We were really busy at the restaurant last week with the San Jose Grand Prix in town and so on Friday I made this pasta special which was incredibly easy and delicious. You can use any pasta shape you like, but I like using orecchiette because the pasta holds a small pool of sauce in the center.  I also added diced grilled chicken, but you can leave it out if you prefer. Pancetta or prosciutto would also be great with this dish.

To start, make a standard garlic cream sauce by sauteing an onion in canola oil. Add fresh garlic, roasted garlic, salt, pepper and deglaze with white wine, and simmer on low until the wine is reduced. Add heavy cream and simmer until cream is reduced by about a quarter. Set cream mixture aside to cool for about 10 minutes before adding the other ingredients. Pour cream mixture into a blender and add a large bunch of fresh basil, freshly grated parmesan cheese, lemon juice, fresh garlic, and a small amount of spinach for color. Blend until smooth and taste again for seasonings and add additional, salt, pepper or lemon juice to taste.

Since there are so few ingredients in this dish, I recommend that you purchase fresh English peas instead of using frozen—their taste and texture is amazing. To finish, cook the orecchiette to al dente.  If using chicken or pancetta, saute in olive oil with fresh garlic and deglaze with a small amount of wine and reduce. Add the basil-pesto cream sauce, blanched peas, arugula, parmesan cheese and toss to coat. Taste and adjust seasonings by adding fresh lemon juice. Finish the dish with shaved parmesan and a fried basil leaf. Enjoy!

On Friday we were really busy for lunch and so I wanted to make a really simple, but delicious special, and so I made Dungeness Crab and Clam Linguine with Parmesan Crostini. 

To start, largely dice onion, fennel and celery in a large pot with canola oil.  Once softened, deglaze with white wine and reduce and then add fish bones from any firm white fish such as halibut, sea bass or mahi-mahi.  If you want to make a shellfish stock instead, you can add shrimp shells, clams and mussels in addition to the fish bones.  Next add, black peppercorns, bay leaf, and whole lemons, sliced in half and cover with cold water.  Bring to a simmer slowly and skim off any impurities that have risen to the surface and simmer for about an hour until flavorful.  Strain stock through a chinois or fine strainer and chill until ready to use. 

At the restaurant we make different flavored compound butters to use in finishing meats, fish, pasta or sauces.  So for this dish, I made a fresh herb butter and added it to the fish stock for a creamy and flavorful sauce.  To make the compound butter, set out a pound of unsalted butter to soften at room temperature.  Finely dice shallots and garlic and place in a pan with white wine and reduce slowly until the wine has a syrup consistency and the shallots and garlic are caramelized and coated with the syrup.  Set aside to cool.  Next, finely chop, fresh tarragon, basil, thyme and parsley and add to the softened butter. Add the cooled shallots and garlic, salt and pepper to taste and mix together really well.  You can either do this in a mixer with a paddle attachment or by hand using latex gloves (my preference).  You can then form this butter into a cylinder or log using parchment paper or you can place in a container and spoon out for future use. The butter can be kept in the freezer for a couple of months if wrapped really well. 

For the Parmesan crostini, thinly slice a baguette or any type of rustic bread.  We use Italian filone bread at the restaurant, which is really crispy on the outside and has an uneven texture on the inside so that all the flavors are absorbed throughout the bread.  Brush both sides of the bread with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  You can also rub the bread with a fresh garlic clove for more flavor.  Place crostini on a sheet pan and bake in a 350-degree oven for about 10–12 minutes until somewhat crusty (turning over half way through cooking).  Sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan and minced flat leaf parsley and bake until cheese has melted.

To complete the dish, ladle some fish stock into a sauté pan, along white wine and minced garlic and reduce for a few minutes.  Next add the fresh herb butter, along with linguine noodles (previously cooked to al-dente). Toss in shredded dungeness crab and minced clams, parsley, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Top with the parmesan crostini and serve!

We hosted a small lunch party at the restaurant today and they requested an assortment of sandwiches and salads and so I whipped up my signature Mediterranean Penne Pasta Salad. This pasta salad is really colorful and has wonderful flavors and textures and is very easy to make.

To start, cook your penne pasta (you can use whatever short length pasta you like). I prefer using penne because it holds up well and since the noodle is hollow, the pasta is flavored both inside and out which adds to the flavor of the finished dish. To enhance the flavor you need to make sure you salt the water, this is especially true when serving cold pasta dishes because the coldness dulls the flavor of the pasta (or any dish for that matter). This is not a pasta dish that you want to serve al dente, so make sure to cook the pasta until soft to the tooth. The pasta will firm up as it chills. Drain the pasta noodles and immerse in an ice bath. Drain again really well and chill.

Once the pasta is chilled, add small diced sweet red and yellow peppers, sliced kalamata olives, capers, chopped basil, oregano and mint (the mint really adds a fresh flavor) diced feta cheese, shredded fresh parmesan cheese, and sliced heirloom toy-box tomatoes or cherry tomatoes. You can also use any combination of ingredients you like such as braised artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, green onions, or mozzarella cheese, etc. Toss the pasta with extra virgin olive oil (preferably Greek) add red wine vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Then let the pasta salad chill for at least an hour to let the flavors combine and then toss and taste again. Add fresh arugula (if you add the arugula sooner it will wilt from the moisture), salt, pepper, and the olive oil.  To finish add fresh squeezed lemon juice and toss!

This Mediterranean pasta salad is great with so many dishes (burgers, sandwiches, or grilled meat and fish kabobs) and it’s fun to experiment with many different flavor combinations. I hope enjoy!

Monday’s are really busy for me at the restaurant.  Since we are closed for lunch service over the weekend, I start from scratch on Monday mornings and I have a lot of prep for both my fish and sauté stations.  I barely have enough time to finish all of my sets before lunch service starts at 11:30am.  So I really don’t have time to focus on creating elaborate specials.  After I get in and set up my station, I go and search the walk-in to see if there is anything that I can use to create a special.  Fortunately, for me today, the executive chef prepared a fish special and so all I needed to prep was the chef special

We make all of our own pastas at the restaurant from scratch and so in the freezer I found a sheet tray of wild mushroom ravioli.  Now, all I needed to come up with was a quick sauce. My special for today was, Wild Mushroom Ravioli with Madeira Cream Sauce, Sautéed Baby Shitake Mushrooms, Arugula Salad dressed with Lemon Vinaigrette and White Truffle Oil.

 

 

Making a cream sauce is an incredibly easy sauce to make.  You start with a base of sautéed onions and garlic and/or roasted garlic.  Deglaze with either chicken stock, brandy, Madeira, etc…whatever flavor you would like to impart in the sauce.  You can then add additional flavorings such as roasted red peppers if you wanted to make a red pepper cream sauce or tomatoes, saffron, or sage—the list is endless.  Add heavy cream to the mix, reduce to the desired consistency, season with salt and pepper to taste and blend together in a blender.   You end up with a rich flavorful sauce that took you minutes to prepare (not including the time to reduce on the stove) and seconds to blend.  

To finish the dish, you can add roasted or sautéed vegetables, or grilled chicken.  Garnish with some colorful greens dressed in a tangy vinaigrette for heightened flavor and texture.  And you end up with a delicious dish that was very easy to make.