by Eric

Arroz con Pollo

How could I resist, three chickens in a bucket, their pale red feet sticking up in the air bearing tiny cute toenails, seemingly perfectly trimmed. Fresh, free range organic chickens raised at Marin Sun Farms in Marin County.

So I bought a chicken and Carol said, “Yuck, its got feet. It’s not very big, what are you gonna do with it?” I was thinking fried chicken; she suggested poaching. I don’t want to poach it, such a mundane fate for such a fine bird.

I read Bill Neal‘s recipe and commentary on Southern Fried Chicken. His book Southern Cooking is one of my treasures.

He’s very particular about his fried chicken. “You want chicken that tastes like chicken, with a crust that snaps and breaks with fragility — a contrast to the tender, moist meat.” He goes on, “First, the bird: only a whole, fresh chicken will do. (Frozen chicken tastes bloody and turns dark at the bone when fried. If you find yourself in the possession of one, stew it or bury it.)” Continue reading →

06.06.07

by Eric

Recycle

a tee shirt made of half recycled plastic bottles and half cotton

On the first Saturday of the month in the early 80’s in Newton, Mass., I would put boxes of green, brown and clear glass into the trunk of the beige Volvo and make my way across town to the dump. Bins were located there to receive the glass. I don’t remember aluminum cans or paper.

The facilities at the dump got better over the years, but when we moved to San Francisco in 1992, there was still no curbside collection of recyclables in Newton. (Newton now has curbside pickup, they’re using the blue and green bins.)

San Francisco is recycle nirvana.

We live in a building with two flats; our landlord, John, living above us. As part of our move-in process, he explained the trash and recycling, which we combine and he pays for. At the time, we put glass and cans in blue bins to leave by the curb. Paper had to be bundled and put beside the bins. More often than not, “recycle entrepreneurs” would come ahead of the trucks and claim the aluminum cans from the open bins. They still got recycled, but the money went to the “recycle entrepreneurs” rather than the recycle company, jeopardizing the service.

About three years ago, we were given wheeled carts with hinged tops to replace the bins: brown for trash, blue for recyclable bottles, cans and paper and green for compostables. I never bothered with the compostables, too messy; besides, restaurants generate a lot, but little ol’ me? Not much. Continue reading →

06.06.07

by Eric

Rhubarb Cake

Rhubarb and Leaf Rhubarb is finally plentiful in the East (I’m sure it’s been in the West Coast farmers’ markets for a while now), and it’s a great mark of the seasons change from Spring to Summer. Real rhubarb (grown in a garden or field, not forced in hot houses as the year-round stuff is) is a sharp tangy taste of spring sunshine and cold rain. Classically it makes a great pie — more complex than sour cherries in my opinion — but can pair well with meats, especially pork. Next time you brine a pork loin before roasting, try adding a couple of stalks (chopped) of rhubarb to the brine; you will not be disappointed.

Rhubarb reaches sublime heights, in my opinion, in a brilliant yet easy to make cake that I first found in Susan Loomis’s Farmhouse Cookbook. It’s a moist and buttery sheetcake with just the right amount (not too much) sugar, punctuated by exclamation points of rhubarb chunks throughout. So simple but so good, and worth waiting for that spring sunshine to perk up the palate.
Continue reading →

05.21.07

by Eric

Eats after Market

Saturday morning at eight o’clock I’m at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market for the weekly fruit, vegetable, meat and fish shopping. I think I mentioned previously that Carol and I do our own meal thing during days, so this truly is eats for one.

After market, and after the goodies are put away, I make up some eats.

Today, I put a layer of sliced cucumbers on a plate. These are little Mediterranean cucumbers, the skin is tender and delicate and the seeds aren’t yet fully formed, so you just slice and eat the whole thing. The one at the top is a Japanese cucumber, same deal. That’s an egg in the center, for scale.

Slice the cucumber on the bias so you get nice long elliptical slices.

Add a layer of peeled, sliced tomato and sprinkle with sea salt.

Add a layer of sliced fresh mozzarella and drizzle with olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste.

Put the plate under a preheated broiler for about two minutes.

Garnish with a still warm, quartered boiled egg.

That is so fresh and crunchy and soft and cool and warm, the combination of tastes is heavenly. Continue reading →

05.18.07

by Eric

Polk Gulch Lunch

Oops, they call themselves Polk Village now*

I bought this scooter three weeks after moving to San Francisco in 1992. I was on the bus to work in traffic on Columbus Avenue. I looked out the window and stopped beside the bus was a small woman in high heels perched on a motorscooter. Dang all, if she can handle it, so can I! I bought this baby the next day, a Yamaha Riva 125 for $1,600 used. It had 80 miles on the odometer — had been used at a driving school. Now it has over 18,000 miles on it — all in the city.

On a recent morning I went to the Kabuki to take some pictures. When I parked my scooter and pushed the kick-stand down, CLANK! the kick stand fell on the pavement. Not a disaster, as it has a wheel stand, but inconvenient. I went straight to Golden Gate Cycles on Pine between Polk and Van Ness. This is a good service shop. The guy said I could pick it up in about an hour. Continue reading →

05.02.07

by Eric

Tomato + Beet + Onion + Eggs = Brunch

Slow cooked eggs with tomato and pickled onion relish

My beets were roasting and I remembered a recipe for Quick Pickled Onions I saw on the Coconut and Lime food blog. It is indeed quick and stupid simple:

Place 8 peppercorns in a pint jar. Fill the jar with sliced onions, leaving about 1/2 inch on the top. Add about 4-5 cubes of beets. Fill the jar about half way with red wine vinegar and then the rest of the way with white vinegar. Seal and refrigerate 1-3 days before serving.

I did that with two jars. I used the bulbous fresh red spring onions, which are available for about a month just now at the Farmers Market. Continue reading →

04.28.07

by Eric

Canâ€™t Eat Film

Last July I volunteered to become an intern in the Publicity Department of the San Francisco Film Society (SFFS), knowing that my service would reach fulfillment in the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF50). Having worked the 49th as a Festival Volunteer, I wanted to experience the 50th from the inside.

My group’s major activity culminated with a Press Conference on April 3rd, when all of the Festival films were announced to the public.

Now, we’re “in the field.” On April 25th, our office moved lock, stock, computers, catalogs and screeners to the Sundance Cinemas Kabuki, an old 8 screen theater in Japantown, recently bought and remodeled by Sundance Cinemas, a spin-off, along with the Sundance Channel, of Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival.

So now I’ll be either working at the festival or watching some films, so there won’t be much cooking and eating, let alone writing about it.

On the other hand, you’re invited to visit my family website, where I’m writing about my film experiences.

Remember that menu of the week that filled this space a while back?
Here’s what it looks like this week.

Where’s the eats?

04.23.07

by Eric

Primoâ€™s Saltimbocca

“Melissa’s grandfather Primo ate the Saltimbocca on a regular basisâ€”his favorite dish, in factâ€” and the one dish Melissa never takes off the menu, for this reason.“Pork loin pounded thin, sautéed, served on a tall bed of garlic mashed potatoes with a sage Madeira shiitake sauce and a garnish of shaved Parma ham on top. The way Primo liked to eat it.”

Primo’s Saltimbocca as described in the story of Melissa Kelly’s Primo Restaurant in Rockland, Maine, in The Reach of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman.

Made me hungry, so I assembled the ingredients.

Here’s what I did:

Pounded two boneless pork loin chops thin

Continue reading →

04.20.07

by Eric

Tale of Two Salads

Sometime in 2001

Before leaving for work, Carol said, “I’m going to be late coming home and you’re going to be late, so we’ve got all the stuff, there’s the leftover Flank Steak, and a bag of spinach, that avocado, cherry tomatoes and stuff in the vegetable drawer, so we’ll throw together a Steak Salad.”

“Great,” sez I.

I was tired coming home, after closing the store at nine. It was about quarter to ten and Carol was watching The West Wing, the recipient of many Emmy Awards, recently. She said she had been too hungry, and had eaten about 9 o’clock, and presented me with the big wooden salad bowl. In it was lots of spinach, some cherry tomatoes, bits of celery and scallion. Near the stove, she pointed to a plate with some steak and mushrooms that had been sauteed in butter. “Just heat these in the skillet, throw them warm on the greens, slice this half-avocado on top, throw on some Newman’s, and there you have it.” Continue reading →

04.14.07

by Eric

Hungry and Tired? Go for the Pasta

Kinda Sorta Pasta Primavera
Tuesday’s Dinner

I got home late from the Film Society, hungry. Carol is off at the toney Westerbeke Ranch on a “retreat” with her cohorts, no doubt dining on a gourmet dinner.

My weekly menu says leftover something. So I do what any guy would do, open the refrigerator. (Some guys might reach for the Chinese delivery menu, and I have done that on many occasions such as this.) Here’s what I found:

Some leftover spaghetti from last Thursday’s spaghetti with Tuscan meat sauce, A partial head of cauliflower and a partial head of broccoli from Saturday’s salmon dish. About a cup of my San Marzano tomato sauce, pretty much always on hand, stored in one of the handy POM Tea jars.

I can put together a kinda sorta pasta primavera, and add some ever-present Jimmy Dean hot sausage from the meat drawer.

This looks a lot my Saturday Brunch entry or Sunday Supper from a while back, but it just goes to show that eats for one has an enduring life, from the planned and precise to the thrown-together quickly, as long as I remember to take pictures. Continue reading →