What to bring on a summer picnic

Our number one favorite thing to do in the Bay Area is picnic. Any time of year, if its sunny, we are picnicking.

Here is how we do it:

Start off with white wine such as a Riesling, Gerwerstraminer, or a Rose (I am not talking white zinfandel, people). Australia makes good rose wine.

If you have questions about wines and you don’t have a lot of money, please go into your local wine shop and tell them how much you want to spend and they will pick something out. For those of you in Jersey, go to Bottle King on Route 23 and ask for Jeff. He is great. For my friends in Cali…anyone want to head up to Sonoma this weekend?

Next, you want purchase cheese. You want to mix it up between hard cheese and soft cheese:

Soft:
Brie, Humboldt Fog, Cowgirl creamery has a great triple cream brie called Mount Tam, Smokey Blue

Hard:
Tuscanelo, sharp provolone, (avoid yellow cheddar cheese), Pecorino Romano, Rosemary Parmesan, Manchego


Spreads
Fig spread
Olive tapenade

Fruit
Grapes
Dried apricots
Green apples

Extras
Baguettes
Prosciutto and/or salame (you want to avoid any kind of Hormel prepackaged items as a loved one presented at a family function recently…step away from these kind of things, please.)
Roasted red peppers
Sundried tomatoes
Assorted fresh olives
Almonds

Stuff you probably already know:
Knives
Picnic blanket
Cheese boards
Napkins, plates, etc.
Plastic wine glasses (DO NOT bring red solo cups for wine. We have plastic wine glasses, you can grab them anywhere)

Persian Rice with Crunchy Tadiq

We recently took a trip to San Diego, California where we enjoyed the warm weather, family and friends. One of the highlights of that trip was enjoying some yummy food. When we visited with our friends Jam and Daniele, we were so lucky to enjoy a traditional Iranian meal. While we had so many delicious things that night, one thing that stood out was the Persian rice with its crunchy tadiq, which you will see in this photo. The Tadiq is the best part of the rice. When you remove the loose rice from the pan, you see the tadiq at the bottom. You must lift it gingerly and place it on a platter. Then you can break it into pieces and people love to eat it just like that. Its really the best part! I just had to replicate it at home and I want to share the recipe with you too! This meal is best served with some very chilled vodka.

Ingredients
•3 cups long grain white rice
•1/2 cup melted butter
•1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
•2 quarts water
•1 cup water

Directions
Start the 2 quarts water and salt boiling in large stock pot or dutch oven. Rinse rice until water runs clear (or as close to clear as you can get it).
Add rice to boiling water, boil about 10 minutes or until rice is about half cooked.
Drain rice in colander, reserve.
In stock pot or dutch oven, pour about 1/4 cup melted butter on bottom, tilt to cover 2 inches up sides.
Pour the half-cooked rice into the pot, try to make a nice mound in the middle, and avoid the sides as much as possible.
With the end of a wooden spoon, make holes in the mound of rice (5 or 6 places) evenly around.
Pour the remaining melted butter onto the rice, and drizzle 1/4 Cup of the extra water into the holes you made. Cover pot with kitchen towel to absorb the steam, place pot lid on towel.
Cook on very low heat, checking after about 15 minutes. If the rice is browning too fast, add the remaining extra water a little bit at a time.
Cook rice until it's done, about 30 minutes. Try not to check it too often, as it needs to steam.

Saffron is our friend

I recently had the opportunity to dine with a very wise man named Bahram Moeenziai. In this video he tells us how to prepare saffron for home use. In a future post, I will show you how to use it for a meal. It probably won't come close to the delicious meal that he made. This particular Saffron that he uses is very potent and comes directly from Iran. Therefore, he had to add two sugar cubes to the saffron and grind it before use.

Farmer's Market Delight

We hit up the farmer’s market on Divisidero and Grove this past Sunday and came back with some delicious produce. Here is something you can make in a pinch!

This recipe serves two.

2 cloves of garlic
3 small heirloom tomatoes
3 T olive oil
2 T fresh basil
1 T of olive paste tapenade
Angel hair the size of a quarter in diameter
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup organic chicken stock

Start off with a medium pot filled with water. While the water is getting hot. Chop up your garlic. I try to get it really fine. Cut up the basil really thinly too. We took it from our basil plant, Mr. B. He is going down hill so we are trying to use him up! Chop up your tomatoes and get ready to cook!



Heat up your non stick skillet pan, on medium heat. While you are heating up the pan, add the angel hair pasta to the boiling water. Cool until al dente.



Once the non stick pan is pretty hot, pour your olive oil in the pan. Once sizzling, add your garlic. Cook until turns a little brown on the edges.



Next throw in the tomatoes, then add the tapenade. Shake the pan around so the tapenade moves around a bit. Now, hit it with organic chicken stock and let simmer for about a minute.

Once the pasta is ready, add to the skillet and mix altogether. Joe does this super cool “tossing” thing with his wrist, but every time I do that, something falls into the burner. So I kind of push everything around with a spatula.

It is ready to be served. Add some fresh grated parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!