San Diego summer vibes emanate from curated experience by Callie Chef Travis Swikard
Earthy saffron, bright citrus and luxurious olive oil made my first culinary kit a memorable meal
As a culinary school graduate and lover of food, I enjoy preparing extravagant meals at home that play with seasonal ingredients, overarching themes and refreshing drink pairings.
While the appeal of minimized prep work and cleanup by using a prepared food kit is not lost on me, I am usually wary of letting someone else take the creative reins of my stovetop and have never been compelled to order one.
But then I saw the Savor San Diego Culinary Kit last month and immediately grabbed my credit card.
Sold by Cocktail Courier, the kit is a collaboration between Callie founder and Chef Travis Swikard, San Diego Tourism Authority and Eater, created to share the tastes of summer in San Diego with home cooks across the country.
“We wanted to give the outside world a taste of what we do in San Diego, and a lot of that has to do with the feeling of sunshine,” Swikard said.
Kayla Yap, San Diego Tourism director of brand management, said that while the kit was a first for the organization, it is part of a larger partnership with Eater, a food website by Vox Media.
“The partnership was created to educate travelers on San Diego’s multicultural culinary scene,” Yap said. “Since food is core to San Diego’s unique culture, these culinary kits were a great way to share San Diego to a national audience in a tangible way.”
Intrigued by the concept and eager to explore the flavors of my city in a new way, I decided to give it a try. Because I wanted to try both the Saffron and Meyer Lemon G&T — short for gin and tonic — and the Preserved Lemon Spaghetti Aglio e Olio, I bought the deluxe kit.
Swikard created the recipe for the pasta, which is paired with Callie Bartender James Roe’s Saffron and Meyer Lemon G&T cocktail recipe.
“He's got this amazing mental capacity and palate, and he understands the simplicity and how I like things done,” Swikard said of Roe, adding that he “put together a simple cocktail that tastes really delicious and people can make at home.”
Although the kit is no longer available — orders stopped the day I received my delivery — I wanted to review this kit to share my thoughts on the experience and whether I’d order another one in the future.
What was in the kit? Was it a good value?
Nested inside the vibrantly colored box boasting a photo of San Diego’s beautiful coastline is a large enough supply to make dinner for two people, along with two rounds of cocktails for each.
The kit includes a 200-milliliter bottle of St. George Botanivore Gin, two 6.8-ounce bottles of Fever Tree Mediterranean Tonic, saffron, two Meyer lemons, Callie preserved lemons, a Spaghetti Martelli bag, crushed Calabrian chili pepper jar and a 375-milliliter bottle of Olivum Reserve Olive Oil from Temecula.
The Savor San Diego Culinary Kit comes with all the ingredients you need to make pasta and cocktails for two. Video by Lauren J. Mapp
The preserved lemons were marinated in a mixture of black sesame seeds, star anise, juniper berries and olive oil.
“The preserved lemons came from the Callie kitchen,” Swikard said. “We preserve like 1,000 pounds of those lemons every year at the restaurant, so it's a nice little piece of Callie in everyone's home kitchen.”
The kit also included a handheld lemon juicer and recipe cards.
With enough preserved lemons to duplicate the recipe, I made the pasta for my husband and I to eat for dinner last weekend and served it with a side of Brussels sprouts (not pictured). It came with enough spaghetti for five servings, and far more Calabrian chili paste and saffron than is needed to create the dish and cocktails, so the excess of these items can be saved for later.
At $49.99, the culinary kit was a good value considering it includes the components to make pasta and cocktails for two. If you were to purchase the various ingredients in this box individually, it would cost a minimum of $82.89 to order each of the items from a variety of websites, plus the cost of shipping.
Although absolutely worth it, an even pricier option would be to order a version of this meal while dining at Callie.
The Saffron and Meyer Lemon G&T and Preserved Lemon Spaghetti Aglio e Olio aren’t items on Callie’s current menu, but the closest options would be the Golden State cocktail and the lemon saffron linguine with Calabrian chili, San Diego uni and bottarga breadcrumbs at Callie. The pasta costs $34 a plate and cocktails are $17 each, which means dinner for a couple and two rounds of drinks would be $136 before taxes and tip.
Plus, you’d have to fight the urge to order Callie’s fantastic baba ganoush as an appetizer and the warm chocolate chip tahini cookie for dessert.
Was the recipe easy to follow?
Yes, especially if you prepare your mise en place by chopping the preserved lemons, garlic, tomatoes and parsley before you start cooking.
Ahead of preparing the cocktails, the saffron needed to be added to the gin at least two days ahead to fully infuse the flavor.
The recipe did include items that are not a part of the box — garlic cloves, fresh parsley, Campari tomatoes and fried sourdough bread crumbs.
I luckily had parsley and garlic already, but not the bread crumbs, so I prepared a batch from scratch with sourdough I baked last week. (My recipe for the bread crumbs is below, if you'd like to make your own as well.) Since I didn't have Campari tomatoes, I substituted in the heirloom tomatoes from my fridge.
Preparing Chef Travis Swikard’s preserved lemon spaghetti aglio e olio is a simple task that doesn’t leave a pile of dirty dishes in its aftermath. Video by Lauren J. Mapp
On the recipe card, Chef Swikard suggests cooks add anchovy or ventresca tuna in olive oil to the dish. Although I had both, I decided to serve it as a vegetarian meal.
Even factoring in making my own breadcrumbs, it took less than an hour and a half to prepare both the pasta and cocktail, and both recipes were thorough and easy to follow.
Making the pasta doesn't dirty too many dishes — just a cutting board, a pan for the sauce and a pot to boil the pasta in, which means cleaning up is fairly simple. Swikard said the simplicity of preparing the dish was by design, based on how he likes to prepare his own meals.
“When I cook at home, I want to do one pan kind of cookery, not have a million different things — I want it to be quick and easy and delicious now,” Swikard said.
The cocktail recipe called for a “serving glass” without specifying a size, so I opted for my favorite Collins glass, which worked well. Once the gin was infused with saffron, it was an easy cocktail to mix together — just pour all the ingredients in, add a scoop of ice, stir and garnish.
How did it taste?
My husband and I really enjoyed both the cocktail and pasta, which were perfectly matched so that alternating bites and sips enhanced the flavor of each.
While the pasta recipe called for more olive oil than I would typically use for a single dish, it added a luxurious richness to the sauce, making it feel more like dining out than many home cooked meals.
The preserved lemon and Calabrian pepper paste from the pasta dish paired well with the earthy flavor of the saffron in the G&T. And the tonic and Meyer lemon juice in the cocktail subsequently cut through the fat in the pasta sauce nicely, making it a great palate cleanser in between bites.
While eating the pasta, I could definitely taste the flavor of the chili paste, and while there was a little heat, it was not so spicy as to drown out the flavors of the preserved lemons, tomatoes and garlic.
Normally I’m not a fan of breadcrumbs on top of pasta — aside from Mac and cheese — but I did love how it gave the dish a nice crunch. I also added a little Parmesan on top because why not?
Is this a true representation of summer in San Diego?
The bright citrus flavors in the pasta and Saffron and Meyer Lemon G&T definitely evoked feelings of the summer months, allowing for a dining experience reminiscent of dining at Callie for a fraction of the price.
My one critique is that to have a truly local, San Diego experience, the group could have picked a local liquor.
Don’t get me wrong, I love St. George Spirits — especially the Spiced Pear Liqueur, which tastes like a warm hug — and the herbaceous notes in the Botanivore gin play well with the saffron in this gin and tonic.
But an obvious choice for this San Diego-focused culinary box is a locally distilled spirit — like Cutwater Gin or You & Yours London Dry Gin — instead of one made in Northern California.
Overall, it was an incredible experience and opened my mind to the possibility of using curated culinary kits. The flavors were well-balanced, and the recipes easy to prepare at home, and cleanup was very easy.
While I won’t make this a regular thing — I love developing my own food and drink recipes far too much — I definitely won’t hesitate to try another one should Swikard and his collaborators develop a new set of recipes in the future.
Lauren’s sourdough breadcrumbs
2 Sourdough slices, thickly cut (can use stale bread, if available)
1 teaspoon Oregano, dried
1 teaspoon Parsley, dried
1/4 teaspoon Roasted Garlic Powder
1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper, fresh cracked
1/4 teaspoon Red Pepper Flake
1/4 teaspoon Maldon Sea Salt Flakes
1 teaspoon Parmesan, fresh grated
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place sourdough slices in a toaster and cook until light golden brown (skip this step if using stale bread). Dice the toasted or stale bread into small cubes, add to a food processor and lightly pulse until the bread is broken into small, crumbly pieces.
Spread bread crumbs onto a baking sheet, and place in the oven until the crumbs are a deep golden brown, about 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, then pour into a bowl.
Next, pour oregano, parsley, roasted garlic powder, black pepper, red pepper flake and sea salt into the bowl of breadcrumbs, then toss lightly until combined. Add parmesan, and toss one more time before using or storing.
Store in a sealed glass jar in a cabinet for up to one week, or in the refrigerator for up to one month.
Up Next: Kimchi…in a cocktail?
Make sure you’re subscribed to Tides & Tacos so that you don’t miss my newest set of beverage recipes using Twins Premium Kimchi, which is locally produced in San Diego.
Ah, this all sounds incredible, but I think its an excellent catch with the locally distilled spirit! There are SO many options to pick from in San Diego.