Click on image for a photoset of 9 additional images (including one shot taken with my point and shoot camera)

I’ve also used peaches the same way - the firmer ones work well. Just cut your peach or your nectarine into thin wedges or thick slices - and add them to your beef stir fry.

As in most of my stir fry recipes, this recipe for Stir Fried Beef and Nectarines will instruct you to fry the beef first, then removing it from the pan and then adding it back in later. This helps give the beef room to fry (too many ingredients in the wok and you’ll end up steaming your beef, not frying) and to give it a nice sear without overcooking it. If you use flank steak, make sure you slice ACROSS the grain to get tender meat.

Hmmm…I bet canned lychees would be great in this recipe too!

Stir Fried Beef and Nectarines

2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon + 1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 pound beef (top sirloin, flank, eye of round) cut into 1/8″ slices
1/2 red onion, sliced into thin wedges
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 nectarine, cut into thin wedges or 1″ chunks
1 tablespoon oyster sauce

In a bowl, combine the soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch, black pepper and the 1 teaspoon of cooking oil. Add the beef slices and mix to coat well. Let marinate 10 minutes at room temperature or up to overnight in the refrigerator.

Heat a wok or large fry pan over high heat until a bead of water sizzles and evaporates upon contact. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and swirl to coat.

Add the beef slices to the wok in a single layer, laying out the slices all around the surface of the wok or pan. Fry 30 seconds, flip and fry another 30 seconds to 1 minute, depending on thickness of your steak, until just cooked through. Dish out, keeping as much sauce and oil in the wok as possible.

Turn the heat to medium and add the red onions and the garlic. Fry for 1 minute. Add the nectarine slices and let those get nice and warm, about 1 minute. Add the beef back into the wok, add the oyster sauce and toss to coat.

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Other recipes you might enjoy:

Fried Green Tomato Salad with Sweet Chili Dressing

Shitake and Cognac Faux Gras

Beef Congee (Rice Porridge) + PBS Show

(click on the above for 11 more step-by-step food photography shots of the Broccoli Beef Recipe)

After moving out of the dorms in college, I found an apartment to share with 3 others. My job was to cook, and as long as what I put out on the dinner table was better than instant ramen, I didn’t have to clean the kitchen or vacuum. A mighty fine trade of labor, if you ask me! But then pretty soon, friends of roommates discovered my cooking talent and would conveniently drop by at around 7pm….(read the rest plus my Broccoli Beef recipe over at Simply Recipes where I’m a monthly guest writer)

But if you’re interested in food photography, I’ve posted 11 more photos of the Broccoli Beef- you’ll see how important white balance is and also different light source.

Oh and I have a big WTF bone to pick about my local election ballot…

This many double negatives should be illegal

Yesterday morning, Scott and I dropped the kids off at school and then headed over to our local voting place - which was at a church.* I had been so focused mesmerized hypnotized by all the media focus on the presidential election that I totally, absolutely neglected backyard politics, which was even NASTIER mudslinging than any other election. My bad, but hey, I’m admitting it, okay?

So, in true high school style of cramming for test right before the bell rings, I read over my sample ballot. I quickly made my decisions on the local politicians and then get to the constitutional amendments:

NO. 3
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
ARTICLE VII, SECTIONS 3 AND 4
ARTICLE XII, NEW SECTION
Changes and Improvements Not
Affecting the Assessed Value of
Residential Real Property
Authorizes the Legislature, by
general law, to prohibit
consideration of changes or
improvements to residential real
property which increase resistance
to wind damage and installation of
renewable energy source devices
as factors in assessing the
property’s value for ad valorem
taxation purposes. Effective upon
adoption, repeals the existing
renewable energy source device
exemption no longer in effect.

YES

NO

Someone slap me with a rotted buffalo leg! WTF was that again? How in the world does an average American understand that language?**

It’s as if someone took those word magnets, jumbled them all up and a team of highly paid business analysts crowded all around the the refrigerator and started stringing random words together. Except, instead of the original or naughty or religious version of the word magnets, they chose to use the box that was called “Bullshit Generator.”

*whatever happened to separation of church and state!?

**I’d like to think I’m a pretty average American, but I could be delusional

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Don’t forget to enter drawing for free Steak Tasting Kit!

Artisan Steak Tasting

Other delicious recipes you might like:

Roasted Baby Eggplant with Caponata Sauce

Ground Beef with Beijing Sauce Over Noodles

Asian Lettuce Cups with Ground Turkey & Green Apple

Fried Egg with Oyster Sauce and Chili: 3am Haiku

(click on the above photo for a slideshow of 11 photos with food photography/styling commentary)

While at Club Med Ixtapa, I ate more chips, salsa mexicana and guacamole than possible for a person my size. A big plate like this accompanied almost every single one of my meals - breakfast, lunch and midnight snack. It was like the best ever and I bet friends Kate, Kim, Diane and my bro Jay would say the exact same thing. In fact, I bet my bottom dollar that they are all experiencing salsa and guacamole withdrawal syndromes since our trip.

But fear no more, my comrades. Club Med Corporate Chef Erik emailed me the recipe for Club Med Salsa Mexicana and Guacamole. These photos were taken at Club Med, the day that I left, Chef Erik and I staged an impromptu photo shoot.

Okay, I know what ya’ll are saying, “how many more frickin’ times are you going to write about your Club Med trip?!”

It’s kinda like winning the lottery and waving the cash right in front of your face, taunting you with tales and pictures of all the stuff I’m buying with my millions.

I’m so cruel.

Go ahead, EGG MY WEBSITE just to get that frustration out!!

Club Med Ixtapa’s Guacamole

The perfect complement for tortilla chips and cold cervezas.

3 ripe avocados
1 plum tomato, diced
1/4 cup finely diced onion
1/2 serrano pepper, finely diced
1/2 lime, freshly squeezed
Salt and pepper, to taste

Peel and pit the avocados. Leave the pits in the bowl; this is a Mexican secret to help slow the oxidation process. Gently mash. Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Mix with a wooden or plastic spatula, for best results, mix by hand. Serve immediately or keep in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours. Either way, just before serving, squeeze a fresh lime on top of the guacamole to slow the oxidation process.

Makes 4 servings.

Club Med Ixtapa’s Salsa Mexicana

This is also called pico de gallo, and this is Club Med’s version of it, called Salsa Mexicana.

I personally enjoy adding chopped cilantro to the Salsa Mexicana, and you can include if you enjoy the taste.

2 large tomatoes (about 1 pound), cored and diced in 1/4-inch pieces
1/4 cup finely diced red onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper, finely minced (leave the seeds in for extra spice; scrape them out for a milder salsa)
1 small clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Toss all ingredients in a small bowl and let stand at least 1/2 hour before serving.

The salsa can be made and refrigerated up to a day in advance. Drain off excess liquid and season to taste with salt before serving.

Makes 4 servings.

(click on photo for a set of 9 additional step-by-step photos on how I got this money shot)

While I love to make my own pizza or flatbread dough from scratch, sometimes I just don’t feel like getting my hands all messy with dough. I cheat a lot and buy packaged flatbreads from the supermarket and throw them on the grill or under the broiler for a quick pizza. One of my favorite fall recipes is Warm Fig, Apple and Gorgonzola Flatbreads, briefly grilled on our barbeque grill.

The creamy gorgonzola with specks of blue-black cheese melts, the warmed slices of Granny Smith Apples and wedges of juicy figs cradle the shaved slices of Parmegiano-Reggiano. But we’re not done with it yet, sweet, sensual honey drapes each slice, some oozing over the edge, onto your fingers.

Feeling a little lightheaded and in need of a glass of wine with that description of Warm Fig, Apple and Gorgonzola Flatbread!

By the way, I know you’re gonna ask…that beautiful knife is from New West KnifeWorks Fusionwood line. LOVELOVELOVE it.

This was a bitch to photograph by myself - and I wanted to give you my step-by-step photography of the Warm Fig, Apple and Gorgonzola Flatbread…

I’m showing you photos before I used Photoshop, so that you can see before and after. I shoot in RAW with my Canon 40D and I used the 60mm macro lens to get nice, sharp closeups. I generally use Photoshop to sharpen, lighten the photo and increase the saturation just a bit to make the colors and detail really pop. I know many of you don’t have Photoshop (it’s expensive) but you can do the same in Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 ($99); and even in Flickr they have free online tools to help you lighten and increase saturation of your photos. I know Adobe has a free online editing tool…but can’t find it at the moment…if you find, will you please let me know?

I always try to fiddle with the photo and camera settings to take the perfect shot, which minimizes my use of software to touch up. But sometimes, the lighting is not just right or my white balance is a bit off and I’ll need to adjust. There’s nothing wrong with doing that, every single professional photographer does some sort of touch up, and it’s generally sharpening and color correction.

Here’s my before and after:

I’d love to show you what I do in Photoshop (it does make a big difference in the picture, but since so few of you have this software, I’ll have wait until I buy a copy of Photoshop Elements so that the tutorial is more relevant to more people.

In the meantime, here’s my step-by-step slideshow of how I got to my money-shot!

Oh yes, please enjoy the recipe for Warm Fig, Apple and Gorgonzola Flatbread

***

Warm Fig, Apple and Gorgonzola Flatbread Recipe

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 8-inch round flatbreads
4 ounces crumbled gorgonzola cheese
1 apple, cored and sliced very thinly
8 ripe figs, cut into 6 wedges each
2 ounces Parmegiano-Reggiano, shaved with vegetable peeler
2 tablespoons honey

Preheat your grill, half direct heat. Brush olive oil on top of each flatbread, especially the edges. Assemble flatbreads with gorgonzola, apples and figs.

Grill flatbreads over direct heat for 3 minutes, until the bottoms are toasted and browned. Then move to indirect heat and close cover for 3 minutes to finish melting the cheese and warming the fruit.

If broiling, set your rack to upper 1/3 position. Grill flatbreads without the toppings for 2 minutes to just get them nice and toasty. Then layer on the olive oil, gorgonzola, apples and figs and return to oven for 4 to 6 minutes until cheese has melted and fruit is warmed through.

Sprinkle shaved Parmegiano-Reggiano and drizzle honey on top.
Serves 4 to 6 as appetizer or dessert.

***

Free Artisan Steak Tasting Package!

Please don’t forget to enter in the free drawing for Artisan Steak Tasting Package!! If you haven’t read it, this is one of the most interesting things I’ve ever done - tasted 6 different steaks from small ranchers and included tasting notes, breed, diet, region etc. The tasting kit includes 4 different artisan steaks so you can do your own tasting.

I’m currently in Mexico at the beautiful ClubMed Ixtapa resort with my good friend, Diane of WhiteOnRiceCouple and my brother. It would be silly to call this a “work trip,” since we’ve done more relaxing, napping, eating and drinking than actually working, but I guess that’s the whole point of ClubMed, right? They’re hosting us for a wonderful Food and Wine festival and I’ll be posting more when I return. In the meantime, enjoy this recipe for Grilled Fish Tacos with Roasted Corn and Pepitas.

***

All my friends from “not-Florida” and are gushing about their cozy Fall dishes, how it’s time to break out the dutch oven and that finally, they can start wearing boots without looking like a summer fashion faux-pas. And I’m just here loungin’ in my swimsuit, sipping iced tea, toes dangling a $3 flip-flop and beaming from ear to ear, gently shaking my head.

Don’t get me wrong, I love long braises and warming stews, but Fall is just starting to breeze in and it’s still too damn hot to turn my kitchen into a sauna. Fall is finally grilling time. Oh, sure, we grill plenty during the summer, but pity the poor person with grilling duty outside in the middle of the sweltering, suffocating summer heat, which usually is my husband. It’s worse especially when we have a dinner party and I have to hand him his sunglasses, hat, sunscreen and a mountainous platter of foods to be grilled.

I get the glare. He heads outside.

And then we air-conditioned folks feel all guilty for leaving the lone man outside (but not guilty enough to join him), huddle right in front of the patio sliding glass door and give him the occasional smile-nod and thumbs up to make him feel like he’s still part of the party.

Fall is time when that dinner party heads outside, guests hover around the smoking grill, husbands gets the congratulatory slaps on the back, beers are passed around and all is well and dandy. That is…until I am forced back inside the very lonely kitchen to finish off a dish on the stovetop that couldn’t be grilled and to assemble that salad last minute so it can be served chilled.

My husband strolls towards the glass door, entourage behind him, raises his drink towards me and smirks.

***

Grilled Fish Tacos with Roasted Corn and Pepitas Recipe

Buy firm fleshed fish at leat 3/4″ thick, otherwise the fish will come apart on the grill. If using thinner fillets, cook the fish in a frying pan. You can still stay outdoors - just use your frying pan directly on the grill grates. To prevent the fish from sticking to the grill grates, make sure your grates get a good scrubbing. You can also pour a little oil on a wad of paper towels and wipe on the grates. The fish will be coated in some olive oil to also prevent sticking. This recipe was inspired by Jim of The Lucky Pelican in Lakewood Ranch, where I had the best fish tacos outside of San Diego.

Recyclable plates made of pressed fallen leaves from Verterra. These biodegradable plates are so cool - they are oven, microwave and dishwasher safe. Time.com has a slideshow on how they are made.

1 1/2 pounds firm fleshed fish fillet, 3/4 inch thick (I like grouper or mahi-mahi)
3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 ear corn, shucked
1 large tomato, 1/4″ dice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
8 corn tortillas
1/2 cabbage, shredded
2 limes, cut into wedges
1/4 cup pepitas or roasted pumpkin seeds

For the sauce (stir together)
1 cup light sour cream
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon ancho chili powder (substitute with regular chili powder)

Preheat your outdoor grill. Cut the fish into 8 thick strips, about 1″ wide x 4″. You’ll be using 1 fish fillet per taco, 2 tacos per person. On a plate or bowl, toss the fish with the garlic salt, paprika and olive oil. Brush a bit of the oil onto the corn on the cob. Grill the corn on the grill over direct heat, rotating a few times.

Three minutes after starting the corn, it’s time to grill the fish for 2-4 minutes each side, depending on thickness of the fish. During the last 2 minutes of grilling, throw the corn tortillas on the grill, flipping halfway. The corn, fish and tortillas should be ready around the same time.

Use a serrated knife to cut the kernals off the cob. Toss with the tomato, salt and cilantro. Assemble tacos with cabbage, a piece of fish, a spoonful of sauce, grilled corn/tomato, a squeeze of lime and a sprinkling of pepitas.

Serves 4