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Q). Several
tasty looking recipes call for sherry vinegar. Where do I find it? I
have scoured my grocery shelves...
Petey,
Salinas, e-mail
A). I'll tell you what, Petey, once you
discover this great food product, you will use it often. A favorite
brand to look for is Don Bruno imported from Spain, the country best
known for sherry vinegar. What makes this particular vinegar so good is
its rich and complex flavor. Used in place of regular vinegars, it is
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great for salad dressings and in
any Spanish dish. In Salinas, you'll
find it at Star Market. If you need help, ask for Marky.
Q). Would you please send me the recipe for
lamb shanks that you prepared on your (7/19/05) television show?
A). Do you want Alfie's (my wife's dog)
recipe, or mine? Here's mine and it's really simple:
Roasted Lamb Shanks Recipe - one shank per person.
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Season the shanks with salt and pepper
and rub them down well with olive oil. Roast in a 250-degree oven for 3
to 4 hours at which point the meat should be crispy on the outside and
tender. These are best served with oven-roasted vegetables. Cut up large
chunks of carrots, onions, potatoes, parsnips and shallots. Toss with
salt, pepper and olive oil and spread out on a sheet pan. Roast in a
350-degree oven for 45 to 50 minutes and you're done. The natural sugars
in the vegetables will caramelize making for incredible flavor. |
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Fruity Feedback. Hey Chef Pisto,
I read your article about Andy's Orchard in Morgan Hill. You are right!
The best peaches and plums I have ever tasted. He had varieties I have
not tried and they were all juicy, sweet and had the aroma of summer.
After I ran out of Andy's fruit, I thought I would try the grocery store
varieties to compare. The big chain store imports from South America
should simply change the names of the fruit to "Baseball" or "Window
Breaker". I waited for a week for that fruit to ripen and they were
mealy and had zero flavor. Then I tried fruit from the local farmers
market in Marina. The quality was dramatically better than the
supermarket but I don't think you can beat Andy's fruit. Thanks for the
tip.
Steve in Marina,
e-mail |
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Thanks Steve-o! Folks, now is the time and the
summer passes so quickly. Enjoy the bounty today while you can.
Q). Thank you for your column in the newspaper. My
daughter lives on a horse ranch in Carmel Valley and now has an extreme
abundance of yellow crookneck squash (guess it's the fertilizer).
Anyway, can this type of squash be frozen and, if so, how? Also, when
the first round of vegetables came out they were very large and smooth.
The latest batch is smaller and have "wart" type nodules on them. What
does this mean and are they still okay? Thank you for any assistance you
can give with the handling of these squash and if you have a good recipe
for using them.
Regards, Vicki L. Harris
Monterey, CA, Via
e-mail
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A). Squash, frozen in the form of a
soup, would be okay; otherwise they are much too soft. As far as the
warts go, sounds like they may have picked up a social disease - try
antibiotics. Honestly, I think they may be a different variety mostly
used for decoration, but still ok to eat. What to do with these babies?
Let's see some options: 1. Give to friends; 2. Squash stew; 3. Sliced
thin & fried in olive oil then put over linguine and fresh tomato sauce;
4. Soup - chunky or creamed; 5. Stuffed with meat or vegetables and
baked; 6. Throw at noisy cats; 7. Throw at noisy neighbors; 8. Give to
enemies; 9. Cut up steamed with butter, crushed garlic and fresh black
pepper; 10. Feed to livestock; 11. Give to a food bank; 12. Give to your
mother-in-law and all in-laws and out-laws; 13. Carve or whittle into
useless shapes.
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Q). Dear Chef,
How do I make a strawberry soda? I want to surprise
my wife Terice for her 40th birthday.
David Clark, Monterey
A). First of all Happy Birthday Terice! You
don't look a day over 35.
Strawberry Soda Recipe
1 1/2 cup sweetened fresh berries chopped fine
1 1/2 cup 3 small scoops strawberry ice cream
1 1/2 cold cream soda
Place berries, 2 scoops of ice cream, and 2
tablespoons of cream soda in blender with 1/2 cup ice cubes. Blend well
and pour into a 12 to 14 oz glass. Add remaining ice cream and fill the
rest with cream soda. Garnish with whipped cream, half a strawberry and
a mint leaf. |
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Q). Chef, when I lived on Long Island,
I had a friend (born in U.S., moved back to Italy). Bari returned to
N.Y. with his family in his teens. His wife made braciole using horse
meat. Since that couldn't be sold in NY, he had to go to New Jersey,
which had specially licensed stores that sold horse meat. It was
absolutely delicious, tender and moist and combined with his home made
wine made a feast to remember. If you ever find a source for horse meat,
you must try it. Thanks for your articles and TV shows.
Eric Gray, Via e-mail
A). Just by chance check the previous
letter writer who just happens to live on a horse ranch. Before anyone
gets angry and goes crazy about eating Trigger or Silver, hear this out.
Here in the United States there is an aversion
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eating many animals
(known as the Bambi and Bugs Bunny Syndrome). The truth is there is a
horse meat industry here. In 1994 over 100,000 pounds were shipped to
Sweden, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Belgian and
France. I recall that in Italy and France there are special stores that
sell only horse meat. Nutritionally speaking it is very low in fat and
very healthy for you. In California it is illegal to offer horse meat
for human consumption. Now if you were to go to Canada, you would find
that it is very popular, especially in Quebec and Montreal. Happy
Trails, Eric!
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