Category Archives: San Francisco

Material developed in San Francisco

01.16.08
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Ham Loaf

For Super Bowl XLI We hosted our XIth Annual Super Bowl Party and about ten people showed up, a nice size crowd for our flat. For this, we bought half of a Country Ham and served the ham on small rolls with horseradish mustard. There was lots of other football food, as well as betting and whooping and carrying on, though nobody was really a Colts or Bears fan.

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After the game and after the last glass of wine and after the last ham roll, a lot of ham was still on that bone. We needed to come up with some way for the two of us to take care of that ham.

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I’m a big fan of meat loaf… why not Ham Loaf. Back at Columbus West High School, lo those many years ago, a couple buddies and I took an elective of Home Economics, Cooking. In the late 50’s this would be described as a girls course, guys took shop and metalwork. I took those too, and hated them. I signed up for Cooking because it seemed interesting, and, oh yes, to meet some girls. Cooking was way better than metalwork. I don’t remember all that we did in that class, but table setting and napkin folding stick in my brain, aside from the cooking. Chopping and baking led to the thing I remember best; our final project, Ham Loaf. I remember it was really good and it wasn’t something that my mother made, so it was new to me. Unlike meat loaf, it was tangy and sweet-and-sour. Continue reading →

01.07.08
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SQUASH THREE TIMES

Ravioli to Noodle Soup

We got these humungous winter squash in our Mariquita Farms Mystery Box.

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Mariquita Farm was my go-to for many vegetables at the Farmers Market, but they left the market to concentrate on supplying restaurants and CSA.
Just when I was about over missing them, I got an email from Julia that she would bring vegetable boxes a couple times a month to distribute at one of their restaurants where they deliver. Just make a $25 order by email. They call these deliveries Mysterious Thursdays, as they also offer a “mystery box” made up by Andy.

The squash sat outside for a week or so until one Saturday morning Carol just hacked up one of the big ones and baked it. Now what to do? We weren’t excited about making pie or soup or gratin.

SQUASH ONCE

Well, I hadn’t made pasta for a while, how about Squash Ravioli?

For basic research I tend to consult with Cook’s Illustrated online. We’re sure of finding a basic, proven recipe and we can go from there. Their Pumpkin, Prosciutto, and Parmesan Filling for Pasta looked good, interesting and easy. Just mix your baked squash with a little minced prosciutto and fresh sage leaves, grated Parmesan cheese, an egg yolk and freshly ground nutmeg.

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The already made sheets are under the green towel. Continue reading →

01.07.08
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Soup for Lunch

Bean Vegetable Soup (mine)

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I love beans. I love most any kind of beans, but as with any food I like to know if they’re fresh, and where they come from. The heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo are fresh and clean. For my all purpose needs, I usually get the Marrow beans, but those are out of season just now, so I’ve been using Cranberry Cargamanto, a worthy substitute, lately.

My wife, Carol, does not share my pleasure in beans. Oh, she’ll eat them as a small side accompaniment to a main dish if they are disguised with greens or radicchio or some such. But I will be eating the bulk of the beans, so when I cook up a pot of beans, I need some good ideas on how I’ll be eating them.

I’ve devised a great lunch fall-back of bean and vegetable soup. It doesn’t take long to prepare and tastes really good. Continue reading →

12.04.07
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Squid

This ain’t your Calamari

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When I saw the recipe for Stuffed Squid With Wilted Salad in the New York Times, I thought I would keep my eye out for squid, haven’t had that for a while. I haven’t done stuffed squid since a party at my business partner’s house back in Boston, that would have been in the late ‘80s.

My go-to squid recipe lately has been Squid with Black Pepper, Vietnamese Style by Mark Bittman, and I’ve done that several times, even for guests. So this would be a welcome change of pace.
What do you know? Shogun Fish at the Farmers Market on Saturday, had fresh caught local squid arrayed neatly in ziplock bags. Oh boy, now is the time.

Cleaning squid is messy, but not difficult. I cleaned them Sunday afternoon. There were 10 nice size squid in the bag.

squid-ingred.jpg Continue reading →

11.30.07
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Salad Niçoise

Salade Niçoise

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The first time I remember having Salade Niçoise was in a café in Paris in 1979. I was alone, having lunch on a lovely August afternoon.

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Of course August is the time when nearly all Parisians take holiday. My family and I were lucky enough to exchange houses for the month with a French architect, an acquaintance of a close friend. Our flat was a third floor walk-up (69 steps) so we were careful to plan our comings and goings. Situated on the Left Bank near Invalide, we were able to walk or take the Metro nearly everywhere. After breakfast, we could each go our own way (the kids were 11 and 13), sometimes for the whole day before assembling for dinner to exchange tales of our ventures.

The salad was served on an oval plate with a pile of tuna, surmounted by three anchovy fillets in the center. Green beans, tomato wedges, a quartered hard boiled egg, black olives and sliced potatoes were arranged around the tuna and dressed with a vinaigrette. Yellow potatoes! I had never seen yellow potatoes. I carefully took a bite of each ingredient — starting with a potato slice — and savored each bite. I hoped the experience would never end, but of course the plate was not infinite, and when I reached the last bite, perhaps an olive, I was wholly satisfied. Continue reading →

09.26.07
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From Salad to Soup

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It was a few hours before the Giants’ game and I wasn’t hungry yet, but I would be when I got to the game. Ballpark food is so expensive, and truth be told, not that great. Although there’s something to be said for steamed hot dog in a warm bun with yellow mustard and chopped onion. That’s four bucks and I can’t have just one, which means going down in the fourth inning or so and standing in line for another. I have trained myself to buy only one eight dollar beer, though.

A pasta salad would be good, and good for me, but I wasn’t in the mood for the Asian noodle salad that I’ve made in the past for ball games.

I dived into my recipe archives. With the Internet, there are a gazillion recipes out there, many good, most bad. In addition to all the free sites, food company sites and blogs, I subscribe to the Cook’s Illustrated website for the tried and true. I do have a bone to pick with CI, it seems to me that if I subscribe to their magazine, and have for years, I ought to get the website for free, or at least at a healthy discount. I enjoy leafing through the magazine when it comes in the mail; it’s a pleasant experience. But NO, the website is the same price as the magazine and there are no deals to be had. The website is a different experience. Even if you “browse” the current issue on the web, it’s not like turning those pages of heavy matt stock. But the website has the archives and easily searched recipes. I gave up the magazine. Bummer. But I digress. Continue reading →

09.11.07
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Tomatoes Tomatoes Tomatoes

A Week’s Tomato Binge

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Labor Day weekend, brought a tomato glut to my corner of the world.

Of course the Wednesday food sections were all over tomatoes with Revisiting the Caprese by Janet Fletcher in the Chronicle and So Many Tomatoes to Stuff in a Week by Melissa Clark in The New York Times. Mark Bittman of the Times chimed in with a Tomato Paella video.

Thursday, I snagged San Marzanos at Andy and Julia’s Marquita Farm t_andynjulia.jpgThursday box night at Piccino café in Dogpatch. At the Saturday Farmers Market, which seemed unusually busy, I got a couple of heirlooms from my regular heirloom guy and later saw some more that were so beautiful I couldn’t pass them by. Last, but not least, I got a basket each of red and yellow cherry tomatoes. That should be enough for a week’s tomato binge.

We got a head start with Janet Fletcher’s Tomato Bread Salad with Burrata, accompanied by grilled shrimp. For this, we put together a salad of toasted bread cubes, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, olives, capers and basil leaves with a red wine vinegrette. The salad was composed around a fine piece of Burrata, the very fresh Italian mozzarella, and we finished it with grilled shrimp, uncalled for and unnecessary, but divine. Oh boy! Continue reading →

08.28.07
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Tomato Water

I hate to throw away flavor! That’s why I save chicken and meat bones, mushroom stems and the like.

Now that it’s heavy duty tomato season, tomato cores and skins just bursting with tomatoness demand a choice: toss, compost, do something. When I peel and core one or two tomatoes, I generally stuff the skins and core into a bag of bones in the freezer for use in the next stock.

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On this day, I used five Early Girls to make a tomato base for soup. That seemed enough to make tomato water. What th’ hell is that? Continue reading →

08.23.07
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Panini

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We were at a friend’s house for lunch on Sunday. Panini was served. Ummm Good. Our hosts raved about their Cuisinart Panini Press and another guest said she had bought one just like it at Crate and Barrel.
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When I was standing in line for the Get Green event at Macy’s, an All Clad Panini Set was on display, right beside me, a simple non-stick, 10×12 inch grill pan and a heavy metal weight with a handle, slightly smaller than the pan. I checked the price, $130!!

Lordy! I can do that with my cast iron grill pan using the lid from my cast iron skillet for the weight. Continue reading →

08.15.07
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Get Green

In spite of the struggle over the Farm Bill and the chronic ineptitude of the current administration, I am encouraged by the movement of individuals, local governments and organizations, and now, Macy’s — for gosh sakes — to embrace sustainability. I was delighted to see the announcement for this event and took the opportunity to attend. This was the first of a series of three.

the announcement
Local chefs and farmers pair up at Macy’s
CUESA is partnering with Macy’s Cellar for a series of three cooking demonstrations and farmer/chef interviews. This Tuesday, August 14, Chris Cosentino of Incanto and Doug Stonebreaker of Prather Ranch Meat Company will show that meat lovers can be green too. Seating is first-come, first-served starting at 6 pm in the Union Square Cellar Kitchen at Macy’s. A $10 donation to CUESA will get you a seat at the demonstration, a sample of the featured dish, a glass of wine from Benziger Family Winery, a canvas Ferry Plaza Farmers Market tote, and a sample of Origins‘ new organic skin care line.

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The bag was provided by Origins. Thanks Origins!  

I attended and it was great! Continue reading →