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!