05.26.10
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An Adventure in the City

…and a swell Mexican restaurant rediscovered.

Our spirits were high as we boarded the 45 Muni bus bound for the Metreon and a San Francisco Film Society 7pm screening of “The Kids are Alright” opening in theaters in about a week.

Creeping through Chinatown on Stockton Street, we were jarred by an announcement, “Sutter Street is the last stop for this bus,” said the woman driver in a loud and clear voice. “When we get to the bus stop at the end of the Stockton Tunnel, get off, go around the corner on Sutter and get on a shuttle bus; the shuttle will complete a detour route to the Caltrain station.”

yerba buena lane

There was a buzz among the passengers. President Obama is in town for a fundraiser for Senator Boxer… he’s staying at the Marriott on Fourth Street between Market and Mission and we just happen to be going to the Metreon, on Fourth and Mission. Our bus crept along and into the Stockton tunnel taking 20 minutes to get through the tunnel. I made use of the time, reading the salacious account of Tiger Woods’ mistresses in the current Vanity Fair. Sorry, but the scope of his obsession is beyond the pale; and kind of sad.

When we got off at Sutter it was 6:40. We decided to walk the five blocks, past Union Square and by the Marriott, where the SFPD were out in force in front of the hotel.

At about five-‘til-seven, we joined the end of a long line on the third floor of the Metreon. A couple minutes later, a woman from SFFS, about 30 people ahead of us said, “the theater is nearly full, anyone in line beyond this column has little chance to get in.”

Carol turned to me and said, “We’ll just go to dinner.” As the front of the line moved forward and our end began to disperse, I walked up to Ben, the SFFS Membership Director and said, “What’s up? I got an email this morning that said there were still a few seats available.”

He apologized, “The group we’re sharing the theater with brought many more people than expected. I’m really sorry.” Continue reading →

05.17.10
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Scallops Onna Plate

Scallops Cooked Onna Plate with Tomato Coulis

After a day at the Giants game (Giants 2 Astros 1), neither Carol nor I felt much like doing real cooking. “Why don’t you do those scallops on a plate in the oven… that’s easy,” she said. Good idea, that’s super easy. I had two Zip-Lock bags of plump super-fresh scallops from Shogun Fish Co., purchased that morning at the market, each bag containing four scallops. (Don’t try this with supermarket scallops!) As luck would have it, I had a jar of Fresh Tomato-Basil Coulis in the fridge, made on Thursday because my tomatoes were going south.

tomato coulis and fresh scallops

tomato coulis and fresh scallops

I started using what I call the “onna plate” method of cooking thin sliced fish when I found a recipe for Alaskan Halibut Cooked on the Plate with Tomato Confit* in 2004 by Olivia Wu in the SF Chronicle. She described it as an “utterly simple and almost instant dish.” Slice your fish thin across the grain, put it on an oiled plate and into a 500°F oven for two minutes. I’ve cooked that way several times, usually with halibut or salmon, but I even did it once with thin sliced hanger steak.

I got out the jar of Tomato Coulis to come to room temperature while we put our feet up and had a drink and some cheese and crackers. We watched the six o’clock news and At The Movies with the NY Times’ A.O. Scott and Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Phillips. That’s a pretty good show, by far the best attempt to replace Siskel and Ebert. (It only took about 10 years. Roger Ebert teamed with this guy Richard Roeper for a while before Ebert’s extensive throat cancer treatment, but Roeper was a jerk, in my opinion.) Peas would be good with the scallop dish, so I shelled about eight pea-pods from the morning market while Scott and Phillips discussed movies I won’t see.

sliced scallops on the plate

sliced scallops on the plate

That was a good and necessary respite. I got out the scallops and pre-heated the oven to 450°F – as hot as my oven will go. I found that if I held the scallops on edge it was easy to slice a scallop into four equal pieces – I got a Chef’s Choice knife sharpener for my birthday, so I’m able to keep my knives very sharp with ease. I arranged the slices on two oiled plates and dropped a few peas in the center. While I was doing this, Carol washed, cut up and sautéed some chard to go with. We generally don’t work well together in the kitchen, but in this case, we had our own little space and task so it worked out well and we saved some time. I opened a bottle of Bonny Doon 2009 Paso Robles Viognier I’d been saving for a special meal. Hey, in spite of the simple preparation, this was becoming a special meal. Continue reading →

05.06.10
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Peppardelle with Rabbit Ragu

… and other things rabbit.

r_Della_Santina'sWhen we’re in Sonoma County on a wine run, Della Santina’s has become a favorite spot for brunch. It’s a white tablecloth Italian place off the Square in Sonoma with good food and reasonably priced.

Pappardelle with Rabbit Ragu served at Della Santina’s, January 2010

Pappardelle with Rabbit Ragu served at Della Santina’s, January 2010

Driving home from Sonoma, I remarked on how good the Pappardelle with Rabbit Ragu was, “I could make that.” Back home I Googled “Pappardelle with Rabbit Ragu,” and was amazed to find a number of entries, but they all were made with tomatoes. I have nothing against tomatoes, but the ragu served at Della Santina’s did not have tomatoes. Well, there’s a big gap between the saying and the making. I guess I’ll have to make my own recipe, but I’ll need a go-by for cooking a rabbit, resulting in a nice sauce. Maybe I could adapt a braised pork recipe.

As luck would have it, a week or so  later, the New York Times Magazine ran a story on Rabbit Legs with Peas, Collards and Country Ham by Sam Sifton. It was pretty simple and direct; brown your rabbit legs, lay them on a bed of sauteed onion, celery and carrots, add water and some wine to nearly cover the rabbit and braise in the oven for two hours. I can do that! Continue reading →

04.23.10
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Fresh Peas

…and other fresh things

It was time to cook the English Peas I got at the Iacopi Farm stand at Saturday’s market the second week of their young season. As I shelled them I couldn’t help but notice how crisp and fresh they were and was thinking about a good, simple, pure thing to do with them so that their flavor would sing. I had about a cup-and-a-half of peas.

Consulting my recipe files, I came across this (Eric is number one son):

Fresh Pea Soup
Here’s what we’ve been serving on our table recently. Recipes from Eric & Alison’s Tilth Table, November 1998 (From the River Cafe Cook Book)

2 tablespoons butter plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, and 1 clove crushed garlic
1 bunch mint
2 1/2 pounds peas, shelled
2 cups chicken stock
grated Parmesean cheese

Saute onion and garlic in oil and butter until brown add peas, most of mint, and stock, cook until peas are just tender remove half of the peas to a food processor and pulverize them. Add them back to the rest of the peas serve in bowls topped with cheese.

Carol brought home a bunch of mint that grows wild in her school’s yard at SF State, roots and all, so I was all set there.

I realized at the last minute that the recipe calls for a sweet onion. I had only yellow and red onions so I took a walk to Real Food, a couple blocks away. When I asked the produce guy, he said he had no sweet onions, but pointed out young red spring onions. If they taste as good as they look, they’ll be a delight. Three of those, chopped made a scant cup.

I thawed some of my homemade chicken stock made with pasture raised chicken – including the feet and head – making a rich gelatinous stock.

I’ve had this recipe for 12 years… why did I wait so long?  The soup was garnished with creme fraiche and mint leaves.This was really good. I loved biting into the fresh whole peas in the soup for a burst of flavor. EZ too, making two “side dish” servings plus one serving left over.

w_pea_soup_ham

I wanted something equally simple, clean and spring-like to go with the pea soup as a main course. I cubed part of a thick slice of ham from Marin Sun Farms, par-boiled and cubed an equal amount of potatoes. I fried those kind of crispy in a hot cast iron skillet with butter and olive oil. I deglazed the pan with red wine, a little broth, another pat of butter, a dollup of cream, and reduced that for a sauce. That, my friends, is good eats.

04.06.10
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A Fine Pork Chop

…revisited for lunch

The Globe Restaurant on Pacific at Battery is open late, frequented by off-duty cooks, so they say, and folks like us, hungry after a movie at the Embarcadero.

Globe

The room is a nice size with high ceilings; entry and bar at one end, partially open kitchen at the other. Feels good to be in this place bustling with diners. It was quite noisy until the group of nine near us were fed, happy and gone. It was quite dark, as well, so my pictures are pretty grainy – I won’t use a flash in such a place.

Globe_lil_gem

We started, sharing a lil gem salad from Mariquita Farm. Just right.

Globe_pork_chop

My pork chop with cabbage and potatoes was so good and I was so hungry, that I forgot to take its picture – even though artfully presented. Well, you’ll have to imagine what’s in my tummy. But this is about that pork chop revisited. No way I could eat all of it, so I took most of that part at the top – including the bone – home.

Next day at lunch I decided to recreate that dinner as best I could. I peeled and cut up a red potato – this variety happens to have red flesh, as well, a colorful paring with the cabbage – and set it to cooking slowly in duck fat. Duck fat and cabbage are long time lovers… I trust the potato can love a little, as well.

gr_potato_cabbage

I chopped half of a small Savoy cabbage to add to the skillet at just the right time.

gr_saute

Remains of the Globe pork chop, were diced and added to the skillet, along with a bit of white wine, salt, pepper and tarragon. After thoroughly warming and bubbling for a few minutes, lunch slid nicely onto my dish.

gr_served

Not exactly the atmosphere of the Globe, but the flavors and textures are there for a fine treat. Yum.

04.06.10
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Saturday Morning Frittata

Why Do I Make Breakfast Difficult?

My Saturday mornings have a routine… Go to the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market at eight o’clock, come home and prep the vegetables for storage – top and wash the carrots and radishes, trim the leeks, whatever else depending on the season and bounty – put everything away and make notes of what we have to eat for the week. Then, it’s time for breakfast – by that time one might call it brunch although I cook and eat alone and brunch implies a sharing, less informal thing – Carol has long since had her breakfast.

Since childhood, I’ve never been a cereal or oatmeal – or even a smoked salmon and cream cheese – kind of guy. I need to invent something. “Why do I have to make it difficult?” I say to myself… and then I go ahead with a preparation of more than a few steps. This morning, I had leftover corned beef, I fried that, just enough to get it warm – that’s a good start – but I had no other leftovers. So I sliced and fried a potato, broke two eggs and beat them up with a bit of crème fraiche (tip: zap your crème fraiche in the microwave for seven seconds before adding eggs), topped that with some fresh cheese curd from the market and made a two-egg frittata. Oh, I threw in some celery, for crunch.

slice and fry a potato

slice and fry a potato

slice the corned beef and warm

slice the corned beef and warm

start the frittata with a layer of corned beef and potato

start the frittata with a layer of corned beef and potato

add celery, eggs, more potatoes and cheese curd… cook at very low heat until it sets…

add celery, eggs, more potatoes and cheese curd… cook at very low heat until it sets…

pop under broiler for three or so minutes, slide onto plate

pop under broiler for three or so minutes, slide onto plate

I had the time and took the time to do it. That’s what I call a good breakfast.

You want a quik-n-EZ breakfast?

f_pizza

Warm up last night’s pizza in the toaster-oven. Yum.

03.25.10
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New England Boiled Dinner (NOT)

…nothing was boiled

cb_veg_detail

The Fatted Calf newsletter contained an interesting entry the Friday before St. Patrick’s Day. Of course they’re pushing their corned beef brisket, but for me it conjured up memories of the many New England Boiled Dinners I had enjoyed over the years. Most especially 2006, when I thoroughly researched both making corned beef and the best way to cook a New England Boiled Dinner. I still haven’t made a corned beef myself — I know good meat people who have been making and selling corned beef for years — but the making of the dinner is pure pleasure.

Cooking corned beef is pretty simple, and the Fatted Calf “recipe” was pretty simply stated (I did have to look up the definition of a low oven — 250 to 300 degrees — 250 being very low, 300 being low):

from the Fatted Calf newsletter March 12

Cooking Corned Beef
You’ve done it. You planned ahead. You remembered to order your Corned Beef Brisket from Fatted Calf in time for St. Patrick’s Day. You lugged it home in a market bag overflowing with squeaky heads of cabbage, buttery-fleshed potatoes, elegant carrots, stately leeks and bundles of fragrant herbs.  You also bought some bacon, just in case.
You have your casserole that is deep and wide enough to accommodate your hunk of beef.  Into your cooking vessel you toss a leek roughly chopped, a few carrots peeled but left whole, a clove or three of garlic, a stalk of celery and sprigs of thyme and parsley.  Atop this aromatic bed you nestle your corned beef brisket and then cover it all with water and perhaps a generous splash of beer. You place all of this in a low oven to simmer until tender.
You wait and wait.  Waiting is hungry business.  Good thing you picked up some of those beer links to nosh on.
Three hours have passed and when you prod your brisket with a skewer it is tender and yielding.  The potatoes are boiled, buttered and showered with parsley.  The cabbage you have decided to sauté with the bacon (which it turns out you really did need).  Mustard and horseradish wait patiently in their respective bowls.  The only worry is, “will there be enough left for sandwiches tomorrow?”
See you at the market!

Their newsletter worked. I bought their corned beef brisket and I must say it was lovely.

The first element of cooking a New England Boiled Dinner is inviting four or more folks over to help eat it. Even a small brisket is way more than two can eat. Mine was 3 1/2 pounds. I ordered a Mariquita Mystery Box that week, so I had some interesting vegetables on hand, the rest I picked up at the Farmers Market Saturday morning. Continue reading →

03.23.10
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Barndiva re-revisited

Yeah, again.

b_carol

Anytime we find ourselves in the vicinity of Healdsburg, we must pay a visit, and Barndiva has yet to disappoint.

Not that there aren’t other excellent restaurants in Healdsburg, there are dozens of them, spanning every price range, but ever since we discovered Barndiva, we’ve been drawn back. They recently started publishing an email newsletter, “Wednesday’s at the Barn.” I mentioned it to the host, described it as… delicious. He said, “Thanks, my mother writes it.”

The first paragraph of this week’s letter sums up her feeling:

“For someone who’s pretty much obsessed with taste ~ the food and drink varieties ~ _ironically that’s not the taste I’m asked about all the time. More than any single dish people have enjoyed in the restaurant, or single object they’ve purchased in the shop, it’s been the overall aesthetic of Barndiva and The Studio ~ the way everything is put together in both buildings ~ that has generated the greatest force field of interest over the years.”

I must say, I have similar feelings, though I make no contribution, other than showing up from time to time. Just being in and around the place is a treat; the food is a bonus. Even the parking lot is beautiful.

In any case, here is last Sunday’s brunch:

amuse bouche: coffeecake, butter, berries

amuse bouche: coffeecake, butter, berries

Carol’s duck confit hash with poached eggs, hollandaise sauce

Carol’s duck confit hash with poached eggs, hollandaise sauce

Sarah’s omelet with brie, vegetables

Sarah’s omelet with brie, vegetables

My sliders

My sliders

The “chips” were amazing; crispy edges and creamy centers, the buns tender and warm, without being mushy. Yum.

These are but three of the seven or eight dishes on the brunch menu; others, ordered by our neighbors were equally well presented and no doubt as tasty. Next time, I’ll do my best not to write about Barndiva.

03.18.10
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Cuban Black Beans

… with rice and kale

w_cuban_black_beans
The New York Times Magazine recipes are often hits, sometimes misses, sometimes rained out. Generally, I save them in my “to cook” file where they can lie in waiting for weeks or months or be deleted (rained out). But sometimes I see one that I just have to cook… right now. This is that.
I had the black beans on hand and I had a ham bone in the freezer from my Super Bowl Party spiral ham. I went out and got a green bell pepper and was good to go. I halved the recipe as we are, after all, two. Not to mention that my ham bone was smallish.
On this day, my car was in the shop and I had to pick it up around 5pm, so I cooked the beans in the afternoon, got the car, did some prep (chop onion, jalapeno, bacon, garlic), sat for a while in front of the evening news with a small Scotch (my normal routine) while waiting for Carol to get home on the bus. I started cooking seriously at 7pm.
The instructions are pretty step-by-step easy. I made the sofrito and got the bean pot going. The recipe said “serve over white rice.” How boring is that? My brilliant idea (I must say) was to cook the rice with kale, providing a hearty body and fiber to stand up and compliment the beans. I used the same spices and herbs as are in the beans in the rice dish (cumin, oregano, black pepper).

w_beets
By the time the beans came to a boil, the rice was cooking, so they finished at the same time. While that was going on, I made a little side dish of beets and boiled egg. (Should have cut the beets in wedges, rather than slices, would have looked better.)
Dinner at 8. I served the beans and rice in a bowl side-by-side rather than beans-over-rice. Carol mixed hers all up and polished it off in fine style, while I portioned my beans and rice by the forkful. In any case, it made a hearty and tasty meal. That NYTM recipe is a keeper. Continue reading →

03.17.10
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Just a Steak

Carol’s brother, Alan, called about 6:15. “Yo Alan, what’s up?”steak_to_grill

“You cookin’ dinner?”

“Yep.”

“What’s for dinner?”

“Drunken Steak. A beautiful boneless New York Strip.”

“What’s a Drunken Steak? You gonna grill it?”

“It’s marinated in a cup of light rum, half-cup of soy sauce, some brown sugar, chopped garlic, ginger, scallion… that’s about it… then dry it and grill it. It’s a beautiful evening for grilling.”

“Sounds good, I’ll have to try it sometime. Is the Mrs. home yet?”

“Just walked in the door. Heeeerrrrrre’s Carol.”

I went on to light the fire and get to grilling. I threw on a sliced potato, as well, tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper. When I returned, Carol had set the table, opened a nice bottle of 2006 Cline Ancient Vines Mourvedre and made a salad of sliced Cherokee Purple tomato and fresh mozzarella.

steak_grilled

“Why are you taking a picture of that? It’s just a steak.”

“Never know when I might need a picture of a steak.”

“Well, I’m hungry and you’re holding up dinner.”

“Besides, its not ‘just a steak.’ Its a grass fed, Marin Sun Farms boneless New York steak… and the first grilled steak of the year.”

“You grilled a flank steak when Tom was here.”

“OK, the first grilled steak of the Spring, in the twilight, not the dark… warm, not cold out. Besides I grilled this lovely asparagus, definitely the first grilled asparagus of the year.”

steak_served_2

Dinner was served. “This is really good steak,” said Carol.