Do any of you remember as kids having to tell your class what you did over the summer? I do.
There was the kid that rode all day in the Winnebago, one that went to Paris and another that sat at home making model airplanes.

Me, I was usually pulling in crab lines or shooting things with my wrist rocket. Fond memories indeed….

Now that summer is winding down I want to share with you all what I did over the summer. I had the fortunate opportunity to spend some time in the Big Sky state, Montana. It’s really big and open, the people are friendly, and the craft brew is delicious!

We stayed a few days in Missoula and the rest of the time buried away at this cabin surrounded by trees and wildlife. We explored during the days and grilled out at night. We ate everything from Smores to elk.

I took a record number of naps and learned how to play lawn golf. We saw a parade and afterwards sat in the parking lot of the Swan Bar watching fireworks. It was the coolest thing ever!

I don’t want to ruin the story with me going on and on, instead I thought that a photo essay would tell the story more eloquently.

I’ll end by saying that Montana now has a very special place in my heart. If you ever have the urge to go on a trip to a place that won’t let you down, then go here!

Hope you enjoy the photo story.

See you sooner than later!
StevO

I know that “Montana” has been standing in the batter’s box and was to follow the S’mores post but I thought I’d switch gears and tell you a sweet story about one of our events- and the well oiled machine known as HOG. I promise that Montana will be next. It’s a home run for sure!

To date Hands On Gourmet has done over 2000 cooking parties and team building events. For the most part the HOG blog has been dedicated to my personal food interests and not so much about HOG cooking events. However, at the end of the day all of our events boil down to one magnificent thing.. the food! Food that at one time or another was dreamed up by myself or another of our talented HOG Chefs. Looking back, I am completely blown away by all the diverse dishes that have been prepared by our guests over the years. Hand-ground curries from our Thai menu, ceviche from Peru, Ecuador and Panama…Homemade paneer cheese and chutneys for our Indian dishes…Toasted and ground spice crusted lamb, smoked vegetables and charred flat bread from our middle eastern menus.. and of course all the rich delicate pastries and cakes that put permanent smiles on people’s faces.

The recent event that I want to share with you was for an online -based photo publishing and printing service company. Our pals over at Feet First Events, a game based team building events company, referred us to the client, who was interested in an Iron Chef style culinary competition. Sounds like fun,right? Oh and did I mention that it was for 250 plus people?

Our challenge was to center the event around the food, while ensuring that there were competitive elements, games, mystery ingredients, lunch for 200, and of course FUN.

First step was to find a venue partner. We decided on Domenico Winery in San Carlos. We have done several events there and they are as dedicated to the success of the parties as we are. And in this case, it is close to the company headquarters so all the guests could get there easily and quickly.

Next step was the floor plan. We needed 20 cooking stations, a stage that everyone could see, a buffet, and room for people to mingle and of course eat. After about 5 iterations of various different configurations, and a few fork lift loads of wine barrels being moved, we had the perfect layout.

All the while, I am thinking, “how on earth were we going to make sure that there was going to be enough good quality food for everyone to eat while they were immersed in making plates for an iron chef type competition and when at any given moment, an entire cooking group would fly up to the stage to enter in a cup stacking or find the gum in the whipped cream competition. Chaos!”

Now onto the menu. The Client’s focus was equally split between the team building aspect and having over the top food. As a foodie he spent a great deal of mulling over the menus making sure it had something in it for everyone. Meat and gluten free dishes, vegetarian dishes, sweets and of course items for Tarzan and Jane! We decided on ten menu items that we duplicated to equal 20 teams. There was one HOG chef assigned to each cooking station. Four Chef managers on the floor for a grand total of 28 HOG’s. oink.

On the day of the event the group arrived, ate some appetizers, found their cooking team (all were pre-assigned and named after famous food people, Mario Batali, Alice Waters, Julia Childs, to make it easy), and the first game, name that tune, was played.

The 16 teams that were quickest to name the tunes – there were four rounds total – had the honor of wearing chef hats. The not so lucky 4 teams that were not so quick to name that tune had to wear hair nets – ha ha. It was the perfect segue into cooking.

Teams were competing for gold coins. Coins were earned by winning games – oreo tower, cup stacking, quantity of food to the buffet, and of course the dish itself – its taste, use of the mystery ingredient, and presentation.

Feet First had an MC working the crowd while the HOG team maintained the cooking frenzy.

Since it was such a big group we also brought in commercial deep fryers and grills to help facilitate some of the cooking. The big gun equipment was set up in the back parking lot where everything from meat, donuts and falafel were being prepared. It was such an awesome sight to see. An army of people grilling, frying, chopping, glazing, folding, whipping and yes.. laughing their heads off. I suppose that this is what cooking for the Olympics must look like.

For me the whole event seemed kind of surreal. Sure, we’ve done events for large groups before, in fact for 300 plus, but nothing like this. It was like the great race meets cirque du sole meets iron chef.. all while taking a trip down flavor highway! And yes, the food all turned out amazingly good.

Towards the end, the iron chef plates were put in their respective places and the judges tasted the food.. Wonders of wonders the donuts won! Was it the booze in the sauce? Who knows for sure. All I can say is that there was heaps of good food and creativity to boot.

Everything in the end went as smooth as a freshly paved road. The moral of the story is that pre-planning and communication is what makes for a successful event. I couldn’t have been happier with all the great Chefs AND our wonderful partners who we work with. Because without either HOG would just be a dusty old pig pen.
Ok, well.. see you next time. Thanks for stopping by!
StevO

The Menu

Falafel, Babaganoush and Muhammara
Homemade falafel, tahini sauce, roast eggplant and red pepper walnut-pomegranate dips-
Zatar Flatbread

Lamb Shish Kebabs
Coriander, cumin and cardamom-
Cucumber, cherry tomato, garbanzo bean and mint salad-
Yogurt dill sauce

Dungeness Crab Cakes
Lump crabmeat -
Cream fraiche, tarragon, lemon

Albóndigas al Jerez
Pan-fried meat balls, tomato sherry sauce, grilled olive oil bread

Ceviche- Peru
Rock shrimp, scallops, shaved yellow corn, lime, spring onion,
aji amarillo pepper, fried quinoa

Chicken Empanadas- Peru
Braised chicken, rocoto peppers, olives and eggs-flaky pastry

Papusas
Handmade tortillas stuffed beans and cheese. Pickled slaw, avocado

Maki Sushi Rolls
Tuna, crab or smoked eel-
Avocado, gobo, cucumber, shiso

Pork Shu Mai
Steamed pork dumplings-
Rock shrimp, shitake mushrooms, sesame, ginger, garlic-
Ponzu sauce-

Dessert Station
Strawberry Short Cakes
Buttermilk biscuits, local berries, cream fraiche

Zeppole con Crema Zabaione
Italian style, ricotta donuts-
Marsala custard cream

This story is a prequel to a much larger body of work titled “Montana”.

I just edited over a 1000 images from my recent trip and wanted to pull out one sweet story to give your imaginations a jump start.

Picture this.. a cabin deep in the woods, perfectly still nights, a river running behind our bedroom window, the occasional black bear checking for food and fires built with tress from the property.

We grilled out pretty much every night. And why not? There’s nothing better than eating food that has been cooked and smoked over fragrant wood. The combination of pine, Ponderosa and Douglas fir made for a dynamic, smoke flavor in our meals. As you’ll see in the up-coming post we grilled everything from summer squash, elk, beef, bread and… s’mores. The quintessential camp fire food.

I got to thinking about s’mores and how a smoke dense fire with aromatic wood might or might not effect the overall flavor. If a marshmallow has more developed smoke flavor is it better? Is it redundant? I mean, when you think about it s’mores are supposed to be cooked over a camp fire, right? Did the Girl Scouts way back when think about the smoke flavor, or did they just want to blacken those fluffy white suckers? Maybe I’m over thinking this. Is it still a s’more when the recipe is altered? Is there really a recipe? I looked up the history and origin and all it said was that it was cooked over a fire and that people over the years have added everything from canned chocolate frosting to peanut butter. Really?

Ok, so you get the idea now. We just wanted to see how far we could tweak the base recipe while still keeping its s’more integrity.

In our version we used bitter-sweet chocolate with crushed hazelnuts and finished the melted smoked marshmallow with a pinch of salt.

We also made a video on how to properly roast marshmallows. One thing I noticed was that it was really important to have the flames die down before you roast. This is when the fire starts to smolder and the most amount of smoke is produced. It’s also when the heat levels drop, giving the marshmallow more time to sit over the smoke.

Click here to watch the video.

So did it work? Hell yes it worked! You could definitely taste the smoke. Our s’more had an amazing bitter, nut, smoke, brown sugar and vanilla flavor; and the pinch of salt really accentuated the overall flavor profile. The cookie was a hit for sure! So you tell me.. is it still a s’more, or is it something else?

Any who, thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed the story and video.
Keep an eye out because Montana is right around the corner and should not be missed.

Happy grilling! Chef StevO

I’m here to tell you, with all my conviction, that I have tasted the best veggie burger on the planet! And here it is, in all it’s wheat, soy and dairy free glory. To be honest, I was skeptical when Joshua pitched our up-coming dairy and gluten free “barbeque” workshop. I’m like, “you’ve got to be kidding”. No meat, wheat OR dairy?! He pointed out that there is a big segment of the population that can not eat either.

I guess that it all became clear to me during our last gluten-free baking work shop when two guests screamed “THIS IS THE FIRST SCONE I’VE HAD IN 3 YEARS”! and tears welled up in another guest eyes. I’m not joking.

So last week when Joshua and Tartine Bakery veteran, Juliann did recipe testing I tried everything on the menu, 3 times. Yes, 3 times because everything was so damn good! The veggie burgers tasted way way better than any commercial burger on the market. Hand formed with heaps of nuts, seeds, grain, fresh herbs and chopped fresh veggies. They had a mind blowing (and nooo, not a meat like texture.. better than!!) texture and exploded with flavor. and one more thing.. they were JUICY! just like the a burger should be. The buns? Oh my goodness, they were spectacular! The rolls tasted like fresh brioche right out of the oven. I don’t know what she did with them, but I have yet to taste a gluten free bread quite like this. Plus they stayed soft for hours after they were baked.

Lastly I tried the short cakes with dairy free ice-cream. The frozen delight had rice and coconut milk; it genuinely blew my socks off. It tasted like some gelato that I would get in North Beach. Yes, really that good.

Ok, so I was dead wrong! I admitted it. I ate crow and liked it!

I encourage not only folks with wheat and dairy allergies, but curious cooks as well, to attend our hands-on All American BBQ workshop, Monday, July 12th @ 6pm. It’s alchemy and good whole foods all in one beautiful cooking class. Click here to purchase your ticket.
You will not be disappointed!

ps.. you can make a bunch of burgers all at the same time, individually wrap them and freeze. In fact, for some reason they cook better right out of the freezer into the hot oven. maybe it’s the cookie theory?

Chef Stephen, proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks

Words from Joshua

When we hear “veggie burger” we all seem to have the same initial thought or reaction – a cardboard like substance, full of carbohydrates and not so full of actual veggies and/or flavor. My goal with writing this recipe was to create a “burger” that is not only a powerhouse of nutrients, but actually tastes good enough to rival (for those meat eaters) a real burger.

The ingredients list may seem a little daunting so think of it like this, take the time to make the recipe once for dinner tonight and freeze the rest for a later date.

The All-American “Veggie Burger”
Makes 12 regular size patties and 24 slider-sized patties

Ingredients
2 Tbsp flax seeds, ground
6 Tbsp hot water
½ cup brown rice, cooked
1 cup brown lentils, cooked
½ cup carrots, grated
½ cup beets, grated
½ cup kale, diced and massaged with a pinch of sea salt and a drizzle of olive oil
½ cup zucchini, grated and sweated*
½ cup fennel, grated and sweated*
¼ cup walnuts, finely chopped ¼ cup pumpkin seeds, finely chopped
¼ cup black sesame seeds
1 Tbsp rosemary, finely chopped
1 Tbsp sage, finely chopped
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds, lightly toasted and ground
1 tsp coriander seeds, lightly toasted and ground
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp soy sauce
¼ tsp cayenne

Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Enjoy with your favorite burger toppings.

I was sitting at my desk a few weeks back when around the same time two separate evites landed in my inbox. I usually put those things on the back burner until I receive the “get it in gear and reply” reminder note, but the words “Pork and Park” immediately stirred my curiosity. As luck would have it both events fell on the same weekend; different days! The cards of fate had given me a royal flush!

The first event on Saturday was hosted by our good pals Samantha and Paul Smith. The pig was a real beauty from Devils Gulch Ranch, a Berkshire variety, I believe. It took place in our hood at Esprit Park. Paul had been telling me about some kind of portable pig smoker box. Finally, I got to see how the darn thing worked. It was a real simple contraption with coals on top that cooked the pig while simultaneously serving as grill. So picture sausage appetizers and veggies sizzling away over hot coals while a pig is roasting away inside the box.

The pork turned out amazingly good, moist and flavorful, but what really blew me away were all the sides, sauces and sweets. Nowhere else in the country will you find a group of home chefs that rock like the ones in the Bay Area! There was pickled watermelon, bulgur wheat and arugula salad, homemade grilled focaccia bread, smoked asparagus, creamy polenta and three amazing complementary sauces. In my opinion, the sauces took the blue ribbon. Someone had casually mentioned that they were adapted from the French Laundry cookbook. And they were brilliant!

Everything overall was so very good. I think I ate four pounds of food total. When they kicked me out I drifted home and slept for a few hours before getting up to feed the cat. That was my day.

The other event took place in Golden Gate Park and was hosted by Douglas Fresh and Kim. Douglas, the mastermind behind the food at Kitchenette and LRE, had a different approach in mind. He purchased a 30 pound suckling pig and declared his picnic a pot luck.

Like most professional cooks Douglas was looking to be efficient with his time. Whoever invented the pot luck must have been a professional cook or an avid party thrower. It’s so simple and smart.

Again the pig was juicy and moist. This time we ate the slices of crispy skin and pork in between fluffy buns and had the option of dipping it in a pool of warm seasoned pork juice. Can you say, American dip.. oink oink..

Sunny warm weather, grass between the toes, fun people, great food and games. Some of the group started to play bocce ball while others just camped out on a blanket soaking up the unusually warm GG park sun.

I ate 4 pounds of food, rode my bike home, slept, and then fed the cat.

After I finish these last few words I will take off my gym clothes and pray for my upcoming weekend to be filled with seafood and steamed veggies. And more exercise.

Chef StevO.. sometimes fat but always happy!

Homemade cannoli might seem a bit daunting for some of you folks. It’s not often that a homemade dessert involves a specific mold, pasta machine and a deep fryer. Well, I’m here to let you know that it’s worth every ounce of effort AND some to construct them from scratch.

And much like a homemade donut where devouring them fresh is key; the cannoli is as equally spectacular minutes out of the fryer. Crisp shells and fresh firm smooth filling. The rest is up to you in regards to the finishing touch. Chocolate chips, pistachios, fresh fruit folded into the filling or candied orange zest all work nicely.

If you plan on doing this then go to your bakery and buy a few to do a side by side comparison. I’d love to hear your stories.

Chef StevO – Hands On Gourmet

*chefs note. If you don’t have a pasta machine then a rolling pin will do the trick. Just make sure they are thinly rolled out and have a consistent thickness.
*you buy molds at most high end culinary equipment stores such as Sur La Table and Williams Sonoma or  buy on-line.

Cannoli
Serves 8-10 people

Ingredients
For the cannoli dough
3 cups all purpose flour
¼ cup Sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 Tablespoons butter, cut into small cubes
½ teaspoon salt
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
½ cup Marsala wine
1 Tablespoon vinegar

3 egg whites for sealing the cannoli dough
Extra flour for dusting
Oil for deep frying

For the ricotta
1 gallon whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3 cups buttermilk
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup lemon juice

zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup powdered sugar
½ cup cream, whipped

For the garnish
2 cups mini chocolate chips
Pistachios
Fresh fruit
powdered sugar

Special Equipment
Pasta machine
Cannoli molds
Fry pot
Frying oil
Spider
Pastry brush
Pastry bags
Pastry tips
Stand mixer
Cookie cutters

Instructions
For the cannoli dough
Sift together all dry ingredients.

Cut the butter into the dry ingredients.
Add Liquid.
Knead for 8 minutes. Rest for at least 30 minutes.

With the pasta machine, roll dough through successively thinner settings until desired thickness. Dust with flour to prevent sticking. Lay dough on a flat surface and cut into 4-5 inch circles. Brush half of the circle’s edge with egg white and wrap around a cannoli mold. Seal the two ends together with fingers to wrap around the mold.

Deep fry at 375 degrees until crispy. Remove the molds.

For the Ricotta

Heat the milk, cream and buttercream in a stainless steel saucepan over medium heat with a thermometer attached. Stir frequently. When the mixture reaches 165 degrees, add the lemon juice and give the mix one soft stir. Stop stirring and continue to cook to 180 degrees. At this point the curds and the whey should have separated. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Carefully remove the curds with a slotted spoon/strainer and transfer to a colander lined with cheese cloth. Tie the cloth up into a pouch with butchers twine and hang from a faucet for 1 hour. Chill.

When cool, fold in the powdered sugar, vanilla, lemon zest and whipped cream.

Fill a pastry bag with this sweet ricotta filling and chill until ready to fill cannolis.

To Build
Fill the cannolis with the ricotta cream and dust with powdered sugar. Sprinkle each end with chocolate chips, pistachios or mix with chopped fresh fruit

Hummus is pretty basic right? you have maybe 5 ingredients that you throw into a food processor and blend. Should be straight forward, but like making fresh mayo or my favorite dummy food rice, ISN’T. Isn’t a 1-2-3 in the bag dish that is. I’ve been making hummus for ages but only recently have I figured out how to take it to that next place.

So what’s the key? Two things; balance of flavors and consistency.

The balance of acid, fat, heat and aromatics is the first part. The consistency part has to do with, how much tahini you add, how long you blend it, and the amount of water you add. The water helps to break down the beans while processing the hummus to give it a creamier consistency. I used to add olive oil instead of water because I thought the oil gave it more texture. As it turns out, the oil had no effect on the texture and it didn’t do anything for the consistency. In fact it may have worked against both. Water, on the other hand, helps open up the pores of the ingredients allowing distribution of flavor and achieving the right texture.

As you’ll see in the video, I make it a tad more loose then some of you might, but trust in the fact that it will firm up in the fridge. See what you think and let me know how your next batch turns out.

Over and out
Stephen

Hummus
Makes 2 cups

Ingredients
1 cans, 16oz garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup tahini
1 1/2 cloves garlic, minced and smashed
6-8 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
pinch cayenne pepper
pinch or two of salt

water to add during blending

Instructions
Put all the ingredients in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Add water as needed to make it smoother and creamier.

This is Molly, filling in for Chef Stephen. He’s been hard at work producing events. I was inspired to write about two Hands On Gourmet cooking parties we did last week. They had exciting competitive elements reminiscent of the Food Network’s Iron Chef show.

Watch how it all went down:

Next up was an event for a gaming company in Redwood City. We hosted this team building experience at their corporate cafe. The group opted for a Mystery Box Challenge.

We were really impressed with how creative the dishes were. The winning team made duck with a cherry reduction, fingerling potatoes cooked in duck fat, and a warm frisee salad with fried baby chioggia beets and mandarin orange juice vinaigrette.

Quotes from the guests included, “best team building event in the 15 years I’ve been here” and “This event was a hundred times more fun than I thought it would be.”

“Words words and more words”. One of my absolute favorite lines barked from the aging silent picture movie star, Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) in Sunset Boulevard. Of course she was referring to the new motion pictures with sound, and not to print media; but, she makes a good point. Words do sometimes clutter visual media. Do pictures really need words to tell a rich full story? As I started to write this post it dawned on me that the imagery was far more powerful and compelling than any story I could write. I was inspired to send out this post after taking a warm bath in a beautiful visual story produced by my blogging pal Jennifer over at Palate To Pen. Her post entitled, “Nature and Nourishment” is a simple poetic story told with images of a dog, sea shells, a path leading to a body of water, a cold gray day and a bowl of soup. One reader summed it up best by saying “By the way, I didn’t read a word of what you wrote in this post. You didn’t need all the words. The pictures said it all. Just exquisite”. well put!

So with that said, I would love to get your thoughts on this post. Do you really need context? What do you see, what do you feel? Can you taste the fresh salt air? Or the uni (sea urchin) in the last shot.
Stevo

The Tide Pools at Moss Beach, CA.

Limpits – mmm delicious!

Crab and Mussels.

Nori and Kelp. The nori is delicious, the kelp, not so much.

Star Fish and Sea Urchin

By the way, the Tide Pool walk was led by Tony Cockrell, a naturalist, forager and environmental educator. I learned about this adventure from Cook Here and Now. If you have questions for Tony or are interested in his work you can contact him directly at tlcockrellbooks@yahoo.com.

The other day as one of our team building cooking events was taking place, I was in the back of the H.O.G. kitchen shooting photos of some slow roast strawberries as part of a post for my Bay Area Bites blog column.

The pastry station in the kitchen happened to be making one of my all time favorite deserts, Clafouti. Clafouti is one of the best desserts that French cuisine has to offer. It’s a slightly dense custard-y cake that classically is cooked with cherries. It has an absolutely perfect texture and great accompanying flavors from the crushed nuts and tart fruit.

Ok, so by now you might have figured out where this was going. Yes, since cherries are not in season, we took some culinary liberties and folded the slow roasted strawberries into the Clafouti recipe. The results were magical. Please try out this dish, with or without the strawberries. It’s really that good!

*disclaimer- You might also see some balsamic vinegar reduction on the plate. Not necessary as the strawberries are so intense but not a bad idea either. All you do is put a ½ cup of balsamic in a small stainless steel pot and cook it down on medium low heat until it reduces by ¾

Slow Roast Strawberry Clafouti
½ slow roast strawberry recipe, * see below
1 tablespoon cornstarch
½ cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter
¾ cup whole milk
1/3 cup almonds, toasted, cooled and ground
¼ cup all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

Pistachio or vanilla ice cream to garnish

Instructions
Preheat oven to 325°F. Generously butter six 1-cup custard cups. Rough chop the strawberries. Mix strawberries and cornstarch in large bowl. Divide among prepared cups.
Whisk eggs, vanilla, and ½ cup sugar in medium bowl until well blended. Cook butter in heavy small saucepan over medium-low heat until butter begins to brown, about 3 minutes. Add butter to egg mixture and whisk to blend. Whisk in milk. Finely grind almonds, flour, and salt in processor. Stir nut mixture into custard. Pour custard over berries, dividing equally.
Bake Clafouti until set in center, about 35 minutes. Run knife around sides of Clafouti to loosen. Slide out onto plates. Serve Clafouti warm or at room temperature with ice cream, whipped cream or balsamic reduction.

For the Strawberries
1 pound strawberries, tops removed and halved
¼ cup sugar
1 fresh vanilla bean, seeds removed
Pinch salt

Instructions
Turn on oven to 250 degrees, Fahrenheit
Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla bean
Break up the clump of vanilla seeds with finger tips.
Toss the berries with sugar, salt and vanilla bean.
Slow cook in oven for 2 hours, uncovered, pull and let cool