Hail, Caesar!

Hi, friends!

Here it is, the end of summer. A lot of you are gearing up to transition back into school mode and for that, I wish you luck.  Truthfully, I always looked forward to the fresh start of a new school year.  Or at least I looked forward to buying new school supplies, because in my heart of hearts, I am indeed a nerd and I love nothing more than a new pack of pens and fresh notebook.  But aside from school, the end of summer means that produce is in abundance.  Tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, basil, etc. are all around us. And soon, apple season!  My favorite!

We are getting ready to stock up the store in tandem with all of your school supplies. We are now carrying the local chocolate "Hello, Cocoa!" Did you know that they use our Basil Olive Oil in their seasonal Spring Bar?  How cool is that?  It's also delicious.  We are phasing out the Gravenstein Apple White Balsamic to be replaced by Passionfruit White Balsamic.  We're also going to replace the Herbes de Provence Olive Oil for a Rosemary Infused Olive Oil, but we still have a bit left, so that will happen gradually.  And it's now time for the 2017 Southern Hemisphere Extra Virgin Olive Oils to make their appearance.  They had a really fantastic harvest this year, so I am excited to have these award winning oils in our humble store.

I have noticed that one question that comes up again and again is, "what do I do with the Extra Virgin Olive Oil?"  The answer to that is: anything.  They only thing I haven't done with an EVOO is deep fry with it.  And that's mostly because I don't own a deep fryer.  Yes, you will get the most health benefits using it at room temperature or slightly warm on salads or tossed with pasta or veggies, because heat will begin to break down the Omega-3, 6, 9's and what have yous.  But you can absolutely cook with it in any capacity. The smoke point for most of our olive oils is around 400 degrees, but I consistently roast my veggies at 450 and have never had a problem.   (Fun fact, Avocado Oil has the highest smoke point of 520 F.)   I use EVOO in my pizza dough recipe, granola recipe, as roux for gumbo, oily Pasta with Swiss Chard. Pretty much you name it! Don't be shy with them just because they're extra virgins.

So, for this month our sale is going to be 20% off all of the 2016 Northern Hemisphere Extra Virgin Olive Oils.  This serves double duty to make way for the new 2017 harvest from the Southern Hemisphere and to give you all a nudge to try new things with them. My suggestion is to swing by Dirty Apron Bake House and grab a loaf of their fantastic Sourdough (if you haven't tried Nick's bread, you are missing out), then mosey to Farmer's Market and get some late summertime tomatoes and basil, and then come to us for a large bottle of zingy olive oil and maybe some Traditional Balsamic.  Go home and use half of your bread to make croutons for the Caesar Salad that will change your life (recipe to follow) and the other half to make bruschetta.  Because, by golly, this is what the end of summer is all about!  Cooking, but not really.

Let's move on to the aforementioned Caesar Salad.  I have a confession to make.  I still have a bottle of salad dressing in my refrigerator.  It's Newman's Own Caesar Dressing and this has been my go-to Caesar dressing for about a decade. I have tried making my own, but there has never been a recipe that just fits the bill, if you know what I mean.  But the other day I opened my battered Emeril's Delmonico cookbook to find my favorite Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo recipe and saw the photo of a beautiful Caesar Salad that was begging to be made.  Lo and behold, I had everything I needed to make the Creamy Parmesan Dressing to go on top of a bed of crisp Romaine lettuce and I thought, "okay, I'll give it another shot."  I'm so glad that I did.  It was perfect!  Thick, but not too thick.  Garlicky, but not overpoweringly so. Nicely pungent with the anchovies and robust olive oil, but not so pungent as to scare away my kids. You know...perfect.


Friends, I challenge you to step away from the bottled dressing and give this recipe a chance. It comes together quickly, in the bowl of a food processor or with an immersion stick blender, or just a plain old bowl and a whisk.  Boil some water, and assemble everything else while that gets going.  Juice 1/2 a lemon, peel a clove of garlic, get out that tin of anchovies hiding in the pantry, toast your bread for croutons, etc. Put an egg in that now boiling water and coddle it for 45 seconds.  Mix all of your ingredients and slowly add in your Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and I give you home made Creamy Parmesan Dressing for your fantastic Caesar Salad.

Enjoy! Happy back to school week! And see you soon!

Caesar Salad 
Adapted, slightly, from Emeril's Delmonico

One 18-oz bag Hearts of Romaine lettuce, torn or left whole
1 recipe Creamy Parmesan Dressing (recipe follows)
1 batch Croutons (recipe follows)
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1. Put the lettuce in a large bowl, toss with the dressing, and divide into 4 bowls  Top with croutons and cheese.

Creamy Parmesan Dressing

1 large egg
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2-4 anchovy fillets, drained
1 clove garlic
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. Worcestershire
2 Tbsp. grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 dashes of hot sauce

1. Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil.  Add the egg and cook for 45 seconds, until coddled.  Drain.  Let egg cool slightly.

2.  Throw everything except the egg and the oil into the bowl of a food processor or the tall cylindrical container that comes with your immersion blender. Blitz it until combined.  Crack your egg into the bowl and, if you're using the food processor, add the oil in a steady stream with the motor running.  If you're using an immersion blender, crack the egg, add the oil, and use the stick blender to mix it all together for about 30 seconds.  It should look like runny mayonnaise.  Refrigerate until ready to use (will keep for 1 day int the fridge).

Croutons

2 cups cubed Sourdough or French Bread
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tsp. Cajun Seasoning or whatever you want

1.  Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400.

2.  Place the bread on a baking sheet and toss with the oil and seasoning.  Bake, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 6 minutes.  Let cool slightly, then add to your salad.

Cheers!

Strawberry (Balsamic) Cupcakes

Hi guys!

Whew.  Umm.  I don't know how things are looking from your end, but I am just going to say, I survived.  Two kids and two adults playing Russian Roulette with a stomach virus makes for an interesting (read: exhausting) week.  But I am here! I lived! And to prove that I am 100% back to normal, I'm going to talk to you about food.

Last time I told you that I ordered a new Olive Wood Smoked Olive Oil (among about 15 other things) and that I would update you on how I like it.  So here it goes.  Friends, I am not kidding when I say that I love this oil.  I have used it on my salads with the Serrano Honey Vinegar and it tastes like bacon bits and heaven. I drizzled it on a plain old avocado with our new Sriracha Sea Salt and thought that I reinvented the wheel. Try making these Sweet and Spicy Mixed Nuts using the Smoked Olive Oil for Smokey, Sweet and Spicy Mixed Nuts because you will never go back to anything else.  For Father's Day (Happy Father's Day, by the way!), make these Shrimp and Grits.  Saute the shrimp in the Smoked Olive Oil instead of the Butter Olive Oil and stir in pimento cheese instead of Parmesan into the grits and you will be the savior of breakfast.  I really can't tell you enough how much it really adds a smokey, bacon-y-ness to any dish you're making. I hope you love it as much as I do.  It pairs really well with Ripe Peach White Balsamic or the Serrano Honey Vinegar.  What a Father's Day gift!

Not as innocent as she looks.

What else is new in our humble store, you ask?  Not much.  Just some new employees!  We have welcomed Bre and Emily into our midst.  I think you'll really like them. They're lovely! If one of them is working the next time you're in, say "hi" and they'll get to know our regulars soon enough. I am sorry to say that I have been spending a bit less time up at the store lately (stomach bug notwithstanding).  Matilda is nearly 1 year old and is an unruly sort of girl (don't let her sweet face deceive you), so she won't be on site as our little shop baby for much longer.  I'll still be here on Thursday mornings and on random Saturdays.  But never fear!  I'm not far away and you can always reach me via email, Facebook or Instagram.

The boy is Four!

Any who.  What is our sale of the month, you ask?  Strawberry Balsamic!  I know it seems sort of retro, as we've had this as a staple forever, but I rediscovered my love for it in the form of Strawberry Cupcakes.  For William's 4th (4th?!) Birthday, I wanted to make Strawberry Cupcakes from scratch, but that tasted as awesomely strawberry-y as the boxed kind (minus the artificial colors and flavors).  Lo and behold, the answer came to me as I was reaching for the strawberry extract in the baking isle.  Why not use Strawberry Balsamic?  Eureka! I tell you what, these little gems came out nice and fluffy, not too dense, pleasantly berry flavored, but not too sweet.  You should bring these to your next summer gathering, especially since the bake time is under 30 minutes.

The list of ingredients seems kind of daunting, but they're all pretty much pantry staples. The recipe does call for sour cream, but you could totally swap it out for yogurt.  I used Lemon Olive Oil for the 1/4 c. of oil called for, which I think added a nice brightness to it, but use whatever oil speaks to you.  Also, bring the butter, eggs, and sour cream all to room temperature before mixing and it will make for a nice, lump-free batter. Or just set them outside for 5 minutes because this heat is out of control and it'll have everything up to temperature in no time.  Oh and just so you know, these are not technicolor pink like the boxed kind, so if you're into that, add a few drops of red food coloring to your batter.  (Fun little tidbit, for every birthday I can remember I asked for Strawberry Cake From The Box with Funfetti Frosting.  This is the first recipe that even holds a candle to that strawberry goodness of Duncan Hines.) And, hey, you can use any leftover Strawberry Balsamic in a nice little martini while you wait for your cupcakes to bake!  I give you, Strawberry (Balsamic) Cupcakes. Enjoy, my friends!

Strawberry (Balsamic) Cupcakes

Strawberry (Balsamic Cupcakes)
Adapted from Grandbaby Cakes

Cupcakes:
1 3/4 c. granulated sugar
3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 c. fresh strawberries, washed, hulled, and pureed (I food processored it)
3 large eggs, at room temperature

3 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 c. sour cream, at room temperature

1/4 c. Lemon Olive Oil (or vegetable oil)

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

2 tsp. Strawberry Balsamic

Buttercream:

3 1/2 c. powdered sugar

2 sticks butter, at room temperature

1/4 c. pureed strawberry 

1 tsp. Strawberry Balsamic, or more to taste

1.  Preheat the oven to 350.  Line two 12-well muffin tins with cupcake liners.
2.  Beat the butter and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer, or just in a really large bowl if you're doing this by hand, on medium-high speed for about 6 minutes, or until pale and very fluffy.
3.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each one.
4.  Reduce your speed to low, add the strawberry puree. Scrape down sides.
5.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Slowly add half of this flour mixture to your egg mixture.  Mix on the lowest speed until just combined.
6.  Add in your sour cream and Lemon Olive Oil.  Mix until combined..
7.  Add in the remaining flour mixture on low speed until combined.  Then add the vanilla and Strawberry Balsamic. Be careful not to over mix.

8.  Using an ice cream scoop or a large spoon, fill your lined muffin tins 3/4 of the way full.
9.  Bake for 18-21 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when pushed into the middle of a cupcake,
10.  Let them cool in the pans for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  In the meantime make your martini.  I mean, frosting. Make your frosting.

For the Buttercream:
1.  In the bowl of your stand mixer, or a large bowl if you're doing this by hand, mix together your powdered sugar and butter and beat until light and fluffy.
2.  Add the strawberry puree and Strawberry Balsamic and beat again until fully combined.
3.  Once cupcakes have fully cooled, pipe them with frosting and serve.

Okay!  That's all for now.  Take care out there and see you soon.

Cheers,
Andrea

Mother's Day Sale

Well hello there!

Don't mind me, I'm just over here eating cold pasta straight from the container.  It really takes me back to being a poor college student. The simple pasta itself (recipe below) and the fact that I am eating quickly reminds of a time long ago. Ah, the good old days.

First, let me say that this week we are not going to do a 3 For Thursday, because we are going to do 25% off your entire purchase for the whole week.  Happy Mother's Day Sale! Now through Saturday, come in and get a good present for your mama and a nice little bonus discount for yourself, as well.  Oh, and the sale oil for this month is Herbes de Provence (20% off all month).  Use it on your next grilled chicken and kick your summer off right!

We have quite a lot of new stuff here at our humble store. We have restocked soaps, dish towels, napkins, salts, chocolates, olives, and salami.  We have a new olive oil based face wash and moisturizer that I think you'll like.  The face wash is orange and juniper and it leaves your face feeling fresh and clean.  The moisturizer is super light weight, which I much prefer in this warm weather.  But there are two new things that I am really excited about.  Blenheim Apricot White Balsamic.  It is my favorite white balsamic to date.  And that is saying something.  This is going to be my summer drink shrub mixer (to go in whiskey or vodka or seltzer water), it's my tender greens topper, grilled chicken glazer, and all around winner.  It pairs best with the Basil Olive Oil and Roasted Almond Oil.

Which brings us to the...Roasted Almond Oil. Have you guys tried this yet?  It's amazing! I did not anticipate loving it so much. I used it in lieu of olive oil/butter to make scones last weekend (I have been watching entirely too much Great British Baking Show.  I want to be Mary Berry when I grow up) and they were incredible.  I threw in some diced dried apricot to go with that lovely aforementioned balsamic and toasted almond-y flavor.  Make them for your mother.  She would appreciate it.

Even though I just bombarded you with new merchandise to explore the next time you come in, I am just going to quickly tell you that we're getting some new(er) things in next week, too.  I haven't tried them yet, so don't get too excited, but today I ordered a brand new olive oil.  An Olive Wood Smoked Olive Oil.  I'll give you the scoop once I have actually tried it, but I have visions of grilled fish, roasted nuts, green beans, and maybe even some jalapeno cheddar cornbread.  I don't know!  I can't wait!  Oh yeah, and I ordered more salami.  This time we're getting in a Cerveza Seca, which won a Good Food Award back when it was launched.  No big deal, but I think beer salami and smoked olive oil scream "cook out/Memorial Day."  I hope you agree, because I'm not sure if we can be friends otherwise.

I feel like it has been a rather busy Spring/Monsoon Season/Now Acting Like It's Already Summer, so I have not been cooking a ton.  (Baking, yes.  Curse you, Mary Berry.)  The other night I wanted to throw something together that was quick and easy and cheap.  I remembered a pasta that I used to make all the time way back in the day.  My husband (then boyfriend) dubbed it "favorite pasta," for lack of a better name. You need garlic, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, pasta, and olive oil/butter.  You can get fancy and throw in some spinach that has been wilting in the back of your refrigerator, the last little bit of heavy cream at the bottom of the carton, a dollop of pesto, etc.  The point is, it's really simple and you can customize it to make it your own.  I give you...Favorite Pasta!

Favorite Pasta

1 lb. long pasta (spaghetti, fettuccine)
2 Tbsp. butter or olive oil
4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 container mushrooms, washed and sliced
 5 oz. container cherry tomatoes, washed
1/4 c. or more olive oil (Garlic, Basil, Tuscan Herb, Herbes de Provence, or EVOO)
Salt and Pepper
Parmesan, optional
Heavy cream, optional
Basil, optional
Spinach, optional

1.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add pasta and cook according to package. Drain, and set aside.

2  Meanwhile, over medium heat, melt butter in large skillet and add mushrooms.  Cook until all the liquid is gone and mushrooms are brown, approximately 8 minutes.  Add garlic to the pan and saute until fragrant, 1 minute.  Now add cherry tomatoes and cook until blistered and cracking, about 3 minutes.

3.  Add your cooked pasta and 1/4 cup of olive oil to the pan of mushrooms and tomatoes.  Add some salt, pepper, Parmesan, and anything else your heart desires.  Serve warm.  Or cold, straight from the container in the fridge.

I hope I see your lovely faces soon.  In the mean time, Happy Mother's Day!

Cheers,

Andrea

P.S. If you're not into mushrooms, swap them for asparagus.  I know there are a lot of fungi haters out there. You're weird.

A Cautionary Tale

Hi friends!

Was it worth it?  Absolutely. 

Let me begin by telling you my story of woe, so you do not repeat my mistakes.  In the past week, two bottles of olive oil have met an untimely demise.  The first incident was when I reached, on tip toes, into my unorganized and overcrowded spice/olive oil storage cabinet and instead of taking the extra five seconds to move a bottle out of the way to get to the bottle behind it, I knocked the first bottle onto the floor and spent the next 30 minutes cleaning up Cayenne Chili Olive Oil and a broken bottle (and heart).  All the while I had to endure listening to my son say, "Mom, did you make a big mess?  You have to clean up your messes!"  Yes, William.  Thank you.  Later that day my husband said, "Is Matilda holding broken glass?" Yes.  Yes, she was.  Parent of the year!  The next incident occurred two days later.  I ran into Cask & Grove to refill my Butter Olive Oil so that we could have our afternoon popcorn snack at home and did not seal my bottle.  Oh no, I'm just taking it from the store to the car to the house.  Nothing will happen!  Famous last words.  The cork came out and now my purse/diaper bag and the contents therein will forever and always smell like Butter Olive Oil and tears.  So, my dears, take those extra moments to move your bottle out of the way and get them sealed up tight, and you can avoid my misery.

"What's new at the store," you ask?  Oh, quite a bit.  We finally(!) have the Lavender Balsamic for Spring.  You can grab some Lavender Balsamic to put on your fresh farmers' market greens. I love Market time! We also have a lovely new California Roasted Almond Oil.  It's delicately nutty and will surely be a new favorite.  Thanks, California, for not being in a drought anymore; we really appreciate your Almond Oil. All of our Extra Virgin Olive Oils are fantastic Northern Hemisphere crops.  We have a Melgarejo Hojiblanca and a Melgarejo Koroneiki from Spain, a robust Cobrancosa from Portugal, which will soon be replaced by a robust Galega from Portugal, and an Organic Arbequina and Organic Arbosana from California.  I ordered more of those chili and garlic stuffed olives that we were missing for a while. Oh! And we now have a super spicy, excellently flavorful Baklouti Green Chili Olive Oil, which is our sale oil for the time being! 20% off the Baklouti, folks, for all your spicy needs.

New stuff!  Hooray!

"What recipe are you going to give me to go with your sale oil," you ask?  Green Chili Chocolate Cake.  No, just kidding! Fajitas. Amazing, life changing fajitas. I do not have any photos of the fajitas I made, because I ate them too quickly.  By the time I remembered to take a picture, my plate was wiped clean. The marinade comes together really quickly and gives your fajitas a nice clean spice that you can't quite place.  They are smokey, thanks to the cumin and chili powder, and sizzly, thanks to cooking them on a high heat. You should make them this weekend!  I think I will, too.  Maybe I'll remember to snap a photo this time around.

What you do is: make the marinade, put half of it in a large ziploc and add your steak or chicken (or tofu, if that's what you do), put the other half in another large ziploc and add your onions, peppers and mushrooms.  Refrigerate both bags for an hour or a day or however long you remember to marinate things.  Light a grill or a cast iron skillet over medium high heat and do your veggies first, until they they are cooked to your liking.  Put them on a plate, set it aside and do your meat or non-meat to your desired doneness. Mix together your meat and veggies and you have...FAJITAS! Put them together with your favorite fixings.  I like salsa, sour cream, guacamole, a few black beans, jalapenos, maybe some queso, cilantro and really, it just all falls apart onto my plate, so I use a tortilla to mop it up, just like I was mopping up that spilled Cayenne Oil.  I'm still bitter.

See you guys soon!

Baklouti Green Chili Fajita Marinade
Adapted only slightly from Ree Drummond

1/2 c. Baklouti Green Chili Olive Oil
1/3 c. Lime juice, fresh squeezed from 3-4 limes
3 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. Cumin
1 Tbsp. Chili Powder
1 Tbsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Black Pepper

1 Flank Steak or Chicken Breasts (1 lb? 1.5?)
3 Bell Peppers, sliced thin
2 Onions, sliced thin

Matilda on Fajita (Guacamole) Night

1 package Mushrooms, sliced

In a large bowl, mix together all the marinade ingredients. Marinate your meat in one ziploc bag or glass dish and your veggies in a separate bag or dish for 1-3 hours.

Grill or cook your veggies in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat until cooked to your desire (8 minutes?).  Put your veggies on a plate and set aside.  Grill or cook your steak until medium (another 8 minutes?) and then let rest for 5 minutes.  Slice your meat, toss it with your veggies and serve.

Cheers,
Andrea

Let Them Eat Cake

Hi friends!

I'm just going to lay it out there. I don't care if you have the strictest New Year's Resolutions known to man, sometimes you need cake.  Like, you must eat cake now or else the world will end.  That has been me this week.  A teething baby, a toddler who is notorious for stealing all of your caffeinated beverages and then running around the house at full speed for the rest of the day, a barrage of laundry, dishes, etc. etc. etc.  Sometimes you just need cake.  And then you get a stroke of genius and decide to use Blood Orange Olive Oil in your favorite Chocolate Cake recipe and BAM! (does Emeril still do that?) you have magic Blood Orange Chocolate Cake that completes you.  I'll come back to that.

Up here at Cask & Grove we have a few new things.  We got in a shipment this week of Northern Hemisphere olive oils.  We have an Organic California Arbequina, Spanish Melgarejo Picual and Melgarejo Koroneiki, and a Portuguese Cobrancosa. Hopefully we will replace all of our May 2016 with this November 2016 crop by the end of the week. Some of those Southern Hemisphere oils will be marked down, so come and get them while you can! I'm very excited to have these few Northern Hemisphere oils in our midst and we should be getting more in as the season progresses, so I'll keep you updated.

By the way, thank you for entertaining my baby when I bring her up to the store in the afternoons.  She has been pretty tolerant, but I know some days she is fussier than others.  Thanks for bearing with us!

We are very nearly out of the Baklouti Green Chili Oil.  We'll get more, don't worry, but it may still be a few weeks.  They crush this one in Tunisia and it still hasn't arrived in port in California.  Soon, friends.  Soon. One pound of olive oil per 1.6 pounds of fresh green chilies?  It's intense and green and lovely.  If you have never tried it, believe me, it is worth the wait.

After you guys wiped us out over Christmas (hard the believe that was less than a month ago and thank you all for your support of our small business), I decided that we should keep our Charlito's Cocina hand made sausages around.  I really love them.  It's a small, artisan operation and those guys are super nice and easy to work with and they make one heck of a salami, so we're keeping them!  The also recently got a sweet write up in Bon Appetit.  I ordered the Salami Picante (the one featured in the article), which has an impressive spicy kick and the Campo Seco, which is truly a salami purist's dream. The only ingredients are: Heritage Breed Pork, Hand Raked Sea Salt, Evaporated Cane Juice, Celery Juice Extract, Starter Culture, and Natural Casing.  Pure joy!

I think that's all the store news.  Back to the cake.  I don't often use the Blood Orange Olive Oil in my day to day cooking, or even as a favorite salad oil.  But I love to bake with it.  You can make these scones with it or use it as the oil/butter needed in pancakes, waffles, or sugar cookies. It really is a great substitute to have around. It also happens to be the Flavor of the Month, so it's 20% off!

This is a delightfully easy recipe that you kind of can't mess up.  I guess you could burn it, but there isn't much I can do about that.  I would never go so far as to say that this cake is "healthy", but it does at least try to have some redeemable qualities.  First, it's vegan, so no eggs or dairy. (You could, of course, use regular milk instead of the almond milk and then it would no longer be vegan.)  Second, it has a fair bit of applesauce in it to cut back on the amount of oil needed. And third, the oil that you need is Blood Orange Olive Oil, which is quite a bit tastier than Canola Oil.

No special equipment is needed for this cake.  Two bowls, a whisk, and two cake pans (or one rectangular pan) are all you need to get the job done.  I like doing things the old fashioned way.  Mix all the wet ingredients in one bowl, all the dry ingredients in the other bowl, whisk them together until they're smooth.  Pour them into the greased cake pans and bake them until the middle is set and a toothpick comes out clean when you poke it into the middle.  Let the cakes cool on a wire rack.

Don't forget to lick the bowl clean.

While your cakes are baking/cooling, make your frosting.  I'm a big fan of playing with frosting until it looks/tastes right.  But I start by putting the softened (vegan) butter, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder into a food processor fitted with a blade and whizzing it until it's all smooth.  Then I start splashing in the Blood Orange Olive Oil, vanilla, and Almond Milk and pulse until it is as thick or thin as I want it on that particular day.  If you need it thicker, add more powdered sugar or, thinner, more Almond Milk.  You could do all this without the food processor and just use a bowl and whisk, but I am lazy.  Any who, once your cakes are cooled, put a nice amount of frosting between your cake layers, and all over the outside and you are done!

Enjoy, my friends, and see you soon.

Cheers!
Andrea


Blood Orange Chocolate Cake (Revised)
Adapted from Minimalist Baker

1 1/2 c. Unsweetend Almond Milk (or Soy Milk or Milk Milk)
2 tsp. White or Apple Cider Vinegar
1 1/4 c. (307 g.) Unsweetend Applesauce
1/2 c. Brewed Coffee
2/3 c. (160 ml) Blood Orange Olive Oil
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 c. (320 g.) All Purpose Flour
1 1/3 c. (266 g.) Cane Sugar
1 c. (96 g.) Cocoa Powder
2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Salt

Frosting
1/2 c. Earth Balance Vegan Butter (or regular Butter, if you want), room temperature
1 1/2 c. Powdered Sugar
1/2 c. Cocoa Powder
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2-3 Tbsp. Almond Milk
1 Tbsp. Blood Orange Olive Oil

1.  Preheat oven to 350 and spray two 9-inch cake pans. Or I suppose you could use a rectangular pan, but your cooking time may vary.

2.  Pour the Almond Milk and vinegar into a large mixing bowl and let it sit for a few minutes (it will turn into vegan buttermilk).  Add the applesauce, coffee, oil, and vanilla to the bowl and whisk until foamy.

3.  In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Now pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and whisk until smooth.

4.  Divide the batter into your two prepared cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until when you stick a toothpick into the center, it comes out clean.  Let cool.

5.  While cake is cooling, make your frosting.  Put everything in a bowl and whisk it, or put it in a food processor and pulse until it's smooth.  I don't follow an exact recipe for frosting.  If it's too thick, add a slash more Almond Milk (or leftover coffee), if it's too thin, add more powdered sugar.  Taste as you go and you'll get it right.

6.  Once cakes are cooled generously frost them, putting one layer or frosting between the cakes and then coating the whole outside in sweet glory.

Merry Mac and Cheese

Hi there, friends!

I hope you're doing well as 2016 comes to a close.  I know the Holiday Season is a flurry of activity for a lot of you, so this email gives you the opportunity to add even more to your plate!  I usually do a lot of baking for Christmas, but this year I decided to shake it up a bit and give everyone homemade bath and body whatnots.  Because, really, do we need another dozen cookies in our lives? (The answer is "yes", but I'm saving room for the Black Truffle Mac and Cheese that I'm introducing you to.)  I'll admit I went a little overboard with honey lip balm, bath bombs, facial serum, and olive oil lotion.  Curse you, Pinterest!  I'm sure you'll be cursing me, too, as I'm giving you the recipe for the olive oil lotion in addition to the Mac and Cheese.  Luxury abounds!

Recipes are great, but what's going on at the store, you may ask?  Well, we are open from 9:00-5:00 this Saturday, Monday-Friday from 10:00-6:00, and 9:00-3:00 on Christmas Eve.  Our featured product this month is the Cinnamon Pear Balsamic.  I realize that I'm not using the Cinnamon Pear Balsamic in either of the recipes in this email, but I use it nearly every day for winter salads.  Leafy greens, sliced apple, handful of pecans, goat cheese and Cinnamon Pear Balsamic.  It's the best and when you pair it with the Blood Orange Olive Oil, it's like Christmas in your mouth.  So get your Cinnamon Pear Balsamic for 20% off and then grab your Blood Orange Olive Oil and use it to make these sugar cookies and/or your olive oil lotion.

Oh!  We have a new White Balsamic in our midst.  Well, it's not new, exactly, but it has been a year or two since we had it last.  I bring you the Honey Ginger White Balsamic!  It is lovely.  It's nice and spicy in that gingery way and pairs with our Japanese Toasted Sesame for Asian inspired salad or marinade.  It also goes very well in whiskey with a slice of lemon for when you feel a cold coming on.  I implore you to try it the next time you come in.  However, in order to put this one out, we had to take one away.  The Grapefruit White Balsamic is taking a hiatus.  If you desperately need it, we have a few reserve bottles in the back to tide you over until the summer, when we'll likely bring it back.

The Northern Hemisphere Extra Virgin Olive Oils are going to slowly start trickling in over the course of the next two months.  The only one we have available to us at the moment is an Organic Arbequina from California.  We're going to trade out the Organic Chemlali (sorry, I loved it, too) for the Organic Arbequina, probably tomorrow.  Those are the only changes I'm making right now, I promise!  Nothing too crazy.

Okay.  I'm at a point where I am constantly washing my hands. It is winter time, so we have had round-the-clock colds in our house.  I cook way too much, so there's that.  I change a ton of diapers, as you do with a baby.  As a result my hands are cracked and scaly and appear to be 100 years old and it truly irritates me to look at the label on my "super hydrating lotion" and the first ingredients are water and alcohol.  Wait.  What?  The main ingredients are designed to make my hands drier than they were?  Nope.  I decided to take matters into my own chapped hands and found an extremely easy DIY recipe on the interwebs.  I will tell you that is recipe is one that you should slather on before bed and let it be.  It's more of a salve, if you will.  Considering that the ingredients are all oil and wax, it feels all...oily.  But in a good way!  I used the Eureka Lemon Olive Oil as the base and it has a really nice smell, even without essential oils added.  The Blood Orange or Persian Lime would be equally lovely.

What you do is get a really big glass mason jar and use this jar from now on as your "lotion making jar", because you will not want to spend the 1 hour it takes to get it clean. You can get beeswax pellets (which I recommend) on Amazon or at Hobby Lobby, in the candle making section.  Or if you know someone who has bees, ask them for a bit of it.  It's good stuff to have around.  Also use a wooden chopstick or kabob skewer that you can throw away and not bother washing.  This recipe makes about 3 jars of lotion.  They make adorable gifts that are great for winter time.

Now, this Black Truffle Mac and Cheese will change your life.  You'll have to read the recipe below to see how that magic happens, but let me warn you.  There is no going back.  This is what you will bring for every gathering from this point forward.  It feeds an army and is so deliciously cheesy that it warms you up even on the coldest day.  It will make all your days be merry and bright!

Eureka Lemon Olive Oil Lotion

Adapted from A Sonoma Garden

Makes approximately 3 jars

1 c. Eureka Lemon Fused Olive Oil (or Blood Orange Olive Oil)

1/2 c. Coconut Oil

2 oz. Beeswax (I usually buy mine from Amazon)

1/2 tsp. Almond or Avocado or Vitamin E Oil (optional)

20 ish drops of Essential Oil (I used Frankincense, Myrrh, and Lavender) (optional)

1.  Combine the olive oil, coconut oil, and beeswax together in a large glass Mason jar.  Henceforth, this will be your lotion making jar, as you will not want to bother trying to wash it.  Put this jar into a saucepan and fill that saucepan with water until it reaches about halfway up the sides of your Mason jar.  Set your heat to medium and stir your oil/wax mixture until everything is melted.  Make sure that no water gets into your jar during this process.

2.  Remove your Mason Jar from the double boiler.  At this point,  add your Almond Oil and Essential Oils, if you're doing that.  

3. Pour (carefully!) into wide-mouthed half-pint jars. Now stir (I used a wooden skewer/chop stick, so I would have no dishes to contend with) every 15 minutes until it comes to room temperature.  and you're done! (Or don't stir it if you want it to have a smooth surface.)

Black Truffle Macaroni and Cheese

Adapted, only slightly from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook

Serves 12 (No kidding. 12)

Cheese Sauce, not Lotion

6 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. Black Truffle Oil

6 slices white bread, crusts removed, cubed/torn into 1/2 inch pieces

5 1/2 c. milk

1/2 c. all purpose flour

2 tsp. Black Truffle Sea Salt

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

4 1/2 c. (18 oz.) grated Sharp White Cheddar cheese

2 c. (8 oz.) grated Gruyere cheese

1 lb. elbow macaroni

1.  Preheat oven to 375.  Grease a 3 qt. casserole dish or a 9 x 13 in. dish, set aside. Place bread in a medium bowl and toss with 2 Tbsp. Black Truffle Oil.  Set the crumbs aside.

2.  Warm the milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Melt the 6 Tbsp. butter in a high-sided skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat.  When the butter bubbles, add the flour.  Cook, stirring, 1 minute.

3.  While whisking, slowly pour in the hot milk, a little at a time to keep the mixture smooth.  Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and becomes thick and smooth, 8-12 minutes.  

4.  Remove the pan from the heat.  Stir in Black Truffle Sea Salt, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne pepper, 3 c. Cheddar cheese, and 1 1/2 c. Gruyere; set the cheese sauce aside.

5.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Cook the macaroni until the outside is cooked, but the inside is still underdone, 3-4 minutes.  Drain pasta, rinse with cold running water, and drain well.  Stir the macaroni into the reserved cheese sauce.  

6.  Pour the mixture into the prepared dish.  Sprinkle the remaining 1 1/2 c. Cheddar, 1/2 c. Gruyere, and the bread crumbs over the top.  Bake until golden brown, 30-40 minutes.  Let rest 5 minutes, then serve.    

Thank you all for making our holiday season so wonderful.  We love seeing both the new and the familiar faces that have been coming through.  Happy Holidays, friends.

Cheers,
Andrea

Thankful

Hello friends,

It's that time of year again.  You know, the one where you meet up with friends, family and loved ones and celebrate together with food, drinks, football and more food.  In short, my kind of holiday.  As I sit here typing on this crisp, sunny fall morning, I want to share some of the things I am thankful for.  Coffee, for one.  My health, my children, my family, my wonderful customers (you guys!), my beautiful city and, again, coffee.  And Black Mission Fig Balsamic.  In order to make your Thanksgiving meal absolutely complete, this month's feature is Fig Balsamic.

For the month of November, when you can get 20% off any bottle of Fig Balsamic and I will give you a slew of ideas/recipes to go along with it.  I have started stocking up the store for the onslaught of Thanksgiving and Christmas shoppers, as I hope to see your lovely faces in the coming weeks.  I have new kitchen towels from Oh Little Rabbit, some new packaging for salts, Taza chocolates, and Charlito's Cocina handmade dry-cured sausages.  I'm mostly excited for the Charlito's.  They just got a fantastic write up in last month's Bon Appetit and the American charcuterie scene is really starting to flourish.  We carried their sausages last year and if you didn't get a chance to try them, now is the time.  You won't regret it, I promise!

We're also going to try and make your lives easier this year, with pre-packaged/wrapped bottles of our most popular oils and vinegars.  You can also give us a call ahead of time and we can have your order ready to pick up when you get here.  I know part of the fun is coming and tasting everything, but every now and then you're in a hurry and need to scoot.  I get it!

Oh, our holiday hours are going to change up a bit as well.  For the week of Thanksgiving, we will be closed Thursday and Friday, but plan on us being here with bells on for Small Business Saturday.  We will be open from 9:00-5:00 Saturday, November 26 and those will be our Saturday hours throughout the holiday season.  We'll also be hosting an after hours shindig on First Thursday (December 1) from 6:00-8:00, so stop by for food and drinks and a door prize or two!

Back to things I'm thankful for: food you can eat with one hand.  I have been eating a lot of things that look like this.  But!  Thanksgiving should change all of that.  The recipes I'm giving you are actually from our archives, but they are so good I thought they deserved a revival.  

First, Caramelized Garlic.  This simple recipe will give you a whole new appreciation for how garlic goes in a dish.  I use this on pizzas (prosciutto, arugula, etc.), in quiche, tucked into breads, or made into paste and spread on a sandwich.  It's fantastic.  The Caramelized Onions and Balsamic Braised Brussels Sprouts are both excellent side dishes for Thanksgiving.  Nobody thought that B. Sprouts would be the most coveted item on our family's menu, but there was nary a leaf left of that sweet, smoky, crispy delight when it was all said and done.  Do me a favor and make them this year using the Black Mission Fig Balsamic.  Just...just trust me on this.

Here are the recipes' links.  Happy November!

Cheers,
Andrea

Recipes:
Caramelized garlic
Caramelized Onions in Black Mission Fig Balsamic
Balsamic Braised Brussels Sprouts
Fig and Cheddar Grilled Cheese