My Sonoma's Top 5, #MyHometownGuide

    First, thanks to the people at Fiji Water who've sponsored this post. You can participate in the #myhometown competition by submitting your own photos on Instagram or Twitter with hashtag #myhometownguide.

   I'm so glad to have the opportunity to share my hometown of Sonoma with you! For years we dreamed of living in Sonoma. Every chance Alan and I got, we'd leave our house in Santa Monica, take whatever script we were working on at the time and head north to Wine Country. I grew up 50 miles from here In San Francisco. As a kid, I spent my summers in Sonoma County at the Russian River, a place where nearly every other blue collar family from the city went on vacation. It took me longer to get around to rediscovering  Sonoma however. That happened after my parents moved from San Francisco and bought a house here. Alan and I started coming up for Christmases, and Thanksgiving, and before long we were hooked.

   Since we're screenwriters and have always worked from home, we're fortunate enough to be able to live anywhere with an internet connection. So about 5 years ago, while staring at our office wall in Santa Monica we thought, hey, we can stare at an office wall in Sonoma. It'll be just the same except when we go outside there'll be this:

And this:

It was a total no brainer, we moved. If you're not familiar with it, the town of Sonoma is smack in the heart of California's Wine Country.

It's home to some of the greatest wineries in the world No wonder Sonoma is  the number 1 wine destination in the country. It's not uncommon to find signs like this on the street corners.

Sonomas City Hall is located in the center of the Sonoma Plaza, the largest plaza in the state.

The Plaza is the center of Sonoma and a reminder of my town's start as the capital of Mexico's Alta California, and later the capital of the short lived Bear Flag Republic. You've probably heard Sonoma's  close knit. We like to hang out together, especially at the Tuesday night Farmers Market.

The Natives are friendly.

There's something for everyone.

In short, we're a sleepy little town.

 Yeah, sure we are. One thing's for certain, Sonoma likes to party, and everybody's invited.

   Even though we're known for our wine we're also a foodies paradise. Farm fresh, sustainable agriculture is the name of the game here. Artisanal meats and cheeses, the freshest fruits and vegetables in season because after all, nothing goes better with wine than food. Whenever someone asks  me where to go and what to do here there's always so much, it's hard to narrow things down, but if I had to make a short list here are my Top 5 Places To Go in Sonoma.

#1 The Basque Boulangerie

Because coffee in the morning is about more than coffee, if you get my drift.

Always buzzing, The Basque Boulangerie is the beating heart of Sonoma and the place the locals gather in the morning for Taylor Maid Organic coffee or tea, breakfast and the latest news.

The Boulangerie bakes their own Sonoma County Harvest Fair award winning breads, and lately have even added gluten free breads and pastries to their long list of goodies. They're open from 6 am to 6pm serving breakfast, lunch, coffee, tea, sodas and wines.

I always say every single friend I have in this town I made at the Basque, even before we moved here.The Regulars (I'm one) are friendly and always willing to give a tip to visitors, about their favorite winery or out of the way special place to go, or must see or do event happening at any given time of the year.  So start your day in Sonoma at The Basque.

#2 Sonomas Best

For the best of the Sonoma Valley all gathered together in one place.

Sonoma's Best Historic Market is situated in a 100 year old store on East Napa Street. They curate some of the best culinary items that locals produce. Mustards, olive oils, jams and jellies, they've got them.

You can pick up a sandwich and a bottle of something cold for your biking tour of the valley.

Enjoy their amazing tasting room, voted the Best Place to Buy Wine in Sonoma where
owner Tom Jenkins donates all the money from the wine tasting to Sonomas No Kill Animal Shelter Pets Lifeline.

You can also take home some delicious local CocoaPlanet Chocolate
 for "later".

Speaking of later....next on my list...

#3 The Girl and The Fig

Sonoma's Best Brasserie located on the ground floor of the Sonoma Hotel, vintage 1880. The Girl and the Fig is like a little bit of Paris in the heart of Sonoma with their Salon de Fromage offering the finest cheeses, to the long ornately carved 19th century hotel bar...

...their dining garden...


...but most of all their Hamburger, which I consider the best in town! If you're in Sonoma and want a burger, run do not walk to this place. Get it on their home baked Dutch Crunch Roll, with Cambazola cheese, pickled onions, and either frittes or a side salad, you will not be sorry. Seriously. I promise you. There are also great alternatives there for vegans or vegetarians .

(Photograph by Steven Krause)

 If a Hamburger is not your idea of lunch or you crave something very Sonoma remember this was once the Northern Capital of Mexico which brings me to my next selection.

#4 El Molino Central


   If Mexican food is your thing , and it's most definitely mine you will love this place. First, everyday they stone grind their own organic corn which is grown in Nebraska by Bernard Ferrigan. They're old school, using stones, corn, and water. That's it. If you want to watch, get there at 11:00 am. the public is welcome. Then grab some of those fresh hot tortillas for yourself in the form of tamales...

...and any number of other dishes including their 18 ingredient Oaxacan chicken mole, made from scratch.

Get there early and often!

My personal favorite is the Pumpkin Tamales and the Chicken Mole Poblano Tamales in Banana Leaf. If you're looking for breakfast and want Guajilo Chile Chilaquiles get there before 11:00 am, you won't be sorry. The restaurant is casual, with a large parking lot in front and in back. It has tented outdoor seating with heaters, there is no seating inside. The food can be taken away and there is also a selection of some chilled items to reheat at home.
 And finally

#5 El Dorado Kitchen
 

The El Dorado Kitchen is located right off the plaza in the landmark elegantly renovated El Dorado Hotel. If you want seasonal, locally sourced amazingly prepared food this is where I send you.

Executive Chef Armando Navarro, trained under  some of the best chefs at Le Bernardin, Jean Georges and Daniel Boulud. He returned to California and worked at Jardiniere and Masa's before relocating to Redd in Yountville as the Chef de Cuisine. Now Sonoma's got him! I love this guy's food. Here's why.

This is the Roasted Young Beet Salad- goat cheese mousse, citrus segments, granny-smith apple, watercress, arugula, candied pistachio, beet foam, citrus vinaigrette.

Organic Petaluma Chicken- olive oil smashed potatoes, Scottish egg, piperade chicken jus.

(Food photographs courtesy of El Dorado Kitchen)

Seared Scallops - Delta asparagus, cauliflower, bacon, caper-raisin sauce, asparagus puree, balsamic. See what I'm talking about? This is why it's our go to place for birthdays, anniversaries, Valentines Day, or what the hell, any time we want a fabulous meal!

   As to the places that originally made Sonoma famous, the Wineries . I asked around and here are some recommendations from the locals. Patz & Hall, Scribe, Sojurn, Kamen, Wellington Vineyards. There are dozens more and I can't name all of them but that's a start. So, this is my Sonoma. This is where we go regularly, the places we love. This is where we take our friends when they come to town. I hope you'll come visit us too.

   Show us your favorite spots to eat, stay and play in your hometown and win a getaway to any of the US cities featured in Earth’s Finest City Guide! To participate, just upload an image of your favorite spot in your hometown to Twitter or Instagram with hashtag #myhometownguide and tell us where you live and what makes the image special and you will be entered to win automatically.

Sweet, Salty and Crunchy. Munch A Bunch of Salted Pistachio Brittle.

   I think I should say straight up, I've never been much of a candy maker. All those scenes in Little Women where they're pulling taffy or buttering plates for fudge does not compute for me. These were not childhood memories. For one thing I spent years with braces on my teeth. These were not the days of invisiline or whatever they're calling the transparent tooth straightener they're using now a days. No, I come from the days of metal mouths, metal "horse bridles" all hooked together with rubber bands that were apt to snap and come shooting off at inopportune times, in unfortunate directions. What did that look like exactly???? Sort of like this. No, really like this.

Wearing these devices on my teeth made a lot of candy eating impossible , no fudge, no taffy, nothing chewy, and of course one of the most impossible candy was any sort of brittle. Nothing makes the rubber bands go flying faster than a nice sharp piece of hardened caramel. So of course when it came to making a brittle to go on top of my Mango Panna Cotta I was more than a little concerned. I didn't know how to do this.

   Brittle on the plate is a bit of a fad right now. After all, what's better on top of the smooth, creamy, and cold than something crunchy, or better yet, salty and crunchy. But as I recently found out, brittles can also be savory. Just recently we were served a sesame seed brittle on top of a roasted carrot in mole appetizer at the Glen Ellen Star Restaurant. It was amazing. But the brittle I was chasing was definitely a sweet one and as it turned out, those fancy schmancy little pieces of stained glass-looking sweets that I've found on my dessert plates lately are really easy to make, even for this candy amateur.  All it involves is some sugar and a little patience.

Salted Pistachio Brittle

Here's What You Need:
1 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of chopped roasted unsalted pistachios
1 Tbs large flake sea salt

Here's What To Do:
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set it aside.
Pan roast the pistachios until they're lightly toasted.
Let them cool, chop them and set them aside.

Add 1 cup of sugar to a skillet.

Turn the heat to medium and let the sugar start to lightly caramelize. Don't stir the sugar but allow it to melt and turn light amber in color. As you can see, I changed pans as the sugar needs a large pan so that it all fits in one smooth layer.

As the sugar starts to melt at the edges of the pan, take a heat-proof spatula and push it toward the center of the pan.

Keep pushing the sugar toward the center as it melts and watch the sugar, as you don't want it to burn.

When the caramel has liquified and burned amber, CAREFULLY pour it onto the parchment paper or silpat mats in long streaks.

Smear the sugar out moving quickly. This stuff hardens damn fast!

Scatter the pistachios on top of the hot caramel.

Add the sea salt flakes.

Let it cool and set. This does not take long!
If you're not using it right away, store it in  a cool dry place....not the fridge.
Break off the pieces you plan on using and decorate the dessert as you wish.

There it is. Brittle! Don't just stop with pistachios either. You can of course make peanut brittle. You are only limited by imagination.

   Making this brittle I was reminded by an episode of Julia Child that i saw as a teenager. In it Julia was flinging scalding hot caramel at a broomstick in order to make  "moss" to decorate a Bouche De Noel. I was fascinated by the threads of sugar that magically turned into something that looked like it had been ripped from nature. Of course my mom was not that eager to have me try that.

   "Are you nuts?!!" was her response, but I have always wanted to do that. Always. Yet, I've never tried since the words "scalding" and "caramel" and "nuts" were always enough to put me off. But when I'd finished making this brittle and looked at my spoon, look at what I found....

   Little sugar threads. After all these years there I was, just one step away from flung caramel. My white whale, or rather my amber colored burning hot sugar. It's out there and one of these days I'm going to find it. Meanwhile, I'll settle for brittle. Coming up next a culinary tour of my hometown. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori.

An Italian Classic Gets an Indian Twist, Mango Panna Cotta With Salted Pistachio Brittle.

         
   Around here, KISS has been the word over this Valentines/ Presidents Day weekend. Not the smoochy type of kiss but the keep it simple stupid variety. We're  in a whirl of hunting over there. No, there's no ammo involved in this hunt. Just a lot of real estate (not my favorite subject) The people who bought our house are moving in in two months, we're nearly finished with the renovation on my parents house and we're looking for a new house to buy, and/or a temporary rental to live in while we continue our house hunt, or renovate whatever we buy. Arrrrgh! I just don't want to think about this stuff anymore. I want to get back to work, but this is life right now and I'm very aware there's a whole lot worse that life can dish out. So, I'll shut up now and get on to what's really important, easy, tasty, food. In this case, dessert because dessert makes one feel better no matter how one's day goes, or where. A fast dessert is even better. A dessert that can be made gluten free and even vegan, better yet.Thus, the Mango Panna Cotta.
   
   I haven't made a panna cotta in years. It used to be my go to, easy company dessert but then I got bored with it. Sometimes stuff can be too easy as my mom used to say. If you've not made or eaten panna cotta before I highly recommend it. It's an easy Italian custard sort of dish, but a  custard minus the eggs, which I suppose doesn't really make it custard after all.  Actually, in reality, Panna Cotta is a form of Blancmange. Blancmange, a pudding is traditionally made with milk or cream, sugar and gelatine. It's constantly being spoon fed to swooning invalids in 19th century novels which is where I first ran across it. In novels there seems to be nothing that a little blancmange can't make better.

Also it's so fun and easy to make...

Of course once the Italians got their hands on blancmange, they had to jazz it up a bit.

They changed the name to panna cotta. From there it's a hop, skip and jump to give this simple easy dessert Indian flavors.  Panna cotta can be made with any sort of milk, almond, rice milk, coconut milk, or dairy will do. If you want to make the dessert vegan, use agar agar rather than gelatine, and it's naturally gluten-free. It can also be sugar-free depending on the sort of fruit one is using in the recipe. All the dish involves is mixing the gelling element with the liquid and chilling for a couple of hours. It doesn't get much easier. Is it any wonder, when I found myself flailing around looking for something easy yet fun to make for some friends dropping by, I started thinking about panna cotta once again? But this time, panna cotta with a difference.

Mango Cardamom Panna Cotta with Salted Pistachio Brittle

Here's What You Need:
1 and 1/2 cups of whipping cream
2 and 1/4 tsp of gelatine or the equivalent in agar agar
1 and 1/2 cups of mango puree plus 1/2 cup extra mango puree for Mango coulis
15 green cardamom pods
1/3 cup chopped pistachios
Sea Salt to taste
1 cup of sugar

Here's What To Do:
Puree fresh or defrosted frozen mango.

When the mango is pureed, set aside 1/2 cup for the coulis.

Crush the green cardamom pods in a mortar and pestle.

Remove the seeds and throw the pods away. Crush the seeds and grind them up.
Pour 1 and 1/2 cups of whipping cream into a small pot.

Sprinkle the gelatine or agar agar oven the cream in the pot.

Let the gelatine "bloom" on the cream. This takes between 1 and 2 minutes. When the surface of the cream becomes wrinkled and puffy, the gelatine has "bloomed" and is ready to use.
Whisk the gelatine into the whipping cream so that it's blended.
Add in the ground up cardamom seeds.

If you are using any sugar, now is the time to add it in. (This will depend on the sweetness of the mango you are adding later. My mango puree was very sweet so I didn't feel it needed any sugar, this is a matter of taste.)
Warm the milk or cream, (sugar if you're using it) and gelatine so that everything is dissolved. DO NOT BOIL. Take a bit of the mixture and rub it between your fingers. If there is no graininess then all is good and the gelatine is thoroughly dissolved.
When the mixture is warm, mix in 1 and 1/2 cups of mango puree.

Pour the mango panna cotta mixture into 5 small ramekins and pop them into the fridge to chill for about 2 hours.

Thoroughly puree the extra half cup of mango so that it's very very smooth and set it aside in the fridge to chill. This is the coulis.
You can serve these right out of the ramekins or unmold them easily by running a sharp knife around the rim, then dipping the bottom of the ramekin briefly into a bowl of hot water. Unmold them onto a dessert plate.
Decorate them with a bit of the mango coulis, top with a shard of Salted Pistachio Brittle, (recipe coming up soon.)


Serve them up.

Delicious, and simple pure mango flavor. This is the sort of recipe that easily adapts to whatever dietary needs you or your guests may have. Coming up next, how to make the pistachio brittle.