Thursday, November 10, 2016

Recipe - Grilled Swordfish with Sweet Potato, Preserved Lemon, Caper Berry, Tomato, Garden Blossoms

(Serves up to 4)




Ingredients

  • Swordfish steaks
  • Salt
  • 2 - Sweet Potatoes
  • 1 TBSP - Butter
  • 2 Cups - Olive Oil
  • 1/2 Cup - Milk
  • 4 - Thinly sliced caper berries\
  • 8 - Multi-colored baby potatoes (boiled and peeled)
  • 10 - Cherry tomatoes (halved)
  • 18 - Parsley leaves 
  • 6 - Alfanzo olives 
  • 1/4 Cup - Diced basil
  • 1 - Thinly sliced shallot
  • Fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon, more if needed)
  • Thin sliced preserved Lemons to taste

Swordfish Preparation
  • Cut thin (1/3”) steaks
  • Season with salt
  • Sear in cast iron pan with neutral oil

For the Sweet Potato Puree
  • Peel 2 Sweet potatoes (Orange, purple, or gold)
  • Slice in uniform pieces and cook in milk until tender enough to puree
  • Puree to smooth
  • Add salt and butter 

Preserved Lemons (If you make 10, they keep very well for other applications)
  • Make two cross cuts on the top of lemon from north pole to almost south pole, not completely cutting through
  • Pack with salt and leave in covered container for a week, rinse and slice into very thin slices. 

Mediterranean Vinaigrette
  • Combine and blend the caper berries, baby potatoes, cherry tomatoes, parsley leaves, olives, basil, shallot, fresh lemon juice, preserved lemons, olive oil and salt (to taste). 

Final Preparation
  • Grill swordfish
  • Place sweet potato puree below fish or in piped dollops around plate
  • Spill gorgeous and vibrant vinaigrette on top of fish
  • Place any blossoms or microgreens of choice on top such as elyssum, fried basil leaves, dahalia, etc. 


Wednesday, November 9, 2016

New Faces In The Kitchen

A new season has brought with it a few (somewhat) new faces, which have delivered new life into the kitchen while injecting bold new flavors and concepts into our menus. We’re proud to introduce our new Executive Chef Elizabeth Murray, Pastry Chef Ben Spungin and Sous Chefs Quinn Thompson and Miguel Hernandez to the Sierra Mar family. Treat your palate to some of their delicious dishes during your next visit. 

Executive Chef Elizabeth Murray, who was elevated from Chef de Cuisine, brings with her an international culinary pedigree, having cooked in a number of Michelin Star restaurant kitchens ranging from London to Italy’s Amalfi Coast to San Francisco. Chef Elizabeth has already made her mark, earning rave reviews from those guests who have already had the pleasure of dining with us.

Pastry Chef extraordinaire Ben Spungin, who previously delighted Post Ranch guests with his tasty treats back in the early 2000’s, cooked in several restaurants in Carmel, Los Angeles and Monterey as well as a successful tenure at the acclaimed French Laundry in Napa Valley. It’s great to have Ben (and his chocolate making skills) back in Big Sur! Chef Ben will also be adding some delicious touches to your mini-bar.

Joining Chefs Elizabeth and Ben in the kitchen, are two outstanding chefs who deserve special recognition – Sous Chef Quinn Thompson, whose grandmother was a Plastkett, an original Big Sur Homesteader, and Sous Chef Miguel Hernandez, who is responsible for your sumptuous breakfast and our new lunch menu. Please take the opportunity to meet our amazing and passionate culinary team during your next visit to Post Ranch.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Smoked Wagyu

Sometimes you miss the flavors of home… Even though most of my childhood was spent in Northern New Mexico, I was born in Dallas, which makes me a sixth generation Texan! This is my little tribute to East Texas barbecue- Slow Smoked Wagyu Cheek with Salt Roasted Celery Root - Green Apple Salad and Wild Herbs.



Thursday, April 14, 2016

Collaboration

I have a weird relationship with collaboration. On the one hand I thin we do some of our best work as a culinary team, bouncing ideas off each other. On the other hand, I think that sometimes singular vision can be the most poignant and unique. Because of this, and because our menu changes to often, I am constantly pushing my staff to be inquisitive and work on new ideas. This is a dish by one of our cooks, Julia Felder. Spring Chicken and Marcona Almond Ballotine with shaved fennel and braised purple cabbage puree.



Monday, April 11, 2016

Wild Oxalis Blossom Juice





The bright yellow oxalis flowers that are popping up along the coast are a true harbinger of spring! Kids often call these flowers “sour-grass” and suck on them like wild sour candies. I wanted to find a way to harness the beauty and energy of these amazing spring blossoms. We took hundreds of blossoms and put them through a wheat-grass juicer to slowly pull out the fluorescent yellow juice. In this dish we have marinated a live diver scallop with oxalis juice and then painted the juice onto the plate. Sea Beans, Wild Oxalis Leave and Roots finish the dish.

Friday, April 8, 2016

Miso

White Miso-Seaweed Broth with Foraged Sea Vegetables, Wild Onion and Shaved Bonito



Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Guest Chef


For a limited time only we are selling grow your own Guy Fieri Mushroom Kits! (you provide the sharpie and lemon)

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Sea Urchin and Bantam Egg

I wanted to create a dish that would celebrate the eggs from our garden. Most of our chickens are bantam breeds and they produce small multi-colored eggs. Since we only have 15 chickens there are not many eggs to go around- so serving them is a very special treat. I love the combination of egg and sea urchin, the way the richness of the yolk amplifies the creaminess of the urchin and rounds out the ocean flavor. For this dish we separate the yolks and whites, making a wild leek soufflé with a soft egg yolk baked into the middle. The sea urchin is both baked into the souffle and served on the side with sourdough-ink bread.



Monday, March 28, 2016

Sturgeon


This dish is a new interpretation of two very classic flavors- potatoes and caviar. We start with whole sturgeon from Northern California and brine the filets with sea salt and milk. Sturgeon are bottom feeders and line in muddy river beds- this overnight brine in milk helps to pull our some of the blood and create a more more clean flavor. Once the sturgeon filet has been milk-brined overnight we sousvide it with smoked butter and a pinch of rosemary leaves before quickly roasting it in a pan. I wanted this dish to be simultaneously luxurious and comforting. The base of the plate is aerated potato puree topped with wild onion blossoms and rosemary. We finish the dish with iberico lardo roasted down with whole cloves of garlic and sourdough bread and a few generous spoonfuls of caviar.


Monday, March 21, 2016

Sea Otters

Spring is in the air and it seems like everywhere you look along the Big Sur coast their are new residents; baby turkey, deer and this cute baby Sea Otter going out for its first swimming lesson!





Spring in The Post Ranch Garden



We are enjoying some amazing spring weather here at Post Ranch! It seems like it has been a few years since the hillsides were this lush and green. With the longer days our chickens have started to lay eggs again and our fruit trees are loaded with blossoms!



Friday, March 18, 2016

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Hunters Loop Sausages

We just hung a new batch of Hunters Loop Sausages made from a local Berkshire pig and wild fennel pollen.


Thursday, March 3, 2016

Monday, February 29, 2016

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Foie

Pan Roasted Foie gras with pickled quince, acorn bread and nasturtiums. 




Monday, February 22, 2016

Steak with Smoked Pear



Roasted Piedmontese Filet with Smoked Pears, Red Wine and Cambazola Fondue.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Filet

Roasted Piedmontese filet with charred onion, ink wrapped marrow, trumpet mushrooms and black garlic pan sauce.


Friday, February 12, 2016

Turban Snail



Found this impressive jeweled turban snailed with some local seaweeds!

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Steelhead

Steelhead trout, crispy skin chicharron, lemon verbena braised turnips, and garden sorrel.

Monday, February 8, 2016

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Hay Smoked Schoch Cheese

Schoch Farmstead Junipero cheese slowly smoldered over hay with house made charcuterie board. We made these for a dinner in Los Angeles at Red Bird.



Monday, February 1, 2016

Friday, January 22, 2016

Kamo Eggplant

Incredible Kamo Eggplant from out garden. These seeds were sent to us earlier this year by a friend in Kyoto!



Monday, January 11, 2016

Vinegar






Chef Yulanda has been working on getting our red and white wine vinegar project off the ground. We recently got in these oak barrels so we can age our own house-made wine vinegar and utilize bottles that might otherwise go to waste.



Friday, January 8, 2016

Mushroom Tour


Michelle, Anton and I made a field trip to Moss Landing to visit Far West Fungi. They run a world class operation growing over a dozen types of exotic mushrooms. We found lots of inspiration and have even started growing out own mushrooms in the Post Ranch greenhouse!




Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Araucana Chicks

A sneak peak at our new Araucana chicks - soon to join the Post Ranch flock! These little guys look like baby falcons and hopefully soon they will be laying blue eggs.


Saturday, January 2, 2016

Heirloom Citrus from Big Sur Homestead





Joel harvested this interesting citrus from an abandoned homestead on the Big Sur South Coast. I really want to include these in our heirloom fruit tree library- they have a pale green color, almost white, with a structure similar to a mandarin and intense bergamot aroma. They are not nearly as sour or bitter as a bergamot and are wonderful eaten fresh off the tree.

Friday, January 1, 2016