Fritto misto with #PaolaNovoa

This fritto misto featured fried onions, radicchio leaves, shishito peppers, and hen of the woods mushrooms.  They were accompanied by a tomato passato and a preserved lemon aioli.

Pluot upside down cake à la Chez Panisse café at Casa Freeman's.

We served this beauty with fresh raspberries and homemade crème fraiche.  A rustic dessert that logically followed an equally rustic Italian inspired dinner that featured the pork shoulder roast in the background.

Roasted tahitian squash soup with lemon ricotta dumpling, fried sage and new oil

Here I am plating squash soup for a client.  The squash is first roasted in the oven, then the soup is made the standard way with chicken stock, white wine, and leeks simmered in butter.  The dumpling feels like a matzo ball, but it's cheesy and lemony because of all the lemon zest we put in.  Then we finished the plates with fried sage leaves and fresh olive oil.  Hello Autumn!