Category: cooking

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the season’s first apples are sweet

our first season of apples are here!
our first season of apples are here!

I don’t know if the apples are sweeter because of the ‘anticipation’… or, if it was because of the unusually sharp cold snap earlier this year? Fortunately for family unity , the crop looks magnificent and the perennial battle between making apple sauce and apple pies is muted under the avalanche of apples!

So after a couple of huge batches of apple sauce sitting in one of our three freezers, Laura has graciously consented to stand back while I make, strudels, apple flaps, cobblers and… yes… apple pies!

our recipe

Roger Freberg

PS. a little drama is over, after several months of looking , Laura found my favorite pair of prescription glasses in the lost & found drawer at HOME DEPOT. They’re fairly unusual in type and prescription… so,  Laura is my hero. 🙂

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not Trojan but close enough

Mythos a fine beer from Greece
Mythos a fine beer from Greece

Well, it’s not a beer from Troy and although the Greeks brought the walls down with their horse, we’ve got the horse now! So, when my wife and daughters came back from a conference in Athens, they couldn’t help but tell me of the wonders… which I will now enjoy myself! Fortunately, I was able to procure a sample or two from our local BEVMO.

However, it is  corned beef curing time… so this time the beer of choice will be Greek! Yes, I don’t use water in my brine mixture… only beer!

“Yasas!”

RECIPE: making corned beef & pastrami

RECIPE: corned beef pie

Roger Freberg

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when artichokes are the meal

Laura selects three beautiful artichokes for Sunday's midday meal
Laura selects three beautiful artichokes for Sunday's midday meal

In California,  if you spend any time here, you will experience some of the wonderful agricultural bounty of our state. Even though California is known for grapes, citrus, broccoli, strawberries, pistachios, truck farming  and more illegal cash crops than most want to talk about … we all share a love of  Artichokes .  My best and fondest memory of California and home revolve around  a meal of artichokes. As a boy, I remember going to Half moon bay to fish and stopping on the way back to buy a few wondrous artichokes for dinner… and this habit continues to this day. Only now, we walk to our local farmer’s market in San Luis Obispo to buy strawberries, white onions, pistachios ( yes, I must have my Baklava ) and artichokes!

If you are really a fan, there is even an  ‘Artichoke festival’ when the season is near and you can buy artichoke wine, artichoke flavored olive oil and every type of artichoke meal that you might imagine! It’s a lot of fun.

Personally, I love the largest of the artichokes with the biggest ‘hearts’. The preparation requires a couple of hours boiling in sea salt and lemon juice but well worth the effort.

So our midday meal on Sunday consists of artichokes, garlic butter, bread sticks, Marinara and  local wine.

The  simple pleasures in life are always the best!

bon appetite!

Roger Freberg

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when only the best marinara will do

guys just gotta have fun!
cooks just gotta have fun!

American Marinara has so many wonderful uses, it is the ‘mirepoix’ of Italian Cooking! What is great about making your own Marinara sauce is that it becomes a great ‘shortcut’ for Lasagna, Spaghetti and makes a great dip for bread sticks! Our Marinara sauce is not a short cut and the list of ingredients is long, it takes a long time to make… but it is well worth the effort.

Here is our simple recipe version.

Today, I wanted a slightly meatier Marinara (without meat) and that requires a small amount of ground nuts. In the photo above I am ‘testing’ the sauce with a bread stick… yummy!

“Buona sera, ti invitiamo a godere della nostra famiglia ricetta”

Roger Freberg

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it’s almost apple time!

00AlmostAppleTimeWell, maybe it was the cold winter… or maybe the superior job of apple tree pruning back in January… but whatever the reason, we are having a wonderful crop this year!

Karen has already said that she has this wonderful recipe for a Dutch Apple Turnover that she became quite fond of in Amsterdam… they call it an Apple Flap. Karen felt that the filling had more of an apple pie taste with many spices and a nice sauce. This ‘snack size’ is high on our baking list this year.

Of course, we will have plenty of Kristin’s favorite apple pies and Mom has dedicated one entire freezer to keep HER apple sauce. Now, all we need are the apples… and they are taking their time getting ripe.

Laura’s lovely apple sauce recipe

So many recipes… and the apples are not ready! argh!

Roger Freberg