04 Jan 2013 21 Comments
in Food, Pork Tags: caviar, fois gras, Kobe beef, langoustine, matsutake, New Year's Eve, pork belly, salmon, Topanga
Another year come and gone. And with it, another of my New Year’s Eve dinners — a tradition that’s been going on for as long as I can remember.
Each year I push myself a little further, and this may have been the best meal yet. Even the strange inspiration to accent vodka-cured ivory salmon and caviar with a black licorice reduction was delicious. More
29 Dec 2012 10 Comments
in Food, Observations Tags: caviar, fois gras, food, Kobe beef, New Year's Eve, salmon, Seville bitter oranges, Snake River, white truffles
It begins with a few sketches. Not physical drawings, but culinary ideas thrown down on paper — or in this case, a Microsoft Word document on the computer.
I’m speaking of my annual New Year’s Eve dinner, in which my wife and I host up to a dozen friends — many of them the same for more than a decade — and present a dinner of anywhere from eight to 12 courses.
Matsutake mushroom duxelles for course #5
The planning begins with a consideration of the time of year, and what sorts of things I have on hand or might be likely to find at the market. For example, I’ve usually just returned from my mother’s house in Sonoma, and often come back with pounds of prime wild mushrooms — as I did this year. More
16 Oct 2012 7 Comments
in Food, On the Road Tags: Au Pied De Cochon, duck, fois gras, food, Montreal, Pork
The texts and emails began arriving in earnest on a Thursday afternoon. Friends Don and Monica were in Montreal, they had booked a reservation in one of the city’s most talked about restaurants, Au Pied de Cochon, and they wanted me to know about it.
First came links to Yelp, followed by one to the restaurant’s own website, and finally photos of the food they were eating — fois gras poutine, steak tartare, fois gras hamburger and something called “Duck in a Can.” More
13 Apr 2012 6 Comments
in On the Road, Recipes, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories) Tags: asparagus, dining, fois gras, food, Malibu, pork belly, ravioli, recipes, Steve McQueen
Fois gras ravioli with pickled fennel, shimeji mushrooms and marscapone cheese — at Chez McQueen
* * *
Here’s the way I like to imagine it:
McQueen is out on the deck drinking his whisky, his khakis rolled up and his feet on the railing, watching the sea crash on the rocks just below. He’s surprised to find a stranger at his stove cooking, but only shrugs. After a bit he comes in to freshen his drink, and asks me what the hell I’m doing in his kitchen. More
03 Apr 2012 16 Comments
in Recipes, Video Tags: D'Artagnan, Derby pie, Dungeness crab, fois gras, iberico bellota, Kobe beef, Kumamoto oysters, pork belly, Sauternes, sevruga caviar
What to get the guy who has everything for his birthday? Something that will not take up space, and that preferably disappears quickly. Why, food and drink, of course!
Pork belly confit with fava beans
“It’s your birthday. We should be throwing a party and cooking for you,” said my friend Nat when I invited him to my very small birthday celebration. One should do exactly as one chooses on their birthday, I reassured him. And for me, that meant not going to a club or out to a fancy restaurant, but surrounding myself with my kids, a few close friends, and some really good food and wine. More
skinny girls & mayonnaise 