Austin Food Journal

Avocado, Fiji apple, Daikon radish, red onion, almonds and blue cheese tossed in a maple mustard vinaigrette.

Red onions get a macerating pre-soak in vinegar.

The fine cheese mongers at Central Market recommended the French blue cheese to me, Terre des Volcans Fourme d’Ambert Pdo. I’m glad they did. It fit tastily.

Daikon radish. Interesting. Just dawned on me, I didn’t even turn a burner on to make this dish.

Thai beef salad with shallots, lemongrass, mint, cilantro and roasted rice powder. Another version with pork is also charming.

My preferred brand, as always, B&B Charcoal.

Fish sauce, honey, lime juice and zest, lemongrass, shallot and toasted chili powder. H Mart is the heavyweight champion of Asian grocery stores. We are lucky here in Austin to have a location. If you are ever in need of fresh curry leaves or cilantro roots, check them out.

In my opinion, nothing compares to grilling over coals. I know twisting the handle on your grill is a whole lot easier, but come on. If you were looking at a menu and you could order either a fire roasted steak or a propane heated steak, which one would you pick.

House made egg pasta Tagliatelle, beef pork ricotta meatballs, slow simmered San Marzano tomatoes, Parmigiano Reggiano, garlic chives, lemon, finishing salt, olive oil.

Dried Thai chilis, slow roasted and ground to coarse powder.

Uncooked, short grain Japanese rice, slow roasted and coarse ground.