roasted asparagus

Roasted asparagus with warm sherry and bacon vinaigrette topped with a fried egg, toasted breadcrumbs and shaved manchego cheese is a perfect spring dish.  Early Spring is usually abundant with baby asparagus and roasting them adds a nuttiness to its already sweet flavor.  Roasting asparagus is simple and can be done by using olive oil and salt and pepper.  Start the asparagus in a hot skillet, and finish off in the oven.  

To make the vinaigrette, cook bacon in a saute pan that you have cut into lardons.  Once the lardons become crispy, pour off all but a tablespoon of bacon fat.  Add diced shallots, garlic and sherry vinegar. Adjust seasoning with salt, add chopped parsley and toss with asparagus.  

Plate dressed asparagus and top with a fried egg, toasted breadcrumbs and shaved manchego cheese.  

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carmel apples

Even though lady apple season is during the fall, today is cold and grey and reminded me of a carmel apple recipe Daniel made during the holidays.  French ladies would carry them in their purses for their sweet floral aroma.  

Daniel started with 4 dozen lady apples, and put skewers vertically through the core.  Next he dipped the apples into a Guinness carmel sauce.  After melting 4 cups of sugar in a heavy bottomed sauce pan, he mixed in the Guinness and two tablespoons of butter, along with a pinch of salt.  

 

Allow the carmel to set slightly on greased parchment paper.  While still slightly warm, roll or dip your apples in your desired toppings.  Daniel used toasted hazel nuts and applewood smoked bacon with micro mint garnish for his, but you can use chocolate chips, popcorn, honey oats, or anything you can think of.

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it's the weekend!!

Every Saturday and Sunday we make a BIG breakfast and relax with lots of coppee.  We usually make one of two things, breakfast burritos or poached eggs.  When we make poached eggs we normally serve them with english muffins and goat cheese.  We add either homemade salsa and bacon, or prosciutto.   Salt, pepper and olive oil top it all off.  Messy...but so good.

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culinary trends

Daniel constantly makes revisions to his recipes, especially as the seasons change.  He was approached by Culinary Trends, an industry magazine, to be a featured chef in an article about ancient grains.

They had heard about his scallop dish that was paired with black barley, gypsy peppers, Japanese eggplant, pattypan squash with a sumac vinaigrette and wanted to publish the recipe.  By that time Daniel had already made seasonal changes to the menu, but was asked to create another dish with a similar concept.  The scallop recipe that was featured in Culinary Trends can be accessed here.  

Daniel substitutes the seasons freshest offerings into his recipes, which aides in adding versatilely to his old favorites.   To transition the scallop dish from a more summer feel, Daniel paired the scallops with toasted breadcrumbs, French butter beans, broccolini, mirpox and bacon.  This gave a more hearty and comforting feel to the dish.   

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chicken nuggets

Chicken nuggets, or "chick nugs" are one of my favorite things to make.  I found a chicken nugget recipe awhile back and was recently asked to share the recipe with my bosses wife.  Ah, pressure. Anyway I went to type it up and realized that I had completely misread the recipe.  Trying to impress my bosses wife, I sent her the original recipe.  I made the recipe that night according to the actual directions and was shocked at how different they turned out.  They were dry and not at all like the nugs I had made countless times before.  I jumped back on the computer and sent her my version.

She emailed me a few days later saying her daughter was a very picky eater (she is 14) and that she ate seconds of these little golden nugs.  She absolutely loved them.

Moral of this post, I will be confident in my recipes, and will continue to put my spin on things...intended or not.

14-16 oz (2 large) boneless chicken breast
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons italian breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons panko
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
Olive oil spray

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Trim fat from chicken breast and cut breasts into bite size pieces.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside.

Prepare a cookie sheet with the olive oil spray.

Combine breadcrumbs, panko, parmesan cheese, and olive oil in a large bowl.  Generously bread a few pieces of chicken breast at a time in the dry mixture.  Place the chicken breast on the cookie sheet and spray the top of the chicken nuggets with the olive spray.

Cook for 8 minutes, flip the chicken nuggets, and continue cooking for another 10-12 minutes.

Serve with criss-cut fries or steamed spinach.


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perfect pairing

Waffles, sliced figs and brown sugar and peppered bacon are a prefect pairing.

 

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Comments

Im getting so many emails about the blog, which is awesome, thanks for the encouragement.  If you would like to comment on the posts or follow the blog, become a member!  Either follow the link below or click "Join this site" on the righthand side of the page.

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daniel's (almost) famous

Daniel on TLC's Food Buddha.

http://tlc.discovery.com/videos/food-buddha-one-of-each.html

http://tlc.discovery.com/videos/food-buddha-chicken-pot-pie.html

oatmeal wheat germ and chocolate chip cookies

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups quick oats

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk together flour, wheat germ, salt and baking soda.  Set aside

Mix together butter and both sugars until fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla extract.

Stir flour mixture into butter mixture, follow with oats and chocolate chips.  Cover dough and chill for 1 hour.

Drop teaspoon sized dough onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes or until the edges begin to crisp.  I let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet a few minutes before removing.  

brown sugar and peppered bacon

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turkey and pepper bacon sando

Sandwiches are a staple in our house, and my ability to make a good one is undoubtably one of reasons I hooked Daniel.  Texture is the most important aspect of a good sandwich, which is why I almost always toast my bread. 

Toasted bread, double meat, lettuce, cheddar cheese, tomato, avocado and mustard are the perfect combo.  Delish...just add chips.

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brittany

Im not sure exactly what to expect from this blog. I just needed a space to keep our inspirations and creations.

daniel

Daniel grew up in the northwest and developed a love for coffee, baking and skateboarding (much emphasis on the coffee, or "coppee" as its pronounced in our household).  He is discovering a love for motorcycles and the idea of the open road which I attribute to the dreamer and non-conformer in him, and he can usually be spotted in his grandpa's old flannels.

introductions

My name is Brittany and I make up one half of Ava Rose.  The other half is my soon to be husband, Daniel.

We are getting married in two months, and obviously have been discussing our future a lot more than usual.  Where will we live?  How many kids will we have? What will we do?  There are a few notable things that are constant in these conversations.  One, we want to open a bakery together, and two if we have a daughter we will name her Ava Rose, hence the name of this blog.  No, Im not expecting a baby girl, or any child for that matter, but as we start to imagine this life we are about to create with one another, we would like to have our journey documented so that one day, our daughter Ava can see how much love we put into our life and our family bakery.  And if we dont have a daughter someday, Daniel and I will use this blog to hopefully celebrate the continued success we find in our love together and soon...our business.

Daniel is an extremely talented chef who has worked at some of the greatest restaurants in SF.  And no, Im not exaggerating.  Daniel has fine tuned his craft at Foreign Cinema, Greens, Blue Barn, Tipsy Pig and Umami.  Daniel is lucky enough to love what he does, and even more lucky to be great at what he does.  Daniel's passion for food has undoubtably rubbed off on me.  Obviously its easy to love food, but its another to be passionate about food.  He has been in magazines, newspapers, and even t.v., none of which he would ever want me to tell you.  Where we really connect however is baking.  Baking is what gave Daniel his start in the culinary world, and am finding that one of my favorite things to do is open a beer (or three) and just bake.