Monkeypod Kitchen + Watermelon, Feta, and Arugula Pizza Recipe {Maui}featured
It was a rainy grey weekend here in SF, but knowing that in a few short days I’ll be heading to sun-soaked Maui kept my spirits up! Yayyy!!! Warm sunshine, and pineapples, and umbrella drinks, here I come. Oh, and shave ice. Mountains of shave ice.
So excited to get a huge fluffy shave ice the size of my head.
We’ll be in South Maui this time around, covering the Wailea Wine and Food Festival. Yeaaap, life does not suck. It’ll be great too because we will be staying right by this great spot we discovered on our last trip: Monkeypod Kitchen…and their awesome Watermelon and Feta Pizza with Arugula! Gotta love a place where you can get sweet watermelon in December.
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High Five Fridays: Weekly Meal Plan, Super Saladsfeatured
Well, since we’re recovering from Thanksgiving feastivities this week, I thought it would be an apropos time to get some ruffage into the diet…you know, before we start drowning in eggnog and stop breathing under an avalanche of holiday cookies. You feel me?
Super Salads, work your magic!
- Kale Caesar Salad. No super salad list would be complete without superfood #1: Kale. This is one of my favorites, featuring fresh ribbons of raw Tuscan kale coated in a salty, garlicky, lemony dressing. Yum yum.
- Roasted Cauliflower, Hazelnut and Pomegranate Seed Salad. This beauty is from Yotam Ottolenghi’s new cookbook, Jerusalem. Like all of Ottolenghi’s food, it is vibrant and interesting with pops of color, flavor, and texture.
- Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Walnuts. Rustic, hearty, and simple. I’m looking forward to trying this Brussels sprouts salad. Walnuts seem like wonderful pairing here.
- Salade Niçoise. For some reason I always forget about this one, and then I kick myself for not remembering it sooner. I love the flavor combos of tuna Niçoise and it’s so full of goodies – potatoes, beets, green beans, olives, radishes, eggs – that it easily makes a filling and satisfying meal. For a luxe spin, I’ll try subbing in rare seared tuna in place of canned.
- TREAT YO SELF: Sweet Potato with Maple-Oat Crumble. Who says you can’t be good and treat yo self at the same time? Warm, roasted sweet potato topped with an easy crumble of oats, almonds, maple syrup, and cinnamon. This sounds like the perfect guilt-free treat.
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Lentil Salad from James Beardfeatured
Today’s recipe is brought to you by The Essential James Beard Cookbook, the talented food writer, Marie Simmons, California Olive Ranch, and the letter “D” for delicious.
How does it all fit together? Well, the dish comes from the latest collection of James Beard’s influential recipes. This new book is full of classics like Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic, Cioppino, and this hearty Lentil Salad.
You may have read all about California Olive Ranch in my last post, so you’ve already seen how gorgeous their olive orchards are. Now, we’re going to see that EVOO in action.
I connected with Marie to put a modern spin on Mr. Beard’s Lentil Salad. Back in the day, Marie worked in the test kitchen of Woman’s Day magazine. One of her responsibilities was to prepare special lunches for the food editor and her guests. James Beard (Jim to his friends) was often among the guests. Here’s what she had to say about “Jim” and the new cookbook:
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California Olive Ranch: Harvest Timefeatured
Extra virgin olive oil. There is nothing quite like it. It has been called liquid gold, or green gold, a title that is well deserved. Historically, it has been used for everything from lighting lamps to moisturizing skin, but the best use of all in my opinion, is in the kitchen! It can transform the simplest of ingredients into something sublime. The taste of EVOO can range from fruity and grassy, to straight up peppery, and a myriad of nuanced flavor profiles in between.
As I’ve learned though, not all olive oil is made equal. In fact, not all olive oil is even real olive oil sometimes, thanks to some shady business dealings and misleading consumer marketing.
About 60 miles north of Sacramento though, in the small towns of Oroville, Artois, and Corning, you’ll find some good people making the real McCoy. California Olive Ranch produces 60% of the olive oil that is grown in California, and not only are they producing the genuine (delicious) article, they are doing it with integrity and efficiency.
When I was asked by the ranch if I’d be interested in visiting their 6,000 acres of beautiful olive orchards during the most exciting time of year—harvest time!—first, I checked to see if they were on Tom’s list (phew, yes, of course they were), and then I clapped my hands and jumped up and down.
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