February 21, 2008 by Nathalie Herling.

You may wonder if you can grill a steak on the stove top in a clay pan? We heard it could be done. So Michael Barker of La Vida Verde http://www.lavidaverde.com and myself,  Nathalie Herling of Creative Clay Cooking, put La Chamba to the test!

We bought a nice simple cut of Beef Tenderloin.

Now I have to stop and tell you about the fabulous seasoning… At the New York Gift show I had the incredible opportunity to meet the owner of the  The Giraffe Global Gallery, Priscilla http://www.giraffevashon.com.  This woman exudes fun and adventure.  So it was no surprise that in her purse she held a special concoction of her store’s own blend of Hawaiian Red, Himalayan Pink, French Sea Salt, an Alder Smoked Salt from Oregon, and a little Molokai Black Salt.   Wow… salt will never be the same for me. I tasted it on the spot - what a wonderful smokey blend. Priscilla told me she travels everywhere with it.  I am a spare salt user… yet my taste buds were so awakened and impressed by the complexity of flavors her salt offered.  She filled a little piece of plastic I scronged up with the treasured salt… made me feel like an ancient trader getting the precious preserving salt of life… a cultural time warp having this West Coast valued salt offered in friendship…  Next I MUST try the coffee this woman also never travels without, got to be incredible.  Priscilla sales her salt blend on her website http://www.giraffevashon.com/product/salt.html. Also watch for her clever one pot stove to table Spinach Salad… to follow on this blog shortly.

Michael wisely suggested we save this unique salt for the Steak. Now for our experiment. Grilling Steak in La Chamba. I selected my favorite, what is commonly called a baking dish but I use as a skillet.

Michael chopped up some shallots and garlic for sauting in the pan with a light touch of olive oil.

He seasoned the meat with the special “Giraffe Salt”,  some coarse ground pepper and places it in the sizzling La Chamba clay pan. It worked perfectly. He cooked each side until nicely medium rare.  Drizzled the pan drippings over the meat and cut into small slices that we proceeded to quickly, divinely enjoyed.

I can say with good authority that La Chamba is GREAT for sauting/grilling whatever you want to call it… for creating a lovely steak.

Posted in care | 1 Comment »

August 20, 2007 by Nathalie Herling.

I use La Chamba blackware pottery from Columbia almost everyday in my cooking and I can assure you if you are using a quality La Chamba product you can place it directly on the gas stove with little or no worries. I use in in the oven and microwave as well.

I have not personally used this cookware on an electric stove, but I hear on good authority that you should use a diffuser. Here are some types of diffusers I have found on the web, including a very attractive copper options. Most cost between $10 and $2o. A good tool to have around to cook on gas or electric stoves.

http://www.kitchenkapers.com/heat-diffusers.html  cast iron, and other types

http://bellacopper.stores.yahoo.net/   copper diffuser

Posted in care, la chamba cookware | 2 Comments »

July 3, 2007 by Nathalie Herling.

Michael gave me a fun purple scrub for my kitchen that is wonderful for cleaning blackware pottery. Doesn’t seem to scratch the surface and does a quick job on tough foods like scrambled eggs.

 Called the Purple Pad, the playful color makes scrubing away just a little more fun.

“The Scotch-Brite™ Purple Scour Pad No. 2020 is the next generation of cleaning pad” according to the 3M website, http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_us/PurplePad/Home .

I believe it is true. This purple pad has the  perfectscrub surface for getting the job done quickly and the pad itself is easy to get what you get off the pan off the pad… that is usually a problem.

I have used mine for months now… something I would not have been confident to do with other scrubers for health reasons, but this one cleans up and airs out very well.

Now if you want to buy just 1, good luck. I found a few places that sell them by the case of 24 for less than $14 for the full case. A life time supply. And great gift for other friends. This scrub might even offer you a refreshed purple passion for cleaning.

http://www.pjpmarketplace.com/servlet/the-1120/Scotch-dsh-Brite-Purple-Scouring-Pad/Detail?zmam=9154908&zmas=1&zmac=6&zmap=164450

Posted in care, la chamba cookware | No Comments »