The Floral Palette Shop on Girard Street in La Jolla

From time to time I write about “Places to Know” around San Diego County which are special. I was not familiar with The Floral Palette until a dear friend highly recommended I stop in and explore their original Rancho Santa Fe location at 16089 San Dieguito Road, Suite H101. Recently, owner, Natalie Maxwell has opened a second location at 7643 Girard Ave. Suite B in La Jolla. Both locations are closed on Sundays.

If you are not familiar with The Floral Palette, I would like to introduce you to it now. The flower arrangements are stunning, fresh, and very creative. Besides flowers, it is quite an extraordinary gift shop with areas that cover culinary, entertaining, holidays, accessories, baby, and much more. Both shops are expansive and beautifully merchandised, it really is a dilemma narrowing what to buy for your special someone or yourself!

The Floral Palette, La Jolla Location.

In the Floral Palette La Jolla location, there is an honest to goodness mouth-watering “Patisserie” in the back for coffee, croissants, Paris-oriented patisseries, and breads.

The Floral Palette, La Jolla, Surprise Patisserie in Back

I could go on and on raving about The Floral Palette, but the best thing is to check it out for yourself, whether the Rancho Santa Fe or La Jolla location is more convenient. Better yet invite a friend, or a loved one and make an adventure out of it.

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend….Bonnie

Simple Autumn Tablescape

Not all pumpkins are orange, some are silver. Meaning use what you have. Borrowing the phrase from a Christmas card I received one year, “If you love what you have, you have everything.”

I created this simple autumn tablescape using one of my black and white tablecloths, choosing white dinnerware and napkins to match, finding tawny russet candles in my closet, looking for colored dollies in my drawer but finding forgotten beautiful autumn leaf dollies instead, adding a black ribbon to my vintage candlesticks, bringing out my little prized silver pumpkin that illuminates at night, and buying two Wee Bee pumpkins at the market. Simple, yet it creates a playful seasonal ambience that is perfect for everyday autumn, or could be further embellished for that very special harvest dinner or Halloween evening.

We all use the term “tablescape” effortlessly these days, and many of you I am sure are wiz’s at your own creative tablescapes. According to Wikipedia, tablescaping was first mentioned by television Chef Sandra Lee in 2003, so the term is less than twenty years old. Tablescaping is an example of a term called portmanteau, which is a word that blends the sounds and meanings of two words. In this case, “tablescaping” is a combining of table and landscape. Another example of a portmanteau would be combining breakfast and lunch to make “brunch.” An alternative definition of portmanteau is a large suitcase or trunk, usually leather, and able to open in two equal parts. So you can see easily where the term comes from.

I tend to decorate my four seasons and tablescapes with objects from the garden that are natural such as flowers, gourds, pumpkins, pinecones, greenery, magnolia branches, etc. It is hard to beat the beauty of mother nature. I also have saved treasures that I have bought over the years, or cherished gifts given to me by friends and family that can add a special charm.

Tablescaping is fun and creative for all to enjoy. Think of what you have, besides what you might need, and how you can create a truly amazing beautiful table. Think along the lines of color, texture, surprise, and of course, season. A beautiful seasonal tablescape heightens a room, your dining experience, and makes fond memories.

Lucky Pumpkins

Please share your favorite autumn tablescape ideas!

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend…Bonnie

Polished and Ready Jam Copper Pot

Copper pots and pans are one of the essentials in a French Country Kitchen, not only for their glowing beauty, but fine functionality. Copper conducts heat very well, cooks food evenly, cools quickly, and will last forever when properly cared for. Most copper pots are tin-lined, and eventually this tin lining wears out with use, and the piece should be re-tinned by a retinning specialist. Be aware that tin melts at 450 F. degrees, so cooking in tin lined copper pots should be below that temperature. Confiture or jam making copper pots don’t need to be lined, since there’s enough sugar in jam to prevent the fruit acids from reacting with the metal. Always cook your fruit and sugar together, never cook fruit alone in a copper pot. Copper mixing bowls often aren’t lined as well, especially those intended for beating egg whites.

Some people like to keep the aged copper penny patina, and others like their copper bright and polished. It is a personal preference. Wrights Copper Cream is a good commercial copper cleaner. An old standby recipe to clean copper is mix 1/4 cup salt, 1/4 cup cup flour and enough white distilled vinegar to make a thick paste, use a soft cloth to rub the paste on the surface of the copper. Buff the copper pan until it shines. Rinse with warm water and dry thoroughly. Over time your piece will begin to tarnish, and you simply repeat the process again.

You can find new pieces online easily, or if you favor the hunt, search out wonderful pieces at French flea markets. It is usually the vintage, well-worn patina pieces with a history of their own, that are the best treasures to find. I can’t tell you how many copper jam pots I passed up over the years in France. I simply didn’t have immediate needs to be able to ship it home, it was generally took bulky to carry, and I didn’t want to risk damaging a piece checked in my baggage in my cross Atlantic travels.

The universe works in wonderful ways. Recently I was helping my Mom and Dad clean and organize their downstairs kitchenette. What was tucked away in one of the cabinets, was this beauty, a huge confiture copper pot—big enough to hold all of your fruit and sugar for making jam at one time. My Mom gave it to me, and I did get it home safely in my luggage. It is special to me for sentimental reasons, coming from my Mom and her kitchen in Europe, and now passed on to me. It was like finding a diamond in the rough, and fulfilling the dream to have one and display it in my home.

Copper Jam Pot Washed and Ready to Polish

Some Related Copper Websites:

Mauviel

Williams Sonoma

Elsie Green

The Cooks Atelier

East Coast Retinning

Nicholas Retinning, (No Website), 4641 Telegraph Road, L.A., CA 90022, (tel) (323) 263-0028, Est. 1965.

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend….Bonnie

Miss Maggie’s Kitchen Salad Recipe

Last week I mentioned I would share the recipes from my previous blog post, End of Summer Lunch. I’ve written before about Héloïse Brion of Miss Maggie’s Kitchen, and her cookbook, and even the original winter version of this salad recipe. It is a bright composed salad that lends itself to seasonal variations easily. A composed salad is generally creating an individual salad usually in layers on each salad plate and drizzling the dressing over the top of each salad, versus creating one large salad in a bowl and tossing everything together.

Where you have pear and endive in the winter, you can have mixed summer greens and ripe peaches in late summer. The dressing is simply sauteed shallots in a little olive oil with warmed chopped pecans and almonds, placed over your bed of greens. Slice your desired seasonal fruit and place on one side, slice and place your burrata cheese on the other. Mix juice of one lemon and one tablespoon of honey, add salt and pepper and spoon over each salad. It is a simple salad with big flavor. Use the freshest and finest seasonal ingredients you can.

This salad has it all. You have your fat with the olive oil, nuts, and cheese. You have acid with your lemon juice. You have a hint of sweetness with your honey and fruit. You experience different textures throughout the salad when eating.

Dorie Greenspan’s Goat Cheese and Fig Quick Bread

This is a great recipe for entertaining, and for apéro hour. It is a cinch to make like a banana bread, with no yeast, kneading, waiting, etc. It is a quick savory bread that really captures many of the essential flavors of Provence and the Mediterranean. When I first read this recipe I knew it was going to be really good! How can you go wrong with goat cheese, dried figs, honey, olive oil, fresh herbs, and even citrus zest. It gets better, Dorie Greenspan suggests that you can easily substitute ingredients such as dried tomatoes instead of figs, different neutral oils, different cheeses, basil instead of parsley, and lemon instead of orange. She also suggests serving it warm and in thick slices. Heaven!

Goat Cheese and Fig Quick Bread

Lovingly Adapted from Dorie Greenspan for New York Times Cooking

Ingredients:

butter

4 ounces very cold soft goat cheese

4-6 moist plump dried figs, such as Mission, cut 1/4-inch pieces

1/3 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

1-1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

3 large eggs at room temperature

1/3 cup whole milk lukewarm

1/3 cup olive oil or another neutral oil

1 tablespoon honey

1 clementine or 1/2 tangerine zest

Directions:

1) Center a rack in the oven and heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8 to 9-inch loaf baking pan with butter.

2) Cut the goat cheese into 1/2-inch pieces. It can be messy, and sticky, so don’t worry. Keep in refrigerator until needed.

3) In a small bowl, toss together the figs, parsley, rosemary, and thyme; set aside.

4) In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Working in a different medium bowl, whisk the eggs until blended, then whisk in the milk, oil, and honey.

5) Pour the wet ingredients over the flour mixture, and using a sturdy spatula, stir until the dough is almost blended. You’ll still see some streaks of flour, and that is okay. Scatter the fig and herb mixture over the dough, and then cover with the chilled bits of goat cheese. Grate the zest of the clementine or tangerine over the cheese. Using as few strokes as possible, stir everything together. Once again, it might not look perfect, and once again that is fine. Scrape the dough into the baking pan, and use the spatula to poke the dough into the corners, and to even out bumpy top.

6) Bake for 34 to 38 minutes, or until the top is golden, the bread has started to pull away from the sides of the pan, and a tester or toothpick inserted into the middle of the bread comes clean. Unmold the bread onto a rack, turn it right side up and let cool. Wrapped well, the bread will keep for a day or two at room temperature. Time: 50 minutes. Yield: 8 servings.

Mixing the Fig and Herb Mixture Into the Dough Before Baking

Dessert is light with fresh seasonal berries topped with vanilla mascarpone cheese. Mascarpone is a light, slightly sweet Italian cheese that is easily spreadable for toast and bagels, and also used in desserts. To make vanilla mascarpone cheese simply combine well 8 ounces mascarpone cheese with a heaping tablespoon of sugar and 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract. Place a dollop on top of your berries, and add a bit of Demerara sugar for glisten. Enjoy!

Fresh Seasonal Berries Dressed With Vanilla Mascarpone Cheese

Related Post Links:

End of Summer Lunch

Miss Maggie’s Kitchen

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend…..Bonnie

Cortez Halibut Ceviche Appetizer

From time to time I highlight “Places to Know” around San Diego County. Across from the Solana Beach train station on the Coast Highway, the restaurant Alce 101, is a great restaurant to know, especially if you are enjoying the nearby shopping Cedros Design District. Former owners and restaurant veterans of Cilantros and Epozote, opened this farm to table Southwest restaurant, Alce 101 in 2019. It is certainly a nice addition to this area with good food and drink, upbeat vibe, and lots of outdoor seating.

Alce Means Moose in Spanish

The restaurant is named Alce 101, alce means moose in Spanish. There is a great story about this particular moose which presides over the bar, and the restaurant owner going back decades. It is a heartwarming story, not a hunting story,

Delicious Epozote Mussels

The menu offers an array of diverse dishes of small and large plates, such as Grilled Eggplant Steak, Beet Salad, Elk Pozole, Corn Chowder, Rack of Lamb, Coriander Pork Shank, and Peppered Ahi. I love the Halibut Ceviche appetizer, and of course, Epozote Mussels.

Hours are Tuesday through Thursday 4pm to 8pm, Friday 4pm to 10pm, Saturday 10am to 10pm, and Sunday 10am to 8pm. Closed on Mondays. Reservations are suggested.

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend….Bonnie

Home-Grown Butternut Squash

Here is a recipe to herald in fall, Roasted Butternut Squash Salad. Butternut squash is one of my favorites, and I use it a lot in the fall. I have been composting with my kitchen scraps for years, adding my finished compost to my soil and my plantings. A fringe benefit of this each year, is many happy volunteer butternut squash vines that sprout, flower, and yield tasty butternut squash for my fall menus.

Butternut Squash Ready for the Oven

The beauty of this recipe is roasting your peeled and sliced squash with a sherry vinaigrette and finely chopped shallots until caramelized, and then tossing the remainder of your vinaigrette over your salad greens repeating the delicate flavors.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup sherry vinegar (preferably Spanish Jerez), or apple cider vinegar

1 small shallot, finely diced

2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dry oregano

1 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed in a mortar & pestle

1 teaspoon honey

1/2 to 1 whole medium butternut squash, peeled and sliced into 1” slices, or cubed, depending on how much squash you would like to use.

12-14 ounces of fresh baby spinach, or mixed fall greens

1/2 cup crumbled French feta cheese, or more if desired

1/4 cup toasted chopped pecans (optional)

Roasted Butternut Squash from the Oven

Directions:

1) Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Make vinaigrette in a small bowl whisking together olive oil, vinegar, shallot, oregano, fennel seeds, honey, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.

2) Place parchment paper on a large baking pan or tray. Toss squash in a bowl with 2-3 tablespoons vinaigrette. Bake squash uncovered, 25 to 30 minutes until it browns and begins to soften. Flip squash once or twice while baking. When finished, let cool.

3) Place spinach or greens in a large bowl. Add squash. Toss with remaining vinaigrette. Plate your salad with greens and squash. Top salads with crumbled feta cheese and toasted pecans. Makes 6 to 8 servings. Enjoy!

Composed Salad Ready for Topping with French Feta Cheese and Toasted Pecans

Please let me know if you make this salad, and how you liked it. I would love to hear from you.

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend…..Bonnie

Melissa Clark’s Grilled Vegetables with Burrata Recipe

Are you “knee deep” in zucchini from your garden about now, and have exhausted your zucchini recipes? Melissa Clark’s Sweet and Spicy Grilled Vegetables with Burrata featured last May in The New York Times, might be a delicious solution. The beauty of this recipe is you can use just about any seasonal vegetable you like. Fresh green zucchini and yellow crookneck zucchini sliced diagonally is an excellent choice, as well as fresh asparagus, carrots, cherry tomatoes, and eggplant. Recipe Note: If using a dense vegetable such as carrots or corn, be prepared to grill them longer than your other softer vegetables. I chose to leave out the corn on the cob, mushrooms, and red peppers, and made my own medley of seasonal vegetables on hand.

What makes this recipe extra fabulous is not only all the lightly grilled fresh vegetables, but the “Sweet and Spicy Sauce.” Looking at the sauce ingredients you might think, wow, this is a potent sauce with chopped raisins, honey, apple cider, fish sauce, and red pepper flakes. The beauty of this sauce is that it really cuts the vegetables, and really adds a nice acidic accent and brightness to your vegetables. The complementary cheese on the side, also cuts the spicy sauce well. I have made this recipe using burrata and also mozzarella. Both worked equally well with the grilled vegetables. Enjoy!

Sweet and Spicy Grilled Vegetables with Burrata

Lovingly Adapted from Melissa Clark, The New York Times

Makes 6-8 Servings

Sauce Ingredients:

1/4 cup chopped raisins, preferably golden, or substitute dried apricots

2/3 cup white wine vinegar or cider vinegar (I prefer a combination of both)

2 tablespoons honey, plus more to taste

1 tablespoon fish sauce or colatura (optional)

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Pinch of fine sea salt

For The Vegetables (Use Any Or All):

Extra virgin olive oil

2 to 3 bell peppers, quartered, stems, and seeds removed

1 to 2 zucchini or crookneck yellow squash sliced diagonally 1/2-inch thick

1 small eggplant, sliced diagonally 1/2-inch thick

2 to 4 ears yellow corn, shucked

8 ounces mushrooms, washed, dried, trimmed and halved, or quartered.

1 bunch thick asparagus, ends snapped

8 ounces cherry tomatoes preferably still on the vine, ( I put the tomatoes on a wooden skewer).

For Serving:

2 small burrata or fresh mozzarella balls, or 2 cups fresh ricotta

Flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Basil or mint leaves, for serving

Crusty bread slices

Directions:

1) Make the sauce: Put raisins or apricots in a small heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan, combine vinegar, honey, fish sauce or colatura (if using), red pepper flakes, and salt. Bring to a boil, then let simmer until the mixture reduces slightly, about 3 minutes. Immediately pour over the raisins and let cool. Taste and stir in a little more honey if the sauce is too harsh. (Sauce can be made up to 1 week ahead and stored in the refrigerator).

2) Prepare the vegetables. Lightly brush olive oil on boths sides of sliced and other vegetables. Have a serving platter ready.

3) Grill the vegetables directly on the grate of the grill, in batches if necessary, and turning them as needed. Move them around the grates so they cook evenly. Cook until lightly charred, watching them carefully, 5 to 12 minutes or more depending on what vegetables you use. If necessary, use a grilling basket for the asparagus and mushrooms. Cherry tomatoes grill 1 to 2 minutes, and will start to burst and char slightly. Transfer all the vegetables as they cook directly to the serving platter.

4) Add the the cheese to the platter next to the vegetables. Immediately drizzle everything with some of the sauce, stirring it up to get the raisins, and with olive oil. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt, pepper, and scatter the herbs generously on top. Serve the extra sauce on the side, and the bread for making crostini with some of the vegetables.

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend…..Bonnie

Antipasto Tortellini Skewers, Recipe from Half Baked Harvest

This is a great summer appetizer, that is both tasty and dramatic. Also suitable for an easy summer lunch, adding a simple green salad and a slice of rustic country bread or focaccia. You can mix up the ingredients according to your taste! Perfect for utilizing your ripe cherry tomatoes and fragrant Italian basil from your summer garden. Make your own pesto, or buy your favorite.

Just like lasagna and layering, once you assemble your “mise en place,” the skewers go very quickly. Save some time, assemble a day ahead, store in the refrigerator. When ready to serve bring the skewers to room temperature, place on your serving platter, add a bit of garnish, and drizzle a little of your pesto over the skewers.

This recipe is lovingly adapted from Tieghan Gerard at Half Baked Harvest. This is simply a recipe you “can make it your own,” adding this or deleting that. What is recommended is a nice variety of ingredients that can stay on a skewer well. Enjoy!

More Related Links:

24 Carrot Gold

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend…Bonnie