School Garden Programs in Temecula

Gardening.. we all seem knee deep in the dirt, not a bad place to be these days.



A quick update on the school garden digs that I am working. We currently have 21 schools signed up with Slow Food Temecula Valley another 14 wait in the wings. Hence, I am hell bent on raising the $ and man power to throw down and get-her-done. So May 31st, at Leonesse Family Cellars Slow Food partners up with our local farmers, chefs & vintners to raise awareness, money and taste buds. $35 for slow food members and educators- $45 for general public.. not bad for a day of food and wine.. plus you get to watch me cook.. what more could you possible wish for on a Sunday afternoon! The event is appropriately titled, "Field To The Fork".

Tickets go up for sale next week at brown paper tickets.. keep an eye, they'll go fast! Just type in "Field To The Fork" in the search box.

Go Slow.. Eat Well... and get rid of your damn grass! It's garden time!

Slow Food in Schools!

When the server goes down.. it takes your whole damn life with you. Try getting any one normal thing done when your on-line service fails. I totally forgot how to fry an egg!

Regardless, we're back on the foodie blogging train. Lots to chat about, not entirely sure where to begin.. maybe we should jump head first into Slow Food.

I am extremely impressed with the new Middle School group at Hillcrest Academy . Where a solid group of 10-13 years old students, are running their own chapter of Slow Food. Totally rocks my world, and I am proud to be their guide. To watch the way their little wheels turn when you pose a question, or the sparks that fly at the birth of a new idea, and the best.. how far open their jaws drop at staggering food/farming facts. Its an adolescent foodie revolution!

Each Slow Food in Schools project works closely with our local chapter to teach students where there food comes from, who grows it, how to prepare it, and the importance of sharing it with friends and family. Slow Food in Schools projects are designed to address the specific needs of the communities they serve. Using good, clean, and fair food as the guide, project leaders develop creative, fun, hands-on lessons, that teach each member many food, garden, farming, carbon foot print.. lessons.

This chapter is the first to form in a middle school, in our great nation, so my hat is off to this mighty group of leaders!

Wheat Free, Gluten Free French Toast with Sauteed Apples & Agave

Gigi's Wheat & Gluten Free French Toast Recipe
Gigi is 6 years old, and one hell of a little chef!

6 slices of Light Tapioca bread
2 eggs- (we like the organic-omega 3 eggs)
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup milk (we use goat or rice)
1/4 cup Greek Strained (Fage) Yogurt
pinch cinnamon
Tsp lemon zest
1/2 fresh lemon
1 Tbl spoon Agave (and a bit more for bread)
2 small or 1 large Fuji Apple
2 thin round cuts of pineapple
4 tabs of organic butter

Hand beat eggs (with a fork), then add cream, milk, cinnamon & yogurt to eggs, continue beating until combined.. 20 or so odd seconds, and let stand.

Slice apples (you can leave the skin on or off- up to you). Get your skillet nice and hot- medium/high add your 2 tabs of butter. Once butter is melted (be careful not to burn the butter, you'll burn out all the yummy fatty milk solids) add apple slices. You need to stand watch over this process, burnt apples suck. When apples are a light brown, add the Agave (to taste.. we use the full Tbl spoon) incorporate into apples, and let them go until they are caramelized (3-5 minute process) squeeze a bit of fresh lemon into apples right at the last second. Push apples to the far side of pan, add a bit more butter (to already hot pan), add pineapple rounds & a bit more agave. Seer until caramelized (about 1 minute). Use the same pan for the french toast, reserving all the yummy bits from the fruit.

Give your batter a quick beat & add the lemon zest, then begin dipping your bread. Be careful with the Tapioca, corn or rice breads, they fall apart easily. I dip them once on each side, and give them a quick poke in the middle to assure they are moist enough. Add your remaining butter to your hot pan (med/high heat), and get your bread going. Once both sides are browned, add a nice drizzle of Agave to one side, then turn it over to caramelize the sugars on the bread (5-10 seconds).

Plate: french toast, apples, french toast- on a slant, then garnish with your caramelized pineapple round. **warm 100% maple syrup is the best, with applewood smoked bacon! YUM!

Go, eat french toast, be merry and stuff your face!
Gigi would like to remind all of you, that she is the best cooker's Daughter!

Culinary Institute of America in Southern California Wine Country

CIA was here in our beautiful wine country region of southern California, just two weeks ago. It poured rain the entire time they were here.. and today it is a balmy 75.. poor saps. Despite the weather, they ate like queens and kings. We fed them braised boneless short ribs in a fennel & mission fig reduction over pureed parsnips and Yukon's gold potatoes. Served with Nic Palumbos Sangiovese, perfect for the cold weather. Then we topped it off with warm chocolate pudding and a shot of champagne chambord with a fat red raspberry!

It's amazing at 7:30pm, that my eyes are already blurred with fatigue. I hear the wee 6 year old up stairs.. splashing around in the tub like a soon to be snagged little yellow fin tuna.. yum.. I must go bite her! She insists she is the best cooker in town, and she's probable not to far off. She has a French toast recipe that she will be posting over the weekend.. so stay tuned, it will knock your socks off.

Back to my point.. CIA students, temecula, wine, food, inspiring... As I see it, we chefs have an obligation to those we cook for. To feed the masses good clean food, and to boycott the conventional growers/vendors. Maybe then they will get the message that we are sick of being sick. This is what I spoke about with the students.. mind you the topic of conversation was inspired by them. They asked all the right questions (as far as I was concerned) and seemed sincerely interested in acquiring the knowledge that many of us veterans have in our organic souls. How to forage local organic faire.. and serve it at a decent price point. Because after all, everyone deserves delicious, healthy & freshly prepared foods.

So much food, so little time..

Best Brunch in Silverlake, Organic, Local and Fresh!

LOCAL.. a relatively new 'spot on' restaurant in the hood of Silverlake, California.

I was meeting the girls to celebrating Meesh Goode's birthday. I showed up first to nab a table for our party of 7. I had cake in one hand, champagne in the other and the place was packed! Sam (who greets, serves and entertains you) quickly relieved me of said goodies and zipped both cake and bubbly to safety, while Jack whipped me up a perfectly made macchiato. What Service!

Then I headed outside to pounce on the first available table. This took a bit of time.. so of course I began plotting an evil plan to overtake some poor bastards table, when my girl Nicole Mirante showed up.. distracting me from causing a major Sunset Blvd. Coo.

Once we were all present and seated we goggled and drooled over the menu.. so many pork-del-e-icious items for the bacon hoover (guess who that might be), perfectly tantalizing no-meat dishes for our sweet vegetarian and for the super freak-love of my life Thomas.. no gluten or sugar dish. See.. something for everyone! Check out the pics.. S.G. (Sarah George the infamous documentary film maker) was having a field day with me and my food-camera antics.. but non-the-less.. I got right in their little foodie faces, and snapped away.


Chef and owner Jason Michaud rocks.. (because the birthday cake was cut with his knife!) He hails from such restaurants as Traxx and Cobras and Matadors, plus he's cute to boot. Being the super 'enviro-green-freak-chef' that I am, I was stoked to see that he uses only recycled and/or 100% biodegradable packaging and features natura water system . He forages the freshest, organic ingredients he can get his paws on.. including Diestal turkey, Heritage Foods and local produce from our areas many boutique and organic small farms. I love his menu, his food and his super dynamite staff who ALL went way beyond the call of duty to help everyone.

No corkage fee, which always makes a girl happy. The menu is delish.. mac & cheese was shared by all, Nic had the Portuguese inspired 'Linguisa Sausage & Eggs; Meesh the Quinoa Burger with grilled onions and Swiss cheese (girl knows how to order); SG & Thomas- a yummy veg omelet, while Chen and I savored the Pork BBQ Hash over grilled Potatoes with Farm Fresh Eggs on top. My and Chens favorite item on the menu- Side of Pork Belly, because who the hell ever offers a side of pork belly.. BRAVO! Now I just need a side of chocolate to dip my P.B in!

Go NOW.. leave your home, run, walk.. whatever, just go LOCAL!

LOCAL
Silver Lake
2943 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
http://silverlakelocal.com/

Fat Free Carrot Cake with sustainable sugar

Found this very yummy recipe from Florida Crystals Sugar company. They are a renewable energy facility.. striving to reduce the use of fossil fuels, and all done right here in the US of A.

While many organic sugars can really screw with your baking recipes.. this one is right on the money! Go for it, have some carrot cake!



Fat-Free Carrot Cake

Ingredients:
2 cups - packed finely grated carrots
1 1/2 cups - Florida Crystals® Demerara Sugar
1 3/4 cups - water
1 cup - raisins or other chopped dried fruit
1 Teaspoon - pure vanilla extract
3 cups - unbleached flour
1 Teaspoon - ground cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon - ground cloves
1/2 Teaspoon - ground ginger
1 Teaspoon - sea salt
1 Teaspoon - baking soda
2 Teaspoons - baking powder

Preparation:
In a saucepan, combine the carrots, Florida Crystals® Demerara Sugar, water, raisins or dried fruit, and vanilla. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover and let sit for at least an hour. In a large bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Whisk or stir to combine thoroughly and set aside.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees about 15 minutes before you are ready to mix the batter. Generously add oil and flour to a bundt pan.

Stir the cooled carrot mixture into the dry ingredients until no trace of flour is left. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake until cake feels firm (about 1 hour). cool in the pan for 10 minutes on a rack, then invert onto a serving plate.

Serving Quantity: 9 to 10

The Festival of brides at The Lovely Langham Hotel

I spent the entire day at The Langham Hotel in Pasadena , slinging hash on behalf of my catering company, "Delyte's". We were a vendor at The Festival of Brides, a bridel faire', which is my first.. so I am a virgin... No snickering if you please! I created food, live, for brides to sample. I love to nurture people, I love to create food.. so it seemed that this event would be a perfect fit for me, right?!

Well lets see, a diva chef with an attitude about her food, and bridezilla'a to be, not to mention the MOTHERS that were in tow. I put out some wicked samples of Flat breads with whipped mascarpone cheese, fig chutney and topped with a candied Mandarin-Kumquats ... the crowd went wild, home run, and the show really was not that bad. The Grande Dam who leads this perfectly executed event, Maryanne Bradley. She is savvy, funny and and a total doll to work with!

My pet peeve of the day... the acrylic-manicured fingers, that found their way into their mouths, then back into MY food. Gross! Where is George Costanza from Seinfeld, when I need him. Double dipping rule broken, and as George says, “That’s like putting your whole mouth right in the dip!”

All in all.. Maryanne puts on one hell of a show (double dipping not included)!

Eggs & Lamb Quarter Spinach Recipe

I've been cooking since 9am this morning, and besides tasting each recipe- I ate NOTHING. So now that I am home, its 10pm and I am starving. I knowwwww, "don't eat late at night.. bad for the big bouncing bottom", but I fear I may waste away, HA!.. so food it is.

I love eggs late at night.. mostly my crazy egg sandwich concoctions with pancetta and lots of cheese, but I am committed to keeping the caloric intake down (at the moment), So I'll make use of my produce drawer. I have onions, lambs quarter spinach, feta cheese, lemon & avocado.

This is the deal.. I served one.. but lets do this for two

1/2 small onion- sliced thin
1/2 Tsp lemon zest
1 cup (stuff it full) of Lambs Quarter (de-stem, use the flower bit) (if no L.Q.S in house- use regular spinach or chard or kale- any leafy yummy green will do the trick).
1 Avocado halved then cubed- set aside
1/4 Cup of feta, crumbled
smidgen Rooster sauce
4 Eggs

Once you've prepped all these ingredients (about 5 minutes)- dial your stove top flame to med/high, grab a medium sized pan and add 1 tbl spoon of OO (grapesead oil or flax works great too). Let it warm up then add the onions, fry these babies for about 3 min or until nice and browned. While the onions are doing their thing, scramble the eggs, feta & rooster sauce with a touch of creme, then set aside. Add the lamb quarter spinach & lemon zest to the onions stirring as you add- for about 1 minute. The Lambs quarter will crisp up a bit.. producing a unique bacon-esc flavor.

Remove onions & L.Q.S, set aside and use the same pan for the eggs mixture. Add a bit of OO, then the egg mixture. Stir the eggs the entire time they are in the pan, keep folding & stiring until they arrive at the consistancy you admire the most.

Plate the onions & L.Q.S, then the eggs, then add the avocado- sprinkling like confetti & top with salsa! Viola! Hey.. got creme fraiche, add a smidgen!

Thats Tight, Right!

So. Cal Chef on Leonesse Cellars & Dulce De Leche

So I have been bitched at for not having enough recipes up.. my goodness foodie-holics, hold on to your damn panties. Delyte's little kitchen gnomes are hard at work, creating delectable, enticing and sometimes ubiquitous recipes for all of you.

At the damn moment, I am up to my ears in recipe and menu creations for a tasting with Leonesse Family Cellars. Which means work for the Delyte Crew.. so no more bitching at us, after all we do have Drew for that, Ha!

I have to say that I am rather intrigued by the many varieties of Dulce de leche on the market. South America's sweet sensation, Dulce de Leche is a milky caramel that’s used in Argentina the way we use peanut butter or preserves here. Rich and creamy, you can spread it on toast or between your toes.. up to you of course. I am working it into one of my pork recipes.. yes.. to come, lots of pig and caramel yum!

So. Cal Chef in our Slow Food Garden

Went to Hillcrest Academy yesterday, to harvest from our 9 garden beds. I am the garden "beeatch"or liaison if you will. Myself and Anna Little are the school momma's, committed to educating our wee sprouts about food, where it comes from, how its grown etc.

I love the look on a kids face when they discover that carrots come from a plant that grows in the ground, and not from a container at the store! Seriously.. wowza! I won't even get into the reactions when the 6th graders found out that there was poop in the compost. I was explaining what nutrients food needs to grow, when one of the kids refused to put his hands back in the dirt. So I ate some (dirt), thinking it would relieve his mind a bit. It didn't, he puked, in MY GARDEN. So I used it for mulch.. No.. just kidding, but it did end that class with a lot of "eeeww, that was so gross" comments.

We built these 9 raised garden beds in October, and all our little baby seedlings made it through the crazy 32 degree weather we got hit with in December. Sage Mtn. Farms donated the organic seedlings! The garden is friggin' gorgeous.. I often play hooky -from the catering kitchen- ending up in the garden digging in the dirt. Here are some pic's.. POINT OF TODAYS BLOG- Grow your own food, rip out some grass, build a raised box, it is NOT rocket science, it is sooo easy.

Once its in, the maintenance is a breeze, and when you go to cocktail parties or dinner function, you are the coolest guest there, for bringing food you grew! (great pick up lines- "hey, I grow my own food, wanna see my garden, by moonlight!") HA!

Go For It.. get dirty!

Agricultural Biodiversity Threatened?

On March 11 a new documentary was aired on French television (ARTE – French-German cultural tv channel) by French journalist and film maker Marie-Monique Robin, The World According to Monsanto - A documentary that you won’t see on American television. The gigantic biotech corporation Monsanto is threatening to destroy agricultural biodiversity as we know it.

Check out the video when you have 45 minutes, The World According to Monsanto.

As a mama, a chef, and a slow food leader I urge all foodies to take a stand to protect our very precious, yummy and endangered Food system. Stand up, throw bad food at bad people & just say NO!

Slow Food Chef Works on Her Cooking Show

Sitting in the editing room with Pallas Weber (coolest editor evvvver), Sarah George and two farting dogs. We are going through the final cut of the 8 minute teaser of "Delyte's Green Table" which will be a 30 minute show, when the dogs just start letting loose. What the hell is up with dogs and their flagellants.. don't they know to excuse themselves!! What a great trick to teach dogs, then we could all brag, "my dog has better manners then your", "no, my dog has better manners". HA!

OK, so back to the show... we will be posting the teaser on U-Tube later this week. It is a very exciting moment for us, here at Delyte's, because we have been working on this concept for 2 years. We are all very excited! To dream an idea into reality is a very cool thing.

The show is about simple, local & affordable foods (aka SLA) and lest I forget.. the convivial aspect of breaking bread, sharing the joys of the table & bringing family/friends together. Because that what is really all about!

Go to Temecula Valley Slow Food for local info or national info.