andiesenji

I simply said he could be found at the Santa Monica market on Wednesday and Saturday, look for "The Mushroom Man".

Larb?

I would absolutely love to be turned loose in those markets. I would need a truck to haul everything home......... Your photos are awesome - that is, I am completely awed by them.

I just sent an email suggestion for this story to KTLA KTLA story email Anybody else want to join in?

Ooooooooh. I love the looks of the Chamba pots, must have one. Probably the 8 quart. It looks like it would be perfect for cooking feiojada. Many years ago we had a family of patients who lived half the year in the Valley and the other half in Brazil. I became good friends with them as their home was close to mine and they taught me how to make feiojada in the traditional way. One year they brought be a cooking vessel carved from soapstone, lid and all. It developed a lovely patina but I decided I did not want to take a chance on breaking it so have used cast iron instead. These pots look more like the traditional shapes used in Brazil.

I have had Vita-Mix blenders for many years and use them all the time. The "newer" one is 8 years old and I got it because it has a second "dry" container for grinding grain for bread baking. I had a hand-cranked mill at the time but was really unhappy with the resulting "flour" and the Vita Mix did a great job. If someone wants to see the video that comes with the V-M, I think I have an extra one. Of course I have since gotten a regular grain mill with a larger capacity, but I make soups with the V-M all the time. Cream soups are a cinch and, as I have mentioned before, you don't have to worry about scorching which makes the entire batch taste awful. I especially love carrot/ginger/sorrel soup made in the V-M. Chicken stock add carrots, ginger, sorrel, adjust amounts until it tastes right, add cream or milk, set for the recommended time and let it go until steam is coming out of the vented top. Pour into mugs and serve immediately. Pumpkin soup is also fantastic made in the V-M. Ditto corn soup, I make the soup, then when it is done, add some cooked and drained black beans, chopped cilantro and scallions. Fantastic, especially if the corn is freshly cut from the cob.

Therese, Thank you so very much for your lovely food and house blog. The food photos are excellent, the photos of your home show that it is a lovely, welcoming place where anyone would love to be invited. Your kitchen is as near perfect as one could wish and your remodel has been most successful. Thanks again for giving us an all too brief window into your life.

When I make rice pudding I use short grain rice. Arborio rice is okay but I get the most consistant results with Calrose short grain rice. In some places this is called "sushi rice" or sticky rice. First cook your rice the way it says on the package - I happen to like coconut so I use half water and half canned coconut milk. Cook it in a rice cooker, in a pan or however you like to cook it. You will need 1 1/2 cups of the cooked rice 1 1/2 cups half and half or whole milk if you are REALLY counting calories. (If you use skim milk I will not be responsible for the results!) 1/3 cup sugar 3/4 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1 tablespoon butter pinch of nutmeg (1/8 teaspoon) 1 extra large egg and 1/2 cup heavy cream, mixed together and beaten until frothy In a heavy saucepan or double boiler combine the first 7 ingredients. Bring to a simmer stirring often until it is thick and creamy. This will take about 20 minutes over medium heat. lower the burner to low. Stir in the egg/cream mixture Cook an additional 5 minutes over low heat. Ladle into dishes or (what I use) teacups or latte cups (bigger). If you like cinnamon, dust lightly with cinnamon sugar If you like raisins in your rice pudding, add them half way through the cooking - use Sultanas or golden raisins as they look nicer.

I posted many months ago about my very simple method. After DRY roasting the nuts, I put on my trusty exfoliating gloves, purchased at Cost Plus originally but more recently at Wal-Mart. supposed to smooth your skin, work out the cellulite, etc., but works good on persistent nut skins. It is sort of like using a soft, pliable sandpaper on the nuts. Works on other nuts too, for instance Brazil nuts - I should really post some pictures. Maybe the next time I use them. In the meantime, check at Trader Joes, they also have the peeled nuts as does just about any middle eastern market. P.S. additional non-nut hint! I also have one pair that I keep by the sink and use to remove the fuzz from Kiwi fruit. and to peel Kiwi fruit, I treat them as one would a peach or tomato, dip in boiling water then into cold water, skin comes off easily....

I am the purveyor they would not tell you about and I was told in no uncertain terms that it was illegal for me to continue the sale of wild mushrooms either at the farmers market or to restaurants. VERNY GRAJEDA is the officer that closed me down 310-655-8425 I have repeatedly asked for both in writting and verbaly why was I shut down and what do I do to reopen. Since Feb 2nd I have not recieved a single response. They , I believe , thought I would not pursue the matter and would just close my doors after 10 years. This is not the case I have required that the LA CO Health make a decision and that if it is illegal for clearwater farms to sell them why is it not illegal for Whole Foods, Spago, or any of the other many, many places this product is sold. They are unwilling to enforce anything beyond me at this point, This is why I turn to EGulleters for support. Those of you in the LA area that shop at any of the markets I atttend know me and know my product. I have supplied wild mushrooms to Campanile, Wolfgang Puck ( for his tv show 3 years ago), Mori Sushi, Granita, Capo, Bistro 21, Zax, Amuse cafe, Little Door, Les Duex Cafe ( now closed), Axe, Naya, House rest. ( now closed), and others. As well I have supplied the private chef industry for numerous people both famous and not. A well as hundreds of customers and lovers of fine food. David ← I just had a long conversation with this gentleman. (The correct number is 310 665 8450.) He said that the only permit that was filed was from the Forest Service and not the Agriculture department and the Ag commissioner had never wanted to get into this area of permits and appproved areas and etc. I suggested that he contact UC Davis and get information from the mycologist who has done a great deal of research on wild mushroom distribution, before jumping off into the mess that can develop from shutting down a reliable source of wild mushrooms. He seems to be afraid that if someone gets a toxic wild mushroom he will lose his job and will be blamed for it. I tried to explain that this makes no sense whatsoever but he is convinced that he is on the right path. As I suggested earlier, contact an ombudsman, get all the information you can on the subject and threaten a restraint of trade suit if they are allowing other sales of wild gathered mushrooms in the county - or other wild gathered produce (how about ferns, those are mostly all wild-gathered in this area, certainly not from any "approved" sources). I mentioned the wild-caught fish subject and he said the state does issue permits for catching fish. It seems to be a circular argument that needs someone with some clout to fix. Send a letter to the state's first lady. She likes mushrooms!

I use a fair amount of buckwheat. I include it in a grain/seed etc., mixture that I cook as a hot cereal, use in other dishes, in soups, in "wraps" such as grape leaves, and so on. I also grind my own for pancakes, addition to breads, rolls, quick breads and cakes. buckwheat is a very versatile and interesting grain. I have some growing out at the side of the driveway, which I let go to seed for the birds. I didn't plant it on purpose...... A package fell out of the van when I opened the side door a couple of years ago and I just left the stuff on the pavement figuring the birds would clean it up. They missed a few and it sprouted and I let it grow on its own. There are no sprinklers on that side of the driveway so the only things that grow there are the creeping thyme and another ground cover that needs little water. It does get watered once a week when the gardener hoses off the driveway.

I like it hot or cold and at any point in between. Savory rice pudding is especially good hot and it is difficult for me to wait until it has cooled enough to eat comfortably, before digging in. I like a sauce of a contrasting temperature on some sweet rice puddings. A hot, spicy cream sauce on a cold one, cold sauce on a hot pudding. I especially like hot rice pudding with some of my homemade lemon curd spooned onto the top and swirled into the top layer. (I usually have a dish of the stuff handy so when I get below the top layer and there is no more lemon curd, I can add more......... It is very indulgent.

The L.A. County Health Department does not always have the brightest and the best making policy and there are a great many irrational dictates that make no sense whatsoever. Probably some ignorant busybody filed a complaint and some equally ignorant minor bureaucrat jumped on it and passed it on to the decision makers who probably don't know a truffle from a horseapple and therin lies the problem. One needs to contact an ombudsman to help with this bureaucratic nonsense. It makes the county people look like idiots and they need to have this pointed out to them. Channel 5 and Channel 9 are pretty good at getting the word out when something like this happens, contact them. If a "name" for instance like Wolfgang Puck, would go on the air and point out that these are foodstuffs that are ALWAYS wild-gathered and are impossible to propagate in a controlled enviornment, then you can get some positive action. You simply have to compare it to wild-caught fish or a similar product.

There is some feeling (which some people feel is irrational) against eating horses, especially in this area. A few years ago there was a scandal revealed where a group of people were "adopting" horses that had been rescued from inhumane conditions or were adopting wild mustangs through a society that places them in pet homes. They were then shipping the horses off to Japan to be slaughtered for food. A great many people were horrified that they had contributed to a charity for animal abuse and then had the animals whisked off to be killed. Much outcry, fines and prison sentences for the perps, little girls walking in protest lines and so on. People who love horses (as pets, not on the table) really get up in arms about this subject. I have neighbors who will happily chow down on any kind of animal but threaten their horses with the dog food industry or the people food industry and you will have an "in-your-face" confrontation that will shake you to your shoes. One raises llamas and occasionally butchers one for meat but most of the offspring are sold as pets or for wool production. They are a cash crop. Her horses are pets, pure and simple and she would probably starve rather than butcher one of them for meat. Irrational perhaps, but that is the way things are here. Of course I feel the same way about my dogs. . . . . . . . . Maybe I am irrational too.

I have to confess that I often do not make my own crust for quiche. However I don't use the prepared frozen ones either. I always have frozen phyllo(filo) in the freezer and I use about 10 layers of this, with melted butter (those new silicone brushes are great for this), brushed on each leaf. Sometimes I sprinkle finely ground dried leek or chives between a couple of the layers for a bit of delicate flavor. I just drape the stuff over the tart ring and after I pour in the filling, and make sure it is filled to the outer edges, I roll a wooden pin over the thing to cut the edges. = no soggy crust.

I thought you might enjoy looking at these web sites, aunt Clara's Dominican recipes In searching for goat recipes, you get more USEFUL hits if you use chivo, chevon or cabrito. The following are all good, basic recipes. goat recipes Texas goat cookoff another recipe from Recipe source and if you wanted to know how healthy it is check this!

In my last post where I mentioned the thin jacket of fat, I was referring to the fat that looks sort of like netting and which, for the life of me, I cannot recall the name right now. Perhaps senility IS setting in. It is something I should know but for some reason.........escapes me.

This is another case where the dough may act differently in different climates. Here, in the desert when it is dry, they do not roll out as easily. When it is raining (like today) they would roll more easily and stretch to 10 x 10 inches. The point is not to get them too thin, they should have some substance. I would suggest you make a test batch first, just make the pastries, Anka makes them and brushes them with warm honey and sprinkles with cinnamon (sometimes with chocolate sprinkles) and doesn't layer them. The traditional way is to make the layered thing but she likes to bake them and use them in different ways. Anka calls the puff pastry thing Wien Torta (in the style of Vienna) Czorna is fairly close to the Austrian border and as I mentioned in an earlier post, there is a lot of cross culture. The Hungarian pastry chefs that worked for my mom made similar things and after all these years I can't remember what they called them but most things like this were referred to as torten. They also make something identical to kolachy which are usually considered a Czech pastry, but Anka makes little ones that are two-bite size and simply delicious, especially the ones with cheese and fruit combined. She calls them kolaken. (my phonetic spelling). I dry a lot of fruit, make a lot of preserves - I documented my apricot preserve making in the microwave last July - and Anka loves to use these in the pastries she makes.

I buy chivo (goat) at the local Mexican markets and meat markets (carnicerias). I use it for stew, for chili, roasts or ribs, braised, and for rouladen, again braised but the meat is pounded out into a thin slab and rolled around a filling. Goat meat is sweet and does not have the gamy flavor of "late" lamb or young mutton, which I do not like at all. It is quite lean and I add beef suet or lardons when I do the roasts or rouladen and when I grind it for making a type of spiced meatball with a mixture of bulgur and rice (similar to kefta). A hindquarter (upper thigh) should be cut crossways into rounds by the butcher and you then treat it as you would beef shanks or lamb shanks, braising is best here also. Goat meat from the shoulder makes great kabobs, cut into cubes and marinated in a yogurt based marinade to tenderize the meat and also flavor it. The flank meat is fairly tender and can be marinated and barbecued and sliced crossway as you would a London broil. Kid is much more delicate than lamb and can be roasted whole in a large barbecue, rubbed with lemon and garlic, stuffed with lemons, onion and thyme and wrapped with a thin jacket of fat.

A footnote about the White Lily flour. Anka loves this flour. She says back home they could not always get good flour. Her brother worked at a hotel and sometimes could buy a little pastry flour for special baking. The White Lily is very like the extra fine pastry flour she remembers.

Here is Anka Hargitay's recipe for Zserbo cookie/cake Zserbo Flour, 2 cups regular, 2 cups pastry or cake flour (or use all White Lily southern type flour) XXX sugar, 1 level cup. Butter, 5 tablespoons unsalted 2 large eggs, beaten until frothy honey, warmed and strained, 1/4 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup. Place first 3 ingredients in bowl of food processor. Pulse until it looks like coarse bread crumbs. Mix together eggs, honey and sour cream and add to mixture in processor. Pulse just until dough forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes. Set oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with bakers parchment. Divide the chilled dough into 4 parts. Roll each part into a square about 1/8 inch thick and place on cookie sheet. If you don't have room in your oven to bake them all at once, keep dough chilled while you do the first two, then make the next two. Set aside to cool. Filling 2 cups XXX sugar 3/4 cup superfine sugar 1/4 cup cake flour 1 cup half and half 1 cup melted butter 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Place XXX sugar, superfine sugar and the flour in a bowl over simmering water (or a double boiler) Add the half and half a little at a time, stirring constantly until it gets thick like pudding then stir in the melted butter and beat until creamy. Measure out 1/3 of the filling and spread on the bottom layer cookie. Add another cookie and spread 1/3 of the filling on it Repeat again with the final portion of filling Top with the last cookie. Cut into 2 inch squares and sprinkle with XXX sugar or XXX sugar mixed with cocoa powder. Anka says, "A little whipped cream on the top doesn't hurt."

I love quiche and have been making it for many, many years, long before it became "trendy" and long before it appeared on neighborhood restaurant menus. I think my quiche are pretty good, but the best I have ever tasted and would love to be able to duplicate, are served at the Hotel Del Coranado in San Diego. Coming in as a close second are the quiche served at the Ritz-Carleton in Laguna Nigel at their wonderful brunch on Saturday and Sunday. They are light, almost like a soufflé in texture and the crust is always crisp, never soggy. I have shamelessly begged for the recipe/technique but never get anything more than a smile and shake of the head. Someday..............

There are so many kinds of magic in the kitchen it is difficult to choose which to mention. I suppose the one that most fascinates me is when one starts out with plain milk and with a few minimal additives and a certain amount of time, it turns into cheese with its myriad complex flavors. However another magic is simply GRAVY, one moment it is a smear of fat and starch in the bottom of the pan and the next moment it is a heavenly sauce.

Frankly, Jason has pretty much said exactly what I have to say and has said it quite eloquently.

My lunch today is half a can of stewed tomatoes (DelMonte) and some saltines. unheated, though I could if I wanted to.