Come to Momma...The New SdJ Digital Cookbook is Born!

Sauce du Jour Culinary Institution: where every crazy chef gets a sharp knife, is the title of my new cookbook. It features ALL of the recipes from the first 15 Cooking Classes, which is 100 recipes. The book is available in digital format so just go the App Store on your iPad and download the free app called Cookbook Cafe. You will then have to create a username and password and log in. From the home page you can type "Sauce du Jour" in the search box and it will bring it up. The book is a steal at $3.99 and you can buy it right through your iTunes account. How cool is that!  

Once you own it, it will be in your "Library" from then on. The site features tons of books; prices range from free to $14.99. You can browse them but if you want the recipes you have to buy them. Some have as few as a one recipe in them (lame, I know) or as many as 120. Mine is definitely one of the biggest collections. I'm an overachiever that way.

You won't find the app in your iPhone apps, so if you don't have an iPad you can get it on your laptop by going to BakeSpace.com . In both cases you have to create a username and password and then log in. 

I've noticed the website is more confusing to use than the app and I found it harder to find my book. If you type "Sauce du Jour" in the search box, it brings up only two recipes (Basil Pesto and Cilantro Pesto) You can navigate your way to the entire cookbook buy clicking on my name. Or try this link....I think it will get you there. No guarantees. If you buy it online you can pay by credit card. 

Also there is now a widget on the right side of the 

SdJ Blog home page, which will take you there.

                                                  

                   The cover of the book looks like this!  ↓

So for all you cool people who didn't get to come to the institution you can now bust out $3.99 and get all the recipes from those first 15 classes! 

The following is the blurb which prefaces the book:

The Sauce du Jour Culinary Institution is a fun kitchen where cooking classes take place at a monthly gathering for a group of approximately twelve food-and-wine loving, really cool people. Each month features a different cuisine or ingredient; such as Thai, South American, Tex-Mex, Mediterranean, Southwestern, Bacon, Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Pasta, Beer, and more! 

The class is hands on with everyone pairing up and taking on different recipes, covering 4 to 6+ courses per class. The wine flows, the laughter ensues and we eat a lot of damn good food! 

This cookbook includes all of the recipes from the SdJ Cooking Classes 101-115. Most of, but not all of the recipes are created right here in the SdJ kitchen. I'm not above stealing an idea but I do have principals and I would never call it my own if it wasn't so. I am an improvisational maniac in the kitchen, not only because I like to have my way with a recipe, but because I live in the sticks (and/or the islands) so ad-libbing isn't just an egocentric quirk, it's a necessity. 

When I'm not creating my own recipes I like to cook restaurant dishes. I also LOVE me some Bobby Flay so some of his recipes are featured here as well. (Thanks Bobby, love ya, call me, mean it!) That being said, if they aren't my own reckless creations I've given credit where credit is due. Sauce du Jour also has a blog with many other great recipes and stories. It can be found at www.saucedujour.blogspot.com. 


AUTHOR PAGE: 
I am a relatively competent cook and a travel junkie who is also a white-knuckled frequent flyer. My friends would say that I am a crazy dog lady, while I prefer to think of myself as a zealous animal lover. I am also a published author, seriously type A, with a touch of OCD; a wife, mother and grandmother of a beautiful little girl named Paisley. She's my sous chef and I'm her Coco and I love her more than truffle oil. 

 I spent three years as a chef on a private charter yacht that my hubs (aka The Big Guy) and I operated in the BVI's. Living on a boat and working in a small galley challenges even the most accomplished chef, let alone some like me who is really just a serious foodie with a sophisticated palate. My cookbook, "Sauce du Jour, The Pisces Collection" is a compilation of about 40 recipes that I often served while on the boat. (blurb.com.) Recipe requests from guests was the inspiration behind it. 

 I write a food blog that has never won any awards but it does have a lot of damn good recipes on it, not to mention some funny stories. You can check it out at www.saucedujour.blogspot.com. I became a published author in 2011. My book, "When the Dust Settled" (Amazon, B&N) is getting great reviews and is soon to be made into a movie. Hollywood just doesn't know it yet! 

Besides being a lucky wife, loving mom, adoring grandmother, and food snob, I consider myself to be a loyal friend, good party planner, wino, a workaholic, seriously sleep deprived, and a shopping fool with a shoe addiction. Oh, and I'm pretty funny too! I hope you enjoy these recipes and have as much fun making them as we did in the SdJ Culinary Institution. Feel free to contact me with any questions regarding any of the recipes I've put here. Cheers!  

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Cooker or Caker: Cooker 
Bake/Cook Frequency: Every day 
Baking/Cooking Training: The Sauce du Jour Culinary Institution, where I am the head chef, knife thrower, salad tosser, wine pourer, and pot scrubber. Oh...and I can juggle; for real. 
Favorite Food: I love almost all food, especially seafood, paninis, handmade pasta, and fresh veggies. About the only thing I won't eat is organ meats. I just CAN'T do it so don't even try to serve me liver, tongue, or head cheese. I will cut you! Don't make me! 
Favorite Food Moment: Eating fresh caught lobster on Anegada with my toes in the sand and island beat playing in the background never gets old! 
Favorite Cooking Word: Sauce du Jour, of course! It comes from the question asked every night in our house as I am plating dinner; "so what's the sauce du jour tonight?" 
Favorite Restaurant: Spago, Beverly Hills ~ La Estacion, Puerto Rico, ~ Zengo, Osteria Marco, Denver ~ Joe's Stone Crab, Miami ~ Coco Maya, Giorgio's BVI's ~ Justus Drugstore, Smithville ~ Firefly, Las Vegas ~ Jungle Lobster House, Jamaica and so many more! 
Favorite Chef: My Bobby Flay, Mark Miller, Michael Symon, Wolfgang, Mario, Giada (girl crush). 
In My Town Try: My house! It's always open and something is always on the stove!

THINGS I'M IN TO 

Interests: In no particular order: Food, music, cooking, the Caribbean, reading, food, The Big Guy, scuba diving, my dogs, food, chocolate, Paisley, travel, my daughters, food, shopping, trap shooting, writing, oh...and food. Did I mention food? 

Languages: English, this is AMERICA! Speak it!

Books: When the Dust Settled, The Glass Castle, The Poisonwood Bible, The Alchemist, The Liars Club, To Kill a Mockingbird, Wuthering Heights. Most of the classics and so many more. My nose is always in a book! Also, my Bobby Flay's cookbooks, Restaurant cookbooks, Bon Appetit.

Music: I love music; (everything from Texas country to Jazz) maybe even more than food, and I listen to everything except for rap, which instantly bums me out. Gimme some blues, some old country or some classic rock and I'm a happy chef, but put on that rap crap and I'ma goin' postal on someone.

TV/Movies: I'm not a big TV watcher or movie fan because I can't sit still for that long, but my favorite movie is "After the Sunset" and "Chocolat"...thinking....thinking....

Travel: The Caribbean, the US of A, the World

Clubs: None that I'd want to join if I were in them. I don't play nice with others.

I'm thrilled to be able to share the recipes this way! No need to drag papers or your binder along when you travel or if you get the sudden urge to make a recipe when you are at the grocery store and can't remember what all ingredients are in it. Thanks in advance! I'd be honored to have it added to your collection!   
Bon Appetit!
Tammi 

The Best of Spain ~ Cooking Class 121

My time in Spain consisted of a long layover in the Barcelona airport but that doesn't mean I don't love the food and still dream of going there for the full experience. Minus of course that whole bull fighting thing. Tapas? Yes please. Sangria? Thank you. An angry bull chasing me down the street? No thanks. Those days are (thankfully) long over.

I'm a little behind...I know this. The Best of Spain cooking class was in March. Yes March, as in three months ago March. I totally blew by it and went straight to Pizza. But this is about Spanish cuisine and when I made Paella again, the other day it reminded me that I had not posted any of the reicpes. From March.
     However, we nailed Spain with our Paella, Salmorejo, Potatas Bravas and Goat Cheese Stuffed Piquillo Peppers. Never mind the fact that I lost (and still haven't found the Membrillo, which was to be part of the dessert.

Salmorejo; a cold tomato based soup, topped with chopped egg and Serrano Jamon.

Stuffed Piquillo Peppers...Smoked Paprika Aioli

Patatas Bravas are super easy to make and are a beautiful way to spiff up the plain old spud. These oven roasted potatoes are served on a smoky tomato bed and topped with a garlicky aioli. This is a hearty appetizer and both the Bravas Sauce and the aioli can be made a day or two ahead. 

Lets talk Paella: No Spanish cuisine class would be complete without this simple rice dish that originated in the mid-nineteenth century, in the Spanish region of Valencia.
      To make it you don't have to have a real Paella pan; any wide, low sided round pan will do. Pans run the gamut from 8" to a mile wide and from about $15 to $500+. The cheap steel ones will rust so if you are going to do it, do it and right spend about $50 and get a stainless steel one. It will cook more evenly and clean up more easily. Win-win.    
     I like Paella Mixta, which invites everyone to the party...chorizo, chicken, shrimp, lobster and mussels. (Side note: Valencian's would NEVER add chorizo to Paella and would be offended by this bastardized version. They would probably add rabbit, which would offend me if I were offendable, so anyhow....we're even.)
     You have to use an authentic medium grain rice, such as Bomba or Calasparra and DON'T STIR IT! Stirring it releases the starch and starch = sticky rice. (We are in Spain now, not Japan.) 
     You MUST use saffron, even it costs $500,000,000 per gram. It's in the Paella rule book. You won't necessarily taste it in there but if it's not in the dish you'll definitely miss it, so just suck it up and buy some saffron. While you're at it get some real Spanish smoked paprika too.

La Tienda is a great resource for real Spanish ingredients so if you want to make it authentic as  possible do your shopping there. I love their meats; especially the Iberico and Serrano Jamon; the anchovy stuffed olives are tender and briny, the cheeses decadent. And I really love their Black Truffle Potato Chips. (Confession to make: One bag (out of the three that I ordered) arrived a little smashed up so I opened it up to check the contents and ate the ENTIRE bag right then and there. I could not stop myself and had the bag been bigger I would have crawled all the way inside of it. They are that good. Consider yourself warned.) They also have a great variety of Paella pans at all different price points. (And they aren't even paying me to say this.) A word of caution: a plane ticket to Spain may cost about the same amount as some of their meat products.

 

Never the less, Spain's cuisine is bold, fresh and flavorful. With the right ingredients you can be transported right there....without ever buying a plane ticket.
Class dismissed.
Get two of the recipes by clicking on the links below.

PRINT RECIPE:  Potatas Bravas with Garlic Aioli

PRINT RECIPE:  Paella Mixta