Shaved Vegetable Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette

Posted by chefmax on September 8th, 2009

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Shaved Vegetable Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette

This is a great recipe to use up your vegetables from the garden. I got this recipe from my friend Catherine Brandel while I was at the CIA. This is an easy to prepare dish and captures the flavors of the raw vegetables really nicely. I use a mandolin or a food processor with a cutting tool if I am in a hurry or don’t feel like slicing. It is wort the time and a great salad to practice your mad knife skills. Have fun.

Shaved Summer Garden Vegetable Salad

Yield: 4 Portions

Dressing

Ingredients                                            Amounts

Lemon juice, fresh                                1  Tbsp.

Garlic clove, minced                             1  ea.

Champagne vinegar                              1 tsp.

Salt                                                          1/4 tsp.

Italian Parsley, chopped                   1  Tbsp.

Extra virgin olive oil                           3  Tbsp.

Salad

Fennel bulbs, medium, stalks removed        1 ea.

split in half from top to bottom

Lemon juice, fresh                             1 tsp.

Cucumber, English, seeded             1 ea.

Celery stalks, trimmed                      3   ea.

Carrots, peeled                                   1   ea

Radishes, trimmed                           3  ea.

Summer squash, trimmed              1 ea.

(any variety)

Method

1. To make the dressing, in a small bowl combine the lemon juice, garlic vinegar and salt.  Let sit for 1/2 hour at room temperature.  Whisk in oil and check the seasoning.

2. No more than 1 hour before serving, slice the vegetables 1/16-inch thick with a sharp knife, a mandolin or the 1mm slicing disc on a food processor.  Toss the shaved fennel with lemon juice and seal in a plastic bag.  Wrap the other shaved vegetables in a damp dishtowel or napkin.  Refrigerate all the vegetables until needed.

3. To serve, toss all the shaved vegetables with the dressing, arrange on serving plates, sprinkle with a little salt.

Have a great day and come visit us at A Flash in the Pan for great recipes and menus.

Chef Max

9-8-09

Monday Food News-Latin cuisine, black garlic, Latin cuisine, Severely Obese rates, chamomile.

Posted by chefmax on August 4th, 2009

CUESADo you want a great resource for what is in season? Here is a link to CUESA that has a Vegetable and Fruit calendar that is very usefull. For full disclamer I am one of  their Sunday Supper  Chairperson and love their programs, farmers markets, and of course the Sunday Supper event. Anouther great resource is this website that you can put your area of the country and it will show you what is in season around you. Tons of info. It is at Sustainable Table.

alltop-badge1#14 on ALLTOP Food Blogs

Is black garlic the new black? From SFGATE, By Lynne Char Bennett. A good overview on a cool ingredient that I now have to track down and play with.

If you are into Latin cuisine this is a must attend conference. From Business Journal, the Culinary Institute of America is having a conference at their San Antonio campas this October. I use to work at the St Helena campus and have been involved in 6 of their last 11 conferences there and I can absolutly garenty that you will  learn a ton on this topic.

Severely Obese rates in kids have tripled in the last 25 years. From Healthday,a scary article on obesity in kids. We have to do something.

From NYTIMES, I just like Melissa Clarks writing. Well worth your time and good ideas for chamomile.

Have a great day. I have to get back to writting recipes for a possible book deal.

Chef Max 7-03-09

Friday Food News-Truck Farm, peppers, food safety bill, slaws, Julie and Julia, and August wine events.

Posted by chefmax on July 31st, 2009

A FLASH IN THE PAN IS OPEN FOR YOUR COOKING PLEASURE! Come on by and check us out at A FLASH IN THE PAN for your dinner needs.

Truck Farm by the guys who brought us King Corn. I am a fan of these guys and this is a very cool video series so far. Great idea.

A good article on peppers form Nola, By Judy Walker. Nice video demos and some recipes at the end of the article. Worth your time if you want to learn some things about peppers.

From the NYTIMES, By William Neuman. An overview of the new food safety bill.

From LATIMES, By Noelle Carter, an article about slaws that can be used as side dishes or dessert?

A food bloger hits the big time. From SFGATE, By Miriam Morgan. An article about the blogger who spent a year of her life cooking Julia Child’s recipes and writing about it. The new movie Julie and Julia is based on this.

A guide to some wine events posted by the WSJ.

Have a great weekend,

Chef Max 7-31-09

Truck Farm- A New Series by the makers of King Corn

Posted by chefmax on July 30th, 2009

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Very cool!!!

Wednesday Food News-Julia, green food resolution, school gardens, Tomatoes, Fat tax

Posted by chefmax on July 29th, 2009

ewg-pesticidesI have shared this before but I think it is a great little chart of what vegetables and fruits are lower in pesticides. Eat more goodness not pesticides. Buy organic in the Dirty dozen category. Happy Wednesday.

Now on to todays food news.

Chicago is the first city to pass a green food resolution. From NYT, By Jennifer Lee. New York is looking to pass something similar. This is interesting because it may push the change in the school lunch programs around the country. Good for you Chicago.

Here comes the Julia stories. From the AP, By Holly Ramer. This is an article on the influences that the TV personality Julia Child has created. I met her twice, once at the Culinary Institute at Greystone and at her birthday in San Diego where I got to help make her cake. I will write about that in a future blog.

Another story about Julia from the Washington Post. By Robin Shulman a review by some of Julia’s friends that are gathered together for a private viewing.

The new push for school gardens. From the LATIMES, By Krista Simmons. Very good article on the progress that has happened with the school garden programs. Very cool!

Georgeanne Brennan has a very good article on Tomatoes in SFGATE. Recipes and a list of local Chefs favorite tomatoes. Well worth keeping this one.

Fat tax? Here is a report on the possibility of taxing of “fat” products and using the money to underwrite healthcare. Interesting hypothesis. From Food Nav, By Caroline Scott.

Off to SF to have a meeting about A Flash In The Pan and hopefully a little Slanted Door nourishment.

Have a great day,

Chef Max 7-29-09

Mondays Food News-Better Junk Food, dairy innovation, iced coffees, Canning safely, and Food Nanotechnology.

Posted by chefmax on July 27th, 2009

This is my garden a couple weeks ago. I am going to post some recipes from the products in my garden as I move into the next couple of months.

If you are looking for a niche product to manufacture the Swiss are encouraging more dairy innovation. From DairyReporter, By Jess Halilday. With the increase of seniors/ baby boomers, this article talks about the need for more products with calcium for this population. Maybe instead of Red Bull it could be Geriatrics Juice. Just an idea.

From SFGATE a really good article by Marion Nestle on Better Junk Food and the upcoming issues that are developing with the new “Smart Choices” labels.

Watch your frappuchhino intake. From the Guarding, by Denis Campbell. This is an article on the increased cancer risk and way too many calories form iced coffees.

Canning safely. From USATODAY, By Kim Painter. Do not take any chances! This articles has some great resources for the first time food preserver.

Food Nanotechnology. From boston.com, By Carolyn Y. Johnson an article on the next wave of science in the food arts arena. Removing fat but not taste and mouth feel. Can they do it?

Thanks for joing me today and I will talk with oyu later.

Chef Max 7-27-09


Friday Food News-Gluten Free Ice Cream, Pro-biotics, more attractive salads, Mediterranean vegetable pie, Fresh local Bartenders, and the new FDA.

Posted by chefmax on June 26th, 2009

Melted Chocolate BitersweetCooking this weekend and a couple really cool opportunities have opened up. Fingers crossed….

Now on to the news.

New Gluten Free Ice Cream sandwiches now to be sold at Whole Foods. From SFEXAM, by Tiffany James. A tasty sounding product for everyone that gluten is a problem for.

Customers still do not understand Pro-biotics. From Brandweek, by Stacy Straczynski. It is completely understandable that customers do not get the reason that they need to eat foods with pro-biotics. It is an education. I do like pro-biotics but it seems better to take them separately rather than in a product. Heat can change them and if there is any acid present it could effect the effectiveness.

From foodproduct, by Allen Susser. An article on how to change your salads to be more attractive. Nice and comprehensive. Well worth your time.

A healthy Mediterranean vegetable pie. From the NYT, by MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN. A nice article with recipe for a tasty sounding vegetable pie.

Fresh local Bartenders. From USATODAY, by Tina Dirmann. An article of how bar tenders have been moving toward items like Chefs.

Some good talent moving back to the FDA. From THEPACKER, if you are interested.

Thanks for coming by today and have a greet weekend.

Happy birthday Jordan!!!

Chef Max 6-26-06

Wednesday Food News-Cocktails, Smokin, The Joy of Soy, Peaches, patriotic non-sadness ice cream flavor, 2-for-1 Sundaes.

Posted by chefmax on June 24th, 2009

Ella CupcakeUMMMM, CUPCAKES…..

Cocktails by the letter. From the NYT, By Pete Wells. An article that moves a-z on good drink ingredients. Fun formate and a nice article.

Smokin. From the WSJ, by Andreas Viestad. A pretty good overview, with a couple pictures, on how to smoke.

The Joy of Soy. Really, I am not joking. From the LATIMES, By Cecila Hae-Jin Lee. An article of soy. I like soy so I was just joking.

Peaches. Oh yea. From SFGATE, By Lynne Char Bennett. I nice report on peaches with some good recipes.

Some answers to some mysteries from chicagotrib. How jello jells, popcorn pops, and slim jims stay forever.

New patriotic non-sadness ice cream flavor from Dreyer’s. From Food Business Review. Red white and no more blues.

Ben and Jerry 2-for-1 Sundaes on Mondays. From OCREG, GO get ya 2 sundaes for the price of one at your local Ben and Jerry’s ice cream parlor.

Thanks for reading,

Chef Max 6-24-09

Monday Food News- SPAM, French need to eat more ice cream, Blueberries, fermentation, Chervil, apricots

Posted by chefmax on June 8th, 2009

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Sprouts for my garden this year. Current pictures to follow.
Originally uploaded by Chefmax

This is going to be a good week. Still working on our website A Flash in the Pan. Lots of free subscribers but need to get everyone to see the value of the membership side. I will also be in San Diego for the final days of filming the POST video for the California first responders for Autism. It is a great project that came out of the Autism Blue Ribbon Committee and Senator Steinberg’s office. This is to help first responders identify and deal with Autism on their emergency calls. 

Well, here is todays food news. Enjoy.

SPAM advertising, the canned meat not canned emails. From Brandweek, a story from Elaine Wong on the current advertising of Homel’s culinary icon SPAM. The point that grabbed me was the figure of $13 million they spent in 2008 on advertising that they spent on SPAM. Wow. 

Unilever is targeting the French to get them to eat more ice cream. From the Guardian, via Reuters, those French just do not eat enough ice cream. That is very un-American of them. 

Hold on to your Blueberries, they are headed for a great year. From the NYT, by Phillis Korkki, the only blue North American fruit are getting great press and the outlook on the crop is very strong. I think I need to make some more recipes. 

From SFGATE, by Tara Duggan, an article on fermentation and pickling around the world. 

Chervil, the happy herb. From the guardian, by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. I am growing a lot of chervil this year. I love its soft flavor and its bright green high points. It is a great sub for parsley. Nice overview article. Recipes and a list of ten things to do with Chervil.

It is going to be a light year for apricots. From SFGATE, by Jane Tunks. Just a heads up.

Have a great day,

Chef Max 6-8-09

Friday Food News- Gluten Free Dairy Free menus, the Culinary Society of America, sausage making tips, food truck revival, and making the best burger.

Posted by chefmax on June 5th, 2009

A FLASH IN THE PAN IS OPEN FOR YOUR COOKING PLEASURE!

A Flash in the Pan will be launching our NEW Gluten Free/ Dairy Free Menu June 12 . This new menu set joins our other options of anything goes, no red meat, healthy kids and quick menus. Come check us out today.

The Culinary Society of America has a new Culinary Bite now available. This is a great organization that you will be seeing a lot of in the very near future. Sign up for the letter today. IT IS FREE.

From RI, Chefs sharing sausage making tips. Good info.

Making the best burger. From Philly.com, a good overview of tips on making a great hamburger. 

Food truck revival. Form the WSJ, a great trend to bring great Chefs to the streets.  

Heading back to the farm. From NYT, a trend of young successful couples moving back to start farms.

Have a great weekend,

Chef Max