Holiday Dining

I opted to stay out of both the kitchen and stores for the holidays, so we ate in a lot of restaurants the past few weeks. First, there was Citizen Cake in SF and Seven in San Jose (see below). Then, my husband and I stopped at Massimo in Walnut Creek after going to see the local Christmas Carol performance at Lesher Center on Friday night. We were seated promptly and I thought the menu was great. My picky husband went for the nightly pasta special - spaghetti! Ho, hum, I said. It was a chilly night so I wanted winter comfort food - and what could be better than rabbit with polenta. Their "Rabbit Three Ways" (confit, seared, and braised) was excellent, but the polenta was an out-of-body experience. It was simply wonderful, and the portions were large so I had enough for lunch another day. I highly recommend this restaurant.

Saturday we had a Sharks game, so we went to the bar at the De Anza hotel in San Jose. They have the best bar food. I love the grilled prawns with oranges and balsamic, and the carpaccio is amazing. Good pizzas too.

The following Monday, Sandy and I went to the movies in Albany. Ajanta Indian restaurant is close by, so we went there for dinner. We'd eaten there once before and loved it, and I've been wanting to go back. We had the scallop appetizer, which was nothing special, but the entrees we shared, Badami Murg and Palak Kofta, were both really tasty. We ordered medium spice, which was perfect.

Tuesday we had another Sharks game, so out again for dinner, but we were running late so we just went to Quizno's. We did at least stay home on Christmas Eve, and had a nice cheese fondue with apples, sausage, and baguette for dipping. This is a long-standing tradition for us, and was followed by the umpteenth viewing of Edward Scissorhands and then opening gifts. [Why, you might ask, would anyone want to watch Edward S. on Christmas Eve? Because, well, it IS a story about why it would snow in a bedroom suburb in California, isn't it?!]

For Christmas dinner, we decided to splurge and go to Jordan's at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley. They have a buffet that's pretty amazing, although so is the price ($89). We had a table with great views of the bay and the city, and I definitely got my money's worth - crab, shrimp, salads, breakfast food (gingerbread waffles, BACON, sausage, wonderful eggs benedict), and the usual holiday fare (turkey/ham/prime rib). Of course, it was all lost on Mr. Picky, who ate about $7 worth of food. Should have taken him to Quizno's, I suppose. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it, although it will probably be a one-time thing. After dinner, we had a nice drive out to the Berkeley marina and enjoyed the scenery before going to see Seven Pounds at the Shattuck Cinema. Good flick, if you like to laugh AND cry. But we are serious Will Smith fans, so how could it be bad?

The day after Christmas (you'd think we'd have been sick of going out, wouldn't you?) we had Nutcracker tix in SF, so I had made a reservation at Jardiniere for after the performance. We arrived 1/2 hour early (but they knew we were coming from the ballet and had our table ready), were seated promptly, and had a nice table overlooking the bar. Luckily, there were several menu choices for Mr. Picky, including his favorite soup, butternut squash. I had the duck confit salad, which was really tasty, and he loved the soup. For entrees, he had the short rib, and I had the sea bass, which was one of the best fish dishes I've ever had. It was served with crispy skin over a bed of roasted veggies that were caramelized to perfection. Mr. Picky scarfed his entire plate, so I know he enjoyed it. In fact, he wants to go back. Now if we can just get a reservation at a normal dining time! It's no wonder the place is so popular.

OK, I should have been tired of dining out by then, right? Well, no, on Saturday I had a lunch with friends at Amarin Thai in Lafayette, a place I love despite it not being particularly authentic. The food is just consistently good, and it's a nice place for lunch when the knitting bug hits because there are TWO yarn stores in walking distance. So, a fun but expensive afternoon was had by all.

Finally, the dining binge ended Saturday evening with a visit to a local favorite, Left Bank in Pleasant Hill. We were taking the ex-sister-in-law and nieces out for dinner. The girls are picky, so with 3 picky eaters in the group Left Bank usually works. Well, the food was good, but the service was horrible. Our reservation was for 6:45, and we finally left at 9:00. Good thing they brought lots of bread to the table. Apparently they have a new chef and he sort of lost control of the kitchen. They apologized with an order of profiteroles for the table, so we were somewhat mollified. I sure hope they go back to their usual speedy service in the future.

That's it! Sunday night I made marinated, sauteed chicken breasts and salad at home. It would have been memorable if we hadn't spent the entire evening addressing our (late) holiday cards.

Sandy's Birthday

My friend Sandy's birthday is right before Christmas, so this year we went to see Sarah Brightman in San Jose at HP Pavilion. Being a Sharks ticketholder, I go there fairly often, and have been wanting to try Seven Restaurant on The Alameda, so I decided to take her there as a birthday treat. We opted to share small plates, and we are both oyster lovers so we started with a dozen Hood Canals, which were VERY tasty, served with a nice mignonette. We had a butter lettuce salad with beets, which was nice, and then our favorite dish of the evening, mushroom strudel. Yum. We also had the crispy spaetzle with pancetta, which we really liked, and the chili relleno, which was just OK. For dessert, we had the creme brulee with honey and lavendar, and it was good as well. Service was excellent and we finished in plenty of time to make it to the event. Needless to say, Sarah Brightman was amazing (although her speaking voice is a bit annoying) - boy, can she sing!

Citizen Cake

My husband and I had tickets to see Phantom of the Opera at the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco last night, so I made a reservation for dinner at Citizen Cake since it's only a couple of blocks away. I'd eaten there once before and it was really good, and they have amazing desserts. John is a picky eater so he opted out on the appetizers, but I had their sous vide pork belly with dates and persimmons. Yum! Like pig candy. John had the pork chop with Brussels sprout hash and apple. Mr. Picky said the chop was wonderful, but didn't like the crunchy sprouts and didn't even taste the apples. (I just don't know what to do with him and his food fears!) I had the diver scallops with artichoke puree and fennel. Well, I can only think of one other time I've had scallops I enjoyed this much. For dessert, he had apple crepes with maple ice cream and I had gingerbread custard and vanilla ice cream. And then I went to the cafe and got a couple of small sandwich cookies to take to the theater, one lemon and one chocolate. These were absolutely the best sandwich cookies I've ever eaten. I hate Oreos, but these were truly amazing. We also had a wonder time seeing Phantom again, and this time we had great seats so it was spectacular.

Paper Chef 35

My entry this month is a "blood" orange risotto cake, with "drunken" Mexican white shrimp in a blood orange vinaigrette. It can be served warm or at room temperature. Unfortunately, I was unable to find real blood oranges (see Market Day below), so I made the vinaigrette with purchased blood orange vinegar and used plain naval oranges for the risotto cake (colored with a bit of red food color to simulate the real thing. The shrimp were marinated and baked in French brandy and Patron orange liqueur and a bit of salt and pepper. They were yummy. The risotto cake was made with orange juice, shrimp stock, orange zest, green onions, and shredded carrot, seasoned to taste. It was a bit sweet, since I used naval oranges instead of blood oranges, which would have been better. After peeling, I dipped the shrimp in the vinaigrette, and it was nice to spoon up a bit with the risotto as well, to help balance the sweetness.

Book Group Dinner

Well, it was a great success. I do this on occasion, and usually make 10-12 courses. This month was Italian. I even made fresh pasta, lemon sorbet, and ice cream. It was great fun, and I loved seeing all those smiling faces at the table.

The menu:
Firsts
Almonds and olives
Bruschetta with balsamic tomatoes or onion confit
Insalata mista, gorgonzola and walnuts, blood orange vinaigrette
Clementines with balsamic and black pepper

Seconds
Fetuccini with shrimp and lemon basil cream sauce
4-cheese baked ziti
Osso buco with olives and oranges

Sides
Pancetta and sage braised Brussels sprouts
Mushroom risotto, white truffle oil

Desserts
Lemon sorbet
Mascarpone ice cream
Carmelized pears with brandy
Honeyed figs

I also made dungeness crab ravioli with vodka sauce, but forget to cook the ravioli so my husband and I had it last night. It was probably good that I waited - I haven't hand made ravioli in a while so it could have been prettier. It was tasty though.

My friend Sandy said "I think the clementines, the tomato bruschetta, the osso bucco, and the fettuccine were my favs – oh, and have to add the risotto and the pears!" So I guess I did OK this month, and had lots of fun too. I even managed to finish the book while stirring the risotto!

Market Day

This week is both the Paper Chef competition and my week to cook a feast for my book group. Paper Chef's ingredients this month are blood oranges, brandy, crustacean, and rice. Thought this would be no problem, but couldn't find blood oranges anywhere. I found them two weeks ago at Trader Joes and Concord Produce, but I went everywhere today and none were to be found. I did find some blood orange vinegar at Whole Foods, so I'll use that. But I had great luck with Mexican white shrimp with heads on at Concord Produce, and am making risotto for one of the dishes for the book group, so I'll try a risotto cake for the Paper Chef too. Stay tuned!

Vegas, Baby!

I just came home from a quick trip to Las Vegas to visit some friends. I lived there for close to four years, and feel a need to go back about every six months to get a dose of unreality, visit friends, and see the Bellagio fountains. Usually we go out to eat in some new place I haven't tried before, but this time we went to one of my husband and my favorite places on the west side, Cafe Wasabi. I have to say I was a bit disappointed, as the food was not quite as good as I remember. It's a sushi bar but also used to focus on Asian tapas. Those items are still on the menu, but relegated to the bottom and not highlighted in any way so they are kind of easy to miss now. The restaurant used to be really fun and vibrant, but it was completely empty at 8:00 on a Friday night, and the place is starting to look a bit dingy. In 2004 the lobster spring rolls and crab potstickers were to die for, but they've started using surimi instead of crab and there was no discernable lobster in the spring rolls, so they weren't anything to write home about. However, the ribs were still wonderful and nothing was really bad, just not as good as it used to be. The economic downturn has taken a toll, I guess.

The highlight of the trip was having my friend Janet, a died-in-the-wool Tar Heel, make me fried chicken. It was yummy. None of that batter dipped or buttermilk soaked stuff - just seasoned and dredged and fried. We made an awesome salad with maple syrup roasted butternut squash and dried cranberries, roasted vegetables (asparagus, haricots vert, parsnips, and fingerling potatoes), and cheese biscuits. I'm still dreaming of those biscuits. Thanks, Janet!

Paper Chef #34

I finally found time to participate in Paper Chef, which is a bit like Iron Chef but you get 4 ingredients instead of one and send entries via e-mail. Loved this month's ingredients (turkey, winter squash, Anaheim peppers, and lentils) provided by this month's judge, Magnus, and had a lot of fun coming up with this dish.

Smoked Turkey Hash with Lentil Griddle Cakes

Ingredients:

Lentils for griddle cakes (make ahead)
½ c. dry lentils
1 tsp. ground cumin (or less if preferred)
½ tsp. ground coriander
Fresh ground pepper to taste.

Cook lentils in 2 cups water seasoned with spices for approx. 30 minutes or until tender but not mushy. DO NOT SALT. Cool and drain.

Smoked Turkey Hash (may be made ahead)

1 shallot, small dice
½ Anaheim pepper, small dice
1 cup butternut squash, medium dice
Diced smoked turkey (I used pre-cooked turkey legs)
1 tsp. ground cumin
Salt/pepper to taste

Saute shallot, pepper, and squash in olive oil until squash is just tender, stir in cumin and diced smoked turkey. Salt (if needed, depending on saltiness of turkey) and pepper to taste. Keep warm while making griddle cakes or refrigerate if making ahead.

Lentil griddle cakes
1 cup Pancake batter (I made my own using 2/3 c. flour, 1 egg, 1 tsp. olive oil, and 1/2 tsp. baking powder mixed with 2% milk to a thin batter, but you can use a mix)
½ c. lightly mashed cooked lentils
Mix, let rest for 1 minute.
Cook on lightly oiled griddle until lightly browned on both sides.

Cilantro Crème Fraiche
While griddle cakes cook, mix a heaping tablespoon crème fraiche with 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice and 1 tbsp. minced cilantro.

Re-heat hash if made ahead.
To serve:
Place griddle cake on plate, spoon crème fraiche over and pile hash on top. Garnish with more crème fraiche and sprigs of cilantro.

YUMMY!

Ice Cream Adventures

I've been obsessing over homemade ice cream for a while now. I've tried a lot of experiments with different ingredients trying to get good mouth feel with less fat. I've found that maltodextrin helps, and always add it when I make a mix from just milk or milk and 1/2 and 1/2. Still, it doesn't compare to full fat. My latest two favorites are French vanilla bean and Coconut-Black Sesame.

French Vanilla Bean
1 vanilla bean (split, seeds scraped)
2 c. heavy cream
2 c. 1/2 and 1/2
1 c. granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean
pinch of salt
4 egg yolks (antibiotic free hens, or use pasteurized egg)

Whisk together all ingredients. Taste and add more salt if needed to bring out flavor. Refrigerate for 4 hours. Strain and churn in ice cream maker.

Cocomut-Black Sesame
1 can coconut milk
2 c. 1/2 and 1/2
3/4 c. granulated sugar
pinch of salt
Black sesame seeds (I use about 1/4 cup but you may want to use less)

Whisk together all ingredients except sesame seeds. Taste and increase salt if needed to bring out flavor. Cover and refrigerate miniumum 4 hours. Churn in ice cream maker, adding sesame seeds to your preference during last few minutes.

Awesome!

Paper Chef #31

For a long time I've wanted to do an Iron Chef-type challenge, and recently discovered Paper Chef. This is my first entry, but I didn't get it done in time to submit. It was fun to try the challenge anyway, and I was surprised how tasty it was. The challenge ingredients were chick peas, oregano, walnuts, and fish steak. I used salmon, but took it off the bone and pan seared it with a little bit of salt in light olive oil. I wanted to finish the dish with sea salt, so didn't use much seasoning.



I've always thought of chick peas as a Middle Eastern ingredient, but I wanted to try using them in a different way. I used 12 oz. low-sodium canned cooked, rinsed, and drained chick peas. I'm growing herbs in pots on my patio, and had some nice Greek oregano, which is kind of spicy and lemony, so I thought a spicy lemon dressing would be good with the peas and the salmon. I picked some onion chives, the oregano, flat parsley, and cilantro. I toasted the walnuts lightly, and chopped everything. The chick peas went into the food processor with the chopped herbs, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1/4 tsp. chili de arbol, 1/4 tsp white pepper, and 1/2 tsp salt. I added 1/3 cup of the chopped toasted walnuts and folded them in. Then I squeezed in the juice of one small lemon and 2 tablespoons of walnut oil. After tasting, I adjusted the seasonings (including adding a bit more oil), and plated with the salmon and some halved cherry tomatoes. I finished with a sprinkling of grey sea salt and extra chopped herbs. It was delish!

My first blog

After reading a lot of food blogs, I decided that it's time for me to create my own. I'll start by saying I remodeled my kitchen a short time ago and it has rekindled my interest in kitchen experiments. I'm a bit of a gadget junkie, so I went out and bought a lot of new small appliances/cookware, and have been having fun playing with them. About a year ago I started making homemade ice cream/sorbet, and 10 pounds later I've got quite a collection of recipes, which I'll post here off and on. My latest adventures involve a new pressure cooker and a stove-top smoker, which I haven't tried yet.

There are gorgeous fresh fava beans in the local markets right now, so my first experiment to share is fava bean spread. I use it as a spread or dip.

1 1/2 cups shelled fava beans
5 or 6 mint leaves (if desired)
1/4-1/2 cup baby arugula leaves
3 or 4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 large or 4 small cloves garlic, minced (more if you want a garlicky spread)
1 tbsp. or more fresh lemon juice
salt/pepper/minced flat leaf parsley (to taste)
1/4 - 1/2 cup fruity olive oil


Boil the fava beans for 4-5 minutes. Drain, plunge in cold water, remove outer skins.
Put in a food processor with mint (if desired), arugula (if your arugula is really spicy, use less), garlic, leaves from thyme, and lemon juice. Pulse a couple of times, then with processor running, drizzle in part of the oil until a thick spread forms. Taste and adjust acidity with more lemon juice if needed, add more arugula if desired, and season with salt and pepper and minced parsley to taste. Drizzle in more oil until the smooth and spreadable. Remember, this is an experiment, so you'll have to adjust the ingredients to your taste. I like more garlic, less parsley and less mint.

To be really decadent, you omit the mint and drizzle a bit of white truffle oil over the spread when serving.

Enjoy!