I was on the north central coast of California last week. Every time I visit California from the East Coast, the ocean and landscape add to my love of food. Aromatic ingredients like wild fennel, rosemary, and other herbs grow on the side of the road and perfume the air.

When I landed in San Franciso the sun was warm and the wind from the bay was cool. It felt pretty much perfect. The temperature rose and fell with the topography when I headed south toward San Jose, then up and over the mountains toward Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay.

The land flattens out near Castroville, and the fields are bright green with artichokes, broccoli, berries, and more. I stopped to take a picture of an artichoke field. When I returned to the car a cop had pulled in to ask if I was “just taking pictures of the fields?” I told him about Cookthink and he seemed satisfied.

On Thursday I drove up into the Carmel Valley through wine and ranch country in an effort to get above the coastal blanket of clouds. It was successful.

Friday we drove down Highway 1 to Big Sur.

In Big Sur we had lunch at the Post Ranch Inn. It’s a small retreat perched high over the rocky coast, nestled into the crags in the hills. Some of the roofs have rosemary, lavender, and wild fennel growing on them.

The Sierra Mar restaurant is made of rawish and natural materials like big Cedar timbers and exposed iron, and is encased in glass to showcase the view. The atmosphere was pristine but laid back. There was a round fireplace in the middle of the restaurant, and surfboards on the walls.

For lunch I had the Alaskan Wild Salmon, fennel, and red pepper in parchment paper and a glass or two of Chablis. It was the first time in years I had seen a parchment paper dish outside of my kitchen.

The world’s greatest sandwich? Bittman makes a case, via video from Barcelona.

The best damn ribs you’ll ever have in your life? An update from both their maker and my dad.

The creepiest trend in cooking? The Washington Post (reg. req’d) falls for “meal assembly kitchens.” (More on this later.)

In case you missed the idea earlier, Justin Lundgren offered an outline for a ritualistic Katrina Dinner for displaced New Orleanians:

How powerful would it be if every New Orleanian currently living in Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, and every other town across the country, sat down at the same time to recognize the losses of the last year and to reaffirm their connection to the city? And how great would it be if this ritual centered around the favorite activity of every homegrown New Orleanian, eating? The entire New Orleans diaspora could sit down simultaneously, fork in hand, to tell the world that this was a special place, a special community, one worth fighting to restore.

We’ll keep an eye out for reports and pictures from anyone who took part. Did you do anything?

Recipe: Simple Quinoa (cookthink)

Just back from a wedding in California, where I ate some delicious fish, I was craving meat last night. Still, I must have had fish on the brain because I found myself flipping through James Peterson’s Fish & Shellfish. A quick aside on Peterson: he’s an expert on classic French cooking — complex sauces, long-cooking stocks and other elaborate undertakings not conducive to a Monday night. But he’s also a master of technique in general, and reading and rereading his books always reminds me of simple ideas for making quick weeknight dinners.

On that note, I took a broiled fish recipe from Fish & Shellfish and applied it to pork loin chops. Like fish, pork dries out when it’s cooked too long. Broiling in a makeshift tray is a great way to keep the cooking juices close to the meat. It’s also really easy to clean up.

I preheated the broiler and put the rack about 8 inches below it. I made a small tray of aluminum foil just big enough to hold each chop and pinched the corners upright so the sides would keep in the cooking juices.

Next, I stirred together a T. of unsalted butter and a T. of chopped fresh rosemary, then added salt & pepper. I seasoned the chop itself with a sprinkle of salt & pepper on both sides, and set it in the tray. I rolled the butter into a dollop and put it on top of the pork. Put the pork under the broiler and cooked it for about 8 minutes per side (for 1-inch-thick chops).

I checked the temperature early and often, and pulled the pork out of the broiler at 140F. I let it rest 10 minutes. It was barely pink and very juicy inside, not dry at all. I had mine with an arugula & red pepper salad and lightly buttered noodles. I finished everything with a few shavings of Parmigiano-Reggiano.

A couple of years ago, during my first winter in New England, I came across John and Matt Thorne’s outlawcook.com. The Thornes are the publishers of the quarterly newsletter Simple Cooking and the authors of several incredible books about food and eating. I’d already read “Pot on the Fire” and a few issues of “Simple Cooking”, but I’d never seen the website, which featured, among other things, occasionally updated diaries about John’s breakfasts and midnight snacks.

Slightly miserable because of the season, which had until then (my first real winter) been my favorite of the four, I spent an hour roaming around outlawcook.com, warming up to John’s egg sandwiches and stone-ground grits with garlic. When I finished going through the diaries, I had an intense crave for a meal I couldn’t name whose parts I couldn’t see.

I went into the kitchen to see what we had, and without thinking too much about what I was doing, ended up making a big bowl of steel cut oatmeal. To it, I added a chopped link of pan-fried kielbasa, a couple of pours of maple syrup, a lot of parmesan cheese and a coating of black pepper. I’ve made some variation of that oatmeal probably 100 times since, whenever it’s cold, sleeting and the days are getting dark at four.

It’s not sleeting and the sunset’s not until 7:21pm right now, but it is damp and cold up here for August. (Somebody even had a fire going last night.) So, this morning, I made the first batch of the 2006-2007 kielbasa oatmeal season. It was as satisfying as it always is.

Brys, forever rightly pitching the merits of finishes, has suggested tossing some fresh marjoram or a teaspoon of lemon zest on top. What about you? Any thoughts?

Recipe: Curry-Yogurt Dipping Sauce (Cookthink)

On Tuesday, Aug. 29, Share Our Strength (with Amex, the Food Network & the NRA) spearheads another Restaurants for Relief benefit. When you eat at a participating restaurant, a certain portion of what you spend will go to recovery and rebuilding efforts in the Gulf Coast area affected by last year’s hurricanes.

Find restaurants in the Boston area and ones in and around D.C.

Thanks, Metrocurean, for bringing this to our attention.

serves 4

Ingredients:
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 sprig fresh rosemary + more to taste
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon water
kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
1/2 loaf high-quality French or Italian bread

Instructions:
1. Preheat the broiler. Put the oven rack 6-8 inches from the broiler.

2. Put all of the ingredients except the bread in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Simmer the chickpeas 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated.

3. Meanwhile, slice the bread diagonally into 1 1/2-inch-thick pieces. Brush both sides of the slices with olive oil. Put the bread on a sheet of tin foil under the broiler for a few minutes, until the top of the bread is golden and crusty.

4. Spoon the chickpeas over the slices of bread and garnish with more rosemary and red pepper flakes and olive oil to taste.

UPDATE: As of Sunday night, everything seems to be working smoothly over at CHOW.

CHOW, the former magazine and now magazinish complement to chowhound.com, has launched. It’s very buggy right now but the tone and features feel very chowhoundy. If you have trouble getting around CHOW, check back in a few days.

In the meantime, Chowhound co-founder Jim Leff has just begun a free-form roam around the country in an effort to “connect with deliciousness.” Good luck, Jim. Stay away from sneeze guards.