Monday, December 21, 2015

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.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015



House cured Charolais Cecina with Pickled Chanterelles 
and Wild Watercress Puree

Thursday, December 10, 2015


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.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

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.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Seafood Sausage


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





Monday, November 30, 2015

Friday, November 20, 2015

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

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

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.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

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.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Crenshaw Melon


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

Monday, November 2, 2015

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!


Friday, October 30, 2015

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!



Tuesday, October 20, 2015

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.

Friday, October 16, 2015

Micros

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


Monday, October 12, 2015

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! 


Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Friday, October 2, 2015

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Wagyu Tataki

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


Monday, September 28, 2015

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.


Wednesday, September 23, 2015

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. 




Thursday, September 17, 2015

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. 




Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Black Cod



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

Friday, September 11, 2015

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.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Squid Boats


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