Hatch Chiles. Yes, you can find mild ones, but I like them hot. I buy them fresh, then roast them on top of my gas stove. But if you don’t feel like going to all that trouble, no problem. Check out Bristol Farms, they have weekends devoted to roasting them and selling them ready to go. Every year I experiment with a new hatch Chile recipe and I think I […]
I love Cinco De Mayo! It’s the best excuse to eat lots and lots of great Mexican food–especially Carnitas! I know, cooking carnitas is a bit time-consuming, but you know it’s worth it after the first bite. Years ago a butcher gave me this recipe and I’ve never found a better one. The carnitas is juicy, moist and extremely flavorful with just a bit of a crispy edge. That’s […]
We had perfect BBQ weather last weekend and I knew it was time for kabobs. For some reason my Greek-inspired chicken kabobs have always been in your top ten favorites, so knowing you like them, I decided to make these Thai Pork Kabobs with a great dipping sauce that doubles as the marinade. The flavors are perfect! I had lots of cilantro in the garden and a new jar of […]
Sit Down Sunday Dinner. Do families still do that? I hope so. Some of my best memories are of Sunday Dinner at Tom Bergfeld’s grandma’s house in Fresno. She was famous for her pot roast! She made it every Sunday for the entire Bergfeld clan. But the most amazing part was she cooked the whole meal all by herself until she was in her 80’s! For some unknown reason, grandma […]
This was one of those “accident” meals. I was planning to make an Italian-inspired pork tenderloin but when I opened the package, there were two tenderloins inside so I decided to make one Italian and one Mexican. I make a really good pork and green chili but wanted to try something different with this tenderloin. When I realized I didn’t have any yellow onions, only two red ones, I went […]
My Southern California son has gone all Southern on me–Southern as in New Orleans. I picked him up at the airport last week and we headed to Ralph’s to buy his favorites–Have’a Chips, salsa and guacamole. So you can imagine how shocked I was when he walked right past the chips and straight to the meat section looking for “pulled pork”. I had to remind him that markets in […]
I have to admit, I’m proud of this dish. I made it all up and it turned out really great. I’ll give a little credit to my friends Cathy Nokes and Mary Shapero because they listened to my idea over lunch last week and Cathy suggested I try the white balsamic for the glaze and Mary said she thought I could find peach preserves at Whole Foods. They were both […]
When you live in a small town like Laguna Beach you just never know who you’ll run into, especially if you’re sitting at the “communal table” on the patio at 230 Forest. My friend Denny and I were there the other night and met Keith and Patti Marshall. Their kids had surprised them with an evening out to celebrate their 26th wedding anniversary. When I found out Keith worked as a […]
Pork and green chile stew had been a favorite of mine for years and years, and like any good stew, I served it in a bowl with a spoon. All that change when Jake turned it into a burrito. I think of it as an open-face burrito and eat it with a knife and fork, but somehow Jake folds his in such a way that he forgoes all the silverware. […]