First Patio Dinner of the Summer

I love eating al fresco, and am lucky enough to have a sizeable patio suitable for summer barbecues and get-togethers. My friends and I kicked off this summer with our first outdoor dinner, and it was as casual and easy-going as the setting.

We started off with a fresh tuna carpaccio, drizzled with an Asian dressing of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, chili oil and sesame oil and topped with some radish sprouts. This was very easy to make: Simply cut sashimi-grade tuna into 2-inch cubes, place them between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound until thin. I figured I could splurge a little on the appetizer since the main courses were so cheap and utilized much of what I already had in the fridge.

Case in point: Flatbread with barbecue sauce, Gruyere, caramelized onions and chives. I actually used half of a can of Pillsbury pizza dough for this. While I love the fresh pizza dough at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, I was in a hurry and this dough is already shaped into a rectangle and very easy to work with right out of the fridge (the other doughs require a bit of sitting out time so it becomes workable). It bakes up crisp and light and is great to have in your fridge as it keeps for a long time. I already had the onions, BBQ sauce, cheese and chives for this so it was more like a leftover flatbread, but it was absolutely delicious!

I used the other half of the dough for this basic flatbread: tomato, mozzarella and fresh basil. I had a bit of pizza sauce leftover from last week which I brushed on top of the dough as well. Excellent and very fresh. For both of these flatbreads, I recommend baking the dough first, with no toppings, for 5 minutes, and then adding the toppings and finishing off for another 6 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

We enjoyed a fabulous cocktail with our dinner, thanks in part to the folks at POM juice company. They kindly sent me a case of their delicious pomegranate juice, which is full of antioxidants and other good stuff. I made a cocktail using (in one pitcher) one bottle of champagne, 1/2 cup of cassis and 1, 8-oz bottle of POM juice. It was refreshing and a major hit with my friends, and really the perfect summer cocktail. And with all those antioxidants, it's practically healthy! (HA).

Thanks to my friends Stacy, Tawny, Steve and my sis Anne for a wonderful evening. We stayed outside well into the night playing Foodie Fight, with my sister winning the prize of a bottle of Absolute (which probably also goes great with POM juice!).

Saturday Night Tapas

Whenever I decide to host a dinner party, I spend hours thinking about the perfect menu. This involves flipping through cookbooks and stacks of food magazines and looking through foodgawker. It's not just about what I want to eat, and what I think my guests will like, it's about trying new things and experimenting.

So when my family came over last Saturday evening, I decided on tapas. A little of this, a little of that...it's easy to please everyone and it furthers my skill in readying many dishes at once. For this meal, we started with gruyere and chive gourgeres, which I adapted from this recipe. Served with a garlic lemon chutney that I'd gotten while in New Zealand, they were cheesy and light and a great start to the meal.

I always like to have some sort of clams or mussels for tapas, so I opted for Ina Garten's Grilled Clams with Basil Breadcrumbs. I made a few changes, however: I used Manila clams, and just sauteed in a pan until they opened, and skipped the melted butter in the breadcrumb mixture (the olive oil is quite enough). And instead of jarred sundried tomatoes, I used vacuumed-packed, no-oil sundried tomatoes, which were just as good without the extra oil.

Another dish was the Black Eye Peas with Chorizo and Chimichurri, though I used linguisa instead of chorizo. I love black eye peas; they remind me of my childhood in Arkansas. The chimichurri was a combination of olive oil, piquillo peppers (get them at Williams Sonoma), paprika, garlic and sherry vinegar and struck a nice, tangy balance to the rich sausage.

Every tapas menu should have one vegetable dish, even though it's tempting to feast on nothing but cheese and meat! I made an old favorite of blanched haricot verts tossed in a lemon juice/olive oil/anchovy paste dressing and topped with thinly sliced manchego cheese and cherry tomatoes.

This final savory dish was supposed to be octopus with paprika oil, but I had a bit of a disaster with the octopus, so I opted for shrimp at the last minute. It's so simple: just bake the peeled and deveined shrimp in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for 6 minutes. Drizzle with paprika oil and garlic chips (to make, put 1/2 teas. of smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon of sweet paprika, 1/4 cup olive oil and thinly sliced garlic into a pan - cook over low heat until garlic crisps; remove garlic and strain oil through a paper towel to remove paprika sediment) and a touch of sea salt and you've got a truly authentic Spanish tapas dish in minutes.

For dessert, I went with something I have been wanting to bake for a very long time: Japanese cheesecake. It's super light and fluffy, with the texture of a slightly-dense angel food cake. I topped it with some blackberry coulis that I made with frozen blackberries and sugar. A light but decadent way to end the meal.

Catching Up at Bottega Louie

It's still hard to believe that it has been 18 years since I graduated from high school. The obsession with Jane's Addiction, the overuse of Aqua Net and my beloved after-school job at Wet Seal all seem like they were just yesterday. Though so much has changed, some fundamentals have stayed the same. When I get together with my high school buddies for a catch-up over dinner and drinks, it's almost as if no time has passed (except our hair looks much better these days!).

Last night Janet, Veronica, Giselle and I headed to Bottega Louie for a rare girls' night out. Vern (as we used to call her) now lives in Seattle, Janet is in San Diego and Giselle and I live in the LA area, so it's a real treat when we can all get together. We decided to each pick one thing from the menu and share everything. Giselle chose the famed portabello fries, which were very light and crispy on the outside, and moist on the inside. They were earthy without being overbearingly so (even if you don't like mushrooms, I think you'd like these) and served with a tangy sour cream-like dipping sauce.

Janet chose the arugula salad and the garlic spinach (not pictured - I forgot!), so we got our [unfried] veggies in. Both were dressed lightly and seasoned perfectly.

I chose the pizza margherita, which I am a major sucker for! Bottega Louie has a woodfire oven, and they make the crusts thin and light so they crisp all the way through to the middle. The pizza was absolutely perfect with a nice bite to the crust, a tangy tomato sauce and lots of fresh basil.

Vern opted for the tomato bruschetta. The tomatoes were bright and fruity, and mixed with just enough garlic and olive oil so that it was still quite light. Simple and delicious.

Being a sweet tooth, Giselle talked us into sharing a couple of desserts. After the peanut butter and chocolate torte (<-- cannot remember the exact name) arrived, we were all very happy she did! This tasted like a fancy version of the peanut/chocolate Girl Scout cookie; the center was a super creamy peanut butter and the whole thing was coated in decadent chocolate.

But the real winner of the night was the apple tart with vanilla ice cream. The tart was made of feathery puffed pastry and filled with sweet, cinnamon-y apples. The cold ice cream combined with the warm tart and rich caramel sauce was HEAVEN. Again, simple and perfect.

I'm looking forward to our next night out, which probably won't happen for a few months. But the memories from this evening will last at least that long!

Lemon & Mustard Barramundi with Corn & Potato Hash

I think the key to cooking is to use really fresh ingredients and try not to mess them up by overspicing or saucing them. Sometimes nature just hands you something wonderful and it's never going to be better than the way it is naturally, like the perfect ripe white peach or a juicy pineapple.

This dish celebrates its ingredients and is healthy and delicious to boot. The only additions here are a bit of salt, pepper, mustard, lemon juice and olive oil. Enjoy!

Lemon & Mustard Barramundi with Corn & Potato Hash

Barramundi:

1/3 cup of lemon juice

2 tablespoons whole grain mustard

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

2 6-oz. barramundi fillets

Salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl, whisk together lemon juice, mustard and olive oil. Pour marinade over the barramundi fillets and set aside. Let marinate for 15-30 minutes. Heat grill pan over medium heat and cook the fillets for about 3 minutes on each side (add salt and pepper while cooking) or until cooked through. Serve on top of potato hash.

Corn & Potato Hash

1 teaspoon of olive oil

1/3 of a Russet potato - cut into small cubes

1/3 of a red onion, diced

4 asparagus spears, cut into small pieces

kernels from 1 ear of white corn

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add in potato and onions, adding salt and pepper to taste, and cook for about 5-8 minutes, or until medium-soft. Add asparagus and corn, and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pizza My Heart

As you probably already know from this blog, I eat out a lot. Whether it's for food stories or destination pieces, part of my "research" as a food/travel journalist requires eating at restaurants on a regular basis. And though I love to cook and often do, I pretty much go out to eat on the weekends with friends and family. I'm not a club person but I do love me some restaurants!

The problem is that I have to find some balance and that's not always easy to do. When a chef is sending out pork belly topped with a lovely, drippy egg sprinkled with bits of pancetta, it's hard (impossible!) to turn it away. And sometimes when I'm on a trip, I throw all caution to the wind and eat waaaaay too much because...well, it's there. The worst part is that when I'm freshly back from a trip, I find it difficult to get back to my "normal" healthy eating because my brain is still in vacation mode.

That's when I have to get creative: I want to eat healthy, but I've never been one to get excited about the ol' salad with chicken breast meal. I want something that's tasty and satisfying, but without all the friggen fat. This pizza is exactly that dish.

This whole pizza, which garners 6 big slices, is 190 calories total. It's basically a whole wheat tortilla (I use La Tortilla Smart & Delicious Wraps), a 1/4 cup of pizza sauce, 1 slice of low-moisture, skim mozzarella, fresh basil and grape tomato. It's crispy and light and with a side salad, it's the perfect meal.

My sister recommended that I heat up the tortilla in a saute or grill pan first, to get the crispiness going - a very good tip. Simply place the tortilla in a dry pan until both sides start to crisp up a bit. Then place it on a cookie sheet (sprayed with oil), put on your toppings and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

More Snaps from Tahiti, and I've Been Lazy

I've been very bad about blogging lately, and for that I apologize. Lately I just haven't felt very inspired, and I have a lot of work-related writing to do so the combo usually means less blogging. In the meantime, here are some more photos from my recent trip to Tahiti. I'll be back soon with some proper posts!

The ladies in the photo above are Bella and Popo - mother and daughter - who are native to Tahiti and were our tour guides for a day. They were both wonderful and kind and had a lot of fascinating stories to tell. Bella actually sewed costumes on the set of "Mutiny on the Bounty" and ended up marrying the costume designer. She had some great Marlon Brando stories and even some photos from back in the day (she was and still is a stunner!).

This rich veal dish was prepared for us at Le Mahogany Restaurant, a little French bistro in Moorea. It was served with slices of local avocado, which were yellower (<--is that a word?) than avocados from California but just as delicious.

Chefs Remi and William of Jean-George Vongerichten's Lagoon Restaurant at the St. Regis in Bora Bora. They spent the morning teaching me how to make a couple of Tahitian/French classics...

...including the ever-present poussin cru, which is practically the national dish in Tahiti. It's basically fresh raw tuna, onions, tomato, cucumber, salt, pepper, lime juice and coconut milk. Fresh and delicious!

Snaps from French Polynesia

The insane overwater villas at the St. Regis in Bora Bora. I went to French Polynesia to do a story for Intermezzo magazine...the issue should be out in a few months!

Gorgeous tomato salad with Russian dressing and fried onion rings at the Lagoon Restaurant (a Jean-George resto!) at the St. Regis.

This guy really knows how to crack open a coconut. Afterward, he shredded the meat, wrapped it in cheese cloth and squeezed out the coconut milk.

A "roulette," or snack shack, which are all over Tahiti. This one serves typical French baguette sandwiches.

I have never seen a pineapple plant before - the leaves are razor sharp and very dangerous!!

Some unlucky but delicious piggies at the Botanical Restaurant in Tahiti. We feasted on these and other local cuisine that all cooked in an underground oven.

It takes some strong men to remove all of the oven's contents - there were three layers of food in there.

Beautiful swordfish at the Le Mahogany Restaurant in Tahiti, one of many French bistros on the island.

Because of the French influence, you can get fantastic croissants and baguettes in Tahiti.

The tarte tatin at Le Mahogany Restaurant, quite honestly the BEST I have ever had.