Here’s an easy dish that will get you back into easy entertaining at home! Fish en Papillote! Dramatic? Yes. Delicious? You bet. Cooking en papillote creates dishes that dazzle. And they are easy to prepare, perfect for post-pandemic dinners at home with friends. It’s the classic French technique that bakes ingredients sealed in a parchment-paper pouch. Each parcel contains one…
My kumquat trees are full of fruit. Well, let me clarify. Two trees have fruit; one lazy producer has one lonely kumquat. I devote most of my tree-growing dirt in my tiny yard to this vibrant fruit because I love the alluring attitude that they lend to dishes. Eating them raw out of hand doesn’t have the appeal that they…
Avocado and Orange Salad – Updated Classic Combo
Cooking, Melissa's, Produce, Recipes, Uncategorized, VideosAvocado’s rich, nutty taste and creamy texture pairs beautifully with the sweet-sour perkiness of oranges. The fruit duo is especially appealing in a simple salad along with tender lettuce, fresh lemon juice and crunchy almonds. Most often avocados are found firm-to-the-touch in the marketplace; they only ripen off the tree. If they are hard when you buy them, they will…
Gravlax can be the centerpiece of simple-yet-elegant appetizers, first courses and salads. It’s delicious for breakfast or brunch, served with brown bread, cucumber slices, capers, red onions and mustard sauce (much more delicious than lox in my opinion). Toss it into warm potato salad or pasta. Mouthwatering. Making It Easy Gravlax, pronounced GRAHV-locks, is a Swedish-style cured salmon made by…
Rad Red Times Three Salad with Beets, Blood Oranges and Pomegranates
Cookbooks, Cooking, Melissa's, Produce, Recipes, VideosI love red-fleshed fruits and vegetables! Red Times Three Salad showcases three of my favorites: blood oranges, red beets and pomegranate seeds. Blood orange’s sweet-sour flavor profile has a subtle note of raspberry. It pairs beautifully with the earthy edge of beets. I use Melissa’s ready-to-eat peeled and steamed baby beets – they are so convenient and beat the heck…
When the pandemic changed our world, I no longer could shoot close-up-and-unmasked with chefs in my home kitchen. So I changed my approach to filming videos. For the time being I’m flying solo, cooking up some of my favorite recipes garnered from my decades of work in the food world. Favorites – recipes that feel like best friends. I’ll start…
Celebrity OC Chef Amar Santana Opens The HALL Global Eatery
Celebrity Interviews, Chefs, Cocktails, Cooking, Recipes, Restaurants, VideosRecognize the name? Chef Amar Santana dazzled viewers as a finalist on Bravo’s “Top Chef.” He competed on Korean Food Battle, and although he doesn’t speak Korean, almost won the competition. The HALL Global Eatery, SCP, Costa Mesa: Along with business partner Ahmed Labbate, Chef Santana has opened a extraordinary food hall at South Coast Plaza (it’s the spot where…
Chocolate and Hazelnuts: A Blissful Marriage In This Bread Pudding
Chefs, Recipes, Restaurants, VideosSarah Daniels is the first female executive chef to head up a kitchen in a Del Frisco’s Grille, the chain of trendy bar-and-grill eateries that have more than 20 locations from coast to coast. Daniels took culinary charge of Irvine Spectrum location a few months ago, working her magic on everything from hearty salads to wood-oven baked flatbreads to pappardelle…