Day-After Food

After too much indulgence, I crave something rich and comforting. This was my day-after-Thanksgiving lunch with Kristina at Samovar in the Castro. It is Jook or Rice Congee, a typical Chinese breakfast food, with Duck. Salty, creamy, rich and flavorful with lots of condiments for an extra punch. Washed down with a pot of Gen Mai Cha (Toasted Rice) Tea, it is just what the doctor ordered.

I love a savory breakfast. Really it is not that far off from Grits with a Side of Bacon, but it somehow seems more exotic with the duck, peanuts, soy sauce and chopped ginger. Hey, if breakfast is at 2pm, it totally makes sense.

Turkey Redux

I am not a huge fan of leftovers with the exception of Thanksgiving leftovers. Somehow, turkey just begs to be made into something else. Here are two of my favorites - both easy, both satisfying.


Turkey Club: Toasted Wheat Bread, Bacon, Turkey, Tomatoes, Avocado or Cheese (not both), Mayo.


Turkey Curry Salad: Chopped Cooked Turkey, Diced Celery, Chopped Green Onion, Raisins, Toasted Pecans Mayo, Lemon Juice, Curry, Sugar, Salt, Pepper. Great on water crackers.

Thanks and Giving

There is nothing better than a house full of friends and loved ones enjoying food that you have been working all day to prepare. The house smells wonderful, there is a fire in the fireplace, and everyone is laughing. Opening your home is like opening your heart - it takes a little bit of effort, but the reward is priceless.

Pistachio Shortbread Cookies

Happy thanksgiving! And here's a recipe that's completely irrelevant to the turkey day. These cookies are probably the best nut cookies I have ever had ever ever. They are delicate, crunchy, buttery and all the good things that cookies should be. Most of all, the dough is prepared in one bowl (food processor bowl.)



Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour


• 1/2 cup sugar


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 3/4 cup raw shelled pistachios


• 1 cup (2 sticks) chilled butter

Directions

1. Combine flour, sugar, salt and nuts in a food processor and run for a few minutes until all the nuts are chopped.


2. Cut butter into cubes and add to the mixture. Pulse until butter is cut into the dough and the mixture is crumbly.


3. Gather into 2 balls. Flatten slightly. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.


4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Adjust the oven racks to the lower third and the upper third. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.


5. Roll out the refrigerated dough to 1/4 inch thick on floured surface. (I covered the dough with plastic wrap and ran rolling pin over it to prevent sticking.) Cut out with cookie cutter. I got 55 cookies.


6. Bake for 12 minutes. Switch the cookie sheet position half way. Leave the cookies on the cookie sheets for a minute before transferring to cooling racks. Let cool completely and store in air tight container.

Something Fishy

“A woman should never be seen eating or drinking, unless it be lobster, salad and champagne. The only true feminine and becoming viands.”
Lord Byron (1788-1824)

This is Sam's Chowder House in Half Moon Bay. It seems like a classic old restaurant, but has only been open since October 2006. They serve sustainable fish and have many eco-practices in the restaurant - all good things. But the best thing? The Lobster Roll. So good that they earned an award for it!


I had a chance to try the famous sandwich on Sunday with 3 of my friends. Decadent and delicious. This kind of luxury doesn't come cheap - the Lobster Roll is $19.99, and comes with a side of slaw and chips. But the rare chance to eat that much lobster is well worth it.

Let's see - lobster, salad and champagne? Sure, I can live with that.

After lunch, we stopped at Creekside Smokehouse. What a treat - this tiny local smokehouse is a little-known treasure just off of Hwy. 1. Everything there is smoked on premises, and they do both cold and hot smoking, which creates a very different flavor and texture in the final product.


I wrote a Yelp review about it about 6 months ago, and I had received a nice note from the owners thanking me. To my surprise, they recognized me right away and greeted me by name when I came in! Teri sampled what seemed like everything out of the case for us - salmon, albacore, sturgeon and 2 kinds of cheese. I walked out with my two favorite things, salmon spread and cold smoked salmon.


As if that weren't enough, Teri wrote to me to thank me for bringing my friends in, and let me know about a mention in their blog. So nice!

Three Berries Ice Cream

Nevermind that it's freezing out. There's an ice cream maker in the kitchen and we need to use it. I can't take the credit for dreaming up this berry ice cream this time. It's my Slovenian friend - Jaka. It was Creamy Raspberry-Strawberry-Blueberry Ice Cream. The ice cream was a way too sweet. I thought it should be more sour. But Jaka said we shouldn't have put lemon juice in there at all. Basically it's not good enough. So, can't post the recipe yet - just pictures.


Berries soaked in sugar for about 30 minutes.


2 cups of cream, some milk, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla and the berries in the ice cream maker.


We couldn't fit all the berries in the ice cream maker. So we used them to top the ice cream.

Never the Twain...

East is east, and west is west, and never the twain shall meet...or so I thought. When it comes to popcorn and candy at the movies, I thought it was like keeping a Kosher kitchen - the sweets bag shalt never mix with the savory bag.

Then Jude taught me that it's fun to put the candy in the popcorn, so that every now and then you get a little sweet bite among the salty bites, and it also slightly melts the chocolate, which makes it gooey-liscious. It works great with my favorite concession candy, Raisinettes.

It's kind of surprising that I like this combination, as I was the kid who couldn't stand to have her food touch on her plate - I would methodically eat around the gravy-soaked portion of the peas, leave bits of meat glued to mashed potatoes, etc. But for some reason, this works for me.

I looked around online and found nothing that spoke to the origins of this practice. I thought that it might be regional, like putting peanuts in Coke, or salting your beer. Nope, no evidence that anyone does this at all.

So, tell me, does anyone do this? Or are we the only ones with chocolate and salt covered fingers in the dark of the cinema?

Vanilla Nice

Our friends Tom & Leanne got married last Monday, and since Tom had been asking me about making him cupcakes since last summer, I absolutely had to make a batch to bring to the reception. I knew exactly what I wanted them to look like - Vanilla Cake, Pale Blue Frosting, and Something Silvery on top. The problem was, I had yet to find the perfect Vanilla Cupcake recipe.

I must have poured over at least two dozen before settling on the "White Cupcake" recipe from - grrrrr - Martha Stewart. Why must the best recipes always be hers? Can someone else please take over, because I am getting sick of bowing down to her endless marketing and self promotion!

Well, I had to get over myself, because these cupcakes were JUST the Vanilla Cupcake recipe that I had been searching for. Moist, tender cake, with a delicate crumb, with a distinct aroma of vanilla. In fact, I think that this must be the exact recipe that Teacake Bakeshop uses.

Of course, there is some technique involved (Martha never makes it easy), but it is worth it.
If you are not afraid of beating eggwhites and folding them into a batter without breaking it, you are well on your way. Makes 3 dozen.

White Cupcakes

• 4 1/2 C. sifted cake flour
• 2 T. baking powder
• 3/4 t. salt
• 1 1/2 C. milk
• 1 T. vanilla extract
• 1 C. + 2 T. (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/4 C. sugar
• 7 large egg whites

- Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake tins with papers.
- In a medium bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Combine milk and vanilla in a glass measuring cup.
- Beat butter in an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, until pale & creamy.
- With the mixer on medium speed, gradually add the sugar in a steady stream.
- Continue beating until light & fluffy, about 3 min.
- Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture to butter mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the milk mixture and starting and ending with the flour. Do not overbeat.
- In a clean bowl of the electric mixture fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
- Fold 1/3 of the whites into the flour mixture to lighten. Fold in remaining egg whites in two batches, being careful not to deflate the whites.
- Pour batter into prepared tins, filling cups to about 1/2 inch from the top.
- Bake 18-20 min, cool on wire racks.

I used my basic cream cheese frosting recipe, colored with a few drops of blue food coloring, and sprinkled silver dragees on top. Pretty as a picture!

I Knew It

Jude sent this to me this morning and it is spot on. Click on the picture to do the test for yourself. Be sure to click on the part that says "How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you" - hilarious. I'm sleeping with one eye open from now on, with some catnip mice stashed under my pillow (distraction tactic)!

Midwestern Taco Party

About 4 or 5 years ago, I was at a house party talking to my friend Laura about the foods that we grew up with. Both of us hail from the Middle West - she from Carmel, Indiana and me from the Illinois suburbs, so we started laughing about some of the similar dishes that we had. As a kid, I always admired the homes in which the mom made "cool" food, like Mac-n-Cheese, Sloppy Joe's, and that ethnic wonder, Tacos. I knew nothing of authentic Mexican food (nothing like that was available near where we lived) - so what I learned was that taco shells came out of a box - uniform, yellow and crunchy, and that you prepared ground beef by adding packets of powdery seasoning to them. Layered on top were sour cream, tomatoes, onions, and grated cheese - and if you were really exotic, black olives.





We came up with the idea of the Midwestern Taco party, featuring all of those dishes from the 70's and 80's that we all knew growing up. Last weekend, Laura made it a reality, and it was so much fun preparing these familiar but almost forgotten foods. My contribution to the menu was Mac-n-Cheese, Green Bean Casserole, and Pigs in Blankets. Shopping was an adventure - I was able to complete my list for under $50 and with not one item from the produce aisle. I had to ask for things that I had never bought before - Velveeta, French's Fried Onions, Lil' Smokies. I wasn't even sure where to look - did Velveeta live on a shelf or in the refrigerated section? Answer: in the refrigerated section, but I think that was a courtesy to give customers the illusion of buying something real.





Preparation was easy and rewarding. The cheese melted so easily for the mac and cheese, and it made a ton! Same thing with the Green Bean Casserole. The Pigs in Blankets took a little bit of technique, what with the slicing and rolling of the dough. All in all, though, I understood why these dishes became popular in the first place. Cheap, plentiful, easy, and using ingredients with an indefinite shelf life - yeah, makes perfect sense. I could see women putting their dusty copies of Mastering the Art of French Cooking on the top shelf, and replacing it with boxes of elbow macaroni and jars of cheese spread. This type of cooking is less about cooking and more about assembly, and it is very satisfying. Too bad it leaves a brick in your stomach and guarantees a lifetime of doctors visits - because it tastes so gosh darned good! Just make sure to have plenty of water around, because the salt content is off the charts.

A few more highlights/lowlights from the event: Fluffernutters, Tater Tots, Fish Sticks, Deviled Eggs, and (ugh) Jello Salad. Is it any surprise that after two decades of eating this way, Lycra was introduced into sportwear? God Bless America.

Homemade Granola - Update

I have been making this granola recipe for quite a while - every time with something slightly different. But for the last 10 or so batches, I have settled to this strategy: more oats, less coconut and nuts and no dry fruit because I often eat my granola with fresh fruit and yogurt. I also bake it at a higher temperature (350 degrees) for shorter time (10 minutes.) So now I get more granola in less time!



Ingredients

• 3 generous cups of rolled oats


• 1/4 cup oat bran


• 1/4 cup ground flax seed


• 1/4 cup sesame seeds


• 1/4 cup unsweetened dry coconut flakes


• 1/4 cup sliced almonds (or other chopped nuts)


• 1/4 cup extra light tasting olive oil


• 1/4 cup Agave nectar


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


2. In a large bowl, toss all the dry ingredients together.


3. In a small bowl, whisk oil, Agave nectar and vanilla extract and pour over the dry mixture. Stir until well distributed.


4. Spread the granola on a large baking sheet with rims. Bake for 10 minutes. Stir the granola to keep it baked evenly after 5 minutes in the oven.


5. Let cool completely and store in an air tight container.

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

Yay! Trader Joe's in the neighborhood. They have these little wild blueberries in the frozen food section. They reminded me of the camping trip in the summer when we happened to camp right by a blueberry patch. They are perfect for cupcakes and frosting for a friend's birthday whose favourite fruit is blueberry!



I followed Lemon-Blueberry Cake recipe from Epicurious.com for the cake. The only change was that I used 3 cups sifted all purpose flour instead of cake flour. And since I was too lazy to measure certain ingredients, I used zest and juice from 1 whole lemon. I filled lined muffin pans half full, baked them for 18 minutes and got 28 mini cupcakes.



The cupcakes were light and fluffy - moist with delicious crumbs and full of blueberries. This recipe is a keeper for future berry cupcakes.



For the frosting, I defrosted a quarter cup of blueberries, discarded the excess juice and added the fruit to my standard cream cheese frosting.



Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 stick butter - room temperature


• 1 cup confectioner sugar


• 1 8oz package cream cheese


• 1/4 cup blueberries - thawed and juice discarded

Directions

1. Whip butter and sugar until fluffy with an electric mixer - about 1 to 2 minutes.


2. Add cream cheese. Whip until well combined.


3. Stir in blueberries.

Keith Olbermann: Gay Marriage is a Question of Love

Shake Your Pom Poms

What an amazing fruit! Every seed is like a jewel, and finding them among all of the caverns of the membranes is like being on a treasure hunt. This is nature's luxury at its best.

Slow Cooked Maple Glazed Bacon

Are there any better words in the English language?

So, Jude and I enjoyed a wonderful brunch at paul k yesterday - consisting of Lox Eggs Benedict, Duck Confit Hash, and a plate of Maple Glazed Bacon. Lovely space, great food, etc etc.





I woke up this morning and thought, that's it, I am going to duplicate that bacon right now, right here in my own kitchen. I looked around online for some basic instructions, then used my instincts and did a little bit of experimenting. It was SO easy and came out great. I will never, ever make bacon in a pan again - my stove is not covered in grease, and the bacon cooked perfectly evenly. The beauty of making bacon this way is that you can make the other components of breakfast (eggs, toast, whatever) without having to fight for room on the stove. And did I mention the clean-up? Ahhh! Why have I been pan-frying for so long?!

Slow Cooked Maple Glazed Bacon

1 pkg bacon
2 T. best quality maple syrup

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line baking sheets with tin foil, and lay bacon on a baking rack on top of the tin foil.
- Bake for 35 minutes.
- Remove from oven. Brush maple syrup on top of bacon slices.
- Cook for 5 more minutes.
- Remove from oven, and let drain on a plate covered with paper towels.

Feeding the Soul

New restaurants open continually in San Francisco, every day it seems. Some are flashes in the pan, others are instant classics. When Brenda's French Soul Food opened about a year ago, it was clear from the beginning that it was one of the latter. It's always packed, and only open from 8-3 every day except for Tuesdays. After an election night of celebration and general debauchery, a late brunch at Brenda's the following day was just what the doctor ordered.


Located in the Tenderloin, on a dingy corner of Larkin next to the worst KFC in the city (don't use the bathrooms unless you like to watch people shooting up), it is close enough to City Hall to get its fair share of government workers and public service employees, and an eclectic mix of people from all over town. It only seats 40, so there is usually a line out the door. This was a rare quiet weekday.



The first thing that I ever had to eat at Brenda's was the flight of beignets. This is a great dish to share. Plain, Granny Smith Apple, Ghirardelli Chocolate, and Crawfish - which I eat in exactly that order.


The Crawfish is my favorite - with scallions and cheddar cheese, dusted with cayenne. Absolutely wonderful - a couple of these would make a meal in themselves.


Nothing like a hearty cup of gumbo on a cool fall day - this one is made with chicken, sausage and okra.


The Hangtown Fry is one of my favorite specials - I always look for it on the chalkboard. An omlette made with oysters and bacon, a bowl of creamy, buttery grits, and a flaky biscuit with butter and homemade jam. Heaven.


They make the expected Po Boys - Oyster, Shrimp, and Catfish - but they also offer a variation, the BBQ Chicken Po Boy. The sauce is tangy/sweet and the fries are crisp and perfectly cooked.


This is the Sloppy Josephine, made with turkey instead of beef. Hearty, satisfying and delicious. And how do you know you are in San Francisco? They offer a Vegan Josephine, made with Tofu.


Another special off of the chalkboard that day: Crawfish Pot Pie. That's a cheddar biscuit sitting on top of a luscious, creamy filling. Decadent and amazing.


Ahh, Brenda's. Wonderfully prepared food, in a cozy setting. Add a few glasses of their watermelon tea to wash everything down, and you will want to linger all afternoon in this Big Easy.