Fresh Rolled Cavatelli

We like having fresh rolled cavatelli on our dinner menu, but can’t seem to find a roller that is resilient enough to last more than a few batches. About a year ago we purchased a vintage roller and haven’t had any issues since! We just got another backup roller that came in some really funny, though maybe not politically correct, packaging. Today it's hard to imagine a time in America when families were actually making fresh cavatelli for dinner.

House cured Charolais Cecina with Pickled Chanterelles 

and Wild Watercress Puree

Sometimes a daily changing menu can be challenging! Each week at Sierra Mar we have over 100 new dishes based on the Big Sur seasons. In the fall we are always scrambling to keep up with our garden, taking off tomatoes and pepper and transitioning to winter squash and root vegetables.

Passion Fruit

 
 The Big Sur Indian summer has given us a bunker crop of passion fruit this year! The vines are loaded and even hanging down into the chicken coop. It is one of the only times we have actually seed the passion fruit fully ripening into dark purple skins with sweet-yellow seeds inside.

Seafood Sausage

Experimenting with making a seafood sausage stuffed inside of Geoduck Clam skins.

Amaranth

Harvesting fresh Amaranth from the garden!

Taste of Big Sur Menu

Here are a few snapshots from our new Taste of Big Sur Menu!

Chamomile marinated local red abalone with pomegranate and avocado 

Rattlesnake with Pickled Yucca Blossom and Prickly Pear

Black Cod with Sunchokes

 

Local Pine Nuts with Cured Venison

 

Toasted Seaweed Bread with Smoked Mussels and Sea Grapes

Cheeses from Charlie Casio with Big Sur Hermitage Fruit Cake

Wild Boar with Acorn Gnocchi

Saffron

Autumn is the time when our saffron crocus blossom in the garden. You can see the bright red stamens that must be carefully hand-collected from each blossom. It is little wonder Saffron costs several hundred dollars an ounce- just imagine how many flowers it would take to get just a single ounce of saffron! We certainly won’t have that large a harvest, but the subtle floral aroma and deep orange color make it a fun ingredient to play with.

Wagyu Hanger Steak

This is a play off a dish my mom used to make when I was a kid. She would take summer squash and fill them with bread crumbs, cheddar cheese and herbs, then bake them until brown and crispy. I look the idea and incorporated bone marrow to create a fun side for a grilled wagyu hanger steak. I made a sauce out of the squash seeds and fried the young squash leaves.

Crenshaw Melon

Summer Throwback: Amuse Bouche or Crenshaw melon with Saffron and Garden Herbs.

Local Charolais Cecina

We just hung our first batch of Cecina from a local grass-fed Charolais. This is unique style cured and smoked beef from Northwestern Spain. We are lucky to be collarborating on ths project with Chef Jeffery Weiss, the author of "Charcuterie: The Soul of Spain." I'm looking forward to be featuring these hams and sausages on the Post Ranch menu soon!

Aji Amarillo

I'm really excited to get into our first batch of fresh Aji Amerillo chiles. Having growing up in northern new Mexico, I'm a bit of a chile connoisseur. These bright yellow chiles are prevalent in Peruvian cuisine and I fell in love with them during my visit to Lima last year. Unfortunately, they are nearly impossible to find fresh here in California. While the Aji Amarillos are quite spicy, they are also fruity with a bright flavor and pleasant sweetness. It seems like as Peruvian food becomes more popular in California, local farms are rising to the occasion - which is great news for chefs!

More Moons

Another epic moonrise in big sur!

Living Library Project

Today, we collected a few of the late summer fruits from around the property. Several of these trees are over one hundred years old, dating back to the early days of the ranch. Sadly, many of these historic fruit trees have seen better days, and we are starting a project to help preserve them. This winter, we plan to make grafts from our aging trees and put them on new root stock to cultivate a new Post Ranch orchard an preserve an important part of our agricultural heritage. We hope to extend this "living library" to include other rare varieties from homesteads and Missions along the Central Coast.

Big Fish Little Fish

Micros

Our micro green project in the Sierra mar garden is looking particularly lush today!

The Bastardized Caesar

With the abundance of local anchovies being caught in Monterey right now I thought it would be fun to do an irreverent rendition of the classic caesar salad. This version puts the tiny fish back in their rightful spotlight!

Fresh Local Anchovies, Pickled Romaine Stem, Romain Puree, Garlic Croutons, Quail Egg Yolk, Crispy Bones, Parmesan and Meyer Lemon

And No- You can’t add chicken! 

Charcuterie

A peak inside the charcuterie room...

Inspiration From the Wharf

 Anchovies!

 Otter at Sunset

A Heron Relects on the Moon

Wagyu Tataki

Habachi Grilled Wagyu Ribeye "Tataki" with Picked Stonefruit, Daikon and Japanese Cucumber. 

Otter

When I came across this otter the other day in Monterey, I was shocked to see him eating a bird! It turns out each otter specializes in a very specific foraging technique - some hunt abalone, others hunt clams and a very few in the Monterey Bay, actually hunt birds.

Event at Holman Ranch

Last week, we joined a handful of chef friends at Holman Ranch to support two incredible local non-profit groups: Dorthy's Kitchen and MEarth. We prepared a hibachi grilled abalone with pickled vegetables from our garden. It was a beautiful night in Carmel Valley and inspiring to see the community come together for such a great cause. 

Sunflowers

                                      

 Sunflowers are our summer culinary muse! One of my sous chefs, Quin, started experimenting with ways to prepare sunflowers last year.  By the time we had some good ideas, summer was coming to an end and our sunflower supply was gone.

 Luckily, this year we got off to an early start and just debuted a dish I am really excited about. Quin managed to use almost every part of the sunflower plant: pickled sunflower buds, sunflower confit in sunflower oil, roasted stems, crispy petals and toasted seeds. 

Black Cod

Tonight, we are serving a Broiled Local Black Cod with Smoked Mussels and Saffron Pickled Fennel.

A Guest Chef

This week, we were excited to invite Chef Jeffery Weiss into our kitchen to demonstrate the traditional Spanish method for butchering a pig and making a variety of Spanish charcuterie.

                                              

Jeff is the very talented cheft at Jennini restaurant in Pacific Grove and recently published a book called "Charcuteria - The Soul of Spain." 

                                               

We had  wonderful time working with Jeff and look forward to collaborating with him on charcuterie projects in the future.

Squid Boats

The squid boats have been out in full force along the coast this week!

Watermelon Radish with Goat Butter and Meyer Lemon