knife & skillet

. market driven local seasonal recipes .

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Home Cooking in the Age of Covid-19

Unless you’re a celebrity perched upon a hill, having your groceries and food delivered by an underpaid worker, and posting videos of your phone calls w your celebrity friends while (literally) looking down on and insisting others just stay home to plank the curve, whatever the fuck that means, then you probably have at some point been out doing the now perilous job of grocery shopping and cooking for yourself.

Anyway, as if you need another person to tell you what to do, here I am.

Thing is, grocery shopping and cooking are probably the only forms of entertainment we all share these days, and it's a good time to learn some new skills.  If anything, it's a good time to make mistakes.

Learn to break down a chicken, it will not only save you money but will give you something to do.  From there, learn to make stock.  Make use of every bit of meat on the bones.  Use the giblets to make sauces.  I took two chickens home and made food for a week for three people, cooked every night:  Tacos, fried rice, grilled sweet and sour legs.  Try not repeating recipes.

These are skills that will last you a lifetime.

Unless Lindsay Graham gets his way, in which case we’re all fucked.

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Ojai Pixie Infusion This recipe gets to the heart of the season and can be replicated throughout the year using fresh herbs from your farmers. The Ojai valley grows Pixie tangerines, which are both beautiful to look at and great to eat whole, or in this case, infused to a drink with herbs. They can be found at farmers markets throughout the Central and Southern California area, so if you see them make sure to pick some up. Recipe: Here I used peels from Ojai Pixies and meyers along with rosemary, and lavender. Raw agave nectar was used as the sweetener. Bring water to a boil, add the citrus peels, rosemary, lavender and agave. Let sit for 12mns. Remove lavender. Allow to steep for another 48mns. Strain. Reserve & serve over ice. A splash of bourbon would be nice here.

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While Eating a Pear

After we have finished here the world will continue its quiet turning and the years will still transpire, but now without their numbers, and the days and months will pass without the names of Norse and Roman Gods.

Time will go by the way it did before history, pure and unnoticed, a mystery that arose between the sun and moon before there was a word for dawn or noon or midnight,

before there were names for the earth’s uncountable things, when fruit hung anonymously from scattered groves of trees, light on one smooth green side, shadow on the other.

-Billy Collins

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Sautéed Carrots

As a side, carrots make an amazingly simple dish.  Very little has gone into this prep:  get some fresh carrots from your farmers and quickly blanch, but not fully.  Using your fingers carefully remove the outer skin.  This will maintain the beautiful “ugliness” that make carrots so appealing.

Using fresh butter, sautéed the carrots until their color brightens.  Season.

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The colors of Fall fruits and vegetables in California are truly something to see and, along with their flavor, something to enjoy while they are in season. Persimmon capture the season like very few fruits do, and this recipe allows the Fuju varietal to speak for itself. Eaten whole, Fuju Persimmons taste somewhat like apples with some spices thrown in for good measure. Think cinnamon and nutmeg, with a hint of honey. This pairs well with game birds, light meats, and chicken. Ingredients a/n Persimmon, Fuyu, peeled and diced a/n Butter Salt Method Sweat the Persimmon in butter to soft; season. Purée using a blender using a small amount of water to help the process (if needed). Store.

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Recipe:  Fall Harvest By Chef Joy Cuevas

Spiced Rum Panna Cotta Ingredients 90ml Heavy Cream 2oz Spiced Rum 1ea Vanilla Pod 1ea Cinnamon Stick 75g Sugar 1ea Nutmeg 5ea Gelatin, Sheets

Method Boil all ingredients except the gelatin sheets; remove cinnamon stick and vanilla pod. Add gelatin sheets and pour mixture into molds.

Honey Brown Butter Madeleine Ingredients 6ea Eggs 6oz Sugar 1oz Brown Sugar 0.5tsp Kosher Salt 2ea Lemon, zest 1ea Orange, zest 8.2oz AP Flour 0.5Lbs Brown Butter, melted 0.25oz Baking Powder 1.12oz Honey 1tsp Vanilla Extract

Method Sift dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.  Mix on low speed using whisk attachment.  Add lemon and orange zest.  Add the eggs, vanilla extract, and honey.  Add the brown butter. Bake at 350F for 10mns, rotate and bake for another 10 minutes until done.

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Fall Harvest by Pastry Chef Joy Cuevas

This next dish is by Chef Joy Cuevas who currently runs the pastry program at SOCA in Sherman Oaks.  Chef Cuevas had spent years in some of Los Angeles’ top kitchens including Bouchon Beverly Hills, London West Hollywood, Montage, and The Sunset Marquis Hotel.

Based around a spiced rum panna cotta, Chef Cuevas really wanted to do something different with a butternut squash and wanted to incorporate it with earthy spices.  

The dish also includes a honey brown butter madeleine, butternut squash confit, pumpkin seed glass, and maple shaped edible hibiscus leafs.

The dessert speaks of the season showcasing an ingredient which may be somewhat overlooked.  And the result is visually stunning, with a light, complex taste that encompasses the colors and flavors of Fall.

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Avocado & Lima Bean Mash Scarlet Runners, Grilled Cactus Market Greens w Prickly Pear & Passion Fruit

This recipe could not get any easier. For the avocado & lima bean mash:  mortar + pestle, mash chunky, add lime juice and season w salt.

To keep the color of the scarlet runner beans from greying out, vinegar is added to the water: Add enough water to cover the surface of the scarlet runners with 1 inch of water, add ~1tsp vinegar for every cup of water used, bring to a boil, cover and remove from the heat.  Let sit overnight or for at least one hour to cool. Reserve.

For the cactus leaf:  Clean to get rid of the spines, you don’t need gloves just be careful, otherwise you’ll learn quickly; grill til charred, this will add flavor and rid the mucilage. Vinaigrette:  Juice the prickly pear and passion fruit, I used a food mill, but a strainer works.  Season, add a touch of olive oil, aim for a thin vinaigrette.   Using market greens, toss w the scarlet runner beans and grilled cactus, I’ve additionally added tomatoes and small radish. Serve. Don’t put it on toast.

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The State of Toast in Los Angeles (or, Avocado No Toast)

In the future, when aliens discover a time capsule from 2017, they will find two items that have become ubiquitous in our city's weekend morning ritual:  a piece of artisanal toast, and an odd looking teardrop shaped fruit from an avocado tree.

This breakfast/brunch combo has been around long enough to be considered a staple in most coffee places around town, it's tasty and easily put together, and most importantly, an easy opportunity for social media food porn. So what's my complaint?  What bothers me so much about this, this thing?  isn't it just a piece of toast? and why do I let it get to me so much? It's the laziness, the lack of imagination.  It's the automatic menu-adding and the thoughtlessness behind the whole thing.  It's that, aside from a few places, everyone is doing the same thing, adding just enough garnishes to render this a photo op.  It's that food tourists come to LA and robotically order and eat it this like some rite of passage.  It's that it's blasphemy to say you don't like a) toast or b) avocado or c) avocado + toast.  There is nothing worse than walking into a shop, ordering a coffee, asking for something small to eat, and getting offered a piece of bread with nature's butter mindlessly slathered on it for the price of the average hourly working wage, all the while sounding like this is some sort of culinary innovation. It's that I hear bros saying the word "guac" and it drives me fucken nuts. I know, slow breaths, it's ok it’s alright nothing’s wrong.  One day we'll realize it was just an overpriced bruschetta and we'll all have a good laugh about it.

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Aguachile Rojo

Ingredients Limes Grapefruit Tangerine Habanero Peppers Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce Shrimp, Whole, Large Method Cure the shrimp in lime juice, strain, add grapefruit and tangerine juice, habaneros, and chipotles to taste.  Puree.  Serve.

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For these two aguachiles, I will forgo a recipe and detail the ingredients that were used along with the method.  This will be the way most of the recipes will be posted going forward.  This lack of hand-holding will be expanded on a separate post, but it's something I've been thinking a lot of lately, and it's led me to think that most people, though they may love food, they don't necessarily love cooking.A quick walk down any cookbook aisle will be filled with spines reading Fast, Easy, Quick, Under 30 Minutes, Simple, etc... anything to get people to spend less time in the kitchen.  That is the opposite of what I like.  I love being in the kitchen and cooking and spending time in there, eating the food is the reward.  Or maybe not.  It may not even be good.  It might suck.This is not taking into account the time thinking, the planning sourcing shopping blah blah blah.So, if you want an easy meal, I think Gwyneth has got you covered.

Ingredients Serrano Peppers Limes Cilantro Pepitas (pumpkin seeds) Scallops Method Cure the scallops in lime juice, strain, add serranos, cilantro, and pumpkin seeds to taste.  Puree.  Serve.

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Aguachile Negro con Langosta

If you've never had aguachile (or heard of it) then it's relatively easy to imagine.  A close and obvious relative would be ceviche, but where ceviche is composed mainly of fresh lime juice, aguachile has the addition of chile peppers to the lime juice.  And that addition is important here, as the name implies. To have a mild aguachile is to miss the point entirely.  Not to say the peppers should overpower the taste of the shrimp, lobster or what seafood may be added, but it should be as pronounced as the other ingredients. Think, to double down here, of a peppercorn sauce.  Most sauces will/may contain peppercorns, but the addition of a substantial amount of peppercorns to a cream sauce is what gives it character and taste, thus: peppercorn sauce. These next few recipes featuring aguachiles take some liberties from what may be found in street vendors or restaurants, but it's the balance of tastes with the citrus and chiles that matter.

The marinade for the lobster tail is made of lime juice, oranges, and habanero.  Tarragon was used in place of Hoja Santa, which would have added a mint/licorice/anise flavor, but tarragon works as a substitute.  Look for a balance here, but about 50% lime juice will help.

There are lots of ways of easily taking the lobster tail whole, but using a knife cut down both sides of the underside of the shell and carefully pull, it should be simple.  Cut into chunks and marinate for about 2 hours.  Strain, add ink, and puree. Serve with cactus salad.

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Grill Recipe: Kumquat, Green Beans, & Red Bell Pepper Matambre

If you're not familiar with this Argentinian dish try seeking it out:  it is usually stuffed with vegetables, sometimes a hard boiled egg, and w chimichurri on the side.  This version takes a local approach and is stuffed with what was available at the farmers. The flank is quickly marinated with olive oil, garlic, parsley, and kumquats, (a bastardized version of a chimichurri?), stuffed with green beans and red bell peppers, then rolled, tied, and marked on the grill.  Place it over indirect heat for ~12mns and you're left with a great summer dish, with a colorful presentation.

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Grilled Summer Vegetables w Grilled Garlic Vinaigrette

Summer in California is long.  And, actually, many vegetables which may be around a month or a few weeks somewhere else (provided, ahem, you are indeed shopping at a farmers) can be found here in Sunny Southern almost year round.  So go to your farmers and grab something in season, it wont be what is pictured here but it's the freshness that counts.

But as far as grilling, heres what I did which translates well to most other veggies:  place on hot grill to mark, transfer to indirect/low heat till somewhat soft.  Remove, cool, cut to desired sizes, dress.

Place garlic bulb over indirect heat on the grill to soft.  Remove bulbs and, using a mortar and pestle, make a vinaigrette using lemon as acid.  3:1 is your ration here, but it can vary.  Season.

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Wild Mushroom Tart Sage Crust Garlic & Shallot Cream

This savory tart recipe aims to bridge our Spring season with that of Summer while being visually attractive, since we eat with our eyes first (as they say), then with our sense of smell, and finally our sense of taste. Save for the garlic and shallot cream, I will not be spelling out a recipe because the ingredients are interchangeable:  substitute parsley or thyme or your favorite herb for the sage.  Grab your favorite mushies or find some you've never used before, you really can't go wrong. Recipe:  Garlic & Shallot Cream Heavy Cream, whipped to medium Sour Cream Garlic, microplaned or finely minced Shallot, microplaned or finely minced Method:  Fold the sour cream, garlic, and shallot into the whipped heavy cream, season. Reserve.

The recipe for the tart crust is the same as the one used for the Strawberry Tart recipe with the omission of the chamomile dust.  Instead, whole sage  leaves, brushed with butter, are placed on the dough after blind baking, allowing them to fry.  Frying whole herbs is one of my favorite kitchen tricks; the herbs mellow out while still being very present, lending their aroma to the dish, and none of the bitterness associated with eating raw herbs.

For the mushrooms I am using fresh Forest Nameko which have a delicate meaty flavor, quickly sautéed in browned butter. Most wild mushrooms will do though we are lucky at the Hollywood Farmers Market to have the amazing selection from the LA Funghi (I know I know). To finish off drizzle some of the garlic and shallot cream on top and garnish w some edible flowers.

Enjoy.

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Cherimoya & Strawberry Tart, Chamomile Pastry Crust Cherimoya/Chamomile Cream Cheese Frosting Cherimoya Glaze

Chamomile Pastry Crust 1ea Chamomile Pastry Dough (recipe here) Roll out Pastry dough to 0.25" even thickness, enough to cover 9" tart pan. Blind bake at 350F for 20mns. Cool. Fully bake crust to golden.  Reserve.

Cherimoya & Strawberry a/n Cherimoya, seeds removed, medium dice a/n Strawberries, sliced lengthwise a/n Caster or Fine Sugar a/n Lemon, juice Toss cherimoya in sugar and add lemon juice to coat; reserve excess cherimoya liquid. Do same with strawberries; reserve in separate bowls.

Cherimoya/Chamomile Cream Cheese Frosting a/n Cream Cheese, soft a/n Sugar a/n Reserved Cherimoya Liquid a/n Chamomile Dust (recipe here) Whip cream cheese, add sugar to taste; add cherimoya liquid to taste making sure frosting does not become runny.  Fold in chamomile dust.

Cherimoya Glaze 1part Water 1part Sugar a/n Cherimoya Liquid Make a thick simple syrup w equal parts water/sugar, add cherimoya liquid to taste; reserve.

Spread frosting on crust, arrange diced cherimoya and sliced strawberries, brush with cherimoya glaze; garnish w chamomile flowers and sprinkles of chamomile dust. Keep cool until serving.

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Recipe: Chamomile Tart Crust

For this next set of recipes, the crust of the tart takes center stage - with minor steps, the character of the crust is transformed into the centerpiece of the pastry. Cherimoya and strawberries are used for the topping, with chamomile being used three ways: as part of the dry ingredients, in the pastry cream and, finally, a dusting of the flowers before serving.

I will go into cherimoya on a later post because, though we’ve all see in it at our farmers, it still feels a bit strange, but it’s an amazing native fruit that has a beautiful, pillowy custard texture with a delicate tart/sweet flavor.

The recipe is in baker’s percentages because, in the long run, it is easier to work with, but 150g (100%) of flour will yield one 9" tart shell.

Chamomile Dust 2ea, Fresh Chamomile Bunches

Pick the chamomile flowers; place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 250f/120c for ~20mns to dehydrate flowers. Place flowers in a mortar & pestle, grind finely, sift. Reserve.

Ingredients & Method 50% Sonora Wheat Flour 50% All Purpose Flour 10% Chamomile Dust 5% Fine Sea Salt 100% Butter, unsalted, cold, cubed 10% H20, cold 10% Vodka, cold

Sift together flours, dust, and salt. Add butter; using a bowl scraper cut butter into the flour/dust mixture. Add H20/Vodka in small amounts until a moist dough comes together. Shape into 500g disks; reserve cold.