What I Cooked On My Summer Vacation

I made it out to San Francisco last month for a fantastic week long vacation. I stayed with my friends Jeannette and David and spent most of my time eating very, very well. This is the first of two posts discussing the wonderful things I consumed on that trip.

This post shows off some of the work that David and I did in the kitchen during my time there.

Next time I'll show you what we dined on at San Francisco and Napa's wonderful restaurants.

Thursday David and I walked through the Ferry Building and picked up a whole striped bass that we grilled in their garden. We stuffed it with a bunch of herbs he had lying around the house and served it over papparadelle that we made from scratch.

For the record, the striped bass started it

I had never made pasta before, so this was an enlightening experience. I enjoyed the process so much that I have since purchased my own pasta machine.

On top of the fish and pasta, we tossed in some fresh veggies that we bought at the Ferry Building's farmer's market. We also made a sauce from fresh corn and milk that worked beautifully with the pasta and morels, if not the fish or veggies. See the results of our work below.

Mise En Place - Morels, Carrots, Snap Peas, Wax Beans

Striped Bass, Flat Leaf Parsley, Hysop, Thyme, Rosemary

David rolling out the pasta sheets

Fresh Corn Sauce

Trust me, there's a striped bass in there somewhere

The finished product - Whole Roasted Striped Bass over Home Made Pappardelle, Morels, Carrots, Sugar Snap Peas, Wax Beans

On my last day in town, David and I put on a brunch for about 20 of his friends. I got to play sous chef and waiter, and it was a blast seeing everyone enjoy themselves (and the food) so much.

Here's what we made: