From Smith and Hawken (and Salinas) with Love

My wayward trip through Salinas rekindled my life long passion for the work of Nobel Prize winning author John Steinbeck. I first read "Grapes of Wrath" in 8th grade and at least 10 more times since then and nearly every other book of his. Several times. Great books, to me are a like feast. I quickly finished the wondrous "Travels with Charley" and began to nibble at the nearly 600 page "East of Eden" (1952) referenced in the last post. Big book, lots to chew on. Chapter one was evocative as he described the rich soil of the famous agricultural area of his birth. Here is an excerpt:

"The floor of the Salinas Valley, between the ranges and below the foothills, is level because this valley used to be at the bottom of a hundred-mile inlet from the sea. (sic ) Once, fifty miles down the valley, my father bored a well. The drill came up first with top soil and then with gravel and then with white sea sand full of shells and even pieces of whalebone. There were twenty feet of sand and then black earth again, and even a piece of redwood, that imperishable wood that does not rot. Before the inland sea the valley must have been a forest. And those things had happened right under our feet. And it seemed to me sometimes at night that I could feel both the sea and the redwood forest before it. "

That night, as I read his words, I felt layers of rich history beneath me, enriching my life and supporting the outrageous bounty of farm fresh food and artisan products that make Northern and Central California a chef's playground. Suddenly, through a shared vision with John Steinbeck, I saw the earth as though I was peering through the floor of a glass bottom boat with layers upon layers of life revealed below me.

And then along came the herbs...

Just in time for our delicious, jam packed Mother's Day Brunch at Fresh Starts Cooking School we received a donation of herbs from Smith and Hawken, a national company founded here in Marin. Smith and Hawken retail stores and online catalog are a wonderland of top quality garden and out door lifestyle products. Gorgeous out door furniture, plants, gardening tools, table top items and so much more. I was told that we had been given "a lot of herbs" and they were in our offices at Homeward Bound , so I got two bus tubs and headed over to the next building to get them. Um, how about 6 CASES of 30 - 4 inch pots each of cilantro, Italian parsley, sage, thyme, oregano and basil! THANK YOU, I am amazed! I used the potted herbs as green, sustainable and then re-purposed (planted) centerpieces for our 150 person Mothers Day Brunch. Better and cheaper than cut flowers any day!

I spent hours of time putting the herbs in the ground. Our main garden and herb garden at Fresh Starts Cooking School is full of gorgeous green plants, promising fresh vibrant flavors for months to come for free. I felt like a painter that just got free paint for the whole summer. As I unloaded the cases of herbs, I could not help but notice their origin: Salinas. But of course.

As I prepared for my cooking class this past Monday blanching and chopping herbs for a basil infused syrup and an herbed vinaigrette, (below) I couldn't help glancing now and then at the generous bounty of herbs that I had set up on the sparkling marble counter top of our state of the art cooking school. I thought about the rich soil and agricultural history that is infused in each and every fragrant green leaf that I had the pleasure of cooking with, each plant somehow containing a memory of a prehistoric forest or of an ancient whale that once lived so very, very long ago.


Come taste these storied herbs, see our gardens and support our spectacular Fresh Starts Cooking School at 1385 N. Hamilton Parkway in Novato. Register and pay safelyy and easily up by logging on to www.hbofm.org and click on "take a cooking class" and then "Class Schedule" for the classes below , or call 415-382-3363 ext. 243

Proceeds from this groundbreaking center support homeless programs of Homeward Bound of Marin. Join our culinary community!

My class on Monday May 18th "April Showers, Cooking with Farmers Market May Flowers and Herbs" was blessed with a huge display of herbs and a gift of herbs for each guest. IT WAS DELICIOUS. Thanks again Grant and the Smith and Hawken team.
Raspberry and Herbed "Butterfiled" Salmon with Edible Flowers and Forbidden Rice Pink Peppercorn Pavlovas with Cherries, Cream and Basil Syrup
Fruit Skewer Bouquets
Asparagus and Artichoke Centerpieces

Our next classes are :

Monday June 8th 6:30-8:30 p.m. Classic Vietnamese Cooking with Joyce Jue one of the top Asian cooking experts, teachers and cook book authors in the country! Her class is selling out VERY quickly. It is only $49

Crispy Spring Rolls with Crab Sour Fish Soup with Fresh Pineapple Sour Fish Soup with Fresh Pineapple
Wok Fried Lemongrass Boneless Chicken with Caramel Sauce
Steamed Jasmine Rice

Saturday June 27th 11 am -1pm Join me for our Jammin' Jamaican Barbecue Fest (Full meal!) Just $59

Mango and Jicama Salad with Green Onion and Lime
Jamaican Jerk Ribs and Chicken Sauteed Chayote Squash, Onions and Peppers
Savory Coconut Rice
Tropical Fruit Skewers

French Connection- Jacques Pepin and me!

Coming soon, delicious details from Chef Thomas Keller's absolutely fantastic demonstration and food photos. Also, my best, coolest, most soulful chef connection of the whole Pebble Beach Experience coming up. But first, my Jacques moment.

International culinary legend Jacques Pepin himself, what a guy, was scheduled to present on the demonstration stage on Saturday at 3:30 at the Pebble Beach Food and Wine Experience . I suppose it was fortunate that Todd English punked out because the cook top in the first demo tent cracked, badly. The KILLER production team was on it, they called a local appliance provider who, some how, got a new cook top on site fast. They dismantled the broken one and installed a new one in record time. No one noticed, but I bet they were really stressing. They were ready in plenty of time for Jacques and Claudine.

We cleaned up and re-set the stages after Keller's fabulous demonstration. How fun to turn around and come face to face with Jacques sipping a glass of champagne in our prep tent! "Oh, hello chef, it is an honor!" I stammered. He and his daughter Claudine Pepin arrived to inspect the set up and gather the remaining ingredients for the "mis en place". Despite excellent preparation and coordination by the PB staff, we ran back and forth getting item after item. As much as I tried to gather the list all at once, new things kept coming up. Platters, plates, no smaller plates, more olives, more water. It was really funny. The main kitchen was, incidentally, far away! Brenn Gambon from the PB staff was a rock star, you name it, he got it, FAST. By the second day I was joking "Brenn, can you get me a box of happy kittens, a bag of pine needles and an eggplant?" I had to tell him I was kidding, because he would gave found those items.

Meanwhile, Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto was setting up in the other tent. He had a HUGE monkfish, the most remarkably ugly fish in the world, and he was hoisting it up on a couple of hooks! Yikes, meanwhile I was running back and forth to see what Jacques needed. Finally, I committed to Jacques, he had a large amount of prep, most of it done. He and Claudine did six total dishes! He featured tomato dishes, which was weird, since it is not even close to tomato season. Hey, he is rich, famous and a great chef, he can do what he wants. The tomatoes actually looked pretty nice. I was working with a VERY young culinary student of the California persuasion: in other words not used to a forceful, bossy chef. Poor kid, Jacques has that crazy thick accent, he mumbles and he is a bit impatient. He had the kid pitting olives with the side of a sharp knife, his hands and board were all greasy. I was envisioning a bloody mess. I came in to assist, kid's gotta toughen up. I love California more than anything, but most kitchens are soft. I wonder how many CA culinary students intern back east and get a shock when they are introduced to an east-coast-chef run kitchen! Or, worse a FRENCH chef!

Yet, Chef was very gracious and super professional, come on he and Julia invented this stuff! The first dish was Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato and Anchovy Sauce, simple and lovely. He and Claudine joked and bickered back and forth to the delight of the huge audience. They then busted out a Tall Greek Tomato Salad (second plate from front), essentially a horizontally cut tomato with Greek Salad ingredients stacked inside. Great presentation. He peeled and stuffed a tomato with a rice mixture ( 5th plate) and then showed a Caprese salad done in a tomato cut horizontally, not all the way through, fitted with wedges of buffalo mozzarella and basil (4th plate). Claudine made a great tartare dish with a disk of a new product of theirs by California Caviar, Pressed Caviar. It is a paste of caviar that can be flattened and sliced, frozen and shaved or molded into rounds or discs. She topped her dish with a flat disc of caviar, paper thin, shiny and jet black ( 3rd plate). Excellent idea.

The crowd adored them, but Jacques was really pissed for a bit because his cook books did not arrive for the post demo book signing. During his demo, one of the young co-founders of this event, David Alan Bernahl II, announced that they would buy and ship Jacques' cook book for each attendee! It was an Oprah moment, for sure. Now that is CUSTOMER SERVICE! Jacques was very pleased. I was really impressed at the gorgeous food and all the time he spent with the guests : photos, fawning, answering the same questions over and over. He is a treasure. After the demo, he headed off to get ready for the Cristal Champagne Dinner featuring chefs Eric Ripert of Le Bernadin, Sylvain Portay of Groupe Alain Ducasse, Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park and many other greats. Me, I was figuring out how to dispose of the hulking corpse and innards of the eviscerated monkfish and accompanying nasty fish water that the fish was iced in from Chef Morimoto's Monkfish Hot Pot demonstration. Oh, the glamour...
Degrees of separation, 5. Great man, legend, French, off to sip more well deserved champagne.

Keep posted for the upcoming details about Chef Keller's presentation and great, heartwarming true stories from a new favorite chef and friend, Chicago's Rick Tramonto.