December- the time to eat sweet Clementines. With their easy to peel skin, their sweet juice, and perfect size, I love clementines.

Sicilian Anchovy Pasta

Its raining outside. A cold November evening and the sun has set at 5pm. What to do for dinner? I'm craving something solid but tasty and I am not willing to go to the store to just buy an ingredient. This is one of my typical pantry staple dishes. The only thing it was missing was fresh parsley or basil. But in the summer, I have that on the balcony so its not so bad.

Sicilian Anchovy Pasta

Prepare angel hair pasta, reserving some of the pasta water.

In olive oil, sautee a small chopped onion, four chopped anchovies, red pepper flakes, and dried basil. Supplement the olive oil with some of the oil from the anchovies.

Stir in the hot pasta into the olive oil/anchovy/onion paste and add some pasta cooking water to moisten. Add lemon juice and fresh Parmesan.

Delicious!

A Platter of Figs

Forget about getting back to the land, David Tanis just wants you to get back to the kitchen

For six months a year, David Tanis is the head chef at Chez Panisse, the Berkeley, California, restaurant where he has worked alongside Alice Waters since the 1980s in creating a revolution in sustainable American cuisine. The other six months, Tanis lives in Paris in a seventeenth-century apartment, where he hosts intimate dinners for friends and paying guests, and prepares the food in a small kitchen equipped with nothing more than an old stove, a little counter space, and a handful of wellused pots and pans.

This is the book for anyone who wants to gather and feed friends around a table and nurture their conversation. It’s not about showing off with complicated techniques and obscure ingredients. Worlds away from the showy Food Network personalities, Tanis believes that the most satisfying meals—for both the cook and the guest—are invariably the simplest.

Home cooks can easily re-create any of his 24 seasonal, market-driven menus, from spring’s Supper of the Lamb (Warm Asparagus Vinaigrette; Shoulder of Spring Lamb with Flageolet Beans and Olive Relish; Rum Baba with Cardamom) to winter’s North African Comfort Food (Carrot and Coriander Salad; Chicken Tagine with Pumpkin and Chickpeas). Best of all, Tanis is an engaging guide with a genuine gift for words, whose soulful approach to food will make any kitchen, big or small, a warm and compelling place to spend time.

Fall bounty

Crisp red apples mottled with green, their withered leaves still attached. Nutty brown mushrooms spilling out of a woven basket. creamy tart chevres wrapped in leaves, speckled with herbes de provence. the last of the summer plums. Crisp autumnal greens, tightly furled and awaiting you.

Summer brings the promise of sweet juicy berry ripeness but autumns promise is heartier - promising to fortify you for the winter months. Acorn squash. Whole grains. Dark leafy greens. Pumpkins that have been waiting all summer.

Serrano Ham and Parmesan Cheese Omelet

Today, i looked into the fridge and found:
Serrano Ham
Goat Cheese
Parmesean cheese
eggs
shallots
Onions
olives
tuna fish
Capers
Green Peppercorns
Carrots
Red Pepper
black olives

I decided to make an omelet. I sauteed shallots and a garlic clove in salted butter and added black pepper and thyme. I then ripped the Serrano ham in pieces and sauteed with the onions. After beating two eggs, I added them and then added a handful of parmesean cheese. I flipped the omelet and ate it with a glass of rioja. Pretty good.

The saltiness of the cheese was a bit overwhelming for the thin ham. I should have done it with the goat cheese instead or without cheese at all.