Pizza Catarina Sorrentina

Quite of the social media age is this Avanti pizza creation in fast paced real time.  Scanning a feed, an East Coast focused charmer of a post popped up.  One click brought me to Rozanne Gold’s Sorrento Lemon Pizza post.

 Lemon Pizza a la Huff Post Rozanne Gold

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rozanne-gold/lemon-pizza-keste_b_1966686.html

Glance of interest lead to implementation thoughts.  Let’s see, Ms. Catherine is plying us w/ the bounty of her small but profoundly prolific sour green lemon tree, I’m chock full of African purple basil leaves and blossoms, smoking organic mozzarella cheese in Bourbon soaked oak & chamomile is perpetually on my production list.  Pizza crusts, well, Avanti is known all over Orange County for our artisan organic whole grain Roman style pizzas so…..

The stage is set w/ the freshest ingredients.  We added a touch of our newest creation, fermented sea salt grapefruit reduction.

Topped w/ some roasted extra HOT chilies from South Coast Farms in San Juan Capistrano

Interestingly enough our Ingardia Produce rep Jon turned up w/ some terrific samples of fennel pollen and caviar limes just as we focused in on lemons and pizza.  Well, infusing an extra virgin olive oil w/ these flavors was a natural progression

These babies are as gorgeous as they are exotic.  Citrus flavor Pop Pops

How amazingly the caviar limes pop out & dance w/ flavor.  In they go w/ the fennel pollen to infuse fragrance and flavor into extra virgin olive oil.  

And there we have it, the Catarina Sorrentina Pizza inspired by the culinary creativity of our buddies on the East Coast & from our California garden fresh tool box.  Come taste our Avanti Cafe flavors in real time.

Eating Healthy & Delicious is a Win Win Win Situation!

Eat Live & Party Well 

As we say, eat w/ us several times a week and it’s likely you’ll become healthier than you already are!  And your taste buds will love every minute of it too. How many restaurants can legitimately make that claim !?!

Blog Post by Chef Mark Cleveland

Chef / Owner Avanti Cafe

Avanti Café  is a vegetarian & vegan friendly restaurant with many gluten free options [including our famous gluten free pizzas] in East Side Costa Mesa California [bordering Newport Beach].  Everything is custom made in house using the freshest ingredients.  We support local organic farms such as South Coast Farms in San Juan Capistrano using their fine produce in our dishes and hosting a Community Supported Agriculture site every Thursday.  We serve highest quality artisan beers in bottle and on tap, organic, biodynamic & sustainable wines, by the bottle and glass.  All of our desserts are made in house using organic whole grains, flours and sweeteners.  Always organic eggs & milk.  We make our own organic ricotta & feta cheeses in house and smoke organic mozzarella w/ bourbon soaked oak and chamomile.  Avanti is the longstanding leader in organic, sustainable, local, flavorful cuisine in Orange County.

www.avantinatural.com 

Avanti Café on facebook   AvantiCafe on Twitter & Pinterest

Positive Plate Timbale How-To

Last Monday, October 1, 2012, was a rousing evening in the Avanti Cafe dining room w/ our celebration of the Positive Plate special prix fixe dinner & blogger invitational.  The main course was a slow roasted organic tomato confit timbale w/ bucatini pasta.  To go from inspiration to plate is a tall task and an arousing tale.  Want to see it?  Here you go!

It first starts w/ the exotic bucatini pasta

Bucatini is a combo of spaghetti & macaroni.  As one of our more infamous former servers used to say, in his well played up British accent 'It's spaghetti w/ an 'ole in it!'

bucatini pasta

Then there are the tomatoes.  There is a laborious process in the French arsenal dubbed >> Tomatoes, peeled, seeded and juiced. This process involves flash blanching whole raw tomatoes in boiling water for just a few seconds, cooling in lightly iced water, slipping off the skins, cutting them in half along the horizon line and working the seeds and juice out of the exposed internal chambers.  Time consuming but worth the effort when tomatoes are peak season and full of flavor.  The seeds, pulp and juice are strained and reserved for another purpose, and the firm flesh is then slowly oven roasted in extra virgin olive oil to create an organic tomato confit

Tomato confit in season is so flavorful and delicious that we don't need to add much more than a simple compliment of flavor.  Our choice, butter sauteed cipolinni onions & capers

Since we are cheese makers at Avanti, we have an abundance of organic, high protein whey in our kitchen.  It's a nutritional powerhouse and we adore it.  Our custard vehicle for these timabales is a potato & whey creme for substance, flavor & volume

Combine the above w/ organic eggs, ladle into buttered custard cups, anoint w/ hot water in a bain marie, slide into a 325 low oven and voila :::>

Now we set timers, wish them well on their journey to supreme flavor & texture town and believe they have the brightest of futures and voila, un fois encore :::>

After they cool, they chill in the fridge overnight.  Meanwhile, we toss some extremely gorgeous oyster mushrooms w/ sake, nama shoyu, black pepper, garlic shallot oil and sliced shallots.  Leave to marinate overnight, then roast in a moderate 375 oven for a brief 10 mins to bake off in preparation for the dinner.

Now we are prepped for the Positive Plate Dinner.  The timables are unmolded then reheated to crispy perfection, the mushrooms get a final roast to sear & caramelize, additional tomatoes are blended w/ some of the whey potato mix and a dash of cream to form a flavorful sauce.  Our esteemed house made organic feta is shaped into quenelles, garnished w/ our Avanti signature Pink Green Gold & Black Provencal house made spice blend & allowed to cold air dry in form for 24 hours, and a fresh batch of Avanti spinach arugula pesto is made.

Et Voila

The Positive Plate Dinner Entree :: Organic slow roasted tomato & bucatini timbales w/ house made organic Provencal feta quenelle / spinach arugula pesto & sake roasted oyster mushrooms & shallot ::

Plated entree special photo by Anne Watson

Eating Healthy & Delicious is a Win Win Win Situation!

Eat Live & Party Well 

As we say, eat w/ us several times a week and it’s likely you’ll become healthier than you already are!  And your taste buds will love every minute of it too. How many restaurants can legitimately make that claim !?!

Blog Post by Chef Mark Cleveland

Chef / Owner Avanti Cafe

Avanti Café  is a vegetarian & vegan friendly restaurant with many gluten free options [including our famous gluten free pizzas] in East Side Costa Mesa California [bordering Newport Beach].  Everything is custom made in house using the freshest ingredients.  We support local organic farms such as South Coast Farms in San Juan Capistrano using their fine produce in our dishes and hosting a Community Supported Agriculture site every Thursday.  We serve highest quality artisan beers in bottle and on tap, organic, biodynamic & sustainable wines, by the bottle and glass.  All of our desserts are made in house using organic whole grains, flours and sweeteners.  Always organic eggs & milk.  We make our own organic ricotta & feta cheeses in house and smoke organic mozzarella w/ bourbon soaked oak and chamomile.  Avanti is the longstanding leader in organic, sustainable, local, flavorful cuisine in Orange County.

www.avantinatural.com 

Avanti Café on facebook   AvantiCafe on Twitter & Pinterest