by Eric

Pappardelle with a ragu of tiny meatballs

My brother and his wife were coming on Friday from South Carolina and I wanted to cook, rather than sample a fine San Francisco restaurant; specifically, I wanted to make pasta. I remembered seeing a scrumptious picture of pappardelle with tiny meatballs in Jamie Oliver’s book, Cooking with Jamie. Love pappardelle, love meatballs, it looked easy and could be made in stages. What’s not to like? I was so pleased with the idea, that we invited my nephew and his lady friend, as well.That same week, I was browsing the Cookbook section at Books, Inc and saw a stupid simple idea in the new A-16 cookbook: they use raw tomato sauce for their pizza. Just run San Marzano tomatoes through the medium disk of a food mill. I can do that!

san marzano early girl

Generally, I use San Marzano tomatoes for sauce, but sometimes I like Early Girl tomatoes; they’re not as rich, but bright and tomatoey. I happened to have a couple pounds of them. I reckoned that a sauce of Early Girls, beef broth and red wine would work just fine. I was thinking of a brothy sauce rather than a saucy sauce.Another neat feature of this dish is that my brother, who likes to cook, could roll meatballs with me and catch pasta coming out of the roller while the girls have a glass of wine and kibitz.
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10.02.08

by Eric

Urban Farm Tour

Friday Sept 12, Urban Farm Tour, 10 am – 3:30 pm

Join CUESA for a tour of two urban farms: Happy Quail Farms in East Palo Alto and Alemany Farm in San Francisco. Farmer David Winsberg will take us on a tour of his greenhouse and shade houses that are home to hundreds of varieties of peppers. He’ll also walk us through his vegetable patch, introduce us to his flock of chickens, and treat us to a tasting of Happy Quail peppers.Next we’ll head to Alemany Farm, the largest farm in San Francisco. Manager Jason Mark will show us around this unique farm that provides fresh, organic food and creates jobs for residents of a nearby public housing development.

As a person who loves living in the city, and also loves fresh local produce, I had to sign up.Happy Quail Farms

We got off the bus onto a suburban street of 1950’s tract houses. David Winsberg — facing the group — noted that he grew up on a 300-acre vegetable farm in Florida and when he moved to the Bay Area in 1984, he harvested quail eggs and sold them to sushi restaurants in the area, hence the name. This area of East Palo Alto was planned to be self sustaining, the residents, primarily Japanese, living on the street and farming the “back yard” of the one-acre lot. Now, the individual farms are a thing of the past, and David and his wife Karen farm their back lot and lease or “use” others to make up their two-acre farm.

We entered the narrow passage between houses, not quite knowing what to expect.

We found a huge greenhouse — nearly one-acre — where they grow primarily peppers and cucumbers, getting an early start on the season.

Just outside the greenhouse entrance, peppers are dried and ground to make paprika.
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09.16.08

by Eric

KETCHUP

Why on earth would a person want to make his own ketchup?My wife saw Jamie Oliver make ketchup on his TV show and told me about it. I had no intention of actually making ketchup, but I downloaded the recipe from the Food Network website, just in case.

[Yes, I know, I’ve just done two other posts involving Jamie Oliver. It’s just that he’s doing tomatoes right now and they’re in high season. Besides, his cooking is simple and good.]

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09.10.08

by Eric

Meat the Manchurian Mothership

Grilled Porterhouse Steak sliced over Mashed Manchurian Shell Beans with Jamie’s Mothership Tomato Sauce.Sounds like something that might be on a “menu changes daily” restaurant menu. Actually, it’s what I made for dinner Friday night.It all started at the Marin Sun Farms stand at the Farmers Market. I was in the mood for steak and looking for a New York strip steak when I came across this big gorgeous Porterhouse. It cost $24, but was easily big enough for two meals. Oh boy.photo: Cooks ThesaurusSlow Food Nation was over and the week was warm and lovely in San Francisco. I was in a grilling frenzy — grilled chicken thighs over summer vegetables and grilled brats with cabbage in a sweet sour sauce led off the week. I got the Porterhouse out of the meat drawer and showered it with salt and pepper. Now what?Manchurian shell beans are similar to Cranberry beans. I had some in the fridge that were crying to be used. In the same vegetable drawer was a head of broccoli. Leftover tomato salad could be used to complete the meal; all I needed was a method.
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09.05.08

by Eric

SLOW FOOD NATION

“Slow Food Nation will bring together thousands of people: most will eat, drink and talk, a few will sing and dance, some will argue, and many will reflect, laugh out loud and learn. The legacy of these few days in San Francisco is that the conversations begun here will bloom into projects, changes, new passions and careers. Let’s work together to expand this moment of celebration, to build on the foundation of the broader food movement, and to create a food system for all Americans that is healthy, socially just, affordable and delicious.” From the Welcome, Slow Food Nation Program

FLASHBACK

In the summer of 2001, not yet aware of Slow Food, my wife and I made a road trip from son Brian’s house in Tifton, Georgia, just north of the Florida border, to son Eric’s house in Monroe, on the mid-coast of Maine. Our goal was to avoid interstates and to avoid fast food. We failed. Here’s what I said in my journal:

“When you get to the outskirts of Greenville, SC however, it’s Strip City; six lanes of it out US29 stretching for miles toward Spartanburg. We passed legions of McDonalds/Burger King/IHOP/Waffle House looking for a diner or some such place with real food, but finally relented and had “breakfast” at Burger King… sausage biscuits, hash nuggets (whatever they’re called) & coffee. The strip narrowed to four lanes and became almost unstriplike, but then, over the next hill, it got strippy again, getting ready for Spartanburg.”

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08.28.08

by Eric

Spicy Beef

divide and dish

Jack Sprat could eat no fat
His wife could eat no lean
And so betwixt the two of them
They licked the platter clean

Cooking for two can present problems at times.I love beans. My wife tolerates beans. I can get away with a bean dinner about once a fortnight, so I satisfy my beans Jones at lunch with the leftovers when she’s away.I love spicy food. My wife is averse to spicy foods to the point where she says it’s painful. How can something so good for one, affect another in such a completely diverse way?Our experiences of the past two days illustrate a story of steak and chiles and leftover steak and other chiles; a wholly unsatisfactory dinner (for one), a delight (for the other), and ultimate harmony.It all starts with a flank steak. We both love flank steak. A flank steak is about 1 1/2 pounds — way too much for dinner for two — so leftovers make a second meal (or more).I do most of the menu planning and cooking — Carol has a real job — and I like to try new stuff. I saw a recipe in the Chronicle by Joyce Goldstein for Grilled Skirt Steak on a Bed of Grilled Poblanos & Onions. It looked really good to me, flank steak can stand in for the skirt steak, and I trust Joyce Goldstein’s recipes.
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08.19.08

by Eric

Cooking from the TV

Tomato and Sausage Bake

Tomato and Sausage Bake Adapted from Sweet Cherry Tomato and Sausage Bake, from the Food Network show JAMIE AT HOME by Jamie Oliver. The show is based on the book of the same name.When I got home from the Farmers Market on Saturday, Carol had Jamie Oliver’s show, Jamie at Home, on the kitchen TV. He was doing a show on tomatoes. What luck, I had tomatoes in my bag. Jamie’s recipes are always easy and usually good, especially the ones from this show.I stopped and took notes, even as C was saying, “You can get the recipe on the internet.” When the show was over, I went to the Food Network website, found the “Tomatoes” show and copied the recipes to a Word document. Then I checked my notes against the recipes. As usual, there were differences.Warning: When you see something interesting on a food TV show — take notes. You can always look up the recipe on the internet, but sometimes it’s a similar recipe, not what you saw. Also, on TV you can see techniques that aren’t noted in the recipe.In this case, for example:

Recipe — cherry tomatoes, TV — he did it with whole tomatoes of varying sizes and colors. Recipe — 375 ° oven, TV — he cooked in an outdoor, wood fired brick oven. Now he wouldn’t write a recipe for an outdoor, wood fired brick oven, but the temperature in that oven is way higher than 375. Recipe — No bacon or salt pork. TV — he started with bacon or salt pork in the pan and rendered the fat, then took out the bacon and flavored the fat with herbs. Recipe — Chopped garlic. TV — Unpeeled garlic cloves. Recipe — He put everything in the pan at once and popped it in the oven. TV — He put the tomatoes in first to blister the skin, took the pan out and pulled the skins off. Then added the sausages and back in the oven.On TV, he did some “extra dishes” with the leftover sauce. The recipe on the internet said, “Our agreement with the producers of “Jamie at Home” only permit us to make 2 recipes per episode available online. Food Network regrets the inconvenience to our viewers and foodnetwork.com users”

Anyway, you get the drift. Take notes.

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08.11.08

by Eric

Eats on the Cheese Road

Québec, Ontario, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois on the way to the grand Festival of Cheese in Chicago. Much of the trip was in quest of eating miles and the food was what was there when the driving stopped, although we hoped for the best. The best (aside from the festival itself); we were able to choose — St. Elmo’s in Indianapolis, Aja Steak House in Chicago, and my sister’s home cookin’. The worst; we just had to eat something: Wendy’s in Logan, Ohio. We just stumbled onto the Palace Grill in Chicago’s North Loop — by far the best value. The yawning middle of quality included novel destinations — Hooters, Harry Caray’s — and restaurants on an agenda in Lancaster (see also Ohio Eats).

In mid-June, Eric, cheesemaker at Monroe Cheese Studio, and number one son, emailed to say he was driving the Maine Cheese Guild‘s entries to the American Cheese Festival in Chicago at the end of July. He wondered if I wanted to come and help drive. I’m a sucker for a road trip and had nothing pressing on my plate, so I said, “Why not?” The fact that my wife Carol hates road trips and I hadn’t been on one since ought-four made the decision easy.

It turned out that the best way to make a connection was for me to fly from San Francisco to Montreal where Eric would pick me up and we’d be off across southern Canada to points west. Come with me for a plethora of food experiences, warts and all.
Wednesday Breakfast
Air Canada Flyover, USA
Air Canada is nice. I was able to pre-purchase my meal with my ticket. Of three choices offered, I chose an ‘Egg macmuffin’ sort of thing that came with a generous bag — not packet — of cashews. Am I giving ratings in this treatise? I think not.

Wednesday Dinner
Bud’s Place Brockville, Ontario
We checked into a Day’s Inn (free wi-fi was the clincher) and went to dinner down the road toward the St. Lawrence River at Bud’s Place. We walked into a big, dark barn of a place with a big center bar, occupied by only a few people. It did not look promising, but the bartender suggested the roof terrace where we enjoyed the service of Katy, our smiling, enthusiastic waitress, and a decent view of rooftops falling away toward the river. The menu was straight from Fred’s Frozen Foods (I know, my brother used to work for Fred’s), but nicely prepared and cheerfully served by the wonderful Katy. I had the Cajun Catfish and Eric, the Steak Sandwich.
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08.11.08

by Eric

Eats on the Cheese Road (continued)

Québec, Ontario, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois on the way to the grand Festival of Cheese in Chicago. Much of the trip was in quest of eating miles and the food was what was there when the driving stopped, although we hoped for the best. The best (aside from the festival itself); we were able to choose — St. Elmo’s in Indianapolis, Aja Steak House in Chicago, and my sister’s home cookin’. The worst — when we just had to eat something: Wendy’s in Logan, Ohio. We just stumbled onto the Palace Grill in Chicago’s North Loop — by far the best value. The yawning middle of quality included novel destinations — Hooters, Harry Caray’s — and restaurants on an agenda in Lancaster (see also Ohio Eats).

Here we continue the trip as we cross the Ohio River bound for Lancaster.

Monday Lunch
Wendy’s
Logan, Ohio
Bob Evans
Lancaster, Ohio

The plan was to drive for a while and then stop for some sort of breakfast. We got through Fairmont and then got on Route 50 bound for Clarksburg and Parkersburg. The road was big and empty and beautiful as it rolled through the short and tall hills of West Virginia. I had always felt West Virginia more rugged than beautiful, but I hadn’t been on this road. What we saw of Clarksburg had no attractive food options, nor did Parkersburg.

Once we crossed into Ohio, more of nothing continued. We drove straight through to Wendy’s in Logan for a pre-lunch; Junior Bacon Cheese Burger, “made fresh for you.” NO, it was not, cold in the middle.

With no other attractive options, we settled for the familiar, Bob Evans in Lancaster for lunch. We were served by the cute and perky Michaela, and learned that she had just turned 18. “I’m an adult now,” she said. “Is she coming on to me?” I dreamed. I had my usual Fried Mush and Sausage Gravy. Eric ordered the Big Breakfast of eggs, home fries, and sausage with an order of Biscuits with Sausage Gravy on the side. Big food. Continue reading →

08.05.08

by Eric

Summer Grill

Corn, Peppers and BratsWith all of the pleasurable traveling I’ve been doing, there hasn’t been much time to write about cooking real food. It was great to get back to the Saturday Farmers Market.The summer Farmers Market brings lots of good things, corn and bell peppers among them. An onion, a grill and some good mixed brats, some butter and a skillet all came together to make a flavorful, quick, hearty and lip-smackin’ good dinner.Here’s the corn and bell peppers ready to go. No prep needed, except cleaning up the corn.The hot grill is going — opened for the picture. Besides the corn and peppers I had half of a sweet onion and 1/3 of a red onion left from other things, as well as three Johnsonville Beef Brats and two Stadium Brats. In about 4 or 5 minutes, the Brats were browned; the vegetables went for about 8 minutes.I could do the grilling about five o’clock when it was really nice outside and let the food wait until dinnertime. The peppers are sweating in the paper bag.When dinnertime came around, the corn and peppers were sautéed in butter and the Brats put in a 200 ° toaster oven to warm. Cherry tomatoes and a bottle of Cline California Zinfandel completed the picture. Yum.