In the Kitchen

What's New at Paulding & Company

June 2010

Don’t Miss This Amazing Opportunity!

Next Sunday, June 6th, the kitchen will be transformed into the site for one of the most beautiful events we’ve ever hosted. You have the opportunity to attend this event, and both treat yourself to new and revelatory experiences, a true sensory delight, and, at the same time, help us offer scholarships to kids that want to come to Cook! Culinary Programs summer camp but can’t afford to. The event is called Ichigo ichie, one encounter, one chance?a Celebration of the Beauty Around Us.

My daughter Tracy, director of our kid’s camp, has put this event together, calling upon representatives of the Urasenke Foundation, SF to help. They will be transforming our loft into a traditional tea room, and performing a Japanese tea ceremony, Chanoyu, for our guests?this is a unique experience, a tradition based in the cultural history of Japan. The Foundation is a branch of the revered Kyoto school, which Tracy attended for a year, learning the intricacies of the tea ceremony.

After the ceremony, attend a sushi-making demonstration, with chef Miyuki Hasegawa of Chaya Brasserie in San Francisco, who will offer instruction and tastes for all. While you watch and sample, you will get to sip sake from Takara Sake Company in Berkeley, which they have generously donated to our event.

Finally, you will be seated for a traditional tenshin meal, exquisite dishes in the culinary style known as kaiseki, attuned to the season, with special attention to texture, appearance, color and aroma, which we’ll prepare with Christy Bartlett and Toshiko Ueda of Urasenke, and Chef Miyuki, along with the assistance of several of the camp’s returning students. This will be a feast guaranteed to delight your senses!

There will be a raffle with some delicious prizes, too!

The cost for the event is $125 per person, or, you can reserve a table for eight for $900. Please register for the event immediately, as time is short, and food must be ordered.

Summer Camp!

As I write this, Cook! Culinary Programs camp is filling up, but there are still a few spaces left in many of the great camp sessions. The first session starts June 21st, and every week of camp has a compelling theme, and great guest chefs (and artists) who will come play in the kitchen with us. Sign your 9-17 year old(s) up now, for an adventure that will not only be a fun learning experience this summer, but impart skills that will last a lifetime! And for a fun read, follow the link from the Cook! website to the Cook! blog on Facebook, featuring program intern Kevin Imah’s experiments in the kitchen with Tracy, and when camp starts, pictures, recipes and descriptions of camp from a teen perspective. Kevin just graduated with honors from St. Mary’s and is matriculating to Stanford in the fall.

New at the Kitchen

Sometime this month we will be hooked into a NEW water system, providing us with “on demand” hot water, a huge improvement. Many of you who have spent time cooking with us are aware of our ongoing battle with the inadequate electric hot water heater, and I’m pleased to finally have found a solution that works.

Events

June 22nd is the second in our series of three Business at Breakfast mornings with the Emeryville Chamber of Commerce. Every breakfast includes (of course) great food, good company, a chance to tell about what your business does, and a featured speaker. It’s very inexpensive, and, it all ends by 9 AM so you can get to work, too.

Classes

Rosetta’s taking a month’s vacation, so the next adult class we have on the schedule is Knife Sharpening with Eric Weiss July 19th, and then Rosetta will start up again on Saturday, July 24th, with A Taste of Calabria, featuring zucchini from her garden. As always, if a group of you want to develop a class, I will gladly teach it. Just email me, and we’ll set it up. Of course I will also arrange for party classes for you, team building sessions for your company, rehearsal dinners and any other event you wish to come cook with us for.

In the Market

June is all about the market, as the longer days and clear weather (I guess we just have to assume the rain’s over with!), mean crisp, sweet cherries, various varieties of apricots, the first peaches, sweet raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, pluots, and nectarines. As well, you’ll find tender young green beans and delicate summer squash, crisp cucumbers, spring peas, fava beans, spring onions and garlic, eggplants, and soon, such summer treats as fresh peppers, both sweet and hot, and tomatoes. Lettuces, including Little Gem, are wonderful right now (see the recipe of the month).

Recipe of the Month

Little Gem lettuces are back! These are my favorites, and grown by a few farmers who mostly bring them to the farmer’s markets. If you can’t get to a farmer’s market, Star Market on Claremont Ave. in Berkeley usually has some, direct from the farm. Like miniature Romaines, the leaves are just the right size and shape to make a great holder for a filling. When we cater, we love to serve these as little BLT’s with some avocado added?no bread, just filling. They’re so easy, and so very, very delicious.

See the recipe »