This year the holidays might mean even more, as we cope with less family and friends gathering socially, less hoopla, but possibly more meaning, peace, happiness, and gratitude. Here are five heavenly holiday menu tips to easily heighten your intimate holiday gatherings.

Find at Costco, Recipe on the Package

1) Add Seafood as a Starter. Adding a special seafood, such as lobster chowder, grilled mussels, oysters, or crab, set the mood and excitement for your holiday menu. Dear friends told me about this one, Phillips Premium Lump Crab, found at Costco. Listed on the container is a great crab cake recipe.

Shirley Phillips’ Crab Cakes

Ingredients: 1 lb. Phillips Crab Meat, 1 egg, 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce, 1/4 tsp. dry mustard, 2 Tbsp. mayonnaise, 1 tsp. lemon juice, 1 Tbsp. mustard, 1 Tbsp. melted butter, 1 tsp. parsley flakes, 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 1 tsp. Phillips Seafood Seasoning (or Old Bay Seafood Seasoning).

Directions: Combine all ingredients except crab meat, mix well. Fold in crab meat. Shape into cakes. Pan fry until golden brown or bake at 375 F. degrees for 12-15 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165 F. degrees.

This recipe makes 4-6 crab cakes for a first course, or shape into smaller meatball-size crab cakes for appetizers. Serve with champagne or a sparkling wine.

Celery Root, Ugly on the Outside, Beautiful on the Inside

2) Exchange Potato Dishes with Celery Root. Celery Root has a rich, nutty elegant flavor, which can be puréed, sautéed, or sliced. It is a bit of a chore to scrub, trim top and bottom, and peel skin with a vegetable peeler, but once done, it’s fIavor rewards. I like to use it in winter soups, or as a rich substitute for decadent mashed potatoes. Celery root is fabulous solo, but there is an alchemy when combining celery root and potatoes in your favorite recipe, use a 2 part celery root to 1 part potato ratio, or whatever ratio you prefer.

Celery Root Purée, Lovingly Adapted from Ian Knauer’s The Farm: Rustic Recipes for a Year of Incredible Food

Ingredients: 3 lb. celery root, peeled and cut into 1/2” cubes (8 cups), 4 small cloves garlic peeled, 1 cup heavy cream, 1/2 cup unsalted butter, celery root or sage leaves (optional).

Directions: 1) In a large saucepan combine celery root, garlic, and 2 tsp. kosher salt. Add enough water to cover. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat; simmer, covered for 12 to 15 minutes, or until very tender; drain. 2) Purée mixture with the cream and butter in a food processor until smooth. Season to taste with additional salt and some pepper. If desired, top with additional butter and celery root or chopped sage leaves before serving. Makes 8 servings.

Seasonal Wild Rice at Chino Farm’s Pop-Up Store

3) Wow with Wild Rice. It is not always easy to find real wild rice. Chino Farm carries it for the holidays in their pop-up shop from a special Minnesota source. Wild Rice can be served warm or cold, but be sure and add some goodies such as dried cranberries, halved grapes, nuts, pomegranate seeds, or a hint of citrus.

Wild Rice Salad, Lovingly Adapted from The Cypress Hill Farms Cookbook by Marilyn Dronenburg and Ann Mellander

Ingredients: 1 cup wild rice, 5-1/2 cups chicken broth, 1 cup golden raisins, 1 cup pecan halves toasted, zest from 1 large orange, 4 green onions thinly sliced, 1/3 cup orange juice, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

Directions: Place rice in a strainer and rinse well. In a heavy saucepan bring rice and broth to a boil. Adjust to a simmer and cook for 30-45 minutes, partially covered. Check after 30 minutes. Rice should not be too hard, not too soft. Drain and transfer to a bowl. Add remaining ingredients and toss. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serves 4.

Select Special Cheese

4) Cut The Cheese. Create a very special cheese board for your occasion, to be served before dessert. No need for crackers, just very special cheese. Start by selecting one blue, one soft, one hard. Remember, never cut the nose off the cheese, cut from the sides. Source cheese shops like Venissimo, grocery stores like Cardiff Seaside Market, or cheese makers like Cowgirl Creamery

A Burgundy Sparkling Wine is a Treat

5) Drink Something Special. It might be something new, or it might be a tradition. It could be an apéritif such as French Lillet, a traditional champagne, a new cocktail from David Lebovitz’s book Drinking French , or simply a refreshing Burgundy sparkling wine. Why not try a great Napa Sauvignon Blanc from Saint Supery or Spottswoode winery. The point is to enjoy this drink, and the present special moments.

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I am grateful, and thank you for all of your generous comments and kind words always!

A Perfect Fall Appetizer

I speak and write so much about seasonal living. When we embrace the seasons, it helps us to live in the moment, capture the present. Seasonal living means embracing and celebrating all the unique activities, flavors, foods, fragrances, and visuals that each season brings. It creates a subtle awareness to enjoy all of this each day, as it will be another nine months before this season returns.

Curried Pumpkin Hummus is one of my favorite seasonal fall appetizers. It is a delightful combination of spices that have a little heat, yet a lot of flavor. Culinary Tip: Spice Islands Curry is regarded as the best overall curry powder flavor, concurred amongst my culinary friends. Keep canned pumpkin stocked in your fall pantry, and you can whip up this appetizer in no time. Easy to make ahead of time and always a crowd pleaser. I originally saw it in Victoria Magazine, October 2013 issue.

Curried Pumpkin Hummus

Lovingly Adapted from Victoria Magazine

Makes 10 servings.

Ingredients:

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin

3 Tbsp. tahini

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1 clove garlic peeled

2 tsp. olive oil

1 tsp. curry

1 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

Garnish: pepitas (pumpkin seeds), paprika, olive oil and fresh thyme

Directions:

In the work bowl of a food processor, combine pumpkin, tahini, lemon juice, garlice, and olive oil. Pulse until smooth. Add curry, cumin, kosher salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper; pulse to combine.

Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Garnish with pepitas, paprika, olive oil, and thyme if desired. Serve immediately with toasted naan (an East Indian flat bread) or pita chips, or refrigerate, in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

What is your favorite aspect of the fall season? What are your favorite fall recipes? If you make this recipe, be sure and tag #bonniejomanion.

Carrots Hot Off the Grill

I am more of a “recipe seeker” than a recipe developer, maybe that will be change in the future. On the other hand, Tieghan Gerard of Half Baked Harvest is a natural recipe genius with her flavor and ingredient artistry and food styling bordering on culinary masterpieces. A Colorado twenty-something with already two cookbooks under her belt, and 1.9 million Instagram followers and counting, she has the ability to create a new mouth-watering recipe everyday. She is simply amazing and fresh in the culinary world. Check her out!

I seek out certain recipes for my culinary repertoire, hunting them down from cookbooks, friends, the internet, magazines, and saved recipe files. You know the ones, like Alice Waters’ Mulberry Ice Cream, Martha Stewart’s Lemon Bars, Patricia Wells Sorrel Soup, Ina Garten’s Spinach Gratin, Dorie Greenspan’s Gougères, and Sheila Lukin’s (Silver Palate days), Corn and Lobster Chowder, see below.

In the Bon Appétit, June/July 2020 magazine issue there is a terrific recipe I want to share with you, Grilled Carrots with Avocado and Mint. This is a “24 carrot gold” recipe. I had never grilled carrots before, roast them in the oven with a few other root vegetables, olive oil and a little salt and pepper. Yes and yum!

Grilling the carrots in this recipe caramelizes them, and the cumin-forward dressing is a perfect dressing companion. This is such a simple and well-rounded recipe. It has big flavor, acid, heat, spice and texture. The combination of avocado, toasted cumin, fresh ginger, mint, and serrano chile are divine!

In San Diego, California, we are lucky that we can grow carrots all year long, and now there are so many heirloom and rainbow colors to grow besides the beautiful orange through seed companies and buy at our farmer markets.

Bon Appétit, June/July 2020 Issue

Bonus Recipe from My Recipe Archive

Shelia Lukin was at one time a Food Contributor for Parade Magazine, dates unknown. This chowder is special and elegant enough for a Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve Dinner, or a very special occasion. Enjoy!

Shelia Lukin’s Elegant Corn and Lobster Chowder

I enjoy hearing from you all, your kind words, suggestions, and comments. They all come to me, and I try to respond back. If you want to comment on my actual blog you will have to click on the tab, “click on original post” at the bottom of this blog post, which will direct you back to my original post location on my blog and website. Either way I see your comments!

Merci Mille Fois!

The Cook’s Atelier Storefront

One of my best cooking school experiences has been at The Cook’s Atelier in the storybook town of Beaune in the heart of the Burgundy, France region. An easy weekend getaway by train situated, either about an hour south from Paris or about two hours north above Avignon. My husband and I met dear friends in Beaune for a fun weekend. The gals had pre-booked “A Day in Burgundy French Cooking Class” and shopping on their agenda, and the fellas scheduled superb wine tasting venues.

The Cook’s Atelier is a small family business offering French culinary cooking classes, private events, a culinary boutique, and wineshop all situated in a 17th century lovingly restored stone building, beautifully lit by three floors of floor to ceiling windows overlooking a central atrium with a skylight. The original wooden spiral staircase magnificently connects all the floors. Marjorie Taylor and Kendall Smith Franchini are mother and daughter American expats who dreamed of living in France and showcasing their culinary skills and wine background in one of France’s gastronomic meccas. Kendall fell in love and married Laurent, a Frenchman from Provence, moved to Beaune, started a family, Marjorie joined them, and the entire dream and family business has taken off.

The Cook’s Atelier is a visual masterpiece for your senses, from the start of the day to the finish. Your day begins with meeting at the Beaune market with many of their special artisan food producers and buying seasonal ingredients for the cooking class and extended savory lunch. A quick walk through the historic heart of town, and you are at their storefront, ready for your hands-on cooking class. The teaching kitchen is on the top floor, the dining room on the second, and ground floor is the culinary boutique and wine shop at street level. Students are taught and work on recipes for lunch, learn basic techniques, simple recipes, and culinary tips in general.

Handsome Merchandizing Mixes New and Vintage Pieces

Looking Down Through the Atrium

The Cook’s Atelier Teaching Kitchen Ready for Students

The Table is Set for Our Hard-Earned Lunch

“Rack of Lamb with Herbs” and Spring Vegetables was Star of the Lunch

Marjorie and Kendall, A Dynamic Duo

Lunch was seven courses from appetizers to dessert with accompanied wine pairings chosen by Kendall’s husband, Laurent. The copper, the tea lights, the peonies, the embroidered napkins, the soup tureens, all of the details were so simple yet stunning, and lunch was absolutely delicious! A day of savoring “joie de vivre!”

Marjorie and Kendall wrote and published in 2018 a beautiful cookbook, The Cook’s Atelier, with many of the recipes that were featured in our “A Day in Burgundy French Cooking Class.” This cookbook is beautifully written and is organized by the seasons, and how their year unfolds which I always love. My dream is to return once again to this special region of France, and immerse myself in one of their week-long intensive cooking classes. If you can’t make it to France, like this year, many of their curated products are available online at www.thecooksatelier.com with worldwide shipping available.

Do you know of The Cook’s Atelier? Have you experienced a day that totally takes you to another level of experience and thinking, you are forever changed?

San Marzano Tomatoes

Last February a dear friend gave me San Marzano tomato seeds from Italian Franchi Seeds to grow. Fast forward to August, and it was time to harvest. San Marzano tomatoes make a beautiful sauce, but I wanted to dehydrate them, a first for me. I have a setting on my oven, and used that method over night.

Dehydrated San Marzano Tomatoes

Beautiful crimson color matched with a flavorful tomato intensity, I wished I had grown more of these tomatoes. Remembering a quick recipe from Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food II, I made her Crostini with Dried Roma Tomatoes, Anchovies, and Capers. This recipe is made with simple but ingredients you most likely have in your pantry, and with the star addition of dried Roma Tomatoes.

Anchovies, Capers, Olive Oil and Dried Roma Tomatoes

Dried Roma Tomatoes, Anchovies, and Caper Mixture Ready for Crusty Bread

Lovingly Adapted from Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food II

Waters likes to add fresh chopped parsley or marjoram to each crostini for a touch of green, punch, and texture.

Please share if you dehydrate tomatoes or other foods you grow. Please share if you have a great Roma tomato recipe.

Italian Pesto Basil, Renee’s Garden Seeds

This year I grew basil from seed for the first time, and had resounding success. I used great seeds from Renee’s Garden. She has many types of basil but I chose her Italian Pesto Basil seeds specifically for making my own pesto. This basil was very easy to grow, in two rows in my raised bed. The green color alone is fabulous, and as you pick the leaves or pinch the flowers the fresh basil smell is intoxicating.

A Partial Glimpse of Beautiful Cinque Terre

My incentive for growing basil, and making my own pesto from the garden was Wine Vault & Bistro’s Italian Culinary and Wine Tour, my husband and I, and friends took two years ago. The tasty tour focused mainly around Florence and Tuscany, and paused in Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is five separate coastal villages perched precariously high above the Mediterranean within Liguria in northwest Italy. These villages because of inaccessibility, were virtually unknown to the world until shortly after World War II. They are all now part of the Cinque Terre National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In the fifth and furthermost village of Monterosso, our tour had a planned amazing lobster and seafood lunch along with other local delicacies at the sweet Hotel Pasquale. An extra bonus was an optional pesto making class beforehand from the restaurant’s own Nonna. Taking notes as quickly as I could, I share with you her authentic Pesto Recipe. This is the recipe I am using this summer from my garden, and share with you now.

Informal Pesto Making Class in Monterosso

Italian Basil Pesto (For Two People)

80 small Genoa basil leaves, or fresh basil leaves of your choice. One clove garlic.

One tablespoon pine nuts per person, not roasted but raw.

The best pine nuts are from Pisa, Italy. One heaping tablespoon Parmesan cheese per person.

For more people use 4 tablespoons pine nuts,

3 garlic cloves, but use same amount of Parmesan cheese and garlic proportionally.

Add into ingredients 1/2 cup good olive oil for two people, more olive oil, if making for more people.

With a mortar and pestle crush your basil leaves until they become a paste. Add other ingredients.

Add your olive oil to mixture last. Pesto should be a cream-like consistency.

Don’t normally need salt, because the cheese has salt. Use over warm linguini.

Becoming Authentic Italian Basil Pesto

My recipe notes. You can use a food processor as an alternative to a mortar & pestle for your pesto, but know the Italians still prefer a mortar & pestle.

This pesto is made up of a few simple ingredients, so try and find the best of all of these ingredients. I use this fresh pesto over my pasta yes, but also for my

homemade pizza, and tomato tartines. Enjoy, and maybe it will take you to Italy someday, or take you back to Italy once again.

Kumquat-Cardamon Tea Bread, Perfect for a  Gift

If you are lucky to have a kumquat tree, you must have this recipe, Kumquat-Cardamon Tea Bread from Bon Appétit November 2005. The secret ingredient is 2 cups of kumquat puree and maybe another secret ingredient, crushed pineapple in its own juice. Wow! Such a moist and delicious tea bread. This recipe makes 2 large loaves, or several mini gift loaves. Topping each tea bread with a citrus glaze and slices of kumquat makes this a beautiful presentation! Enjoy!

Kumquats are very versatile and can be used in meat sauces, salads, and sweets. Kumquats can easily jump between sweet and savory, and beckons you to use your imagination. 

Kumquat Trees Can Be Grown in a Container

Digging into my archives here is my post on Knock-Out Kumquats, from November 2008, for more information about growing kumquats in your garden. Do you have a kumquat in your garden?

Outside Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, California

Last August 2016, I finally found myself outside the hallowed Chez Panisse Restaurant and Cafe in Berkeley, California. Founded in 1971 by Alice Waters and a few other like-minded friends, the food principles that perpetuate this eating establishment have changed our food culture forever in this country.

Alice Waters, food activist and food icon, has taught has us the value and pleasure of eating locally, supporting our artisan farmers, eating seasonally, supporting food sustainability, and igniting the concept of school gardens for our children.

I meet Alice Waters at Chinos Farms, part of their Good Food, Great Chefs events for the celebration of her latest cookbook, The Art of Simple Food II. 

Meeting Alice Waters at Chinos Farm, Rancho Santa Fe, December 2013

Over the years, Alice Waters has mentored many talented floral designers, talented chefs, and cookbook authors such as David Liebowitz and Joanne Weir who worked, trained, and enhanced their careers at Chez Panisse.

Alice Waters has influenced me. She has that gift to inspire and motivate others. When I read food books about Paris and Provence, occasionally I run across her name and presence. The week after I visited Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, Alice Waters was actually cooking in Thomas Jefferson's kitchen for an event. She has inspired me to grow as much of my own food as possible, be sustainable, and eat seasonally.

Cafe Water Carafe Etched "Chez Panisse"

Lunch was delightful and delicious, needless to say. The entire time I kept savoring details of lunch, the table, the clientele, and the setting. I share with you now Alice Water's Creamy Meyer Lemon Dressing I had that special day over bright green billowy bibb lettuce .

Creamy Meyer Lemon Dressing

Makes about 1/2 cup. This is a creamy dressing that coats lettuce in a luscious way. The flavor is light and sprightly filled with lemon juice and zest. Alice Waters especially likes it on sweet lettuces such as butterhead or romaine or a mix of small chicories and radicchio.

Stir together in a large bowl: 1 Tbsp. Meyer lemon juice, 1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar, grated zest of 1 Meyer lemon, salt, and fresh-ground black pepper.

Taste and adjust as needed. Whisk in: 3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, and 3 Tbsp. heavy cream. Taste for salt and acid and adjust as needed.

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Lunch in Provence Cooking Classes!

I Have a Place Setting for You and Friends!

Many thanks for everyone's interest and enthusiasm in the "Lunch in Provence" Cooking Classes. Perfect to treat yourself, a special friend, or loved one for a birthday, milestone, or to just experience a relaxing day in South France.

There are still a few place settings available for the Thursday, October 6, 2016 "Autumn in Provence" cooking class and the Thursday, November 10, 2016 "Que Syrah, Syrah" cooking class, see FALL CLASS SCHEDULE DETAILS.