It's been too long sorry readers...

I know I am long overdue for a blog post and I have no excuse, but don't worry it doesn't mean I haven't been cooking. Actually, It's been quite the opposite. I have been so busy with the catering that I have hardly had time to focus on my own cooking.

One thing that I love about food is its ability to bring back past memories as well as create new ones. While growing up on the east coast, summertime was always about fresh seafood, gorgeous lemons, and sweet corn (of course as an adult, wine and beer are also part of those memories). I remember the first time I ever had lobster. It is one of my favorite things to eat in the summer. Though, now that I live on the west coast I am no longer exposed to it since I try to eat local seafood. Every summer my family spends some time up in Maine. The resort that we used to stay at is on a beautiful lake and when my grandparents were alive it was one of there favorite spots to relax. But what I remember the most about this place is the food.

Every morning at breakfast you got to choose what you wanted for lunch and dinner. At the age of 5 I wasn't much of a foodie yet, but I did love to eat and I also loved to make my own choices, so this was the ultimate highlight of my day. Once during the week they had lobster night. I had never had lobster before, and the idea of having a plate with the entire animal on it was daunting. This was not the case for my Grandfather. He always ordered the lobster on lobster night and soon I would follow in his footsteps. Now, my Grandmother was kosher, so no shellfish for her. But as long as my grandfather was not under her roof he could eat shellfish. That night was the first time I have ever had lobster and to this day it is one of my favorite things to eat. I only eat it during the summer and I only eat it on the east coast, preferably Maine. Every time it brings back that same memory of my Grandfather carefully pulling the fresh meat out of the shell, dipping it in butter, and setting it on my plate.

In a few weeks I will return to Maine and eat lobster for the first time this year. Hopefully you can read about those new memories. Even though San Francisco does not have lobster it does have a wide variety of fresh seafood, especially in the summer. A few weeks back Mike and I went to a local restaurant called Range. We had an amazing meal, but my favorite was the appetizer I ordered. It was steamed clams...simple, delicate, and delicious. The clams were in a simple butter and white wine sauce with crispy pancetta and topped with fresh parsley. I decided to try and recreate this dish at home using bacon instead of pancetta because thats what I had in the fridge. Recipe follows:

Steamed Clams

1 dozen clams

1 shallot chopped

3 cloves of garlic chopped

handful of chopped parsley

2 lemons

1 cup of white wine

3 pieces of bacon chopped

1 tbl. butter

EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

The first thing that I did was wash the clams in cold water. You really have to scrub these so that the dish does not taste gritty. Once the clams were washed I browned the bacon in some olive oil in a heavy pot.

When the bacon was done browning I removed it and sautéed the shallots and garlic in the bacon fat that was left. I then added the butter and let it melt. Next the clams went in with the wine, 1 lemon juiced, and the bacon was put back in the pot. I covered it and let them steam for about 10 minutes or until all of the clams have opened.

To serve, I poured the clams into a large bowl sprinkled with fresh parsley and squeezed the other lemon on top. I recommend having a baguette with this dish to soak up all the liquid after the clams have been eaten (my favorite part).

This was of course just an appetizer so for the second course. I stayed within my seafood theme and made this lovely salmon recipe that I found in my Food and Wine magazine. In this dish the salmon was poached which really brings out the flavor and gives it a great texture. Poaching is really easy, but there is a hard part in removing the skin from the salmon if you forget to ask your fish guy to do it for you.

Poached Salmon with Corn and White Wine Butter Sauce

serves 4

Ingredients

4 medium zucchini

Salt

3 shallots 2 finely chopped 1 halved

2 3/4 cup of dry white wine

1 1/2 cups of fresh corn off the cob

2 sprigs of thyme

1 bay leaf

4 6 ounce salmon fillets with skin removed

1 stick of cold butter cut into 8 tablespoons

1/4 cup of thinly sliced basil leaves

The first thing I did was prepare the corn and zucchini slaw. In order to get the slaw the right texture you have to take the moisture out of the zucchini. In order to do this I grated the zucchini into a colander and sprinkled it with salt. I then let it drain for 20 minutes and squeezed it to get out any extra water.

In a large, non-reactive skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the chopped shallots and season with salt and pepper. Cook over moderate heat until softened, about 3 minutes. Add 1/4 cup of the wine and cook until evaporated, about 2 minutes. Stir in the corn and 1/2 cup of water. Cover and cook until the corn is tender, about 4 minutes. Stir in the zucchini and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, cover and keep warm.

In a large, nonreactive saucepan, combine 2 cups of the wine with the thyme, bay leaf, the halved shallot and 2 cups of water and bring to a simmer. Season the salmon with salt, add the fillets to the saucepan and cook at a bare simmer over low heat, turning once, about 6 minutes.

Transfer the salmon to a plate and pat dry with paper towels. Discard the poaching liquid.

Add the remaining 1/2 cup of wine to the saucepan and bring to a simmer. Whisk in the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, until thoroughly incorporated. Season with salt. Stir the basil into the vegetables and transfer to plates. Nestle the salmon into the vegetables, top with the butter sauce and serve.

I recently took this class called pie in a jar threw workshop SF www.workshopsf.org/. It was a really neat class where we learned how to bake pies in a jar. I wanted to share two of the pies that I made because I thought it was a really cool idea and they came out looking so cute.

I hope I didn't loose any readers during my absence and I hope you enjoyed reading some fun summer recipes. I am going to be better about my blogging hopefully no long gaps again! Enjoy the fresh food that summer brings!