A Most Refreshing Summer Fruit Salad
by Karisa Lowe
14 June 2010
Fresh berries are one of my favorite things about the summer. I am also fortunate enough to live in a gorgeous part of Southern California, Ventura County to be more specific, which is the perfect mix of coastal and agricultural country. And it just so happens that some of the agriculture we grow here are strawberries. As I may have mentioned before, my hometown Camarillo, has the best strawberries hands down.
Growing around the world’s best strawberries was a pretty sweet life, pun intended. When March rolled around I could practically taste the strawberries ripening. For weeks my family would start stalking our favorite strawberry stand to see if they were open yet. Then finally that glorious day would arrive, the day the strawberry stand on the corner of Las Posas Road would crack open their window and fly their flag signaling all of Camarillo that the strawberries were finally back! My family would flock over to the stand, even though we knew the first berries of the season were usually not that great. But as the season progressed the berries would just get redder and sweeter until they finally peaked in July.
Tomato Sauce
by Bradley Kenyon
13 June 2010
A wise man once told me about the triangle. He told me the triangle would define everything I would ever encounter. It goes like this: easy, cheap, good. Pick two. It can be easy and cheap, but it won’t be good. It can be easy and good, but it won’t be cheap. Or, it can be cheap and good, but it won’t be easy.
Dear Mr. Wisdom,
You were wrong.
sincerely,
me
Wild Rice Salad
by Karisa Lowe
10 June 2010
One of my favorite restaurants is Rutherford Grill in Napa Valley, California. They have the most amazing appetizers and side dishes! One of their most scrumptious side dishes is their wild rice salad. The wild rice salad and coleslaw (cross your fingers that I can figure out that recipe next) make the best side dishes for anything you could possibly order at Rutherford Grill.
In defense of brussels sprouts
by Karisa Lowe
3 June 2010
I feel sorry for brussels sprouts. Out of all the vegetables, they have the worst reputation. Maybe it started with elementary school cafeterias serving over-boiled brussels sprouts for lunch or maybe they serve it in prison, but wherever it started, the myth that brussels sprouts are gross is alive and well.
Fortunately, I never had the bad experience most people seemed to have had with brussels sprouts. My first encounter with this underappreciated vegetable was in the beautiful Napa Valley in Northern California during my time spent there working on my undergraduate degree. It is not unusual to see brussels sprouts as a side dish in many of the restaurants in the Valley. The first time I ate one of those curiously perfect miniature cabbages, I was sold. The slightly sweet charred flavor that had seeped into many of the dishes, perfectly complemented the slight bitterness of the brussels sprout. From then on, I set about trying to figure out how to achieve the perfect symphony of flavors for a great brussels sprout recipe.
Farfalle with broccoli pesto
by Bradley Kenyon
30 May 2010
Recipe: Farfalle with broccoli pesto
Ingredients
- 1 cup of broccoli florets
- 3/4th cup parsley leaves, minced
- 1/4th cup olive oil
- 1/4th cup mint leaves, minced
- 2 tsp. lemon juice
- 1 tsp. grated lemon zest
- 1 tsp. capers
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- salt (to taste)
- pepper (to taste)
- 6 oz. farfalle pasta
Instructions
- Boil a large pot of water. Add the broccoli and cook for 3 minutes (or until tender). Remove the broccoli with a slotted spoon and rinse under water.
- Finely chop the broccoli. Combine the broccoli, parsley, oil, mint, lemon juice and zest, capers, garlic, salt, pepper, and 1/8th cup of broccoli cooking water in a bowl. Mix well.
- Cook pasta according to the packages directions in the broccoli cooking water (adding water if needed). Drain the pasta and, finally, toss it with the pesto.
