Celebrate the freshness of summer with a salad featuring the bright flavors of apple, celeriac and fennel. It goes together easily, especially if you have a mandoline to cut the vegetables and the apple to a paper thinness.

At Il Sogno, Andrew Weissman’s Italian restaurant in the Pearl Brewery complex, 200 E. Grayson St., this dish is featured among the array of antipasti.

Fennel, Apple and Celery Root Salad

1 Granny Smith apple, sliced paper thin
Celery root, or celeriac, sliced thin, to taste (see note)
1 fennel bulb, sliced thin with fronds reserved
Olive oil, to taste
Salt, to taste
Trace amount of lemon juice, to taste

Note: When slicing the celery root, or celeriac, use about as much as you use apple.

Toss apple, celery root and fennel bulb together in a non-reactive bowl with a little olive oil, a pinch of salt, or more to taste, and a splash of lemon juice. Add some finely minced fennel frond. Serve immediately.

Source: Andrew Weissman/Il Sogno

Sign is in place a Culinary Institute Wednesday. Photograph by Elizabeth Johnson-Kossick, CIA.

It took two or three crane trucks, lots of workmen and interested onlookers to get the new, 20-by-20-foot square Culinary Institute of America, San Antonio,  sign up on the newly expanded school this afternoon.

“It looks fabulous,” said one white-coated CIA student, taking photos during the placement. Under a hot sun, the sign-raising also raised some sweat on brows, but a light breeze started up just as the sign was finally being hoisted into the air.

To everyone’s relief, the breeze calmed down, so the sign, with a base made of perforated metal, didn’t try to take off. It was slowly placed in its final position above the front entrance to the San Antonio campus of the CIA.

Classes begin this month. The new school will be celebrated at an opening on Oct. 9.  Check out the CIA website for more information.

Sign approaches final positioning over front of the institute.

Photographs by Bonnie Walker

The setting at the San Antonio Country Club was elegant and the service excellent for a cookbook and kitchen shower I attended a couple of weeks ago.

The top attraction at such events is, of course, the radiant bride-to-be. On the food side of things, it was a tray of cookies on the refreshments table that stole the show.

This famous cookbook title decorated one of The Cookie Lady's frosted sugar cookies.

The sugar cookies, frosted with famous cookbook titles, such as “Joy of Cooking,” Julia Childs’ “Art of French Cooking” and “The Fanny Farmer Cookbook,” weren’t just there for looks.

“It took me years to develop that recipe,” said Sandy Kelso, co-owner of The Cookie Lady, at 1031 Patricia Ave.  As any cookie baker knows, as simple as a sugar cookie might seem, a perfect recipe is a masterpiece indeed. So, we didn’t push (well, not too hard) for Kelso’s recipe, as it is an important part of her livelihood.

Kelso partners with her daughter, Hallie Rodgers at the store. The business has been in operation for six years and in addition to decorated cookies, Kelso and Rodgers and three full-time bakers, plus other part-time staff,  make a full lineup of other cookies and baked goods, such as muffins and cakes. Their chocolate chip cookies are the top sellers, with the oatmeal, dried cranberry and white chocolate cookies coming in second. She also makes snickerdoodles, two other types of oatmeal cookies, pecan sandies and more.

“We don’t do any cake decorating. We bake the cakes, but send them out for the decorating,” Kelso said.

The frosted cookbook cookies go for around $1.50 each. Decorated cookies in general are between $1 and $2, says Kelso.

Kelso also gets big orders from companies such as USAA, plus weddings and other special orders. Without a doubt, Christmas is Kelso’s busiest time.

“By mid-November, we’ll be totally booked, but we do keep a waiting list,” Kelso says.

That’s more than two months away, but I’m getting in line now.

Contact Kelso at 210-342-6428.

Photograph by Catherine Boone

The crab cake at Tost.

If you’re celebrating Restaurant Week, with its series of specially priced meals at a host of eateries across the city, then you may want to consider the four-course special dinner at Tost Bistro, 14415 Blanco Road.

The dinner menu begins with a choice of crab cake with red cabbage slaw over creamed corn (with a rich chipotle mayo on the side) or succulent Kurobata pork belly with kimchi. Second course is a choice of fresh soup (vegetable with summer corn the night we visited) or a spectacular salad with watermelon, heirloom tomatoes, blue cheese and garlic croutons.

Braised short ribs at Tost.

The main course is a choice of the fish of the day or braised short ribs that fell apart at the touch of a fork plated with mashed potatoes and fresh pickles. The evening is capped off with beignets and a chocolate dipping sauce.

The cost is $35 for the meal, plus the restaurant has a series of wine specials each evening.

Beignets at Tost.

For a full list of restaurants participating in Restaurant Week, which is sponsored by Culinaria, click here.

Pecan-crusted Fried Chicken is the featured main lunch dish at Citrus

Citrus, at the Hotel Valencia on Houston Street, stepped up to the Restaurant Week plate in fine style on Monday. On the $15 prix fixe menu was a salad of baby greens, tomatoes, pecans and olives that couldn’t have been fresher or more carefully dressed. The Pecan-crusted Chicken entrée, on mashed potatoes was full of crunch and good, nutty  flavor. It said a lot for this Texas-style preparation of chicken-fried chicken.

Citrus brought the meal to a happy conclusion with a trio of citrus and tropical sorbets that set the taste buds tingling.

This meal is featured throughout Restaurant Week for $15; a $35 per person prix fixe dinner is also on the menu.

Check out more restaurants participating in Restaurant Week, sponsored by Culinaria. The event goes through Saturday.

Photographs by Bonnie Walker

Saturday morning at Sandy Oaks Olive Orchard, south of San Antonio near Elmendorf, marked the first day of pressing the 2010 olive harvest.

About 500 pounds of olives were poured through a metal grid into the hopper (at right) as processing began in the barn at the orchard.

This is just the second year that the Italian olive press was put to work. As the green oil finally started flowing, at about 10:30 a.m., workers clapped and cheered, took photos and grabbed spoons for quick samples of brand new olive oil.

“It tastes amazing,” said Saundra Winokur, Sandy Oaks owner. The fresh-tasting new oil, smooth in flavor and bright green in color, flows from the nozzle of the mill into clean glass gallon jars (below right).

The jars are taken immediately to a cool room where the jar tops will go on and paper bags will cover each jar. The oil needs to settle in the cool, dark environment for awhile before bottling begins.

Most of the first olives picked this week were green.  As the harvesting continues early this coming week, pickers will be bringing in the rosy-colored olives. Finally, the ripe black olives will make it to the barn floor to cool on tarps, be separated from the leaves and then put into the mill.

“That way we can adjust the blend the way we want it for the oil,” said Winokur. Sandy Oaks will sell “limited edition” bottles of the new oil, or oglio nuovo, and put the rest into the blend for the regular bottles. Sandy Oaks also sells the dried olive leaves for tea.

Sandy Oaks’ orchard has more than 11,000 trees of many varieties, including arbequina, mission, manzanilla, arbosana, picual, frantoio, leccino and koroneiki. Visit the website for more information, as well as directions to the orchard and tree nursery, visiting and tour hours.

Brisket and pork loin at the Barbecue Station.

The Barbecue Station has long been the place in San Antonio to go for consistently dependable smoked meat, whether you’re looking for juicy brisket or sausage bursting with flavor. Two recent visits to the restaurant housed in a former Exxon station have largely borne this out, though a couple of questions about consistency did arise.

The first visit was all about that Texas staple: brisket. Slices of the toothsome beef with a slight touch of fat conveyed both smoke — from oak, if the cords of wood at the back are to be believed—and earthy beef flavor with a savory rub that ringed the meat beautifully. It was tender enough to cut with a fork, yet solid enough so that it wasn’t overcooked. A dab of the tangy barbecue sauce, thankfully a lot less sweet than most of its competitors’, just added to the pleasure that came with bite after bite. And there was no belch-inducing aftertaste that can result from oversmoked ‘cue.

That brisket, served on butcher paper, was what made me return to the Barbecue Station a few days’ later. But lightning did not strike twice. Blame the difference in time of day, the time the brisket had been in the warmer vs. the smoker, the different in the two cuts of meat. Whatever the reason, it just wasn’t the same. A friend with several generations of history in Texas barbecue aptly commented that the meat that day was too dry and lacked in flavor from both meat and rub.

The Barbecue Station is housed in a former Exxon station.

But he and I were both taken with the the chicken leg and thigh quarter, which was moist and delicious. The smoke, while prevalent, was not so overwhelming as to obliterate the natural flavor of the meat. Even better, at least in my book, the skin was crisp yet almost buttery and well-seasoned. I don’t often eat chicken at restaurants, but this is a version I’ll order again.

Pork ribs were succulent, sizzling to the touch and loaded with pork goodness, but the pork loin relied a little too much on the sauce to make it sing.

Among the side dishes, the green beans proved a good choice, while the coleslaw was too sweet on one occasion and just right on the other.

But the big question on both visits concerned the pintos. This is another dish that, like brisket, Texans treat with utmost seriousness. At the Barbecue Station, if you order the beans, you can have all you can eat from the pot that sits next to the containers of forks, knives, pickles and onions. But why would you eat any, when the beans’ texture is mealy and the broth is thin and vapid, as if not even the smallest amount of salt had been used to enliven the dish? Compare these dull, little nothings with the full-flavored, jalapeño-laced beans you get at Fatty’s Burgers, also freely given, and you’ll understand how disappointing the version at the Barbecue Station really is.

Pork ribs and chicken at the Barbecue Station.

I’d rather focus on that crackling chicken skin or those meaty pork ribs. Pure comfort food, Texas style.

The Barbecue Station has been around since 1992. Since its opening, the owners and staff have learned quite a few ways to keep customers coming back, whether it’s for the loaded baked potatoes or the chopped beef sandwiches. One is that, after an hour-long meal, I left the Barbecue Station without smelling like a smoke pit. Yet another reason to return for more.

Barbecue Station
1610 N.E. Loop 410
210-824-9191
Lunch and dinner daily.
www.barbecuestation.com

Tim Love

“There are gazillions of cheeseburgers in the world. But how many of them are good?”

That’s the question chef Tim Love wants backyard grillers and professional chefs alike to ask themselves. In his mind, the answer is, “Very few.”

To correct the situation, the owner of the Lonesome Dove Western Bistro and the Love Shack in Fort Worth has taken it upon himself to spread the word of how people can improve their grill skills.

Love is “precise on his procedure,” which is what has earned him a loyal following and a growing national reputation.

The process begins with the right wood, he says. For fish, you want a wood like pecan that burns at a cooler temperature, so your delicate fish, such as trout won’t dry out or burn up quickly. “It’s easier on the tooth when eating seafood,” he says. Pecan also doesn’t impart an overwhelming flavor, so the natural flavor of the fish can shine through.

He recommends hickory for chicken, game birds and pork, while mesquite, which burns hottest of all woods, is made for red meat, such as buffalo and venison in addition to beef. With mesquite, “you can get a good sear quickly,” he says, adding that “searing the meat is what imparts the flavor.”

The grill itself should be clean before starting, and Love prefers cast iron to stainless steel. It holds heat longer, which is important in getting that sear. Whether you’re using gas or wood, the chef says you should get your entire grill as hot as possible, before you put a steak on it. Only cover half of the grill with meat. Why is that important? Because when you put that steak or chicken breast on the grill, the bars begin cooling down immediately from the temperature of the meat. So you need hot bars to sear the other side.

When the steak is not quite to where it’s grilled to your desired doneness, Love says, “take it off the heat and let it relax (for at least 10 minutes). Then, put it back on the grill to get it hot” when you’re ready to eat.

That means if you’re having a dinner party, you can grill the steaks ahead of time and just finish them when you’re guests arrive.

Preparing the meat requires its own attention. Except for chicken and fajitas, Love doesn’t use many marinades. “Acids on meat break it down and leave a mealy texture,” he says.

He prefers rubs, but he makes sure sugar is not one of the ingredients. Sugar will caramelize on the meat’s surface and that could occur long before the meat is done, leaving you with burnt sugar rather than an attractive flavor. Salt, however, should be a main ingredient. “Meat needs salt,” he says.

Once the meat is done, Love likes to apply a few touches before serving. “When you grill red meat, finishing it with a lemon juice will make all the difference in the world,” he says. He often uses a compound butter to give a steak an extra depth of flavor.

Serving the right wine is important, too. Because of the Texas heat, Love favors whites, such as Albariños and those from Rias Baixas, as well as rosés, wines that are refreshing in the heat. “I just enjoy cold wine,” he says. “I drink a ton of rosé in the summer.” You might be surprised at how good they can be with beef, thanks, in part, to that spritz of lemon at the end.

Love was recently in San Antonio, not to scout locations for a local branch of one of his restaurants, but to promote the line of Bush’s Grillin’ Beans now on the market.

The lineup of beans, including Bourbon and Brown Sugar and Texas Ranchero, fits in with the rest of his cuisine, which he as urban western. It’s friendly and approachable, yet made with the influences of all that has made Texas great.

“Texas is quite the melting pot of people,” Love says, citing the Chinese railroad workers, the Spanish, the French and the Germans in addition to the Mexican influence.

And Texans of all backgrounds like their grilled meats. Thanks to Love’s tips, more people will be able to put some extra sizzle in their summer.

For some of Tim Love’s recipes, click below:

Grilled Skirt Steak with Citrus

Grilled Skin-On Chicken Breast

Few things are hotter in August than Central Market’s Hatch Chile Fest, going on now through Aug. 31.   Roasted chiles, recipes, contests, special products and more are in store.

Chef Jason Dady and Central Market executive chef, Tan Nguyen help Central Market celebrate 15 years of Hatchmania on Aug. 31.

Dady and Nguyen each brings his own style to the dishes while using minimal ingredients and quick preparation. Dishes will feature Hatch Chiles and Chicken Thighs; Hatch Chiles and Shrimp; and Hatch Chiles and Watermelon. Pick up lots of tips and sample six dishes that feature everyone’s favorite chile.

6:30 – 9 p.m., Tuesday, August 31
Central Market, 4821 Broadway
$50
Call 210-368-8600 for reservations.

10 Ways to Use Chiles, including Chiles Rellenos, above.

Photograph by Bonnie Walker

Watermelon Gazpacho

During most every cooking class I’ve ever taken, the teacher has at some point stressed the fact that recipes are not written in stone. They are guidelines for you to follow or change according to your tastes.

Don’t want to use chicken stock in an otherwise vegetable soup? Fine; use a vegetable stock you like instead.

Allergic to peanuts? Substitute something you can eat, such as almonds or cashews.

Just think about the substitution before you start and modify any other changes to suit the overall flavor of the dish.

I thought about this the other day when I went to make a recipe out of a new cookbook that friends had given me. It is titled “Cotton: The Cookbook” (Blue Tree, $14.95), and it features recipes from a restaurant in Manchester, N.H., that the couple had visited on their honeymoon.

They sang the praises of chef Jeffrey Paige’s crab cakes and the wild mushroom-port wine sauce they had sampled one evening. Both are in the cookbook and both will be tried when the weather gets a little cooler.

As for me, I jumped immediately to the recipe for Watermelon Gazpacho, a raw dish that seemed particularly easy to put together on a summer evening. I had most of the ingredients on hand, so I figured I’d dive right in. Anything with watermelon is always welcome on my table.

But I noticed almost immediately a few ingredients that just weren’t to my taste. One was sugar, which, to me, isn’ t needed if you have juicy, sweet watermelon. So, I eliminated it. Another was a substitution. Paige calls for red wine vinegar. I prefer the San Antonio method of using lime juice as an acid whenever possible. (I also left out the red bell pepper simply because I didn’t have any growing in the backyard or stashed in the fridge.)

So, here are are two variations on the same cold soup, an easy dish that’s sure to please, no matter which version you make:

Cotton’s Watermelon Gazpacho

John’s Watermelon Gazpacho