California is an exciting place when it comes to food:  it has some of the world's best produce and Alice Water's, arguably Americas most influential chef, has been redefining how Americans eat from her Northern Californian restaurant by celebrating seasonal, fresh ingredients for years. Historically it has been influenced by Japanese, Chinese, Mediterranean and Latin food. The  American fusion food movement was perfected on the west coast and this recipe is my ode to California. I hope you enjoy it!  It is also romantic and perfect for a date in the coming new year!

Asian Marinated Flat Iron Steak

Ingredients:
2 La Cense flat iron steaks
2 tablespoons sherry or rice wine
2 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
1 inch piece ginger, minced
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation: Defrost the steaks, I like to either leave them in the refrigerator for a day or put them in a bowl of water for an hour. Mix the marinade together; season the steaks with salt and pepper, place in marinade. You can marinate the steaks for up to a day, I marinated them for 2 hours which I thought worked perfectly. These steaks are best grilled or broiled--- because it is winter, broiling is my preferred method. The secret to a perfectly seared steak is to preheat your broiler before you place the steaks underneath the broiler. You will want to broil them for about 4 minutes on each side, depending on your broiler, until they are medium rare. Enjoy!

For the rosemary shiitake mushrooms I just sautéed the mushrooms in a
tablespoon of butter and added fresh cracked pepper and rosemary.

Wasabi Whipped Potatoes

2 pounds russet or Idaho potatoes, peeled and halved
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup half and half
2 teaspoons of wasabi paste
Salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation: Boil the potatoes for around 40 minutes until they are
tender. Using a hand mixer whip the potatoes with butter and half and
half until they are smooth. Add wasabi and mix, season with
salt.

Last week Ulla and I went to the farmer's market at Union Square where I picked up some ripe red local Macintosh and Macoon apples from a local farm, which I later used to make a delicious winter apple pie for our holiday dinner.  Apple pies are good any time of the year, but I like to add a little ginger and extra spice to make a warming apple pie for a frosty winter's eve.  I thought I'd share my recipe.

If you can, look for apples, butter, or flour that come from a local farm.  In Montana, I have found some local butter made by a Hutterite family (I have a feeling it's grass-fed butter) and flour from a nearby wheat farm for baking.  In New York state, a grand supply of local apples can always be found at any farmer's market.

For the crust, refer to this link to the November Saveur magazine recipe for measurements and technique.  While your pie dough is chilling, begin making the apple mixture.

Peel, core, and slice  5 - 6 cups of tart apples Put apples in a bowl. Squeeze the juice of 1/2 of a lemon over the apples, and mix well.  The lemon juice keeps the apples from rusting.

In another bowl, mix:

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp allspice

1 1/2 Tbs flour

Add this sugar and spice mixture to the apples.  Stir the apples until completely coated in the sugar and spice mixture.  Grate 1 tsp fresh ginger over apples.  Stir ginger into apple mixture.

Roll out half of your pie dough and carefully place it in a 9 or 10 inch pie pan.  Pour the apple mixture into the pie shell, leveling it out with a spoon or by hand.

Roll out the 2nd half of your pie dough and place it over the apples. Dot the apple mixture with 1 Tbs of butter.

Cut the long edges of the pie dough off, leaving about 1 inch of pie dough for the edges of the crust.  Press top and bottom together and roll the edges under to create a nice edge of the crust.

Cut remaining pie dough into the shapes of leaves, holly, or other symbols and set them on the top crust.  Cut a few half-inch slits in the top crust to allow the steam to escape while the pie is baking.

Wisk 1 egg white and coat the pie dough lightly over the top with the egg white.

Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes and then for 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Serve warm and enjoy!