Monthly Archives: December 2011

12.17.11
by

Artichokes: WWeD?

What Would eats Do?
a_artichoke_detail
I have an old standby recipe and I never tire of it; Artichoke and Potato Ragout from the Union Square Café Cookbook by Danny Meyer and Michael Romano 1994 — but c’mon, this cook needed a change o’ pace. [Now that I’m writing this, I looked for Artichoke and Potato Ragout in eats, to link to it. It isn’t there. I’d better write about it since it’s one of my favorites. Next time I have artichokes.]

My artichokes had been laying around for over a week and, time to get at ‘em. I was bereft of inspiration, so I went to the Food 52 website to look for artichoke recipes.

A lot of their preparations were deep fried and I don’t do that. Many others featured “healthy grains,” not much into those. I found four I thought I might make: Pan Fried Artichokes in Lemon Garlic Brown Butter, Creamy Artichoke Soup, Baby Artichokes & Farfalle, Braised Artichokes. Didn’t want to make any of those for tonight, but though the the Braised Artichokes was a pretty terrible recipe [cook whole artichokes in seasoned canned crushed tomatoes and water for 3 to 4 hours] it reminded me of a chicken fricassee dish from the Frugal Gourmet. That used baby artichokes braised in tomato sauce with black olives and chicken. I didn’t have any chicken, but I got out some mild pork sausages from Burgers’ Smokehouse.

OK… artichokes, braised in tomato sauce with sausages and, say, served over spaghetti. Where did spaghetti come from? I cooked a-third-of-a-pound for lunch and had enough-for-two left over. I made a list of what I might do and hung it on the cupboard door:

a_list
I forgot to say, I’m cooking a pot of Italian Butter Beans at the same time, but that’s not related to this dinner — some future dinner.

PUT BEANS ON…
I had been soaking the beans for a while, so they were ready for the pot. My good friends at Rancho Gordo say that I don’t have to soak their beans, because they’re not old. These beans are from Iacopi Farm, but I know that they, too, are not old. No matter… I’ve always soaked my beans and it’s no bother. I pour water over them just after breakfast in the morning and by the time I’m ready to cook, they’ve soaked. Doesn’t hurt… can help. Continue reading →

12.07.11
by

November Eats

Comin’ ’round th’ mountain: Corned Beef Sandwich, Sea Bass, Show Dogs, Faux Pomodoro, Sloppy Joes, Oven Dried Tomatoes, Pasta Pompeii, Veal Marsala, Brunch at Marlowe, Thanksgiving, Pork Braciola.

late october market day

late october market day

So we rocketed through November and I had stuff like film festivals and the El Bulli film and new “Oscar worthy” films like My Week with Marilyn and I didn’t get stuff into eats. So in this first week of December, I’m going to blast all of November onto eats, hopefully, in an entertaining and informative way.

Corned Beef Sandwich
We start at the Tuesday Market with a corned beef sandwich from Wise and Sons Jewish Deli. I brought it home to eat, took out about half the meat for a snack later with cheese on AkMak cracker. Yummy.

nov_wise1nov_wise2

Next up Sea Bass poached in a spicy soy sauce and served over rice. I did what I often do and am trying to get over doing — served this dinner on a plate too small for it. In any case, my fillet went from more than one-inch thick to the thinnest end, and all was moist and tender with this poaching method. Carol said, “Great.” Served with Romano beans.

crowded plate don't make it taste bad, just look bad

crowded plate don't make it taste bad, just look bad

Combine 1/2C of your best soy sauce, 1/2 cup water, sugar and chili in a skillet just large enough to hold the fish. Turn the heat to medium high, and bring to a boil.
Add the fish, flesh side down. If necessary, add a little more water, so that the liquid comes almost all the way up the sides of the fish. Add about a dozen scallions and adjust the heat so the mixture bubbles but not furiously. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, turning as the liquid thickens, to coat the fish with a brown glaze. Serve with white rice, spooning the sauce over all and garnishing with the onions. [I used quartered spring onions instead of scallions]
How does one tell when it’s done? A knife will go through with no effort.

Show Dogs
The Broadway Musical HAIR came to San Francisco. How could we resist? We had seen it when it opened in Boston in 1969. We went Opening Night. WOW.
But this is about dinner before at Show Dogs, just across the street from the Golden Gate Theater.

looking at show dogs from the GG Theater

looking at show dogs from the GG Theater

nov_show_dog2

carol's "show dog"

carol's "show dog"

my sausages, sauerkraut and mashed

my sausages, sauerkraut and mashed

Faux Pappa al Pomodoro
From “show” to “faux.” You know about the tomato bread soup “Pappa al Pomodoro.” Here’s my quickie lunch version with croutons cut from 2 or 3 or 4 day old Acme bread, a few cubes of leftover pork cutlet, and Amy’s Chunky Tomato Bisque. Takes longer to write about it that it does to cook it. All I did was add a little olive oil and garlic. Yum. Continue reading →