Relish Cooking

We are blessed to live in a community so rich in color, life and beauty! This season, by mixing a few local “ingredients” into your entertaining you can warm up any Holiday table with a unique yet simple style.

Thick, leafy oak, olive and maple branches (fresh or dried) make beautiful centerpieces when paired with rustic baskets of bread and little pots of herbed butter nestled into to the arborous twinings. Tuck in a few tapered candles and a perfect Coto Valley table is ready to set, inside or out!

For edible elegance in each basket, these simple recipes will add beauty and flavor to any loaf, whether home-baked or store-bought. Start by dressing up simple, fresh-as-possible breads with the following recipes, then place in an oven preheated to 275 for 8-12 minutes, just long enough to bake the toppings onto the crust and warm the inside so steam rises when the crust is cracked.

Sweeten a simple loaf of French bread or baguette by brushing crushed dried lavender (you know you grow it on your hillside!) and a little melted butter over the top. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine 3 Tbsp. butter, and one Tbsp. each of mild goat cheese, honey and lavender. Mix well then pour, cool and serve in a little bowl.

Hearty loaves like rounds of sourdough call for the savory flavors of sea or kosher salt, fresh cracked white pepper, and equal parts of finely minced fresh rosemary, garlic, crushed edible rosehips and extra virgin olive oil.

A fruit or vegetable bread such as pumpkin or banana bread can’t go wrong with a mixture of a teaspoon each of vanilla, poppy seeds, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper plus one tablespoon each of powdered sugar, cream cheese and unsalted butter. Your spread will consist of exactly the same ingredients, melted together, then cooled in a bowl.

Finally, for this Season’s salt-lovers, such as myself, a nice flat bread or foccacia gets a garnish of a simple brush of olive oil, kosher salt and fresh-cracked pepper and thin slivers of yellow tomatoes laid over the crust (brush olive oil over the tomatoes before going into the oven as well). Then, rather than a butter-based spread, mix 2 Tbsp. each of kalimata olives, capers and artichoke hearts, plus a teaspoon each of olive oil, fresh thyme, white wine vinegar and a dash of kosher salt. Pulse in a blender or food processor until finely minced.

So! On your next early morning walk around the block, soak up the beautiful Coto sun and start snipping for your next soiree!