Gravenstein apples have hit the market recently! The first local taste of apples, coming in from Sonoma County are delightful in flavor and texture. Wonderful to eat raw or to bake or to juice, this is an amazing local heirloom.
And here is a simple recipe using them.
Preheat a 9 inch cast iron skillet in 425 oven for 1/2 hour.
ingredients:
dry:
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
wet mix
1 1/4 cups soymilk
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 gravenstein apples, cored
whisk together the dry mix, put aside.
Put all the wet mix ingredients in a blender and blend till smooth.
Add wet to dry. Mix easily, do not overmix!
pour batter into oiled hot cast iron pan. Bake for 30 minutes or till toothpick comes out clean
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
dinner for 10, september 9, oakland
Been a while since we presented a dinner only event, without live music. This allows us to offer a less expensive evening, still showing off our handcrafted cuisine; an international menu showcasing the finest local ingredients.
Friday, September 9, 2011
8 pm
limited seating for 10
$40/person
byob
for more information or to make reservations, vegshaku8 at gmail or 510 393 6096
soup
chilled, silky saffron corn soup with red shiso pesto
salad
apple corn bread with roasted corn salad
small plate
sope: Homemade tortilla bowls filled with black bean puree, guacamole and 2 salsas
entree
eggplant rollatini (eggplant slices filled with our renowned almond "ricotta", baked in heirloom tomato sauce)
homemade fettucini
rappini sauteed with capers
dessert
baked apples, stuffed with walnuts and currants
roasted corn sorbet
blueberry sauce
Friday, September 9, 2011
8 pm
limited seating for 10
$40/person
byob
for more information or to make reservations, vegshaku8 at gmail or 510 393 6096
soup
chilled, silky saffron corn soup with red shiso pesto
salad
apple corn bread with roasted corn salad
small plate
sope: Homemade tortilla bowls filled with black bean puree, guacamole and 2 salsas
entree
eggplant rollatini (eggplant slices filled with our renowned almond "ricotta", baked in heirloom tomato sauce)
homemade fettucini
rappini sauteed with capers
dessert
baked apples, stuffed with walnuts and currants
roasted corn sorbet
blueberry sauce
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Stuart Dempster's 75th birthday party, August 19, 2011
Whenever someone asks me to prepare food for an event, i am honored! Food is an essential part of any gathering and the quality of the food will have a tremendous impact on any occassion. This time, i am particularly honored as the request came from a musician who i hold in the highest regard, Stuart Dempster!
I first heard a recording of Stuart Dempster's in College, a solo trombone performance inside a very reverberant space. The sound of Stuart's horn is so crystal and clear, the control is so far beyond what i had heard on this instrument before. And he was playing the room! Literally, the room was part of the composition/improvisation/performance as the reverb was lasting several seconds. At the time i was messing around with tape loop and reverb machines and here was someone doing this in real time with only a horn and some incredible architecture.
Several years later, my good friend Matthew Sperry moved to Seattle where he met and sometimes collaborated with Stuart Dempster. Stuart had been teaching at the U. Washington school of Music since the late 1960's and was a major part of the new music and improvisational music scene in that town. At the same time, another close friend Dana Reason moved to California and began studying with Pauline Oliveros (who was an old friend and College classmate of Stuart's). Through these friends i started to meet Stuart and Pauline and eventually became friends and collaborators with them.
When i first met Stuart, i was struck by how warm, kind and friendly he was! Besides being, perhaps, the greatest trombone player of his generation, he had a childlike playfulness that was immediately welcoming.
A few months ago, Stuart called me and asked if i could cook for a small gathering of old friends of his while he would be visiting the bay area in August, celebrating his 75th and his wife of many decades, Renko, 70th birthdays. The gathering of his friends would of course also include many other renowned musicians and artists who i know and admire, making this a truly enjoyable and for me, important evening.
Stuart's influence on me and countless other wind players is immense. His approach to sound, the way he examines every nuance of timbral possibilities of his instrument, the extension of possibilities of what the instrument can produce and of course, just the gorgeous results that enrapture your ear and inner being while he is performing. So i need to come up with 5 special courses in gratitude to a brilliant musician/teacher/mentor and very fine human being whose career and life has contributed and generously shared so much with so many.
appetizers
endive cups stuffed with beet nut pate and red lentil pate
soup
roasted corn puree served chilled with red shiso pesto
salad
heirloom beans with fennel and mizuna and umeboshi-sesame dressing
small plate
tofu/corn/snowpea wrapped in yuba with blueberry wasabi sauce
(tofu marinated in shaoshing, mirin, tamari, ginger, homemade sichuan chili oil, garlic, oolong tea then smoked with cherry wood and ooolong tea leaves.. Snow peas steamed. Corn roasted whole and then sliced off in sheets. yuba freshly made locally by Hodo.) fresh blueberries and fresh wasabi root to dip, served with
daikon pickled in shoyu and kombu
lotus root pickled in homemade sichuan chili oil
cucumber pickled with yuzu
entree
eggplant rollatini (roasted eggplant slices, stuffed with homemade almond "ricotta", baked in tomato sauce)
sauteed brocollini with olive, capers
homemade fettucini
Dessert
peach walnut tart (peaches, halved, coated with sea salt and palm sugar and star anise placed in each half then roasted and placed in a crust made of walnuts, dates and vanilla)
roasted corn sorbet
blueberry port sauce
I first heard a recording of Stuart Dempster's in College, a solo trombone performance inside a very reverberant space. The sound of Stuart's horn is so crystal and clear, the control is so far beyond what i had heard on this instrument before. And he was playing the room! Literally, the room was part of the composition/improvisation/performance as the reverb was lasting several seconds. At the time i was messing around with tape loop and reverb machines and here was someone doing this in real time with only a horn and some incredible architecture.
Several years later, my good friend Matthew Sperry moved to Seattle where he met and sometimes collaborated with Stuart Dempster. Stuart had been teaching at the U. Washington school of Music since the late 1960's and was a major part of the new music and improvisational music scene in that town. At the same time, another close friend Dana Reason moved to California and began studying with Pauline Oliveros (who was an old friend and College classmate of Stuart's). Through these friends i started to meet Stuart and Pauline and eventually became friends and collaborators with them.
When i first met Stuart, i was struck by how warm, kind and friendly he was! Besides being, perhaps, the greatest trombone player of his generation, he had a childlike playfulness that was immediately welcoming.
A few months ago, Stuart called me and asked if i could cook for a small gathering of old friends of his while he would be visiting the bay area in August, celebrating his 75th and his wife of many decades, Renko, 70th birthdays. The gathering of his friends would of course also include many other renowned musicians and artists who i know and admire, making this a truly enjoyable and for me, important evening.
Stuart's influence on me and countless other wind players is immense. His approach to sound, the way he examines every nuance of timbral possibilities of his instrument, the extension of possibilities of what the instrument can produce and of course, just the gorgeous results that enrapture your ear and inner being while he is performing. So i need to come up with 5 special courses in gratitude to a brilliant musician/teacher/mentor and very fine human being whose career and life has contributed and generously shared so much with so many.
appetizers
endive cups stuffed with beet nut pate and red lentil pate
soup
roasted corn puree served chilled with red shiso pesto
salad
heirloom beans with fennel and mizuna and umeboshi-sesame dressing
small plate
tofu/corn/snowpea wrapped in yuba with blueberry wasabi sauce
(tofu marinated in shaoshing, mirin, tamari, ginger, homemade sichuan chili oil, garlic, oolong tea then smoked with cherry wood and ooolong tea leaves.. Snow peas steamed. Corn roasted whole and then sliced off in sheets. yuba freshly made locally by Hodo.) fresh blueberries and fresh wasabi root to dip, served with
daikon pickled in shoyu and kombu
lotus root pickled in homemade sichuan chili oil
cucumber pickled with yuzu
entree
eggplant rollatini (roasted eggplant slices, stuffed with homemade almond "ricotta", baked in tomato sauce)
sauteed brocollini with olive, capers
homemade fettucini
Dessert
peach walnut tart (peaches, halved, coated with sea salt and palm sugar and star anise placed in each half then roasted and placed in a crust made of walnuts, dates and vanilla)
roasted corn sorbet
blueberry port sauce
Saturday, August 13, 2011
return to one of our regulars for a dinner on Sunday
Summer, Southern European menu
soup: Gazpacho; heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lime, cilantro, spices..served iced cold
salad: bean salad: fresh cranberry beans, fresh dragon tongue beans, fresh garbanzos, romaine, olive oil, sherry vinegar, herbs
small plate:
roasted corn salad served in zuchini bowls with romesco sauce
entree: eggplant rollatini stuffed with homemade almond "ricotta" and basil, baked in heirloom tomato sauce. sauteed rapini with garlic and olives.
homemade fettucini
dessert
blueberry pistachio cake
peach sorbet
soup: Gazpacho; heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lime, cilantro, spices..served iced cold
salad: bean salad: fresh cranberry beans, fresh dragon tongue beans, fresh garbanzos, romaine, olive oil, sherry vinegar, herbs
small plate:
roasted corn salad served in zuchini bowls with romesco sauce
entree: eggplant rollatini stuffed with homemade almond "ricotta" and basil, baked in heirloom tomato sauce. sauteed rapini with garlic and olives.
homemade fettucini
dessert
blueberry pistachio cake
peach sorbet
Friday, August 12, 2011
Kaoru Kakizakai returns to the dinner/concert series November 1
Tuesday, November 1 · 7:00pm - 10:00pm | |
| Location | oakland |
| Created By | |
| More Info | Tuesday, Nov 1 7 pm $55/person, byob for more information or to make reservations, 510 393 6096 or vegshaku8 at gmail We are excited to have our friend from Tokyo, the brilliant shakuhachi player/teacher Kaoru Kakizakai returning to the dinner/concert series. a 5 course fall menu will be developed for this. |
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Glutenpalooza III: Italian style; pizza, calzone, stromboli Sunday, October 2
Sunday, October 2 (note the date change!)
noon
loft in west Oakland
limited space for 8
$50/person
for more information or to register vegshaku8 at gmail
or 510 393 6096
Another in our series of classes celebrating the rising of wheat doughs. This time, Italian style or to be more specific, Brooklyn style.
Hands on class, all participants will be creating all the dishes.
We will learn and make 2 different pizza doughs, marinara sauce, basil pesto, almond "ricotta, sauteed eggplants, peppers, mushrooms and other toppings to create:
calzone filled with almond cheese and mushrooms
stromboli filled with almond cheese, mushrooms and marinara
pizza topped with eggplant and peppers and marinara
pizza topped with corn, jalapenos and pesto
and more....
noon
loft in west Oakland
limited space for 8
$50/person
for more information or to register vegshaku8 at gmail
or 510 393 6096
Another in our series of classes celebrating the rising of wheat doughs. This time, Italian style or to be more specific, Brooklyn style.
Hands on class, all participants will be creating all the dishes.
We will learn and make 2 different pizza doughs, marinara sauce, basil pesto, almond "ricotta, sauteed eggplants, peppers, mushrooms and other toppings to create:
calzone filled with almond cheese and mushrooms
stromboli filled with almond cheese, mushrooms and marinara
pizza topped with eggplant and peppers and marinara
pizza topped with corn, jalapenos and pesto
and more....
Amy X Neuburg dinner/concert with purple menu August 20, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
8 pm
limited seating for 20
$55/person
for reservations or more information vegshaku8 at gmail
Returning to our series is the incredibly talented vocalist, electronic musician and composer, Amy X Neuburg!
and by her request, tonight's menu will be purple. I always ask the performer for some input on the menu, most usually say what some of their favorite ingredients or styles of food are. Amy simply came out and said "purple, i want purple foods". I also love the color as does Cori and some amazing summer ingredients come in that delightful color.
here is the tentative menu we are working with and developing from....
Soup
borscht
Red beets roasted and pureed with dill pesto and cashew cream
salad
purple potatos, okinawan sweet potatos roasted and marinated with a blueberry wasabi olive oil dressing served with purple string beans and other purple heirloom beans
small plate
purple peppers stuffed with roasted corn salad, cranberry
purple cherokee tomato salsa
entree
steamed purple cabbage rolls stuffed with red lentils
sauteed purple kale with garlic and olives
tahini sauce
mushroom sauce
dessert
blueberry cake
blueberry ice "cream"
blueberry sauce
8 pm
limited seating for 20
$55/person
for reservations or more information vegshaku8 at gmail
Returning to our series is the incredibly talented vocalist, electronic musician and composer, Amy X Neuburg!
and by her request, tonight's menu will be purple. I always ask the performer for some input on the menu, most usually say what some of their favorite ingredients or styles of food are. Amy simply came out and said "purple, i want purple foods". I also love the color as does Cori and some amazing summer ingredients come in that delightful color.
here is the tentative menu we are working with and developing from....
Soup
borscht
Red beets roasted and pureed with dill pesto and cashew cream
salad
purple potatos, okinawan sweet potatos roasted and marinated with a blueberry wasabi olive oil dressing served with purple string beans and other purple heirloom beans
small plate
purple peppers stuffed with roasted corn salad, cranberry
purple cherokee tomato salsa
entree
steamed purple cabbage rolls stuffed with red lentils
sauteed purple kale with garlic and olives
tahini sauce
mushroom sauce
dessert
blueberry cake
blueberry ice "cream"
blueberry sauce
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