I first met Maria in St. Barts many years ago and we became instant friends.  As we walked the beach together, she told me about her life…bringing Gucci to the United States in the early 80’s, working working working 24/7 for so many years to build the Gucci brand. Because of her incredible style and marketing abilities.. her hard work paid off!!

Ville Mille Rose

Today, she is a patron of the arts and travels the world. She built a phenomenal home on 60 acres in Oakville California/Napa and named it Ville Mille Rose, because she has roses growing everywhere on her property.  This estate is the essence of Italy where she was born and raised. There are vineyards on all sides ,flowers and fruit tress , lavender and sunflowers wherever you look.

I am so lucky to have had the privilege to stay with Maria in August for the last several years in a row…Every time I’ve gone out to visit her it’s been at the height of the season in the beautiful Napa Valley.

Maria loves to entertain. The first time I was invited to her home, she had a lunch on the lawn for me with Chef Gary Danko http://www.garydanko.com/ and some of her other dear friends. I was mesmerized by the beauty of the surroundings.  Everything was picked fresh from her garden… the tomatoes….the peaches… the fresh herbs.. Truly a heavenly place for a foodie like me.

Kitchen At Ville Mille Rose

Last summer I stayed with her for 3 days and every morning we walked in her
vineyards and picked ripe peaches and plums from her trees as we caught up on both of our lives.

Maria is a connector and loves to connect her friends together.  She never stops…she hardly sleeps…and is constantly in motion….we walk in the morning and have chicken soup for breakfast…I love this ritual.  Loi, her trusted Vietnamese housekeeper and chef., makes it fresh with all the vegetables from her garden and organic chicken.

Being the connector the she is, Maria entertains every weekend. She is meticulous about planning her menu with Loi and is involved with every detail. She does the table seating concentrating on where everyone will sit and then she writes our names on leaves with a gold pen.

Don't You Love It When You're Inspired By Your Host?

What a brilliant and beautiful touch. She picks roses from her garden and throws the leaves on the table… so very Maria!  Don’t you love when you stay at somebody’s home and they inspire you with new ideas for your own entertaining?

She figured out how to make a classic Bellini with white peach juice from her own peach trees and Prosecco. She peels the peaches and then puts vitamin C powder and lemon juice on them to preserve them and she freezes them. Then she purees them in a blender and combines with the Proscecco.  This was the cold, refreshing bubby cocktail that she served on a hot summer day in Napa.

This lunch was to celebrate her very close friend and composer, Daniel Brewbaker who composed a piece that was being played at the Music in the Vineyard Festival.http://www.musicinthevineyards.org/.  Daniel had lived with Maria for 4 years and during lunch, he toasted her with a beautiful poem, and then her friend Margrit Mondavi spoke of the special friendship they have shared for 30 years.

I was honored and privileged to be at this extraordinary lunch with Maria and her closest friends to experience the hospitality, good cheer and ambiance of her home as well as the magnificent food and Napa Valley wine.  Some of the guests included  Bill Harlan from Harlan Estate http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/californias-cult-cabernet-visionary and Margrit Mondavi, the late Robert Mondavi’s wife. http://www.robertmondaviwinery.com/flash/index.html

Pamela and Margrit Mondavi

The late Robert Mondavi said that Maria is the bubble in the champagne of life!

I agree.. perfectly said.!!!

Here’s to Maria!!

This has been an amazing and summer for me, mostly thanks to my circle of remarkable friends.  My friends have been so generous, and have taken me into their summer homes to share their kitchens throughout the whole summer.  Through staying with them, I have been able to fulfill my creative juices and fill their kitchens with the aromas of the delicious food that we have cooked together.  I have also very much enjoyed teaching them tricks and tips from my years of cooking and entertaining.

Last weekend I stayed with my dear friends Alan and Diane Lieberman at their summer home in Bridgehampton..  The Leibermans own many of the best boutique hotels in Miami. www.southbeachgroup.com, and Diane owns her own real estate company www.sbirealty.com, so as you can imagine, they have a  truly beautiful home with a large kitchen, built perfectly for
entertaining.  This past Sunday, Diane decided to have a few friends over for brunch and I volunteered to help of course!  While most friends would be at the pool or on the tennis courts, I am
happiest cooking.

The Liebermans have a very functional kitchen.  They usually have house guests every weekend and keep their two huge fridges packed with food. SO different from my tiny kitchen in NYC and so much easier to experiment and enjoy the process in.

For Brunch, Alan and Diane and I created a menu.  The last time I stayed with them on July 4th, they had a huge brunch with 200 guests and scrambled eggs to order.  This weekend I decided to make two different kinds of frittatas: one with shitaki, asparagus and goat cheese, and the other with zucchini, onions and cheddar.  Frittatas are elegant, can be made ahead of time and there are so many different varieties.  You can use your vegetable garden and fresh herbs and use up all of those left overs from the weekend.

I also poached two Salmons, using some amazing soy ginger glaze that Alan had bought and mixing it with red wine.  I cooked them at 500 degrees for 20 mins and they came out perfectly tender and still pink inside.

Diane made a beautiful fruit salad, her chocolate chip banana bread and cooked loads of turkey bacon, and Alan put together a Smoked Salmon platter with bagels and all the fixings.  There was a lot of food and some very happy guests…including myself.  

Though I am not a big dessert maker, I decided to top the brunch off with my classic recipe for warm peach, plum and blueberry Brown Betty.  This was, of course, the highlight for everybody with even an inkling of a sweet tooth, and because I love it so much, and hardly ever make desserts, I have attached a photo by photo recipe of how to make this fabulous desert because it is so versatile and easy to make…and is always such a big hit.

Please enjoy!

Brunch Menu

2 Frittatas:

Shitake, Asparagus and Goat Cheese

Zucchini, Onions and Cheddar

Poached Salmon with Ginger Soy Glaze

Cucumber, Dill and Red Onion Salad

Bagels, Locks and Cream Cheese

Sliced Watermelon and Canteloupe

Breads, Butter and Jams

Peach, Plum and Blueberry Brown Betty

With Vanilla ice Cream

Diane’s Chocolate Chip and Banana Bread

Recipe For Brown Betty!

Serves 8-12

6 medium ripe peaches

8 ripe plums

2 cups blueberries

6 tablespoons maple syrup

Juice of one lemon

2 teaspoons lemon zest

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon ground cinammon

Crunchy Oat Topping, chilled

2 pints vanilla ice cream

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.

Cut the fruit into small sections and  place into an oven proof …… baking dish,

Toss the fruit with the maple syrup, lemon juice and zest.  Sprinkle on the all purpose flour and toss again.

Add the vanilla and the cinnamon.

With the tines of a fork, break up the largest lumps of topping.

Spoon the topping mixture evenly over the fruit,.using it all.

Set the dish in the oven and bake until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is browned

and crispy.. about 35 to 45 minutes.  Set on a rack for at least 10 minutes.

Serve hot, warm or cold with vanilla ice cream.

Crunchy Oat Topping

This all purpose topping can be prepared a day or two in advance and kept in the fridge till ready to use.  Or freeze for months and then let thaw in the fridge until ready to use.

1 1/3 cup golden brown sugar

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1 cup old fashioned( not quick cooking) rolled oats

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup walnut pieces

¼ teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons chilled  unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

In a food processor, combine the brown sugar, flour, rolled oats, cinnamon, walnuts and salt.  Pulse to blend. Scatter the butter over the oat mixture and process until a soft, crumbly and lumpy cookie like dough forms. Cover and refrigerate.  Use directly from the fridge.

Final Product:

Voila!

Hello fello food enthusiasts. 

So…, I love cooking on Sunday nights.  It’s kind of a ritual that I have actually. I’ve noticed that many people are eating in more frequently these days to save money, and even though the economic state of the world is WAY less than ideal to say the least…it’s at least nice to know that families are getting back to the basics of home cooking, togetherness and nourishing times together.  And then there’s the simple truth that cooking at home can be healthier than eating out.  You use less fats and oils and if you choose to, you can cook with organic ingredients as well. 

 Whether I am cooking for somebody else, or just for myself, Sunday evening is usually a regular recipe testing, food experimenting evening for me…AND, I try to make WAY too much food so that I have leftovers for the rest of the week as well.  This past Sunday I happened to be cooking for some special friends of mine, and thought I would take a risk and try to perfect my Cioppino recipe with a gorgeous and tasty winter salad.  For those who don’t know “Cioppino” is a seafood stew derived from Italian origins.

It was developed in the late 1800s by Italian fishermen who settled in the North Beach section of San Francisco. Originally it was made on the boats while out at sea and later became a staple as Italian restaurants proliferated in San Francisco. It was made with the catch of the day and any leftovers. On Sunday,  I used a variety of seafood… scallops, shrimp, calamari, red snapper and mussels.   This is a perfect Sunday meal… as you can make the base ahead and then add the seafood at the last moment. You can also make it as spicy as you’d like, and I add red chili flakes.  I like spicy food so my Ciopinno was on the hotter side…very delicious in my opinion.  This rich stew/soup tastes tangy and spicy and you could actually choose to serve it over pasta if you’d like. 

Since it’s a one dish meal.. I simply served it with a salad, and last night.. I used soft sweet butter lettuce and spicy arugula and added sliced red onions, cherry tomatoes, radishes, walnuts, steamed haricots verts and gorgonzola dolce.My guests were very happy with the meal.   

Here is the my Cioppino Recipe:  

Ciopppino 

Serve 6 

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, diced

6 small carrots, peeled and diced

5 stalks celery, diced

6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 can whole peeled tomatoes with their juices

2 tablespoons. tomato paste

1 cup white wine

2 8 oz bottles clam juice

1 t dried oregano, crushed

4-5 sprigs fresh thyme

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

!/2 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley 

½ pound mussels, cleaned and de bearded

½ pound large sea scallops cut in half

½ pound rock shrimp

½ pound regular shrimp peeled

½ pound squid. body( cut into rings) and tentacles

¾ pound red snapper or other white fish..cut into large chunks 

Toasted bread for dunking 

In a large casserole ( I love Le Creuset), heat 3 Tablespoons olive oil until hot and then

add onions, carrots and celery and  sauté for 5-6 minutes.. Add the garlic and sauté for another 3 minutes.  Add tomatoes, white wine and clam juice, oregano, thyme and red pepper flakes.. salt and pepper to taste.

Let simmer on top of the stove for about 20 minutes.

Add in all the seafood, cover and let seafood cook until just tender about 5-7 minutes. 

Garnish with chopped fresh parsley and serve with olive oil croutons to dip into the broth.  

Serve immediately.

For my list of last weeks happenings: please check out my “Happenings” page