Sunday, November 20, 2011

Nancy Silverton at Chino Farm

Among the Foodie Crowd, Nancy Silverton is well-known as the founder of LaBrea Bakery, which I will say revolutionized gourmet breads in Southern California.  She is a particular champion of Sourdough Bread, which the French call “bread, the old way,” versus the more modern yeast. 

Nancy is also the owner of two adjacent and wildly-popular restaurants in Los Angeles, Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza, which are co-owned by restaurateurs Mario Battali and Joe Bastianich.  She has produced a wonderful book, The Mozza Cookbook, based on the restaurant’s dishes.  

Today, Raquel and I went to Nancy’s cookbook signing in San Diego; I hope you are not hungry as your read this post~

IMG_9375

The book was $35, and it is a beautiful collection of recipes that I look forward to trying, and sharing with you~

IMG_9383

Nancy, at left, signed with co-author Matt Molina; she was very modest, “I did the first half, he did the second half!”

IMG_9370

Moving past the signing table, I was greeted by the bread, grilling for crostini~

IMG_9363

there was also some chunky & crusty bread which was salted, a little garlic-y, perfectly dripping in olive oil~

IMG_9364

I should mention that this was a foodie’s convention; everyone who is a San Diego Foodie was there, it seemed, in addition to a few others; adored La Petite here, decked out in Rancho Santa Fe style~

IMG_9367

We had a demonstration of burrata, which is fresh Mozzarella cheese with a filling of cream and more shredded Mozzarella. as I told Raquel, the Americans are worried about weight and non-fat and the like and this is what the Italians eat…and they are not fat….this was fantastic~

IMG_9371

The burrata was accompanied by the bread as previously shown, plus three sauces, a tapenade of olives, pesto, and another bean-based sauce~

IMG_9374

We had two brothers handling the mozzarella; and it was an amazing show; here the steam is from the hot water~

IMG_9378

Raquel chatted away in Italian with the Brothers; it was a good connection that we will revisit for the market~

IMG_9380

Meanwhile, we were served this~

IMG_9382

I’m sorry, I meant this, butternut squash crostini topped with smoked apple bacon~

IMG_9376

as well as a glass of Prosecco~

IMG_9385

And pine nut “pignoli” cookies with Rosemary, which were delish and are meant to be in the book~

IMG_9384

The venue was Chino Farm, Rancho Santa Fe.  Even the Ford got decked out for the event~

IMG_9387

Chino is a farm stand, avec Cult Following.

IMG_9388

Tom Chino is the Patriarch; the family is Japanese and has been here since the ‘40’s.

IMG_9389

They sell direct from their farm stand and wholesale only to Alice Waters of Chez Panisse.  When you see the produce you know why;

IMG_9390

The herbs are abundant, until they sell out; here Bay~

IMG_9391

here Savory~

IMG_9392

And here sage, sooo great fresh in Thanksgiving stuffing~

IMG_9393

Fresh flowers are great all year long in salads~

IMG_9394

also today, fresh cherry tomatoes~

IMG_9395

the tiniest brussell sprouts ever; by the time I came back these were gone~

IMG_9396

various berries~

IMG_9397

including two varieties of strawberries; “French or Californian?”, he said. You will see mon choix this week but you can already guess the answer~  

IMG_9398

it’s all amazing!~

IMG_9399IMG_9400IMG_9402IMG_9409

A few original remnants of the ‘40s from owner Tom Chino. Very charming~ 

IMG_9403

This is a working farm so there are now greenhouse tomatoes~

IMG_9404

and my dog Honey and I enjoyed exploring the farm~

IMG_9405IMG_9408

We are going to another book signing here in two weeks; I will be buying a stack of this next book for Christmas gifts; can’t wait to go to that event.

Have a lovely week; tonight I will resume holiday gift posts. 

12 comments:

  1. What an experience Andrea. The book looks wonderful and that selection of produce, superb examples!!So fun you were there!

    Love and Hugs,

    Karena
    Art by Karena

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'll try again....

    Great images - they could be in their own book!
    I don't know how you manage to fit so much into 24 hours Andrea!!
    Warm regards.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your photos are always so good I can almost smell the marvelous aromas! Glad you enjoyed such a good day!
    Bonne journée,
    Mimi

    ReplyDelete
  5. Another wonderful adventure..more ideas and beautiful photos. look in your email...Merci, Patty (from Beaune)

    ReplyDelete
  6. First I was intoxicated by the ridiculously delicious looking breads and cheeses then I was intoxicated with your amazing photographs of the fruit/veg and farm. Just so well done, look like they are from a cookbook or magazine spread - bravo!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Is anyone else getting that darn 500 Server error by LiveWriter? I get an error message but it accepted my edits....?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Those fresh veggie photos made my mouth water!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Gorgeous! (I mean the food and photos, of course.) I liked your little joke =) Beautiful post and limitless content...So much going on makes me wonder how you can operate on so many levels.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow!
    Everything looks amazing ~ great photos.
    I'm always so envious of all the freshness in your area.

    Jo

    ReplyDelete
  11. Beautiful pics. I am so envious of such markets, fresh vegetables, berries...i can almost taste them

    ReplyDelete
  12. Gorgeous! Beautiful post and Photos are surely awesome. I Love to taste that one..


    Wine of the Month Club

    ReplyDelete