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My Poppa's Beef with Green Beans
Any food my grandpa makes is a treat, and last week I got to enjoy this tasty dish he made. He told me his recipe, and hopefully I can do it justice with this summary, including the inexactness that seems to accompany all the magic he performs in the kitchen.Partly freeze a steak, any cut will do, a large sirloin is good. Once it's firm but not frozen, slice it super thin. Marinate in sherry, sugar and soy sauce, maybe 1/2 cup total, enough to coat it, and it will absorb most of it anyway. Cook green beans, onion, garlic and carrots in oil, soy sauce and a little sugar. Set aside. Coat the steak in cornstarch, and cook in oil very quickly. If you were able to get it really thin, 1/2 minute or so might be enough. Set aside. Slice mushrooms and, as the last step, cook them in butter (the butter gives them a special flavor and keeps them plump and moist). Lay the green beans on a serving plate and top with the beef and mushrooms. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.
Category Archives: Local food sources
Let’s try this again…My Year in Review
I started this blog a year ago with so much gusto and momentum, a wealth of culinary adventures ahead of me, a sense of purpose, and a firm resolve to make something of it all. It began so well with regular posts those first couple of months. I was beside myself as I sought content, aka amazing food, to fuel the blog, and it presented itself in abundance. Continue reading
Weekend Along the Farm Trails continued
Sorry for the long hiatus, but welcome back to my Weekend Along the Farm Trails! I’ve had so many more wonderful food experiences since then, I have a lot of catching up to do, but first I want to be sure to finish this tale. There is so much to say and I want to be sure I get all of it, so I’ve really struggled to finish writing about this experience. But I’m going off of memory, and the longer I wait the harder it gets. So here goes:
If you recall, we had spent Sunday morning touring the New Carpati mushroom farm in Sebastopol, explored family fun and tasted every cheese at Spring Hill Jersey Cheese farm in Petaluma, and escaped the Indian summer heat at Cafe Zazzle downtown Petaluma. After that we were recharged and drove to Tara Firma Farms on the southwest side of Petaluma. This was my favorite stop of the day. There is so much story behind it, and we were lucky to receive our guided tour from owner Tara Smith, so we got the full version.
Tara Smith of Tara Firma Farms with Thanksgiving turkey Continue reading
A Weekend Along the Farm Trails
Tasting Sonoma County from the ground up
If I had tons of time (and money), I would make sure I knew where all my food came from and what it went through to get to me. Considering where I live, I would also do my best to source as much of it as possible from within a tight radius of my home. As it is, my resources are limited. I work with what I have to satisfy this desire. When I first saw an announcement for the Fall Weekend Along the Farm Trails, I put it on my calendar and diverted every obstacle that might impede my participation. There seem to be an unlimited and always growing number of food experiences offered here in Wine Country, and it is difficult to have to choose. But with so many local farms opening their doors in one weekend, it would have been a pity to miss it.
[caption id="attachment_144" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Chicken house at New Carpati Farm in Sebastopol"]
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Hot weather = BBQ
The heat of summer makes me want to eat barbecue. The only problem with that is it means sweating over white-hot charcoals in 101 degree weather — that was the temperature last night at 6:00! Didn’t matter, though, it was worth it. The sweet spiciness of barbecue sauce was calling to me when I got off work, so we stopped at Pacific Market in Sebastopol, where the meat department is exceptional. Continue reading
Butter sauces are not for the faint of heart
Experiments, trials and tribulations with that most beloved of ingredients: butter. First beurre blanc, first hollandaise, failures in both that still somehow made it across the field to successful meals. Continue reading
First visit to the Occidental Farmers Market
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