In the Kitchen

What's New at Paulding & Company

November 2007

November is a different time in the Bay Area than it is everywhere else. Go to the chilly Midwest or the Northeast, and you will be eating tired vegetables trucked in from here. Our farmers markets are full of a gorgeous harvest, vibrant greens, winter squashes, early citrus, persimmons galore, and even that deepest of contradictions, deep red, flavorful late harvest early girl tomatoes. Pears and crisp apples in amazing variety have replaced the summer peaches and plums, but the strawberries are still sweet. I found organic corn in the Berkeley farmers market Tuesday. As Thanksgiving approaches, we can be appropriately thankful for our bountiful harvest. There’s a longer list of market items at the end of the newsletter--for those of you who don’t read that far, just remember the farmers who diligently bring their goods to market rain or shine, need your support. Don’t neglect our wonderful markets on rainy days, and you will be rewarded with the freshest produce, free range eggs, and even wonderful gifts for the holidays.

I want to spend a few moments focusing on a favorite purveyor, Big Paw Grub. These guys make wonderful vinegars from locally harvested fruit, and bottle the best California olive oil (both green early harvest and gold late harvest) that I’ve ever tasted. They market their products at the Grand Lake farmers market, and many others all over the bay area. I buy their oil all the time, and find many uses for such vinegars as their rosemary porcini red wine vinegar, red hot raspberry balsamic, and their Gravenstein apple cider vinegar, which I buy by the case and use in potato salad and cole slaw, braised cabbage and salads.

Making use of the harvest and all the rest of the great food we can get around here is a subject dear to my heart. Paulding & Company continually seeks out great classes for your learning pleasure, and I am pleased to announce the return of our wonderful Knife Skills Class, with expert teacher Charlie Vollmar at the helm. This is a pure skills class, with no cooking involved--an intensive session where, in three hours, you will learn how to make your prep work fly quickly. Sign up soon--the class is Saturday the 17th, and there are still plenty of spots left for you.

We’ll have another Knife Sharpening class Monday, January 14th. This class is very popular, with good reason--as you’ll find with the knife skills class, keeping your blades honed is crucial to making the job of cooking easier!

Basic Cooking classes will start again Wednesday, January 9th. I am teaching the winter session privately rather than through Piedmont Adult School due to an administrative glitch there, so you can sign up for the classes from the calendar right away. You’ll learn how to use your knife skills and sharp knives in this class, which includes a full meal every night.

Rosetta Costantino will be adding a series of new classes for the new year, but still has spots in the Christmas Eve In Calabria class she’s holding on December 6th. This is a very special class, steeped in the tradition of her home. Sunset Magazine has done a Christmas Eve story at Rosetta’s home for their December issue, so if you sign up fast, you will get a spot before the issue publishes.

We will have gift certificates available for all the classes, so if you’ve got a special someone who you know will be pleased by such a holiday gift, just email me for the details. Pair the sharpening class or Basic Cooking series with a beautiful chef’s knife as a gift--you’ll make someone very, very happy!

Holiday Parties at the Kitchen

We’ve still got some dates free, but they are filling fast! Holiday cooking parties are a LOT of fun, low stress and totally delicious. And if family, friends or co-workers are traveling in December, we can extend the season just for you--January “holiday” parties continue to be a popular option.

In the Market, the Long List

Greens, which get better the chillier the weather. Kale, collards, chard are vibrant right now. Cauliflower, broccoli and occasionally Romanesco. Artichokes, which will get sweeter as the weather cools. Brussels sprouts--subject of last month’s recipe of the month, if you need instructions (do buy them on the stalk!). There are still some eggplants around, and gorgeous red peppers. Cucumbers and tomatoes are also still available--some interesting varieties of cucumber at the Saturday Grand Lake market that look more like melons, and have almost a citrusy flavor. Winter squash are great, and good potatoes and yams are everywhere. The special fall onion, the Cippolini, has made an appearance (see the recipe for these in the archive). Persimmons, both the crisp Fuyu and the custardy Hachiya; pears of all sorts, including the Asian varieties, Warrens (Frog Hollow Farm at the Berkeley markets), Bartlett, Bosc; Apples galore--from Black Arkansas to Braeburn, pink lady (my favorite), and Rome--you have not tasted a crisp Rome apple before? Get a fresh one at the Berkeley market, and marvel at how good this usually soft and insipid apple can be. Grapes are still in the market, but the harvest will soon be finished. Citrus is just getting started, and while the mandarins are still a bit tart, they are refreshingly so. Avocados are great right now, too. It’s also chestnut season, through the end of the year, and there are plenty of new crop almonds and walnuts to be had. Finally, until there is a lot of rain, there are still berries. Strawberries and Raspberries have been great, but as the weather cools, the strawberries will start to get “white shoulders”, and lose some of their sun-warmed sweetness.

Recipe of the Month

I used to live in western Massachusetts, and also spent time in Vermont. Both are the ‘land of maple syrup’ and as the weather cools and days get short, my thoughts turn to this wonderful and unique product. I can think of no other tree sap products, and wonder at the first person who thought to poke a hole in a maple tree and put a bucket under it to collect the sap. It’s then boiled down to concentrate it, and neatly packaged for you and me to enjoy. And, what better way to enjoy it than on some freshly made waffles or pancakes? Whether you’re making weekend brunch or (as we occasionally do) weeknight dinner, a stack of good pancakes, with real maple syrup (with or without the apples in the accompanying recipe), can’t be beat. Oh... you don’t have a recipe you like? You’ve only used a packaged mix? You don’t know what you’re missing! Here’s my recipe, appropriately named Buttermilk Featherweight Waffles and Pancakes, since they are light and airy, and my kids all think they’re the best they’ve ever had.

See the recipe >