Title: Jam maker CMB Sweets
Hometown: Miami, FL, in California for five years

1. What’s your jam philosophy?
I want to stay true to the fruit. I try to have big clean flavors. I’m not going to add lavender or almonds to jam. I don’t make “gourmet jam” but I use less sugar and more fruit. I use high quality produce and I look for best flavor quality from local producers. Some of the fruit comes directly from the growers and mostly it’s California grown. I go to the farmer’s market and taste everything. Once I find a fruit I like I stick with that grower all season long.

2. How did you get started making and selling jam?
I was a reporter for a long time and I covered venture capitalism, entrepreneurship and start-ups. I had this co-worker and we’d complain about our jobs and evil bosses and contemplate quick-rich schemes. I suggested a “jam of the month club” I had read about local jam maker June Taylor and it seemed like people in the Bay Area really liked jam. After that I decided to learn how to make jam.

I went online and downloaded all these strawberry jam recipes and I bought strawberries and sugar and Ball jars. Then I sent out an email inviting people to join my jam of the month club. Initially people thought it was a “rock concert” jam of the month club! At first I got only three responses, but slowly I got more and more.

3. What’s your favorite flavor and favorite way to eat jam?
The blackberries–olallieberry or boysenberry but I sometimes have a weird craving for pomegranate. I have a mix of jam leftovers in my fridge it’s blackberry, strawberry and raspberry and that’s what I eat most often.
I like it on toast with butter or with yogurt.

4. How did you come up with your unique labels with characters on them?
The original label had a line rendering of the GG bridge and on top I was going to put the flavor on a sticker. The first flavor was orange and I remember thinking that I wanted a picture of an orange with a smiley face on it. A friend and I worked on it and then we added arms and legs to the orange. The bridge was nice but the characters were more fun.

5. What are your plans for the future?
The jam is moving into more and more bigger stores, but I’d like to have a wider national presence. I’d like to expand the product line and add more products such as fruit syrups and Italian fruit mustards.

What store holds “anti-oppression training” doesn’t carry meat because they “think of animals as our friends” and is open on Independence day but closed for the Gay Pride parade? It ain’t Real Foods, it’s Rainbow Grocery. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I think Rainbow Grocery is the best store in the world. But I love it just the same.

Like Shuna , I tend to reject anything that seems the slightest bit “hippy-dippy”. Many of the folks working at my local Real Foods are just plain dippy. Like the guy behind the meat counter who can’t answer any questions because he doesn’t eat meat. You might think Rainbow Grocery is “hippy-dippy” but it really isn’t. It has a vibe that makes me smile. Here’s why:Start with the parking, it’s lousy but on really busy days the store sends someone out to play parking attendant. That’s nice.

The moment you enter the store you reach my favorite thing, the bulletin board. I’ve actually tried to convince several employees, sorry, worker-owners, that they ought to publish the comments in book form. One person comments that they don’t like that some men working at the store wear skirts. Another person responds, that they love that men wear skirts and think ALL the men should wear skirts. Another comment, no uniforms should be allowed, everyone should be free to wear what they want.

Someone always accuses the store of a conspiracy. Why don’t they carry spirulina spelt tortillas anymore? (ok I made that up) Don’t they know that was the only kind of tortilla I can eat? Are they trying to ruin my life? And then some nice store person will respond–sorry, the supplier no longer offers them but that the store is trying to find another supplier. Finally there are the comments about Odwalla. Doesn’t the store know that it’s owned by evil Coke? Yes, they know, but customers want the product and being a cooperative and all they voted and Odwalla stays. Feel free not to buy it.

At this point I’m smiling like, well, a stoned hippy. I move on to the bulk section which is amazingly organized and clean. It’s also full of obscure seaweeds and heirloom beans and the like. The olive bar is quite nice. The dried fruit section is a bit creepy for some reason. All those refrigerated boxes of brown fruit just give me the heeby jeebies.

The produce section provides information about where each item comes from, perfect for designing your menu ala “Watsonville Strawberries and Cream”. There are lots of organic products and prices are considerably better than what you find at Real Foods. But more importantly, nothing is rotten. Slime alert! At Real Foods stay away from the mung beans and mushrooms!

Each category of items, be it jam or crackers, seems to have a store recommendation. That way you can find the most fair trade, organic, local, sustainable product made by skirt wearing men. The dairy section is enormous and includes so many types of eggs you might have a breakdown trying to decide which to buy, except that they print an egg-buying guide, to help you along. The cheese section, unlike the one at Real Foods is actually staffed. Staffed by people, people who know about cheese. I know, crazy, but true.

Now the check out clerks can sometimes be a downer at Rainbow Grocery. They don’t have that Trader Joe’s perkiness. But still, it’s been a great trip.

Want to find out about customer appreciation day and where you can find 20% off coupons for Rainbow Grocery? Head over to Cooking with Amy .

Fans of Anthony Bourdain have followed him from the printed page to the Food Network and to his latest show, No Reservations on the Travel Channel (Mondays at 10). We recently talked with Tony about his latest foray into television. Tomorrow we’ll post part two of the interview.

How has working with the Travel Channel been a different experience from the work you did with the
Food Network?
As much as I hate to appear the corporate suck-up, I have to be honest and say that Travel Channel has been utterly wonderful from the get-go. They have pretty much indulged me in every way one could hope for. I go the places I want to go–and only the places I want to go. I make the shows I want to make. I make the show with a very creative, close knit team of friends. Essentially, I actually get paid to do what I want to do. Whatever I want to do–and wherever I want to do it. Content, location, music, I’m as involved as I want to be.

At the Food Network, there was constant pressure to do more domestic shows, to pander to their core demographic–meaning “more BBQ shows! How about you go to a dude ranch? Interested in showing your audience how they make a Twinkie?” that sort of thing. It’s amazing they let me on that network in the first place. Travel Channel has been much cooler, much more interested in foreign locations–showing people what they HAVEN’T seen before. And they have a sense of humor. I think the Adult Advisory at the beginning of every segment of No Reservations says it all.

Which episodes of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations have viewers had the strongest positive and negative reactions to?
I think Malysia and the Asian episodes in general have provoked the strongest positive reactions–hopefully because I felt most strongly and passionately about those places myself. I like to think so anyway. While the snarkier episodes may be funnier, I’m always a little uncomfortable with falling back on that. It’s a sign of failure. Most negative reaction? I don’t know. Though very proud of it, I suspect that some people are going to be VERY upset with the Inuit scene in the Quebec show.

Do you ever feel the urge to recreate some of the fantastical things you’ve eaten on No Reservations at home, or is that impossible for reasons such as availability, technique, etc.?
Never. I am not so arrogant as to think that just because I’ve seen someone make Peking duck in Beijing–that I’ll have something to add to the process after only a brief encounter. Most of the time, the dishes I see made or eat on the show are the end result of a lifetime of trial and error–and hundreds if not thousands of years of tradition. When I’m abroad I’m there to eat and experience the place. I’m not analyzing. I’m a French cook. That’s what I’m good at. And it took me almost 30 years to get good at that..

How does the current season of No Reservations compare to last season?
More exotic locations, better locations, a desire to always change, not repeat what we’ve done before, to say something new–and show the audience something new…Also–as me and my crew continue to travel and work together, we (hopefully) are getting better at what we do, as with any band on tour. And back home–the same goes for the editors. As we shoot, we know which editor will be working on the show–and we’re getting better at playing to their strengths. It’s like a kitchen in some ways–over time you get better at working together–at the choreography.

I love Russian food. I know, it’s heavy and often unsophisticated but to me, it’s pure comfort. Last night in an attempt to sneak in some pasta before Passover, I boiled up some Siberian pelmeni, meat-filled dumplings, which I served with sour cream. I used fresh, decadently rich homemade sour cream from my favorite Russian market. To serve with it I made a quick cucumber salad composed of cucumbers and seasoned rice wine vinegar. I also made a beet salad with chunks of orange, a splash of blood orange olive oil and some vinegar.

The Russian market I go to has a huge deli selection with lots of salads. They also always have some sort of treats on the counter to tempt me. Latest temptations? Syrniki, a kind of cheese pancake and blini. The blini just screams “party”. I could see buying a batch, picking out some salmon caviar and cracking open the vodka.

Syrniki is something I figured out how to make with some help from a couple of Russian friends. After last night’s Russian feast, it’s the perfect breakfast. Heavy, yes. Unsophisticated, yes. Delicious, oh yes. You do need to buy a very firm type of cheese called tvorog to make them, Ii the cheese is too creamy it won’t work. But fortunately Russian markets always seem to carry quite a variety of this cheese.

Syrniki
2 servings

1 cup firm farmers cheese “tvorog”
1 egg
3 tbsp flour
2 teaspoons sugar
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
butter for frying and extra flour for dusting

Combine the cheese, egg, flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Mix very well. Dough should be firm enough to form into balls that don’t lose shape from too much moisture.

Roll into balls about the size of a ping-pong ball. Roll the balls in flour.

Melt some butter, or a combination of oil and butter for a lower smoking point, in a frying pan (cast iron works well). When hot, flatten the balls to about 2/3″ thick and pan fry them over medium heat until golden brown on both sides. After the first side is done and you’ve flipped them, lower the heat a bit, and cover the pan loosely, to make sure they cook through. Carefully place the pancakes on a plate, allow to cool and firm up before serving. Top with a dollop of sour cream.

Enjoy!

The list, the list! It’s inescapable. The Chronicle’s Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants. While that’s the official title, the editor of the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine in her column refers to it as “Michael Bauer’s Top 100 restaurants”. It’s been said many in the food department have their hand in compiling the list, not just Bauer. Not having been there I can’t say for sure.

Bauer begins his cover story by trying to refute Daniel Patterson’s assertion (made in the New York Times some months back) that the Bay Area’s insistence on fresh, seasonal cooking was suffocating creativity in restaurant kitchens. Bauer takes a poke at “molecular gastronomy” and seems to say that the list is proof enough that we are creative. But how do the trends mentioned–pizza, improved wine lists, cocktails and raw fish equal creativity?

No doubt everyone has their opinion about what’s wrong with the list. Here’s mine.

1. Either make it the “best” restaurants or make it something else. Four star restaraurants were left off in favor of three star restaurants. That makes no sense to me.

2. Don’t try to make it inclusive of expensive and inexpensive restaurants. That’s not fair to either. We already have the Bargain Bites edition of the list. Comparing La Taqueria with Gary Danko makes no sense to me.

3. The locations outside of San Francisco are given short shrift.

4. Some restaurants are good but are they REALLY “top” ? The ones that stick out for me are Matterhorn, House of Prime Rib and Viks Chaat Corner. They are each good, but not what I would consider “best”. But maybe top means something else in this context?

5. Why is a bakery on the list? That’s not a restaurant. C’mon, serving good sandwiches should not rank a spot on the list.

6. Hype. Sorry to say it, but there’s plenty of it on this list. Places that are interesting, hip and cool but certainly not the best food in town. I won’t mention names, but I’m sure local diners can pick out plenty on the list in this category.

Ok, my griping about the list is officially over! If you want to follow some more discussions of the list check out:

Chowhound

Craigslist Food Forum

Yelp

or continue the conversation in the comments section of this post…I look forward to hearing your opinions.

Sake is hot! Actually it’s also served cold. But never mind, sake is meant to be enjoyed and if that means breaking the rules or with tradition, so be it. That’s the fundamental message in Sake A Modern Guide, a new book by Beau Timken, local sake aficionado and owner of the only sake store in America, True Sake, with accompanying recipes by Sara Deseran 7×7 magazine senior editor.

If you’ve wondered what the difference between Junmai, Ginjo and Junmai dai ginjo is, rest assured Timken demystifies the names and styles of sake. The history of sake is particularly interesting and goes down smooth. Best of all, Timken explains how to taste sake, (something I could have used at the Joy of Sake event a few months back) and provides a selection of fifty sakes to try. The listings are amazing. For each sake, along with a full description is a defining word such as “shimmering” or “silky” a wine and a beer to compare it with and several foods to pair it with.

As you might expect, many of the recipes Deseran provides use sake as one of the ingredients. Suggestions are also made for which sakes pair well with the dishes that run the gamut from appetizers, pasta, salad and even a risotto. It turns out risotto and sake are a very contemporary pairing in Japan these days. Who knew?

As if to demonstrate that sake should not be taken too seriously, there is a section on sake cocktails. If you are setting up a bar and don’t want to invest in the typical rum, vodka, whiskey repertoire, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much you can do with sake. In the section are drinks in the styles of hot toddy, margarita, sangria, cosmopolitan and bloody mary. Finally for those who enjoy infused vodkas, don’t miss the section on infused sakes.

I confess. When I first came upon this cookbook I barely gave it a look. While the subtitle “100 delicious recipes from around the world” sounded great– “Healthy Jewish” in The Healthy Jewish Cookbook concerned me. So here’s the deal, I’m Jewish but not very fond of what I know of as Jewish cuisine. My general impression is that Jewish food is heavy, bland, often overcooked and fattening. Healthy food on the other hand sounds dull, unsubstantial, undercooked and fat free. To top it all off, the book is written by a British writer. I won’t even go near that stereotype. Needless to say I’m glad I gave the book a second look.

Michael van Straten may be unfamiliar to American audiences but he’s probably more well-known to the British. A prominent health journalist and practitioner, van Straten has written around 30 books and has run a health radio program for about 30 years. He begins the book with a delightful story of how his parents met and a bit about his upbringing. Though his family is European, he looks far beyond the Eastern European cuisine so many American Jews are familiar with to explore the fusion cuisine that came of the diaspora.

The recipes themselves come from all around the globe–all parts of Europe, the Mediterranean to Persia, the Middle East, North Africa and the Far East. The flavors and colors are vibrant and excite the senses. He reconfigures some less than healthy recipes but mostly the recipes are delicious first, healthy second and just happen to be popular with Jews, somewhere in the world. Most recipes come with a “health note” that points out the health benefits associated with the ingredients. Risotto, couscous and smoked haddock all find there way into recipes. My only complaint is that while there is a section devoted to Jewish holidays, a section of recipes specifically for holidays would have made the book easier to navigate.

This recipe would certainly perk up a Passover seder. Recipe reprinted courtesy of of Frog, Ltd. North Atlantic Books

Olive and Orange Salad
Serves 4

Jews were the earliest cultivators of citrus fruits. Olives have been cultivated for at least 5,000 year, and they’re part of Jewish biblical history. Widely used in Sephardic cuisine, this salad is a favorite in Israel, although its origins are probably north African.

4 oranges, peeled and sliced horizontally
About 18 black olives, pitted and cut in half
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, very finely chopped
1 teaspoon finely chopped mint
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika, plus 2 pinches for serving

Method
Put the oranges into a serving bowl. Scatter the olives over the oranges. Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, mint, cumin, and paprika. Pour the dressing over the salad, adding 2 pinches of paprika for serving.

Health Note
This recipe combines the taste and vitamin C of oranges with the bitter flavors of olives. Because they’re such a good source of oil, olive are often thought to be fattening, but this isn’t the case: 18 olives contain only 60 calories, but they provide vitamin E and lots of protective antioxidants.

For another recipe from the book, Cinnamon Ball cookies, also a Passover friendly treat, head over to Cooking with Amy.

Title: Owner Pyzano’s Pizzeria, author of Pizza, five time world champion pizza acrobat
Hometown: Fremont

1. Why is tossing a pizza necessary?
Three reasons, one is to get the dough to the size that you want. Second it naturally builds the crust, when you spin the dough it gets thinner in the middle and thicker on the ends. Third, the more you throw it the more the top portion of the crust dries out so you end up with a pizza that is crunchy on the outside and light on the inside. The best dough has some air in it and are more sponge-like, the harder you are on dough you knock out the air, hand-tossing is very gentle.

2. What tips do you have for home cooks?
Dough isn’t as hard as people think. But you have to use high protein high gluten flour, Giusto’s is good. Also you can find Caputo or King Arthur has some that are good 13-14 /1/2 protein percentage. All-purpose flour does not work for pizza dough!

3. What trends to do you see locally and elsewhere?
The Neapolitan style is very popular in the Bay Area, A16, Pizzaiolo Niebaum-Coppola, Delfina (although they don’t have wood-fired ovens) but it’s a trend that hasn’t hit anywhere else yet. Not New York, not the midwest. But it’s kind of like back to the basics, which is great.

Even though they may all be Neapolitan style, the pizzas taste different everywhere. You can really taste the little things. For example the San Marzano tomatoes in the U.S. are not the same as the ones from Italy. The Italian ones are a hundred times better.

Organic is pretty big in California and whole wheat crusts. In the industry there is a lot of hype about the high percentage of lycopene in pizza sauce, it’s got even more than fresh tomatoes. I think people will experiment with crusts and different cheeses too like vegan cheeses. Compared to fast food pizza is already pretty healthy.

4. If pizza tossing was going to be in the Olympics would it be a Summer sport or a Winter sport?
Winter because the dough is better when it’s cold. If it’s too humid the dough gets weak.

5. What else do you like to eat other than pizza in the Bay Area?
My wife and I like the Stinking Rose we love Slanted Door and hole in the wall places like Turtle Tower.

To read a review of Tony’s book and for a chance to win a copy, head over to Cooking with Amy.

I’m crazy about Gordon Ramsay and I’ve never eaten at any of his restaurants. I cooked the Roasted Sea Bass with Chive Creme Fraiche, Baby Potatoes and Artichokes from his A Chef For All Seasons book and was instantly impressed. This time around in Gordon Ramsay Makes It Easy he’s not trying as hard to impress us with sophisticated dishes but with how he simply and fast he cooks at home and how you can too.

The cookbook actually comes with a DVD with six recipes demonstrated as if to prove you really can do it. Ramsay has his own way of approaching even simple things like scrambled eggs, and it’s worth paying attention. The book has got a little bit of everything with chapters divided into breakfast and brunch, great fast food, family and friends, summer barbies, just for kids, bellinis and blinis, posh, dinner for two and cooking for a crowd.

The recipes are ones anyone could make, and with ingredients commonly found in the supermarket, with very few exceptions (pheasant and red mullet for example). Most recipes use a minimum of ingredients at that. The pantry and basics section is much shorter in this book than in A Chef For All Seasons but it covers what you need to know just the same. The recipes run the gamut from Macaroni Cheese with Blue Cheese and Mushrooms to Halibut Bourguignon to Salmon Fish Cakes and Banana and Passion Fruit Smoothie. With 100 recipes and 200 photographs, nothing is left to chance. What more could you ask for?

This recipe is perfect example of few ingredients, no technique and yet the results are something special.

Scallops in Prosciutto with Monkfish and Rosemary
Makes 20

10 scallops
10 slices prosciutto
9 oz monkfish fillet, skinned
2-3 long rosemary sprigs
olive oil to drizzle

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice the scallops in half horizontally. Cut the prosciutto slices in half lengthwise. Cut the monkfish into small chunks. Break the rosemary stems into short twigs.

Wrap each scallop disk in a strip of prosciutto, top with a piece of monkfish, and secure with a rosemary twig or two.

Carefully transfer to a baking sheet and drizzle with a little olive oil. Roast in the oven for 3 -4 minutes until firm to the touch.

Let stand for a few minutes, then serve warm.

Reprinted by permission from Gordon Ramsay Makes it Easy, by Gordon Ramsay. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Copyright © 2005 by Gordon Ramsay. All rights reserved.

According to Terrance Brennan “artisanal” means made with passion, pride, enthusiasm, care and attention to detail. In a nutshell, this is his approach to cooking. In Artisanal Cooking Brennan shares recipes for his signature dishes and in the process you get to know the chef. Brennan spent time in the kitchens of Roger Verge’s Le Moulin de Mougins, Taillevent, Le Tour d’Argent, and La Gavroche, not surprisingly his recipes and sensibilities are mostly French in origin with tastes of Mediterranean and US thrown in for good measure.

While I’ve never eaten at any of Terrance Brennan’s restaurants, I have a feeling I would find plenty to please me on the menus. Chestnut spaetzle, wild salmon with horseradish crust, rabbit au Riesling with rutabaga “sauerkraut” would all tempt me greatly. Fortunately his cookbook Artisanal Cooking takes on these dishes and they are easier to accomplish than you might think. Most recipes have less than ten ingredients altogether and techniques which a confident home cook can easily manage.

In addition, the book is filled with little treasures in the form of marmalades, chutneys, flavored oils, flavored salts—recipes which can add a lot of flair to your standard repertoire. His section on cheeses and how to serve them is terrific.

My only criticism is that after reading through Terrance Brennan’s Artisanal Cooking I’m still not completely sure I know what’s meant by that term. When Brennan says “When seeking a butter, take an artisanal attitude and select a distinctive, creamery butter with a fat content of 80% or higher” I have to admit, I get a little confused. An artisanal attitude towards butter? But regardless it’s a terrific book with lots of home cook friendly recipes to savor.

Stilton and Port Fondue
Serves 6

1 cup port
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons cream cheese, at room temperature
12 ounces Stilton, crumbled (about 1 2/3 cups crumbled) at room temperature
kosher salt

In a medium bowl, combine the port and cornstarch, mixing well to dissolve the cornstarch. Pour the mixture into a fondue pot or heavy-bottomed, 2-quart, stainless steel saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

Once the liquid has come to a boil slowly, add the cream cheese, whisking continuously. Make sure each addition is completely melted and incorporated before the next addition. Then add the Stilton. Once all of the cheese has been added, cook over medium heat for one more minute.

Season with salt to taste. Remove from heat and serve.

The Reason Cream cheese is added to Stilton Stilton is a very fatty cheese, which means it separates more easily than other cheeses. The cream cheese helps stabilize the Stilton, preventing separation.

Embellishments Serve with cubed bread, Walnut bread is best, but any crusty bead will work well. Stilton Fondue may also be served with boiled fingerling potatoes, sauteed beef tips, pickled vegetables, air-dried beef, or cubed pears.

Reprinted by permission from Artisanal Cooking: A Chef Shares His Passion for Handcrafting Great Meals at Home, by Terrance Brennan and Andrew Friedman. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Copyright ©2005 by Terrance Brennan and Andrew Friedman. All rights reserved.

Title: General Manager, Tommy’s Joynt

Home town: Los Angeles, I was born here but I’ve only been living here the past six years

1. What’s the key to the success of Tommy’s Joynt?
A couple of things–it doesn’t matter if you were here in 1955 or 1995, everything tastes the same and tastes delicious. The food, the flavors, the quality, the quantity for the price are all the same as they ever were. It’s extremely consistent. With so many pricey trendy places this place stays the same.

The decor was actually done on purpose. In 1947 my uncle Tommy hired someone to decorate the place with all this stuff. Now it’s considered “collectibles” but then it was junk. People always want to buy pieces but I tell them if I started selling things it wouldn’t be the same.

In the last ten years we’ve changed the carrot cake and added chocolate cake. We have salmon and mac and cheese once a week but really not much else has changed.

2. What’s the busiest time in the restaurant?
Thursday through Sunday, Friday and Saturday nights for sure. It’s a real mix on the weekend, lots of business people and movie goers. Lots of younger people have rediscovered Tommy’s Joynt because of our beer selection. The Metallica fan club meets here every year for a big party.

Come in on the weekends and you find a real cross section of people, all walks of life. We have a very diversified clientele, a real mix of locals and tourists.

3. How did buffalo end up on the menu?
In the 1950’s when Tommy lived in Hillsborough he had a neighbor who owned a ranch in Wyoming. The neighbor invited him for dinner and served buffalo stew and Tommy liked it because it was lean and healthy. He decided to buy buffalo from his neighbors ranch and serve it at the restaurant. We’ve been buying from the same ranch all these years.

4. What’s the most popular item on the menu?
Hard to say, it’s the brisket, turkey, corned beef and pastrami. We probably have the best pastrami outside of NY. Our corned beef is made by a local family who does all the pickling themselves. Our knockwurst is local too, from Schwarz Sausage.

5. What’s the best deal at Tommy’s?
Someone can buy a roll for 30 cents, a beer and a hard boiled egg for a quarter and for $3 they got a meal. The eggs used to be all double yolks but we can’t get those anymore. Still, it’s a deal.

For more about my take on Tommy’s, visit here.

Michel Nischan is a professional cook and yet his latest book, Homegrown Pure and Simple published by Chronicle Books, is about recipes inspired by and cooked for his family. Nischan has rediscovered the garden and shares his enthusiasm wholeheartedly. His recipes may be “pure and simple” in terms of ingredients but the combinations are often inventive and sophisticated such as Blueberry, Lemon, and Chili Pepper Jam or Baked Fresh Ham with Roasted Apple and Almond Salad. While it’s easy to come up with summertime recipes, Nischan does a good job using the bounty of the garden in all seasons.

Nischan specifies organic ingredients and most other ingredients in unrefined versions. The recipes are healthful without sacrificing taste. Only occasionally do they slip into the completely indulgent range such as the Cardamom-Strawberry Short Biscuits with Clabbered Cream. Nischan is never preachy and admits to eating fast food and working for companies that do not always jive with his healthful philosophy.

While not a cookbook for the novice, it does include some basics such as how to make stock, seasoned salt, spice rubs and honey roasted nuts. For the more advanced cook, there are some great unique techniques interspersed, such as his two-skillet chicken roasting method and coal roasting peppers. Don’t miss the sidebars on topics such as “why local honey?” and “the benefits and care of cast-iron cookware”. Filled with information on how he has grown his garden, this is also a good book for those whose harvest is found at the farmer’s market.

Skillet-Browned Broccoli and Cauliflower with Pan-Toasted Garlic

Very few people are indifferent about broccoli-they either love it or hate it! But whichever camp you are in, you will like it cooked this way. Caramelizing it in a hot skillet brings out broccoli’s hidden deliciousness. The same is true of cauliflower. Truly! Both of these cruciferous vegetables are extremely nutritious, so finding new ways to cook them will be beneficial to a healthful diet.

There are two simple tricks that will guarantee success. One is to be sure to slice the broccoli and cauliflower thin enough so that they cook through by the time they brown and caramelize, yet they must be thick enough so they do not overcook. The second is to make certain the slices are the same thickness, guaranteeing they cook evenly. Otherwise, there’s nothing to it! This recipe is another argument for keeping your cast-iron skillets front and center, rather than stashed in the back of a dark cupboard.

Serves 6

1 large head cauliflower
2 large heads broccoli, stems attached
2 tablespoons grapeseed or rice oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons thinly sliced garlic
2 to 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat. While it’s heating, slice the cauliflower from top to bottom into 1-inch-thick slices. Brush both sides of every slice with some of the grapeseed oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the slices in the hot skillet, pressing them into the pan with a spatula. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until nicely browned. Turn and cook on the other side for about 3 minutes, or until browned and tender. Transfer the slices to a warmed platter.

2. While the cauliflower is cooking, cut the broccoli the same way you cut the cauliflower and brush with some of the remaining grapeseed oil. When the cauliflower is cooked, cook the broccoli in the same way. Make sure both sides of the broccoli slices are browned before transferring the slices to the platter with the cauliflower.

3. Add the remaining grapeseed oil (about 2 teaspoons) to the hot skillet. Add the garlic slices and saute, stirring gently and constantly, for 1 to 2 minutes, or until lightly browned. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

4. Arrange the broccoli around the outside of the platter and then put the cauliflower inside the circle. Sprinkle the toasted garlic slices over the broccoli and cauliflower, drizzle with the olive oil, and serve.

Title: Co-owner Medicine Eatstation
Hometown: Moab, Utah

1. What’s “New Shojin” cuisine all about?
In Japan there are two ways Shojin cuisine is served, as an aristocratic, 18 course formal cuisine or as simple monk cuisine and we’ve tried to do something in the middle which is kind of unusual. It’s a healthy everyday experience, but we’re not just serving rice and miso soup.

We’ve taken an ancient cuisine of Zen monasteries and made a few careful adjustments to it. It allows us to be a bit more serendipitous about what we put together. We have a certain range of tastes that we want to do here and there is great restraint involved to remain within it. We are looking for a certain taste range that allows the subtlety of the vegetables to come out. We are not a fusion place.

2. What would you want people to know before coming here?
That our normal American idea of food is filled with cheap thrills and big tastes and grease but there is a real world of complexity and color in this type of cuisine. That’s what attracted me to it in the first place.

3. What are your favorite dishes at the moment?
Jade Nuggets, it’s labor intensive for the kitchen though. It has natto, fermented soy bean flavored with mustard folded in a shiso leaf and tempura fried. It’s a hard core Japanese taste. We’ve had a lot of “natto conversions” with this dish. Also the Napa Cabbage Roll, it’s soft on the outside, wrapped in lettuce, crunchy inside with pickled gourd. The textures are amazing.

4. What’s the best thing about running a restaurant?
The creativity and the mathematical joy in discovering the formula that makes an innovative restaurant work. It’s the menu, the offerings, the economics.

5. When you eat out now, where do you like to go?
I like either very simple classic places or great fine experimental places, Swan’s, Tadich, also Michael Mina and Chez Panisse. But almost nothing in between.