Bruce's Chile and Spice Rub

Last summer when grilling season was in full swing I pulled out my Bobbie Flay cookbooks and used them as inspiration for quite a few meals. I was impressed by the bold flavors and spice combinations. We used his recipes as a starting point for our own creations.
Yes, I said, OUR. As always when grilling is involved, the man of the house becomes quickly interested in dinner preparation, as he is the expret on the proper execution of a barbecued meal.
When the holidays rolled around I was looking for a simple but fabulous food gift for friends and family. A spice rub came to mind and I began my research to create something tasty and inspired. I pulled out an article from 1995 that I had clipped from Bon Appetit. It had a few different spice mixtures I thought were interesting 13 years ago. But now they seemed tired and had no WOW factor.
So Bobby Flay's books came out again and we revisited his Ancho chile and coffee rubbed steaks recipe. I went to Penzey's spice store and bought a whole bunch of corriander seed, cumin seeds, ancho chile powder, chipotle chile powder and a few other interesting bits.
I came home with my treasures and Bruce and I went to work mixing up a huge batch of spice mix. We toasted all the spices that were whole seeds, which quickly filled the house with a
pungent, acrid spice smell and put us in the mood to create. We ground them finely using my old coffee grinder that had been sacrificed to the exotic aromas of spices years ago.
I found some whole cane sugar which had a wonderful earthiness to it. We pulled out my Illy ground espresso beans. Now we were ready to mix.
The ingredients are listed below from most to least used, but the amounts should be adjusted according to your own taste.
Like it spicy? Add more ancho chile powder.
Love garlic? Pour the garlic powder freely!
Need some smokiness? Use a little more ground chipotle chile.
If sweet is your thing, be heavy handed with the sugar.

The intensity of the flavors as well as the smoky / coffee flavor lend themselves to beef, but pork could handle it too! Just be sure to rub a crushed clove of garlic all over your meat before liberally coating it with the rub.

Enjoy!

Bruce's Chile and Spice Rub

Ingredients:
Coriander Seed
Cumin Seed
Whole Cane Sugar
Espresso Beans
Ground Chipotle Chile
Ancho Chile Powder
Sea Salt
Granulated Garlic
Ground Black Pepper

The Persimmon Salad

This salad recipe comes from a long time friend, Becky who has hosted the annual holiday party for our women's group for the past few years. I had never eaten a persimmon salad before. I had eaten persimmons fresh, in cakes and baked goods, jams and preserves, but never in a salad. This salad has a lot going on with really very few ingredients and none too exotic. I don't know it's origins, ethnicity or from which culture it came. I believe Becky said it came from a Sunset magazine article. During last year's party she served it using walnuts instead of pecans and walnut oil in the dressing. It maters not where it came. It's a great salad.

Fuyu persimmons are available from fall through most of the winter. Pick pale orange ones that are firm to the touch, the dark more red ones are more mushy and not as good in a salad.
Enjoy!

Persimmon Salad

(as served at Yolanda's holiday party for the Latin Va girls)

Ingredients

7 Fuyu persimmons
1 Bunch cilantro
1/2 Pomegranate
2 Limes
3 Tablespoons Avocado oil (or Olive oil)
1 Teaspoon Ground Cumin
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cayenne Pepper
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Cup Roasted Pecans (toast in a hot dry skillet until fragrant)
1 Head of Romaine lettuce

Method

Peel and cut the tops off the persimmons. Cut into bite size pieces. Put into a large bowl.

Wash and dry the cilantro. Remove the leaves and chop fine. Sprinkle it over the persimmons in the bowl.

In a bowl of water, cut the pomegranate in half and gently pull it apart and remove the seeds from one half. Remove any white membrane from between the seeds. Collect the seeds, place on a paper towel to drain a bit and then put them in the bowl as well.

Squeeze the lime juice into a small bowl and then add the cumin, Cayenne, salt and oil. Whisk with a fork.

Pour the dressing over the persimmons and gently mix well with a large spoon. Taste for salt and add more if necessary.

Core the head of Romaine lettuce and cut into bite size pieces. Chop the toasted pecans into small bits.

Serving

Line a serving bowl with the Romaine lettuce, spoon the salad over the greens, garnish with the chopped pecans.

Slow dinner not slow enough?

The fund raising dinner at Campanile on Sunday night was a rousing success. I believe a lot of money was raised for the Slow Food event in San Francisco in May of 2008.
Two wines, a Pinot Gris as well as a Riesling were poured freely in the fountain entry and the appetizers were passed by tray by the waitstaff who were eager to please. But this didn't seem slow at all to me. It was a press opportunity for some. Alice Waters and Suzanne Goin were hosting questions and being as personable and homey as possible in such a see-and-be-scene town.
For a minimum of $250 per person, guests were romanced by the grilling virtuosity of Mark Peel (found him out front nursing the lamb legs, we remembered him, not so much on his side...), and the seasonal genius of Alice Waters.
She spoke before we were served our main course. For quite a while she spoke. It was inspirational and very informative to people like my husband who have only heard one person espouse the virtues of eating locally and consciously. For me, it was preaching to the choir. I needed a pep talk about how to make Los Angeles county as foodie friendly and as in touch with American culinary heritage as places like San Francisco, Napa, Sonoma, Paso Robles and Temecula.
I had a great dinner. I was happy to participate. But I was craving more. It just wasn't slow enough for me. Maybe I was wrong to expect that?