Food tips

Recently Real Good Fish reached out to me to see if I would try their services and share my experiences. I was already considering subscribing and am very happy to tell you about them. Real Good Fish is like a subscription based community-supported agriculture program (CSA) where you get a box of fresh produce only in this case, it's a share of fish or seafood each week. It's dropped off at a convenient location in the San Francisco Bay Area for you to pick up. You get a heads up the day before so you know what you are receiving. Sometimes you will receive things you may not ever be able to find at retail like Ridgeback shrimp or California red abalone but the newsletter and website provide storage tips and recipes.  So far I've received crab, abalone and halibut. It's always enough for 2-4 servings and costs $22. It's pretty much the freshest way to get your fish or seafood. It's all local, sustainable and the newsletter gives you details about who caught your...

If you live in California, you're probably sick of the rain. Of course, we need the rain after many years of drought but it's still somewhat tiresome. The wet weather has put me in the mood for comfort food and in particular braises, soups and stews. Truth be told, this particular dish is barely a braise. Chicken thighs are seared then finished on top of a melange of onions and fennel and some slices of lemon. It's soothing and familiar but lighter than traditional comfort food which was once synonymous with "heavy." Comfort food can be fresher and healthier than it used to be, but just as soul soothing.  Have you ever noticed how recipes often call for dry white wine? That always frustrates me and I vow not to do it moving forward. It's better to know which wine in particular works well in a given recipe. In this case, I think a crisp Sauvignon Blanc is great. I used  Joel Gott 2015 Sauvignon Blanc which has hints of lemongrass and tropical fruit and plenty ...

Earlier this year I received a lovely batch of lemons from Limoniera Ranch. They were so perfect I knew I wanted to preserve them. Preserved lemons are a wonderful ingredient to use in traditional Moroccan cuisine, but if you don’t cook Moroccan food very often, have no fear! They are more versatile than you might think. Making preserved lemons is more about technique than recipe. I use the general instructions from Paula Wolfert . The biggest difference is that I slice the lemons into quarters, I find them easier to squish into a Mason jar. Wolfert leaves them attached at the bottom. But beyond that, her recipe for packing them in a jar with salt and some lemon juice to cover them is pretty much perfect. But do use nice lemons, without blemishes and on the small side if possible. You can add black peppercorns or bay leaves, but I go simple just using lemons, lemon juice and kosher salt. Now when it comes to using them of course you can add to tagines, the most classic way to use them,...

The two most popular dinner requests in my household are for chili and roast chicken. They are both classic comfort foods and my husband never gets tired of eating either of them. It’s funny, because I rarely if ever make either one of them the same way twice. Chili is just a naturally adaptable recipe. Over the years I've posted recipes for  vegetarian white bean chili,  a budget friendly chili with a  mix of beans ,  chipotle pork chili and most recently for bison black bean chili . The ingredients change all the time depending on my mood and what I have on hand. But roasting a chicken is another story altogether. Like so many people I am always looking to improve how I make the perfect roast chicken. Mostly I spatchcock or butterfly it or roast pieces rather than a whole bird for more even and consistent results. But in this case, because Napa Grass Farmer had provided me with such a beautiful bird I thought I’d roast the whole thing.  I used Meyer...