Harvest Fair time again!

The Sonoma County Harvest Fair is here again! I love this time of year because it is the one time that all the best Chefs in the County come out to showcase their best recipes for the Professional Food Competition. The Fair is the official launch of the crush season in Sonoma County and the time that wine makers get judged on their new releases! so what better way to showcase great wine then with great food! and that is what its all about.

I compete every year, and in the past 7 years I have racked up over 60 Culinary awards and am grateful for everyone, this year is not different except for the fact that I entered two wood fired Pizza's and the wood fired oven I used was none other than THE BIG GREEN EGG compliments of Asiens Appliance in Santa Rosa Ca. (see past blogs on Bread and Pizza on the Egg) the Egg cooks the pizza in about 2.5 minutes at 650 degrees and since the heat radiates around the stone you can char the crust just like in a wood fired oven, the results are amazing and I will be posting a video next week on how to cook a perfect pizza on the Egg.

I won a Gold Medal in the Seafood Appetizer Category for my Dungeones Crab Wood Fired Pizza, this is one that I also won first place in North America at the Cittta Di Napoli cup in Naples Italy in 08, cooked on a wood fired Cirigliani Forni.

I also won a Gold Medal for my Sweet Italian Sausage pizza, I make my sausage and that definitely was a strong ingredient in the win as well. My house made Chicken Chipotle Sausage won Double Gold Medal in total I entered 6 items and won 1 Double Gold, 3 Gold and 2 Bronze.

More importantly than the medals is the Gala Awards Event, that is the night that all the winning Chefs and Winery's get to showcase the recipes for over 2000 people! it is amazing and very busy as we are preparing fresh samples for everyone to try of all entries, but in the end I get to see chef friends that I only see if I am eating at there restaurant or they at mine, and at the Harvest fair, we talk about business a little, the kids a little and the food ALOT.

Harvest time in the wine country, it is a great time of the year to visit and a great event to attend when you are here, I am including a few websites for you to take a look at, let them know that Chef Glenn sent you and make sure to stop by one of my restaurants when you are here and say hi, I would love to meet you!

Chef Glenn,

To see a Big Green Egg n person THEN BUY IT go to www.asiensapplience.com and tell Chris and Paul I said hi.

To buy tickets and get info on the Harvest Fair go to www.harvestfair.org its a great event in the Sonoma County Wine Country

Lake Shore Lodge, Bucks Lake California

Since I was about a year old I have been going to Bucks Lake, in Plumas County. My dad took us kids up there a couple times a year and then retired up in Meadow Valley about 25 yrs ago.

Fishing, skiing, swimming and just having fun in the high sierras was a great way to spend summer days, Bucks Lake Lodge would be hopping every Friday and Saturday nights with bands and the kids running around while the parents tossed back a couple of drinks and told fishing stories.

Ken and Dixie owned and operated Bucks Lake Lodge and it was the place to be! with their daughters Debbie and Kim they built a tradition that will never be matched. Well time goes by and everything changes, Ken and Dixie sold the lodge, Debbie runs Haskins Resort which is right down the road and Kim married Dewitt and had two great kids and they own the Bucks Lake Marina. Two years ago this month we lost pop, he passed surrounded by loved ones in the cabin he loved so dearly.

I am going up to pops house in a couple of weeks with some friends to go fishing, we will cook great food, sit around the fire and no doubt go up to Lakeshore Lodge and toss back some beers with Dewitt, Kim and the locals.

Bucks Lake Lodge was sold a couple of years ago, it was never the same after Ken and Dixie left, it burned down last winter, business was slow, hard to figure out how it caught fire but----ya know we all have our theories! Dewitt and Kim bought the Lakeshore Lodge and really fixed it up nice, the pics are from the bar and deck just awesome huh! They serve a nice simple menu and added Pizza to the mix. I am not going to review the food, its not bad, nothing to write home about and that is not a bad thing either, but I am sure it will get better with time, my point is this, no matter how much things change they stay the same, my kids will grow up enjoying papa skis house, Dewitt and Kim are carrying on a family tradition started decades ago and making it their own and that is special for many reasons, and the memories that have been forged for over 40 plus years will continue, and that is really the best part of this story.

What ever place you call special, whatever the peoples names are that live their and make sure it is the same year after year, take a minute to tell them- tell them how much it means to you and your family because these are the things that you will look back on and reminisce about, tell story's the good ones and bad, sharing the laughs and tears about, so thanks Dewitt and Kim it means a lot to me, and I know pops is watching, smiling and probably complaining a little too!

See you soon,
Chef Glenn

Go to http://www.buckslakeshoreresort.com/ and when you are there sitting on the deck or in the bar, enjoying a meal with your friends, raise your glass and make toast to "ski " because he is still there, no doubt smiling, no doubt at all!

This ones for Nate!

And really for all our kids, grand kids, nieces and nephews. And its a tough one for me to write, as my boys are out in back swimming in the pool on a sunny Friday afternoon, and the girls are chilling on the couch typing away on facebook , they look over at me as I am writing and ask "hey dad why the tears?"

My kids are my life, I never even thought I would have kids when I was younger, then bam! there are four! and I am the luckiest guy in the world. But along with all that joy is a little what if--way back in some primal part of my mind that screams PROTECT THEM, when they go to school, or back to their moms house for her week, its just there, that what if?---------

Robbie and Cindy Bloom are my oldest brothers best friends, they all grew up together in Novato, and have stayed close as we have all grown "wiser" or older :), and just a few short years ago they lost their son Nate to Melanoma Cancer, an unfathomable thought came true for them. Nate died on July 4th 2008 of skin cancer, he was one of 8ooo people that lost there fight that year to a disease that is for the most part totally preventable.

Nate was full of life, much like my kids and yours! grabbing a hold and hanging on tight he lived his life with passion for the things he loved! Guiness Beer, the drink of Irish Gods!, Libby his beautiful girlfriend and of course his family and friends, and when he passed he left a void in the lives of all those who loved him!

So here is what I am going to do! for Nate! for the second year in a row there will be a golf tournament in memory of Nate Bloom, this tourney will raise money for the Melonoma Research Foundation and those funds will be donated in Nate's name to help find a cure for this terrible disease. And this is where I need your help and if you are thinking "what can I do" then I will tell you! first make sure you are a part of the fight against Melanoma, PUT SUN SCREEN ON! any time you are going out, there is no excuse not too, its in your moisturizing lotion, your make up and your lip balm! then make sure your kids are covered too this will reduce their chances of contracting Melanoma in the future.

This is not just another golf tournament, there will be great friends old and new, food drink and laughter, a perfect day of golf, and a wealth of information that will help us all understand how easy it is to protect our loved ones from Melanoma, and most important we can show Robbie Cindy, Libby and the entire family how much we love and support them in always keeping Nate's spirit alive, because after all he is one of our kids too--right.

Join us in a day of great gold and fun, sign up to play at www.noshenanigans.org
To make a donation to the Melanoma Research Foundation go to www.melanoma.org

Take care of our kids, and thanks for reading

Chef Glenn

Bread in a Egg----what?

Since meeting Chris and Paul from Asiens Appliance in Santa Rosa and giving the Big Green Egg a test (cook) I cannot stay away from it! so last week I wanted to see how a Pugliese "a rustic Italian bread from Southern Italy, baked on the Egg"
A Pugliese is a wet dough bread so it is a little harder to form and bake in non-traditional ovens, but that gives this bread a true rustic look, the real questions will it bake up crisp crunchy outside and have a soft moist "crumb".



As you can see from this photo the crust has a rustic look, darker in areas and lighter where the scoring was done, this bread baked perfectly! while the "crumb" stayed moist and airy, the crust was crunchy and the differance of the tastes in the char were delicious. As you can see in the next photo the complexity of the bread was just awesome.






I have baked pizzas in Naples Italy with the best Pizzaioli in the world, in the best wood fired ovens, hand crafted Cirigliani Forni's and it is just amazing how great the pizza and breads taste!

And that is why I cannot say enough about the Big Green Egg, it bakes as close to the Cirigliani Forni than any other oven I have used outside of Naples, if you are a true BBQ lover and a home made pizza aficionado then you really have to get one of these eggs, you will love it! and if you need a great Pugliese recipe then just email me and I will send you one, there is nothing like a great home baked bread!

Check out my pizza pics baked on the Big Green Egg in my earlier post
Cheers,
Chef Glenn

Start with Passion, and great foods comes naturally

Last week my girlfriend and I loaded up all the kids and drove the 4.5 hours to my pops house! We go up at least twice a year, once in winter when there is a ton of snow on the ground and if we are lucky a nice storm will blow into the Sierras and once in summer time when the mornings are crisp and cool and the days are hot! Driving out of Meadow Valley up to Bucks Lake for some boating and water fun, or just going down to the river and swimming in the cool water. What does this have to do with food? Well you are just going to have to wait a minute ok, you see I want to paint a picture for you, because this magical place where we all still (feel) pops spirit is where my culinary passion comes from. Since I was a young boy my dad loved cooking, from slow cooked spaghetti sauces and briskets to perfectly seared New York steaks smothered with sautéed mushrooms, and all the while there were family and friends stopping in for a quick hello or a bite to eat, pops would say to me “hey butch will you stir the sauce” and of course I would taste the sauce too! And this is where my culinary journey started even though I didn’t know it then.

This place inspires passion, of family friends and food! That seems to be what keeps us all coming back, to cook great food and see old friends and carry on a tradition for my kids, so they can remember their papa ski and all he stood for.

I tend to write about passion a lot, especially when it comes to the food I prepare, as a restaurant owner and Chef it is the foundation for all my recipes whether easy or complex if you start with passion then you end with a great dish. Simple things like fresh cut fries, or taking a little longer to cold proof your pizza dough, simmering that sauce to perfection and making fresh sausage. Taking the time to prepare great food is a labor of love but when your customers keep coming back to your place because it is the best they have ever tasted then not only have you gained a loyal customer more importantly you have made a friend, and when you have a dining room full of friends your success will go far beyond just profits, it goes to the heart of our success, why we all cook, it makes us happy, making other people happy

Chef Glenn

This is a MESS O RIBS!!!!!!

Every guy (and most girls) I know say there BBQ is the best! I have the best sauce! I have the best rub! the fact is that if you ask a real Pit Master they will tell you the most important part of the BBQ is the meat! slow cooked at about 190 degrees with the right balance of lean protein and fat-good marbling if you will, so this brings me to share a few tips for great St. Louis ribs!

The St. Louis style rib is probably the most famous rib out there, its a great pork rib cut with plenty of meat balance with fat to produce a tender juicy rib, that is if you know how to cook it? like anything else it is a labor of love to an extent, because it take a good 8 hours to cook! now the fun part is the prep because it is really easy. I use a rub that of course I created here are the ingredients although not portioned because the point of this post is to inspire you to CREATE YOUR OWN!

I like to use minimal amounts of salt and sugar in my rub as both of those ingredients tend to dry out the meat, think beef jerky its salty right? its dry right? its hard right? Ok you get the picture well sugar does the same thing so stick to creating a rub that will burst with flavor of garlic, coriander, rosemary, and spice it up with chili powder and flakes maybe some Chipotle and onion powder. Using these ingredients will wake up the flavors in your meat and will bake into the meat and tenderize it while keeping the moisture in the meat.

If you do not have a smoker you can easily cook your ribs in the oven, I like to use a roasting pan with a turkey rack, I put a very thin layer of Olive oil on the meat then sprinkle my rub on----yes I said sprinkle you want to know why? because you do not need to get all of your flavor from your rub remember the BBQ sauce! that comes when your ribs are almost done. so you preheat your oven to 190 degrees and place your ribs on the turkey rack that is sitting in your roasting pan! this will catch all the juices that will be falling to the bottom as your ribs cook nice and slow. Cook the ribs for about 8 hrs or until you see the meat pulling back for the bone and you can insert a fork into the meat with little or no effort.

Now its time for you to take out the ribs and crank up the oven! because its time for the sauce to go on, and your sauce once again is a reflection of you, your tastes and how sweet or spicy you like it to be, maybe you like both like me! so I use a combination of tomato sauce and paste, brown sugar, minced garlic, sea salt, ground black pepper and a hint of Chipotle powder along with chili flakes, again experiment a little and make it your own, I like the heat to finish and the sweet front forward on my ribs, because in the middle of those flavors you will be tasting the tender juicy meat with a slight hint of your rub and the satisfying flavor it makes when combined with the fats and natural juices from the Pork.

So I have the ribs on the rack in the roasting pan and I am going slather (I love that word) SLATHER the sauce all over the ribs, and remember the oven is now as hot as you can get it! 500 degree or better, because you are going to put the ribs back in the oven for just 10 to 15 minutes max, this will be enough for the sauce to heat up quickly and stick to the ribs without taking away any of the juices you worked so hard to save! pair with some great homemade cornbread with honey infused butter and an Ice Cold brew!!!!! holy crap I am hungry

Enjoy

Chef Glenn

Sourdough Saturday! with Santiago Olive Oil

So I am filming in my kitchen this weekend for some You-tube clips and footage for my cooking show (name to be announced) and decided to post some pics of the bread I baked this morning and talk a little about the olive oil I used to bake it!

Santiago Olive Oil, is a robust extra virgin Olive Oil cold pressed and from Chile' the story behind this great company is very interesting, from the architecture of their pressing facility to the way they farm the olive trees using closer spaced trees that they grow shorter so that the harvest process can be done by machine instead of hand thus getting the fruit to the crush faster! for a better quality product.

Chef Jeff Levi and partner Philip Margarites are the guys to talk to about this great Olive Oil, I have used this in almost every recipe that I use Olive Oil in and I have to say it really is a great Olive Oil. The pic is of the natural sourdough loaf I baked this morning for the show, I topped it with Santiago and it baked perfectly, the sourdough comes from natural fermentation that I have been cultivating (with a lot of love) at my kitchen in Sonoma County California, so combining the two products from such different (birth) places is very exciting for me, and the taste? well just look at the bread and imagine a little Santiago in a dish with a sprinkle of sea salt and a nice glass of spicy Zin! how did that work for ya? LOL

Contact Philip Margarites at phil@harbor-foods.com
Or
Chef, Jeff Levi at jlevi@johnsgourmet.com

These guys know food and are just as passionate about it as I am! well almost :) tell them Chef Glenn sent you and get some Santiago Olive Oil from Chile' you will love this EVOO

Cheers
Chef Glenn

Boston Clam Chowder mmm creamy!

I know this might not be as interesting a post as others but I am on a little rant! once again about cooking fresh food! its just so easy to prepare fresh great clam chowder yet every time I go out to the coast and order a bowl of chowder I am handed a (flour thickened) not a clam in sight bowl of --------crap! so here is my Boston Clam Chowder recipe, sorry no pics with this one because I made it really early in the morning and forgot my camera! ha ha enjoy this soup its great with some fresh baked bread!

100 ounces clam juice *
25 ounces chopped sea clams
25 ounces whole baby clams
1/2 gal heavy cream
2 sticks salted butter
3 cups diced potatoes (skin on optional)
1 head of celery
1 large yellow onion

In a large soup pot combine the clam juice, clams, potatoes, and one stick of butter and bring it to a boil and then reduce to simmer. Dice the celery and onion and saute' them both in the other stick of butter until translucent making sure not to brown the butter during the saute', once the saute' is done take the mixture and in a small food processor puree' it until the texture is smooth.

Bring the soup pot to a rolling boil and slowly add the heavy cream stirring with a large whisk or spoon, then add the celery and onion saute' stirring again (this will thicken the soup and add a great flavor instead of thickening with flour) add about a tablespoon full of sea salt and the same with fresh ground pepper, once the ingredients are all mixed well in the pot then reduce the heat and serve!

This classic soup is great on a cool fall day and fills the house with an aroma that is to die for!

* for smaller servings just reduce the ingredients to proportions that fit your needs

Enjoy

Chef Glenn