Today's Special

Broiled Grapefruit

2011-11-01T12:35:00.001-07:00

I have been making broiled grapefruit for almost as long as I have been making my own breakfast (I started at age 9, so it's safe to say it's been a LONG time). I love grapefruit in the morning, but as the days grow chilly I like to have a warm breakfast, so this is the perfect way to get both. And it just takes a little bit of prep for a lot of reward. It's also wonderful to serve to guests and feels more dressed up than just cold fruit.

Set the broiler to high
Line a pan with foil
Halve a grapefruit
Cut through the sections
Put a dollop of butter on top
Sprinkle with brown sugar
Dust with cinnamon
Broil for about 10 min until it starts to get browned edges

Make sure you scoop up all of that delicious sauce and spoon on top. Top of the morning to you!

The Devil Made Me Do It!

2011-11-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

On this Halloween, something led me to Devil's Teeth Baking Company in the Outer Sunset. Perhaps it was the spooky fog drifting over Ocean Beach. Perhaps it was the smell of butter, sugar, flour, chocolate. Perhaps it was a need to connect over something hand-crafted by people who are as passionate about food as I am. Perhaps it was the lure of the surfer, a solitary spirit on a quest for that perfect brownie, er wave....ok, I am reaching now.

It's on one of those streets way out in the Outerlands (as the area used to be called), so far into nomansland that you can't imagine that you are going to find any businesses at all. The telltale sign of life is the dog bowl outside and people milling around with coffee and baked goods. And here is why:

A sparkling, minimal glass case filled with simple and delicious baked goods. A friendly, helpful staff. Happy, satisfied customers who give you that "knowing" look when they see that it is your first time. Lots of samples at the register. A jar of homemade dog treats. I had only to sample the brownie to know I had come Home.

Rich, moist, cakey - not even the kind of brownie I usually like best (I usually like a chewy texture), but so full of chocolate flavor, I could not stop eating it.

And then there was this:

This, my friends, was the Banana Cream Pie. A little puffy pie for you to enjoy all by yourself. Ripe banana, custard flaked with vanilla beans, and a surprise dollop of chocolate at the bottom. How I managed to get it home without eating it in the car is a minor miracle. My guess is that it won't make it out the front door of the shop next time.

And just so you know that I only hoarded two treats for myself, I did bring home a slice of cheesecake for my husband, who is very particular about cheesecake:

It passed the test. Dense, not too sweet, slight lemon flavor, sour cream topping. Delicious!

All of this, and I have yet to try their famous cinnamon rolls. And oh, their siren song is strong. I will be back to sink my teeth into that devlish Devil soon!

An Apple Crisp a Day

2011-10-30T22:14:00.001-07:00

When the air gets that slight chill, and the leaves start to change, I crave crisp, juicy apples. And when it's time to make a dessert for a crowd, there is nothing quite as homey as a good apple crisp.

I decided to try a new recipe at a casual dinner with friends. It had all of the right ingredients: apples, and a buttery sweet crumb topping, plus a few extras: cherries and apricots, and pecans. And the smell of all of those fragrant spices in the bowl is so satisfying, as is getting your hands in there to make the crumb topping.

The original recipe comes from a book called From Our House to Yours from Chronicle Books.

I followed the recipe exactly and then realized that there wasn't nearly enough topping, so I had to double it in order to completely cover the fruit. I also wanted a more tart taste, so instead of the Golden Delicious apples that the original called for, I used half Braeburn and half Granny Smith. And for the the cherries, I used dried sour Montmorency cherries.

The result was great - sweet and tart apples, luscious apricots, and plumped up cherries under a crunchy, nutty crust. Perfect with a dollop of Three Twins Madagascar Vanilla ice cream.

This made enough to serve 9 hungry people - if you just want a simple weeknight dinner dessert, divide it in half and make it in a pie dish.

Apple Crisp with Dried Fruits

Topping:

1 1/4 C. all-purpose flour
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 t. ground allspice
1/4 t. ground cloves
pinch of salt (generous)
1/2 C. chopped pecans, toasted
1 1/2 C. old fashioned rolled oats
2/3 C. granulated sugar
1 C. firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Filling:

4 sweet apples (such as Braeburn), peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2 in. slices
4 tart apples (such as Granny Smith), peeled, cored and cut into 1/2 in. slices
juice of 2 lemons
1/2 C. dried pitted tart Montmorency cherries (available at Trader Joe's)
1/2 C. sliced dried apricots

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

- Butter a 9 X 13 in. baking dish

- To make the topping: In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves and salt. Add the pecans, rolled oats, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and butter. Rub all ingredients between your fingertips until they are evenly distributed and the mixture is crumbly and resembles coarse bread crumbs. Set aside.

- Put the apples in a bowl and toss immediately with the lemon juice, dried cherries, and apricots.

- Spoon the filling into the prepared dish and sprinkle the topping evenly over the fruit, pressing down lightly.

- Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and bubbling. Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Come to Papa

2011-10-11T13:10:00.000-07:00

Went to Papalote for the first time last week with some friends from out of town. While the Mexipino burrito was tasty, what was out of this world was the salsa. It was spicy but not over the top, with an unusually creamy texture. I wanted to drink it! I'm obviously not alone, because they sell it by the pint. You can order it from anywhere in the country with a nice label and everything, but I love the fact that if you buy it locally it just comes in this unmarked glass jar.

I bought this jar on Friday afternoon, and it was gone by Saturday night. So my best advice to you is, order two!

BFFF

2011-10-08T16:23:00.000-07:00

Meet my new BFFF. Best Food Friend Forever. I don't say that lightly, either. This is Straw restaurant in Hayes Valley, which took over the old J's Pots of Soul space maybe 8 months ago. I have been meaning to go and meaning to go, and finally I was able to go for brunch. Right away, I was smitten with the crafty lettering and cozy atmosphere. See the cool Tilt-a-Whirl booth in the corner? My kind of place.

And now I have to apologize in advance for the photos that follow. Camera phone photos in the wrong lighting, and two people impatiently wanting to dig in. That said, we started with State Fair, which was beignets with apple compote, caramel sauce and a sprig of thyme:

Followed by Wilbur's Revival, which was amazing garlicy braised pork hash and creamy grits, with an added poached egg on top:

Followed by THE most decadent dish I have ever had as a first meal of the day, just invented by them that morning - a glazed donut, with a poached egg inside, covered with bacon and sauce (hollandaise?), and with a side of perfectly crisped potatoes. Oh my, is all that we could say, plus some unintelligible happy noises. It was a sweet salty mouth explosion with a cherry on top.

Not only that, but they played great music, were super friendly and fun, and had great art on the walls. It was not quite, but almost a stay-cation, to somewhere like New Orleans or the Lower East Side. And the theme was kitchy without being silly, with really, really good food.

Oh, my BFFF, let's never be apart!

For the Love of Browed Butter

2011-10-06T21:53:00.000-07:00

Alternate post title: How to Dress Up Trader Joe's Pasta to Make it Seem Like a Restaurant Meal

Everyone (who is not vegan) knows that butter is delicious. Heck, even most vegans know that, but they choose not to eat it. But there is one thing that is better than butter. Browned butter.

It seems really highbrow when you see it on a menu. It's really not. But it tastes like it. It's has the effect of turning a humbly churned milk by-product into butter royalty.

This is how you make it: melt some unsalted butter on medium heat. It will foam. It will develop little delicious solid bits. It will turn brown. Done!

This is Trader Joe's Butternut Squash Ravioli with browned butter. Without it: ok, nice enough. With it: 5-star restaurant.

Try it and see. You'll be amazed.

To Truck or Not to Truck?

2011-10-02T23:22:00.001-07:00

So, it kind of seemed like the food truck movement directly coincided with me quitting my job 4 years ago. As if the food universe said, don't worry, you can still afford gourmet meals, you're just going to eat them sitting on the curb! And then suddenly it was food truck, food truck, food truck. It began to seem as if you weren't cool if your food didn't come from a walk-up window of a refurbished bus. So we all stood around at Fort Mason on Friday nights, freezing our asses off, with pork belly juice dripping between our fingers, wondering how we possibly spent $30 and still did not have a place to sit down or go to the bathroom. Food trucks!

That said, the Off the Grid folks did a good thing for the food truck movement in San Francisco, which is, they gave them a little pop-up village to camp in. By creating an environment, including tables (for some), music, and most importantly, BUZZ. Because without buzz in this city, you might as well be the tree falling in the forest onto deaf ears. They carefully chose locations throughout the city which would serve specific demographics and it worked: Civic Center, UN Plaza, Upper Haight, Fort Mason, and McCoppin were the first ones, and it has now spread to both the Penninsula and the East Bay. McCoppin was even featured on Bizarre Foods, with Andrew Zimmern trying his hand at schoolbus cuisine.

After going to Off the Grid numerous times, I started to get weary of it. First of all, it felt very ON the grid, too buttoned-up, and with some of the food tasting the same (2 Filipino trucks at one event? Really? 3 years ago no one even knew what pancit was). I talked to some food vendors who told me how hard it was to get approved to sell at OTG, and how expensive. I started to get even more bugged at SF when they shut down the SF Underground Market for vendors not being certified. Hang on, "underground", doesn't that mean the opposite of above ground?

Well, the other day I had to run to City Hall on an errand, and I was starving and craving something inexpensive, savory, and filling. It was Thursday, and luckily for me, I remembered that that's the same day that OTG sets up at UN Plaza. This is perhaps their most unsavory location, transient-central, with a lot of smells that don't make you think "lunch". But after running the gauntlet of sleeping people on the Civic Center greens, I came upon KoJa, a Korean-Japanese fusion truck I had not seen before. I had about 10 minutes and 5 bucks. Go-time.

I ordered the BBQ Chicken sandwich, which had kimchee and a grilled pineapple. It was exactly $5, and I got the very last one of the day, which means that the person after me had to pick something else. I don't know why, but getting the last of something at the food truck feels like you won some kind of badge, even though you didn't do anything at all. Thankfully, I resisted the urge to say "nee-ner nee-ner nee-ner" to the person behind me.

What a delicious meal! The "bun" was made of 2 rice patties, grilled on each side so they were crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. The meat was nicely seasoned and the sauce was tangy and not too sweet, with the grilled pineapple adding some natural caramelized sweetness. It was just enough for lunch, and was relatively easy to eat while walking, which is not true of many food truck foods.

And so, I left feeling not jaded, but grateful. Grateful for food trucks, grateful to live in a city where we embrace this movement, grateful for the vendors who participate, and grateful to have a delightful lunch experience which was within my budget.

Next stop, Bacon Bacon.

(oh, and by the way, click on the first picture in this post to enlarge. There are 2 outfits that are not to be missed. The colorful pattern lady is obvious, what I want to know is, where did that guy get a camo cape?)

Summer of Salad

2011-08-05T18:25:00.001-07:00

I've been hitting the farmers markets hard this summer. It's now a twice a week habit due to the Wednesday market that I discovered in the Castro. It's a tiny market, only a block long with about 15 vendors at most, so for me, that's perfect. I can be in and out in 10 minutes, depending on what I am looking for. There is one cheese vendor who had tastes of this delicious feta, which I finally bought after a couple of weeks of just tasting it when I walked by. It tastes so salty on its own, but in a salad it gives that perfect tang.

Today's lunch salad consisted of spinach, raw corn (shaved off of the cobb right before composing the salad), tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, and some leftover Israeli couscous from earlier in the week. This would be an easy one to add some cooked chicken to, but it's very satisfying as is, with just a few splashes of olive oil and red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.

One of the many cool things about the farmers market, is that you are assured of eating what is seasonal. For example, stone fruits were in abundance, like this incredible peach from Frog Hollow Farms, but there were no apples or broccoli imported from somewhere where they can grow them or from hothouses. And while it may be more expensive than going to your neighborhood grocery store chain, you are assured that each piece of produce will taste great. And if you know it's going to taste great, you are more likely to eat it than forget about it and end up throwing it away at the end of the week. And I consider that to be a savings in the end.

Hello Again, It's Me!

2011-07-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

Yes, I live. I write. I eat. I have just not been doing any of that here. Sorry for the long hiatus.

I started a dog treat company in May, called TrickDog Treats. This has been all-consuming for me: creating the product, marketing, selling, producing, and building the brand. It's a really different way of using my baking skills, and I love it. Please love it too, and visit my Facebook page! And if you really love it, please "Like" it, and I'll make all sorts of happy noises.

I still bake cupcakes too, though not as often. Cupcakes are still going strong, but there are so many people out there doing it, and in order to keep costs competitive, you end up doing a lot of work for not a lot of money. However, I'll still take on the occasional custom order. This weekend I had a request from a woman in my neighborhood who orders from time to time. She needed a dozen chocolate cupcakes for a last-minute school event, using Royal Blue and White (the school colors). I took the opportunity to try a swirled icing technique and it came out well, I think! She really liked them. I added raspberry filling and raspberry flavoring to the frosting for a little "Black Forest"-like flavor, which would still be appealing to kids.

And of course, I still love to eat out. Although when I am on the run or at an event, I tend to go the food truck route rather than the fine dining route. Yesterday I chowed down on some delicious lumpia from HAPA SF. Food trucks continue to surprise and delight me with the quality and creativity of their food, and I don't think this trend is going away anytime soon. If you don't have food trucks in your town, check out Eat Street on the Cooking Channel and get ready to be amazed. Schnitzel truck? Big Gay Ice Cream Truck? Oh, yeah. There's even a

dog food truck called Phydough, which unfortunately for my pups, is in L.A.

Oh, and also we got another dog. Yes, another. Now we are a 3-dog, 2-cat pack. INSANE. And also hilarious. That's Penny, above. To say that she is food-motivated would be a gross understatement. Food-obsessed is much closer. That's my girl!

So, there you go. A little bit of update, a little bit of food porn. As I learn to balance my work and animal care duties, I will come back here with regularity again. I miss it here and there are daily specials that need to be broadcast!

Looks like Soup, Eats Like a Meal

2011-04-07T09:02:00.000-07:00

This is a great soup, one to add to the "tried and true" files. It's simple, it's filling, and it's inexpensive to make. Oh, and it is delicious.

The recipe is part of Jamie Oliver's campaign to teach us all how that cooking can be easy, economical, healthy, and oh so much better than take-out or processed food from the grocery store. Make a meal like this, and you know he is right.

One thing that I found that makes things infinitely easier is buying the pre-chopped Mirepoix mix from Trader Joe's. You might give up a little bit of flavor, but the time savings is worth it, and this is such a flavorful soup anyway, you won't miss it. So then the only chopping is the sweet potatoes and the parsley, and of course the sausage.

One note about the sausage: you have to find traditional, dry Spanish chorizo. It should be very hard to the touch, and kind of a dark blood-red color inside. We were able to find it at Mollie Stone's here in San Francisco, so it is out there.

And a big thank you to my friend Nancy, who served this to us as a first course with dinner last month, and introduced me to it. A great dish for company, or just a chilly night in!

And with that, I am making good on my promise from last post, and sticking some in the freezer for a future night.

Sweet Potato Chorizo Soup

2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
2 medium onions
2 cloves of garlic
800g sweet potatoes
200g chorizo sausage
small bunch of fresh parsley
1 heaped teaspoon curry powder
2 chicken or vegetable stock cubes
1 fresh red chilli

Peel and roughly slice the carrots
Slice the celery
Peel and roughly chop the onions
Peel and slice the garlic
Peel and chop the potatoes
Slice the chorizo
Finely chop the parsley leaves and stalks

Put a large pan on high heat and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil
Add all your chopped and sliced ingredients with the curry powder and mix together with a wooden spoon
Cook for around 10 mins with the lid askew, until the carrots have softened but are still holding their shape, and the onion is lightly golden
Put the stock cubes into a jug and pour in 1.8 litres of boiling water
Stir until the stock cubes are dissolved then add to the vegetables
Give the soup a good stir and bring to the boil
Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 mins until potato is softened

Season with salt and pepper
Using a hand blender or liquidiser, pulse the soup until smooth and scatter over a little finely chopped chilli
Divide between bowls and serve!!

Out of the Deep Freeze

2011-03-29T14:41:00.000-07:00

Sick again. Blargh. Too many times this year.

Haven't been to the grocery store this week, so the foraging was in full force this morning. Breakfast was good - a couple of slices of bacon, some aged cheddar, and half an Asian pear. Thinking that if I had had any eggs, that would have made a decent omelet.

When I am sick, I do not feel like cooking, and I am usually more clumsy than usual, so I should stay away from things like knives in general. I really really really wanted soup for lunch, but the only things in the pantry were some Cream of Mushroom (probably bought for a recipe), and some boxed chicken broth. Yawn.

And then, in the way back of the freezer, I spotted a container of Curry Squash Soup I had made a few months ago, bright yellow and beckoning to me like a playful ray of sunshine.

Defrosted in the microwave, finished on the stove, and it almost felt like I had made a fresh pot of homemade soup. It's wonderfully spicy, and I only wish I'd taken time to remember what I put in it.

But beggars can't be choosers, and this beggar is patting her full belly and preparing for a long nap. Must remember to make more soups in future to be frozen for these kinds of days.

Pioneer Woman's Spicy Roasted Chicken Legs

2011-03-14T14:20:00.001-07:00

Another day of foraging for low-carb food options in the fridge and freezer yielded this delicious and easy meal. And all it required was a package of 5 frozen drumsticks (defrosted in the microwave), a lemon, some butter, garlic, and dried spices.

I found the recipe on the Pioneer Woman's blog. If you are not familiar with Ree Drummond and her fantastic recipes, you need to subscribe, connect on Facebook, etc. immediately. Not only will your mouth water from her beautiful photography, you will fall in love with her unapologetic good humor and irreverence for strict cooking rules. I first saw her on Food Network's Throwdown with Bobby Flay, and I have been a fan ever since.

I didn't have the spicy salt that she uses in the post, so I used 1 Meyer Lemon, 1/2 stick of butter, minced garlic, cayenne, garlic salt, and Lawry's Seasoned Salt. It was an easy and tasty combination.

Great, satisfying lunch and an excellent combo with yesterday's roasted tomatoes. I am not going to tell you how many of the 5 drumsticks I ate, but I will tell you that eating low-carb makes me consume far more meat protein than I ever dreamt possible. Run, little animals, run!!

Bringing out the Natural Sweetness

2011-03-13T22:35:00.000-07:00

It's funny how often I discover new recipes because I have to use up something that is at its expiration date. I had a big container of sugar plum tomatoes that were just starting to show wrinkles, but tasted fine. I decided to slow roast them and make something that I could have with eggs for a simple, healthy and comforting Sunday supper. It has been raining most of the day, and somehow I crave acidic foods with loads of Vitamin C during this kind of weather, like oranges and tomatoes.

Slow roasting brings out the natural sugars in the tomatoes, which are wonderfully sweet to begin with. The minced garlic becomes chewy and so fragrant, but does not burn. At the end, I threw in a little bit of Parmesan cheese for texture, as the original recipe was meant to be used on bruschetta. Great with soft scrambled eggs and a mixed green salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

Oven Roasted Sugar Plum Tomatoes

2-3 pints sugar plum tomatoes or grape tomatoes
1 T. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 t. red wine vinegar
1/2 t. dried basil, or fresh basil, chopped
1 - 2 t. grated Parmesan cheese

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees

Combine tomatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper

Spread on a baking sheet lined with foil

Roast in the oven for 45-55 min

Allow to cool

Toss with vinegar, basil, and cheese

Everything But the Bun

2011-03-11T15:00:00.000-08:00

I believe that when you eliminate something from your diet (like bread), it's really important to make sure that the foods that you are eating are the very best that they can be. That way you feel like you are treating yourself, not depriving yourself.

Last night I was driving home from an event where I managed not to snack, and was ravenously hungry. I stopped by Joe's Cable Car, a local institution known for their delicious, quality burgers. They grind their own rib eye/chuck every day and the quality of the meat is obviously a cut above the rest. You can get your patty in 4, 6 or 8 oz sizes and cooked to order right in front of you.

That said, it is seriously expensive. I ordered a 6 oz. Diet Fresh Ground Beef Steak, which is basically a burger without the bun, and it was $16 without tip. You'll end up spending about $20 on a burger, more if you order sides. The place basically looks like Johnny Rockets, so people get sticker shock more often than not.

And that said, it was seriously tasty. Completely satisfying, intensely flavorful, and worth every penny. I didn't miss the bun or the fries, and felt happy and full afterwards.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

2011-03-09T13:04:00.000-08:00

Bread. Pasta. Cake. Cookies. Potatoes. Rice. Ice Cream.

And I am not eating them right now.

Cutting back on complex carbs is really tough, especially for someone like me, who really really loves them. But what I don't love is that zombie feeling that they give me, the addict-like trance they put me in, like when I am eating toast for breakfast and thinking about what cookies I am going to bake later that same day.

So what have I been eating? A lot of protein and vegetables. Oh, but don't think I am suffering. "Dieting" is not really in my vocabulary. Here are a few examples of how I am eating well, but staying within my guidelines:

This is Oven "Fried" Chicken. Chicken legs dredged in beaten egg, then coated in a mixture of Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder (I shake up the egg coated legs with the dry ingredients in a Ziploc, like Shake n Bake). Baked in the oven at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes. The result is a juicy leg with a crispy crust, and none of the carbs. Very tasty, easy, and economical, too.

This is an afternoon snack. When I am craving a between meals bite, I need some crunch. Sometimes I have celery sticks with sunflower nut butter, but my favorite is celery sticks with cream cheese and cured meats.

Lunch is salad, salad and more salad. I usually make them myself, but this is from a deli. It's a simple mix of lettuce, grilled chicken, pears, and blue cheese, with a light vinaigrette.

I get really sick of meat really quickly, so last night I made a delicious salmon steak with baby broccoli. The salmon roasts at 500 degrees for about 10-15 minutes, and is then finished with a Meyer Lemon vinaigrette and some spring onions. Delicious - and the 2nd piece that I didn't eat became a delicious cold salmon salad the next day.

Uncured beef bacon. I love bacon, but sometimes with pig bacon, all that fat makes my insides feel like they are coated with glue. I recently discovered beef bacon, which has a taste similar to brisket or pastrami, and not nearly as much fat. In fact, you have to use a little bit of oil in the pan to cook it. I usually have it with eggs. I am eating a lot of eggs right now.

Cottage cheese and fruit. This is essential in keeping me on track. I sometimes eat it in the morning instead of sugar-laden yogurt and cereal (ah Dorset, *sniff*) or as a dessert instead of ice cream.

I'm not being rigid by any means. But I am trying to make smarter choices, like having a whole wheat tortilla instead of bread. And maybe once a week, I'll go out and have whatever I want. I have to keep it interesting or inviting, otherwise I start daydreaming about salted caramels. So expect a few more ideas and recipes along this vein in the next several months.

And don't worry, there will always be cupcakes. I'm not insane.

Feed a Cold

2011-02-27T14:02:00.000-08:00

I was looking for a way to use some blood oranges that I had bought at the market, and I came across this recipe from BHG for a Blood Orange Salad. It marinates while you make the rest of the meal, so all it takes is some quick assembly and time to let it sit. It was really delicious, and I loved the combination of flavors. I might add a little crunch next time, like toasted hazelnuts. A perfect way to get that extra vitamin C when you are under the weather, or just need a dose of sunshine to combat winter blues.

Moroccan blood orange salad

ingredients
3 blood oranges, peeled and thinly sliced
3 oranges, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onion
1/4 cup imported Italian green olives, pitted
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Lettuce leaves
2 tablespoons snipped fresh mint or parsley
directions
Place blood oranges, oranges, green onion, and olives in a shallow serving dish. Sprinkle with vinegar, olive oil, oregano, cumin, dash salt, and dash pepper; toss gently. Let marinate 30 to 60 minutes at room temperature. To serve, arrange mixture on lettuce-lined plates; sprinkle with snipped mint or parsley. Makes 6 side-dish servings.

Throat Soother

2011-02-27T13:55:00.000-08:00

Best cure for a sore throat is tea with lemon and honey, or even more simply, lemons brewed in boiling water with some honey added. It's such a nice drink, I wonder why I wait until I am sick to make it.

Purple Milk

2011-02-24T10:27:00.001-08:00

Here lie the remains of my breakfast. The picture barely does it justice - the milk is a beautiful lavender color and bits of berry and grain cling to the bowl. This is what is left after a delicious serving of Dorset Muesli.

I have a really hard time getting excited about cold cereal. Well, strike that. I have no trouble getting excited about it, it's just that it's always a let down. I will either end up with some sugary crunchy combination that scrapes off the roof of my mouth and/or deafens me, or something so bland it feels like I am eating horse feed. Then it's back to toast and yogurt (Brown Cow 0% Fat Greek Yogurt is my current fave, but more on that in another post).

I bought the Berries & Cherries Muesli on a whim yesterday at Whole Foods. I admit I was first attracted to the packaging, then to the description. There was a plethora of ingredients listed, but all were natural foods, not additives. Plus it was from England. I don't know why, but England seems to have it down as far as cereals, something we don't seem to be able to achieve here in the US.

What a delight. My mouth actually woke up from all of the delicious tastes. I put some in a small bowl so I could taste each element individually, and I loved all of the tart, sweet, nutty flavors. And that purple milk at the end - magical!

Plowing Down

2011-02-09T10:50:00.000-08:00

Sometimes a meal is so good, it simultaneously makes you want to go out more and cook at home more. Such is the case with the breakfast that I enjoyed yesterday at new Portrero Hill breakfastery, Plow.

The only two meals they serve are breakfast and lunch. One menu. All day.

It's so simple.

Each meal is painstakingly prepared to order as you sip delicious coffee or tea. It's the opposite of fast food, but it's not slow food either. It's good food, done well.

While we were waiting for our meals, I had a chance to browse the cookbooks on their shelves. Tartine Bread, Five Points' Brunch, Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food. I could have been staring at my own bookshelf.

I ordered The Plow, which is a little bit of everything. When my plate arrived, I knew I was in for a treat. It was so beautifully and unpretentiously presented, with each element getting equal real estate. 2 eggs over easy, house-made pork sausage, crispy potatoes, and lemon ricotta pancakes. Not a big stack of pancakes that has you moaning and groaning an hour later, just 2 small but perfect pancakes, and a little syrup for extra sweetness.

My husband got the Fried Egg Sandwich: fried eggs, Grafton cheddar, Nueske Bacon, frisee, aioli. And he ordered a side of one pancake.

A nice extra touch was the Youk's Hot Sauce.

After our meal, we walked out into the sunny day and were greeted with this view. It doesn't get much better than that.

Salsa Chicken

2011-02-01T22:12:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed this dinner from Monday night, and it was made when I had very little in the house in terms of groceries, and with no planning. It was easy to make, healthy, and very tasty - just the kind of thing I want on a weekday night. The only thing is that you have to start the chicken early - it really does have to simmer for 2 hours. I would imagine that it would be an ideal candidate for a slow cooker. Be sure to use spicy salsa, as it will mellow with cooking.

To dress the salad, I used one of my favorite dressings from Williams Sonoma. It has a nice sweetness that offsets the spiciness of the chicken. I topped it with some black beans that I cooked with scallions, sour cream, and cilantro. Dinner is served!

Salsa Chicken

4 chicken breasts
2 cups salsa - the spicier, the better
3 cups chicken broth

Bring salsa and chicken broth to a boil.

Add chicken breasts.

Reduce to a simmer.

Cook for 2 hours.

Shred chicken apart with 2 forks.

Chile-Lime Vinaigrette

3 T. fresh lime juice
1 T. honey
4 T. canola oil
1/4 t. minced garlic
1/4 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. crushed red chiles
1 T. finely chopped fresh cilantro

Assemble all ingredients and blend or shake to combine.

Putting the Brown in Brownies

2011-01-27T15:26:00.000-08:00

And the chocolate keeps coming!

The article in this month's Bon Appetit is about cocoa, and the merits of using regular cocoa rather than dutch process cocoa, which they say is too dry. This is good old-fashioned Hershey's Cocoa. Fitting, since my last post was about Scharffen Berger, which is owned by Hershey's.

Browned butter is a wonderful thing. It enhances everything it's used in, from cakes to cookies to pasta sauces. It's easy to make, and gives everything a nutty, grown-up flavor.

All of this is leading to the fact that I made the Cocoa Brownies with Browned Butter and Walnuts that I mentioned a couple of days ago. And oh boy, are they good. Try them and see - sweet enough for kids, decadent enough for the end of a dinner party.

An added bonus is that the walnuts are from my friend Missy's orchard. You can't get more local/better than that!

Nib-bling

2011-01-27T12:20:00.000-08:00

Consider yourself warned. I told you I had chocolate on the brain.

This is my new favorite chocolate bar, by leaps and bounds. I already loved Scharffen Berger's Milk Chocolate bar, but now they have gone and added nibs. They might as well have included a needle with that, because I just want to mainline it forever and ever.

Lest you pooh-pooh milk chocolate in favor of dark, let me assure you that this is no ordinary hollow-Easter-Bunny variety milk chocolate. It's rich, chocolately, smooth and with a hint of caramel. The reason that it's so much better is that the percentage of cocoa is as much as some manufacturers put in their dark chocolate (I learned this on the factory tour a few years ago, and sadly, they no longer give tours). The roasted nibs and crunch and an extra punch of pure cocoa.

It's a little bit hard to find, but fortunately there's a little corner market not far from my house that carries them. Fortunately, or unfortunately - hm, I could use one right about now!

(extra thank you to Jude who put one in my Christmas stocking AND brought one to the movies with us last week. Milk Nibby, popcorn and "Black Swan" - a most excellent combination!)

Cocoa Puffs

2011-01-25T15:31:00.000-08:00

Damn you, Bon Appetit magazine, for your spread on cocoa powder. All I could think about this afternoon was the Cocoa Brownies with Browned Butter and Walnuts recipe on p. 91. I don't have time to make brownies! I have to make dinner!

That's the thing about chocolate cravings. Once you have one, it is like some kind of house gremlin: very hard to get rid of and sneaks up on you at the most inopportune times.

I was planning to make popcorn for a snack, and found this recipe for Cocoa Popcorn. Oh boy, is that ever good. I took it one step further and browned the butter, adding a really delicious nutty flavor. 5 minutes to prepare with very little cleanup (thanks to my trusty Whirley popcorn popper), I was in chocolate heaven in no time.

Brown Butter Cocoa Popcorn

5 C. unsalted popped popcorn
1 T. unsalted butter, melted
1 T. granulated sugar
1 t. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 t. popcorn salt

Mix together sugar and cocoa powder

Melt butter in a saucepan over med heat, keep cooking until it stops foaming and browned bits form at the bottom of the pan

Pour melted butter over popcorn

Pour cocoa powder mixture over popcorn

Mix with wooden spoon or hands

Add salt to taste (approx 1 t.)

Mix again until combined

A Carrot of a Different Color

2011-01-20T16:26:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, I went to the *fancy* Farmers Market (aka the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market) and came back with some really nice produce. One of the things that I am really enjoying this week are a bunch of carrots that are in a variety of sizes and colors. Here are a purple and a yellow carrot sitting side by side on my cutting board.

While it would be really cool if the purple carrot was purple all the way through, I find it really interesting that it is orange inside. The yellow carrot is, as you might have guessed, yellow.

What is also very interesting is that each color of carrot has a very distinct flavor. The purple carrots have a stronger and more bitter taste, while the yellow ones are sweeter. One thing that they have in common is that they are softer than grocery-store-bought orange carrots, and easier to cut.

Because they are so unique, you really don't want to cover them up with too many other flavors. I have been cutting them up in salads, and here I steamed them lightly with some broccoli and drizzed them with a little bit of lemon olive oil and coarse salt, to have as a side dish with some spinach lasagne for lunch. Beautiful, simple, nutritious, and tasty.

Old Friends, Brew Friends

2011-01-19T15:36:00.001-08:00

I have had my Chemex coffee maker for several years now. When I was really into brewing coffee at home, it was my favorite - no fuss, quick, portable. I loved the fact that it has so few parts - fewer to break, fewer to clean. Coffee brewed in a Chemex is free of that awful bitter taste caused by electric brewers, and cleanup is far easier than with a french press. The design is appealing, too - part laboratory, part macrame plant holder. What is that wooden cuff for, you ask? It's a precursor to cup sleeves - a place to hold it so you don't burn the crap out of your hands, lest you think it would look far nicer without it (I discovered this the hard way - d'oh!).

One thing about making coffee, or tea for that matter, was lacking in my household, and for an astonishingly long time: an electric tea kettle. Waiting for water to boil on the stove is tedious, and actually dangerous if your tea kettle whistle breaks like mine did, and your absentmindedness nearly burns the house down "hm, why does it smell like toast.....oh Shi....!"

Heating up water in a microwave is just wrong.

Every single European person knows, nowadays (meaning the 20th century and beyond) you get an electric tea kettle. It warms the water lickedy split, and turns itself off when done. No shrieking whistle to send you running from the shower or to interrupt your favorite tv program, just a gentle "click" and your water is ready.

So I finally got an electric tea kettle. This one is a Hamilton Beach model, which I actually would not recommend for various reasons, but it was available and it was cheap. And you know what, it's light years better than my old kettle. The Chemex definitely approves!

New Year, New Recipes

2011-01-17T23:09:00.001-08:00

My friend Carey recently wrote a blog post celebrating New Year's Resolutions, cooking more, and the inspiration of beautiful serving pieces. I could not agree more!

Jude made me this marvelous cake plate for Christmas, and I was so excited to use it. For my first baking endeavor of the new year, I made a batch of Double Chocolate Cookies (which use milk chocolate chips, a new love for me), and they looked so inviting arranged on this elegant plate. People love them, and what they really respond to is the coarse salt that you get with almost every bite, which is why I sometimes call them Salted Chocolate Cookies.

Cake plates made from vintage plates involve finding the right plate and marrying it with the right candlestick or other similar vase. This one works perfectly.

I am hoping to try this myself as a craft project this year, after a trip to the Sunday Flea Market and the hardware store!

Like Carey, I am determined to cook more this year. I tend to go in streaks, trying new things, getting into it...and then I stop and a lot of take-out comes through the front door. Baking is another story - I bake at least twice a week, more when there are a lot of events to attend. I want cooking to be like that, something I do all the time, without thinking much about it. And I am a better baker, so cooking is more of a challenge - all the more reason to practice, practice, practice.

Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Tart Cherries

2011-01-17T22:51:00.000-08:00

Some of the best recipes I find are listed as "healthy", which is funny because that's not what I usually look for in a recipe. Apparently, tart cherries are good for the heart! This one comes from Blue Kitchen, with a few changes that I have made below. An excellent weekday dinner and nice enough for company. For the two of us, I used a smaller pork tenderloin and adjusted the other ingredients accordingly. The cooking method make the pork amazingly moist and the tart cherry/onion sauce was delicious.

Roast Pork Tenderloin with Tart Cherries
Serves 4 to 6 [see Kitchen Notes]

1-1/2-pound pork tenderloin [or 2 1-pound tenderloins]
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 tablespoon fresh rosemary needles, plus 2 sprigs [see Kitchen Notes]
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 t. butter
1 medium yellow onion, sliced thinly
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 cup Port (or you can use apple cider)
1 cup dried tart cherries

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Pat pork tenderloin dry and season generously with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with rosemary needles. If necessary, cut tenderloin into 2 pieces to fit in large ovenproof skillet. Pork tenderloins often are separate pieces of meat formed together; their favorite pastime is coming apart when you handle them for cooking, so I tied the one I cooked in a few places with kitchen string.

Heat the aforementioned ovenproof skillet [which should also have a lid] over a high flame. Add oil and brown tenderloin[s] on all sides, about 6 to 8 minutes total. Transfer meat to a plate and reduce heat under the skillet. Add about 1 t. of butter and sauté onion until caramelized, which takes about 20 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 45 seconds or so. Add broth, cider and cherries to skillet, stirring to combine.

Return meat to skillet, turning to coat with broth mixture. Cover skillet and transfer to oven. Roast tenderloin until just cooked through, about 15 to 20 minutes. An instant read thermometer inserted into the thickest part should register 150-160ºF. With most pork produced in the United States, a little pink inside is okay. Transfer meat to platter or cutting board and tent with foil. Let it rest for 10 minutes. Slice into medallions and serve, with cherry sauce spooned over them.

The Chuck Wagon Trail

2011-01-13T17:46:00.000-08:00

I have to tell you, my house smells pretty good right now. And I'm not even cooking anything that I'm going to consume - this is the dogs' dinner, actually dinner and breakfast for the next couple of days.

What's in it? This time I put in ground turkey, brown rice, oatmeal, beef broth, sweet potato, carrots, peas, eggs (plus shells), some wheat germ and some nutritional yeast. It's kind of like making turkey meatloaf.

Here are a couple of things I have learned so far:

- You can buy brown rice and cook it in the rice cooker, and add it to the cooked ground meat later. OR you can cheat and buy Trader Joe's cooked brown rice (in the rice aisle in these neat little packets) and just add it to the cooked meat and let them simmer together. A bit more expensive but saves a lot of time.

- Ground turkey is definitely preferable to ground beef. Ground beef is SO fatty that you have to drain it after cooking, and even then there is this gross fat film over everything. Ground turkey cooks up great and never needs draining, and it costs about the same as ground beef.

- Cook in broth. Doesn't really matter what kind, beef or chicken. It adds moisture so that when it's refrigerated and then microwaved at a later date, it isn't all dry and crumbly.

- Microwave for 30 seconds after it's been refrigerated. The dogs respond to a warm meal far more than to a cold one. If you microwave for too long, the food will be too hot, and there is nothing worse than the dogs knowing that there is food in their bowls but that you are not letting them eat it. They don't get "cooling down".

- Put 1 (or 2) servings in plastic containers, like fast food containers, that can be microwaved. That way, it's as easy as opening up a can of dog food at feeding time.

- You can eat what they eat! But add the "human" ingredients later, after they are fed, such as garlic and onions, spices, sugar, etc. Those things are not good for dogs, and will cause digestive problems. Plain, all-natural food with the basic food groups covered: meat, vegetable fiber, and whole grain starches tastes great to them, they don't need additional flavor enhancers.

All Chickens are Not Created Alike

2011-01-10T22:38:00.001-08:00

Yes, I am starting this blog post with a picture of a lowly packaged chicken. Not very exciting, not much to see here, right? Wrong. Chicken recipes should start with a really, really good chicken. Not only for the sake of knowing that the animal had a humane life and death, but for the taste.

I discovered Empire chickens at Trader Joe's last year. I remember taking that first one out of the package and it felt much different than other chickens I had bought in the past. It felt tacky, whereas most raw chickens feel clammy and slippery. It felt as if it had been rubbed in butter. And it was a reasonable size, not some mammoth chicken like the very cheap ones that you find at the grocery store. It had traces of hair? maybe feathers on the wings. It wasn't unnaturally bald, in other words. It had a neck that was still attached. It actually resembled what was once a living bird. For me, this was a good thing.

When Kosher practices were first followed, it wasn't because some nice people were worried about the chickens' welfare. It was the assurance that the killing and butchering practices they used were clean, humane and followed Jewish dietary laws, or the rabbi would not bless it. In Islamic law, they have similar rules about halal. Interestingly, in this modern day and age, we once again need to have separate restrictions in order to ensure safe handling practices. To understand the specifics of Kosher meat, you can read it here.

At that time, I was using a very simple roasted chicken recipe that involved brining it in kosher salt overnight, and roasting it with only a little bit of pepper and sugar added (for crisping and browning). What I noticed was such a difference in taste. It tasted more, dare I say, chickeny. I felt like one of those people who say, "This is what chickens used to taste like when I was a kid", which you can say about almost anything these days...apples, steak, real Coke.

Last week I came down with a nasty cold, and I happened to have bought an Empire chicken at the store, so I decided to make chicken soup. I found a very simple recipe and stuck my good old Empire chicken in a pot with whatever I could find in my vegetable drawer - some leeks, carrots, half an onion, some celery. Even with my stuffed up nose, I knew that my house smelled good that day.

Was it ever delicious! Like something someone's grandmother had made, with a rich, healing broth. And for that, I give all of the credit to that lovely Empire chicken.

Tonight I made a roasted chicken, using a paste made from smoked paprika, lemon juice, honey, and garlic powder, and of course my trusty Empire Chicken. The seasonings were really good, but again, it was the flavor of the meat that made the dish.

Sure, they cost more than your average grocery store chicken. I usually end up paying about $11-13 and it's a medium sized bird. But the convenience of being able to get it at TJ's and the excellent quality and flavor will make it my chicken of choice as long as I can get it.

Christmas with the Pups

2011-01-08T13:45:00.000-08:00

A lot of the past 6 months of my life has been about my dogs. I am with them nearly 24 hours of every day and it's hard to imagine it any other way. Sadie, above, is now a year old, and Sophie, below, is almost two. Sometimes they drive me nuts, and sometimes I feel like the days are going much too quickly and the years that I have with them don't seem like enough!

One of the things that I think about a lot is their nutrition. I was away for a few days last week, and Sophie got some kind of food allergy that caused her to be very sick for about 24 hours. Having 2 dogs, I feel like I spend a lot of time and money at various pet stores, trying different foods and choosing what is best for them, but to be honest, they've never really liked anything that comes out of a can or out of a bag.

I decided to see what it would be like to make their food from scratch. I read a lot online and then started experimenting with different recipes. The most important thing to understand is that they need the right ratio of protein, starch, and fiber. I usually combine some kind of meat (beef or chicken or ground turkey) with some eggs including the egg shells (for calcium, which they would normally get from bones), and then make some brown rice in the rice cooker with some vegetables like sweet potato, carrots, celery and/or peas. I usually add in some oatmeal as well, to bind it all together a little. I was using some canned organic pumpkin when Sophie was really sick, as that is easy for them to digest.

So far, so good. I am still playing around with it, so I will publish some recipes once I have them down. The dogs love their new diet, and I feel much better about it than I did opening up a can of cold, gloppy dog food and dumping that in their bowl, especially since I read that most of the meat used is of terrible quality. My challenge right now is to get the cost down and the labor under control so I am not constantly making canine meals in lieu of human ones. :)

Next up, I will tackle the cats' diet. My cat Hugo has long suffered from crystals, and I know a lot of that has to do with his food. Wouldn't it be great if I could come up with one base recipe for all of them, that I could put together once a week and just slightly alter according to their needs?

Overall, we had a nice Christmas Day together, cleaning up the party aftermath, and opening gifts. Unfortunately the pups "helped" by eating many of the leftover cheeses that were still on the coffee table, which I am sure contributed to the poor digestion a few days later. However, one of the coolest things about dogs is that you can give them the cheapest toy from the bargain bin and they will act like you just gave them the keys to a brand-new Ferrari. Wheeee!

They looked great over the holiday season sporting their new collars from one of my favorite pet boutiques, George. These red wool plaid collars are so popular that they run out of stock almost as soon as they get them in, so I pre-ordered theirs in September and they got them in late November. I don't believe in dressing my pets in outfits of any kind, so collars are as close as I get. Definitely on the list for craft projects this spring: learning to make dog collars. If I can figure that out, I may even host a craft day with my group, who are all dog-lovers as well...stay tuned.

Merry Smithmas to All, and to All a Good Night

2011-01-08T13:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve, or Smithmas Eve, as we like to call it, was a great success this year. We had over 25 people at our house, from about 4pm to about 2am, nonstop. I had fun decorating and then watching my house turned upside down as more and more people stopped by. The fabric placemat in the display on our entrance table was sent to me by my Aunt Becky - it was hand-loomed by my great-grandmother Carrie Chambers over 75 years ago. It is in great condition and I was honored to have a chance to showcase it.

One of the best things that we did this year was to have some food ready for the guests that came early in the day, so that we could concentrate on the food that we would serve later. We never do a sit down meal, but rather set the dishes out buffet style or passed around on trays. The day before, I made a batch of my chili and some Swedish meatballs, and had them warming in 2 different slow cookers, with the condiments and bowls set out so that people could serve themselves. The meatballs were delightfully easy to make and delicious, using a cream sauce based on the Ikea recipe (thanks, Nysa!).

Because the party went into full swing from the moment the first guests walked through the door, I don't have many pictures of the actual event. Here are some from the calm before the storm. Sophie is resting on the couch here, with no idea how many people are about to descend on her world of comfort and quiet. I put out some cheeses and spiced nuts for people to enjoy while Charles and I were busy in the kitchen.

And of course, it wouldn't be Christmas without my bacon and caramelized onion tart.

For the rest of the food, we had a baked ham, individual mac & cheeses (by Jude), prime rib, mashed potatoes, root vegetable terrine (by Jude), green bean casserole (which I am always forced to make argh!), asparagus with Hollandaise sauce, salad (by Jude), gnocchi with caviar and creme fraiche (by Ken).

For dessert, I made a pumpkin pie and a chocolate bourbon walnut pie. Jude made a delicious sticky toffee pudding and so many people brought desserts, from pecan pie to apple pie to fruit tart to dozens of assorted cookies. The dessert table was overflowing and sadly, some of them didn't make it to the leftovers stage.

Our friends are always generous with their compliments, but what I heard the most this year was that the food was really excellent. It was so great to hear, considering how hard we worked to make everything taste good. And of course we could not pull it all off without the help and contributions of our friends, who are not only give their support but their culinary talents as well. I loved seeing everyone try to make it all work in our tiny kitchen, helping each other and doing their best in the cramped quarters. That is what makes this night the best gift I could ever hope to receive - my house filled with the people that I hold dear, enjoying themselves and eating and drinking well.

Procrastination Leads to Giant Tree

2011-01-08T12:33:00.000-08:00

I realize that this is very hard to see, but I was running around trying to get all of the Christmas decorations done before our party, and I used my camera phone to take pictures. What this is a photo of is a $250 fake tree that I got for $25. Yes, that's right, $25.

I ran out to Lowe's in San Bruno on December 22nd in search of a fake tree, any fake tree, that would not cost more than $50. They had some online in the $30-40 range, and even though I swore I would never get a fake tree, I just didn't see the point of paying so much money for a real one that would only be up for a week. When I got there, the prices on the trees read $199-$350, nothing like what I had seen online! I asked the manager for help, and he must have seen the look of desperation on my face, because he said in an assuring voice, "Let's see what we can do for you - which one did you want?" I pointed at a nice and tall 7 1/2 foot tree, complete with white lights, with a price tag that read $250.00. He said, "Well, it appears that I am out of that model. How about if I sell you my floor model for...hmmm...$25.00?" My jaw almost hit the floor. I swear, the angels were heard on high, singing the praises of our Lord the Lowe's Sales Manager. I nodded gratefully (almost tearfully), and he helped me take the tree apart and load it into my car. I could not believe it! I must have thanked him a million times over.

With the leftover money, I treated myself to a new ornament, to honor all of the baking I did in 2010.

Besides being a snap to put up and decorate, the real savings is that next year, I won't have to go out in search of a tree. That stress-reliever, (and saver of trees!) is priceless.

O Christmas Tree...Cake

2011-01-08T12:19:00.000-08:00

Perhaps because I was so disappointed on Thanksgiving, I found myself in the Christmas spirit more than usual this year. One of the first things that I did, in honor of Iron Cupcake Challenge's year end Bakeoff, was tackle the Giant Cupcake Cake. I had made one once before to less than impressive results, and I was bound and determined to make something with some "wow" factor to it. The problem before was trying to frost the enormous top. I saw some photos online where people had created a mini-tree out of the shape, and I knew this would be easy enough to do using my star-tip and some decorations. It was so much fun to do, and turned out great. And because the bottom of the cupcake serves as the trunk, there is no need to frost or decorate it.

I made some mini cupcake "presents" for the bottom of the tree as well.

It was a huge hit at Iron Cupcake, and one of the most photographed items there. I can't wait to try another one!

Home is Where the Heart is, but Not Necessarily Thanksgiving

2010-11-28T14:36:00.000-08:00

For the past 10 years or so, we have hosted Thanksgiving at our house. Christmas, too. But this year I was feeling too overwhelmed to get the house ready, shop for food, and wash the wineglasses and silver, etc. Plus there were only going to be 4 of us, each with very different taste in food, so I made reservations.

The restaurant that I chose was 1300 Fillmore, a very elegant restaurant with an upscale soul-food menu. For $49 you could choose between 3 starters, 3 mains, and 3 desserts. And they only charged $15 corkage fee, so with bringing our own bottles of wine, it really was far less expensive than cooking.

We ended up being a party of 6, so they seated us at a large round table near the front. We got in at the last seating, which was 4:30. The restaurant was a-buzz with families all enjoying their holiday dinners.

We started off with a cocktail and some cornbread with honey butter and jalapeno jelly. For my starter I had their famous shrimp and grits, and for my main I had turkey with stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and greens. We ordered sides of mac & cheese, sweet potato casserole, green beans, and more greens.

For dessert, I had chocolate panna cotta.

The wine was good. The food was filling. The company was nice.

It did not feel like Thanksgiving.

Afterwards, we went to our friends' for dessert. We had pumpkin pie, pumpkin cake, coconut cream pie, pecan pie, and a lemon cream cheese pie. That overstuffed feeling came over me almost immediately.

But something was really missing. All of the great smells filling the house. The flurry of getting ready for guests followed by welcoming everyone into our home. People dropping by all day and all night.

Leftovers.

For us, it was the right decision to let someone else make the food this year, but honestly, I don't care if there are only 2 of us at the table, and even if it's just turkey sandwiches, I will make Thanksgiving dinner next year.

Breakfast of Champions

2010-09-30T18:07:00.000-07:00

By far and away, my favorite new cupcake that I made this month were the Donuts & Coffee cupcakes that I made for Jen's birthday.

I had sent away for the mini donut pan after seeing this post from Just Jenn.

As soon as it arrived, I knew I was going to like it. It makes mini baked donuts (so really, cakes shaped like donuts), in about 8 minutes, and they are so easy and fun to decorate. I had a blast getting out all of my gel dyes and toppings.

The first time I made the icing, it looked great but after a day kind of melted into the donuts. This is probably as a result of being baked and not fried as well, and it was only powdered sugar and water (as per the instructions that came with the baking pan) so there was not much substance to it. The day that I made a new batch to put on the cupcakes, I used this recipe from Alton Brown and the consistency was much better, although I had to add about twice as much powdered sugar as it called for.

For the cake, I just used a basic chocolate cake recipe with some espresso added, and I also added some brewed instant espresso to a classic buttercream frosting recipe.

It was fun to make something that was 2 desserts in one, and watch people have fun eating them and choosing their favorite design - definitely a keeper.

The Earl of Tea

2010-09-30T17:54:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to add an Earl Grey cupcake to my arsenal, and when we did TEA as the featured ingredient in this month's Iron Cupcake Challenge, it was the perfect opportunity to try one out.

I found this one online and it was pretty good. The only thing is, I am not a fan of self-rising flour. It has a weird, salty taste to me and I could definitely taste it in the cake.

I used double the amount of tea leaves called for, and that was definitely the right choice.

For the lemon frosting, I added both limoncello and lemon juice, as well as lemon zest. And the result was, well, lemony. So much so that it tasted good, but the subtle tea taste in the cupcake was lost.

I think I might brew some tea next time and experiment with that, and also try to find a bergamot to zest instead of lemon.

Oh and on top I added a candied violet, from a package that a friend brought me from France - love the color and taste.

So all in all, a good start, but needs tweaking. Tea-king? Never mind.

Swiss Miss

2010-09-30T17:35:00.000-07:00

This month's book for Book Club was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Steig Larsson.

In honor of the Swedish author and setting, I decided to make Swedish Pancake Cupcakes. Basically, I made a Sour Cream Vanilla cupcake, filled it with Lingonberry Jam, and topped it with Buttercream Frosting with a bit of the Lingonberry mixed in.

The difficult thing was finding the Lingonberry Jam, which I finally found in an odd little German store called Lehr's in Noe Valley. It wasn't even jam, it was sauce, but it worked fine and provided that wonderful sweet-tart flavor.

The cupcakes themselves turned out well. The particular recipe that I used had a lot of butter in it, which made for a nice, slightly caramelized top to the cupcakes. I added a piece of German berry candy to each one, found at the same store as the Lingonberry Sauce.

They tasted great after a couple of healthy servings of Swedish Meatballs, made by my friend and the hostess, Nysa.

Duck Duck Goose

2010-09-30T17:26:00.000-07:00

OK, so we don't have Hot Doug's, but we do have Rosamunde Sausage Grill, now with a new location in the Mission.

Pictured here is the Duck & Fig sausage that I enjoyed recently for lunch. The man behind the counter recommended grilled onions and mango chutney on the bread, with a little squirt of Dijon to finish. If there is anything that I have learned in all of my years of eating out, you always listen to the man behind the counter. Mmmm mmm.

An Apple a Day

2010-09-30T16:32:00.000-07:00

It's not your eyes. It's a blurry picture of an apple.

Apologies for having been gone so long - busy summer, lots of custom cupcake orders (yay), and life stuff in general all muscled themselves to the top of the priority list, and writing went down to the bottom (boo).

Now here we are, right in the air-turning coolness of fall, and I am eating my 2nd Honeycrisp apple of the day. Used to be I could only find them in the Midwest, and now there are giant bins of them at Trader Joe's. Just like most things at TJ's, I kind of turn a blind eye to how they got there (not exactly a locavore's paradise), and enjoy every crunchy, juicy, sweet bite.

If I were really old, intead of kind of old, I would say something like "this is how apples used to taste when I was a girl". You can have your Pink Ladies, McIntoshes, Fujis and even your Gravensteins (although those are my next favorite), it's Honeycrisp for me!

One Base, Three Tastes

2010-07-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

I love making these cheese balls for parties. The recipe could not be easier - you make a base cheese and butter mixture, divide it into 3 parts, and then add the other ingredients. You can make them a day before, and then coat them right before you serve them. One is Cheddar and Chutney, and it calls for chopped cranberries, which is great for Christmas time, but for summer I like to substitute dried tart cherries. The others are Goat Cheese and Scallion, coated with Parsley, and Roquefort and Shallot, coated with Toasted Walnuts. All of my favorite flavors, rolled (literally!) into one!

The Next Level of Rice Krispie Treats

2010-07-10T00:19:00.000-07:00

I realize that these don't look like much. Heck, even reading the recipe, you might not be that excited about them.

But just remember that the beauty of Rice Krispie treats is their simplicity. We used to make them in our college cafeteria using the mini marshmallows from the hot chocolate station, cereal, and butter. Now I feel bad for whoever had to clean those dishes afterwards.

So the only change here is the browning of the butter and the addition of coarse salt. Let me tell you, it makes all of the difference in the world. Brown butter is nutty and rich, and getting a surprise bite of coarse salt every now and then is a real treat, and provides great contrast to the marshmallow-y sweetness of the bars. I didn't think there was enough of a salty bite, so I also sprinkled the top with a bit of coarse grey salt which made the balance perfect.

So make a batch of Salted Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats - make them today. And as the original post says, prepare to make new friends.

American Dream

2010-07-09T23:42:00.000-07:00

For the 4th of July this year, I decided to take a completely different direction in cupcakes and go the junk-food route. I found 2 recipes for cupcakes using Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper, and I thought, how perfect for our truly American holiday.

The Dr. Pepper one was great. I used Marbello cherries, which are sour cherries packed in light syrup, which made it a little more of an adult dessert than a kids one. The frosting was really dark and gingery delicious, and held up well the next day. The recipe calls for using a half cherry on each cupcake, but a whole cherry tasted and looked much better.

The Mountain Dew one was good - surprisingly homemade-tasting since it called for a cake mix which I never use if I can avoid it. But the frosting was a problem. As written, the frosting would have made more of a glaze, which I do not like on cupcakes (misleading photo on the recipe page - grrr). So I had to fool around with it a bit and ended up adding the pineapple/coconut mixture to a buttercream, which made a tasty but runny buttercream. I'll work on it more and see if I can't get it just right.

It's hard to see in the photo, but the baking cups are electric yellow, like Mountain Dew. So in order to have a connection to the Mountain Dew bottle, I sprinkled green edible glitter on top.

All in all, two successful recipes that I would make again, and people really liked the fun, almost white-trash theme. I mean, what red-blooded American wouldn't?

Doggone

2010-06-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the unexpected break. My camera broke, and we got a new puppy (actually 2 new puppies) - so lately my food prep has mostly been in the canine category. 2 puppies = crazy times, but also a whole lot of fun.

My generous friend Kristina lent me her camera, so there will be some posts to follow.

Lately I have been enjoying some food on the cheap - Kingdom of Dumpling in the Sunset for Xiao Long Bao, Rosamunde Sausage Grill in the Mission for Pheasant/Pork/Cherry sausage, and Pica Pica for meat-stuffed arepas and empanadas. Dinner for $10-15 that I don't have to make myself? Bring it on.

Jude's Quinoa Salad

2010-06-15T14:30:00.000-07:00

Besides all of the blackberry and cherry tarts that have been coming out of my kitchen, there have been a plethora of healthy meals, too. When I cook for myself, there's usually no recipe involved - I just sautee whatever vegetables I have and add in some kind of protein.

This warm quinoa salad recipe was given to me by my friend Jude, and it's one of those that doesn't require exact measurements. It has all of the right attributes: great flavor, healthy, and easy. Do the portions and measurements to taste and I promise it will come out well.

Jude's Quinoa Salad

- cook quinoa according to package directions

- make a red wine vinaigrette (red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper)

- roughly chop some shittake mushrooms

- toss mushrooms in some of the vinaigrette and put in the toaster oven or broiler for a few minutes

- toss some raw baby spinach with the rest of the vinaigrette

- put the warm quinoa on top of the spinach

- put the warm mushrooms on top of the quinoa

- add goat cheese

If you like this recipe, check out similar ones under my new tag "Healthy Recipes". A votre sante!

Cherry Tart

2010-06-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

Pitting cherries is messy business! Thank goodness they make this handy tool to get the pits out - but not all cherries are created equal when it comes to pitting. The most commonly used cherry in desserts is the Bing Cherry, which I love for its juicy sweet/tart taste. It has a dark and bloody juice that gets everywhere - so before you pit cherries, have a lot of paper towels handy and be prepared for stained hands. The Rainier cherry, which is easier to pit, is best eaten as is or used in salads.

I decided to make a Cherry Frangipane Tart from the Joy of Baking website. The recipe can be found here.

Making the frangipane was cool - I didn't have almond flour, but you can substitute blanched slivered almonds ground in the food processor with 1 T. flour. It has a wonderful marzipan-like flavor and great texture.

The only think I would change is to add more cherries next time - they kind of shrink during the baking process. But otherwise, delicious and the crust is great!

Cherry Picking

2010-06-11T00:32:00.000-07:00

So, first of all you may notice that the blog looks different. I decided it was time for an update, and this being a sunny and warm summer's day, I picked a very colorful and fresh background. Let me know what you think - to me, it says "Go to the Farmers Market immediately!"

Secondly, I want to thank my friend Missy for the beautiful cherries from her orchard. They are so juicy and delicious, I wonder if there will be enough to make something with when I am done. Jude generously lent me her cherry pitter, so I have my work cut out for me in the next day or so.

Lastly, we had a big scare as my sweet kitty Hugo escaped out the front door and went missing for about 24 hours. He has safely returned and here he is looking handsome in a cherry-red ribbon!

Goat Cheese Tart a la Balthazar

2010-06-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

Ah, Balthazar. I don't often do this, but I am reprinting my Yelp review from 2007, the last time I dined there. What a moment in time! It makes me smile to remember it.

[6/11/10: What a nightmare - you can't copy and paste Yelp reviews, apparently. If you want to check it out, click here.]

How appropriate that I ended it with the Goat Cheese Tart, which is what I am featuring in this post.

Last night's Book Club had a French theme, based on the book Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (excellent read!), so I had the perfect excuse to make the Goat Cheese Tart. I've made it several times before, but one thing that always bothered me is that the photo in the book shows these pretty tarts with nicely browned tops, whereas mine always looked sort of plain and weirdly yellow from the egg yolk wash. Not having a mini blow torch in my arsenal, I stuck the pan under the broiler for a few minutes after baking, and voila! Tres jolie.

Goat Cheese Tart

with Caramelized Onions

For the Crust:

1 3/4 C. all-purpose flour
1 t. salt
1 stick plus 2 T. cold, unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces
2 extra-large egg yolks
3 T. ice-cold water

For the Filling:

1/4 C. olive oil
3 large yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced into 1/8" half moons
1 sprig of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 t. salt
1 t. freshly ground black pepper
8 oz. fresh goat cheese, at room temperature
2 extra-large eggs
1 extra-large egg yolk, beaten

To make the crust, combine the flour, salt, and chilled butter in the bowl of a food processor

Pulse until the mixture looks like coarse meal, about 10 seconds

With the machine running, add the 2 egg yolks and ice water through the feed tube

Continue to process until the dough forms a ball, about 20 seconds

With lightly floured hands, shape the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic and refrigerate, at least 1 hour or overnight

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Remove the dough from the refrigerator

To make the filling, over a low flame, heat the olive oil in a large skillet

Add the onions, thyme, bay lear, and 1/2 t. each of salt and pepper

Stir occasionally, cooking the onions until soft and golden, reducing their volume by nearly half; this can take up to an hour

Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon. Discard thyme and bay leaf

Meanwhile, roll the dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8" thickness

Coat the tart pan with non-stick spray (note: my removable-bottom tart pan is non-stick, so I skipped this step).

Fit the dough snugly in the pan, pressing it firmly into the bottom edge and fluted sides

Trim the excess with a sharp knife, and prick the dough several times with the tines of a fork

Place the tart pan on a sheet tray

Line the dough with aluminum foil, and weigh down with raw rice or beans. Bake for 15 min

Remove foil and weights, and continue to bake a few minutes more, until the crust takes on a light brown color

Remove from the oven and allow to cool while the filling is completed

In a food processor, mix the goat cheese, cream cheese, 2 eggs and remaining 1/2 t. each of salt and pepper. Process until smooth

Spread the caramelized onions evenly over the bottom of the prebaked tart shell, and pour the cheese mixture over the onions

Using a wide pastry brush, gently brush the beaten egg yolk over the top of the tart. Aim for complete coverage

Bake for 12 minutes or until set. Allow to cool for 15 min and serve warm

Here is is with the Blackberry and Lemon Clafoutis we had last night - worth the effort.

Mochi, Mo-chi-chi

2010-06-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

I have great friends - have I mentioned this before? Let me give you an example - Friday afternoon, I received a text from my friend Kristina saying "Mochi? Want me to pick some up for you?"

Of course, there is only one answer to this question. It is a resounding Y-E-S!

She informed me that the occasion for this little field trip was to celebrate National Donut Day. National Donut Day! Now there's a holiday that warrants a celebration!

We happen to have an amazing source for mochi and manju in the city, Benkyodo in Japantown. It is a pretty unassuming little shop, with a funny little diner-type counter in one corner, but let me assure you, anyone who loves mochi has at one point made the pilgrimage there. A lot of places in Japantown sell pre-packaged mochi, and they are nothing like the fresh ones at Benkyodo. I remember the first time I bit into one of the strawberry mochi with its smooth and soft gummy exterior, and sweet strawberry filling - heaven. I was forever spoiled.

The amazingly soft casing of the mochi is made by pounding rice in a huge mortar. It is pulverized until it forms a soft pillow of glutenous goodness. It's long and difficult work and the equipment is hard to come by - so unless you inherit a business, it's pretty unlikely that the average person is going to say "Hey, I think I'll open up a mochi shop". Hopefully Benkyodo will stay around forever, or the prospect of having fresh mochi in our city will probably die out.

A fun tidbit about mochi that I stole off the internet:

"Mochi is very sticky and somewhat tricky to eat. After each new year, it is reported in the Japanese media how many people die from choking on mochi. The victims are usually elderly. Because it is so sticky, it is difficult to dislodge via the Heimlich maneuver. In the Japanese comedy film Tampopo, a house vacuum is used to suck it out. (Some lifesaving experts say that a vacuum cleaner is actually efficient for stuck mochi.[1])" - Wikepedia

Enjoy these lovely treats...at your own risk!! :)

So the sampling above is 4 out of the 6 mochi and manju that I was given. You have to eat them quickly or they will go stale - in the first couple of days. No problem, I had it covered! I like them for breakfast with a hot mug of genmaicha tea. The flavors were red bean, white bean, apple, and a donut filled with red bean. Deeeeeelicious. I love how they are expanding their flavors from the traditional to include something a little trendy.

Asian desserts are typically not very sweet (think of Green Tea and Red Bean ice cream). So if the idea of red bean paste inside a donut seems weird to you, it is, a little. It takes some getting used to, but personally, I like it. Mochi and manju are the perfect size, too - about the size of a donut hole. But because the filling is very dense, you can only eat a few at a time - 2 or 3 is about right. Many Japanese restaurants serve ice cream mochi in green tea, mango, chocolate and strawberry flavors. You can even get them frozen from Trader Joe's and other grocery stores.

Next time you are going to a dinner party or pot luck, think about bringing some mochi. They're excellent finger food and are meant to be shared with friends! (Thank you, my friend!)

Strawberry Greens

2010-06-03T22:59:00.001-07:00

Earlier this week I attended an Urban Indoor Picnic with 3 of my lovely girl friends. Traditionally we have done this picnic in the park, but yesterday was cool and foggy, which is often the case during San Francisco summers. We all made dishes, set them out, opened a bottle of wine, and sprawled out in the living room, thoroughly enjoying ourselves. Our hostess Kelly made one of her famous salads, which was a simple green salad with tons of fruit - strawberries, blueberries, oranges, and goat cheese. It was divine - none of us could stop eating it.

Today I wanted to make something reminiscent of that. I happened to have strawberries, greens and goat cheese, so I was good to go. What I craved was a sweet and savory dressing - so I went for a classic poppyseed dressing. This recipe makes a lot, so it's great for a party or to use during the week. The milky color does not come from dairy, but rather from emusifying all of the ingredients together. I totally forgot about gradually adding the oil, and just dumped it in with the rest of the ingredients, and gave it a whir with my immersion blender. Tastes like summer!

Poppy Seed Dressing

1/3 C. white sugar
1/2 C. white vinegar
1 t. salt
1 t. ground dry mustard
1 teaspoon grated onion
1 C. vegetable oil
1 T. poppy seeds

Combine sugar, vinegar, salt, mustard and onion and process in a food processor or blender (or with an immersion blender) for 20 seconds. With the blender or food processor on high, gradually add oil in a slow, steady stream. Stir in poppy seeds.

It's Cookie Thyme!

2010-06-03T22:32:00.000-07:00

Here's what happens to me all the time - I buy an ingredient for a recipe, use a fraction of it, and then end up throwing it in the compost when it finally spoils (read: turns to unidentifiable sludge).

Today's ingredient was fresh thyme, which I used for my Bacon and Caramelized Onion Tart.

I decided to face this problem head-on by making a batch of Martha Stewart's Cornmeal Thyme Cookies. They use quite a bit of thyme, and they are a nice blend of savory and sweet. I have a friend who doesn't really like cookies or cake, and since it was her birthday, I thought these would be a nice gift since they aren't too sweet.

I used raisins because that was what I had, but they're even better with currants, as the original recipe calls for. Currants are smaller so they get distributed in the dough better, and you get that sweet/savory taste with every bite.

For me, these are the perfect tea cookies. The biscuits that they serve in England are not too sweet, and I find that is best with tea. I love the texture of the cornmeal and the bites of coarse salt that surprise you every now and then.

For gift giving, use a cookie scoop to ensure that each one is relatively the same size. That and parchment paper are a cookie cook's best friends.

Bacon & Caramelized Onion Tart

2010-06-03T20:50:00.000-07:00

This recipe is one that I have enjoyed making for many years. Well, enjoyed is perhaps the wrong word. I enjoy the result. The process is a bit of a PITA.

It comes from the book Charlie Trotter Cooks at Home. Charlie Trotter was one of the first of the super-chefs back in the 80s and 90s. His Chicago restaurant, simply called Charlie Trotter's, was impossible to get into and had a price-tag that called for special occasions only. It's a little bit different now - people are really into food as a form of entertainment and balk much less at paying a for a meal what you might have paid for 2 orchestra seat theater tickets. But back then, if you went to Charlie Trotter's, it was a pretty big deal.

I am fortunate enough to come from parents who have always been really into food, whether it is high end or down-and-dirty cheap. About 15 years ago, my dad tried his luck at securing a reservation at the "kitchen table", which you could only get by calling at a certain time, over and over, until you got in. Well, he got in, and my husband and I flew to Chicago for what was to be one of the most memorable meals of my life.

The kitchen table is unique because you get to see all of the inner workings of the restaurant. And this was no barking-orders, sauce-sloshing operation. It felt more like an operating room - polished sparkling clean, with everyone brandishing knives and moving them at lightning speed. At the helm of the ship was Charlie Trotter himself, and my god, "perfectionist" doesn't even begin to describe him. I can't tell you how many plates he stopped from going out because they didn't look just right. I was glad to be on my side of the table, and not on one of the stations.

That said, he was a gracious host to us. He took us on a tour of his tv studio and wine cellar, and even let my mom and me "spy" on my husband and dad, using the hidden cameras. And the meal - oh my gosh. A special menu prepared just for us that had so many wondrous tastes, it was like eating a piece of fine art.

All this leads up to the fact that his meticulous attention to detail has paid off in some really amazing food. This rather rustic tart is no exception. It's all made from scratch, with very few ingredients, but tastes decidedly elegant.

Every time I make it, I can almost feel Charlie Trotter looking over my shoulder. Making sure I follow the directions, chastising me for complaining about any labor-intensive steps. When my whiny internal voice starts to say, "I don't know what julienned means!", he reminds me that he was entirely self taught, and that was before the internet. The bottom line is, the final product is a direct result of the labor you put into it. And whether you are cooking a $150 meal or a simple Sunday dinner at home, you owe it to yourself to put your best foot forward.

Bacon and Caramelized Onion Tart

Dough:

2 C. flour
1/2 t. salt
1 C. cold unsalted butter, chopped
2/3 C. ice water

Filling:

3 large yellow onions, julienned
2 T. unsalted butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lb. bacon, julienned
1 egg yolk
1/2 C. heavy whipping cream
2 t. fresh thyme leaves

To prepare the dough:

Place the flour, salt and butter in a medium mixing bowl.

Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut the butter into the flour until it forms pea-sized chunks

Add the water and mix with a fork until the dough just comes together (it should have visible streaks of butter).

Form the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

To prepare the filling:

Cook the onions with the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 15 or 20 minutes, or until the onions are golden brown and caramelized. Season with salt and pepper, and cool to room temperature.

[my note here: this process has always taken me at least 40 minutes. You need to be patient and make sure the onions really start to release their sugars and become sticky]

Cook the bacon in a large saute pan over medium heat for 10 minutes, or until crisp. Drain on paper towels and cool to room temperature. Combine the bacon with the onions.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Whisk together the egg yolk, cream, and thyme in a small bowl.

To prepare the tart:

On a floured surface, roll out the dough 1/8 in thick, and then press into an 8 or 9 inch tart pan, trimming any excess. Spoon the onion-bacon mixture on top of the dough, pour in the cream mixture, and top with freshly ground black pepper.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until just firm to the touch and light golden brown. Cool slightly before cutting and serving.

Berry Season

2010-05-29T11:22:00.000-07:00

I get way too excited when fruit is on sale. That's how I ended up with 4 containers of blackberries ($1.69 each!), sitting in my fridge and mocking me as I barely made a dent in them each morning by putting them on my cereal.

The original reason I bought them was to use on cupcakes for the Iron Cupcake Challenge - Herbs (Lemon Thyme Cake with Vanilla Lemon Zest Buttercream and topped with a blackberry). Those came out very well, and looked so pretty, too - in fact, my favorite cupcakes have been my berry-topped ones. This is good to remember for next month's challenge which is, you guessed it, Berries.

After 3 days and with 2 full containers left, I knew I needed to make something quickly or they would start to go bad. I looked around on the internet and found this recipe on Confections of a Foodie Bride, and it could not have been more perfect.

I didn't have any buttermilk, so I tried a buttermilk substitute method that has been on my list to try. You take 1/2 C. of regular milk (I used 1%) and add 1/2 T. of white vinegar. Let that sit for 5 minutes, and you have buttermilk! It worked great - no more running out to the store for buttermilk at the last minute, or throwing out old curdled buttermilk 2 weeks later. Hooray!

Just like Foodie Bride, I was skeptical of such a simple recipe - I think I expected it to be ok at best, but it was so good and moist, with a nice subtle lemon flavor and a nice strong fruit taste. Having a slice warm out of the oven was heavenly. You sprinkle sugar on the top before baking, and when you invert it to cool, the "top" becomes the bottom and you get this nice surprise crunch with every bite.

The best part was, it was very easy (just like the recipe says, but has a nice uniform appearance so that it is pretty enough to serve to guests.

I am definitely keeping this one in my "tried and true" file, and can't wait to try it with other berries this season. Great for brunch, tea, or a light dessert. Easy enough to make on a whim on any given night or when people drop by.

All Together Now

2010-05-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

Real estate is expensive. In San Francisco, it is ridiculously expensive. During this recession, I have seen so many small businesses close because they can no longer afford to pay their rent. But in such an economy, where to go with your wonderful food idea, such as 7 different kinds of ramen, or bacon-wrapped hot dogs? Some resourceful vendors have gone the food cart route, either selling off of an actual cart or getting some kind of mobile vehicle that could double as a makeshift kitchen.

But the food cart business is not for everyone, and there are permits required with that as well. Enter a new idea: the multi-tenant indoor market. 331 Cortland in Bernal Heights is such a place.

Inside is an eclectic mix of 6 vendors. The first thing that you see is a knife-sharpening operation. It is sort of an odd choice, maybe something you would expect to see in medieval times (Ye Olde Ironsmith). Next is Della Terra Organics fruit stand, with the most impossibly beautiful fruits and vegetables and a good sense of humor.

The midddle of the space houses my two favorite vendors, El Poreno empanadas, and Ichi Lucky Cat Japanese Deli. I could easily spend an afternoon running back and forth between these two, sampling different things each time. Toro nigiri, wild mushroom empanada, Shiso Pesto Pasta, beef empanada...and on and on.

The last two vendors are Wholesale Bakery and Paulie's, which sells pickled goods and pre-made salads and sandwiches. More to discover next time! I am having a bad case of neighborhood envy - how easy would it be to make dinner every night with so much variety right at your disposal, and within walking distance? Here's to hoping that more communities follow suit.

Have Pizza, Will Travel

2010-05-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

Five years ago, the most you could expect to get at a farmers market in terms of prepared food was tacos off of a taco truck, or tamales. Well, things have really changed, and now you can get just about anything, from crepes to pupusas. Last week at Alemany Farmers Market, we came upon this vendor selling wood-burning oven pizzas, right there in the parking lot! They had built their own oven with a take-apart frame that could be transported on a trailer. We were allowed to look inside and see the pizza-making in action.

The pizza itself was wonderful - warm and crisp with a tangy sauce and delicious toppings. This one was egg, proscuitto, and mushroom. At at $11 (enough for 3 people), it was very reasonable. Warm foods taste especially good on typical San Francisco mornings, which can be overcast and chilly before the fog burns off in the afternoon. The food was so good, I almost forgot that we had come to buy produce!

There are a lot of pizza places in San Francisco, and a handful that serve a decent pie. But pizza-on-wheels is a novel idea, and they have the right strategy by doing parties and events (imagine having your own pizza oven roll up along with someone to do all of the work!) This is definitely the first pizza I have seen at a Farmers Market, and by using the ingredients all around them, such as the "market pie" special that was featured, including California walnuts and fresh greens, they are doing a great job of participating in the local community.

Cherimoya, Self Destroy-a

2010-05-18T13:22:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, I went to the Alemany Farmers Market, where I have not been in about a year. It's a wonderful market, the oldest in San Francisco (started in the 1930s), and has evolved a lot since I have lived here. While they used to not have any organic stalls, now it's about half and half. And the prepared food, my goodness...but that's another post.

I was tickled to see Cherimoyas for sale - a fruit from South America that I don't see often. They're expensive (about $3.50 each), so they are something to be purchased when you want to indulge in an exotic treat. They are well worth it though, not only for the great taste, but for their beauty in your fruit basket. The skin reminds me of dragon scales.

The hardest part is waiting for it to ripen - it takes about 3-4 days after purchase. You can tell when it is ripe because the flesh will give a little when you touch it, and you can smell a faint vanilla scent when you hold it up to your nose. Once they are ready, you can just slice it in halves or quarters and scoop out the flesh, discarding the seeds.

The taste is both unusual and familar - it reminds me of so many different fruits at once: banana, melon, pear, lychee, maybe a hint of berry. If they ripen even further, the flesh can have a custard-like consistency - this is how I have had them before, but this time I was too anxious to cut into it to wait another day, and possibly risk it going bad. I hardly suffered though - it was so delicious! I can't wait to get another one.

Pork Rinds are the new Bread Crumbs

2010-05-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

My research into no-carb meatballs yielded a surprising result - the one ingredient that kept popping up as a substitute for bread crumbs was pork rinds.

Pork rinds? I thought. How weird - bread is made up of flour, pork rinds of puffed pork skin - how can this possibly work? Would they add some weird pork-y flavor and tons of fat? It seemed like some kind of weird parallel-universe idea: instead of vegetarians trying to find meat substitutes, I would now be some uber-carnivore trying to substitute a non-animal product with an animal one. Then I read this article which convinced me that I at least had to give it a go before dismissing it.

Off I went to the corner store (because where else do you find pork rinds but at the corner store?), and once I had my bag of pork rinds in hand, set about smashing them in a plastic bag with a rolling pin.

I sort-of followed a recipe I found online but changed a bunch of stuff including some of the directions which made no sense. The ingredients are simple and you just throw it all in a bowl and mix it up - hands are best for this task.

The result was a nicely flavored, traditional tasting meatball. You could definitely taste the meat without any graininess or "filler" taste, which I really liked. I preferred them to the frozen ones that we sometimes buy out of convenience, which always taste spongy to me. The meatballs were not greasy at all and were just as good the next day. The fact that the recipe calls for dried spices makes it all that more convenient, and the fennel is key. I really like Mezetta Napa Valley Bistro Homestyle Marinara Sauce when I don't have time to make homemade. This one is definitely a keeper!

Low-Carb Meatballs

1 1/2 lb. of ground meat - any combination (I used 1 lb ground chuck + 1/2 lb. pork sausage)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 C. crushed pork rinds - traditional flavor
2 T. tomato sauce or marinara sauce (no sugar)
1 T. dried onion flakes
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. dried basil
1/2 t. fennel
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin.

Put all of the ingredients in a bowl and combine until well mixed.

Form balls using a 1/3 C. scoop and/or your hands - they should be loosely shaped but in a ball form - don't pack them.

Place in the muffin tins.

Bake for 40 - 45 minutes.

Cool on paper towels.

Heat with your favorite no-sugar marinara sauce.

Taste of Spring

2010-05-11T13:26:00.000-07:00

Not a great photo, but I was hungry and low on patience. So, my husband and I are on a get-healthy program, which includes eating meals with low to no carbohydrates, saturated fats, or sugars (well, this is his strict diet - I still make exception for Whoopie Pies).

Which means I have to learn to cook without all of the good stuff.

This recipe was very easy to put together - chicken is sauteed in olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, basil, and parsley. Then add asparagus and mushrooms. I also threw in a little white wine Worcestershire sauce.

The egg on top adds flavor and richness - and I have to confess, I did cook it in butter, because eggs cooked in olive oil are pretty gross. And butter is delightful.

Next experiment: breadless meatballs.

Making Whoopie

2010-05-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

I was feeling nostalgic on Mother's Day, so I decided that instead of making my usual cupcakes, I would make Whoopie Pies.

For those who have not had these homey treats, they consist of two cookie-shaped cakes filled with creamy white vanilla frosting. Apparently they have Amish origins, and worked their way up the east coast. I remember eating them on summer trips to Maine - you can find them in just about every corner store. They're soft, sweet, simple and delicious - sort of like a cupcake's less sophisticated country cousin.

As far as the name, according to a couple of history accounts that I have read online, Amish women would pack them in their husbands' or kids' lunches, and when they were opened, the receiver would shout "Whoopie!"

Most of the recipes today call for marshmallow fluff as a key ingredient in the filling. Not having that on hand, I decided to do a peanut butter filled Whoopie Pie instead. I had some leftover buttermilk that I wanted to use up, so I used the Gourmet recipe for the cakes, and the Martha Stewart recipe for the filling.

They were a lot of fun to make and even more fun to share. The cool thing about them is that they are very easy to transport, either layered in a container, or individually wrapped in plastic wrap. To a baking adventure that's easy, delicious, and a link to memories of east coast summers, I say "whoopie!"

Halfway Homemade

2010-04-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

I love homemade soup, but I don't always have the time to get all of the ingredients and go through all of that chopping, cooking, and pureeing - sometimes I just need a quick, nutritious lunch. Recently I opened up a container of Pacific Cashew Ginger Carrot Soup, and added some ingredients that I saw in a NYT recipe for Moroccan Carrot Soup. While it wasn't exactly homemade, it didn't have that flat taste that I usually find in store-bought soups, especially with the brightness of the lemon juice.

What I added was:

Juice from 1/2 lemon

shake of Cumin

shake of Allspice

dollop of plain Greek yogurt

some chopped basil

Mm mm, good.

Vanilla Rice

2010-04-30T14:56:00.000-07:00

Rice pudding. That most comfortable of comfort desserts - it speaks to us of grandmother's kitchen, wholesome ingredients, and the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Last night I had the opportunity to check out San Francisco's one and only rice pudding shop, Loving Cup. They make made-to-order frozen yogurt (you choose the base and they mix in the ingredients with a fancy drill-like machine), smoothies, and they have about 5 flavors of rice putting to choose from. Yesterday's flavors were Cinnamon Raisin, Lemon Vanilla, Peanut Butter, Chocolate, and Coconut. Just like in an ice cream parlor, they will let you taste them all on tiny tasting spoons.

We decided to go with the classic - Cinnamon Raisin. Oh, was it good. The small size, which we split, was huge and heavy, but we had no problem polishing it off. I know that some people don't like the taste of rice pudding, but I think it's great - it tastes like love feels: warm, filling, and happy.

My dream is to visit Rice to Riches in NYC - that place is the mecca for all people who love rice pudding, with their exotic flavors like Green Tea, French Toast and Passionfruit. But until I get there, it's so nice to know that I can find that taste of home in my very own city.

Happy Accident

2010-04-27T15:57:00.001-07:00

We had our April Iron Cupcake event last night, and the ingredient was Chocolate. Yum, who does not want to eat 10-20 chocolate cupcakes, right? The RSVP list filled up almost immediately after it was posted, and there were 200 people on the waiting list!

I wanted to bake for this one (even though I am not eligible to win, since I am one of the organizers), and I had this great idea to make a Black Forest Cake cupcake. I followed Martha Stewart's recipe for Brownie Cupcakes, and to my dismay, they turned out nothing like the picture! Instead of being dark brown, they turned out kind of mocha colored, and not all that chocolatey. And really tasting of salt. I tested one with a smidge of tart cherry jam on it (my idea was to fill them with tart cherry jam, top with another brownie piece, and then top the whole thing with whipped cream frosting and a cherry), and the jam totally overpowered the taste of the cake. ARGH.

I made some cream cheese frosting instead, and again, when I frosted one test cupcake, the chocolate flavor was totally lost. Curses! So I decided to make the frosting chocolate as well, adding in cocoa powder until it tasted sufficiently like chocolate. And in fact, I liked it a lot.

I frosted one test cupcake, and topped it with some dark chocolate curls I had bought a few weeks ago at Sugar & Spice. And what do you know, it was pretty good! The salt crystals in the brownies now added an interesting dimension to the taste, so I christened them "Salted Milk Chocolate" cupcakes and off I went. I kind of wanted to call them "Black Forest Cake Fail", but I didn't think anyone would get it.

They did very well against the other entries - surprising, since I had been ready to throw them away. By count, I got either 3rd or 4th place out of 15 - not bad, especially given that these were some of the best cupcakes that I have had in the 8 months that I have been doing Iron Cupcake.

I have no idea if I can duplicate them again, but I think that even if the brownie recipe turns out right, they would be delicious. Here is my recipe for the frosting:

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/2 t. vanilla
1 16 oz. box powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 C. or so cocoa powder, sifted into powdered sugar

In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.

Add the vanilla and stir until incorporated.

Add the powdered sugar/cocoa mixture 1/2 C. at a time. Turn mixer to high for 30 seconds following each addition. Scrape down the sides as necessary.

Add more cocoa if necessary.

Frost cooled cupakes, topping with chocolate curls or mini chocolate chips.

More Fun with Fondant

2010-04-26T09:31:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we attended the relaunch of a live radio broadcast of our Burning Man Camp, Camp Want It! It will be a weekly event on Sunday afternoons, and then the set will be played on a continuous loop throughout the week. You can check it out here.

http://www.live365.com/stations/campwantit

I wanted to make some commemorative cupcakes for the day, so I got out my gum paste and metal cookie cutters and had so much fun cutting out the letters and sticking them on the cupcakes. I made chocolate cupcakes with a simple buttercream frosting that I colored red with gel food coloring. This time, instead of piping the frosting, I just spread it on, which created a nice, flat surface and great background for the letters. I also liked the way the letters looked on a full sized cupcake rather than a mini.

This opens up so many decorating possibilities, especially if I figure out how to color the gum paste - all sorts of cute cut-outs could be placed on colored backgrounds. Let the fun begin!

Southern Comfort

2010-04-25T12:37:00.001-07:00

One of my husband's favorite breakfasts is biscuits & sausage gravy. Today I decided to make it, after I found what looked like a proper Southern recipe on the internet. It's something that has very few ingredients, but you have to make it just right to get the correct consistency and thickness.

The recipe is perfect and if you follow it step-by-step (thank goodness for the pictures), it turns out exactly the way you want. The only change I would make is that instead of using regular flavor sausage (I used Jimmy Dean's "All-Natural"), I would use Hot to give it that extra kick.

I made 6 slices of bacon before starting the sausage gravy, and that yielded just the right amount of fat to mix in with the flour when making the roux.

Mmmm mmmm, what a nice way to start the day.

Berry Good

2010-04-25T12:23:00.001-07:00

My friend Mark gave me this delicious recipe for an easy dessert, a gingered fruit compote.

Make a simple syrup using 1 C. water and 1 C. sugar. Heat until the sugar dissolves.

Add about an 8" chunk of fresh ginger, cut on the diagonal to expose as much flesh as possible.

Simmer this in the simple syrup for about 20 minutes. Remove the ginger.

Add whatever fruit you like (I used a pint of blueberries) and heat until incorporated.

Serve over Greek yogurt.

Yum!

Summer Refresher

2010-04-24T08:45:00.001-07:00

It's no secret that I love lemons, and one of my favorite summer drinks is Strawberry Lemonade. It has just the right amount of sweet, and just the right amount of tart - I could drink it by the gallon.

Earlier this week, I attended a viewing party for the show Glee - an instant classic episode which featured songs by Madonna. Tasked with bringing something fun and festive for dessert, I came up with a recipe for Strawberry Lemonade cupcakes.

Lemon Cupcakes

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 C. sugar
4 eggs
3 C. all-purpose flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 C. milk
2 T. lemon zest
2 T. lemon juice
Few drops yellow food color gel, if desired

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Line 2 24-cup mini cupcake pans with liners.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, about 4 min.

Add the eggs, one at a time until the mixture becomes creamy.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Whisk to combine.

Alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk until completely incorporated.

Add the lemon zest and juice. Mix batter for an additional minute. Add food color gel and mix just until blended.

Divide the batter among the cupcake liners and bake for 17-23 minutes.

Cool before frosting.

Strawberry Lemon Frosting

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 pkg (16 oz) powdered sugar, sifted
2-3 T. strawberry jelly, heated in a pan until melted, and cooled.
1 T. lemon zest
2 T. lemon juice
Few drops pink food color gel
Fresh strawberries, for garnish

Cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar until fluffy.

Add the powdered sugar about 1/2 C. at a time, turning to high speed for a few seconds after each addition. Scrape down the bowl as needed.

Add the strawberry jelly lemon zest and lemon juice. Beat until combined.

Add the pink food color gel until the desired color is reached.

Frost cooled cupcakes, adding a small piece of chopped strawberry for garnish.

Pea-Brained

2010-04-19T12:40:00.001-07:00

Spring is here, and with it comes the arrival of English peas. I shelled about a pound and a half of them yesterday - long work, for such a little yield - but oh were they tender and delicious.

They popped up beautifully when immersed in boiling water.

And with a kiss of butter and a sprinkle of salt and pepper, made a lovely addition to a Sunday supper of roasted chicken, roasted potatoes, and just-picked red-leaf lettuce.

Slow Food

2010-04-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

I photographed my first two meals since being ill, the taste of which I will never forget.

The first was scrambled eggs on toast. 6 days without any protein had left me feeling weak and lethargic. What a jump-start to the system in such a simple form.

My first dinner was Capellini Pomodoro from Mozarella di Bufala. It is their most simple pasta dish, but contains so many elements that previously would not have agreed with me: tomatoes, olive oil, onions, basil. And in the salad: lettuce, hearts of palm, olives, cucumber and tomatoes (no dressing). The flavor was practically jumping off of the plate! I savored every morsel.

What this experience has done for me has reminded me to slow down. The last meal I ate before getting sick was a burger, and I have visions of myself shoving it down my throat, barely tasting it, while trying to do two other things at the same time (when you get to revisit that burger again and again and AGAIN, it truly makes for an unforgettable meal).

I also learned that the more I took away, the better I could taste the food. For instance, normally when making scrambled eggs on toast, I butter the toast, spice up the eggs. Without those things, more of the pure flavors came through.

Now I am being more respectful of my food, eating more slowly, taking smaller bites, and remembering to taste and savor each one.

BRAT for a Week

2010-04-16T09:26:00.001-07:00

So what's the worst possible thing to happen to a food blogger? Besides food poisoning, the stomach flu. Which is actually not technically a "flu" but a combination of viruses called gastroenteritis, and is a big hot steaming mess of misery and suffering.

I know all of this because I was hit hard with it last Friday. Hard as in brought me to my knees for about 8 hours in the bathroom, followed by 3 days of not moving from bed (including fever), and another 4 days of general aches and misery. Don't worry, this is a food blog - no details will be shared.

For my food intake, it has meant that I am reduced to drinking a lot, especially electrolyte-rich drinks (thank you Dragonfruit Vitamin Water) and eating a diet suitable for toddlers and the elderly. The sort of modern old-wives guideline for easily digestible foods is called BRAT:

Bananas

Rice

Applesauce

Toast

It's been interesting watching my system repair itself, and let me tell you, I am ever-so-grateful for any new food that it will allow me to handle. The first day of banana was like a revelation - I had never tasted a more banana-y banana in my life. I am completely sick of toast, so have moved on to whole grain Cream of Wheat and plain pasta in chicken broth. What is completely absent at the moment is dairy, fat, meat, and vegetables - basically, my regular diet! I miss real food terribly, but I am in no hurry to push myself beyond what I can handle. My system will "grow up" when it is good and ready, and for now, baby steps are fine.

Slab and Tickle

2010-04-09T12:24:00.000-07:00

Look what arrived in my mail just in time for Easter - a gift from fellow chocolate-lover and dear friend Olga, who I had seen recently in Chicago, when she had told me about this new chocolate discovery.

Pure Dark has a store in the West Village in New York, and their approach is to offer chocolate with minimum processing and maximum flavor. The "Slab" that I received is rough and heavy, like a slab of marble or stone, not tempered into a mold or neat rectangular shape - this is not a chocolate "bar". The color is dull and not shiny like commercial chocolate. And the taste...mmmm. It's like the difference between diner coffee and a fine roast, with a clean and not sugary aftertaste.

It's surprisingly easy to cut into, much more so than the chocolate you use for baking. Dangerously so. I don't even want to call it "candy", it's so good.

OK, back to being hidden in the drawer, you dark, lovely, evil, delicious thing, you.

They Call Me Mellow Yellow

2010-04-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

The beautiful yellow color in these muffins comes from saffron. They are a muffin version of the Swedish Lucia Bun, a beautiful yellow not-to-sweet bun that contains raisins or currants. I got the recipe from the 101 Cookbooks blog, and since I had all of the ingredients, decided to give them a try.

Since saffron is a key ingredient, and is quite expensive, it may be the deciding factor on whether you make these buns. I had some left over from a delicious risotto recipe, and it's just been sitting around, so I decided to use it - luckily I had just enough.

I didn't have a mortar and pestle, so I pulverized the sugar and saffron in a coffee grinder. It did kind of a weird thing to the sugar, almost turning it to powdered sugar - but it seemed to work ok for the recipe.

The color of the liquid portion of the mix is amazing. Avoid getting any saffron on your counters because it will stain, almost like the yellow part of a lily when it gets on your clothes.

The buns have a really interesting flavor - not very sweet base, definitely tasting of saffron, which is offset by the sweetness of the golden raisins. Not for everyone, but I really liked them, especially slightly warmed with butter and a drizzle of honey. I served them with a dinner of bratwurst with blueberry chutney, and zucchini, and then had them again for breakfast with my tea.

I'm very interested in trying more Swedish recipes for their low sugar content and beautiful presentation - stay tuned!

Pho-nomenal

2010-04-08T19:38:00.001-07:00

Whoa. Is it possible that I have never blogged about one of my favorite foods, pho?

I love pho. I love the broth. I love the meat. I love the noodles, I love the plate of aromatics. I love squeezing hot sauce into the bowl. And until a few weeks ago, all I knew was beef pho.

Then my friend Phyllis introduced me to the 5 Spice Chicken Pho at Pho Phu Quoc (PPQ), a place on 19th and Irving in the Sunset where I had been many times, but until a couple of weeks ago had no idea that they were cooking up this treasure in the kitchen.

What makes the 5 Spice Chicken Pho unique is that the meat comes on the side. The chicken is so so so good, it makes me sad when I start on my last piece, because I know that soon it will be gone. I give it a gentle dunk in the broth and take small bites to make it last.

Good pho places are not fancy. They will usually be no frills, but full of people, all of the time. The wait staff will usually be abrupt. The broth and the noodles have to be just right, and the aromatics have to be super-fresh.

Pho is messy. I always end up with some on my shirt. But there is nothing better than that steaming bowl arriving at your table, and getting your face close to the bowl as you slurp away, just like everyone at every other table is doing. On a cold day, on a warm day - every day is a good day for pho.

My Husband Went to Buenos Aires and All I Got Were These Lousy Alfajores

2010-04-06T13:54:00.000-07:00

Well, to be fair, they are very nice alfajores. Alfajores are cookies that are found all over South America - usually a soft cookie sandwich filled with dulce de leche (milk caramel) or fruit jam, and coated with sugar.

The first kind I received were very fancy, with a uniform sugar coating and a big walnut on top. Amazingly, they looked exactly like the picture on the box.

The taste was ok - the cookie part is dry, and the dulce de leche part kind of gets lost in there. As with most alfajores, they're too sweet for me. But I liked the taste and texture of the walnut.

The second kind included a mix of dulce de leche and jam varieties.

They weren't as pretty to look at, but I liked the taste a lot better. This is one with quince jam, which added a much-needed tartness.

The perfect alfajore for me would have a little bit of something salty or savory to contrast with the overwhelmingly sweet taste of the dulce de leche. I have only had those here in the states, where our sweet tooth likes to be shocked a little. Even better, I just love a big jar of dulce de leche to do with what I please - spread it on a cookie, a piece of cake, or over ice cream. There's this one chocolate shop in Palermo Soho in Buenos Aires that gets jars of the stuff made freshly every day. I'll have to get my order in early next time!

Meanwhile, I guess I will just have to *suffer* through these cookies. :)

Smokin'!

2010-04-06T13:07:00.000-07:00

More deliciousness from the Farmers Market: Tea-Smoked Tofu from Tofu Yu. We sampled some a couple of weeks ago and loved it - so much more interesting than your regular store-bought tofu. It's easy to prepare, too - I sauteed spring onions and garlic in a touch of olive oil, added oyster mushrooms, and sliced up the tofu and tossed it in to warm. Lunch is served!

They also make incredibly tasty vegan Spicy Veggie Wraps - I will be stocking up on those this week.

Look What the Easter Bunny Laid in My Basket

2010-04-05T22:34:00.000-07:00

I realize that the title of this post sounds dirty. Or disgusting. But the important thing is that you are looking at one of the most scrumptious chocolates ever to slip down my gullet. It is from Chocolate Covered, the tiny chocolate emporium on 24th Street in Noe Valley.

I don't know what it is - the gooey caramel, the huge, crunchy walnut, the dark, dark chocolate, the generous sprinkling of coarse salt on the top, or the combination, but it is like a little nugget from heaven. The first time I had one, I was driving and nearly had an accident because I was so enraptured. And by enraptured, I mean moaning and groaning with pleasure. Unfortunately, I was not alone. I cannot apologize enough for my public display of lewdness (or the many near-accidents I am sure I caused), but this chocolate swept me off my feet and left me weak in the knees and begging for more.

(Marilyn Monroe voice): Thanks, Easter Bunny. *wink*

Tastes Like Spring

2010-04-05T21:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I have looked and looked and I can't find a link to a website for this company. I am so sorry because their products are delicious and I think that everyone should try them. I bought these on a whim during my monthly assault on Rainbow Grocery with Kristina, and I cooked it up a couple of nights ago, and I was hooked! Each package comes with 3 clusters of pasta, each of which is good for one generous serving, and the sauce distributes perfectly in thirds as well. I should know because I have had this pasta for the past three nights in a row. Yes, that's right, the woman who can't stand to have the same country's cuisine for lunch and dinner has become a repeat diner. At Casa di Liz.

This is not your run of the mill grocery store pasta - which I usually dislike for its thick, gummy texture and overly salted fillings. The smell from the pot as the pasta is cooking is heavenly - the lemon aroma just wafts up, almost as if from some baked goods like lemon bread. The rocket (aka arugula in these here parts) makes the pesto sauce less sharp than when made with basil, and it just lightly coats the pasta with its fresh, green, nutty goodness, with a little texture added from toasted pumpkin seeds rather than pine nuts. It doesn't leave that heavy garlic taste in your mouth either, which is a plus if you actually plan on talking to people in the near future.

Not sold yet? How about that the pasta and sauce are:

whole grain
vegan
local (Santa Rosa represent!)

A couple of tips: Take the sauce out of the fridge about 20 minutes before you start cooking. Only cook the pasta for 3 minutes at the very most, otherwise you will have a gummy mess on your hands. Just a short dip and swirl in a boiling water bath is all that it needs.

I may have to go back on non-coupon day to get more - it's that good.

Peep Peep

2010-04-03T23:54:00.000-07:00

I love Peeps, so this year it was time to create a Peep-themed cupcake.

I kept it simple - basic chocolate cake recipe with marshmallow fluff frosting (softened cream cheese mixed with a jar of marshmallow fluff and powdered sugar, colored with green food gel). The Peeps are held up by toothpicks, so you just have to remember to warn kids to take them out carefully and remove the toothpick before digging in. You don't need much to make these look festive - the Peeps do it for you!

Happy Easter, everyone!

Land of Fruit and Nuts

2010-04-03T23:26:00.000-07:00

I love granola. It's one of the staple items on my shelf, to sprinkle on Greek yogurt with fresh fruit on top for breakfast, or as a late-night snack with milk. This month's Body & Soul magazine had a good looking recipe with a few variations, so I hit the bulk foods section of the grocery store and the dried fruit stand at the farmers' market and was good to go.

I had to add extra honey because the nuts I used were roasted and salted - try to find raw unsalted nuts and you can keep the sweetener to a minimum. This recipe makes a lot, so pack some up in bags for gifts!

Pistachio & Cherry Granola

6 C. old-fashioned oats
1 1/4 C. shelled pistachio nuts
1/4 C. sunflower seeds
1/3 C. flaxseed meal, wheat germ, or a mixture of the two
3 large egg whites
3/4 t. kosher salt
3/4 C. sweetener, such as honey, agave syrup, or molasses
1/3 C. extra virgin olive oil
1 C. dried cherries
1/2 C. unsweetened toasted coconut

Preheat the oven to 35o degrees.

Combine the oats, nuts, seeds, flax and/or wheat germ in a large bowl.

In another bowl, whisk egg whites and salt until frothy. Whisk in the sweetener and add the olive oil.

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir until the oats are evenly coated.

Transfer the mixture to two rimmed baking sheets and spread flat.

Bake for 20 minutes, then gently flip with a spatula, movie granola from the outer edges to the center of the sheet.

Continue to cook until golden, about 10 minutes more.

Cool completely on pan, then transfer to a bowl and gently stir in the dried fruit and coconut.

Update 4/8: I made another version that I also loved, using slivered almonds in place of the pistachios, raw unsalted pepitas in place of the sunflower seeds, crisped rice in place of the coconut, and currants in place of the cherries. I also toasted it a little longer and it was delicious!

Mother Knows Best

2010-03-31T00:06:00.001-07:00

When I was in Portland, OR last month visiting family, we were able to try a restaurant that has been on my list for a long time - Mother's. The love project of chef Linda Schroeder, Mother's is all about the beauty in comfort, from the vintage textiles to the sparkling case of baked goods in the front, to the home-style dishes served up to the crowds. There are staples such as Chicken Liver, Matzoh Ball Soup, Meatloaf, and Chicken and Dumplings, as well as monthly specials featuring a M.O.M., or mother of the month.

Of course I was thrilled when I learned that there was a cookbook available, and even more thrilled when Linda came to our table in her orange chef's jacket to sign our copies. How often does that happen? Not only that, but she stayed for at least 20 minutes, chatting with us about France, South Africa, the Midwest, traditional Jewish food, Culinary School, being a mother, and being a grandmother (especially significant because my own mother had just become one). In my book, she wrote "To Liz, From one cook to another, XO, Linda". What a charming woman, so full of life and passion - she was truly an inspiration.

The book is full of motherly advice, which is so helpful when making classic recipes or simply learning to cook. She calls them "love notes", such as putting bacon in the freezer for 10-15 minutes before chopping, which are things that make sense but that the average home cook might not think of.

Today I decided to make Parisian Chicken for my friend Andrea, and it was a very tasty and simple recipe, using ingredients that are normally on hand. It requires a some basic technique and preparation, but nothing that couldn't be handled on a weekday night - it's the kind of recipe that you make once, and then you can make it again from memory. I roasted some red fingerling potatoes while I was cooking the chicken, and made a simple mixed greens salad, and we had a home-cooked meal on our plates in very little time.

The dredging of the chicken pieces is in the opposite order from what I am used to - usually you do egg mixture followed by flour, but doing it this way means you use far less flour and the egg on the outside creates a lovely crispy crust. I had to cook the chicken much longer than the recipe called for (probably because I didn't split it so it was a little bit thicker than it should have been), so just eyeball yours and check for doneness during the process. I didn't have clarified butter, so I used 1 T. vegetable oil and 1 T. unsalted butter instead.

Parisian Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 1/4 t. kosher salt (divided)
3/4 t. freshly ground black pepper (divided)
2 T. whole milk
2 large eggs
1/4 C. all purpose flour
2 T. clarified butter or vegetable oil
1/2 C. white vermouth
2 T. lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
4 T. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 T. chopped fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley

If the breasts are very thick, you may slice them in half horizontally to get 2 cutlets per half. Spread a 12-in piece of plastic wrap on the counter. Place a chicken breast on it, then lay another 12-in sheet of plastic on top. Using a flat meat mallet or a large heavy skillet, pound the breast to 1/4 in thickness. Repeat with the remaining breasts.

Lay the cutlets on a rimmed baking sheet and season each on one side with 1/4 t. salt and a pinch black pepper.

In a shallow bowl, whisk together the milk and eggs. Place the flour in a plate or shallow dish. Set these near the stove.

Place a large (12 to 14 in) saute pan over medium high heat. When hot, add the clarified butter. Used one hand to dip one cutlet in the four, dredging int on both sides, and then in the egg mixture. Use the other hand to immediately add it to the pan. Repeat until you have a single layer of chicken.

Cook until lightly golden on the first side, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn over, lower the heat to medium, and continue to cook until the other side is golden and the chicken is cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes.

Transfer the cutlets to a serving plate and tent with foil to keep warm. Return the pan to high heat. Add the vermouth and lemon juice to the saute pan (to deglaze), stirring to scrape up any browned bits. Season with 1/4 t. salt and 1/4 t. pepper. REduce by half, remove from the heat, and wisk in the butter pieces. Add the parsley.

To serve, place the chicken on individual serving plates and pour the sauce over the chicken.