Recipe: Nico’s Sauce – Sun Dried Tomato & Anchovy Dipping Sauce
Last week, I shared some fun highlights from my recent coastal California road trip that I took with none other than my momma. Today, you get the pleasure of learning how to make the very best dish I had on the trip: Nico’s sauce.
Actually, I take that back. I can’t make Nico’s sauce the way he does. And, honestly, neither can you. No one can. But damnit, we will try!
Ingredients: dry sun-dried tomatoes, fresh garlic, fresh rosemary, extra-virgin olive oil, any dry white wine (plus a swig for the chef), pepper, crushed red pepper, coarse sea salt, and anchovy filets
Let’s rewind a little. On our evening in Carmel, mom and I opted for a healthy splurge and had dinner at a little Mediterranean restaurant called Nico. We were greeted by the bubbliest, Italianest host you could imagine, and were seated right away. Our (incredibly handsome) server introduced himself and placed a small ramekin of red sauce and some fresh bread in front of us. I think back at that moment, before I’d taken a bite of that fateful sauce, and recall how innocently I looked at the bowl. “Oh,” I must have thought, “look, a simple tomato dip for our bread before the meal comes. How quaint.” That opinion changed when I took my first bite.
Road Trip: California Coast
I recently took a road trip across the California coast with my mom. It was a precious picture: a five-day long mother-daughter vacation where we became one with nature (and my car).
If you’re a Californian and you haven’t yet trekked either up or down Highway 1 (aka the Pacific Coast Highway, aka PCH, aka all roads lead to Malibu), then for Barbara Millicent Robert’s sake, what are you waiting for?! The coastline is stunning, with red succulents blanketing the steep cliffs that lead down to slowly crashing waves. And ita��s even prettier when we have more rainfall than we did this year (sigh).
The trip is a rite of passage for all West Coasters. This time around, my mom and I left LA and headed straight to Walnut Creek to see family. Then we took our sweet time coming back home by way of Tiburon, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Carmel, Pebble Beach, Big Sur, San Simeon, and Morro Bay.
Charming handicrafts in Carmel, photographed while window-shopping. Had the store been open, I’d have been tempted to get that Berkeley pillow!
Happy Norooz! (Or Nowruz, or Noruz, or Nowrooz)
What better way to introduce the world to Shireen & Savory than through the Persian New Year? March 20th this year marked the coming of spring – the vernal equinox. Iranians all over the world celebrate the new year (or “Norooz”, which actually translates to “new day”) on the first day of spring and throughout the ensuing weeks. When you think about it, isn’t that the best day to start the year? Instead of celebrating a new year smack dab in the middle of winter, Persians figured that it’s best to let the cold come to rest and start a new year with a new season. With spring comes new beginnings, flowers blossoming, and the sun shining for longer. I’ve always loved celebrating this occasion with my family. It’s a celestial holiday, not religious, and it places humanity, hope for the future, and the contemplation of time over all else.
The portrait of Persian New Year will always be the Sofreh Haft Seen, or “Seven S” spread. I’ve made my interpretation of the Sofreh Haft Seen this year and included all the fixin’s – mung beans, dried oleaster, you name it! Each item on the spread represents a different hope for the new year.