Welcome & Saludos Fans!
Here
we are at the beginning of May already! Spring is in full swing at Rose Ranch
with our vegetable gardens planted & enjoying the sunshine. Tomato vines
have been pruned of their suckers & are reaching to the sky. Compost
together with worm castings are nourishing all the vegetable starts.
Organic-Biodynamic Merlot & Primativo grape vines are showing signs of
vigorous spring fever leafing like crazy! I have finally figured out how to grow
the prized white asparagus so popular in Spain. It really is simple just cover
part of your asparagus patch so the shoots never get light therefore they never
go through photosynthesis. I just installed some hoops over the patch &
attached a black plastic tarp. Every morning I uncover it to harvest the
asparagus.
June
12th is our next San Francisco Giants bus adventure. Buy your ticket
now! Round trip luxury coach transportation complete with on board attendents,
snacks, unlimited Lagunitas beer & wine as well as six flat screens,
entertainment system & bathroom. We will open the restaurant at 3:30 with
the coach departing at 4:15 for the ball park. Your lower box tickets are in
section 128 loaded with “splash” concession credit. The Gigantes face the
Houston Astros. Enjoy an evening in baseball’s most incredible venue! Tickets
are $110 per person.
Our
Vineyards Inn is sporting a new “adjusted for the season menu” that seems to be a
work in progress as our Organic-Biodynamic gardens grow & evolve! Stop in & sample our local seasonal treats.
My first Spanish Culinary Adventure is scheduled to begin September 4th starting in Sevilla. Feel free to visit our website or the last blog for details. I am going to try to figure out how to post a short video brochure about the six scheduled trips for 2012. Remember we are limiting the groups to the intimate size of 14 guests. I am working on a concise package to send out with all the details & links for your perusal.
Saturday July 21st & 22nd you will find us at the awesome Catalan Festival at Gloria Ferrer winery. Stop in for some great Spanish food & Catalan style fun! Saturday I will be performing a Chef's demo. Come by & say hi!
Spotlight on Lovage. Organic Lovage seeds are available from Natural Gardening Co. in Petaluma online. Lovage makes for great edible landscaping & it returns every season. It can grow to 6 ft. tall & will fill all your celery flavor needs. Simply pinch off the leaves & use them in soups, salads or wherever you want to have that celery flavor!
Here are a few Basque recipes to chew on:
Bacalao Crab Cakes feature very traditional Basque salt cod. After soaking the salt cod over night to remove the salt we will flake it together with local Dungeness crab meat. shredded scallions are added along with a few cage free organic eggs, red pepper & roasted garlic. After the cakes are formed they are sauteed with a splash of organic olive oil. once warm through they will be topped with our Ali-Oli sauce (homemade garlic mayo) & chiffonade of Lovage. The technique of Chiffonade: Stack the Lovage leaves on top of each other, roll up then run your knife through for fine threads.
Fish Sticks "not like your Mother made" spotlight a local line caught fish filet. This is a very popular Basque Tapa with various interpretations. Chunk the fish then skewer it with a brushing of organic olive oil. The "sticks" are then placed over the broiler to be seared. The next step is to squeeze a few organic lemons over the fish, with chopped garlic & organic local butter. Finish the "sticks" in the oven for a few minutes & garnish with chopped organic parsley & cilantro!
Tight on garden space check out the latest craze in urban gardening---Vertical Gardening. Vegetables, succulents, flowers pretty much anything will grow this way There are several web sites that have info.
Now that spring is here it's a good time to begin composting if you haven't yet! There are several systems out there for all your composting needs. Just DO IT! Once you're in the composting habit you can do it year around. Once your compost is ready try making a tea out of some of it. Great for your veggie garden & house plants love it too!
Go to our website for the latest menus, events, info on our Bed & Breakfast at Casa Verde in Kenwood & see what we're up to.www.vineyardsinn.com
Look out for a schedule of my cooking classes for the summer & fall at Rose Ranch. Details to be in the June newsletter!
Hasta la proxima means until next time.
Chef Esteban
