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Asparagus Goat Cheese Tart

Asparagus Goat Cheese Tart

Just by Chance

“Kate, when you close, you tap on my door. I’ll have a little surprise for you. What kind of surprise? Oh, a secret surprise.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

A chance connection made at this year’s PMA Foodservice Conference with Gourmet Trading Company led to gorgeous purple, white and green asparagus arriving at my doorstep for recipe testing. I am fond of cooking with vegetables that are in season but a craving for asparagus can’t always wait! Especially when this Asparagus Goat Cheese Tart would be a stunning addition to any upcoming holiday party. Working with three colors of asparagus was such a treat. One night I made pasta with a heaping tablespoon of garlic and sausage and then the next day a lentil salad with roasted shallots and a red wine vinaigrette. But the cornmeal tart filled with creamy goat cheese and ricotta was too just special not to share. READ MORE . . .

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Purple Bell Peppers

Stuffed purple bell peppers

Summer Sunshine

“Late in the summer Lee came in off the street, carrying his big market basket.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

The best summer cooking revolves around as much glorious fresh sweet corn as possible. Piled high with summer vegetables our dinner salads have been graced with the addition of corn barely cooked in butter. A scoop of fragrant corn melts into the salad greens and no dressing is needed to compete with the blast of summer sunshine that adorns our dinner plates. There have been no complaints regarding my interpretation of salad for dinner. But if you must add dressing to your salad, a vinaigrette with a very light touch of vinegar leaves the sweet corn plenty of room to shine. READ MORE . . .

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Easy Pasta for Dinner

Pasta and cheese

Around the Table

“Well, the story bit deeply into me and I went into it word for word. The more I thought about the story, the more profound it became to me.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Sending a Tweet out into the world of the internet leads to amazing connections. I retweeted an important article from The Telegraph regarding the continuing decline of eating meals around the dinner table. The Tweet lead to a offer to collaborate with Furniture Choice to offer my thoughts on sharing family meals together. READ MORE . . .

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Asparagus with Fresh Ricotta

Asparagus with ricotta

Spring Zing

“A kind of light spread out from her. And everything changed color. And the world opened out. And a day was good to awaken to. And there were no limits to anything.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Light shifts with the seasons. It’s vague and unassuming at first. We’re never sure when it really happens. The annual time change confuses our innate ability to feel the change. We must see it. We are so busy reestablishing our daily rhythms that one day we realize winter with its sharp dramatic edges and deep shadows of light has been replaced with a softer focus. The plush velvet curtain of winter is pulled back to reveal a stage where the merry making of spring always surprises us. As the light brightens it pushes away the last scrap of winter revealing all the sparkling color we crave. READ MORE . . .

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Serendipity, a Celebration Cake and a Tangy Ending

Cassata cake

A Secret Garden

“Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of man.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

A whim and curiosity to learn more about growing herbs and edible flowers led me to Jacobs Farm in Pescadero. I had purchased their exceptional organic products at Whole Foods and my local Nob Hill grocery store. When I attended the Monterey Bay Greenhouse Growers open house in June I brought home samples of their edible flowers and made my first batch of tangy infused vinegar. It was on a trip to Gidzich Ranch in Watsonville for olallieberries that I saw Jacobs Farm company sign along a back road and thought about visiting. READ MORE . . .