Papaya Salad

Papaya Salad is a crunchy, crisp, briny, delicious slaw salad
made from shredded green papaya, tomatoes, carrot and acidic seasonings.

Traditionally, you will see many recipes that have green beans
and dried shrimp. Over the years of teaching cooking classes,
people have commented that they don't care for the dried shrimp powder
or whole dried shrimp along with raw green or string beans
so I simply took those out, left the fish sauce (made from anchovies)
in there for the earthy brininess and have never turned back. 
Here is LCF's simplified Papaya Salad recipe:

1 whole GREEN papaya shredded
   (it will be green on the outside and not soft, you want it to be unripe,
   the mature ones will be soft & have the coral color inside)
2 limes (the juice of) - squeeze it by hand or your desired gadget
3 TBSP of sugar (or grate some apple or pear for natural sweetness)
   (sugar is optional)
1 TBSP of fish sauce (any fish sauce brand is ok, don't substitute oyster sauce)
2 cloves of garlic minced or chopped fine OR garlic powder (sprinkle desired amount)
1 TBSP of vinegar
1 medium ripe tomato or heirloom tomatoes for color
   (cut into strips or diced)
1 handful or desired amount of peanuts whole OR crushed (it's to your liking)
1 carrot shredded

Mix all together by bare hand OR with an easy throw away glove
for easy clean up. Ideally you want to let it infuse/marinade for at least
40 minutes for the flavors to have the utmost best mixed in flavor but
right away is going to be ok....  if you must.  :)

Zestfully,  private party chef Yoon

Vietnamese Sticky Wings

Chicken wings (fresh if possible) your desired amount, start with 1.5 pounds
1-2 TBSP of fish sauce (to your liking; remember it is potent, briny & strong)
4-5 cloves garlic minced or chopped
2 TBSP of sesame oil  (veggie, grape seed, avocado, peanut, canola or corn is ok too)
1 TBSP chopped cilantro OR scallions (for those that don't like cilantro)
2 TBSP chopped peanuts  (or to your liking)
1 TBSP of sugar  (optional)
heavy drizzle of hoisin sauce (enough to coat like a bbq glaze)

marinade the wings, (ideally you want to let it marinade & sit
for at least 30 minutes), place them in an oven safe pan or cookie sheet
with aluminum foil or a cast iron skillet
bake for 30 minutes on 350 degrees,
move from the center of the oven to the top shelf right under the broil setting
to get a little crispy char for an additional 5-7 min.


Zestfully,  private party chef Yoon

Manhattan style Clam Chowder

1 medium onion diced
3 stalks of celery chopped
2 carrots diced small
1-2 garlic cloves minced or pressed or 1 teaspoon of garlic powder (to your liking)
3-4 strips of bacon cut into small pieces
1 cups of water
2 cups of tomato sauce (to you liking; crushed, stewed, diced or sauce)
2 lbs of fresh clams or 1 can of clams  (to your liking and convenience)
~ clam juice (you can make your own clam juice by steaming fresh clams
and using the liquid from the steamed clams  *note- don't stir the liquid around after steaming to prevent getting sand in your ladle. 

1. Start with sauteing the bacon right in a medium size sauce pot (ultimately the pot you will use to cook the chowder
2. Once bacon has started to brown add, all the veggies and saute until half cooked
3. Add the garlic, then the water, then the clam juice, then the clams
and after everything is sauteing nicely in the pot for about 7-10 minutes, add the tomato sauce and put a lid on the pot so it doesn't bubble all over.
4. Let everything simmer and once all the veggies are soft (check a carrot because it is the hardiest)  the Manhattan style clam chowder is done!
optional garnish - chopped fresh parsley or dried Italian seasonings



Zestfully,  private party chef Yoon

Let's Cultivate Food's new SALSA RECIPE!

                
RECIPE:
3 cups diced tomatoes (4-6 ripe tomatoes)  
1/2 cup green bell peppers  (1 green bell pepper) 
1/4 - 1/2 a red onion finely diced (to your liking of onion) 
1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro chopped (1/2 of bundle) 
6 TBSP of light Italian salad dressing 
2 TBSP of fresh lime juice (1 large or 2 small limes) 
(optional) get a #9 & zest some rind in there.. remember #9 on the sticker is organic!    

Flour-less chocolate espresso cake

Not much to say other than
it's SO hard not to eat the whole cake!

Ingredients:
1 lb. semisweet chocolate (coarsely chopped)
1 lb. unsalted butter (diced)
1 cup freshly brewed espresso
1 cup brown sugar
8 eggs (beaten to blend)

Procedure:
1. Line bottom of a 9 inch diameter cake pan with 2 inch high sides 
    with parchment. Place all chocolate in large bowl.

2. Bring butter, espresso and sugar to boil in medium saucepan, 
    stirring to dissolve sugar.

3. Add chocolate; whisk until smooth and cool slightly.


4. Whip eggs till blended. Stir eggs into chocolate mixture until blended.
     (Do not whip)

5. Pour batter into prepared pans. Place cake pan in roasting pan.
    Pour enough hot water into roasting pan to come halfway
    up sides of cake pan.

6. Bake until center of cake is set and tester inserted into center 
    comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 45 minutes

7. Remove pans from water and chill cake overnight.


8. Cut around pan sides to loosen cake. Using oven mitts as aid, 
     hold pan bottom over low heat for 15 seconds, warming slightly 
     to release cake. Place platter over pan. Hold pan and platter 
     together tightly and invert. Lift off cake pan; peel off parchment 
     and dust top of each cake with cocoa powder. 

9. Cut cake into ten slices and garnish with fresh raspberries 
    and raspberry sauce.(raspberry sauce can be made by 
    simmering raspberries in a little butter or more easily 
    by microwaving raspberry jam/jelly)

Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food

Corporate Catering MENUS

Company catering menus  & prices can be viewed on the main website
www.LetsCultivateFood.com  under the  "Lettuce cater your company lunch" tab.

All company catering orders include:
Disposable plates, silverware wrapped in napkins,
any needed warming chaffing ware & little signage of the food items.
(Table clothes can be provided upon request.)


local DELIVERY is FREE

(gratuity is not included)

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who's the tastiest of them all..!?!

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who's the tastiest of them all..

Have you ever wanted to try a taste test to truly see either
which brand or type is better OR to see what your palate
is telling you?  Believe it or not- a large portion of our eating
is done with our other senses.  Our scent as we tend to smell
the food and of course visually with our eyes.
Not always, but more often than not- our palate tells
us something that we might of thought differently.

In our household- we make it a fun mini event by choosing an item
and then getting several of them made by popular brands.

This time around it happened to be dark chocolate.
The brands chosen were:
Hershey, Ghiradelli, Lindt, Godiva, Dove and a random gourmet brand.

2 were waaaay too sweet, 1 was hard to finish... chocolate=hard to finish?
What planet are we on right?   2 were just shy from winning 1st place.
There was a clear winner that was rich, creamy, intense but not
overwhelming intense and just... really good.

hmmm.  are you wondering who won!?
You should take my taste testing class coming up and you'll be able
to taste test over a dozen different things to see which brand is
better according to your taste buds!  cheeses, beverages, yogurts,
different brands of many different things.

​
which will your palate choose, Let's Cultivate Food