The Art of Food

Food Revolution Day was a success! We did Farmer’s Market Kids’ Kitchen and Cooking Demos in the morning and then headed over to the Santa Monica Festival to do some more Kids’ Kitchen and Demos.

Great turn out! Great conversation with great people looking to eat better. Get the word out!

Read the Santa Monica Journal’s article about us here!

So proud of us, Jamie would be too!

Xoxo,

Marina

I'm a Food Revolution Day Ambassador for Los Angeles →

I was chosen to be one of the Ambassadors for the LA area for Food Revolution Day on May 19th! I’m so excited to be part of this and to see where we can take it. Stay tuned for the goings on!

Shrimp and Avocado with Marie Rose Sauce (Recipe by Jamie Oliver, Jamie’s Revolution pg. 31)

Ingredients:

1 ripe avocado
1 large handful of watercress or alfalfa
all-purpose flour
1/2 pound large shrimp, peeled and cleaned
olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon paprika

For Marie Rose sauce:

1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons tomato ketchup
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon whiskey (I used Maker’s Mark)
1 lemon
salt and pepper

To Make:

Cut avocado in half, pit and scoop out of skin
Put a handful of flour into a bowl. Add shrimp and coat.
Make your sauce by adding in a bowl; mayonnaise, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and whiskey. Squeeze juice of half the lemon in. Sprinkle in salt and pepper. Stir everything together.
Heat up a large pan on high. Add a good amount of oil.
Bash the garlic with your hand or the edge of the knife and add to the pan.
Drop in your shrimp. I also reduce heat at this point to medium-high.
Cook for a few minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and a dash of paprika.
Flip shrimp. Do not crowd the shrimp. It should cook in one layer in the pan.
When the shrimp have turned pink and have curled up, they’re done.
Dish them on a plate, add a handful of alfalfa or watercress, your avocado half, and a wedge of the remaining lemon half and drizzle everything with a bit of olive oil. If you want to spice it up, add a sprinkle of paprika.
Enjoy!

Where I would like my interview series to take me →

While this interview with my favorite chef, Jamie Oliver, is not one of my own, it is where I’m hoping my involvement in food will get me. I have dreamed of being able to talk to and work with Mr Oliver for years now and hopefully, somehow, that dream will become a reality. After all, he’s already signed my cookbook. ;)

Classic Tomato Soup (Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution pg. 133)

This soup is so easy to make. It takes maybe half an hour and it’s very good. You can make it by recipe and add cream later. Or cheese, as I’ve done.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

2 carrots
2 celery stalks
2 medium onions
2 cloves of garlic
1 3/4 quarts chicken or vegetable broth
olive oil
2 x 14 oz cans of plum tomatoes
6 large ripe tomatoes
small bunch of fresh basil
salt and pepper

To make:

Peel and roughly slice carrots
Slice celery
Peel and roughly chop onions
Peel and slice garlic
Put broth in small saucepan and heat until boiling
Put large pot on medium heat, add 2 tablespoons olive oil
Add all chopped veg and mix with wooden spoon
Cook for 10 mins with lid askew, until onions are golden and carrots are soft
Add boiling broth to pot along with canned and fresh tomatoes
Stir, bring to boil
Reduce heat and simmer for 10 mins with lid on
Remove from heat, add basil, good pinches of salt and pepper
Use immersion blender to pulse soup until smooth
Taste for proper seasoning, season if needed
Serve

So easy, so good, so Autumn! Yumm. :)

Spicy Moroccan Stewed Fish with Couscous (Recipe by Jamie Oliver, Jamie’s Food Revolution pg. 26)

This one goes quick, start to finish; less than 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 cup quick couscous
olive oil
2 lemons
s & p
2 cloves garlic
1 chile
fresh basil
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds (Modified: 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 x 6-oz white fish
1/2 lb shrimp
1 x 14-oz can diced tomatoes
2 handfuls frozen bean mixture (Modified: Veg mixture is good too, mine had corn)

To make:

In bowl, combine juice of 1 lemon, couple tbls olive oil, couscous, s&p
Pour just enough boiling water to cover the mixture, let stand covered for 10 mins
In skillet, on medium heat, add finely sliced garlic, chile, roughly chopped basil, cumin, and cinnamon, stir.
Add fish on top, scatter over with shrimp.
Add canned tomatoes and frozen veg handful.
Add juice of remaining lemon.
Cover and bring to boil.
Turn heat down and simmer for 8 mins, until fish is flakey.
Taste, season with s&p
Serve with couscous.
EAT!

At Jamie’s Italian for my birthday in London. Prawn linguini with arugula. Delicious.

I’m really glad the food was up to my expectations. I was fully prepared to not like it and have all my ideals of Jamie shattered but damn did Jamie’s Italian deliver. Not to mention, the “World’s Best Olives” really are the world’s best olives!

Bacon-wrapped cod with curry-spiced baked potato. And of course, white wine. :)

Recipe by Jamie Oliver. Food Revolution pg. 256.

If you’ve ever had beef wellington, you know that it is one of the more delicious dishes that uses all the “common” ingredients of a typical kitchen. Jamie Oliver’s Beef Wellington goes above and beyond. Whenever I make it, everyone who eats it can’t get enough. Try it and you won’t be disappointed. :)

Ground Beef Wellington (by Jamie Oliver, Food Revolution pg. 156)

Ingredients:

1 medium onion
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
1 potato
2 cloves of garlic
2 portobello mushrooms
olive oil
4 sprigs of fresh rosemary (modified: I only use 2)
a big handful of frozen peas
1 large egg
1 pound ground beef
sea salt and pepper
all-purpose flour
2 sheets puff pastry (Modified: I only use 1)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Peel/chop onion, carrot, celery, and potato into 1/4-inch dices
finely grate garlic
Clean and roughly chop mushrooms, about the same size of other veggies
Put all veggies into large frying pan on medium low heat with 2 lugs of olive oil
Pick rosemary leaves, finely chop, and add to pan.
Fry and stir for 8 mins, until veggies are lightly colored
Add frozen peas and cook for another minute
Put vegetable mixture into a large bowl to cool completely (Tip: I usually put this bowl into the fridge to speed it up a bit)
Crack the egg into a cup and beat it up
Add ground beef to the veggie mixture with a good pinch of salt and pepper and half the beaten egg
Using your hands, scrunch and mix well.

Assembling:

Lightly dust a clean work surface
Roll out the pastry into a 12x16 rectangle, don’t overwork the dough
Place ground beef mixture along the edge, lengthwise
Mold into an even, long sausage shape
Brush edges of pastry with a little beaten egg
Roll the ground beef up in the pastry until you have a Christmas cracker
Squeeze ends together and brush the remaining egg all over the Wellington
Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour

Serve:

Slice it up
Serve with Cherry Tomato, Caper, and Balsamic Sauce
Enjoy!! :D

Listen up everyone! I know I’m slightly late in delivering the most amazing news ever but here goes; Jamie Oliver has been recommissioned to do another series for Food Revolution on ABC! Only this time, he’s coming to L.A!

And who just happens to live in L.A now? Me! It is my goal to get on the crew of this show in order to witness the action first-hand. I have been a fan of Jamie’s since I was 14. Nothing will stand in the way of me getting the chance to work with one of the culinary geniuses of our time.

Watch out L.A! Marina is on a mission.

Macaroni and Cauliflower Cheese Bake (Jamie Oliver in Jamie’s Food Revolution, pg. 49)

Ingredients:

1/2 head cauliflower
Modified addition: 1/2 head broccoli
8 oz Cheddar cheese
4 oz Parmesan cheese
small bunch fresh parsley
sea salt
1 lb dried macaroni
1 cup sour cream

To make:

Cut head of cauliflower and broccoli into small florets
Grate cheeses into large heatproof bowl
Finely chop parsley
Cook macaroni according to package along with cauliflower and broccoli in the same pot
Place bowl of cheese over the pot and add sour cream
Stir cheese carefully and often until smooth and melted
Add parsley to cheese and season with S&P
Remove cheese bowl from top of saucepan
Drain macaroni and veg in colander and reserve cooking water
Transfer pasta and veg into baking dish
Add the cheese
Add 2/3 cup of cooking water to baking dish and stir everything together
Place under broiler until golden and bubbling.