PEA SOUP - A SPLIT DECISION

 PEA SOUP--A SPLIT DECISION

WHAT - there are two different kinds of pea soup?  Peas are peas,  right?!  So what could possibly be the difference between split pea soup and "regular" pea soup?

The difference... the type of peas used. Split pea soup is typically made from dried split peas, while green pea soup is made from fresh or frozen green peas. 

The following story is about split pea soup.  Well, maybe not a story, but certainly a blog, recipe and all.

To begin with, Richard and I love pea soup - especially split pea soup which is usually thicker and creamier. My husband, Richard, which this blog is named for in case you hadn't guessed by now, makes fabulous pea soup, split or otherwise, but especially split.  Unfortunately for me, however, not very often.  So, in a pinch, since I don't make pea soup myself, we buy canned pea soup.  Yes, we know, too much sodium, yada, yada, yada, but there's always a can or two in our pantry of one brand or another.  One of our favorites, is also the cheapest... Campbell's Split Pea Soup w/ Bacon.

But, the other night, Richard was in a "I feel like making homemade split pea soup for dinner tonight" mood.  I cheered, then danced around the house.  He bought the ingredients, as well as a Nancy Silverton, La Brea Bakery baguette and started his chef-ing process.

The result was a perfect, satisfying soup supper.  But, that wasn't the end of this splendid, culinary pleasure.  With enough leftover, we had his split pea soup again two nights later.  This time with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

Below is the basic recipe Richard used to reach this divine foodie nirvana.

Split Pea Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil

1-1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 medium)

1-1/4 cups chopped celery (about 3 ribs)

1 tsp minced garlic (1 clove)

4 cups unsalted chicken broth

4 cups water

1 (16 oz) bag of dried split peas, picked over and rinsed 

2 bay leaves

1-1/2 tsp chopped fresh thyme, or 1/2 tsp dried thyme

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1-12 lb meaty ham bone or ham shanks

1 cup chopped carrots

chopped fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

Instructions:

1.  Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add onion and celery and saute 3 minutes.  Add garlic and saute 1 minute longer.

2.  Pour in chicken broth and water.  Add split peas, bay leaves and thyme.  Season lightly with salt and pepper to taste. (Wait to add more salt until the end to see how salty the ham has made the soup.)

3.  Nestle ham bone into soup mixture.  Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce to low.  Cover and let simmer, stirring occasionally until peas and ham are  tender... about 60-80 minutes.

4.  Remove ham from soup, let  rest 10 minutes then shred or dice meat portion into pieces.

5.  Meanwhile, add carrots to soup.  Cover soup and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until peas have mostly broken down, about 30 minutes longer.

6.  Stir ham pieces into soup, season with more salt as needed.  Serve  warm, garnished with parsley, if desired.  

*salt optional if on a low-salt diet - Richard chose not to add the salt.

Bon Appetit!!!

A BIRTHDAY TRADITION

A BIRTHDAY TRADITION

To quote Tevye in “Fiddler On The Roof,” – “Tradition!” 

For years, Michael, my “boy” BFF has been taking me on birthday “culinary” and “design” adventures - I even started blogging about them when I began this blog.  Sometimes it’s just the two of us, sometimes Richard joins in. 

We’ve toured the Hollyhock and Ennis houses, both designed by Frank Lloyd Wright…

We ooh-ed and ah-ed through four houses located on the Malibu Estate compound Barbra Streisand donated to the city (a “country barn,” a Mediterranean villa, an art deco house and a craftsman bungalow all decorated by Ms. Barbra), then had “tea” on the patio…

We gazed at the art in the Frederick Weisman Museum located in Weisman’s home in Beverly Hills…

He treated me to my first Umami and The Counter cheeseburgers and we waited on line to experience the fabulous sandwiches from The Grilled Cheese Truck…

Last year he took Richard and me to Short Order, renowned chef Nancy Silverton’s cheeseburger “joint” in Los Angeles’ famed Farmer’s Market.

So, when he called this year to invite me/us for a b’day brunch at the Old Place, I jumped at the chance to experience this new food adventure.

The Old Place is, in fact, an “old place” located in the Santa Monica mountain town of Cornell. I’d been hearing about this restaurant for quite some time, but had never eaten there. This beautiful mountain area is where the television series “M*A*S*H” and “Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman” were shot. Cool.

In its youth, the Old Place was Hank’s Country Store where locals and travelers saddled up (literally) to buy their supplies. But when Tom Runyon bought it, he converted the old place into the “Old Place,” a rustic restaurant that he and his wife ran for more than 40 years. 

The menu then was short and consisted mostly of steaks cooked over a red oak fire, clams, baked potatoes and crusty sourdough bread, all of which you could wash down with beer or wine.

Though locals flocked to the place, it wasn’t unusual to see Steve McQueen, Jason Robards or other Hollywood celebs sitting in a booth or on a bar bench. All these years later, locals still hang out there, complemented by Valley-ites like Richard and me, surfers from Malibu, movie and TV stars, and bikers. Jay Leno has been known to “saddle up” on one of his “hogs” for a meal.

The minute we arrived, it felt as if we had been transported to another more rugged time. Before we went into the restaurant we checked out the Cornell Winery next door with its rustic, country charm and private dining room with a huge, antique crystal chandelier hanging over a long wooden table, not to mention an abundance of fine wines for sale.

Directly across the street from the Old Place, is the Peter Strauss Ranch, a many acre former park that the actor bought and donated to the National Park System which maintains nature trails and picnic areas. Peter also raised peacocks which still live behind the Cornell Winery and roam freely on the winery’s and Old Place’s property.

Tom’s son now runs the restaurant and though the menu has expanded to include such dishes as wild rosemary pale ale chicken, oak grilled chicken pot pie, oak grilled fish, and a noodle and cheese bake, the woody saloon atmosphere remains, even if the hitching posts outside are gone. 

The interior truly made me think of the saloons in TV westerns that I watched as a kid. Seeing women behind the bar brought visions of Miss Kitty in “Gunsmoke,” though their wardrobe brought me back into the 21^st century.

 

We settled in at a table in back filled with artifacts and cowboy collectibles...

...then ordered.   

 

First we shared a breakfast “appetizer” – a gooey homemade cinnamon roll that was probably the most delicious, gooiest cinnamon roll I’ve ever eaten.

Michael’s “main course,” was the wild mushroom and goat cheese frittata. 

Individually made in a cast iron skillet, the frittatas have a thin sliced crispy potato base and are then topped with a sourdough herb crust. Of course, I had to have a taste. It was frittata perfection. Other frittata choices include a sausage, ham, grilled onion and Irish cheddar concoction, a grilled seasonal veggie frittata and one made with goat cheese, sun-dried tomato and spinach.

Richard ordered the 3-stack blue corn meal flapjacks with real maple syrup. 

He was going to order the 5-stack, but our lovely waitress warned him that the flapjacks were huge and unless we were thinking of feeding a small village, the 3-stack would be more than enough. Not only were they huge as “advertised,” they were moist and truly mouthwatering (yes, I had to have a bite of this, too). His “side” of applewood bacon was the thickest bacon I’ve ever had (yup- grabbed a slice). Hearty – bacon-y (a good thing).

Famous for their red oak grilled steaks, I opted for steak and eggs. Though my steak was a bit chewy, the flavor was amazing, and my eggs were cooked exactly the way I wanted them – over easy.

After brunch, we walked the property and saw horses corralled behind a limo... pretty sure the horses didn't arrive IN the limo (unless they were Ann Romney's).  :)

...then checked out the “Mailroom,” the restaurant’s private dining room that seats parties from 9-12.

Loved the rustic room with its tons of candles and artwork painted by Tom’s wife, Barbara.

When it was time to leave this cool old place, I was a happy, sated camper.

Thank you, Michael for keeping my birthday tradition alive.

OLD PLACE

299983 Mulholland Highway

Cornell, Calif. 91301

818-706-9001

www.oldplacecornell.com

 

Check out a few of my prior Michael birthday adventures:

The Grilled Cheese Truck:

http://mydinnerswithrichard.blogspot.com/2011/04/grilled-cheese-from-truck-really.html

Short Order - Nancy Silverton’s hamburger joint:

http://mydinnerswithrichard.blogspot.com/2012/02/cheeseburger-cheeseburger-cheeseburger.html

The Frederic Weisman Museum in Beverly Hills

http://mydinnerswithrichard.blogspot.com/2010/08/la-staycation-pt-2-weisman-museum.html

GOOD FOOD FOR ALL-A Taste of LA Foodshed-Part One

GOOD FOOD FOR ALL

A Taste of the Los Angeles Foodshed

Part One

I just had the most exhilarating experience and it happened in a church. Well, a cathedral actually. A very old cathedral… 1870’s old! And it was quite fitting because it involved some divine food! It happened when I was invited to cover the October 6th “Good Food For All – A Taste of Los Angeles Foodshed” reception.

“Huh?” you might ask. Well, LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has made ‘good food for all’ a priority for Los Angeles because of its high poverty rate coupled with the city’s high obesity rate. This event kicks off California’s Roots of Change (ROC) Network Summit and honors the LA Food Policy Task Force and its commitment to work toward the day when everybody will be able to eat “healthy”… and features some of the greatest chefs in Los Angeles (and the country)… and I got to ‘taste’ their food.

It had been raining all day, but as Richard (who served as my photographer) and I arrived at Vibiana’s the rain stopped and rays of sun from the heavens beamed down on the former St. Vibiana’s Cathedral. As we headed to the press desk to check in some of the wait staff seemed to have formed a reception line to greet us.

The space is simply stunning… all white pillars and what appeared to be a floor to ceiling white marble altar.

The chefs were setting up their dishes on long tables covered in white cloths and burlap – the white linen highlighting the urban atmosphere – the 'earthy' burlap (the ‘new’ fabric trend) honoring the state’s farmers. Behind each chef and his/her assistants was a prep table to keep their delicacies coming for hours. A lot of work! And there were more than 40 chefs and double as many assistant chefs from every corner of Los Angeles… downtown – Santa Monica – Beverly Hills – Hollywood – West Hollywood – doing that work to help raise money and awareness for Good Food For All.

Ian Gresik, the Chef de Cuisine at Drago’s in downtown LA was the first chef I talked to.

He prepared a celery root panna cotta w/ braised pancetta and basil crouton.  What can I say?  Does “yum” do it for you? It was definitely a ‘yum’ moment for me.

And look at this…

… like falling into oyster heaven in search of a pearl. Further down the aisle, I found the table of Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza’s owner and chef, Nancy Silverton (she’s also the baker/founder of La Brea Bakery). Her ‘offering’:  melt-in-your-mouth burrata cheese w/ 2 peas in a pod fagioli alla Genovese and La Brea Bakery grilled garlic felt’unta bread. The evening had just started and I was ready to burst into a hymn!

Not far from Nancy, Chef Ray Garcia of Fig was setting up his tartare of maple leaf duck.

Jaclynn Balas, his publicist, told me that part of Ray’s commitment to LA’s “Good Food For All” program is working w/ a Los Angeles public school teaching kids how to cook and eat healthful, delicious food. LA’s own Jamie Oliver.

Just in time for a little something to sip to enhance my eating experience, I found Jim Clendenen’s Au Bon Climat wines.

First up – a pour of Au Bon Climat 2007 pinot noir. OK – this is soooo not a communion wine. Next was the 2005 Clendenen Family Vineyard syrah which was 90% syrah and 10% viognier. Delicious! As was the 2008 Tocai Friulano – an Italian varietal.

With a full wine glass, I headed out in search of more good eats…

… and found Nick & Stef’s Steakhouse prime Elkhorn Valley Farms steak tartare w/ olive crostini and crispy capers which were sooooo good, I wanted to wrap up every morsel and take them home…

… and from Joan’s On Third - a wild mushroom quesadilla w/ goat cheese and mozzarella – chanterelles, lobster, hen of the woods and shitake mushrooms in a white corn tortilla. Oh, my! So sinful I should have gone to confession…

… and actually did. I confessed, I needed a rest. I needed to extract myself from the crowd and sit down for a bit, but there was no seating. I spotted little wooden booths with little wooden benches at the side of the large room. Found an empty one and sat down. You guessed it – my confession was heard as I sat comfortably in one of the old cathedral’s confessionals. Bless me father, for I have zinned... Well, not really, it was the Italian varietal I was still sipping... before I rejoined the throngs…

There was more tasting to be done before the Mayor arrived... but I will fill you in on all that - the food and the benefit – tomorrow.

*****

For more information on Roots Of Change (ROC) visit:  http://www.rootsofchange.org/

And for more information on how Good Food For All hopes to increase access to healthy, affordable and sustainable produced foods visit: http://goodfoodla.org/

All the produce for the event was donated by local farmers and all the chefs volunteered their time, energy and their tasting creations.

Drago’s
525 S. Flower Street
Ste. 120
LA, Calif. 90071
http://www.dragocentro.com/

Osteria Mozza
6602 Melrose Avenue
LA, Calif. 90038
http://www.mozza-la.com/

Pizzeria Mozza
641 N. Highland
LA, Calif. 90036
http://www.mozza-la.com/

Fig
101 Wilshire Blvd.
(Fairmont Miramar Hotel)
Santa Monica, Calif. 90401
http://www.figsm.com/

Au Bon Climat Winery
www.aubonclimat.com/

Nick & Stef’s Steakhouse
330 South Hope Street
LA, Calif. 90071
213-680-0330

Joan’s On Third
8350 West Third Street
LA, Calif. 90048
http://www.joansonthird.com/