Think Blue!

We have seen this major craze of going Green; yep even I tried to go green with my diet. I started out this year vowing to cook ‘green’ as much as possible. But lately I have had guests and missed farmer’s market....leave it to Whole Foods to the rescue which puts a major dent into my funds. Anyways, cooking green has led to weekly dinners for friends and family. It started out last week with cousin Caroline and I, this week it moved to a friends’ house in Culver City, that’s 3 people all together. The goal by the end of the year, 52 people in my home for what I like to call, ‘Tu's Blue Table’. The ‘Green Table’ sounds cliché and well, the beauty I love is blue; sky, sea, thankfully, no food is blue. Let me know if you are in the area and we’ll throw a party in your honor, like brunch last week.

SET and Meg from the East bombarded LA, we read lines/scripts, joshed about old times, politics, and Hollywood gossip over eggs, grits, while drinking rose. The night before, I made Bistro-Gastropub style food. Polenta squares with Wild Mushroom Ragout, Cavolo Nero with Roasted Chickpeas, and Green Peppercorn crusted seared Tuna with carrots poached a la grecque. A la greque is a French technique and gives vegetables a chance to shine by bathing in their own juices in conjunction of water, herbs/spices at a temperature of about 160 degrees. I used garlic, parsley, olive oil, a touch of red wine vinegar and filled water halfway in a pot and let it get up to temperature, then threw in the carrots and waited for the ‘al dente’ moment.

At Tu's Blue Table, music of all kinds are welcomed, this week we were seranaded by Whitney Houston, Miles Davis (appropriately, Kind of Blue album), and a repeat of Fergie's - Clumsy. Yes we were indeed, after a few bottles of wine!

2008 wishes

I am sure most of the world already has their resolutions. Well, this year, I am calling them wishes because, well…. they are, wishes and hopes. Although, I am a firm believer in everyday changes in your life, I’d like to jump on the band wagon too. Here they are:

1. Run a 10 K – just do it already
2. Read 6 books this year (last year I read 2, 2 more than any other year)
3. Listen to NPR on Sundays and download music other than Kanye, top 40 stuff
4. Sing aloud, in front of strangers would be a plus
5. Instead of deep breaths, find more moments that take my breath away
6. Cook GREEN
7. Sit on the beach
8. Write
9. Visit the mother land
10. BUNGEE JUMP
11. Be like ‘Wild geese’…. (Poem below)

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese,
harsh and exciting--over and over announcing your place in the family of things.

-Mary Oliver

Just my silly opinions, 10 tips....

2007 has ensured us that food blogs are still ‘in’. As much as like writing, I enjoy reading other peoples’ thoughts. David Lebovitz who resides in Paris has a quirky and sleek style. His insights and stories about the people and city are too true. I love his article, 10 ways to improve your cooking. Although I am still a very novice chef, I wanted to put my TU cents in of what I have learned thus far in the kitchen.

1. Recipes are guides, stick with your intuition and creativity when cooking ----I find it difficult to give out an exact recipe. I’ll give you the ingredients and the basis of things but it’s really up to you how it turns out. Cooking is about time, inspiration, and mood… ‘nuff said.
2. Salt and pepper – Thomas Keller (French Laundry) says that this makes or breaks you as a cook. Practice on a salad, sounds silly but that’s one of the first things I learned in the restaurant. My chef would always taste one leaf of every salad plate that went out!
3. The essentials - a sharp knife, a peeler, a wooden spoon, and tongs – I take these tools everywhere including on the plane if necessary. Shun knife, spoon from Paris, tongs and peeler I have owned from culinary school!
4. Try these dry ingredients such as bay leaf, oregano, coriander, fennel. I love using bay leaf especially this time of year for soups, grains, and beans. It does add that special fragrance. For sauces, real oregano is just way too strong. As for coriander and fennel seeds, grinding then, toasting brings on a whole new element!
5. Onions – always have those puppies around. I do agree with D. Lebovitz about shallots but here the States they are just not common. How can anyone not like caramelized onions, they go well with everything!
6. Don’t be afraid of butter –Around this time of year, it’s hard not use butter. Especially when you are eating hearty vegetables like potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, carrots. I even like to poach veggies with butter--asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, simple and tasty!
7. Cook grains – packed with nutrients, substitutes for protein, significant in fiber. I made Wild Rice Barley Pilaf for Thanksgiving and Pumpkin Barley Risotto another time. Let’s not forget Quinoa, Bulgur, Wheat Berries – try it!
8. Buy Sustainable seafood, Organic Chicken and Eggs – this is just a belief of mine that you might or might not want to know. Email me with further questions.
9. Spend at least $10 on wine – If you are going to put your body through this, you minus well spend money on it. Just like anything else in life, you get for what you pay. Not to say that you can’t find decent wine for under 10 bucks, just not from the United States!
10. Own nice plates --- For the love of god, if you take time to cook, you must present it nicely. White plates, maybe a few rectangle, square shapes brings a whole other dimension to your food. First impressions even pertain to food!

Meyer Lemon Season

It’s Meyer lemon season and time to think of crazy dishes with lemons. Acidic, tart, tingly, lemons, what to do with them in winter? What comes to mind is as simple as a Tart. Lemon tarts were my first Food Science project in Richmond, Virginia. The supermarket chain, Ukrops’ Supermarkets, religious in beliefs, does not sell alcohol in their stores and is closed on Sundays. I may add they are the #1 grocery store in Southern VA and on Forbes list top 100 companies to work for… with what I call ludicrous beliefs (the no alcohol policy, of course). Known for their prepared goods such as Chocolate Pecan Pies, Chicken Salad, White House Rolls, Lemon tarts was one of their lighter specialty items. One time, we had to taste all their pies in one sitting to determine whether or not they were ‘of quality.’ Maybe this is why I started tolerating sweets.

Anyways, I always compare any Lemon tart to Ukrops’. So, when I found this recipe in Suzanne Goins’ Sunday Suppers, I had to try it. Of course, I had to adlib a few ingredients here and there and let me tell you, one should not be as whimsical with baking as cooking. It did turn out nicely as I got lucky. I used my own pie crust (book refers to a recipe for Pate Sucre) and made what I like to call ‘rays of sunshine’. Meyer lemons are the off-the-hook good and IMOH, more gentle on the palette.

Pick up a few when you see them at your local farmer’s market or Whole Foods… by the way, I am a vital member and on the Board of the Meyer Lemon committee. Does that even exist?

Recipe as follows:

Tammy’s ‘go to’ Pie dough – makes 2 – 9” tarts

6 oz Water, ice


6 oz Margarine


6 oz Butter, unsalted


12 oz Pastry Flour


6 oz Bread Flour


1/8 t Salt



1 T Sugar

1. Blend margarine and butter by hand or with processor.


2. Measure out dry ingredients - pastry flour, bread flour, sugar, and salt.


3. Incorporate butter/margarine mixture with dry ingredients, do not knead but gently ‘massage’ together.


4. Slowly add ice water to form dough – should be slightly dry/flaky.


5. Refrigerate and let rest for at least 15 minutes if using immediately (dough needs to be refrigerated for next day use or for later use, can freeze).


6. When you are rolling out dough, use flour.


Suzanne Goins’ Lemon Tart


2 oz Bittersweet chocolate


4 Extra large eggs


3 Extra large yolks


1 cup plus 1 T sugar


1 cup Meyer lemon juice


10 T cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces.

1. Whisk eggs, egg yolks, sugar and lemon juice in a pot.

2. Cook over medium heat with whisk and rubber spatula.


3. Lemon ‘curd’ should form and consistency should be of pastry cream and coats back of the spoon.


4. Remove curd from heat and add butter a little at a time.


5. Let curd cool 10 minutes and then strain.


6. Melt chocolate.


7. Blind bake tarts at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.


8. Spread chocolate in tarts and add lemon curd on top.


9. Chill in refrigerator for at least a half an hour before eating.