Ingredients
2 cups raw snap peas, washed and dried
2 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/4 cup Marcona almonds, coarsely ground
1/4 cup Piave or parmigiano reggiano cheese, finely grated
2 Tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
2 Tablespoons great-quality extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt (I use fleur de sel) and cracked pepper, to taste

You will also need:
chopping board & chef’s knife
mixing bowl
small bowl for dressing
whisk

Instructions
Remove and discard the stems and the strings from the peas.  Coarsely chop the peas. 

Place the chopped peas, the crumbled bacon, the ground marcona almonds and the grated cheese into a mixing bowl. 

In a smaller bowl, combine the Meyer lemon juice and the olive oil.  Whisk together until well-combined. 

Pour enough dressing over the salad to coat the ingredients (you may not need all of the dressing).  Season to taste with sea salt and pepper.  Serve immediately.

Serves 2-3 people.

Miner’s lettuce is full of Vitamin C and was apparently prized by the California gold rush miners for this reason.  Thus, the name miner’s lettuce. 

The miner’s lettuce plants have long shoots with round leaves on the end.  Tiny pinkish-white flowers grow out of the center of the leaves.  The leaves and flowers are edible and make a great addition to a salad.  The leaves taste a lot like spinach and are hardy enough that they can also stand up to being sauteed or used in a stir-fry. 

I like to add miner’s lettuce to scrambled eggs.  I saute it quickly in butter before adding the eggs and other ingredients, such as sundried tomatoes.  It is also a wonderful addition to soups, beans and risottos, as well as salads. 

I found miner’s lettuce at Four Sisters Farm on the backside of the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market on Saturday morning.  They have 5 acres of land in Aromas, California, and specialize in certified organic specialty greens.  For more information, visit the Center for Urban Education About Sustainable Agriculture’s (CUESA) website.

This week, Askinosie Chocolate will auction a set of five of the first single origin chocolate bars made with cocoa beans from Liberia as a fundraiser to send the high school students of Cocoa Honors to Africa in the Summer of 2010. 

The auction will be hosted on eBay and will begin on Sunday April 3 at 8 PM CST and end on Sunday April 11 at 9 PM CST. These five chocolate bars are not only the first single origin chocolate bars made with Liberian beans, but they are also the first and only chocolate bars that Askinosie Chocolate has made from those beans. This nano-batch was crafted from a one-kilo bean sample received from Lofa County,Liberia. The Liberian bar is bursting with notes of red berries and jasmine, hints of  roasted cocoa and coffee, with a long lingering earthy finish. 

All of the proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Cocoa Honors program, comprised of 13 students from Central High School, to travel to either Liberia or Tanzania in the Summer of 2010 with Shawn Askinosie, founder of Askinosie Chocolate. While there, the students, who have been working with Askinosie for several months on sourcing the beans and creating his next chocolate bar, will meet with their selected farmer group and perform a service project for the community.

A second auction will be held for their first chocolate bars made with cocoa beans from Tanzania.

Cocoa Honors is a program of Chocolate University. It is a neighborhood outreach of Askinosie Chocolate, consisting of a select group of students from Central High School in Springfield, Missouri USA. With the guidance of Drury University students, they seek to understand the cocoa industry within the context of the history, culture, and economy of Africa. Over 18 months the students will have a complete “bean to bar” experience by sourcing the next origin of cocoa beans with Askinosie.

Askinosie Chocolate is a small batch chocolate manufacturer sourcing 100% of their beans directly from the farmers. Shawn Askinosie travels to regions of Mexico, Ecuador, and the Philippines to work directly with the farmers and source cocoa beans for his chocolate. This allows the chocolate to be traced to the source and labeled Authentic Single Origin Chocolate. It also enables Askinosie Chocolate to profit share with the farmers, giving them a Stake In the Outcome™.

The Askinosie Chocolate mission is to serve their farmers, their neighborhood, their customers and each other; sharing the Askinosie Chocolate Experience by leaving the world a “better place than they found it”.

On a recent visit, Chef Hebet’s team prepared a special truffle lunch for us. We started with poached eggs that were topped with a generous portion of julienned truffles, then wrapped in prosciutto and covered with creme fraiche and a sprinkling of fresh chives. That was followed with a Dover sole that had been roasted whole, then portioned out, topped with truffles and served with a mache salad. The next course was a tender filet mignon served over sliced truffles with with diced, roasted celery root and mushrooms. The meal was exquisite in every way. The courses were paired with wines from the region. On a previous visit, during mushroom season, Chef Hebet served the most incredible-tasting sauteed cepes (porcini-style mushrooms) that I have ever tasted. I can still remember how amazing they were and can’t wait to go back this autumn for more.

Desserts are incredible there, too, but on our last visit we only had room for some decadent French-style marshmallows. Man, were they good!

Le Jardin du Quai
91 avenue Julien Guigue
Isle-sur-la-Sorgue – 84800 Vaucluse – France
tel: 04.90.20.14.98
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The morels that I bought were already pretty clean, but before cooking them, I rinsed them quickly to remove any dirt that might have gotten into the honeycomb areas.  Then I sliced them in half and rinsed them quickly again.  I set them onto paper towels to drain. 

I like to prepare morel mushrooms simply by sautéing them in butter and finishing them with a little sea salt and chopped parsley. 

If I am preparing a meat dish such as filet mignon, I like to have a morel mushroom sauce with it.  To make the sauce, I saute a little chopped garlic in butter, add the mushrooms and cook them for about a minute on each side.  Then I add a little chicken stock, simmer for about 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.  I finish the dish off with a little crème fraiche and sea salt.  It is very quick and easy and so delicious. 

Morel mushroom season is short so be sure to pick some up soon.

One of my favorite springtime recipes combines these sweet strawberries with the tart taste of my favorite balsamic vinegar.  I add a little hint of spice by grinding black pepper over the top.  And to make it even better, I add a spoonful of creme fraiche just before serving.   

Ingredients
4 baskets fresh strawberries, washed, de-stemmed and cut in half
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar (I normally use 12-year-old vinegar in this recipe.)
1/4 c. sugar (or to taste)
1 c. crème fraiche
2 T. brown sugar
Black pepper in grinder

Mint for garnish (optional)

You will also need:
Large and medium mixing bowl
Aluminum foil
Mixing spoons
Carving knife
Festive dishes for serving

Instructions
Combine strawberry halves with balsamic vinegar and sugar. Toss to mix. Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate.

Mix crème fraiche and brown sugar. Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate.

Take berries out of refrigerator about fifteen minutes before serving. Stir well.

To serve, place strawberries into a festive glass or dish. Sprinkle with freshly-cracked black pepper (if desired). Drop a dollop of crème fraiche over the top. Add fresh mint for garnish.

Serves 8.

Mizuna can be used in salads or sautéed in a little olive oil.  

I also add it to bacon, tomato and avocado sandwiches and to scrambled eggs for a hint of spice. 

Star Route Farms is certified organic and has 40 acres in Bolinas and another 10 acres in Thermal, California.  They grow a variety of vegetables including Asian vegetables, beets, broccoli, chards, herbs, lettuces, onions, salad greens, spinach, and more.   For more information on the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, visit the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA).

I will be back at Napa Style again on Saturday, April 3rd and Saturday, May 8th.   Stop by and see what we are making on those days!  If you haven’t shopped here before for home, garden and kitchen goodies, you are in for such a treat.  If you have, you know how great it is! 

Napa Style is located at 6525 Washington Street in Yountville, California.

 On the way up, we encountered some harsh driving conditions, but we made it through.

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel opened in a remote area of the Northstar resort in 2009.  It is absolutely gorgeous and plush.  And they have great mid-week rates.  The rooms have gas fireplaces and our room had a beautiful snowy mountain view.  There were several wonderful seating areas with fireplaces in the lounge. 

It snowed on our way up and during our first night there.  The conditions were ideal for skiing with light, powdery snow. 

Although the snow was tempting, the spa was calling my name.  A manicure and a pedicure instead of bundling up and braving the cold?  Sure thing!

We never had to leave the hotel during our stay.  There were three restaurant choices and all were good.  The Manzanita dining room was fantastic.  There we dined on cabbage soup, roasted beet salad, seared scallops with truffled potatoes and braised short ribs. 

It was a lovely mini-vacation and leaving there was difficult.  We have been checking our calendars for another date and time for a mid-week excursion before the snow melts. 

During our Truffle Getaway,  we stayed in a gorgeously-remodeled farmhouse in the Luberon area of Provence, near the village of Goult.  This farmhouse features five bedrooms, all with private bathrooms, a chef’s kitchen, a swimming pool, a luxurious living room with fireplace, a formal dining room and lovely grounds. 

 To start the week off, we went for a truffle hunt with a farmer and his dog, Griselle.  Griselle found about a dozen truffles in the span of half an hour.  What fun it was to see her start digging and then watch the farmer move in with his special truffle tool to complete the extraction of the truffle from the hole.  Afterward, we watched an educational video about truffles and then enjoyed a hearty dish of scrambled eggs loaded with black melanosporum truffles. 

Each day, we enjoyed spectacular truffle meals, both at home and in local restaurants.  We also had special demonstrations on truffles and got to taste several different varieties in order to understand the differences.   

We also cooked with a French chef and dined on our creations – brandade with truffles, chicken fricasee with truffled mashed potatoes and sauteed artichokes, and pineapple carpaccio and kiwi fruit with truffles.   

We ate local cheeses, some with truffles and some not.  We tasted local wines and olive oils. 

We shopped at the local markets and ate favorite regional specialties, such as saucissons, Provencal olives, tappenade, pickled garlic, and anchovy aioli. 

Did I mention that we  had fabulous meals prepared for us both in restaurants and at the farmhouse, too?   

I can hardly wait to do it again next year.

For more information and pictures from our truffle week, check out the Fresh Local and Best blog site.