Kitchen Scratchings

Spring Greens: Sauteed Bok choy blossoms with tempeh and basil

Sat, 05 May 2012 19:54:06 GMT

You’ve probably used bok choy is a few dishes from stir fries to salads to braises and can appreciate it’s slightly bitter flavor. Coming in a variety of sizes it’s an easily recognizable vegetable that was once considered exotic but can now be found in any grocery. Yet recently bok choy blossoms could be found at the Galleria Farmers Market in San Francisco which many people may not be familiar with. With stems and leaves that resemble broccoli rabe, the blossoms are frequently used in salads but this recipe treats them like their broccoli cousins. Adding tempeh rounds things out for a healthy vegan main course dish that is low in fat and a great source of vitamins but also has some crispiness. . Serve with rice or noodles for a whole satisfying meal.

As with many Asian influenced stir fries, lots of heat and fast cooking are essential here. The trick isn’t to cook the blossoms until limp but merely until they brighten in color and take on the heat, thereby remaining crunchy and flavorful. Having all your ingredients measured and ready to go before you start cooking will make this easier and ensure success

1-2 pounds bok choy blossoms, washed and any dead or yellow leaves picked off
¼ cup sesame oil
¼ cup tamari or soy sauce
2 tblsp sri racha chili sauce
Juice and zest of one lime
½ cup cilantro leaves, minced
1 bunch basil leaves, roughly chopped
1 shallot, minced
3 tblsp vegetable oil
1 inch ginger, peeled and minced
2 tbsp ground coriander
1 8 oz block tempeh, crumbled into small pieces

1) Mix sesame oil, tamari, shallot, lime, chili sauce, cilantro, and ½ of the basil. Set aside.
2) Heat a large frying pan and add vegetable oil. When it shimmers, add ginger and coriander and fry for 30 seconds.
3) Add tempeh and fry until golden brown.
4) Add bok choy and using tongs mixing around to coat with oil and tempeh mixture.
5) Add reserved sesame oil sauce.
6) Keep sautéing for one or two more minutes.
7) Immediately transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with remaining basil.

This article also appears at http://www.examiner.com/article/spring-greens-sauteed-bok-choy-blossoms-with-tempeh-and-basil

Peas with their pods and spring onions with bacon

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:48:03 GMT

Peas with their pods and spring onions with bacon, originally uploaded by kitchenbeard.

http://www.examiner.com/food-in-san-francisco/sping-peas-and-pods-with-spring-onions-and-bacon

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Meyer Lemon and Parsley Sauce

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:35:10 GMT

Lemon pasta is one of our “go-to” easy meals that we have been making for years. It’s quick, uncomplicated and relatively healthy. Normally we serve it during hot weather, but with Meyer lemons being plentiful at Bay area farmers markets, it seemed like a perfect time to make it. The citrus and herb flavor just makes us feel like spring is all that much closer.

We try to keep it fresh by not getting trapped in a set way of making it. Sometimes we use parsley, other times basil and yet others tarragon. Sometimes we use spaghetti, other times linguini or sometimes even penne. We also make sure to add more grated Parmesan than some recipes might suggest to make sure we get a creamier sauce. Adding some diced chicken rounds out the dish for a full meal but leave it out if you want to serve this as a first course. You can also add toasted walnuts if you want to make it a fully vegetarian meal. It also fares well the next day if you need to bring something for lunch to work.

3 cloves of garlic
¾ cup olive oil
Pinch of chili flakes
2 Meyer lemons, zested and juiced
1 cup tightly packed parsley leaves
1 cup grated Parmesan
1 cooked chicken breast, diced
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound whole-wheat spaghetti

1) Cook pasta according to directions.
2) Heat oil in a small sauté pan and toast garlic cloves and chili flakes until the garlic just begins to brown.
3) Add garlic and oil to the bowl of a food processor with the parsley, lemon juice and zest. Puree till it forms a loose paste.
4) Dice chicken and mix with sauce and grated cheese in a mixing bowl.
5) When pasta is al dente, add to mixing bowl, using a little pasta water to loosen the sauce if needed. Taste and adjust with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

This article also appears on http://www.examiner.com/food-in-san-francisco/whole-wheat-spaghetti-with-meyer-lemon-and-parsley-sauce

Man with a Pearl Earring

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 18:10:01 GMT

Flourless Satsuma Cake with Meyer Lemon Glaze

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 04:59:45 GMT

Citrus season is upon us again with plenty of options to choose from. Satsuma oranges are available at most farmers markets along with Meyer lemons. I snagged a couple of bags of both of them impulsively at the Monterey Market in Berkeley last weekend. The original intention was to treat them like preserved lemons, but in the process of researching if anyone else had done that, I came across Nigella Lawson’s Clementine Cake. I liked the way it used the whole fruit and nuts as the basis and decided to use the satsumas this way.

As usual, I tweaked the recipe a little. I used a full pound and a half of satsumas, replaced the almonds with pan-toasted hazelnuts and added a teaspoon of vanilla to the batter. After the cake was out of the oven and cooling, I wanted to find a way to, for lack of a better phrase, ice the cake. I made a quick syrup by boiling the juice and zest of a Meyer lemon with 1 cup of sugar. After using a skewer to poke several holes through out the cake, I poured the hot syrup over the cake and let it soak in over night.

One note. Do not ignore the fruit during boiling and make sure they’re constantly covered in water. My first attempt resulted in several wasted oranges when I got distracted and came back to a blackened dry mess in a pot that practically needed a sand blaster to get clean again.

Despite that, I dropped the cake off in the break room at work and came back at lunch to find the plate empty except for a post-it note that said “Thanks!!” The empty plate was all I needed to see to know it was a success. The post-it note was just overkill.

Pacific Sardines for a Quick and Affordable Lunch

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:14:07 GMT

While running through the Ferry Building Farmers Market this weekend, we stopped into the San Francisco Fish Company inside the building since really have been trying to eat more fish. The issue with fish though can be that many varieties are expensive. We were happy to see that they had fresh sardines available since we’d been wanting to use them somehow for a while. The best part was that four whole sardines were only $3.20. We’ve bought cups of coffee that cost more.

Many people only know of sardines out of cans or the occasional feeling like one while jammed into a muni train. Yet fresh sardines are not only a flavorful and healthy additions to your diet (lots of omega-3s), but Pacific Sardines are considered a “Best Choice” by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch. So you can not only eat them for your health, but also knowing you’re doing the right thing by the ocean.

The hardest part of preparing them is cleaning them. Unlike many fish, fresh sardines come whole with heads and innards still intact. The bodies are delicate and it requires a gentle but deliberate hand. Twist off the heads, pull out the internal organs and then push the body open and and remove the spine and any pin bones. They also need to be used the same day you buy them since they will go bad very quickly. If you can't stomach the process, ask your fish monger if they can do it for you. Depending on how you want to cook them will depend on how you clean them. A quick grilling over hot coals means you can leave the heads on. Many chefs toss them in a light batter and deep-fry them. We’ve even seen them roasted and served on top of mixed greens.

This day though, we opted to toss the filets in cornmeal that we had seasoned with salt and old bay. We fried them off in some canola oil for about 1-2 minutes per side and then seasoned them with salt and pepper. We garnished the fried filets with Meyer lemon and dill and happily munch on them while enjoying an unseasonably warm and sunny weather outside. Not bad for a San Francisco winter Saturday afternoon.

This artiucle also appears at http://www.examiner.com/food-in-san-francisco/pacific-sardines-for-a-quick-and-affordable-lunch

366_027

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:11:00 GMT

366_027, originally uploaded by kitchenbeard.

366_022

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:07:37 GMT

366_022, originally uploaded by kitchenbeard.

Perks of the Persimmon Season

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:39:39 GMT

This time of year, you’re likely to spot little orange globes at the farmers markets and vegetables stands next to the oranges like satsumas and bloods. Looking like a cross between a tomato and an orange, persimmons have lovely tannic flavor that does beautifully in some savory foods and even better in sweet preparations. Last year we made a ton of persimmon curd that we spread on everything from cookies to toast to eating greedily out of the jar while standing in front of the fridge. This year, we picked up a few at the Heart of the City farmers market between Christmas and New Years intending to use them up in holiday gifts. We never quite got around to doing that so this week we really needed to use them up. We made more curd but still had a few persimmons left over.

So we started researching recipes and settled on a persimmon bread recipe from Epicurious that pulled out the stops in terms of comforting foods. As is often the case, we made the recipe ours a little bit by swapping meyer lemon zest for the orange zest in the recipe, using five spice powder in place of just cinnamon, and we also added a ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract on a whim. We were very pleased with the dense and moist cake like bread that was the result. It was delicious right out of the oven with butter but it made us dizzy with pleasure with the curd. We even sprinkled some left over ground hazelnuts on top for a really satisfying crunch before it dawned on us that we had intended to share this with others and needed to stop eating it all.

Make sure your persimmons are ripe here. They should be so soft that they feel like they’ll explode if you squeeze too hard. If yours are under ripe, place them in a plastic bag with an apple on a sunny windowsill for a few days and they’ll ripen faster.

This article also appears at http://www.examiner.com/food-in-san-francisco/perks-of-persimmon-season

365_006

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 06:33:25 GMT

365_006, originally uploaded by kitchenbeard.

Laundromat Diaries

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:41:59 GMT

A quiet night at the laundromat, as I type away on my iPad standing up because some irksome young girl is sitting on the bench. Normally I have no qualms about sitting next to 20-something females, but it’s hard to type away a commentary about them on your iPad while sitting two inches away from them. I have to admit there’s a vicarious thrill of doing that, but not tonight. Tonight I just want to get my darks and lights out of here and go home to make dinner.

Lately I have been lucky enough that I can afford to drop my laundry off with the very nice Chinese couple at the end of my block. They say hello to me on the street and asked about my job prospects when I was unemployed. Hearing "Yoo fine job ye?" from a four foot tall Asian woman was somehow heart warming despite the bitter part of my brain that said she was just worried a bout her bottom line. These days though when I go into their storefront, they're happy and polite as always and know exactly where my shirts are. It's a tiny thing in the grand order of life, but for one that I am grateful.

Tonight though I'm doing my undies and sheets and towels myself because I blew my budget over the holidays and need to be frugal before I'm forced to dip into my savings just to eat. That giant jar of quarters of my dresser thumbs its nose at me and screeches "ONEPERCENTER!!!! Do you own damn laundry!" in a voice that is oddly just like my mothers forcing me to admit that the one of the many reason I hate doing laundry at a landromat is out of laziness.

Normally there is an epic cast of characters streaming through here. Tonight it's just the one girl (who's wearing amazing shoes, by the way). There's also the one guy who has dragged his clothes in here in an Ikea bag. Headphones almost surgically inserted into his ear canals, he shoves all of it in one of the super machines. His laundry soap is Dawn… and his shoes are appalling.

I know that a lot of students live in my area. The same students who will push up the cost of living in this neighborhood if they stay and become young professionals demanding more high end services for them and their inevitable stroller bound offspring. It's already happened in the 6 years I've lived here. There's a young family in my building that I have overheard going through the joys of potty training (also known as begging and pleading). The crack den...ooops, I mean the low end laundromat on Haight and Pierce closed and a couple of other low end stores have shut up shop. Buildings are getting painted and remade. My favorite building, known as the Pink Palace, sat empty for years. Yet a couple of months ago, construction started on the interior and I can assume that condos will be going in there. I think it's a good thing over all, but I just really hope they keep it pink.

A cute guy in his late 20’s comes in talking into an ear bud and pulls his laundry out of a dryer. He wants an order of sesame chicken, an egg roll, mushu pork and two diet cokes. I now know where he lives as he gives the person on the other end of the phone his address. He’s cute and I feel like a dirty old man as I watch his tight butt leave with his clothes. This leaves the girl with good taste in shoes and me alone, together, ignoring each other, again.

She eventually gets up and wanders over to transfer her clothes out of a machine and into a dryer while another girl in a violet hoodie comes with an empty backpack and begins to dump her clothes into that with out folding them. Maybe she has mushu pork waiting for her at home.

The thing that has gotten to me lately about doing my laundry here is that I'm easily 20 years older than most of them. There is part of me that always questions where I went wrong in my life that I don't live in an apartment or house with a washer/dryer in it. On the surface it's a litany of errors and mistakes and judgments and bad choices. In reality, it's probably not that unusual. I at least have the option, most of the time, to drop mine off with nice Asian immigrants less that 100 yards from my front door.

The girl with the violet backpack heaves it onto her shoulders with a huff and waddles out like a sherpa on her way to Everest for the summer. Outside I hear some woman laughing in such a way that she sounds a little deranged.

But then a fire truck blasts by and destroys the quiet of the evening. It's an unusually warm and dry one for this time of year in San Francisco. So I take my iPad outside and sit on the bench under the tree that still has holiday lights in it. This is the kind of weather I love to gloat about to friends on the east coast as they bundle and shiver their way through the winter. Usually though we're in the middle of rainy season and most everyone is wondering if we're back in a drought. Others worry about fires in the hills. Given California's history with wild fires, they have reason to be nervous. But tonight, I'm outside enjoying the relative peace of my gentrifying neighborhood.

The girl with nice shoes comes out and crosses the street and walks away, leaving me alone to silently type away about her behind her back. My mind suddenly goes blank while watching a woman walk her tiny dog up the block. There's nothing significant about them, but they capture my attention anyway. Something about the way the dog walks isn't right. As they come under the light of the tree I notice the dog has only three legs. She's walking slowly to let it go at its own pace. We give each other a quick smile before she turns around and takes the dog back the way she came. The dogs tail is whipping ferociously in happiness as he hops down the street behind her. "Come on you..." I hear her say but by then they have wandered back into the dark and I tell myself the same thing because its time to go inside and fold my underwear and sheets and socks.

Another woman comes in with a large yellow comforter shoved under her arm. She's waifishly thin and boyish. She tries to stuff it into a top loader before realizing it won't fit. She looks around and sees one of the bigger machines is empty. She bends over and peers inside it carefully before shoving the yellow monstrosity inside it. She slams the door closed and mutters "damnit" before running out, leaving her comforter in the machine. I keep folding. She comes back a few minutes later with soap and quarters. Apparently not enough quarters because she goes and fights with the change machine for a minute before getting enough to set her machine off.

While dumping soap into her machine, the boy with the ear buds surgically implanted in his ears comes in and takes his stuff out of the washer next to hers. She leaves and her belt clanks and chinks as she walks.

As I'm folding, I discover my favorite merino wool sweater has gotten mixed up in the rest of my clothes. The body is fine but I can see that the sleeves have diminished considerably in the heat of the dryer. I love this sweater. I got it at the Barneys Basement Sale in New York for $25 many years ago and it's one of those pieces that never went out of style. I'm mildly heartbroken about it. I fold it gently and plow through the rest of it. It’s only a sweater but it was one I liked wearing and it made me feel a little elegant.

As I fold, I look at the condition of everything. These sheets are old and while they used to be white, there are places that haven't been fully white in a while. This t-shirt is too small for me and I really only wear it under other things. These socks lost their elastic a while ago. This red flannel shirt is only in the laundry because I discovered it shoved under my bed, forgotten. This pair of underwear is being held together by a force of nature not understood by modern physics. They all need to go. I try to donate what I can to the Good Will on South Van Ness because they have a fabric recycling program without having an overtly homophobic gospel on their lips. It may be time to take a big load of stuff to them.

The t-shirt holds memories though. I bought it on my first trip to San Francisco and a week later wore it on my first trip to Provincetown over ten years ago. As I leaned up against a pillar in a bar, trying to look like the kind of guy who didn't care about getting cruised, all while desperate to get cruised, a man walked up a looked at the logo on the t-shirt and said "So who's the big bear?" I looked him in the eye and coldly said "I am." In my head I was jubilant that I managed to come up with such cool answer. He gave me the once over before stifling a short laugh and said "Good answer" as he walked away. I was rather crushed. But that was a long time ago and I was a different person then. Today I'd work harder to be nicer... while having the same response. As for the t-shirt, it barely fits over my middle-aged tummy these days and I’m not exactly comfortable calling myself "Big Bear" lately because of the size of that tummy.

I finish folding and once again break the laws of physics by getting everything the bag at once. As I leave I almost slam into the man with the ear buds as he is walking in with his Ikea bags. I say excuse me as pleasantly as I can as he coldly and harshly says "Sorry". I sling the bag over my shoulder like my own Sherpa and head out in the night under the stars in the tree to go home and make dinner…which I promptly spill all over my shirt requiring more laundry.

Pear Pancetta and Smoked Mozarella Pizza

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 02:50:32 GMT

With the majority of the holidays behind us, we find our refrigerator quite literally over flowing with food. We’re grateful for the bounty, but need to use up some of the raw ingredients before they go bad which is where the idea for this pizza came from. It uses some local pears and a chunk of smoked mozzarella that never quite made it onto a holiday cheese board. The pears are very ripe and we wanted to use them in a way that accented their sweetness while also letting the smokiness of the cheese shine through.

We opted to use Mario Battali’s pizza dough recipe here. We’ve used it in the past for sweeter pizzas and felt that the wine and honey flavor would compliment the other ingredients. Pay close attention to the instructions here so the gluten in your dough doesn’t make it too chewy. If your dough begins to act like a rubber band while pushing it out, let it rest in a warm spot for a few minutes.

1 batch of Mario Battali’s pizza dough
8 oz ricotta
1 egg
1 tablespoon freshly minced sage
10 oz pears
Juice of one lemon
8 oz pancetta
8 oz smoked mozzarella

1) Make the pizza dough as per the instructions in the linked recipe. Press dough out into either a 10” round or a 6x12” oval. You can do this either on a cookie sheet or transfer to a hot pizza stone but make sure you allow it to rest while prepping the rest of the ingredients.
2) Preheat oven to 450.
3) Make sure your mozzarella and pancetta are very cold to ease the chopping processes. Chop both into approximately ¼ cubes and reserve separately.
4) Cut your pears in half and then core them before slicing in 1/2” slices and toss with lemon juice to keep them from browning.
5) Brown the pancetta and using a slotted spoon reserve to the side.
6) Mix the egg with the ricotta. Spread the mixture on the dough leaving a ½” edge.
7) Sprinkle the pancetta on the ricotta mixture.
8) Top the pancetta with the pears in overlapping layers. Sprinkle mozzarella on top of pears.
9) Place pizza in oven and bake for 10 minutes before reducing the temp to 350. Remove when the cheese is bubbling and the crust has browned. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before cutting.

Roast Trout For Lunch

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:20:34 GMT

After a few weeks of over indulging, we’ve begun to feel like we need to eat healthier even though we still have a few days left before the season is over. That’s what we were thinking this afternoon when we were at Golden Grocery on Church St in SF and noticed they were selling whole trout that had been boned and scaled but still with their heads and tails on. Some people find head-on fish to be off putting but we like to buy them for one reason. After roasting them, we throw the heads and tails in a container in the freezer to be used in fish stock later.

We picked up two of them along with everything else we needed for our Holiday meals this week end. We roasted them simply by filling the insides with some salt and pepper, olive oil and some lemon and parsley. We put them on a parchment lined baking sheet and roasted them for 25 minutes at 375. They made a really nice lunch to nibble on while working at home.

You can also make this kind of trout for a course in your Holiday meal. It makes a really nice and light first course before the main course if you’re doing a multi-course sit down dinner. A large buffet dinner works well too because they can be presented easily allowing people to take as much fish as they like.

When buying head on fish, make sure the eyes are clear. If you can, ask to smell the fish. It should smell like high tide rather than low tide. When cooking, play with the seasoning you use on the inside. Grind some coriander seed in place of pepper. Use dill instead of parsley. Do what ever strikes you as good. What ever you do, enjoy the fish.

Bartlett Pear and Potato Soup

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:14:15 GMT

If you’re looking for an elegant addition to your Holiday menu, adding a soup course is often an easy way to add something stylish and flavorful. This soup accomplishes that while still being rustic and uses seasonal ingredients easily found at your farmers market.
We spent the morning strolling through the Heart of the City Farmers Market today where we found plenty of varieties of pears available. You want one that is very ripe and juicy for the most flavor, and in this instance we found some Bartlett pears just ready for the taking.
We were also really happy to see chanterelle mushrooms the size of a fist that we were told came right out of Marin County. While not cheap, we wanted a creamy nutty mushroom to balance the rest of the flavors we were planning on using.
The other nice thing about this soup is that you can make it ahead, chill it to let the flavors meld together and then reheat the day of your dinner. In fact, it’s a great soup for any festive occasion when pears are in season.

This recipe makes enough for at least 6 people.

3 pounds Yukon potatoes, roughly chopped
1 quart chicken stock
1 large onion, diced
3 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 large Bartlett pears, cored and diced
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp sage
2 tblsp butter
4 large chanterelle mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 tblsp butter
½ cup cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring the stock to a boil and add the potatoes. Cook until a knife easily inserts into them.
While potatoes cook, sauté onions and garlic in butter. Season with salt and pepper and herbs. Add pears when onions are translucent and continue to cook over high heat until pears begin to disintegrate. Reduce to a simmer and allow to cook until potatoes are done.
Add pear mixture to potatoes and then puree with a stick blender. Add cream and blend well. Taste and adjust for seasoning. Return to the stove over low heat for at least 20 minutes.
Melt butter in a sauté pan and then add chopped chanterelles. Sauté until just beginning to brown. Keep an eye on them because they will burn quickly.
When ready to serve, portion the soup into bowls and then sprinkle mushrooms on top.

Roasted Red Beet Souffle with Horseradish Creme

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 03:30:19 GMT

Fall in the Bay area means an abundance of beets at the farmers markets. Recently, we found some softball-sized specimens at the Ferry Building that we roasted off for a salad. Afterwards, we had three large roasted beets left over and wanted to use them in a way that was different. We started with the idea of mashing and eventually came up with the idea to put them in a soufflé.

Soufflés have a reputation of being impossible to make but with a deliberate and careful approach, aren’t that hard. Ours produced a hot pink batter that baked off to a beautiful vermillion. The earthiness of the beets really paired beautifully with goat cheese and the parmesan topping produced a satisfying crunchy crust. To finish, we mixed some horseradish with crème fraiche to serve on top.

3 large roasted beets
3 tablespoons butter plus more as needed
3-4 tablespoons breadcrumbs
3 large beets
1 leek, ½” slices
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 oz plain goat cheese
3 oz grated parmesan
3 tablespoons flour
1.5 cups heavy cream
5 eggs, separated
Olive oil as needed
Salt and pepper as needed
½ cup crème fraiche
3 tablespoons horseradish

1) Preheat oven to 375.
2) Butter inside of 3-quart straight sided baking dish and then coat with breadcrumbs.
3) Sautee leeks and garlic in olive oil until fragrant and beginning to brown.
4) Pulse leeks, garlic and beets in food processor until a loose paste forms.
5) In the same pan as you cooked the leeks, melt butter and then whisk in flour until a paste forms and turns a pale blonde color. Lower heat and add cream and whisk until it thickens. Whisk in goat cheese in pieces until fully incorporated.
6) Remove from heat and then whisk in yolks, one at a time.
7) Gently fold beet mixture and cream mixture together in a large bowl. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
8) Beat egg whites to stiff peaks.
9) Working in batches, gently fold egg whites into beet mixture. Try to get as uniform as possible.
10) Pour mixture into baking dish while trying to not deflate the whipped mixture.
11) Bake for 35-40 minutes until top is golden and body is firm.
12) Meanwhile, mix creme fraiche and horseradish together with some salt and pepper. Let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving with sauce.

November 8

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 05:44:56 GMT

November 8, originally uploaded by kitchenbeard.

I haven't done a self portrait with my big camera in a long time. It's just been too easy to do them with my iphone. I had the lights up for a food shot and the camera on the tripod so I jumped in the corner.

White

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 23:28:06 GMT

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:10:42 GMT

Despite sunny summer like weather this past weekend in San Francisco, we found ourselves in the mood for something more autumnal. One of our favorite cooking techniques is braising tough cuts of beef for hours in vegetables and wine and we were unable to come up with an excuse not to launch into a dish more associated with chilly fall days. The smell filled the house and made the weekend seem all the more relaxing.

We bought two beef shanks from Marin Sun Farms at the Ferry Building Farmers Market and to fortify the sauce, we used a tomato ragout that we had made during the week with some overripe heirlooms and some chilis. Once they were nestled in the crock-pot for the afternoon, it was just a matter of taking a leisurely nap, making polenta and waiting. The results were tender and unctuous and worth the extended cooking time.

2 large beef shanks
1 large white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
Approximately 2 cups tomato sauce
Approximately 2 cups plus two tablespoons hearty red wine
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil
1 cup corn meal
3 cups water or stock
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1-tablespoon butter

1) Season both sides of shanks with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil over high heat in a skillet and brown both sides of shanks. Set shanks aside.
2) Sautee onion and garlic in the same pan until translucent.
3) While onions cook, spread tomato sauce on bottom of crock-pot. Add sautéed onions on top of sauce Place shanks on top of onions.
4) Pour enough wine to come up the sides shanks but no so much that they float. Cover and cook on medium to low for 4-5 hours.
5) About 30 minutes before serving, make the polenta. Whisk in crème fraiche right before serving.
6) Remove shanks from crackpot and set aside in a warm oven. They will fall apart so don’t worry about trying to hold them together.
7) Bring braising liquid to a boil. Mix cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of wine. Whisk into sauce and allow to thicken. Whisk in butter.
8) Pour polenta into a large serve bowl. Arrange meat on top and drizzle sauce over. Serve immediately.

Left over sauce can be added to rices and other starches later in the week, or poured over grilled chicken.

http://www.examiner.com/food-in-san-francisco/braised-beef-shanks-and-polenta-starting-the-fall-braising-season-right

Herbed Heirloom Tomato and Goat Curd Tart

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 19:03:32 GMT

Here in Northern California, we’re seeing the tail end of heirloom tomato season. You can still find several varieties at farmers markets, but you might also spy discounted bins for the damaged or less attractive ones. We overheard one vendor at the Ferry Building tell someone “We’re going to keep putting them out until some one complains.”

We snagged a few anyway last weekend at the Divisadero Farmers Market intending to throw them in a salad. But as often happens these days, life intruded and they sat in the fridge all week. It got to the point of using them or losing them to the compost bin.

Wanting to use them to highlight their sweetness, we opted to throw them in a tart. Since tomatoes are mostly water, we realized that a couple of extra steps were required to keep the pastry from getting soggy. We also decided to use up the goat curd that we had snagged from the Achadinha Cheese Company and crumbled that on top. This produced a sweet and savory combination that was a pleasure paired with crème fraiche fortified scrambled eggs for a relaxed week end breakfast

.

2 large heirloom tomatoes
3 tablespoons dried herbs (we used herbes de provence)
1 sheet thawed puff pastry
1 egg
1 tablespoon mustard
3 oz goat cheese curds or any dry crumbly cheese

1) The night before you want to bake the tart, prep the tomatoes. Preheat the oven to 200. Core and slice tomatoes into ½” slices. Arrange the slices on a wire rack and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place tomatoes in oven and then turn off the heat and let them sit in there overnight.
2) Preheat oven to 350.
3) Roll out pastry and the place on a silpat lined baking sheet. Mix egg and mustard together. Brush half on pastry leave a ½ inch edge along the side.
4) Arrange tomato slices on pastry in slightly over lapping layers. Fold edges of pastry over to form a “bowl”. Drizzle remaining egg mixture over tomatoes.
5) Sprinkle top with herbs and crumbed cheese. Press down slightly on tomatoes and cheese.
6) Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until pastry is golden and cheese has browned. You want to do this slowly so the tomatoes dehydrate a little more.
7) Using a long spatula, transfer tart of a serving plate. Serve with scrambled eggs or a salad.

This article also appears at http://www.examiner.com/food-in-san-francisco/herbed-tomato-and-goat-curd-tart-using-the-best-of-the-end-of-the-sean

Cucurbitaceae

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 02:20:40 GMT

Cucurbitaceae, originally uploaded by kitchenbeard.

Making Your Own Bacon

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 19:52:01 GMT

The bacon trend seems to be everywhere these days with it showing up in everything from chocolate bars to doughnuts to a rather dubious sounding martini. And why not? The flavor pairs well with savory and sweet preparations and appeals to the American love of salty meat.

It’s easy enough to just go to the store and grab a packet of bacon. But when we sampled some home made bacon at the ForageSF Underground Market, one question began to persistently ricochet around our head.

Exactly how hard is it to make your own bacon? As it turns out, not hard at all. It’s just a matter of time commitment.

After some online research we settled on Michael Rhulman’s straightforward and manageable process. The basic cure recipe yields more than you will need for one application, but is flexible enough to customize for future uses. Finding tinted curing mix (TCM) on the web was quite easy. It’s good to have on hand if you’re planning on making other cured meats like sausages. We opted to add brown sugar to our mix instead of white sugar to add a little different flavor. Some dried thyme and ground pepper rounded it out nicely.

We preordered our pork belly from Falleti’s on Buchanan Street although any specialty butcher should be able to help you. Tell the butcher that you are making bacon and you do not want a smoked belly.

As the recipe says, our process took about a week and the dedicated shelf space in the fridge was the biggest issue we had. Once we had slow roasted the bacon, we sliced off a few pieces and fried them up to test. We noticed that unlike commercially prepared bacon, very little water and fat were released during frying, which made us question how much we have been paying for added water in the past. For this reason, keep an eye on the bacon as it cooks because it goes from brown to burned very quickly.

The resulting flavor was very salty but not overpowering. Yet the meat was crispy and pleasantly chewy and the added herbs and pepper really made it quite pleasant. We sautéed them off for a fried egg salad one day and the next sliced up some lardons for a bacon and potato frittata. We also plan on using the trimmed fat for sautéing mire poix for stews.

This article also appears at http://www.examiner.com/food-in-san-francisco/make-your-own-bacon

RECIPE Cut and pasted directly from http://ruhlman.com/2010/10/home-cured-bacon-2/

Home-Cured Bacon (adapted from Charcuterie)

—Order five pounds of fresh pork belly from your grocery store, the pork guy at your farmers market, or from a local butcher shop.

—Buy a box of 2-gallon zip-top bags if you don’t have a container big enough to hold the belly.

—Mix the following together in a small bowl:

2 ounces (1/4 cup Morton or Diamond Crystal coarse kosher) salt

2 teaspoons pink curing salt #1 (I use this DQ Cure from Butcher-Packer, $2)

4 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper

4 bay leaves, crumbled

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 cup brown sugar or honey or maple syrup

5 cloves of garlic, smashed with the flat side of a chef’s knife

2 tablespoons juniper berries, lightly crushed (optional)

5 to 10 sprigs fresh thyme (optional)

—Put your belly in the zip-top bag or on a sheet tray or in a plastic container. Rub the salt and spice mixture all over the belly. Close the bag or cover it with plastic wrap, and stick it in the refrigerator for seven days (get your hands in there and give the spices another good rubbing around midway through).

—After seven days, take it out of the fridge, rinse off all the seasonings under cold water and pat it dry.

—Put it on a sheet tray and put it in the oven (put it on a rack on a sheet tray if you have one) and turn the oven on to 200 degrees F. (if you want to preheat the oven, that’s fine, too). Leave it in the oven for 90 minutes (or, if you want to measure the internal temperature, until it reaches 150 degrees F.).

—Let it cool and refrigerate it until you’re ready to cook it. But I know. You won’t be able to wait. So cut off a piece and cook it. Taste it, savor it. Congratulations! It’s bacon!

Notes: If you don’t have five pounds of belly, either guesstimate salt based on the above or, if you have a scale, multiply the weight of the belly in ounces or grams by .025 and that’s how many ounces or grams of salt you should use.

If for any reason you find your bacon to be too salty to eat (it happens, especially if you measure your salt by sight, which I sometimes do), simply blanch the bacon and dump the water before sautéing it.

Pink curing salt means “sodium nitrite,” not Himalayan pink salt. It’s what’s responsible for the bright color and piquant bacony flavor. You don’t have to use it, but your bacon will turn brown/gray when cooked (you’re cooking it well done, after all), and will taste like pleasantly seasoned spare ribs, porky rather than bacony.

If you have a smoker or a grill, you can smoke the bacon (strictly speaking, it needs to have the pink salt in the cure if you’re going to smoke because, in rare instances, botulism bacteria from spores on the garlic could grow; pink salt eliminates this possibility; but I never worry about this, you’re going to cook it again in any case).

You can also, instead of roasting it or smoking, hang it to dry, in the manner of pancetta.

There are plenty of reasons not to cure bacon: fear should not be among them.

Mission Fig and Rosemary Tart with Almond Creme Fraiche Filling

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 01:35:08 GMT

We look forward to San Francisco’s fig season all year and often find ourselves greedily buying them up at the farmers market. Yet a few friends have fig trees in their backyards here in San Francisco and we were overjoyed when last week a friend who lives in the Mission handed us a bag full from his tree. If you’re buying figs, look for firm fruit that gently yields to pressure without feeling squishy. Use them quickly because they will go bad before you know it.

As luck would have it, we were invited to a pig roast this weekend and opted to use them for the “sweet thing” we were asked to bring. The hardest part about making this was figuring out how to transport it. Serve this tart slightly warm if you wish but it does well at room temperature also. We opted to use frozen puff pastry as matter of expediency, but encourage you to make your own if you have the time.

1 sheet of defrosted puff pastry.
3 tablespoons almond paste
2 tablespoons crème fraiche
2 egg yolks
1 egg yolk, beaten
Approximately 1 pint ripe figs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 sprig fresh rosemary

1) Preheat oven to 350.
2) Defrost pastry sheet and roll out to approximately 12”x12”. Pinch closed any cracks or breaks. Place pastry on a silpat lined baking sheet.
3) Mix almond paste, crème fraiche and yolks.
4) In a food processor, grind rosemary and sugar together.
5) Trim tops and bottoms from frogs and slice into ¼” discs.
6) Spread almond paste mixture on pastry leaving approximately ½” of a border on the edges. Brush beaten egg yolk on edges.
7) Arrange figs in overlapping layers on almond filling. Use smaller pieces to fill in any holes.
8) Sprinkle rosemary sugar over figs. It’s ok to be a little sloppy here to allow sugar to cling to egg yolk on the edges.
9) Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until edges are golden and the filling is bubbling.
10) Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

This article also appears at http://www.examiner.com/food-in-san-francisco/mission-fig-and-rosemary-tart-easy-and-local

Home Made Bacon

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 18:38:53 GMT

Home Made Bacon, originally uploaded by kitchenbeard.

Took the bacon out of the salt cure this morning. Rinsed it off and put it in a 200 degree oven for 2 hours to dry out a little and come up to temp.

Blueberry Upside Down Cake

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 18:36:30 GMT

Blue berries are one of those fruits that have gotten a bit of a bad wrap for being boring. We’ve all had our fill of blueberry pancakes and muffins. Who hasn’t chased a blue berry around in a bowl of fruit salad? This time of year they are available all over the place and one can get easily burned out on them. So when we spied a mountain of them at the Galleria farmer’s market recently, we almost passed them over in search of something more challenging before deciding to try and find a different way of using them.

We shot an email to a pastry chef friend who suggested an upside down cake. A quick recipe search online and we settled on this one from Epicurious for its ease as well as complexity of flavors. As we prepared the cake, we slightly modified the recipe. We used a 2 full cups of berries and as our friend suggested, we added lemon juice to the caramel before gently mixing the berries in. We also suggest placing the cake on a sheet pan to catch the inevitable boil over of juice. Getting the still hot cake pan into soapy water immediately after flipping will also help with clean up.

The result was exquisite. The cake is dense and moist holding the berry caramel while also absorbing a little of the deep purple juice and the creamy almond flavor is a compliment to the tartness of the fruit.

While doing your shopping, look for 6oz tubes of almond paste. We found ours at Filleti’s in San Francisco, but any gourmet market should have it. If you live in an area where finding almond paste is difficult, look here for a way to make your own.

Blueberry topping

3/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Lemon-almond butter cake

3/4 cup cake flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 ounces almond paste (scant 1/2 cup), broken into small pieces
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons finely grated lemon peel
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, room temperature
3 large eggs, room temperature
For blueberry topping:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine brown sugar and butter in 8-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides (preferably nonstick). Place cake pan over medium heat and whisk constantly until butter and sugar melt and mixture is smooth and bubbling. Using pot holders, remove pan from heat; cool 15 minutes. Sprinkle blueberries evenly over.

For lemon-almond butter cake:
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Combine almond paste, sugar, and lemon peel in bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until almond paste is broken into very small pieces, about 1 minute. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, beating until mixture is smooth and scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well and scraping sides of bowl after each addition. Add flour mixture and beat just until batter is smooth. Spoon batter in dollops over blueberries in pan; spread evenly with offset spatula to smooth.

Bake cake until deep golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 43 minutes. Remove from oven; let stand 1 minute. Run small knife around cake to loosen. Place large platter atop pan. Using oven mitts or potholders and using both hands, hold platter and cake pan firmly together and invert; shake gently, allowing cake to settle on platter. Cool at least 20 minutes.

Garnish cake with lemon slices and lemon peel curls, if desired. Serve warm or at room temperature with additional blueberries and Lemon Whipped Cream.

This article also appears at http://www.examiner.com/food-in-san-francisco/bay-area-blueberry-upside-down-cake

Experiments

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 03:14:50 GMT

Last week end I ran around the Mission taking pictures learning to use my new lens.

This face is actually about 1" tall.