One Base, Three Tastes

I love making these cheese balls for parties. The recipe could not be easier - you make a base cheese and butter mixture, divide it into 3 parts, and then add the other ingredients. You can make them a day before, and then coat them right before you serve them. One is Cheddar and Chutney, and it calls for chopped cranberries, which is great for Christmas time, but for summer I like to substitute dried tart cherries. The others are Goat Cheese and Scallion, coated with Parsley, and Roquefort and Shallot, coated with Toasted Walnuts. All of my favorite flavors, rolled (literally!) into one!

Goat Cheese Tart a la Balthazar

Ah, Balthazar. I don't often do this, but I am reprinting my Yelp review from 2007, the last time I dined there. What a moment in time! It makes me smile to remember it.

[6/11/10: What a nightmare - you can't copy and paste Yelp reviews, apparently. If you want to check it out, click here.]

How appropriate that I ended it with the Goat Cheese Tart, which is what I am featuring in this post.

Last night's Book Club had a French theme, based on the book Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (excellent read!), so I had the perfect excuse to make the Goat Cheese Tart. I've made it several times before, but one thing that always bothered me is that the photo in the book shows these pretty tarts with nicely browned tops, whereas mine always looked sort of plain and weirdly yellow from the egg yolk wash. Not having a mini blow torch in my arsenal, I stuck the pan under the broiler for a few minutes after baking, and voila! Tres jolie.

Goat Cheese Tart

with Caramelized Onions

For the Crust:

• 1 3/4 C. all-purpose flour
• 1 t. salt
• 1 stick plus 2 T. cold, unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces
• 2 extra-large egg yolks
• 3 T. ice-cold water

For the Filling:

• 1/4 C. olive oil
• 3 large yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced into 1/8" half moons
• 1 sprig of fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 t. salt
• 1 t. freshly ground black pepper
• 8 oz. fresh goat cheese, at room temperature
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 1 extra-large egg yolk, beaten

To make the crust, combine the flour, salt, and chilled butter in the bowl of a food processor

Pulse until the mixture looks like coarse meal, about 10 seconds

With the machine running, add the 2 egg yolks and ice water through the feed tube

Continue to process until the dough forms a ball, about 20 seconds

With lightly floured hands, shape the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic and refrigerate, at least 1 hour or overnight

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Remove the dough from the refrigerator

To make the filling, over a low flame, heat the olive oil in a large skillet

Add the onions, thyme, bay lear, and 1/2 t. each of salt and pepper

Stir occasionally, cooking the onions until soft and golden, reducing their volume by nearly half; this can take up to an hour

Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon. Discard thyme and bay leaf

Meanwhile, roll the dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8" thickness

Coat the tart pan with non-stick spray (note: my removable-bottom tart pan is non-stick, so I skipped this step).

Fit the dough snugly in the pan, pressing it firmly into the bottom edge and fluted sides

Trim the excess with a sharp knife, and prick the dough several times with the tines of a fork

Place the tart pan on a sheet tray

Line the dough with aluminum foil, and weigh down with raw rice or beans. Bake for 15 min

Remove foil and weights, and continue to bake a few minutes more, until the crust takes on a light brown color

Remove from the oven and allow to cool while the filling is completed

In a food processor, mix the goat cheese, cream cheese, 2 eggs and remaining 1/2 t. each of salt and pepper. Process until smooth

Spread the caramelized onions evenly over the bottom of the prebaked tart shell, and pour the cheese mixture over the onions

Using a wide pastry brush, gently brush the beaten egg yolk over the top of the tart. Aim for complete coverage

Bake for 12 minutes or until set. Allow to cool for 15 min and serve warm

Here is is with the Blackberry and Lemon Clafoutis we had last night - worth the effort.

With Your Persimmon...

Behold these beautiful, ripe, luscious persimmons from my friend Spring's tree in Santa Rosa, brought to me by our mutual friend Amy. Biting into one of these is what I imagine it would be like to taste nectar from Mt. Olympus - so sweet and juicy, and dripping with goodness. (Their genus, Diospyros, actually means "fruit of the gods", so it appears that I am not alone in this thinking). They are so tender right now, you can scoop out the flesh with a spoon. What a wonderful treat!

New Meals in the New Year

Ringing in the New Year this year felt special for multiple reasons: my brother Josh flew in from Kansas City for a visit, we had great plans starting on Thursday evening and going non-stop until Sunday, and we left an entire decade behind and started a new one. Phew.

Our friends Jude & Ken hosted 2 breakfast meals this weekend - one on Friday morning after our all-night revelry, and another one on Sunday with all of the leftovers and some new additions. It was so nice to wake up and have somewhere to go - not a restaurant, with the masses of people lining up and vying for a table, but to another home, where the smell of freshly baked coffee cake greeted us as we walked in the door.

And what a feast it was! We had many highlights, starting with orange and grapefruit mimosas, and bloody marys:

duck confit hash with eggs:

brown sugar bacon with sage:

biscuits and gravy:

bagels and smoked salmon:

and of course, that wonderfully addictive coffee cake:

Of course my favorite part is hanging out in the kitchen with my friends, chatting and re-living our adventures from the previous nights, cooking together and enjoying the beautiful day. And the best part about brunch is that afterwards you have a whole afternoon ahead of you, with time to go home and relax, or go to the movies, or enjoy the outdoors. It may be my new favorite meal of the year. Bring on the paper plates and tumblers, throw on something comfortable, and pack up your favorite dish; I am ready for some new traditions.

Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut

Look what arrived in the mail today! I huge box of fresh walnuts from my friend Missy's orchards, up near Stockton. They taste wonderful - crisp and buttery. I can't wait to start dropping them into salads and mixing them into baked goods.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

We don't entertain often enough. Sometimes it seems so daunting - all of the cleaning, shopping, preparing, and the clean-up afterwards, but you know what? It's totally worth it, and each time I do it, I am reminded of how much I love having my house full of friends, having fun and enjoying our cooking, whether it's fancy or casual. It's so easy to get caught up in the details, but it really doesn't matter if all of the plates match, or if you have cloth napkins, or even if there are enough chairs. You make it work and you have a good time.

Last night, we had about 9 people over for a casual dinner. We didn't even start planning the menu until the afternoon, but it was a nice excuse to tidy up some of the accumulating piles on the dining room table and put flowers in the vases. I always have to use my good china and silver, since I have more place settings, but it still feels pretty low key. Plus, I believe that stuff should be used only once a year and then kept in a drawer the rest of the time. I don't bother polishing the silver unless it's a major holiday - just stick it in the dishwasher and put it out for people to help themselves. The trick to a big dinner party for me is to do it pot-luck style, otherwise you just spend all night serving everyone.

My husband and I have had the same routine for years - I am in charge of the appetizers and side dishes, and he handles the proteins. I am usually in charge of dessert as well, but as I was already behind, I called upon one of my friends to bring something - and she surprised us with a homemade coconut cream pie!

For appetizers, I made a cheese board, some roasted spiced nuts (which I made in the morning and let cool), and crab/artichoke dip on cucumber slices. For the extra-special appetizer, I made Medjool Dates stuffed with blue cheese and wrapped in bacon, which I popped into the oven to get crispy-good. There was actually silence in the room when they came out - the power of bacon!

The crab dip was supposed to be beautifully piped onto the cucumber, just like I had seen in my Martha Stewart appetizer book, but for the life of me I could not get it out in any sort of recognizable shape. Oh well, it's one of those moments where you curse Martha Stewart and her staff of many, and grab a spoon and finish the job.

For dinner, my husband made a bone-in pork roast which he brined a few hours before people arrived. Normally I don't think about serving pork to company, but it was absolutely delicious - fork-tender, moist, and very flavorful. With that, I roasted some sweet potatoes, made a warm green bean salad, and a mache/arugula salad with pomegranate seeds, toasted walnuts, and blue cheese. I made the mistake of using the Gin Dressing from a few days ago - the women loved it, and the men hated it! It's nice when your friends are comfortable enough to say what they do and don't like - one of the guys exact words were "That recipe should stay in the 70s". We had a laugh about it and went on with our evening. For the non-meat eaters, my husband made a marinated seared Ahi tuna, which was also wonderful, and remarkable considering the fact that he hates fish and has only cooked it a handful of times.

All in all, I think it turned out to be a very nice fall meal, and as everyone left at about 1:00am, full and tired from laughing so much, I was struck with a renewed sense of home and tenderness for my San Francisco family.

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

Dear Loyal Readers,

Please accept these freshly made cheesecakes from Zanze's as an apology for being SO lax with my blog posts lately. I have a plethora of experiences and recipes to share, and I am feeling the writing bug tickling my brain again, so they will be forthcoming shortly. I promise, it will be delicious!

Tastefully Yours,

Liz

Summer of My German Sandwich

It was an exciting week for our friends Christiane and David, who opened Schmidt's Deli on Wednesday, on the corner of Folsom and 20th Street in the Mission. We were invited to a special tasting lunch for friends and family on Tuesday, and were so delighted with the experience! The restaurant is only open for lunch now, to be followed with a limited dinner menu of sausages and beer, and then brunch.


Their other restaurant, Walzwerk, has been a longtime favorite of ours. The atmosphere there is wonderfully dark and moody, a place where you want to meet to receive secret instructions to carry out a worldwide plan. Schmidt's, on the other hand, is light and bright, but with the same straightforward, simple attitude, and rooted in East German cuisine. They are printing paper menus now (above) but will eventually do away with them and just print the day's offerings on the large corkboards.


The food was great - and although the menu was small, it had something for everyone. I brought my friend Sean, who is a vegetarian, and there were just as many dishes for him to choose from as there were for carnivores, and I think he was pleasantly surprised.

We started with an assortment of organic German sodas, similar in taste to ginger ale.


Then we shared an amazing salad - Mache with Raw Asparagus, Pistachios, and shaved Ementhaler cheese. What great flavor.


We also shared the Herbed Spatzle, which is one of my favorite dishes at Walzwerk. It is the ultimate comfort food, and has the taste of a dumpling with the texture of a fried noodle. So so good.


Sean enjoyed the Rudabaga/Kohlrabi Gratin, which I was able to taste - it was rich, cheesy, and delicious.


My husband and I both had the Veal Schnitzel Sandwich with a fried egg on top - perfectly cooked, crunchy on the outside, tender on the inside, and hell, a fried egg makes even the best thing even better.


Believe it or not, we also had room for dessert, which we gobbled up so fast that I didn't even have time to photograph it. Silky chocolate pudding and a nice piece of apple strudel - a great ending.

I am so proud of our friends and can tell that they have a success on their hands. The place has been a long time coming, so it's great to see the result of all of their hard work. The fact that they do this full time along with the other restaurant, David's furniture business, and a beautiful baby girl to take care of is simply inspiring. I wish them the best and look forward to many long, sun-filled lunches at Schmidt's.

Labor Day Highjinks: Ice Cream and Tropical Birds

I don't like to post too many pics of myself on my blog (and they are EVERYWHERE else, so believe me, the universe is well aware of what I look like), but I had to make an exception in this case. On Labor Day, my friend Michael and I had one of those rare, funny afternoons that can only come from a random series of events that cascaded together to leave us laughing hysterically.

It started out innocently enough - we made plans to go to Joe's for an ice cream cone, and a walk around the neighborhood to catch up. Joe's is one of those great places that has a wonderful, simple product and has not changed one bit since it opened in 1959. Unfortunately, Joe's is closed on Mondays. Wah, wah.

Leave it to Michael to find a solution. We started walking up the block and ended up at...Rite Aid. No, no, we weren't going there to huff correction fluid (we weren't quite that depressed) - they actually serve ice cream there. The ice cream is not that bad, despite the less than appealing brand name ("Thrifty" - WTF), but we found ourselves in fits of giggles at the counter - it felt so weird to be ordering ice cream amongst the toothbrushes and personal massagers. Not only that, they had run out of medium containers so we had to make do with the rediculously large family sized ones.


So there we were, laughing and walking around the block with our Big Gulps of ice cream, when we heard something that sounded like a cat. Then, maybe a monkey. Then, a person's voice. "Hello? Hello?"

We looked around and right in front of this house on the railing were 2 parrots - a green one and an African Grey. (why is my world suddenly filled with birds, why?) They were just out in the open, talking and making sounds as casually as you please. We stopped and "talked" to them for a while, and realized that the owner was right behind us washing his car. He showed us how when he blew a whistle, the African Grey imitated it exactly.



The Grey kept its distance, but the green kept trying to inch closer and closer. If you look close enough at the picture, you can see the murderous glint in his eye - and the owner warned us not to get too close, or he would bite.

Anyway, it was a great afternoon full of laughs and "only in San Francisco" moments. I can't think of a better way to spend a leisurely afternoon - you can't buy entertainment as good as this!

The Next Dimension

Want to get away for a while? Need a little fun in your life, and don't have time to hit the amusement park? Go to a 3-D movie instead. Last night I went with Andy & Kristina to see "Journey to the Center of the Earth" staring Brendan Fraser (in 3-D, yes, indeed, mmmm), and I highly recommend it. For a mere $12.50 (it costs extra for the glasses), you will have things hurled at your face, disappear down a huge hole, and look straight into the mouth of evil creatures. It's like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride on steroids. You'll be thrilled, nauseated, but most of all, completely entertained.


Note the double-glasses effect, very cool and not nerdy at all.


This is what I looked like for the rest of the night:

Pretty Little Things

Today we are celebrating our 15-year wedding anniversary, and in keeping with tradition, I did receive flowers and chocolates. The interesting part is - they were from our parents! My Mom sent this adorable arrangement today, and my mother-in-law sent a box of delicious brownies that we gobbled up well before the actual day. So thoughtful!

And in keeping with the tradition of slightly tweaking traditions, we are going to celebrate the occasion with a weekend away...with 40 of our closest friends! I am really looking forward to it - the weather forecast looks great, and everyone seems very excited.

This is one of the cards that I gave Charles this morning which made him chuckle. I have to say, being married to someone for 15 years is many things (mostly good!), but one of them that can't be denied is that it is very, very real. And the one thing that will get you though a plethora of challenges and situations is a good sense of humor.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I'm back from a Week of Family - first, my brother's college graduation from KU (wooo! congratulations, Josh) and a few days seeing friends and family in and around Chicago.

Whenever I am back "home" (my husband hates when I say that, as he reminds me that San Francisco is our home), it is always bittersweet. At first I am transported back to the idyllic existence that I had growing up - manicured lawns, Norman Rockwell houses, big leafy trees, a shining lake. I inhale the smell of freshly mown grass and allow myself to feel 16 again. Then, little by little, reality starts to creep in. I do not have a permanent room in my parents house, and the living room is overtaken by my mother's latest obsession: birds. A Himalayan parakeet named Mango (in the photo), and an African Parrot named Zippora. It is so interesting to watch her with them - how she coos and nurtures them, but because of her busy lifestyle, ultimately leaves them alone for hours at a time, stuck in their cages, barely pacified by the classical music playing in the background, singing for their lives. Man, I know how they feel - I remember it well. Trapped.

So, when I have the chance, I take them out of their cages and let them have a bit of freedom. We have a strange relationship, me and my new feathered siblings. We know that we are just there to keep each other company, poor substitutes for any real kind of closeness, but better than nothing. And like siblings, we fight, sort of - feathers get ruffled, posturing is made, all to declare who is the boss of whom in our temporary hierarchy.

There are friends of mine who have stayed in the area where we grew up, and it's wonderful to see them and their families, in their own houses, doing things that are so familiar to me and yet so new because they are so far away from my West Coast lifestyle. I have thought from time to time how nice it would be to live like that, following the path of familiarity and tradition, like our parents and grandparents did. But then I realize, it would not be the same for me. They stayed, but I have moved away too many times, and too far. I am no longer a part of that world, although it does live inside me in a comforting, sentimental way. It might be nice at first, but then the walls would start closing in, and my thirst for adventure and newness would take over, burning like an itch.

Ultimately, my childhood home and I will remain memories to each other. It is a place where I bicycled over cracked sidewalks made uneven by tree roots and harsh winters, where I sailed on Lake Michigan, and had tanning contests with my friends in summer, and ice skated outdoors in the winter. It is a place of unlocked doors and warm summer nights with the sound of crickets in the background. And I was that idealistic girl, standing on the beach, looking out at the water and wondering what lay ahead, waiting for my moment to fly.

Hidden Picture

I love pictures like this. At first glance, it's just a simple plate of Carciofi alla Romana from my dinner last night at Beretta. I was kind of bummed that I had left the spoon on the plate because I thought it disrupted the shot. But if you look closely, you can see my friend Denise in the reflection, sitting across the table from me.

It's a great reminder that it is not just what we are eating, but who we are with that really makes an experience special. As my memory of the dish inevitably fades, I will always remember my fun night out with my friend.

What I mistook for a careless mistake actually turned out to be the perfect picture.

Cooking with Eric

Last week we had the much-anticipated private cooking class with Eric Gower, local chef & author of The Breakaway Cook, among other books. He has a unique style of cooking that incorporates techniques that he learned while living in Japan for 15 years, combined with a sort of California-style cuisine, and his own never-ending ingenuity. He is big on world flavors, and giving simple recipes a lift from "flavor blasts" to make the ordinary extraordinary.

What a great event! We decided to have it at Susan & Warren's house, since they have more than ample space, and a great kitchen. It was perfect for the 6 of us, plus Eric, to have room to move around and participate in the process.

We decided to do a wine pairing with each course, which of course was a great add and mood-enhancer, starting with Belgian beer and ending with some remarkably well-priced reds from K & L.

All of the food was fantastic, and seemed easy to make (after all of that wine, I kind of lost track a little...). Here is the menu from that evening, and the dishes that we made:


Japanese Cucumber with Miso and Pomegranate Molasses:


Soft Tofu with Ume Vinegar and Maccha Salt:


Toro Crostini with Avocado and Yuzu:


Fava Salad with Pickled Ginger and Roasted Almonds:


Plating dinner:


Roasted Hamachi with Miso and Apricot:


Roasted Hamachi with Winter Greens Ohitashi-Style, Beet "Tartare", Unplain Rice


Strawberries with Lavender, Lemon, and Greek Yogurt:


The best part was the easy camaraderie between all of us and Eric, from enjoying the food and telling stories at the table. And that is the point of all of this wonderful cooking anyway, to get it on the table with a minimum of effort, so that you can spend your time enjoying it and the company of your friends, both old and new.