Eat for the children

Sample local chefs’ creations. Mingle with friends or new faces. Raise money so children won’t go to bed hungry. All these opportunities are available at one place: The Island Hotel in Newport Beach.

Share Our Strength will hold its third annual Taste of the Nation Orange County fundraiser from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. May 1 at the hotel’s Pal Garden. Guests will have the chance to sample what area chefs are cooking and help a worthwhile cause - fighting childhood hunger in Orange County and the U.S. Amar Santana, 26, executive chef of Charlie Palmer at Bloomingdale’s South Coast Plaza, will serve a scallop and shrimp chorizo with summer bean salad and parsley aioli. The jumbo scallops are chopped and added to shrimp to form the chorizo. Santana has served the chorizo as an amuse bouche at the restaurant and received a “good response” from customers.  Santana served a lamb confit at last year’s event.

Chef Bill Bracken of the host hotel, with chefs from hush Restaurant, Mr. Stox, Sage on the Coast and Bluefin, are scheduled to participate. Brown Forman will provide wines to pair with the food. The event will include an auction and the band OFFWHITE will provide live entertainment.

The event has raised more than $300,000 in Orange County since 1988.  County charities Orange County Community Partnership and Second Harvest Foodbank of Orange County will benefit from this year’s event. Funds provide grants to organizations in the U.S. and abroad to fight childhood hunger. The goal is to help children and families access nutritious food and address the underlying causes of hunger.  Each spring, more than 45 Taste of the Nation events are held across the U.S.

Cost is $75 per person with all proceeds going to combat childhood hunger. To purchase tickets, call 1-877-26-TASTE or click here for other information and getting to tickets.

Lunch to lighten cold blahs

Nothing like a tender throat and minor congestion to stir up a longing for soup, something restorative. Tomato soup was on my mind after watching an episode of America’s Test Kitchen for the first time. Christopher Kimball, founder and editor of Cook’s Illustrated, and a colleague made a tomato soup without cream or milk, so I decided to try it at home. I bought three tomatoes, thinking they would be sliced and go into fish sandwiches this week. Instead, they went into a soup for lunch. They used canned tomatoes on the show, but I substituted fresh instead. I roughly cut them and added them, along with some kosher salt, to softened chopped onions, minced garlic, crushed red pepper flakes and a bay leaf. After the tomatoes cooked for, say, 20 minutes, I added some bread cubes and stirred to incorporate. Then the mixture went into the blender for a pulse. If you are picky about bits of peel in your soup, cook the tomatoes in boiling water for 45 seconds to a minute, or until peels start to release. Place the tomatoes in a bowl of ice water, then remove the peels and proceed. (Peel tomatoes before you start cooking the soup).

Return the puree to a washed-out pot and add some chicken broth to thin to desired consistency. Check for seasoning and add a little brown sugar. I sat down and tasted the soup, then remembered to add brown sugar.

The soup was too sweet for me, but the brown sugar really brought out the spice from the crushed red pepper. This is a soothing soup, which is best served with a grilled cheese sandwich. A par-baked filone loaf from Trader Joe’s did the trick. This is good bread. The slices were too thick, so the cheese took awhile to melt. Once the cheese started oozing down the crust and onto

the pan, sizzles sprouted. On one end of the sandwich, some cheese actually crisped and attached to the crust in a thin flake. The havarti melted nice, and there was a slight tang. 

I  scrambled eggs last night and the texture turned out dreadful. They were mushy and lacked any form. It was a jumbled mess of sauteed mushrooms, ricotta, basil, dill, artichokes and caramelized onions. The eggs took on a greenish-gray hue. They packed flavor with the basil, but the texture was less than appealing. I might have stirred them too much and didn’t add enough butter to the pan. They stuck. It’s amazing how some techniques that seem basic – scrambling eggs, making grilled cheese – require an attention and know how, less they turn into something to endure instead of enjoy.