Garlic Sausage

On with the sausage making, I went for the basic – garlic sausage from the Charcuterie cookbook. The recipe is simple. Basically pork seasoned with salt, black pepper, garlic and red wine. I added just a little bit of rosemary and thyme to this mix, not enough to make it an herb sausage necessarily but a garlicky one with subtle herb flavors. I browned it in a pan and finished it in the oven, turning out a juicy sausage for dinner.

I had a small savoy cabbage in the fridge from my last trip to the farmer’s market. I sauteed it in butter with a bit of brown mustard seeds, salt and white pepper. A few splashes of water went in to help the cabbage steam although some parts came out nutty and caramelized.

The red wine I used in the sausage is Rolling Hills Vineyard’s Pagor Red Table Wine 2007, a California tempranillo wine. It’s pretty tasty with a medium body and light berry flavors. It’s very drinkable on its own even without food. I was looking at the cool bottle the other day thinking that the artwork really looked like Gary Baseman. And it is! Good choice.

The Matt & Kimi Dinner

I recently presented my engaged couple friends with a special dinner in honor of their upcoming wedding. I started them off with an Arpege Egg, the genius recipe of Chef Alain Passard of L’Arpege in Paris. I had this at Manresa last year and fell in love with it. It’s basically a coddled egg yolk topped with tangy whipped cream and maple syrup. The combination of the flavors are amazing will brighten up your tastebuds for the meal.

Chermoula Shrimp Dinner

Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho, Meyer Lemon Olive Oil

I made a birthday dinner for my shellfish-centric pescatarian friend. I absolutely love vegetables and shellfish so this would be no glitch at all. The first course was a refreshing heirloom tomato gazpacho made with a mixture of heirloom tomatoes blended up with Perisan cucumbers, red peppers, garic, sherry vinegar and unfiltered extra virgin olive oil. Before serving I garnished the soup with diced tomatoes, red and green peppers, cucumber, chives and a final drizzle of meyer lemon olive oil and sherry vinegar. I loved the sweetness of the tomatoes and the tang of the vinegar in the chilled soup.

Potato, Chorizo & Pepper Tacos

The raw chorizo mixture had to marinate overnight to meld all the flavors together. The next day it was on and I excitedly made potato, chorizo & pepper tacos. I cooked the chorizo first in the pan then spooned it out to brown the boiled chopped potato, bell pepper and onion. The potato, pepper and onion soaked up all the flavorful chorizo drippings. When these were browned I added back the cooked chorizo and tossed the whole lot together. The mixture was scooped into an open-burner-warmed-and-charred-around-the-edges mini corn tortilla. I was very happy with my very first sausage making experience and the fruits of that labor that were befalling me.

To top the delicious tacos I made a spicy heirloom tomato salsa fresca with pineapple tomatoes and a proper amount of minced jalapenos.

A creamy guacamole was also in order.

I was introduced to this Spanish rose just recently at a Silverlake Wine tasting that recommended wines that went well with bbq foods. It’s been a pleasure drinking it nicely chilled on a warm day and it was great with the chile and spice inflicted chorizo tacos.

It was only fate for chorizo and eggs to become my delightful breakfast the following morning.