Chimichurri, it's fun to say.

I was recently visiting my daughter in Baton Rouge. I offered to make dinner for her and several of her housemates. Ryan asked if he could make anything to add to the meal, he mentioned chimichurri...I had heard the name but wasn't entirely sure what exactly it was. Once I caught the drift that it was a sauce with garlic I acquiesced, it would make a fine complement to the dinner I had planned of pork chops, fresh lima bean succotash and roasted potatoes. In fact it was such a hit, most of the diners put it on EVERYTHING !!

Chimichurri could be called South American pesto...it's originally from Argentina and was made to be served with beef. In looking at the recipes, there is a LOT of variation. All recipes have fresh parsley, garlic, olive oil and vinegar, those are really the only common ingredients I could see. I saw recipes with fresh cilantro, fresh oregano, red wine vinegar, white vinegar, lemon juice, shallots, red onions, hot peppers, red pepper flakes, cumin, paprika etc... It can be used as a marinade or a sauce.
Bob has discovered that it makes cottage cheese (which I hate) into a gourmet meal ;-)

I decided to go with fresh Italian parsley, fresh cilantro, red onion, garlic, red wine vinegar, fresh oregano, lemon juice, red pepper flakes and olive oil. I am not a fan of very hot food so I went very light on the red pepper flakes.

Some recipes want you to finely chop all the ingredients by hand, other have you use the food processor, I think Ryan used the blender. He also said he quadrupled the amount of garlic, which I did in this recipe.

Laurie's Chimichurri



Ingredients
1/2 + cup packed fresh Italian parsley
1/2 + cup packed fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh oregano
10-12 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon chopped red onion
juice 1 lemon
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1) Peel the garlic and chop in food processor.
2) Wash, spin and stem the parsley, cilantro, oregano and add to the food processor. Pulse a few times but don't over do it.

3) Add the chopped red onion, lemon juice, vinegar and red pepper flakes. Pulse again to combine.

4) You can add some of the olive oil, maybe 1/4 cup to help combine the other ingredients, also add the salt and pepper.

5) Remove from the chimichurri from the food processor and add the remaining oil. Store in a jar in the fridge and watch it disappear in a matter of days ;-)

6) Use to marinate your favorite beef, I used flank steak. And serve as a sauce !!

Paleo Chocolate !!

Yes, that right, for all of you who follow the Paleo path, dessert is just a chocolate bar away.
My yoga friend, Ulvric has started his own chocolate bar company: Caven Creations.
Check out his page on Facebook.

I have sampled these tasty bars, the sweet & salt is my personal favorite. You can make your own decision, as he will be giving out sample this Sunday, July 26 at Shopper's Corner from 12 PM to 4 PM.
If you miss that date you can catch him Monday July 27th 12-2pm at Seascape Foods in Aptos or
Monday July 27th 3-6pm at Deluxe Foods in Aptos.

Paleo or not, who doesn't love a good chocolate bar !

Help support this local business, his bars are currently selling at the following locations:

Staff of Life  1266 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz, CA (831) 423-8632 The Food Bin  1130 Mission St, Santa Cruz, CA (831) 423-5526 Ivy Wellness Center  612 Frederick St, Santa Cruz, CA   (831) 426-5460

Vitamin Center  1955 41st Ave #B6, Capitola, CA (831) 462-4697 Deluxe Foods of Aptos 783 Rio Del Mar Blvd #25, Aptos, CA (831) 688-7442 Seascape Foods 16 Seascape Village, Aptos, CA (831) 685-3134

 
   Shoppers Corner
   622 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz, CA
   (831) 423-1398

Vive La France !!

In honor of Bastille Day the French equivalent of our 4th of July, I wanted to gather some of my French recipes onto one page for your viewing pleasure.

I first had this French lentil salad at a Paris restaurant last spring. It would make a great addition to any summer meal.

French onion soup is truly a classic. It can take all day or just an hour, the secret is in the slow caramelization of the onions.

Here's another soup that in the south of France is always on the menu, the rich seafood soup: Bouillabaisse.

Another French soup : Potage St Germain, here what Wiki says about it:  Eating fresh "garden" peas before they were matured was a luxurious innovation of the Early Modern period^,by contrast with the coarse, traditional peasant fare of pease pottage, Potage Saint-Germain, made of fresh peas and other fresh greens braised in light stock and pureed, was an innovation sufficiently refined that it could be served to Louis XIV of France, for whose court at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye it was named, ca 1660-80.

Crepes are an iconic French street food, eaten sweet or savory. Here's my recipe for those made with buckwheat flour.

I love to say "clafouti" it's just such a fun word, besides being a tasty French dessert. I made it with peaches in this recipe, feel free to use nectarines, plums, apricots or cherries.

While they require a special pan, Madelines are worth it. These cookies are as French as the name Madeline, and the stories written about the little girl with that name.

Creme Caramel is on every menu in almost every restaurant in France. It was one of my mother's favorite dessert and she tried it everywhere we went.

It's too bad that Galette Des Rois is only served for a short time in early January. As a lover of anything with almonds, this dense rich galette is one of my favorites.

In looking over these recipes I realize there is many more I could add to my French collection. I do hope that one of these inspires you to make something French this week.

Gazpacho time !!

The other day my sister gave me this beautiful basket of tomatoes from her yard in the banana belt of Sunnyvale. Maybe all of Sunnyvale is a banana belt...where I live two blocks for the edge of Monterey Bay is certainly NOT. I can't grow tomatoes here, except tiny cherry tomatoes that ripen in October. Please don't write to me about San Francisco Fog tomatoes, tomatoes are meant to be grown where it is warm and sunny, that's what makes them taste so good.

With this bounty at hand, my taste buds turned to the great summer treat: gazpacho. It's so easy and versatile, I knew I could put together a batch from what I had on hand.

I used my recipe from two summers ago. I didn't have a red onion so I used the sweet yellow onion I had on hand, I added celery since I had some, and used some roasted bell pepper from my freezer. Mostly it's just chopping and tossing it into bowl, the most tedious part is removing the skins from the fresh tomatoes. A couple of cups go into the blender, and added back to the bowl. Be sure to chill it before serving.

I enjoyed it before ushering for Much Ado About Nothing in the Glen and it made a refreshing appetizer before the meal I served to my nephew and his family last night.