Somewhere Over the Rainbow Chard

22 Nov 2013 20 Comments

by scolgin in Recipes Tags: , , , , , , , ,

I love Swiss chard, it’s one of the best greens in my opinion. It cooks up velvety and has a beautiful earthy flavor.

Rainbow chard from Malibu (more glamorous than other rainbow chard)

Rainbow chard from Malibu (more glamorous than other rainbow chard)

So I was thrilled at the Friday farmer’s market here in Topanga to discover bags overstuffed with leaves of rainbow chard — white, golden and red. The chard was grown in Malibu, so they were charging $5 for it. (Usually I have rainbow chard growing in my own garden for free, but things have lately gone fallow.) Smitten, I bought the chard anyway. More

Make Your Own Pork Pops at Home

01 Mar 2013 6 Comments

by scolgin in Food, Humor, Pork, Recipes Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

The other night I was drinking wine and eating monkfish liver with my culinary soulmate, Donnie, and lamenting about when odds-and-ends meat cuts become trendy and then are suddenly expensive.

Pork pops

Pork pops

Take the case of the aforementioned monkfish liver. It used to be the rare non-Japanese person who would try this odd delicacy at the sushi bar, and I could buy a whole softball-sized liver at the Japanese market for a few bucks. More

Afternoons with Henri

03 Feb 2012 4 Comments

by scolgin in Observations, Pork Tags: , , , , , , ,

I often get asked a tough question, in regard to either our pig Henri, or one of our dozen or so chickens. “So,” the person will begin… “Are you going to… you know…” In the beginning I didn’t know, and was aghast when they would finish their query.

“Eat them!??” I would wince. “They trust me.”

With the chickens it makes more sense. They’re not very smart. And after a couple years, they stop laying and then live another 7 or 8. But I wouldn’t be able to slaughter them, and even if I had someone else do it, I’d be wondering which one I was eating. More

Let Them Eat Flowers

26 Aug 2011 Leave a comment

by scolgin in Recipes, Video Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

We stopped by our friend Heather’s house the other evening for a visit. On the counter were two enormous zucchini.

“Did someone leave those on your porch?” I asked.

“My client gave them to me,” she replied.

How generous of them, I thought to myself.

“They’re too big to eat, right?”

“Well,” I pondered, “you could make a parmagiana kind of thing with them. I’ve got a good recipe for Greek zucchini balls. But those would make about 400.”

Zucchini blossoms

I’m always wary of the food-giving generosity of friends, neighbors, loved ones, strangers and clients. More