreds of students so far. But Kitchens for Good is more than just a culinary school. It's an advocate and example of reducing food waste. It provides nutritious meals for families in need. And it funds jobs and supports local farmers.

Any nonprofit that is juggling this many projects needs financial support. And Kitchens for Good used the collective smart noggins and came up with a new fundraising program: Dinners for Good.

Dinners for Good is a combination chef demo and tasting series sponsored by Catalina Offshore Products and Specialty Produce (yes, the same folks who have brought us Collaboration Kitchen). It  will be hosted by Catalina Offshore Products' Tommy Gomes. Each event will consist of a five-course tasting menu with paired drinks--all prepared by some of San Diego's best chefs during a live cooking demonstration.

Tommy Gomes

The kickoff event will be held on March 24 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at Kitchens for Good. It will feature Gomes, with Hanis Cavin of Carnitas Snack Shack and "Sam the Cooking Guy" Zien of Not Not Tacos.

Hanis Cavin

Here's the menu:
1st course:
Shaved squash / roasted cherry tomato / almond
tapenade / manchego / sherry vinaigrette

2nd course:
Smoked pork stuffed sweet-pepper / corn puree / corn-
pork belly sauté / chive oil

3rd course:
Roasted black cod / mussels / sweet garlic / toasted
focaccia / mirepoix / black pepper butter

4th course:
Seared NY strip / crisp potato cake /
mushroom-onion-lardon hash / port reduction

5th course:
Mini ice cream cookie sandwiches /
white chocolate dipped

Sam "the Cooking Guy" Zien

On April 28, the next Dinners for Good program will feature Gomes with Matt Gordon of Urban Solace and Solace & the Moonlight Lounge and Sam Zien.

On June 30, the program will feature Karen Barnett of Small Bar, Logan Mitchell of Cellar Door, and Coral Fodor of Garden Kitchen.

Tickets for Dinners for Good are $115--remember, the proceeds from the events support Kitchens for Good and their culinary job training program!

Kitchens for Good is located at 404 Euclid Avenue Suite 102, San Diego 92114.




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Wasted: A Celebration of Sustainable Food

My last post was about Imperfect Produce, a company selling "ugly" produce to consumers to keep them from heading to the landfill.

This week's post also addresses food waste--but from a slightly different perspective: Celebrating chefs and organizations that prepare dishes and cocktails using food that would otherwise be tossed out.

Wasted: A Celebration of Sustainable Food is an event being held by Kitchens for Good on October 14 from 2 to 6 p.m. at Liberty Station. It's going to feature a competition between 30 local and national chefs and mixologists. Among them are James Beard Nominee Javier Plascencia, Bravo TV's Top Chef Katsuji Tanabe, Executive Chef Davin Waite of Wrench and Rodent, Bravo TV's Top Chef Brian Malarkey, Sugar & Scribe's Maeve Rochford--who was Food Network's Holiday Baking Champion, Elizabeth Faulkner, Danilo Tangalin, Keith Lord, and Martin San Román.

Kitchens for Good got involved in this project because it reflects core values of their mission. "We have long been inspired by creative challenge of reducing food waste, Aviva Paley, Kitchens for Good's co-founder and senior director explained. "We do this everyday in our kitchen by taking surplus and cosmetically imperfect produce and turning it into gourmet meals for hungry families. We wanted to extend that challenge to chefs and have them reimagine the possibilities of food that might otherwise go to waste. Partnering with Chef Works made this all possible with their $25,000 grant, and their incredible connections to the top chefs across the country."

Chefs, of course, are always keen to cut waste. Even if it isn't part of an environmental ethos it's critical to their profit margins. So, who better to learn from? Wasted attendees can see how chefs can repurpose day-old bread, bruised fruit, bits and pieces of leftover vegetables and meats.

And then we can vote on the winning dishes and cocktails based on these and other underutilized foods. Ideally we'll also be inspired to rethink how we address food waste in our households.

Another reason to attend Wasted is to celebrate the programs of Kitchens for Good, a local non-profit that trains men and women previously perceived as unemployable for careers in the culinary industry. These are students who had been in the foster care system, homeless, or incarcerated and who are now earning a place in San Diego's food establishment. In just two-and-a-half years Kitchens for Good has graduated 162 students and has a 90 percent post-graduation employment rate. Among the skills the students learn is food sustainability.

"Our culinary students learn about food sustainability from day one in their program. They are taught how to compost any scraps in the kitchen, how to use the whole product and avoid waste, and how to use by products to create things like stocks, sauces, and soups. Further, our students are exposed to the huge amount of food waste in San Diego, as they take thousands of pounds of surplus produce that we rescue from wholesalers and farmers markets, and turn it into thousands of nutritious and delicious meals for hungry San Diegans," Paley said.

In fact, Kitchens for Good has rescued 86,591 pounds of surplus food and turned it into 121,227 nutritious meals for the homeless, at-risk youth, and homebound seniors.

The Kitchens for Good van filled with surplus produce from partners like Specialty Produce, ProduceGood, and Senior Gleanors of San Diego County

At Wasted, Kitchens for Good culinary students will be paired with the competing chefs to help prep the dishes.

Along with the food and cocktail competition, there will be live entertainment and a silent auction. Proceeds will support Kitchens for Good.

General admission tickets are $90 and can be purchased online here. The event will be held at Luce Court and Legacy Plaza in Liberty Station at 2641 Truxton Road.

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Preservation Pantry Ups Game in Food Waste Fight

Just when I thought I had all the preserving and canning books I needed here comes Sarah Marshall's new book Preservation Pantry: Modern Canning From Root to Top & Stem to Core (Regan Arts/$24.95). It's the subtitle that says it all. Marshall, creator of Marshall's Haute Sauce in Oregon, doesn't only offer unique recipes for preserving harvests, she includes--even stresses--the parts of fruits and vegetables we usually toss. It's the quintessential no-waste preserving book.

Preservation Pantry is organized to help preserving novices get their bearings. Like any good preserving book, it lays out the tools and equipment and steps to successful canning and preserving, and offers a thorough lesson in the step that most frightens the novice: water baths. What I love about this section are the illustrations that show everything from can jar sizes, chopping, what "headspace" looks like, and how to remove air pockets.

The come the recipes: first fruit, then vegetables, a to z. Within each section is a preserving recipe, a second recipe for the fruit or vegetable, then a recipe for the "discards" followed by a recipe for using the discards preserves. So, for apples Marshall starts with Ginger Liqueur Spiked Apples, made with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, star anise, and ginger liqueur. You'll remove the peel and core--and save them. The Ginger Liqueur Spiked Apples, she writes, can be used to make her Drunk Apple Crumble recipe a few pages away. The following recipe is for Matcha Tea Applesauce that you can enjoy as part of a breakfast bowl. Again, hang on to the peel and core. Then comes her boozy caramel sauce, made from those saved peels and cores, along with whisky, cinnamon, sugar, salted butter, and whipping cream. All this leads to--ta da!--her Drunken Apple Crumble, which contains both the Ginger Liqueur Spiked Apples and the Whiskey Apple-Core Caramel. Brilliant!

And so it goes with cherries (save the pits for making bitters), lemons (save the peel for a spice rub), beets (the leaves will make dolmas while the stems will pickle cauliflower), onions (Onion Peel Powder), and turmeric (Turmeric Skin Golden Cashew Milk). And, of course, there's more.

Finally, Marshall is an enthusiastic canning clubber, so she has a section at the book's conclusion all about how to start your own canning club and set up and work a trading table. You'll also find a section for stocking your pantry, with vendor contact information.

The recipes in the book are quite unusual so they're bound to be launching points for any enthusiastic canner considering how to use their own local, seasonal bounty.

Want to know more about Marshall's ideas on preserving? Well, guess what? She's coming to San Diego to speak at the 2018 InTent's Conference being held Sunday, February 25 through Tuesday, February 27. Marshall is scheduled to speak Monday afternoon on "Quality Products, Local Ingredients." And you can also catch her on Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. doing a book signing at the Little Italy Mercato's InTents booth.

This is the second annual conference, which is directed by Catt Fields White of San Diego Markets (Little Italy Mercato, North Park Farmers Market, and Pacific Beach Farmers Market). The InTents Conference brings together farmers, artisan food makers, farmers market managers, and others for educational panels, speakers, roundtables, and networking opportunities all geared to enhance the skills and increase the resources for small businesses to help them achieve financial stability, as well as launch entrepreneurs who have an idea they want to get off the ground.

Even if you're not an aspiring farmers market vendor but you are a farmers market vendor lover, you, too, are included. On Monday, February 26, from 6 to 9 p.m., White is offering InTents Flavors for the general public. For this event, farmers and chefs will be teaming up at tasting stations to create local farm bites, as well as beer, wine, spirits, and live music.

Featured chefs include Tae Dickey and Chris Osborn (Biga), DJ Tangalin (Bivouac Ciderworks), Joanne Sherif (Cardamom), Christina Ng (Chinita's Pies), Acursio Lota (Solare), Steve Brown (Temp° by Cosecha), and Davin Waite (Wrench & Rodent Seabasstropub). Individual tickets are $95, with a portion of the proceeds going to Kitchens for Good, a San Diego local nonprofit that trains the underemployed for culinary careers and breaks the cycle of food waste and uses it to feed the hungry.

Both events will be held at the Marina Village Conference Center in Mission Bay. You can purchase tickets here.


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My 2016 Thank You Notes

It would be an understatement to state how tumultuous 2016 was for me. Losing a parent slowly and painfully--and finally, permanently--to dementia takes its toll. It'll be awhile before I'm truly back to my life. Even so there still were a lot of bright spots. There were big-hearted friends who made sure I was doing okay by bringing me food or yanking me out to the occasional movie. And there was my work. How could there be a totally bad day if I got to spend part of it in the kitchen with a chef?

So, I'd like to end the year by thanking all the chefs who over the past 12 months invited me into their most sacred space and taught me a recipe, a skill, a neat trick for me to share with readers.

Thanks to Quinn Wilson of Balanced and Bright, who invited me into her home to teach me about her bone broth and demonstrate how to make her Autumnal Pork Stew. It would be so lovely to have a bowl of that right now!

Thanks to Willy Eick, such a talented young chef who now has his own place in Oceanside, 608. But earlier this year while working at Real Bar & Bistro, he taught me how to make a lovely Seared Scottish Salmon with White Beans, Bacon, Chard, and Pesto Aioli.

Thanks to the energetic Teri McIllwain of Chandler's Restaurant at Cape Rey Carlsbad. She made me her Farro Stir Fry filled with plump shrimp.

From Junya Watanabe of Rakiraki Ramen & Tsukemen, I learned a terrific version of poke that's fresh and flavor popping. Thanks, Junya!

Moto Deli's chef Andrew Halvorsen taught me how to make their rich Moroccan Meatball Sandwich from their food truck. Congrats on completing the new deli! And thank you and Alex Carballo for the experience!

Thank you, Christine Rivera of Galaxy Taco, for teaching me how to make your fabulous Brussels Spouts in the Style of Elotes!

Chefs move around so much! This thank you goes to my friend Anthony Sinsay, who earlier this year was running the kitchen at Duke's and made me his stunning Mussels Adobo. Now he's ensconced at JSix and my story on how he forages in his kitchen will run in the San Diego Union-Tribune next week.

I love Bottega Americano, so it was a huge treat to have Chef Jeremy Oursland invite me to come in and learn how to make his Salmon with Vegetables, Gnocci, and Tomato Fonduta. Thanks, Jeremy!

Chocolatiers are a special breed. Michelle Lomelin of Sweet Petite Confections fits right in with her mix of precision and whimsy. Thank you, Michelle, for taking the time to teach me how to make your bonbon, The Earl and the Tarts.

Oh, my friend Maeve Rochford! I love Sugar and Scribe and loved our time together in your kitchen, learning about the Irish Halloween tradition of Tea Bramback! So good!

Finally, there's Lorne "The Hammer" Jones, whom I met through the training program Kitchens for Good. The Hammer has worked hard to reach the goal of becoming a certified baker and is now baking at Panera. The day we got together he taught me how to make a family favorite, Pineapple Upside Down Cake--only miniature versions. They were divine. Thanks, Hammer, and good luck to you!

I also want to thank Bob Harrington, Kelly Orange, and Specialty Produce for their always generous support--of this space, of my Close to the Source blog for Edible San Diego, and of the community projects I work on. They are smart and far-sighted people--and beyond kind. And, thanks as well to Tommy Gomes and Dave Rudie of Catalina Offshore Products for being my seafood gurus, community teachers, and just great pals. Thanks to the many farmers, farmers market managers, and artisan vendors who always take the time answer my many questions and share their knowledge and bounty with me so I can help our community better understand what they do. Thanks to the many restaurant owners and chefs who are working so hard to put San Diego's best on the table and do it responsibly--and clue me into their efforts. And, last but not least, I thank you for taking the time to read San Diego Foodstuff and sharing it with your friends. It means a lot.

Thank you all for pulling and tugging me through 2016 with your love and concern. It has meant more than you will know.

I'm looking forward to more kitchen fun with chefs in 2017, but in the meantime, I wish all these chefs, vendors, farmers,  and their loved ones, as well as you, a very happy, healthy, and joyous New Year!


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The Hammer's Pineapple Upside Down Mini Bundt Cakes

Have you heard about Kitchens for Good? I first wrote about them last February in my Close to the Source blog for Edible San Diego. They were just getting underway with their pilot 13-week culinary job training program at the Jacobs Center. The course is designed for adults 18 and older who have had various barriers to employment.

Since then they've held three sessions, with graduates either continuing to work for their catering company at the Jacobs Center or going on to take other jobs.

I thought it would be interesting to have a cook date with one of the graduates and was set up with Lorne "The Hammer" Jones. What a cool guy. Jones is currently holding down three culinary jobs--at Draft Republic, Cueva Bar, and Delaware North, a food vendor for the Chargers. "I love Kitchens for Good," he said. "I love the people. It's so cool to be back here."

Jones got his nickname as an infantry machine gunner and company gunnery sargeant in the Marines. "It's all about leadership. The tag I had was being firm, fair, and constant--like a hammer." It's a nickname that's stuck, even after he got out of service following the Gulf War. But his time as a Marine also included working part-time in restaurants, both in Hawaii and Japan, where life is expensive, especially for someone married and in the service. For Jones those restaurant jobs, particuarly during the six years he was in Japan, were a great experience.

"Everything in Japan is very precise," he recalled. "I liked that their philosophy is to be humble. It's a sign of greatness to always be learning. The moment you meet someone who knows everything, run away from them."

Jones grew up the youngest of five kids. "My way into my mom's heart was through cooking. I just loved spending with her. So, I learned from her and taught myself, eventually making meals for my family. My inspiration was the love in her face. I gained a passion for food through love."

He also was a grandma's boy, spending every weekend with her and going to church with her all day Sunday. "She was an old Baptist lady and you go in the morning, step out for awhile to socialize, then go back in--all day," he laughed. Her cooking, too, for those special Sundays inspired him.

While Jones, who graduated last September in Kitchens for Good's third class, is well trained and well versed in savory cooking, his passion is baking. So for our time together he made his version of his beloved grandmother's Pineapple Upside Down Cake, but instead making individual cakes in molded mini-bundt pans. The cakes are easy for home cooks to make and well worth the effort. They're rich like a donut. The acid and sweetness of the pineapple complement the cake and that sublime caramel. Topped by Chantilly cream and even a maraschino cherry, the cake is a cool, retro dessert that should be in everyone's repertoire.

Pineapple Upside Down Mini Bundt Cakes

From Lorne Jones
(printable recipe)

Yield: 18 mini bundt cakes

Ingredients

For the batter

2/3 cup soft unsalted butter

1 1/3 cups of sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 1/3 cups of all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/3 cups milk

2, 20-ounce cans of pineapple rings, drained (10 rings per can)

For the caramel topping

1 stick of unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups of brown sugar

For the Chantilly cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Maraschino cherries to garnish

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350°.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add butter and brown sugar. Slowly beat until thoroughly blended. Add the first egg and wait until it’s mixed in before adding the second egg. Once it’s incorporated, stop the mixing process and scrape down the bowl. Then add the third and fourth eggs, waiting in between until the third is fully incorporated. Add vanilla. Stop and scrape the bowl again.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Little by little add the flour mixture to the wet mixture. Alternate with adding the milk. When everything is fully blended and the batter slowly slides off a spatula it’s ready.

Fill three gallon-size plastic storage bags with the batter—fill each one about half way. Use twine to tie each off at the top above the batter. Set aside.

To make the caramel, add the stick of butter to a pan and slowly melt over low heat. When it’s almost melted add the brown sugar. Stir and heat low and slow—don’t bring the mixture to a boil. When it just starts to simmer, remove it from the heat and stir.

Pour about a tablespoon of the caramel into each mini bundt pan. Place one pineapple ring on top of the caramel in each pan. Pick up one of the batter bags and cut off the tip, about half an inch. Carefully pipe batter on top of each pineapple ring to about halfway up the mini bundt pan. When that’s empty, use the second and so on until you’ve filled all the pans. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes. Using a toothpick, insert in the center of one or two to make sure they’re fully baked. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

While the cakes are baking, make the Chantilly cream. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the whipping cream. Turn on the mixer and slowly bring up the speed to whip. Once the cream becomes frothy and soft peaks form, slowly add the powdered sugar. Then add the vanilla. Continue whipping until you have fluffy stiff peaks. Cut the tip off a large plastic storage bag. Insert a star piping tip. Carefully spoon Chantilly cream into the bag. Refrigerate until ready to use.

When the cakes are finished baking, remove them from the oven. Turn the parchment-lined sheet pan over the cakes and quickly flip them so the cakes rest on the parchment right-side up. Let cool. To plate, place a cake on a dessert plate. Pipe the Chantilly cream into the hole in the center of the cake. Top with a maraschino cherry. Serve.

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