wednesday nite dinner

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2011-11-20T13:21:00.000-08:00

boy it's been difficult to keep up with this blog. remembering to snap photos during the cooking process, remember to bring my canon s90 camera to the restaurant for good low light photos, getting the right plated shot, and then posting those photos and writing an interesting blog post takes a lot of time... time i unfortunately don't have these days given my new job.

so i've converted over to an easier format: facebook!!

if you've enjoyed this blog, please go to facebook.com/wednesdaynitedinner and Like my page to get updates on restaurant reviews and my cooking adventures in the san francisco bay area and beyond! thanks for all your support over the years. =)

now... time to plan thanksgiving dinner... with only 4 days left in the countdown!! what special dish are you making this year? here's my turkey from last year in san francisco...

valentine's dinner

2011-02-14T23:08:00.001-08:00

when you eat at some of the best restaurants in the country on a regular basis, the idea of scrounging up a reservation at a hot restaurant (if even possible), be seated next to other lubby dubby couples where you get absolutely no privacy and have to yell your sweet nothings at each other, and be relegated to its "special valentine's menu" instead of be able to order what you really want from the menu (read: what can we serve that's cheap and easy to make en masse and we can charge $50 per guest), is just absurd.

so this year, i decided to make my own five course valentine's dinner for my sweetheart at home. it's been a while since i've posted (sorry) and i really haven't been cooking much at all, but it was a joy to get back into the kitchen and whipping up some good grub. it was also exciting to work with some fun, luxurious ingredients. no prep pictures this time, as i was under deadline, so use your imagination. =) so without further ado...

the menu...

oysters ready for shucking! quick note: after getting your oysters home from the bar or farm, i recommend scrubbing them down with a brush in cold water to get rid of dirt and grime and make the shucking process a little cleaner. also, if you're not shucking immediately, place the oysters, deep cup side down in a bowl and cover with a wet kitchen towel in the fridge for up to 2 days max.

first course: beau soleil (atlantic northwest) and hog island sweetwater (pacific tomales bay) oysters on the half shell with champagne mignonette. i picked up both from the hog island oyster bar in the ferry building and shucked them right before serving. the beau soleils were bright, briny and meaty while the sweetwaters were sweeter and more delicate. what really brought it all together was the mignonette, a simple but tasty mixture of 2 tablespoons champagne vinegar, a minced shallot, 1/4 t salt, 1/4 pepper, and another 2 tablespoons of champagne poured right before serving. great way to start off the meal after popping the bubbly.

a 2 lb live lobster freshly steamed for about 14 minutes over boiling water. left to cool off, i then cracked the shells, and removed and coarsely chopped the delicate meat. the shells were then added to a small sauce pan with some water, bay leaf and black peppercorns to reduce down to 1 tablespoon of lobstery essence.

third course: warm lobster salad over butter lettuce with tarragon butter. the above lobster essence was whisked with 4 tablespoons of butter and seasoned with tarragon, lemon, salt and pepper to create the lobster dressing. after warming the lobster morsels in the dressing, i layered the meat over butter lettuce dressed with a little olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper. the brightness and acidity of the lemon cut through the richness of the lobster and butter perfectly and the tarragon added a light liquorice note. quite rich on the palate. and how many times do you get to cook and devour a whole lobster!?

third course: salmon sushi and seaweed salad. continuing the seafood theme, i thought it'd be nice to include some fresh fish. both the sushi and seaweed salad came from nijiya market in j town. very fresh and a nice counterpoint to the richness of the last course.

fourth course: roasted miso marinated chilean sea bass with wasabi mashed purple potatoes and blue lake green beans. i originally wanted black cod for this, as i intended to make nobu's famed miso black cod, but nijiya market was out and the fish monger recommended the chilean sea bass as the next best substitute. boy, he was right. the filets, marinated in a sweet miso paste of red miso, sake, mirin and sugar for 2 days, was browned in a grill pan for a couple of minutes and then roasted in the oven for another 10 min until moist and flaky. so tasty, sweet and savory. the purple potatoes, mashed with shallots, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, provided a tasty and light starch and the green beans were simply blanched. yum, yum, yum.

fifth course: lemon curd panna cotta and lavender short bread cookies. if you're a regular of my blog, you probably know i don't bake or really make desserts. never really successful at it. so seeing as i had 4 other courses to prepare, i decided to take the easy route and pick up dessert at miette patisserie at the ferry building. light, lemony panna cotta paired well with the buttery, crumbly lavender cookies and was a nice way to wrap up a luxurious but light meal. too bad my sweetheart wasn't all that into lemony desserts. oh well, more for me!

the meal was paired with a wonderful bottle of 2006 domaine carneros brut rose from napa. crisp, clean but with enough heft to match the richness of the seafood menu but enough bubbles to cut through it as well.

my sweetheart had a fantastic time and i, apparently, got five stars. ;) next year, think about preparing your special someone a simple yet luxurious dinner for two at home. put on some slinky jazz, add a roaring fireplace (or in my instance, the youtube fireplace video on my flat screen tv), some candles and a whole lot of canoodling and you'll have a very fun, intimate and romantic valentine's that won't put you out 3 bills. ;) happy valentine's day!

roast chicken: making it last a week without getting bored - nite 2

2010-09-01T20:18:00.001-07:00

this is nite 2 of a series called "roast chicken: making it last a week without getting bored." yesterday i roasted a whole chicken and enjoyed a good meal for $3. now lets look at how i repurpose the chicken breast meat and create something that tastes new and yummy without spending much more cash.

this recipe comes from ina garten's barefoot contessa at home, one of my favorite cookbooks right now. i took the 2 chicken breasts, peeled off the skins and diced the meat into 1/2 inch chunks. the meat was still moist and tender from last nite and nicely seasoned already. to that i added 3 stalks of celery chopped, a cup of green grapes sliced in half lengthwise, a couple tablespoons of chopped fresh tarragon, a 1/2 cup or so mayo, salt and freshly ground black pepper.

i combined all the ingredients well in a large bowl and transferred the chicken salad to a tightly covered plastic container to chill in the fridge and let the flavors meld.

after an hour, i took sliced off half of the dutch crunch roll i bought yesterday and split it in half. i spread some grey poupon dijon on the bottom half, layered a few pieces of thinly sliced parmesan, added some fresh greens and topped with a serious serving of chicken salad veronique. oh and 2 garlic-stuffed olives for good measure.

mmm! this chicken salad is a great combination of flavors and textures. the mayo to meat ratio is perfect. the crunchy celery goes great against the tender meat. and the liquorice profile of the tarragon is matched by the sweet and slightly tart green grapes. i ended up eating extra spoonfuls of the stuff between bites of the sandwich!

and what's great? it tastes nothing like last nite's roasted chicken meal. very different and satisfying. and how much did this cost? well, if we count just costs for tonite's meal, it comes out to about, oh $2.75. nice huh? so far, this week, i've spent only $5.75 on 2 fantastic dinners. tomorrow, roast chicken & wild rice soup.

roast chicken: making it last a week without getting bored - nite 1

2010-08-31T19:25:00.000-07:00

these days it seems like we all try to squeeze a little more out of a little less. my comfy new apartment perched high above the san franciscan valleys with a view of the transamerica building and oakland hills in the distance is taking a toll on my checkbook (along with, of course, the weekly $50 dinners at all the fabulous hotspot restaurants this damn city has).

oh, what's one to do? well, cut back. food (and my weekend bar tabs) takes the biggest chunk out of my paycheck every month. how do you conserve cash when most of what you spend is on an essential, food?! i suppose i can downgrade what i eat - no more $10 salads from mixt greens, instead, $6 worth of greasy chinese takeout from b&m mei sing on 2nd street - but i'm not interested, or willing, to do that everyday. so then?

i realized i could cut back quite a bit by cooking dinner more at home. cooking for one gets a little monotonous though. no one to impress, no one to ooh and aah over your masterpiece. and my taste for variety and good ingredients gets expensive. ok, so then?

go onto any cooking site and they'll feature at least one article on how to make a meal stretch out over the week. it usually involves cooking some protein once early in the week and using that meat in imaginative ways over the next few days. repurposing. that works for me. here's the menu for the week:

nite 1: roast chicken with thyme and rosemary, wild rice and greens tossed with a red wine vinaigrette
nite 2: chicken salad veronique sandwich
nite 3: roast chicken & wild rice soup
nite 4: chicken salad veronique and greens

after work monday i swung by safeway to pick up a 5.5 lbs whole chicken. it was on sale for $0.79/lb. score. i also picked up a dutch crunch roll. i proceeded to roast the chicken the same way i did earlier this month in the roasted chicken with salsa di giovanna and sauteed brussels sprouts post. this time i added a couple of sprigs of rosemary into the cavity alongside the thyme. the chicken came out perfectly cooked this time around.

after resting the bird under foil for 10 minutes, i sliced of my favorite part, the thigh and leg, and plated that with some wild rice pilaf that'd been cooking for about an hour and some mixed greens tossed in a quickly made vinaigrette of red wine vinegar, honey, olive oil, salt and pepper.

in a never ending quest to become better at plating, i took one of my square molds and patted a nice square of wild rice down on the plate to add a little interest. fun. i finished off the chicken and rice by drizzling extra virgin kalamata olive oil over and around. kalamata olive oil has a stronger, more assertive olive flavor to it. good stuff.

the chicken is tender, moist and flavorful. the greens have the acidity to cut through the chicken fat. and the rice is substantial enough to fill up the tummy nicely. a glass of crisp, fruity bota boxed chardonnay rounds out the meal.

a good start to the week so far. this meal cost me about $3. after dinner, i sliced up the rest of the chicken, removing the other thigh and leg, wings, and breast meat from the carcass, saving everything in tupperware for the next meals. tomorrow nite: chicken salad veronique - an ina garten recipe! this experiment of squeezing a little more out of a little less might just work well...

pan-roasted basa with new potatoes, tomatoes, spanish olives and kale

2010-08-19T22:41:00.000-07:00

inspiration for tonite's dinner comes courtesy of food network's recipe of the day post on facebook, tilapia with hash browns. i'm always looking for ideas on how to cook fish, as i'm not the most confident with it in the kitchen, and the simplicity of a one-pan fish roast sounded great to a guy who's been working late lately. it also sounded like a recipe that could be repurposed easily with other similar white fish, giving me yet another technique to draw upon next time i'm faced with preparing fish.

i headed to safeway and decided to build a more rustic fish roast, based on a couple of such entrees i've had at restaurants like nopa and others. i picked up a bag of new potatoes which would add some more substance to the dish versus hash browns that just sounded too greasy. i then picked up a bunch of kale, some roma tomatoes, a jar of garlic stuffed olives (like these more than the pimento-stuffed ones) and rosemary.

i was about to ask the fishmonger for a pound of tilapia fillets and then noticed some other white fish next to it which looked a little more moist and meaty than the flimsy tilapia. i can't remember the name, but the guy said it was similar to catfish. a quick look at the label now reveals it was basa fish, a mild white fish. i know it wasn't labeled basa at the store, but it definitely matches the descriptions on the web.

once i got home, i fired up the oven to 400 degrees, sliced the new potatoes and started browning them in olive oil over medium heat. 3 cloves of chopped garlic went in as well, along with salt and black pepper.

while the potatoes browned, i chopped 2 roma tomatoes, 3 leaves of kale, and a handful of the olives. these were tossed with a little bit of olive oil and salt and pepper.

i took one basa fillet and chopped it into large chunks. i then seasoned it with salt, pepper, crushed rosemary, and some tumeric for color.

i then layered the kale and half the tomato mixture over the potatoes, then the basa, and the remaining tomatoes.

the whole skillet went into the hot oven for about 15 minutes to roast. once i got to around 10 minutes on the clock, i kept a close eye on the fish to make sure it was cooked through but not starting to dry out. (i hate dry fish.) i was looking for medium doneness.

plating was a little complex, as there are a lot of ingredients in the dish, but it presents beautifully. the tumeric was a last minute addition, but i think it add just the right punch of color against the rich greens and reds of the kale and tomatoes. and the roasted rosemary sprig was a nice touch. to finish the dish, i drizzled extra virgin olive oil over everything and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice to bring it all together.

this dish was a delight to eat. the basa fish is extremely tender and moist and is really similar to catfish but a bit milder in flavor. the tumeric and rosemary gave it a subtle but substantial flavor. the kale was tender where it was under the fish, but crispy where it was exposed to the heat, a nice contrast in texture. and the tomatoes and olives provided a nice acidic, salty punch to the smooth and starchy potatoes.

all in all, a very easy dish to prepare and it's great that it's all done in one pan. i can easily see substituting the basa with tilapia, catfish or even cod, which would be amazing. it's also a pretty cost-effective dinner. total cost for this meal comes out to around $7.50. and you know fish entrees usually clock in around $20. a success on many levels!

sauteed shrimp with chile, lemon and thai basil, summer squash saute and wild rice pilaf

2010-08-12T00:14:00.000-07:00

whenever my friend nerissa and i get together we know it's going to be a long night of fun conversation. so this time around, i suggested we have dinner at my place where i could cook us a nice meal and we could gossip leisurely over a bottle of wine in a comfy space without feeling rushed by a waiter. yes, i haven't made a wednesday nite dinner in a while...

i decided to go with a one-plate entree inspired by a food post in the kitchn blog, chili, lemon, and basil shrimp with israeli couscous to keep prep to a minimum. after work today, i ran into safeway, picked up a pound of large 31/40 count raw shrimp and a container of raw macademia nuts (because i love macademias and i figured it would add a little crunch and texture to the dish). i then ran across the street to golden produce to pick up other ingredients.

while in the produce store, i realized i needed to add some vegetables to balance the protein/starch recipe. i settled on some nice yellow and italian squash and grabbed a roma tomato for acidity. with groceries in bag and hand, i jumped on the muni back up the hill home.

once home i got the wild rice pilaf going (the store didn't have israeli, or pearl, couscous, so i substituted a wild rice mix that would add texture and color to the dish. a cup of rice, 2 cups of chicken broth and a pat of butter simmered on the stove for about an hour until fluffy.

while the rice simmered, i diced up the squash and sauteed them with some garlic and shallots over medium heat in olive oil until soft and caramelized. i then added the diced tomato and seasoned liberally with salt and pepper, some cumin seed, some chopped cilantro, more olive oil, and a couple of tablespoons of red wine vinegar to balance out the flavors. as the saute was pretty soft, i crushed a handful of the macademia nuts and added that to the mixture for some crunchy texture. the whole concoction simmered over low heat for another 10 min or so which really helped all the flavors meld.

when the rice was ready, i turned my attention to the shrimp, which would cook quickly once they hit the pan. i heated a saute pan over high heat, added olive oil, chopped garlic and red chilies, and quickly added the shelled, deveined and butterflied shrimp. once they started turning opaque, i grated the zest of one lemon into the pan, squeezed the juice from said lemon, and added a big handful of coarsely chopped thai basil leaves. a quick stir and the shrimp was ready.

to plate, i layered the rice pilaf in a bowl, followed by a hearty portion of shrimp, and then garnished with the squash saute. sorry for the lack of usual step-by-step pictures, but i was too engaged in conversation with nerissa sitting across the counter to remember to grab my camera. but here's the plated result...

i must say, the flavors, textures and colors came together very nicely for a one-plate entree. the shrimp was fresh, springy and spicy with a nice lemon punch from the citrus and lemony thai basil. the summer squash saute had the right amount of acidity, thanks to the tomato and red wine vinegar, to cut through the olive oil in both the squash and shrimp sautees, and the cumin seed added just a touch of mediterranean to the dish. the rich wild rice pilaf was a perfect match, adding crunch and texture as well as a nice dark color base to the dish.

nerissa brought a lovely bottle of 2007 ledson russian river valley sauvignon blanc which paired perfectly with its bright floral and fruity pineapple notes. oh, and note my awesome new orange, basket-weave square placemats from cb2!

all in all, dinner was ready in an hour and nerissa and i settled into an evening of non-stop conversation and laughs while devouring everything on our plates, in the pots and pans, and bottle and glasses. what a great wednesday nite...

roasted chicken with salsa di giovanna and sauteed brussels sprouts

2010-08-03T21:24:00.000-07:00

roast chicken is one of those soul-warming dishes that are just amazing on a cold, foggy nite in summery san francisco. you may think roasting a whole chicken is a difficult thing, but actually, it's one of the most simplest in terms of preparation and pretty difficult to screw up. it's also inexpensive to make.

this recipe comes from james peterson's cooking, a massive, award-winning cookbook that explores the kitchen essentials and basic cooking techniques that every chef should know. the recipe is very simple compared to others but also very effective and quite tasty. once you get the technique down, you can then vary the recipe by adding aromatics, marinades, dry rubs and so on. so let's get to it.

i start with a fresh young chicken of about 5 pounds and truss the legs and wings with kitchen twine to keep the package compact. the neck and giblets go down around the chicken in a pan that is just large enough to hold everything. this is important because exposed pan surfaces can easily burn and smoke.

the entire chicken is seasoned liberally with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. i also inserted a few sprigs of thyme in the cavity. not part of the recipe, but i had some extra and wanted to get rid of the thyme before it went bad.

a triple layer of foil is rubbed with a tablespoon of room temperature butter and covers the breast, buttered-side down. this protects the breast meat from cooking too fast and drying out before the thigh meat is done. the chicken then goes into a pre-heated oven at 450 degrees for 25 minutes to roast.

with the chicken in the oven, i turned towards prepping the salsa di giovanna which is basically a vinaigrette of lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil and herbs. i last used this over swordfish a couple of weeks ago with much success and knew it would taste amazing on roasted chicken. so i chopped up a few sprigs of mint and oregano, thinly sliced 3 cloves of garlic, and juiced one lemon into a measuring cup.

i combined the lemon juice with three times as much extra virgin olive oil and whisked them into an emulsion. the garlic and herbs went in and sea salt and black pepper seasoned to taste. once combined, i set this aside to let the flavors meld.

after 25 minutes of roasting, i removed the foil from the breast. after another 15 minutes, i checked between the breast and thigh with an instant read thermometer for a temperature of 140 degrees, which would mean the chicken was perfectly done. but i was getting inconsistent readings and when i tilted the chicken to its side, the drippings were still cloudy red. i put it back into the oven for another 10 minutes until the juices ran clear with red streaks. (completely clear juices mean the chicken is overcooked.)

once the chicken was properly done, i let it stand for 10 minutes while i sauteed some sliced brussels sprouts in a little butter until nicely browned. a dusting of salt and black pepper finished off the side dish.

time to plate! i like dark meat so i sliced off the thigh and leg portion and plated it with some of the brussels sprouts and drizzled the vinaigrette over and around the chicken.

the peterson recipe yields moist and flavorful meat that pretty much fell off the bone. while the skin wasn't as crispy as i'd have liked - more time in the oven would've remedied this but that would also have run the risk of overcooking the breast meat - it was plenty tasty and i'd rather have moist, juicy meat over dry, grainy stuff anyday. the chicken tasted fantastic. perfectly seasoned and accented by the salsa di giovanna, giving it a green and lemony bite.

all in all, oven time was around 60 minutes while active prep time was only about 10-15 min. the 5 pound chicken cost me less than $5. cost of tonite's dinner plate? oh, less than $2. average cost for the same entree at a san franciscan eatery? probably around $15-18. of course, my safeway chicken isn't organic, local or free-range, but you know...

for some reason, i always think of roast chicken as a chore to make, but it looks like i just proved myself wrong. the savings in budget is mighty satisfying too.

roasted beet and arugula, grilled swordfish with salsa di giovanna, grilled peach and summer fruit with marscapone

2010-07-26T22:41:00.000-07:00

last friday nite i hosted a special dinner for the boys. they've all heard i'm a foodie and that i can cook but have never tasted my cooking with the exception of an albondigas here and a green herb dip there. so i thought i'd pull out all the stops for this dinner for 7.

for hors d'ouevres, i served a bruschetta with red, yellow and green heirloom tomatoes tossed with fresh torn basil, minced garlic, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. the crostini was freshly sliced from a round loaf of sourdough from thoroughbread bakery on church st, toast in a grill pan for some deep grill marks, and finished off with a rubbing of freshly sliced garlic and drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. unfortunately i forgot to take a picture of the colorful bruschetta plated on a black tray, so you'll have to use your imagination.

onto the first plated course, roasted beet and arugula salad. here i roasted some red beets in the oven at 400* with some olive oil and sprigs of thyme tightly wrapped in foil. once they were knife tender, i let them cool, carefully peeled the red-staining skins, sliced into wedges and tossed with a bit of red wine vinegar and olive oil. i also made a vinaigrette with red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil in a 1 to 3 ratio and seasoned with salt and fresh ground black pepper.

i then lightly dressed mixed herbs and arugula leaves and tossed with sliced red onions, the beets, and dotted with creamy goat cheese. the result was a nice balance between the sweet, earthy beets and acidic red wine vinegar, and the soft and creamy goat cheese and peppery arugula.

for the second plated course, i seasoned 1/2 inch thick swordfish steaks with salt and pepper and brushed them with olive oil. these went down on a searing hot grill pan for a couple minutes each side. for the accompanying sides, i boiled a couple pounds of small red potatoes until knife tender and smashed them, skins and all, with a lot of extra virgin olive oil, thyme leaves for a lemony herbal note, and salt and pepper. i also sauteed yellow and pale green summer squash that were sliced into bite-sized chunks in a bit of olive oil and some fresh basil.

to plate, i scooped a big portion of potatoes down, followed by the grilled swordfish, and then topped with the summer squash. to finish the dish, i drizzled salsa di giovanna on and around the fish, an italian concoction of fresh lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, thinly sliced garlic, and freshly chopped oregano and mint, along with salt and pepper to taste. the result flavors bring a bright lemony zest to the swordfish and moistens the meat nicely.

to finish the meal, i decided to go with something summery to balance the richness of the last course. i sliced a couple of ripe but still firm peaches on a searing hot grill pan until some great grill marks rode across both faces of the peach slices. while that was going i macerated raspberries and blueberries with a bit of sugar to give it a little bit of a sweet kick. marscapone cheese, an italian cream cheese, was whipped with a whisk and sugar to lighten the cream and sweeten it. that then went down on a small plate to anchor the grilled peaches and sweet berries and provide a creamy contrast to the naturally sweet and light summer fruit.

i served all the above with a great '08 chateau st. michelle dry riesling that had just enough fruit to brighten up the swordfish but enough body to counter the richness of the meal.

all in all, a great meal with the boys. plenty of wine and laughs. and everyone's plate was licked clean: the best compliment a chef could have. thanks for an awesome nite and dinner, boys!

miso glazed salmon and bok choy

2010-06-09T21:56:00.000-07:00

continuing the challenge of learning how to cook fish at home and not be intimidated by it, i decided to tackle some salmon steaks i had in the freezer tonite. i had previously pan-fried one of the three salmon steaks, and while tasty, it was way too greasy and unhealthy feeling. so tonite, i decided to use a japanese-style preparation that called for marinating and broiling the fish, no oil added. this recipe comes from the williams-sonoma cookbook, food made fast: weeknights. here we go.

for the miso marinade, i combined 1/4 cup miso paste, 1/3 cup mirin, 1/4 cup sake, 1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar and 1 tablespoon soy sauce together and set the salmon steaks in the marinade for about 15 minutes.

i also sliced 1 head of bok choy lengthwise and set that aside.

while the salmon marinated, i cranked up the broiler and prepared a sheet pan lined with foil. once the broiler was hot and ready, i placed the salmon steaks on the pan and coated the bok choy in the marinade and placed that next to the fish. the pan went under the broiler for 5 minutes. i then flipped the fish and bok choy, spread a bit more marinade over both, and returned it under the broiler for another 5 minutes.

i ended up leaving the fish under the broiler a couple minutes more to help with caramelization and charring of the edges. it also helped cook the fish throughly.

i plated with a scoop of white rice, the salmon, half the bok choy, and garnished with some seaweed and pickled radish. i also had a small bowl of edamame to round out the meal.

the fish was moist, tender and sweet thanks to the miso glaze. i also liked how the marinade caramelized on the fish and it lended great subtle flavor to the bok choy.

i do think next time i'll let the fish marinate for an hour or more, even overnite. i can only image how tasty the salmon would be if the miso infused every bit of flesh. the only oil in this dish came from the fish itself, which was a nice contrast over the greasy pan-fried salmon. overall, this fish preparation was very tasty, healthy and easy to prepare. i think i'll try this with some other fish. black cod maybe??

grilled mackerel and bok choy with cold soba

2010-06-08T21:58:00.000-07:00

one of my favorite things to eat at lunch while working downtown is grilled saba, or mackerel. i usually get it from one of the japanese restaurants near my office, or at one of those salad bars like julie's kitchen. the saba is usually simply grilled with salt and pepper, finished off with either lemon or dill. moist, meaty and good for you, this seafish is one of my favorite fish to eat.

i've often wondered how easy (or hard) it would be to prepare mackerel at home. i have this weird aversion to cooking fish in my kitchen and i'm not sure why. familiarity probably has to do with it. if you threw me a chunk of non-descript pork meat, i could do wonders with it. toss fish at me, and i'm usually at a loss. so here goes my first attempt at making grilled mackerel at home.

swinging by the nijiya market in j town this evening, i picked up a small package of fresh mackerel that was already prepped (filleted, deboned, etc.) a couple heads of baby bok choy, and opened up a package of soba noodles from my pantry. after washing the mackerel filets and patting dry with a paper towel, i scored the skin a couple of times and seasoned both sides of the fish with salt and pepper well. i also sliced the bok choy in half lenth-wise and got a pot of water boiling for the noodles.

a couple of tablespoons of olive oil went onto a hot grill pan and in went the mackerel, meat-side down first, and the bok choy, cut side down. after about 4 minutes, i flipped everything over to char the other side.

after 5 minutes in the boiling water, the soba noodles were rinsed in cold water and set to drain while i plated everything up. here you see a bowl of soba noodles topped with the grilled bok choy, a small bowl of soba dipping sauce with a touch of wasabi, and the grilled saba on the rectangular plate. i garnished with a bit of marinated seaweed and pickled radish.

the mackerel was excellent! mackerel is an oily fish so the dense meat stays moist even when cooked for a while on high heat. with just salt and pepper, this simple preparation really showcases the richness of the fish. i think a little lemon would help cut that richness a bit next time. you really can't beat how easy it is to prepare this fish though. salt, pepper, oil and grilled for 4 minutes on each side. easy peasy.

the soba noodles were cooked al dente and the dipping sauce base was standard fare. it's the grilled bok choy that took me by surprise. the char adds just enough flavor and was a nice contrast against the heavier mackerel. i didn't even have to season it. very nice.

so my first foray with mackerel? consider it a success. mackerel is inexpensive (the 2 filets here were only $3.24, at $7.99/lb) and easy to prepare. next time, a little lemon, maybe some rice to soak up the tasty grilled grease, and all will be perfect. i could get used to eating mackerel on a weekly basis.

roasted shrimp and orzo salad

2010-03-16T20:42:00.000-07:00

when warm weather hits all of a sudden and all you've been eating are soul-warming stews and braises, what do you make? how about a cooling pasta salad chockful of bright, fresh herbs? light but filling, fresh but full of flavor, a well-made pasta salad can be the perfect meal for warm evenings like those that have settled in san francisco lately.

here's a very tasty and herby pasta salad made from roasted shrimp and orzo pasta. the recipe comes from ina garten's "barefoot contessa at home" cookbook. it's a lot of prep work, aka chopping and mincing, but once done is very easy to put together. and it yields several hearty servings.

i first prepared a 1/2 pound of orzo pasta to al dente according to package directions.

while that was going, i thinly chopped 3 scallions, chopped about a cup of italian parsley, and a cup of fresh dill, thicker stems removed.

i also chopped half a red onion and deseeded and chopped a hot house cucumber.

a pound of large tiger shrimp is deveined, peeled and blotted dry with a paper towel...

and tossed with some olive oil, salt and pepper. this then went into the oven to roast at 400 degrees for about 4 minutes until pink.

while the shrimp roasted, i prepared a vinaigrette for the pasta salad by combining a 1/2 cup of olive oil, the juice of 2 lemons and salt and pepper. after whisking to emulsify the ingredients, i tasted and adjusted for seasoning.

after the pasta reached al dente, i drained it and stirred in the vinaigrette...

added the vegetables and herbs, along with the roasted shrimp...

and folded in a 1/2 pound of feta cheese.

tasting for seasoning several times, i added a few dashes of tabasco to give it a slight vinegary kick. this then rested at room temperature for a 1/2 hour to blend the flavors.

plating the pasta salad with several tender shrimp and a sprig of fennel finishes off the dish.

this dish is light and healthy, but hearty enough to fill you up for dinner. the shrimp is tender. the lemon vinaigrette, tart. briny, creamy feta balances the bright and green dill and parsley. it's a great cool dish for a warm evening. welcome, spring!

grilled steak with red radishes

2010-03-15T22:59:00.000-07:00

i tend to avoid ordering dishes that i already know how to make at restaurants. it's an issue i am dealing with. the problem is if i've made a dish, i know exactly how much it costs me to make, and i realize how much profit the restaurant is making off of me. of course, you can argue you're paying for service, atmosphere, blah, blah, blah... but it's just something i haven't figured out how to reconcile yet.

steak is one of those entrees that causes this problem for me. unless the steak is of a quality or a cut that i can't get my hands on, preparing steak is a quick and easy task in the kitchen. let me explain...

for dinner tonite, i seasoned an 8 oz cut of beef chuck flat iron steak generously with salt and pepper. i then grilled it on a non-stick grill pan over medium heat for a total of 8 minutes, flipping twice. i then tossed up a quick salad added some fresh red radishes. voila! a quick, tasty steak dinner within 15 minutes.

8 minutes for this 1 1/2-inch thick steak resulted in medium rare. perfect. i finished it off by drizzling some kalamata olive oil right over the steak.
as the steak rested for 5 minutes to redistribute juices, i rinsed radishes free of grit and sprinkled some coarse sea salt over sweet cream butter as a dip. if you've never had this, the crisp, cool, peppery bite of radish pairs perfectly with creamy butter and crunchy sea salt. a handful of lettuce and herbs tossed with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper provides a little bit of acidity and balances the heavier protein.

cutting into the steak, it's tender, moist and full of beefy flavor. flat iron steak is a pretty popular cut these days at restaurants and is perfect for the home cook. just remember not to overcook it.

with the economy still recovering, consider having some steak for dinner this week. the cost for my steak dinner tonite? somewhere right around $4.

japanese curry leftovers remix

2010-03-03T00:12:00.001-08:00

my japanese beef curry attempt #2 yielded A LOT of leftover curry. and while it was great tasting stuff, the palate is left wanting something a little different after having beef curry and rice for 4 meals in a row. that and i had already finished all the tasty chunks of beef and carrot, leaving just sauce in the pot. so what do i always say to do? dig through your fridge and pantry and whip up something with those leftovers!

in the fridge i found a bag of frozen peas and 1 chicken thigh, which i skinned, deboned and sliced into chunks. in the pantry i found a half box of linguine. i set a pot of water to boil, added a good measure of salt, and cooked the pasta to al dente.

after removing the pasta to a colander to drain, i slid the chicken pieces right into the hot pasta water to boil for another 10 minutes or so until cooked through but not tough. while that was happening, i reheated my leftover curry over a low flame and stirred in half the bag of frozen peas. the peas were warmed through within a minute.

i then added some curry sauce and the cooked chicken to a large bowl and tossed with some of the pasta. i then plated, garnishing with purple-tinted onigirishiba (pickled cucumber) and whole rakkyo (pickled scallions).

as you can see, the curry sauce has the perfect consistency for coating linguine noodles. the peas add color and a bit of sweet fiber while the boiled chicken meat easily took on the curry flavor, as if it had been cooking right in it the whole time. the pickled scallions and cucumbers, traditional accoutrements for japanese curry, added the right amount of sour and spice, cutting the richness of the curry.

japanese curry chicken pasta. asian fusion at its best. and i have another serving left over too. i think i'll have some now...

japanese beef curry attempt #2

2010-03-01T21:48:00.000-08:00

so while my first attempt at japanese beef curry was good, i knew there must be a way to make it better and taste less out-of-the-box. what secrets do petite japanese moms have to doctor up pre-packaged, quick-weeknite, but oh-so-manufactured-tasting bars of readymade curry base?

i did a quick google search on the keyphrase "beef curry japanese" and came back with justhungry's excellent blog post on making japanese curry from scratch. while a little more involved in prep time than i wanted, justhungry's recipe looked solid and layered with flavor. she also conveniently provided notes on recipe variations, including how to substitute readymade curry bases. just the ticket for me. here's my adaptation of her recipe.

i first set about browning about a pound of beef chuck steak, cut into large chunks, in some canola oil in my largest dutch oven.

once that was nicely browned, i transferred the meat to a bowl to hold while i set about slicing up 4 large brown onions thinly.

into the pot the onions went to slowly saute in a bit of canola oil and sea salt. typically you want to sweat the onions down over low heat so the moisture evaporates and what you're left with are the natural sugars of browned onions. i was hungry, so i cranked up the flame to medium and stirred the onions down every few minutes. mind you, this still takes a good 20-30 minutes. but i knew this would be worth it. if you've ever had and loved french onion soup, this is how you get that sweet, oniony soup base.

once the onions have softened and started to caramelize, as in the picture below, you can move forward. letting it go another 10-20 minutes will only concentrate the sweetness and flavors, so it's your choice. into the pot went 3 minced cloves of garlic and an inch of grated ginger.

i then added a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes, 3 carrots peeled and chopped into large chunks, 6 cups of water, a cube of beef boullion, 1 star anise pod, a couple of bay leaves and the browned beef with any reserved juices. now the surprise ingredient: 1 fuji apple, peeled and grated, which you see piled in the middle of the stew in the photo below. per justhungry, this provides depth of flavor. sounds good to me.

this savory concoction simmers over low heat for about 30 min or so, until the connective tissues in the chuck beef have broken down and the meat is fork-tender. by this time you basically have a great-smelling beef stew that isn't curry just yet.

you'll notice i haven't really seasoned the stew aside from the salt used to sweat the onions. readymade curry base is chock full of spices and seasoning to begin with. any extra salt and you'd end up with a inedible mess. in this step, i fished out the bay leaves and star anise pod and broke up a full package of "hot" curry base cubes into the pot...

and simmered over low heat until the cubes dissolved and the broth thickened into a rich, creamy consistency. this is the point i tasted for seasoning and decided a few cranks of the peppermill would do nicely.

time to plate! a mound of japanese short-grain white rice and a ladle or three of the japanese beef curry.

wow. much better and much more homemade tasting. the onions have broken down into a silky mess, giving the curry a rich, svelte texture and loads of sweetness and flavor. really standout. and while i can't say i could taste the grated fuji apple, there was a real depth of flavor that puts the box recipe to shame. combining caramelized beef, acidic tomatoes, spicy ginger and piquant star anise really lifted the flavor profile of this curry.

while it definitely took a bit more time in the kitchen than i expected, the benefit was a huge pot of curry that could feed a small army, and indeed fed me for almost a week! i'm considering japanese beef curry attempt #2 a smashing success. oishii!!

japanese beef curry

2010-02-03T19:56:00.000-08:00

coming home hungry and having to eat some salty, mediocre leftovers isn't really my idea of a good time. sound familiar? so what do you do? you improvise. scrounge your fridge and pantry. doctor up the leftovers. lucky for me, i found a box of japanese curry paste in my pantry. and with yesterday's overly salty sirloin strips in hand, i decided to make japanese beef curry.

after getting the rice going, i threw a sliced red onion and a chopped carrot into a saucepan with some olive oil to brown.

once the onions started to brown and there was some nice caramelization going on in the pot...

i added 3 cups of water and scraped up the browned bits and brought the brew to a boil over high heat.

i then added the leftover sirloin strips from yesterday's meal. if i was making this from scratch, i would've added the meat during the browning process above and let the broth similar for about 15 min to cook the meat through.

aw i love all things japanese. this is basically curry boullion in a packet.

1 packet contained 6 cubes of curry paste...

which i broke up and added to the pot.

the curry then simmers over low heat, stirred occasionally, until the curry thickens...

and is thick enough to nicely coat the back of a wooden spoon.

at this point the curry is ready to be plated. whenever i see japanese curry at restaurants, it's always a mound of white rice surrounded by a moat of steaming hot brown curry.

what a satisfyingly rich meal for a cold winter's nite. i'll admit, the curry isn't the best in the world, but it's pretty tasty and spicy, a perfect foil for the overly salty sirloin leftovers. add some onions and tender carrots and you have a warm, soul-soothing dinner in less than 20 minutes.

and, you've made do with your leftovers.

marinated beef strips with lettuce wraps

2010-02-02T19:27:00.000-08:00

pairing grilled, marinated meat with fresh lettuces and herbs is very popular in asian culture, specifically amongst vietnamese and other southeast asian cuisines. the pairing is a wonderful balance of carnivore and vegetarian, protein and vegetable, grease and fresh. it's also a great source of low-fat protein, if you're working out, and low-carb, if that's your thing. i love carbs too much for that to be my thing...

this recipe is again from chow.com and is a very quick-prep meal for a weeknite. there are a couple of things i'd change, which i'll explain at the end.

early in the afternoon, i made the marinade by combining a 1/2 cup of soy sauce, 2 teaspoons mirin, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, a clove of garlic minced, a large shallot minced (didn't have green onions) and 3 dried red chiles crumbled. i then added a pound or so of sliced sirloin beef, combined, covered and refridgerated for the afternoon.

when i'm ready to eat, i heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a hot non-stick grill pan and quickly grill the sirloin in 2 batches. i recommend grilling about 2-3 min or so and then flipping to keep it medium rare and tender.

let the meat rest a couple minutes to redistribute the juices...

and plate! fresh red leaf lettuce with 2-3 pieces of sirloin each and some sprigs of cilantro.

looks good right? healthy? tasty? yes, but... this chow.com recipe was a little off. the beef ended up being very salty and i knew something was missing as i made the marinade but decided to follow it anyway. what is missing from a typical asian marinade is the sugar. next time around, i'd beef up the marinade with a couple tablesspoons of brown sugar, some extra rice vinegar and a little more sesame oil. some lemongrass and minced ginger would also elevate the flavor profile. can't wait until next time!

wilted greens with balsamic fried eggs

2010-02-02T00:22:00.000-08:00

who doesn't like breakfast for dinner? not i. eggs are great any time of day. i'm a big fan of gooey, cheesy scrambles in the morning, a fried egg on top of a fatburger at lunch, and over-easy wok-fried eggs with soy sauce over rice (thanks mom!).

this recipe comes from chow.com, and was a featured recipe for the week. it promises an "easy weeknite dinner" and the use of "seasonal ingredients" and just sounded really tasty. so here we go.

i first washed a half bunch of dandelion greens (you can typically find these in the section holding the chard, collards and mustard greens and they are at their best in the winter months), and pulled out 3 eggs, a clove of garlic and balsamic vinegar.

after heating some olive oil in a large non-stick skillet (don't use a regular skillet, your eggs will stick), i threw in the chopped garlic clove and the greens. salt and black pepper are thrown on top.

a few turns of the tongs, a few shakes of the pan and a hot minute later the greens are done and transferred to a plate to hold. i typically use my microwave to hold food, just to keep the heat from escaping to rapidly. a warm over works great, if your oven was on. a warming drawer even better. if only i had a warming drawer... one day in my custom kitchen. i digress.

back to the dish. a bit more olive oil and in went three cracked eggs. i also seasoned the eggs lightly with sea salt.

once the eggs were set, i carefully poured in a 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar. vinegar is water based and therefore causes a nice spat with the hot olive oil already in the pan. have a splatter screen handy or be prepared to wipe up your range after. it's a little messy.

once the vinegar has reduced a bit and is a bit syrupy, the pan comes off the heat and the eggs are placed over the greens, the vinegar drizzled over. a note about reducing balsamic vinegar: don't over do it. as the reduction cools, it thickens even more. in the pan it should have slightly more body and heft, but it shouldn't be syrupy when hot and in the pan. if it is, it'll have the consistency of stale honey as it cools, which isn't what you want.

two pieces of toast garnish the plate and it's time to eat. chow.com was right. this is a great tasting, easy to make dinner. the eggs are creamy and rich, the greens are slightly bitter and tender, and the balsamic reduction ties everything together, cutting the richness of the yolk and the bitterness of the dandelion greens. toasted bread mops all the leftover goodness up. yet while rich, this dish was pretty light. i'm making this again.

hm... this would also be fantastic over a bowl of rice. must be the asian in me...

thai red curry with chicken, eggplant, green beans and bamboo

2010-01-22T21:22:00.000-08:00

i bought one of those super saver packs of chicken thighs a couple weeks ago and froze what i didn't use for that recipe (which was a simple pan-fried chicken recipe from the joy of cooking cookbook, very good btw). brainstorming ways to use up that chicken, and having had a great pork basil stirfry from a thai restaurant last nite, i decided to go for chicken curry tonite.

thai curry is relatively easy to make. it's a one-pot meal, minus the pot you use to make rice in. i think the most time-consuming part is ingredient prep. as i discovered tonite. but the result is a rich stew that will last you at least 3 or 4 more servings the week after. yummers.

here are the things i used to make my curry (from left to right): lemongrass, green beans, ginger, garlic, eggplant, cilantro, jalapenos, chicken thighs, coconut milk, thai red curry paste, bamboo shoots, and lime.

to prep, i sliced the eggplant into wedges, trimmed the beans, deseeded and sliced the jalapenos, rough-chopped the garlic, peeled a small block of ginger, minced the lemongrass heart, chopped half an onion, and chopped some cilantro.

in a large pot, i sauteed the onion, garlic, ginger and lemongrass in some hot canola oil.

once that started turning color, i threw in the eggplant. eggplant soaks up oil fast so watch it carefully or your onions will start to burn from having no oil left to cook in.

while the eggplant was coooking, i deskinned and deboned 4 chicken thighs, then sliced them into thin strips. you want them thin so they poach quickly in the curry sauce.

once the eggplant was slightly soft, i added 2 big tablespoons of the red curry paste and the can of coconut milk. at this point i was supposed to add a 1/4 cup of fish sauce, only to find that when i opened my cupboard, i had no more! argh. i had to substitute 2-3 tablespoons of salt. i also added the juice of 1 1/2 limes and about 3 tablespoons brown sugar. this part is really to your taste. the key is to taste after adding each seasoning so you can shape the flavor of the curry. to me, thai curry is spice-y (not necessarily "spicy" hot), slightly sweet, and a little tart. i also like curry with more body, not thin and soupy.

as that reduced, i added the sliced chicken thighs and left it to poach for 10 min. leave the burner high enough so it continues to simmer well.

when the chicken is almost done (i.e. no pink, and it'll take longer for thigh meat to cook than breast meat), i threw in the bamboo shoots (drained), beans, cilantro and jalapenos.

after another 5 minutes, the beans are warmed through and it's all ready to plate.

a nice scoop of rice is perfect for soaking up all of the tasty curry. garnish with cilantro leaves and you've got yourself a soul-warming meal on a cold nite, as it is tonite in sf.

overall this turned out pretty good. i think the fish sauce would've added a nuanced, undertoned note that you just can't get by adding salt alone. but the chicken was tender and moist, the beans had a tender snap, and the lime contrasted beautifully against the spices of the curry paste.

and the best part? i have enough for 3 more meals. leftovers anyone?

jalapeno beef stirfry

2010-01-06T19:22:00.000-08:00

last nite in new york city's chinatown, i had a surprisingly tasty last minute meal at nice green bo shanghainese restaurant on bayardad street. as benji ordered beef with jalapenos, i thought to myself, whoa. that's gonna be super spicy. i couldn't imagine eating strips of jalapenos without reaching for a glass of cooling milk or even horchata. but when the dish did come out, it was a tasty, savory stirfry of tender strips of beef and sliced jalapenos that really weren't that hot. it was actually more akin to green bell peppers with a slight kick. and it was good. so good, that i recreated it tonite for dinner. so here we go.

i picked up a pound or so of skirt steak at the market after work, along with some jalapenos, an onion and garlic.

i then prepped the ingredients, deseeding, deveining and slicing the jalapenos, slicing the onion and thinly slicing the garlic cloves. i cut the skirt steak into thin strips as well.

i then marinated the beef with some oyster sauce, mushroom flavored dark soy sauce, a bit of sesame oil and freshly ground black pepper. i also decided to throw in a couple splashes of sake and mirin, in honor of all the great japanese food i've had lately.

in went the garlic into hot olive oil...

and the marinated beef, stirfried quickly for about 3-4 min.

i removed the beef from the pan and threw in the jalapenos and onions, stirfrying them for another 3-4 min...

until there was a bit of caramelization going on in the pan. i then tossed the reserved beef and sauce back in and...

plated! yum looking huh?

compared to nice green bo's version, mine was less salty but more oily. the beef was more tender than ngb's, probably because i used skirt steak instead of top round, which has more fat and is more tender.

i was really surprised by this dish. jalapenos cooked in this manner really aren't that hot and have a nice crunch and plenty of fiber. i wonder what other non-typical ingredients i can stir fry. that'll be a future post.

izakaya gamushara - japan meals part 3

2009-07-06T22:54:00.000-07:00

i have been obsessed with izakaya for about a year ever since i purchased "izakaya: the japanese pub cookbook" by mark robinson for a couple of key recipes i used for a friend's dad's 60th bday bash last summer. robinson not only provides photos and recipes for countless japanese small plate dishes, he reveals the unique history and customs of izakaya culture through beautifully written passages.

izakaya is essentially a japanese pub, an intimate and typically "locals" or "divey" establishment that serves both alcohol and food, but unlike american or irish pubs, the focus is very much both the alcohol AND the food. all dishes are small plates meant to be shared over beer or sake (or both) and ranges from tasty little salads to impeccably fresh sashimi to perfectly charred skewers of meat and fiery hot stone pots of rice and seasonings.

i was simply hooked on the concept (i like food and i like alcohol) and obsessed with participating in an authentic izakaya experience. so when christien and i decided to head to tokyo for a week, i made damn sure we would go to an izakaya or three. for dinner on the second nite of our trip in japan, we trekked through the crowded streets of shinjuku district to sanchome, its 3rd ward. wandering down the dark paved streets, we came to a narrow and dark wooden corridor that led downwards. the black cloth banner above read gamushara in ghostly white. my first izakaya!

photos are great, but videos really tell the story. push play and watch as i descend down into my first izakaya...

the establishment was small, maybe about 500 square feet of dining space with low wooden tables and benches. behind us was an open kitchen and bar with bottles and bottles of sake lining the walls. it was pretty dark and tables were dimly lit by pin lights above.

upon seating, a waiter distributes the customary hot hand towel to refresh your hands and places small bowls of marinated burdock root and hijiki seaweed as a teaser, or amuse bouche if you will.

christien's friend, , a japanese native and food guide for the evening rattled off a flurry of dishes to the waiter. and the dishes start coming. first up, a fresh and tender salad of red and green lettuce, thinly sliced red onions, green beans and fresh corn lightly dressed in a citrus vinaigrette.

then comes a wonderful stew of beef innards and quail eggs nestled in intense broth. so delicious.
then gyozas, perfectly panfried on the flat side, moist and tender meat stuffed inside.

chicken kaarage was wonderfully moist and seasoned with a light, crunchy batter. great with fresh squeezed lemon.

chashu, roasted pork loin, was amazing.

then this came out. konnyaku. robinson describes konnyaku as a jelly made from the flour of the "devil's tongue" plant. it was weird and spicy on the tongue with kind of an unflavored gelatin texture. the sauce helped, but not enough to win me over. oh well.

fried wedge potatoes. omg. who knew japanese could make fries so well?! perfectly crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

takowasa. fresh, raw octopus, diced with fresh wasabi root, bathed in its own octopusy slime. this was absolutely stunning. the octopus was crunchy and tender at the same time, and the slime wasn't slimy. the wasabi root provided a nice firey bite. we ordered three of these it was so good. and i'm still searching for a place in sf that does this. found one in la. so addicting.

this was a stone pot that was placed on our table scroching hot, filled with white rice, pork, mushrooms, pickled vegetables, scallions and an egg yolk.

as the nite wore on and we had passed our fourth or fifth round of beers (i lost count), our food guide orders this controversy: raw chicken salad! what what? you can't eat chicken raw!! apparently the chickens used for this delicacy are raised on special farms so that samonella is very low risk. so after hesitating and much doubting, we popped our first raw chicken bits into our mouths.

oh, let me tell you: it was sublime. aside from the weird headspin you get when you try something you know you shouldn't be trying, this was very tasty. the chicken had a sashimi-like texture, similar to snapper (tai) and was dressed in a mayo/avocado mixture that really let the chicken shine through. surprisingly very good. i think i felt a pyschological pang in my stomach a few moments later as the "samonella" hit, but i never had any problems later. besides, there was just too much good food to focus on such trival things. that and all the alcohol in our systems probably killed every germ in its tracks.

now what's an asian meal without eggrolls? these were hot and crisp on the outside, creamy-laden with seafood on the inside.

ah, one of the last and most intriguing dishes of the nite. pregnant anchovies, deep fried. riveting choice of words eh? these were deep fried whole with some sort of vinegary garnish.

and yes, chockful of little anchovy babies... or in culinary terms, roe. crunchy on the outside, crunchy little bursts of roe on the inside. definite fan of this.

and so, after countless rounds of asahi, (or was it kirin? probably both, i can't remember) and over a dozen delicacies later (many of which we ordered 2nd rounds) we fork out that funny money and move onto a nite of more intoxicated merrymaking. i had so much fun here. great food, thirst-quenching, mischief-making beer, and the company of amazing friends, their stories, their smiles and laughter. this, i realized, is what izakaya is all about. thank you.

kirin ichinban, pocari sweat, gokuri and more drinks - japan meals part 2

2009-06-26T18:45:00.000-07:00

when traveling abroad, it's important to stay hydrated. all that sightseeing, adventuring, and foreign land frolicking can really dehydrate a joyous visitor who just wants to cram as much tokyo tourism and underground escapades as he can in seven days. so to combat the nasty effects dehydration can have upon a happy camper, we found plenty of opportunities to get liquids while roaming the streets of japan.

japanese drinks are awesome. these people not only know how to make drinks of all flavors and textures, they know how to package and market them. ok so yes, you'll see a lot of beer in the pictures on this post. but hey, we were on vacation and beer is GOOD. take a looksee.

what better way to start a trip to a distant, foreign land (and wash down mushy acidic airplane pasta) than a can of kirin ichiban beer. light, bubbly and burpy, four of these on the 11 hour plane ride did very nicely, thank you very much.

once at our hotel a couple blocks from shinjuku station, we picked up a huge bottle of pocari sweat from the 7 eleven across the street. i liken pocari sweat to a lemonade flavored sports drink. it has about the same consistency and flavor.

small drink bottles kept us hydrated on the go. here, christien has a suntori brand drink. i think it was peach or something.

this bottle of gokuri was my favorite. grapefruit juice with real grapefruit bits in it. not too sour, not too sweet. super refreshing in an awesomely designed aluminum bottle with wide mouth twist cap.

as you walk around tokyo, there are tons of vending machines dispensing drinks. japanese vending machines seem to have a much wider selection per machine and each drink is nicely displayed. it's also just a lot of fun trying to figure out what the hell was in each bottle or can. sometimes we were right, sometimes totally wrong. as we were walking around shinjuku district, we passed by this sloping alley chock full of vending machines. made for a great photo. notice all the ads.

and what do you know! as we were walking past the machines, christien spotted his favorite j-pop star, namie amuro! she was quenching her thirst just like us foreigners!

while visiting the ginormous residential-business-cultural complex that is roppongi hills, we stopped in a modern, western cafe for some rich and delicious iced lattes. to sweeten the coffee, there were little pods of simple syrup (much like half & half creamers).

and as the evening set in, we settled into some innovative (and expensive) cocktails in the bar atop roppongi hills tower to watch the sun set and experience the tokyo lightscape come alive 100 floors below.

dinner at our first izakaya meant beer, beer and more beer. i can't remember how many pints of asahi we or i had that nite.

i know it was A LOT.

more mugs of asahi at a casual diner chain known for its gyoza (which were excellent by the way).

ah yes, another izakaya, another drunken nite. this time courtesy of two bottles of suntory whiskey for the five of us. yes, two. we finished all of it. curiously, the whiskey was served with ice spheres. they looked like crystal eyeballs. a little disturbing.

another beer. yebisu, which is a rich, malty premium japanese beer.

and more beer at another izakaya. i think there's a theme here.

on our super fast train to hakkone to experience onsen, japanese bath houses, we decided to cleanse our systems with some herbal and green iced teas, in preparation for our "spa" treatment.

but of course, asahi had to creep in and steal the show again.

and on our final nite in tokyo, at aria blu, a luxury 7-course, all-you-can-drink, all-you-can-karaoke in 3 hours establishment, we drank and sang our sorrows away with endless pitchers of beer, vodka tonics, and gawd knows what else.

so you see, we did a great job of making sure we stayed hydrated during our japan excursion. one thing to note though. japanese people do not walk and drink at the same time. people actually go into little cafes and quench their thirst while politely seated at a table or bar. they don't walk around with drink in hand like them heathen westerners. same thing goes for food. no walking and eating. in fact, we had the most difficult time finding public trash cans to dispose of our bottles and street food. yet the streets of tokyo are amazingly and clean and spotless.

oh you japanese. how do you do it?

kamakura ramen in tokyo - japan meals part 1

2009-06-25T23:08:00.000-07:00

in march this year christien and i met vicky and edmund for a one week trip to tokyo, japan. i... love... japan. everything about it. from the architecture and technology to the people and culture and oh, the food... japanese cuisine, for those who haven't truly experienced it, is so much more than sushi and chicken teriyaki. while these japanese-american standards are definitely tasty and of course popular, they speak nothing of the mouth watering, delicious foods found in the most glamorous restaurants and dingy-est street stalls that litter the crowded streets and buildings in the tokyo metropolis.

in this series, i'm going to share our food experiences during our awesome trip to japan. here's the first.

kamakura ramen was our first lunch spot in tokyo, located in shibuya district. roaming the streets of this trendy neighborhood, we couldn't settle on a place to enjoy our first meal, so we decided to ask the cops hanging out at a small police box where they usually get lunch. you figure they know where to go right? one of the cops recommended kamakura ramen a couple blocks away.

we walked to the entrance and discovered that we had to order our meals from an outside vending machine first before entering the restaurant to sit down. the menu was huge, and all in japanese. fortunately menu pictures and christien's excellent japanese skills came to the aid.

we made our selections, deposited our coins, and took our meal tickets inside.

after handing our meal tickets to the host, we sat down at the end of a large counter that wraps around a huge steel open kitchen. at each station there were chopsticks, napkins and an assortment of condiments ranging from scallions to garlic, soy sauce and more.

while waiting for our food to arrive, we entertained ourselves by watching the efficiency of the kitchen operations.

and then, our food arrives. huge bowls of perfectly cooked ramen noodles, topped with thin, juicy slices of chashu which is slow roasted pork with intense smoky pork flavor and melt in your mouth ribbons of fat. all this was nestled in an intense and perfectly seasoned pork broth with a soy sauce base and liquid fat that was almost emulsified in the soup. my order came with a heaping bowl of thinly sliced scallions to top the ramen with. a fresh green and oniony compliement to the meat and noodles.

and then there was the egg. soft-boiled. so fresh. so creamy. so sinfully delicious. i have never had an egg like this ever before. the eggs in the u.s. don't come anywhere close in flavor, texture and freshness, except organic, farm fresh eggs.

while kamakura ramen wasn't a famous ramen street tent, this was an amazing example of how good and refined a bowl of ramen can be, even in a vending machine style fast food restaurant. oh tokyo. how i love thy food.

sushi ota in san diego

2009-06-24T22:18:00.000-07:00

for lunch on the first day of our san diego trip last month, christien did his search engine magic and found a fantastic sushi bar that had super high marks for being the sushi bar for local japanese nationals. in other words, the real stuff.

sushi oto is owned and operated by japanese people, typically another sign of quality, but surprisingly, we learned that our sushi chef, while japanese, didn't know a lick of the language even though his name tag was in japanese and was muttering all the japanese greetings that sushi chefs yell out when customers first enter the bar.

we had a great time chatting in english, sharing stories from the bay area, where he was also from, and learning about the very choice cuts of fish he was treating us to. here's what we had...

sashimi - aji, sake, hamachi, maguro (spanish mackerel, salmon, yellowtail, tuna)

starting with a sashimi special plate, this was surprisingly high quality and quantity for under $30. and, it actually included the entire aji skeleton as seen above. you know you're getting fresh stuff when you get the whole fish (which wasn't recycled from another plate in the back kitchen).
big cuts, extremely fresh fish. a great start.

mirugai (geoduck or giant clam)

after the sashimi, we started diving into the refridgerated case in front of us. mirugai is one of my favorites so we had to have that. geoduck clam is pretty ugly in its native state. but once you cut away the tough exterior skin, the meat is sweet and briny with a firm, not quite a crunch, bite.

kinmedai (golden eye snapper)

kinmedai is one of our favorites, having eating over a hundred dollars worth at our favorite sf sushi bar, ryoko's, over the past year. slightly seared with a blow torch, ota's version is rare with seared skin and a dusting of fresh grind rock salt. amazingly sweet and tender.

age aji (fried spanish mackerel bone)

in between sushi courses, our aji bones from the sashimi plate returned to us completely deep fried with fresh lemon and ponzu sauce. you can basically eat everything minus the head so we happily munched away on the crunchy bones and washed them down with ice cold sapporo draft.

amaebi (sweet raw shrimp)

i love amaebi so we each had one. delicate, sweet and moist. oh so good.

another species of clam (can't remember what kind)

our sushi chef seemed to have an affinity for clams so he introduced us to a couple more. this one was similar to mirugai but with a slightly softer texture. very good. just can't remember what kind it was though.

nama tako (raw octopus)

having recently discovered takowasa (raw salted octopus with wasabi), we were excited to try this recommendation by our chef. it's not like tako at all, which is boiled first then sliced. this was absolutely raw and slimy with a bit of a chewy texture. not for everyone, but the meat is sweet and just a bit briny. never really had this before so it was a treat.

akagai (red clam)

another type of clam that was again similar to mirugai but more tender. very good.

uni (sea urchin roe)

now this, was amazing. our chef told us their uni is sourced locally in san diego, which has very limited availability and is one of the most desirable in the US. fresh and clean tasting, firm textured but creamy on the mouth, and briny, nutty and sweet all at once, this uni was probably the best i've ever tasted. wow. just wow.

age ebi atama (deep fried shrimp heads)

by the time that orgasm had settled in our mouths, our chef brought out the fried shrimp heads from our amaebi sushi. crunchy and full of explosive shrimp flavor, this was a perfect and satisfying end to our culinary journey at sushi ota.

on the way out, the sushi chefs were busy preparing for dinner service and on chef was patiently focused on fileting what i believe were sardines. he had beautifully plated the filets on a plate under perfect lighting so i had to snap this gorgeous photo.

overall, sushi ota is definitely everything everyone says it is. extremely fresh fish, a wide selection of special fish, generous cuts and expert chefs, this is no place for sauce-laden sushi roll lovers, but a haven for foodies and chowhounds who know how to savor raw seafood in its purest, freshest form.

gourmet veggie meal #3

2009-06-18T00:05:00.000-07:00

each time my friend jenny is in town, she requests a gourmet vegetarian meal from me. jenny is a friend i met at ucla over a decade ago and is now living in beijing doing good things for the environment in red china. being vegetarian, her entree selections can be a bit more limited when patronizing a fine establishment. so over the years, i've tried to do my part and treat her to a gourmet veggie meal prepared especially for her. the last two gourmet veggie meals were big hits so i wanted to make sure i didn't disappoint.

but as a carnivore, it takes some creativity to come up with a delicious meatless menu but still be hearty enough for the 4 other meat eaters at the table. i decided the best compromise was to stick with a themed cuisine and combine fresh vegetables with heavier starches and dairy. i pulled out one of my favorite cookbooks, jamie oliver's "jamie's italy," and penned this menu.

1st course: ricotta fritta con piccola insalata di pomodori
(fried ricotta with a little tomato salad)

the ricotta is a mixture of fresh ricotta, parmesan, flour, egg to bind, and salt and pepper, pan fried with a little olive oil. the pan-frying part was a little stressful as the delicate cakes fell apart as i tried to flip them after browning one side. half of mine looked more like scrambled messes. so the tomato salad did a great job of hiding the flaws. farmer's market fresh and organic heirloom tomatoes are tossed with chopped basil stems, a red chili, and evoo and red wine vinegar. the result was a perfect blend of creaminess, char, green and acidity.

2nd course: insalata di radicchio e rughetta
(radicchio and arugula salad)

i wanted a way to contrast the creaminess of the 1st course with the richness of the main course with something acidic and fresh, so this salad was a great choice. the bitterness of radicchio and peppery bite of the arugula worked surprisingly well against the licorice-y shaved fennel, salty parmesan, sweet balsamic vinegar and grassy extra virgin olive oil. the key to this salad is the ingredient ratio, especially the radicchio and the arugula. too much radicchio lends an overpowering bitter note so be careful.

3rd course: tagliatelle alla trapanese
(fresh tagliatelle pasta trapani style)

for the main course, i picked up some super fresh tagliatelle pasta from a.g. ferrari foods, an italian delicatessen, and tossed it with a made from scratch pesto sauce. apparently this is the Trapanese way of making pesto sauce and instead of pine nuts, it uses almonds and adds ripe, crushed tomatoes to the mixture. i first chopped raw almonds in the food processor and then add a couple cloves of garlic, fresh grated pecorino and handfuls of fresh basil. that was then processed with a lot of extra virgin olive oil and some salt and pepper to taste. i then crushed some grape tomatoes by hand into the pesto and tossed the pasta and sauce in a large bowl. the result was a very unique green flavor, especially with the almonds. many pestos can be overpowering and while this was definitely rich, the tomatoes provided a nice acidic contrast. oh and fresh pasta is the only way to go. yum.

judging by the clean plates, it looked like jenny and company thoroughly enjoyed their gourmet veggie meal #3. amazing how vegetables can actually make one full. maybe i could actually try vegetarianism... well, maybe not. until the next one!

wine country chicken salad on foccacia with sharp cheddar, rocket and hearts of palm

2009-04-30T21:28:00.000-07:00

made a great, fresh sandwich for dinner tonite, courtesy of tasty ingredients from trader joe's. it's been a while since i've been to tj's, let alone cook dinner at home. things have been so busy i haven't had the time to. christien and i have been eating out almost exclusively for the past 6 months or so. and yes, it's showing around our waists.

but we're getting back on track and after hip hop class tonite at the gym, i picked up a few ingredients at tj's and made this scrumptious sandwich:

what we have here is tj's amazing wine country chicken salad with cranberries and walnuts, layered with thick wedges of sharp cheddar cheese, quartered hearts of palm and fresh, peppery rocket (arugula), on thickly sliced herbed foccacia drizzled with kalamata olive oil and balsamic vinegar with a few cranks of freshly cracked pepper. all accompanied by some crisp and sweet sugar snap peas and a glass of pomegranate lemonade. all from tj's. except for kalamata olive oil which i got while olive oil tasting at pasolivo olive oil farm in paso robles, california.

the foccacia was a perfect choice of bread, soaking up the wonderful sweet, savory and creamy flavors of the chicken salad and olive oil and balsamic. the cheddar provides a nice sharp tang while the rocket provides a nice peppery crunch. mm mm mm... head over to tj's tonite and make this tasty sandwich!

oh, and doesn't this creation look amazing on the shiny white plate from crate and barrel that christien got me for birthday last year? the clean lines and bright white color really help set off the colors of the ingredients. great for food porn by the way, for those of you who are trying to figure out how to take better pictures of food.

lunch from the sentinel sf

2009-04-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

lunch at work is always a big decision. what should i have for lunch today? should i go healthy and get a salad? or should i get something rich and filling? today camela, hwasu and i decided to go for all the above. walking a block over from our office down stevenson street, we hit up the sentinel sf on new montgomery, a great "sandwich stand" serving excellent, fresh and tasty sandwiches for about $8 each. here's what we had today:

the sentinel's website displays its seasonal menu and daily specials. a little rough on the wallet but oh so good.

spinach and ricotta-stuffed shells with meat sauce

2008-08-05T20:42:00.000-07:00

when i make a pasta dish i usually go for some kind of noodle and ladle a thick, rich sauce over it. but after the mac n cheese success, i decided to do a baked pasta dish this time. when i think "baked pasta," images of piping hot, oozing, cheesy lasagna and manticotti come to mind. i've made lots of successful lasagnas in the past so this time, i wanted to try a new technique: stuffing pasta.

for this recipe i wanted to develop a rich meat sauce that would coat and flavor a creamy, herb-laden filling in large pasta shells. let's see how it turned out.

i browned 1 lb of ground sirloin and defrosted and drained 1 small package of frozen chopped spinach. make sure not to overcook the beef or it'll become rubbery and grainy.

in the same pan, i poured off the excess grease from the ground beef and added 2 chopped onions and a few cloves of chopped garlic. this would then brown over low heat to caramelize the onions, creating a rich, sweet, oniony base for the pasta sauce.

once the onions were brown i added a few tablespoons of tomato paste to brown for a minute in the pan.

then a large can of crushed tomatoes was added to the pan, along with chopped fresh basil and thyme.

the sauce simmered for about 20 minutes to thicken it and develop and concentrate the flavors. the ground beef was then added to the pan to finish off the sauce.

while the sauce was simmering, i made a filling for the pasta shells by combining 2 cups of ricotta, the spinach, some chopped basil and thyme, salt, pepper, and an egg to help bind the ingredients together.

i then filled each cooked pasta shell with the mixture and arranged them in a large baking dish on a layer of meat sauce. the pasta shells were cooked to just barely "al dente" to keep the shells from going soggy in the baking process.

once the shells were filled and arranged, i covered the entire thing with the remaining meat sauce and grated parmesan cheese all over. this then went into a 400* oven for about 20-30 minutes.

as dinner was baking away, i popped open a bottle of cheap tj's chianti, a bold, fruity italian red wine that would go well with the hearty tomato sauce in this dish. decanting the wine in the new wine decanter that christien got me for my birthday helped mellow out the acidity a little bit and made it much more drinkable.

and voila! the pasta is ready and dinner is served!

the pasta filling was hot all the way through and the parmesan had melted over everything. i thought the presentation was pretty striking.

hearty meat and tomatoes dousing big pasta with creamy, colorful fillings. great visual appeal here.

and it also looked great plated on a deep white plate.

the sauce was rich from all the caramelization action from the ground beef, tomato paste, and soft, melty onions. this was a perfect foil for the creamy, cheesy ricotta filling, balanced out by the delicate flavors of thyme and basil. and being baked in the oven for a while ensured the dish stayed piping hot throughout dinner.

did this pass the test? a thumbs up from christien should do the trick.

baked pasta dishes can be very rewarding, both visually and gastronimically. but, i must admit, they're a pain to assemble from scratch. not only are you cooking everything from scratch, but you're also stuffing and arranging. but is it worth it? you betcha.

spanish tapas cookbook and dinner

2008-07-29T00:28:00.000-07:00

jen and dan picked out a great little spanish cookbook for my birthday present a couple months ago titled "classic spanish cooking: recipes for mastering the spanish kitchen" by elisabeth luard.

the cookbook is full of interesting recipes ranging from tapas to dessert and shellfish to legumes, covering pretty much the entire pantry. luard's writing style is unique; she describes cooking techniques that rely on common sense and observation versus measurements of capacity or time. for example, in preparing meat for skewers, she writes, "all the pieces should be neatly trimmed and no bigger than a baby's mouthful." or, when broiling shrimp in the shell, "the heat should be fierce enough to blacken the shells a little."

luard's cookbook reads much like a memoir of a spanish grandmother's cooking lessons, full of short stories and history but ever-focused on the good of the dish and whatever was in season and locally available. i found her recipes offer a sort of freedom, free of precise measurements and rigid structure you find in today's cookbooks, a sort of refreshing reminder that cooking is an art where you taste as you go and season by hand, not simply a scientific process to be followed.

there were many great-sounding recipes in here and i wanted to share them with a willing guinea crowd. so what better way than to invite jen and dan to our house for an evening of spanish tapas, featuring recipes from the cookbook they gave me!

dinner started a little later than i had anticipated. although i was only cooking for 5, i sorta miscalculated the time i needed to prepare the 6 tapas recipes i had picked out. that's 6 whole dishes made from scratch. that's a lot of cooking.

no matter. i sent out a small dish of setas a la parilla, or mushrooms grilled with garlic and parsley. i didn't have access to the type of mushrooms specified in the recipe (orange tear or saffron milk cap) and made do with small portabellos, grilled cap-side up on a grill pan until juices formed in the cap. garlic and parsley were added at the end just long enough to soften the flavors a little. i then chopped these up to top slices of baguette. along with some slices of manchego cheese and salted marcona almonds, it provided a nice first tapas. unfortunately i was too busy getting the other 5 tapas ready to take a picture.

a couple of wine glasses later, dinner was ready and we all sat down and started passing round the dishes.

a steaming-hot pot of almejas en vino de jerez, or clams in sherry, announced the beginning of our spanish tapas meal. the recipe was very simple and the flavors of garlic and fresh parsley blended beautifully with the dry sherry. i originally wanted to use black mussels here but the market was out of them. the manila clams were great though, with a slight hint of sweetness to their meat.

next was pisto de berejenas, or braised eggplants. this, while a little time intensive to make, was a hit, especially spread on crusty baguette swith warm slices of manchego cheese. another simple dish, i pan-fried diced eggplant with caramelized onions and a bit of cumin seed and salt and pepper. that's it. it takes time to caramelize the onions and fry the eggplant to a soft consistency. but when it's done... oh so good.

for this tapa, albondigas en salsa, or meatballs in tomato sauce, i recruited jen and dan's help to form the meatballs, a sort of pre-dinner entertainment. i've always read it's best to have something for guests to help with so they feel immediately at home and part of the action. so before jen and dan arrived, i had started the tomato sauce which was flavored with red peppers, sherry, bay leaf and cinnamon stick and let that simmer while i combined the meatball mixture which consisted of half ground beef, half ground pork, bread crumbs and egg, flavored mainly with onion, cumin, coriander, and parsley. after the meatballs were formed, they were then browned and finished off with a simmer in the tomato sauce. this was my favorite. the cumin and coriander in the meatballs coupled with the cinnamon and bay leaf in the sauce lent an exotic taste to the tender, moist meatballs. mmm.

the favorite of the nite, which surprised me, was a homey and hearty dish, arroz a la cubana, or cuban rice. this consisted of cooked risotta rice layered with a basic tomato sauce flavored with chile powder and allspice, caramelized plaintains, and 4 fried eggs. so simple, yet so good together.

about halfway through dinner, i got up from the table and fired up the stove one more time to quickly prepare this dish, gambas pilpil, or shrimp with garlic and chili. i wanted to keep it as hot as possible for serving, per luard's notes, hence waiting to cook until we were fully ready to eat it. i heated a good amount of olive oil and tossed in sliced garlic and whole, dried red chilies to season the oil with garlic essense and a huge amount of firey heat. the shelled shrimp took just a minute or two tossed in the hot oil to cook and that went quickly onto the table. everyone's first reaction? "whoa, that's got some bite!" indeed it did. the chili peppers had added a piquant zing to the shrimp that was quite memorable, but not hot enough to burn the tastebuds. fantastic. they disappeared in a couple minutes.

with all that salty savory-ness, we needed a contrast for dessert. jen and dan had brought a couple pints of excellent ice cream from bi-rite creamery, including roasted banana and the oh-so-tasty salted caramel.

and as if that wasn't enough, we enjoyed some baked treats from tartine bakery as well.

they also brought a fabulous spanish wine to wash everything down, a 2003 legaris reserva tinta fina (100% tempranillo) from the ribera del duero wine region in spain. smooth, ruby fruit and an elegant finish. highly recommended with the dishes prepared here.

thank you jen and dan for the thoughtful gift and a great nite of spanish tapas, wine, and friendship! we need to do it again soon...

dinner leftovers remix

2008-07-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

after the volley of cooking last week, i had quite a bit of leftovers that needed to be eaten before going bad. with ingredients and extras from my casero cremini stuffed pork chops, french chicken in a pot, and macaroni and cheese, i asked myself, what the hell am i gonna do with all this stuff? how am i gonna create a tasty dinner from tired leftovers? christien was quite skeptical. well check this out.

i chopped up leftover mushrooms and garlic from the pork chop recipe...

shredded the remaining thigh and leg meat from the chicken dinner...

and sauteed everything together with olive oil, some lemon juice, salt, pepper, and the leftover chicken sauce that had gelatinized in the fridge.

for a side salad, i combined some cherry tomatoes with the chopped queso casero from the pork chop dinner and tossed them with chopped fresh basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper.

the leftover macaroni and cheese just needed reheating in the microwave so when that was done, i plated everything up. quick and easy.

looks intentional and from scratch eh? the "chicken stir fry" was meaty, hearty and flavorful. the mushrooms and garlic gave the chicken a slight twist from the simple french chicken in a pot recipe and helped what little meat i had go further.

the "caprese salad" was fresh and light, a nice contrast to the heartier flavors of the chicken and mac n cheese. the casero doesn't quite have the same flavor as mozzerella would in this salad though.

the mac n cheese was good and cheesy of course. nothing had to be done to that.

everything went great together. and christien was quite impressed indeed and probably won't ever look down on leftovers the same way again. be creative and the only person who will know that was leftovers will be you.

macaroni and cheese

2008-06-26T22:40:00.000-07:00

mmm... mac n cheese. creamy, cheesey, gooey and salty, macaroni and cheese is one of the ultimate comfort foods. what better than to combat the cold damp fog than this recipe comes from a saveur magazine special edition issue, "classic american: comfort foods we crave." i follow the recipe exactly and here i'll illustrate it step by step.

a roux is created melting 6 T unsalted butter and stirring 6 T flour into it.

the roux is constantly stirred for 4 minutes over low heat until the flour is cooked.

3 3/4 cups hot milk is blended into the roux a 1/2 cup a time until the sauce thickens.

2 cups of grated cheddar cheese are stirred into the sauce until incorporated. i also seasoned it with some salt and pepper and a 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper for a little heat.

here's the finished sauce that i held on the stove while i prepped the macaroni.

once the macaroni has been cooked al dente, it's drained well but not rinsed. it's then combined with the cheese sauce and checked for seasoning.

i then start layering the casserole in a buttered dish beginning with a 1/2 cup grated cheddar, a 1/3 of the macaroni, cheese, macaroni, and so on.

a 1/2 cup of heavy cream is poured over the top.

2 T of butter are melted and combined with a 1/2 cup of bread crumbs and sprinkled over the top of the casserole. this then went into a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes to brown the top.

while that was going, i prepared a side dish of greens to help offset the richness of the mac n cheese. 3 cloves of chopped garlic went into olive oil to brown.

a bag of tj's rainbow chard is tossed into the pan and sauteed until wilted.

a cup of water is added to the pan and the lid goes on to steam and soften the chard for 10 mintues.

after 30 minutes, i noticed the crust still hadn't browned, so i cranked up the thermostat to 500 degrees for another 10 minutes. that definitely helped, as evidenced here.

time to plate. the mac n cheese is creamy and gooey inside with a nice browned crust on top.

the chard gets plated along with some mixed greens and grape tomatoes tossed in some balsamic vinaigrette.

wow. talk about cheesey. this version is extremely rich and gooey. great flavor. addicting quality. fortunately the acidity of the balsamic salad and the vegginess of the chard helped cut the richness nicely.

a bottle of beringer's white zinfandel also helped cut the richness of the cheese with its palate cleansing and almost effervescent quality.

as the mac n cheese cools, the cheese does start to curdle slightly and wasn't as creamy as i'd expected. i'd also probably switch from breadcrumbs to panko breadcrumbs to get a crispier topping. otherwise, this recipe makes for a pretty darn good classic mac n cheese, and definitely cured my craving for comfort food tonite.

french chicken in a pot

2008-06-25T22:12:00.000-07:00

a month ago i picked up a martha stewart enameled cast iron casserole from macy's. i've always wanted an entire set of le crueset pots, but they're quite pricey, easily $1,000 for a set of 6 pans. the martha stewart version seems comparable except that it's much less and has no lifetime warranty. oh well. until i can afford 'em, martha will have to do.

so to break in my new dutch oven, i looked for a recipe worthy of such an honor. flipping through one of my old cook's illustrated magazines, i came across "introducing french chicken in a pot." the author of the article goes through his trial and error process in detail and then the actual recipe follows. it sounded pretty good, especially when he writes, "the meat was incredibly tender and juicy, with a rich, soul-satisfying flavor." so i decided to take a trial run.

i first prep the vegetables: 1 chopped onion, 1 chopped leek (substituted for a stalk of celery), 5 whole cloves garlic, 1 bay leaf, and 1 t dried rosemary (substituted for a fresh rosemary sprig).

i rinse a 5 lb chicken and pat it dry with paper towels. the legs are trussed together with twine. salt and pepper seasons the chicken in and out.

a tablespoon of olive oil is heated in the dutch oven until smoking. the chicken is then placed in the pot breast side down to brown. the veggies are scattered around to brown as well.

after about 5 minutes, i flip the chicken over to brown the other side well.

after the chicken and veggies are nicely browned, a sheet of foil is spread over the pot and the lid goes on for a tight seal into a 250* oven until the breast registers 160* and the thigh 175*.

after 1.5 hrs, i took the chicken out. unfortnately i waited a bit too long; the breast registered 175* and it was a bit overcooked. hopefully the semi-braising method would keep the breast meat moist.

removing the chicken proved a bit difficult, as the meat was so tender the legs and wings were falling off as i lifted the chicken out. but i got it to the carving board to rest for 20 minutes while i strained the pot juices into a small saucepan and reduced it with some fresh lemon juice.

a quick saute of some green beans with lemon juice and a toss of fresh greens with balsamic vinaigrette and feta dished up the chicken and au jus.

the chicken ended up being pretty flavorful, tender and juicy. the breast meat was a bit overcooked and slightly dry as i thought due to overcooking, but it was quite tender and not stringy at all.

like the recipe author states, this is not a crispy-skinned chicken roast; the skin was soft and a little rubbery. but, there was a lot of flavor and the meat was very moist. for future iterations, i think i'll "beef" up flavor with the addition of other aromatic vegetables like celery and carrots and a couple of lemon wedges in the cavity of the chicken while it cooks.

all in all, a pretty good first use of my new enameled cast iron pot.

casero cremini stuffed pork chops with roasted potatoes and sauteed spinach

2008-06-24T21:49:00.000-07:00

for dinner tonite, i wanted to recreate something christien enjoyed at dinner a couple weeks ago at luna park. he had ordered the breaded pork cutlet stuffed with mushrooms and swiss cheese with mashed potatoes, green beans, and apple-cranberry sauce. i swung by lucky's and picked up ingredients that i thought would make something close to the original. so here it goes.

i started off with a half basket of cremini mushrooms, queso casero (a fresh mexican cheese that is briny and has the texture of firm ricotta), and a few sprigs of basil from the basil plant i bought from trader joe's.

these were chopped and combined in a bowl to serve as the stuffing for the chops.

i then sliced pockets into each of the pork loin chops to allow room for the stuffing.

and dijon mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper were combined into a marinade which coated the chops. the chops were then stuffed with the mushroom mixture, lightly dredged in panko breadcrumbs, and placed on a rack over a sheet pan.

this went into a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes until brown.

10 minutes earlier, i had also tossed some chopped red potatoes, garlic cloves, and red onions with olive oil, salt and pepper, and a bit of chili powder in a pan, and placed this into the oven to brown and crisp.

i also sauteed a bunch of spinach with garlic and olive oil and plated everything up with a drizzle balsamic-honey reduction.

looks hearty doesn't it? the chops were pretty good overall and the stuffing added some extra moisture and flavor. there was some room for improvement though. in order to get the panko crust to brown, they needed to stay longer in the oven which sort of dried out the chops a bit. fortunately the stuffing added some moisture, but i might look at using a cheese that melts more than the queso casera. i'd also chop the stuffing finer so it holds together better.

the potatoes were nicely roasted and seasoned, and the spinach was, well, spinach.

a couple glasses of babcock chardonnay nicely washed the potatoes and chops down, being crisp and slightly fruity. yum.

while the recipe needs some finessing, christien thought, "it was simply wonderful," and "it had a lot more meat and more stuffing than luna park's." good stuff.

mi tierra supermercado y taqueria

2008-06-22T22:14:00.000-07:00

on our way down beautiful and winding highway 1 to the monterey bay aquarium, christien and i were both in the mood for something really good to eat. i did some quick research on chow beforehand and found some suggestions on best places to eat in the area.

"You may want to choose places off the beaten path to avoid crowds. With that in mind: There are many many good taquerias in the Seaside and Marina areas which are just minutes away from the fairgrounds. Very casual (plastic chairs and tables, no table service) pero, la comida es muy autentico. Cruise Fremont and you'lll see. For quick bites, almost any Mexican market will have a small deli grill dispensing tortas, burritos and taco."

we drove up and down fremont street noting each tacqueria along the way and finally settled on mi tierra supermercado y taqueria, my land supermarket and taco stand.

with its long length and barrel-vaulted ceilings, the market looked like army barracks gone cinco de mayo.

inside, to the left, and all the way in the back by the produce section...

was a small "deli" with a couple of guys working the service counter. the tacqueria served up usual fare on its menu: tacos, burritos, tortas, and sopas. everything looked incredibly good, fresh, and cheap! i assume they benefit from having market-fresh meat and produce right there.

christien ordered his favorite, menudo, or beef tripe soup, which came with hot tortillas and garnishes for the soup. it was a beautiful red-orange color and had great body and flavor depth.

i ordered a torta de carnitas, a grilled roll with beans, carnitas (deep fried pork), avocado, lettuce, tomatoes, and salsa all slathered together into a toasty hot package. the meat was perfectly seasoned, tender, moist and extremely tasty and hearty.

we also shared tacos al pastor (bbq pork) and tacos carne asada (beef), both of which were delicious as well, but were a little skimpy on meat.

and a couple of large agua frescas washed the food down, papaya and horchata. the agua frescas here were very well made with fresh and strong flavors. highly recommended.

christien has been on a hunt for quality menudo ever since moving to california. i'm happy to report that mi tierra tacqueria's menudo ranked amongst the best he's had here, due to the caldo (broth) which was extremely rich and flavorful to begin with. the lime, cilantro, onions, and oregano that one usually adds to the soup to spice up the flavor weren't necessary to make the menudo taste good. but of course, he adds them anyway. this, he says, is how it's supposed to be and just like grandma makes it.

overall, a very, very good experience and i would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in taking a side trip from touristy monterey bay and sampling what authentic fare local latinos have access to in the area. don't expect tables and chairs, it's not that kind of scene. we were literally sitting right next to the apples and oranges. but if you're into food as much as i am, you'll know how to appreciate the food at mi tierra supermercado y taqueria.

iron chef america - battle garlic

2008-04-24T12:32:00.000-07:00

i'll admit, i'm not the biggest fan of the food network's iron chef america series. compared to the original japanese version, the american version just isn't as exotic in ingredient choice, inspiring in creative dish, nor as dramatic in action. i'm sure the fact that the japanese series being dubbed from a foreign language and the humor inherently "lost" in translation contributes to my love of the this version. but from what i've seen, the american version just doesn't measure up. it just turns out hokey. that, and i really don't care for bobby flay.

sitting here at home, flipping through the channels, i came across iron chef america - battle garlic, with iron chef mario battali versus san francisco's chris cosintino of incanto fame in noe valley. i put down the remote because i do respect batali and a recent trip to incanto over the holidays yielded an amazing holiday meal with christien. i was pretty curious how this battle would turn out.

the secret ingredient was garlic and the chefs were presented with a fantastic variety of them. 60 minutes and a flurry of activity later, here is what the chefs presented to the panel of judges (and i've tried to capture everything hereas accurately as possible):

chef chris cosentino's platings

crositini of ricotta w/baby rapini and rubbed garlic
sea scallop crudo with garlic
garlic pasta with sliced snails
garlic roasted squab with sauce royale and garlic flan (includes squab brain and other offals)
eighty clove braised pork belly and tripe chips
garlic infused honey mousse with garlic brittle

iron chef battali's platings

garlic bruschetta with lomo, branade stuffed picadillo pepper and tortilla espanola
garlic stuffed langostine wrapped in caul fat
cod with green garlic emulsion
hot sopa de ajo and cold gazpacho garlic soup with shaved lily bulb and orange
lamb chop with escalvida and garlic mojo zuchini blossom

both chefs put on a pretty good show, exhibiting some techniques i hadn't seen before. cosentino was definitely more rushed and seemed a little flustered with his sous chefs. baatali was just more comfortable and relaxed. understandable, given an unfamiliar kitchen. and 60 minutes goes by SO fast in the kitchen. at the end, even though cosentino garnered high originality points, iron chef batali won in taste and plating, 46 to 44.

i would've eaten any of those dishes. yum.

spaghetti and meatballs

2008-04-23T21:05:00.000-07:00

with all the fancy ethnic recipes i've featured here on wednesday nite dinner, i decided to do something very traditional and familiar to many, if not all, of us. may i present, spaghetti and meatballs! this recipe for italian meatballs is taken directly from the bible of all cookbooks, the joy of cooking, and is followed to the t.

i first prepped a batch of "quick tomato sauce" found on page 562, which includes softening a small minced onion in olive oil and then simmering 1 can of 28 ounce can whole tomatoes, 1/4 cup tomato paste, 1 t sugar, 1 t salt, and 2 t dried basil and oregano.

while that was simmering, i combined the following in a large mixing bowl: 1 pound ground beef, 1 minced garlic clove, 1/2 c chopped parsley, 1/2 c grated parmesan, 1 chopped onion, 1/2 c bread crumbs, 1 beaten egg, 2 T tomato paste, 1 t salt, 1/4 t black pepper, 1/2 t dried oregano.

careful not to overwork the mixture, as handling and compacting the meat too much makes for tough, chewy meatballs, i delicately formed eight 2" meatballs.

the meatballs were then dredged in flour and browned on all sides in olive oil. what i do recommend here is watching your heat level as the excess flour in the pan started to burn by the time the 2nd batch of meat balls were added.

once browned, the meatballs went into the tomato sauce to simmer and cook through. be careful when transferring the meatballs as they are quite heavy and have a tendancy to break apart in the process.

a pound of barilla spaghetti, drizzled with some good olive oil, make the base and 2 meatballs with with a scoopful of tomato sauce make the topper. for veggies, i halved a romaine heart and topped that with feta, balsamic, and olive oil.

this joy of cooking recipe yielded incredibly moist and flavorful meatballs and was surprisingly easy to make. there is a bit of prep time due to all the chopped ingredients, but you could easily cut down on time if you're okay with bottled pasta sauce. and considering we are all a bit short on time during the weeknights, that is a very good idea. just doctor up the sauce with some fresh italian parsley and chopped garlic. the flavorful, chunky meatballs will do the rest.

mango-tamarind baby back ribs

2008-04-10T15:34:00.000-07:00

there are few things more carnivorously satisfying than ripping tender, moist flesh from a rack of delicious ribs sucked dry of dark red bbq sauce. i'm sorry if you're pro-animal and for this graphic simile, but for the rest of us, nothing quiets that animalistic craving for red meat except for, well, red meat, and in this case, fresh off the bone.

take a look at the plethora of dedicated cookbooks, competitive showdowns on the food network, and the number of local smokehouse establishments in your area and you realize modern man has worked hard to emulate that perfect carnivoristic moment of gnawing tasty meat from bone through countless recipes and techniques for roasting those perfect, fall-off-the-bone barbequed ribs.

i love ribs like any other carnivore and yes, i'm the guy at the table next to you dipping the once-twice-cleaned bones in whatever bbq sauce is left on my plate only to suck it dry thrice. i've had many a good succulent rib as chewy, stuck-in-your-teeth ribs in my day and know the difference between the good and bad. the chef in me long ago decided to try my hand at the perfect rack of ribs but lacking a smoker and giant bbq in the backyard, i've only recently succeeded in finding techniques appropriate to the average kitchen in creating something closer to perfection.

while my first inclination is to keep my secrets to myself, i've decided i should share my developing recipe with you all. if you have any tips to improve my slightly less than perfect ribs, please post and we'll share in the millions we'll make when we sell the recipe to trader joe's.

i start my recipe with a dry rub vs. wet marinade. i know others use everything from soy sauce to beer and wine, but there's merit in the power of ground spices seasoning meat that is so successful in other cuisines like indian food. so here's my mix as it is now:

1 t salt
1 t fresh ground black pepper
1 t ground coriander
1 t cumin
1 t paprika
1/2 t cayenne
1/2 t cinnamon

mix this well and you have enough to season one rack of ribs.

the ribs are thoroughly rubbed with the spice mix and this sits in the fridge for a while to let the spices permeate the meat.

meanwhile, i start up the bbq sauce which requires extracting fresh pulp from a tamarind pod.

for those that have never encountered this before, you first crack and discard the shell (which is similar to a peanut shell) and place the solid pulp into a small saucepan with just enough water to cover. simmering the pulp for 10-15 min will allow you to scrape the softened pulp from the stringy, root-like structure and its seeds (which you both discard) and then disintegrate into the water creating a sweet and sour starter for the sauce.

i then add ketchup, unsweetened mango pulp, dark brown sugar, worcestshire, cayenne, and honey to the pot and simmer for 20-30 min to really develop the flavor and consistency.

the ribs themselves are popped into a 350* pre-heated oven, tightly covered with foil, and baked undisturbed until super tender for a couple of hours. i then fire up my propane grill, brush the ribs generously with the bbq sauce, and grill on both sides with several coats of sauce.

doing so develops a beautiful, crusty caramelization on the ribs.

to accompany this grrrrrrrreat meal, i whipped up some fluffy mashed red potatoes and christien sauteed some great mixed dark greens for those vitamins and omnivores in us.

the ribs are tender, juicy, and the meat slides right off the bone as you bite into it. the bbq sauce is tangy, tropical and spicy, with just the right amount of sweetness.

and to celebrate a fantastic meal, we broke open a bottle of montes alpha cab i recently scored, perfect to wash down bold bbq flavors leaving no trace of tongue-sticking tannins behind.

traditionalists may say ribs should be slow-cooked in a smoker or over fiery charcoal for hours. i'm sorry. i don't have that much time. a dual-step process in which you bake the ribs to tenderness in the oven, then fire up with sauce on an easy-to-use propane grill saves time and effort and mimics event the best tender and succulent but crackly flavorful and caramelized recipes out there.

anyone know someone in the trader joe's buying department?

my 100th post!

2008-02-29T18:39:00.000-08:00

didn't even realize it, but this entry marks my 100th wednesday nite dinner post! woo hoo! it's gotten tougher to keep up regular blogging over the past few months due to work and other priorities, but i'm happy to have made it thus far. and i have no intention of ending the blog anytime soon. cooking, dining and food in general are still my passions and that'll never change.

so to celebrate my 100th post, i thought, what better way to do that than to share a recent "wednesday nite dinner" that was basically a reprise of a dinner i cooked for a friend's "au revoir" almost 2 years ago on march 31, 2006. that evening, i prepared an elaborate vegetarian dinner for my friend, jenny chu, and 3 others as we wished her good luck and farewell as she embarked on a journey to beijing for work.

this dinner was months before i had even given interest in blogging and archiving my food adventures, let alone cook a gourmet meal for friends on a weeknite. interestingly, when i look back on photos from that night, they look identical to the wednesday nite dinner series i did for a few months at the end of 2006. here's a quick look at that evening...

the menu

table setting with platter of asiago zucchini and chinese eggplant frites

plated belgian endive, watercress, and red radish dressed in a sake wasabi vinaigrette

tower of portobello and truffled celery root puree with a red pepper balsalmic reduction, served with roasted mixed grape tomatoes with garlic and basil, and toasted pine nut couscous with thyme

it was a grand ole time and the food was great. and jenny felt that was the best vegetarian meal she's ever had in her life.

fast forward 23 months or so, jenny is back in the states, visiting friends and family for the chinese new year. one of the things she absolutely wanted to happen was to have me prepare her another vegetarian meal. and so this is what i came up with for a party of 3 that night.

1st course: broiled stack of eggplant and beefsteak tomatoes with aged gruyere

2nd course: hearts of romaine with crumbled feta and eggplant chips drizzled with balsamic and extra virgin olive oil

3rd course: soft parmasean polenta with vegetable ragout - a blend of zucchini, eggplant, roma tomatoes, mushrooms, sun-dried tomato tofu sausage, and port

a bottle of fruity and hearty old moon zinfandel from trader joe's rounded out the bold and acidic flavors in this meal. and for only $4.99 a bottle too.

while not as elaborate as the previous dinner, this turned out pretty well. and i still hold my position as one of the best vegetarian chefs, according to jenny.

jia jien jenny!

and thanks everyone for your support over the past year and a half. it's nice to know you guys still read this! and that definitely keeps me going...

dungeness crab dinner

2008-02-29T15:11:00.000-08:00

one of life's culinary pleasures is being invited to dinner at edmund's, well, at least in my life anyway. edmund is my buddy from bruin days and has a penchant for simple but good meals with a handful of friends at his house whenever he's back in town. what's so good about his dinners, you ask? well, they're casual and there's lots of good wine. edmund handles the main entrees while guests bring the sides, which makes for easy entertaining. he's also got this great, beautiful and big wooden dining table that accommodates everyone. anyway, whet this against your appetite...

arugula and mixed greens with a homemade lemon vinaigrette and candied walnuts (courtesty of lawrence)

fresh corn on the cob (courtesy of lawrence)

yummy garlic noodles (courtesy of anne the baker)

a pan-grilled steak for the turf diners

and for those who prefer surf... a few fresh, live dungeness crabs (imported this time due to the crappy crab season this year)

an edmund specialty, he leaves 2 crabs in a steam room for 10 minutes using an aromatic broth of ginger, peppercorns and other spices. *warning - if you're vegetarian or sympathetic to animals cooked for food, don't watch the following home video:

timer goes "riiiiiiinnngggg!!" and out come the bright orange crabs.

and viola! once the crabs have cooled a couple minutes, he leaves me to crab-crackin' duty, where i bust open the shell, rinse the innards, remove the gills, and crack the claws. here are two crabs plated for the table, sweet, succulent, tender meat and all. and if you've never tried it, you've gotta taste the savory crab roe and innards, quite a delicacy and deliciously high in cholesterol.

for dessert, anne the baker once again treats us to a special baked good. this time it's a berry surprise cheesecake tart (i think that's what it was called) and a quart of mitchell's strawberry ice cream. mmm...

creamy, fluffy, an amazingly crumbly sweet crust, and a surprise layer of macerated (?) berries in the middle. how the hell do you do it, anne?

while typically edmund will do these kind of dinners without occasion, it did happen to be his birthday (jan 16) and i thought it to be a very tasty occasion indeed.

happy birthday edmund!

panko-dijon crusted chicken with fingerling potatoes and tossed greens and feta

2008-01-09T23:29:00.000-08:00

another lesson in how to use up ingredients in your fridge. i had a packet of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, a bottle of dijon mustard, a bag of mixed greens and some fingerling potatoes.

searching the terms, "chicken" and "mustard" on chow, i found the following recipe. there was no way i could get my hands on dukkah to coat the chicken, so i found a packet of panko breadcrumbs in my pantry. perfect! always be willing to substitute. no one ever has all the ingredients needed, especially on a weeknight. if you're ever interested in doing some food substitution research, check out the cook's thesaurus.

anyway, what follows is inspired by the chow recipe.

i first whisked 2 T dijon with some olive oil and salt and pepper to form a thick vinagrette which would act as a "batter" for the panko breadcrumbs to adhere to. knowing the original recipe's breadcrumbs had a lot of spice and flavor, i added the following to the "batter:" 2 cloves of chopped garlic, a teaspoon of cumin and a teaspoon of ground coriander, which are two spices commonly found in mediterranean cuisine. (now that i look at the dukkah recipe, i'm realizing cumin and coriander are the main spices; i had correctly guessed it without even reading the recipe. cool!)

i then added 2 pounds of chicken thighs (about 7 thighs) and let it marinate while...

i preheated the oven to 400* and prepared a make-shift cooling rack on a sheet pan. the roasting rack works in a pinch but isn't nice and flat like a mesh cooling rack would be. oh well. it worked.

a batter line was then created to...

coat the chicken pieces in panko...

and line the rack. the elevated rack allows hot air to circulate completely around the chicken so that it browns and crisps all over, instead of having soggy bottoms.

this then went into the hot oven for 25 minutes. meanwhile, i prepared a package of tj's fingerling potatoes in the microwave (only 5 minutes, amazing) and prepared a simple salad of tossed greens, sliced red onions, feta and balsamic and evoo.

after the timer went off, the chicken needed some more time to brown, so while it stayed in the oven for another 8 minutes, i prepped a quick sauce per the chow recipe's directions using about a 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar and a tablespoon or so of honey. this was reduced over a med-low flame for about 10 minutes until thickened. be careful if you try this, reduce it too far to a thick syrup and you'll have a hell of a time scrubbing the pot. it thickens as it cools.

as you can see, the chicken browned quite nicely all over. i plated everything together and drizzled the balsamic reduction over the chicken...

amazing! it suddenly looks like tonkatsu, the japanese breaded pork cutlet!

a close up of the panko-dijon chicken thighs. panko creates a very crispy but light coating. the olive oil batter helped "fry" the panko here.

the fingerling potatoes are a little tart on their own. nothing a drizzle of good evoo and fresh cracked pepper didn't save.

ah. fresh greens with a little bit of tartness and the creaminess of feta cheese. perfect for offsetting the slightly oilier chicken.

and as for the chicken, it was incredibly moist and tender on the inside, yet crunch on the out. the sweet-tart balsamic reduction perfectly countered the spicy bitterness of the dijon.

wow. totally impressed myself with this one. crunchy goodness without the deep fried part. yes, i will be making this again, and yes, you should try it.

happy 2008!

2008-01-01T00:29:00.000-08:00

happy 2008 everyone! yes, it's 12:30 am on new year's day and i'm sitting in front of my computer. i'm sick with a cold and a nose that won't stop running, and christien is on my bed at the tail end of a bout with food poisoning.

needless to say, we didn't head out to enjoy the nite's festivities and instead had chinese take-out for dinner (salt & pepper pork chops, chinese broccoli with oyster sauce and yang chow fried rice) and enjoyed the radio countdown provided by 99.7. hope you were able to celebrate with something more tasty and festive! have a great new year's day!!

pork chops with braised raddichio and basil

2007-12-14T22:57:00.000-08:00

i decided to have a quiet friday nite at home this evening to help detox myself from a very busy yet satisfying and productive week at work. so how do i reward myself? by cooking up a good home meal. now some of you may find cooking a chore. especially if it involves anything more than two presses of a button on a microwave. listen to why i find cooking a pleasure.

when i cook, i usually don't follow a cookbook or recipe, unless it's a brand new technique i'm learning (like baking sweets or preparing fish - which i'm still not good at). this gives me freedom, creative freedom, to do whatever i want in the kitchen, relying on my learnt skills to guide me through the evening. i find chopping herbs and veggies oddly satisfying, methodical, and peaceful. i like how cooking allows me to use my senses in a completely different way then at work, combining smell, taste, sight and touch in every chop of the knife, flip of the pan, sizzle of the sauce. cooking in the kitchen is fun and exciting to me. perhaps it's because i feel confident and in charge in this domain, and even if i screw up, i can usually find a way to fix it. or i just dump it in the trash and start over.

this evening, i scoured my fridge and found a package of frozen pork chops, a bunch of basil starting to brown, half a head of raddichio from thanksgiving (a little soft but still good), and a package of butter lettuce mix. wanting to use up good ingredients before they went bad, i recalled an interesting "sauce" i tasted at perbacco months ago with chef paul. paul had ordered a roasted duck breast dish which had braised raddichio along with cippolline onions and roasted grapes served on the side. the braised raddichio had been wonderfully bitter and savory at the same time. i thought, that should taste great with pan-fried, smoky pork chops.

i knew how to braise cabbage, but in order to get that sweet, savory taste i knew i needed wine to deglaze the pan after frying the pork chops. alas, no cheap wine in the house, until i spotted the bottle of tawny port leftover from the turkey giblet port gravy i made 4 weeks ago. never really cooked with port before besides the gravy, but i figured it's the same basic technique. adventure! and so here we go...

i peeled away the outer, soft leaves of the raddichio head and thickly shredded the rest. several leaves of basil were washed and roughly chopped, and 2 cloves of garlic where sliced.

the pork chops, seasoned well with with salt and coarse grind black pepper (fine grind is for wussies), were pan-fried with olive oil and some of the garlic for about 4 min each side to medium. careful not to overcook or it'll get tough. some pink is a-ok.

the pork chops came out to rest on a plate, the rest of the garlic went in, and oh, about 1/2 a cup of port was poured into the pan, off the flame. after a billow of white, greasy smoke, i scraped the tasty browned bits off the bottom of the pan with my wooden spoon and allowed it to reduce almost all the way to burn off the alcohol and concentrate the sweet port notes.

the chopped raddichio went in with a stir, then the basil. a few pours of chicken broth followed, about 1/2 cup.

i let the raddichio braise in the liquid for a few minutes to mellow the bitter notes and blend the flavors. once it was nicely soft and brown, i tasted for salt and more pepper. it needed a slight sweet, acidic kick, so i added a splash of balsamic vinegar at the very end. perfect.

this braise then went over the pork chops acting as a rich, complex "sauce" for the chops.

a quick salad was made with a handful of the butter lettuce mix, drizzles of balsamic and olive oil, salt, pepper, and a couple small wedges of stilton to garnish.

can you say "awesome!?" it's my new word, thanks to becca. the sweet and slightly bitter raddichio paired wonderfully with the smoky chops, which were well-seasoned and still moist.

i made sure each bite i took had some of the raddichio braise on top of it. the only way to savor all the flavors in this rich yet surprisingly easy dish.

i impressed myself with this one. flavors were spot on and i was able to adapt a technique for a different ingredient. see? cooking is fun and very rewarding.

3rd annual sf thanksgiving

2007-12-04T21:23:00.000-08:00

having a theme really helps with planning your meal, from which recipes you choose to what wines you drink. and most people are attracted to themes. it helps pull things together. my 1st annual sf thanksgiving was all over the place; i had traditional mashed potatoes competing with sweet potatoes with goat cheese and cilantro. learning from that experience, last year i stuck to a southern theme which produced an soulful menu including cranberry-chestnut-sausage cornbread stuffing, buttermilk mashed potatoes, and hours-long stewed ham hocks and collard greens.

for my 3rd annual thanksgiving dinner in sf, i decided to give my menu a slight italian slant to it. while the turkey was my usual brined, honey-roasted affair, i tweaked the stuffing recipe to use sweet italian sausage and italian country bread, and traded fluffy mashed potatoes for rustic, smashed red potatoes with olive oil instead of milk and butter.

i felt most of this turned out pretty good. there were 12 of us total enjoying the feast and i received rave reviews for the turkey, stuffing, and red onion marmalade. yay! oh and 10 bottles of wine and champagne really helped. here was the menu for the evening:

hors d'ouevres
plate of port salami, parmesan wedge and baguette
roasted figs with proscuitto, stilton and pomegranate glaze
grilled shrimp with garlic, lemon and italian parsley

prosecco champagne toast
radicchio and arugula with roasted red onions, crispy pancetta and fresh parmesan

honey-roasted turkey served with port giblet gravy and Zuni red onion marmalade
cranberry-chestnut country bread stuffing with sweet italian chicken sausage
smashed red potatoes with garlic and thyme-infused olive oil
caramelized brussel sprouts and pearl onions with garlic and nutmeg

dessert
bustrengo (polenta and apple cake) with creme fraiche
nadeau late harvest zinfandel

some select pictures from the evening...

a quick and tasty starter. i marinated butterflied, shell-on shrimp in olive oil, garlic, chile flakes, italian parsley and lemon, then quickly grilled them in a grill pan for a couple of minutes.

the salad was a blend of raddichio and arugula leaves tossed in balsamic and olive oil, topped with roasted red onions, crispy pancetta, and a lot of fresh parmesan cheese.

the stuffing (my own recipe developed over the years) starts with browning a couple pounds of sweet italian sausage and sauteeing onions, celery and carrots, delgazing with white wine and creating a stew with chestnuts, cranberries, stock and herbs. the stew is then mixed with stale bread cubes and finished in the oven.

about 6 or 7 pounds of whole red potatoes went into a pot of cold salted water until they "fell off a fork." this was then mashed with olive oil infused with smashed garlic and thyme leaves. to make a chunky, rustic potatoes side dish.

the table setting for 12 included floor length white linens with an golden orange overlay, square plates with silverware from abbey rentals, 2 self-arranged floral centerpieces, an array of glassware and tealights, and chianti flasks for that slight italian feel.

shot of the potatoes and leslie getting a helping of the zuni red onion marmalade, a 3-hour concoction of red onions, honey, merlot, and herbs. way, way better than cranberry sauce.

the 13 lb turkey pre-roast. this was brined for several hours using a combination of alton brown and wolfgang puck's recipes.

i roasted it in a 500* oven for 30 minutes, then lowered the temperature to 350* for another 2 hours or so.

the chef presenting his masterpiece.

and the turkey plated.

amazing how the turkey disappears after you've carved it.

dessert brought the very dense and hearty bustrengo, a polenta and apple cake that also had figs and raisins mixed into it.

served with a dollop of creme fraiche and sips of the 2004 nadeau late harvest zinfandel from paso robles, it topped off a very hearty meal.

thank you to all the friends who made it to the dinner. it was a fun and delicious little trip over to italy. happy thanksgiving!

beijing day 1 & 2 lunch

2007-10-15T23:24:00.000-07:00

before i start blogging about my wonderful food adventures in china, just wanted to note that all the non-food-related posts (like sight seeing, night life, etc.) will be posted to my other blog, http://dimensionverve.blogspot.com/ whereas you'll find all the food-related stuff here. be sure to click on the hyperlinks here and there to get the full story. a lot happened on my 10-day trip to the motherland, so, happy reading...

beijing day 1 was mainly travel. the airplane food on ana airlines was pretty damn good. probably the best airplane food i've ever had. there was a little salmon sashimi with a vinegary salad, cold soba noodles with wasabi and dipping sauce, as well as a small piece of steamed salmon with japanese root vegetables. oh, and the 2 kirin beers and a chardonnay helped keep me relaxed while enjoying my upgraded seat on a very long flight.

so yes, food in china can be had for very little money and for very lots of yummy. after a relaxed morning at the lama temple, yonghegong, on day 2, a starved shimi and i went searching for lunch. we were strolling aimlessly down a side street full of tiny stores hawking incense and paper money for offerings at the temple...

when we stumbled upon a small doorway in front of which was a large metal cylinder with tall stacks of bamboo steamer baskets quietly spewing white steam...

that could mean only one thing: xiao long bao! with minimal hesitation (this was a hole in the wall joint and we still had 9 days to stomach after all; we had to avoid traveler's diarreah at all costs)...

we hopped up the stairs into a tiny room about 8' x 8'. there a lady in a red jacket stood furiously making little dumplings for the 8 or so locals having lunch.

so imagine, if you will, 2 chinese-americans, stepping foot into this obviously locals joint, not knowing how to speak mandarin nor able to read the menu. we had several stares. kinda funny. but we knew what the food was and we knew how to point and say basic things like liang ge (2 of them), pi jiu (beer), xie xie (thank you). as such shimi and i were rewarded with 2 baskets of dumplings, one xiao long bao, one gao ji (gyozas), and a couple of yanjing beers, a local light and refreshing chinese beer.

to eat the dumplings we dipped them into small dishes of soy sauce and chinese black vinegar with a little bit of grated pickled radish as a garnish. i don't know how to explain to you HOW GOOD these dumplings were.

a perfect ratio of meat to starchy wrapper, well-seasoned ground pork and spices, all piping hot and fresh from the steamer.

wow.

as we enjoyed the home-cooked food, we watched the lady roll out little balls of dough, likely a mixture of only rice flour and water, and flatten the edges with her rolling pin...

then place a small amount of pork filling in the center and gather up the edges around the filling to make a small dumpling which would go into the steamer, seam-side down.

she worked quickly and efficiently, taking orders from the steady stream of customers coming in, while barking soup noodle orders to the cook inside a kitchen in the back 3' x 6' (i kid you not).

we realized after watching what others were ordering, that the soup noodles were also popular. but looking at the menu hanging above us did nothing to help us figure out what to order.

but shimi knew a few basic chinese characters from learning congi in japanese (she's fluent), and i could recognize and spit out a few mandarin phrases, so we teamed up to order a bowl of noodles. no easy task, i'll tell you that much, a lot of guessing and elimination, but we finally got the lady to get us a bowl of pork and snow cabbage noodle soup.

o. m. g. what a reward. i mean, the dumplings were still the best, but after all that hard work, success never tasted sweeter. handmade noodles, made fresh next door that morning. clear and clean tasting pork broth. salty, stir-fried pork. salty and tart preserved snow cabbage. and a sprinkling of fresh scallions on top. let me say it again. oh...

my...

gawd.

but the best part? how much we paid at the end. all of our food came out to 25 kuai. divide that by 7 and you get about 3.5. that means lunch cost a total of US $3.50, or $1.75 a person. hm, let's see, 3 baskets of dumplings, a big bowl of noodles, 2 beers...
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9 days later shimi and i were still giggling over the amazing meal that cost us $1.75 a person. yummy. little money. if you're ever in china, be adventurous. the results are immensely satisfying, and tasty.

beijing trip preview

2007-10-03T18:19:00.000-07:00

ni hao from shanghai! i finally have internet access here at our hotel in the modern city of shanghai, a metropolitan port on the south eastern coast of china. my travelmates and i have spent the last 5 days in beijing seeing the sights like the great wall and the forbidden city, smelling the smells of the streets and the pollution, and of course, tasting the delicious food everywhere. it's been quite an experience and a culture shock to see so many chinese people in one place. and they can instantly tell i'm a foreigner, as evidenced by my poor chinese language skills.

but that hasn't stopped us from trying all the fantastic food available in beijing from different regional varieties in china. in our 5 days there we've had beijing, hakka, manchu, shanghai, and loads of street vendor cuisine. it's amazing what variety there is and people here LOVE food. it's not a necessity, it's a hobby. at literally all hours of the day you'll see people on the street munching on some snack, whether it be dumplings fresh from steamer baskets or skewers of meat and innards that have been braised in szechwan broth from the street vendor around the corner. it's a food lover's paradise i tell ya.

i don't have much time to blog while i'm here, but i'll be posting up a full report once i get back (and after i've gotten in a few more $14 full body 90-min massages at the upscale spa near my friend's apt). in the meantime, here's a few pictures to tide you over.

xiao long bao and dumplings from a hole-in-the-wall near lama temple.

"shrimp drowned in wine" literally. live baby shrimp in a bowl are covered with a cold wine sauce, "drowning" the shrimp until they become inactive. you then eat the shrimp, shell and all.

becca and i on a couple of the thousands of steps we climbed on the great wall. this was an awesome experience.

the famous snack street, wan fu jing, where the entire street is lined with vendors enticing you with their skewers and snacks grilled and fried to order.

bug skewers of crickets, scorpians, and some larvae looking thing. yes, this is a real picture. no, i did not try any. although becca dared me to try the fried larvae for 5 kuai (which equals about 70 cents, uh no).

fried soft shell crab on a stick!!!

a cook in the nan xiang steamed bun restaurant making xiao long bao, or steamed soup dumplings.

more to come... jia jin.

grilled swordfish and brown butter mango sauce with whole wheat fettuccine and green beans

2007-08-29T20:19:00.000-07:00

i had a lot of leftover pureed mango from the mango-tamarind bbq sauce i made for the baby back ribs at last weekend's bbq. determined not to let it go to waste, i decided to experiment with a mango-based sauce for the swordfish steak i was preparing tonite.

i did a quick search on chow for how other people create mango sauce and found this post. it calls for browned butter, mangos, coconut milk and lime. i didn't have coconut milk so i subbed with what i had available, non-fat milk (bleh, i know).

i first defrosted the swordfish steak, patted dry with a paper towel, and seasoned both sides with salt and pepper, which then went into a hot non-stick grill pan with a little olive oil.

and prepared a package of tj's whole wheat fettuccine according to directions to al dente.

a handful of blue lake green beans were trimmed and washed.

and they went into the grill pan after the swordfish had grilled for about 3-4 min each side. a little olive oil, salt and pepper were tossed with beans until they were softened and browned.

i then quickly made the sauce by melting 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat until it started to turn golden brown. you need to watch this carefully so the butter does not burn. a scorched taste will infiltrate the sauce if so. i then added about 1/3 cup of the mango puree (which was already sweetened) and then about a 1/4 cup of milk. a pinch of salt was added and then the juice of half a lime to balance out the sauce. i tasted the sauce several times, adjusting the quantities of each ingredient until it tasted damn good.

the plate was created by layering a bed of fettuccine, a handful of arugula, a splash of olive oil, the swordfish, a few green beans, and then drizzled the mango sauce over and around the whole dish.

the sauce was amazing by itself. nutty and buttery, sweet mango flavor but cut with the acidic lime and salt. i added some black pepper to kick it up a little. nicely balanced and it went great with noodles.

it tasted good with the fish, but the sweetness brought out the fishier flavor of swordfish, something that usually happens when you pair seafood and sweets together. (hence you rarely see such a combination.) i think the coconut milk would've toned down the sweetness a bit and the richness of it would blend better with the fish. guess i'll have to try that next time. otherwise, this was mm, mm good. and so easy to make.

pan-grilled steak with creamed corn and roasted carrots

2007-08-15T22:19:00.000-07:00

it's been a while since i've cooked steak. while i, and probably many of you out there, regard steak as somewhat of a special occasion food, it's amazingly well-suited to hungry and beat professionals who come home from a long day at work just dying to slave over preparations for a home-cooked meal.

ok maybe we aren't "dying to slave." but steak cooks amazingly fast and requires only the simplest of seasonings. pair it with a couple of vegetables and a starch, if you want, and voila! a $25 steak dinner is served. yes, steak can be amazingly inexpensive too.

when you're at the grocery store, look out for the max packs and specials. while these may not include the choicest cuts, have irregular bones and may contain more fat, they'll often be a pretty good value and is usually from the same quality sides of beef. they just don't look as pretty. of course if you're used to purchasing $14.99/pound rib-eyes, this post ain't for you. but honestly, cooked correctly, you really won't notice. especially after a long day at work and you're starving.

i fired up my trusty non-stick grill pan on med-high heat and added a light drizzle of olive oil. the steaks, salted and peppered on one side, went down on the grill, salt-peppered side down. i then sprinkled the top surface with more salt and pepper and let it grill for 4-5 min. i then flipped the steaks over and grilled for another 4-5 min. this gets you to medium doneness. i highly recommend using a timer with an alarm. steak cooks very quickly and can result in a slab of dry, grainy grossness if you don't mind it.

beforehand i had tossed a 1 lb bag of peeled baby carrots with olive oil, salt and pepper and tossed that in the toaster oven on broil to roast for about 20 min. roasting brings out the natural sweetness of the carrot and concentrates its flavor. this method, usually done in a regular oven for a longer period of time, works well for any root vegetable.

i also opened 2 cans of unsalted creamed corn and simmered that slowly in a saucepan over low heat with a pat of butter and salt and pepper. i know, i know. canned corn. not fresh. blah blah blah. hey, i'm a hungry, tired working professional. convenience is good sometimes. anyway, use low heat or the bottom of the corn will scorch.

to plate i placed the steak on a bed of arugula leaves alongside the corn and carrots. the heat and moisture from the steak helps wilt the arugula by the time you're ready to sit down and eat.

you can see the grill pan created a wonderful browned crust on the steak, full of flavor. a drizzle of excellent quality extra virgin olive oil on top of the steak gives it a grassy note and the peppery arugula picks up the pepper in the steak beautifully.

the carrots are sweet and tender, the creamed corn, buttery and sweet.

all this was done in about 20 min. and for about $11 for 2 steak entrees. so, busy professionals, toss out those microwavable frozen meals. you have no excuses anymore.

artichokes

2007-08-15T21:46:00.000-07:00

have you ever had an artichoke? i think most of you have, but for those of you who haven't, here's some interesting food and prep facts about the funky looking vegetable named, artichoke.

artichokes are the unopened flowers and stems of a large thistle in the sunflower family. edible portions include the base of the green leaves, the tender inner heart, and the base of the choke itself. its peak season is early summer.

select artichokes that squeak when you squeeze them and feel heavy and solid. apparently brown streaks and scars are a good sign of delectable nutty flavor. you can store them in a plastic bag in the fridge for up to a week.

prep artichokes by plunging them in cold water to dislodge debris trapped between the leaves. then slice off the top quarter with a chef's knife and trim off the stem. using kitchen shears, snip off the spiny tips of the leaves. if you want to avoid discoloration, rub cut surfaces with lemon or keep in a bowl of cold water with lemon juice.

here, i boiled 2 prepped artichokes in about 3" of water to which i added salt, pepper, rosemary, white vinegar, and some olive oil. total time in the covered pot was about 30-40 min. they're done when you can pluck an inner leaf easily and the leaf is tender in the mouth. i then split one in half, drizzled some olive oil, and popped both of them into the toaster oven with the broil setting on and roasted the artichokes for another 10 min until the tips began to brown.

to eat an artichoke you pick off the outer leaves one at a time, dip it in the accompanying sauce (classics include mayonnaise-based variants) and place it between your teeth. biting gently, pull the leaf away from your teeth, scraping off the meat.

as you make your way to the inner leaves, you'll notice they get more and more tender. once you arrive at the choke, a collection of fuzzy leaves, use a spoon to scrape off the fuzz.

what's the left is the tender and extremely delicious heart. i just dip it into the sauce and bite off tasty chunks. mmm...

a cool fact about artichokes is that eating it causes a chemical reaction in the mouth that makes other foods or beverages taste sweeter due to a compound called cynarine. therefore you should serve them on their own or with neutral foods like pasta.

i always wonder who the heck came up with the idea to eat an ugly looking thistle bud. and how he or she figured out how to eat it...

*the above post contains paraphrasing or exact copy from david joachim's brilliant food tips and cooking tricks and the cook's thesaurus.

smoked salmon and arugula on ciabatta

2007-08-15T21:24:00.000-07:00

take a loaf of trader joe's ciabatta bread, slice off a good portion and halve it, spread a layer of goat cheese on one half, drizzle olive oil and balsamic on the other, sprinkle some capers on the cheese, layer a few thin slices of smoked salmon over that, add a bed of arugula leaves, crack fresh black pepper over that, and cover the whole with thing with the top ciabatta half. badda bing badda boom. here's your freakin' sandwich...

peppery arugula picks up the fatty and rich salmon. capers give a nice burst of brine and goat cheese mellows out the entire thing. yum.

i always forget that sandwiches can be great, satisfying meals. even for wednesday nite dinner.

grilled salmon with roasted tomatoes and wild rice pilaf

2007-08-09T23:17:00.000-07:00

a trip to trader joe's always inspires. looking for something healthier and lighter to combat the heaviness and richness of eating out all last week, christien and i decided to go the fish route for sunday nite dinner. i picked up a couple of salmon fillets, a box of mixed small tomatoes, a package of wild rice pilaf, and some small artichokes.

i first prepped the artichokes by cutting off the top quarter and the stem and snipped off the spiky tips of the leaves with kitchen shears. this then went into a pot of water seasoned with salt, pepper, olive oil, distilled vinegar and a few sprigs of oregeno. sorry, no pic here.

i then washed the tomatoes and tossed them with a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. the roasting pan went into a 450 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

the rice pilaf was made according to package directions and left to steam on the stovetop for an extra 20 minutes

in the meatime, i prepped the fish by rinsing in cold water and patting dry with paper towels.

salt, pepper, paprika and lemon juice made up the seasonings.

the salmon went into a hot grill pan, skin side down, for about 8 minutes. i then flipped it to grill another 4 or 5 minutes until just cooked through. you want to avoid overcooking salmon as it gets dried out and tough easily if you don't watch it.

meanwhile the tomatoes came out to rest on the stovetop while i checked the artichokes.

in this method, the artichokes are done when you can easily pull an inner leaf from the choke and the leaf is soft and tender.

and voila! sunday nite dinner is served. first up, artichokes drizzled with olive oil and served with a ramekin of mayonnaise and paprika.

then the salmon on a bed of wilted argula (the heat from the fish wilts it) served with rice pilaf and roasted tomatoes.

the salmon was well seasoned and moist, due to cooking with the skin on; it keeps the juices in. the peppery arugula provides a nice counterpoint to the greasier fish. the tomatoes were savory and sweet, providing a lot of great acidity against the fish as well. the pilaf, unfortunately, was underwhelming. it was too mushy in texture and i didn't season it with enough salt. i'm not used to making pilafs. asian cooking just requires rice and water. nevertheless, the meal came out great overall.

for dessert, i picked up some medjool dates, removed the seed, and then stuffed it with goat cheese. the result is a creamy, sticky sweet, and subtly tart couple of bites of goodness. i first had this at samovar tea lounge a couple months ago and jumped at the opportunity to make them when i saw the medjool dates at trader joe's.

all in all, a very healthy and light-tasting meal. unfortunately, we still subcumbed to food coma due to very big portions. ah well. yum.

pork chile verde

2007-08-09T22:45:00.000-07:00

perusing the aisles of the new albertson's-turned-lucky's supermarket on a gloomy, foggy summer evening in daly city, i decided i wanted something pork and hearty for dinner (surprise, surprise). i seem to be into the mexican thing lately, so i picked up a package of boneless pork ribs, an onion, 2 carrots, and 2 small cans of salsa verde, a medium hot salsa made from tomatillos, to make pork chile verde.

in searching for a chile verde recipe, i came across many different versions and nothing that really appealed to me. so i decided to create my own based on what i've seen and tasted at mexican restaurants as well as my own culinary background. here's what i did.

i prepped ingredients by cutting the pork into 1" chunks, roughly chopping the onion and carrots, slicing a couple cloves of garlic, and chopping a small handful of fresh cilantro.

i seasoned the pork with salt and pepper and browned them in olive oil in 2 batches.

after getting a golden brown crust on the pork, i removed them to a plate to rest and added more olive oil to the pan.

the onions, garlic and carrots went in to saute for a few minutes until the onions started to soften. i then deglazed the pan with a bit of dry vermouth to loosen up all that browned goodness stuck on the bottom of the pan. this would richen the sauce greatly and add more depth and flavor.

the pork went back in along with the 2 cans of salsa verde. i brought this back up to a boil and then lowered the heat to very low so the stew could simmer for the next 1.5 hours.

i taste tested the chile verde a few times while simmering and realized the salsa verde i used was much too spicy and powerful. it was reducing and concentrating spices and flavor as moisture evaporated over the long simmer time. i had to add a half cup of water twice in order to get the stew to the right consistency and tame the spiciness a bit. once the pork had reached fork-tender texture, i removed the pot from the heat and set it aside while i prepped a wild rice pilaf and roasted some baby broccoli stalks in the toaster oven with some olive oil, salt and pepper.

this turned out great. the pork was flavorful, moist, and oh so tender. the carrots were sweet and soft, the onions had mostly melted into the sauce. i also sprinkled the chopped cilantro for garnish and a great kick of fresh green flavor. the chile verde itself was still pretty spicy, but bearable and really opened up the palate and appetite.

and as you can see, the pork had that "pulled" texture that only comes with long, slow cooking. mm... and besides the long simmer time, this dish is amazingly simple to make and so delicious and hearty to eat. expect pork chile verde to make my regular repitoire of recipes.

who needs no stinkin' recipe? if you know some basic cooking methods, you can apply them to any dish. be creative and fearless in the kitchen. good things result.

pork chops, onions and corn cobs: 3 ways

2007-08-09T21:38:00.000-07:00

i bought a "max pack" of pork chops, onions, green bell peppers, and sweet corn cobs to feed me through the week's lunches and dinners. as you may have noticed, i tend to make things in bulk so i can just reheat and eat on off-cooking nites. it's just easier that way and i've been way too busy and pooped lately to cook on a regular basis. in this post you'll see how i made 3 very different tasting meals from the same ingredients.

the pork chop marinade consisted of fresh oregeno, garlic, lime juice, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and olive oil, a preparation similar to the pork shoulder pernil dish that i love and cook so much.

for my first batch, i could only fit 2 of 4 chops i had prepped in my non-stick grill pan. i scattered half of the onions and peppers around the pan and grilled the chops for about 7 or 8 minutes on each side.

what i noticed immediately after flipping the chops the first time was that oregeno had burned way before the meat had begun to brown. not good. the last thing i wanted was charred herbs and undercooked meat. but i finished off the chops and plated with the onions, peppers, and corn cob.

it looks good, and tasted good for the most part, but there was a off-taste from the burnt marinade. the onions and peppers were great though, having caramelized and sweetened in the process. the corn was good and by the way, that's not a huge pat of butter, but a spoonful of sour cream sprinkled with paprika (thanks to jen for that tasty, less-caloric tip).

so for the 2nd batch, i decided to "roast" the chops in a hot oven in a small baking dish. my reasoning here was that this marinade tasted fantastic on a large pork shoulder roast like the pernil, so why shouldn't it work in this smaller application? at least i wouldn't get charred herbs and burnt taste. so i arranged the 2 remaining chops, onions and peppers in a shallow roasting dish and popped it in the oven at 400 degrees.

30 min later, the pork was cooked. but it was a ugly, dull, grey-looking piece of bleh. no nice roast-y crust formed and the texture, while moist, was mushy. the onions and peppers were limp and bland. bleh. i had to endure this for 2 meals. does this picture below look any different from before it was cooked??

determined to get the formula right, i tried a 3rd time later that week. this time, i decided to stick with the grill pan to get that tasty caramelization that makes grilled food so good and ditch any marinade ingredients that would burn quickly. i combined garlic, cumin, paprika, salt, pepper and olive oil, basically a spice rub, no fresh herbs. 2 chops went down into the pan with red onions tossed with olive oil, lime juice, salt, pepper and a little bit of cilantro.

this time the chops browned nicely and cooked through evenly. i also shortened the cooking time to 6 minutes per side. by the time they were done, the onions were browning nicely as well and still had a little crunch.

it looked great so i plated myself a hearty portion. the corn this time was served with a lime half and salt. mm...

this was by far the most successful chop in terms of flavor, color, and texture. nothing was charred, the meat was nicely browned, and it was still moist and tender inside.

lesson to be learned? if you're pan-grilling meat that needs time to cook through, like pork chops, avoid fresh herbs in the marinade that will burn quickly. stick to spice rubs or if you really want to use fresh herbs, use hardy ones that will stand up to the searing heat like rosemary. also, don't expect roasting methods for large chunks of meat that sit in the oven for hours at a time will translate to small cuts of meat. the caramelization process doesn't go any faster and that's what you want for flavor, color and texture.

a discussion on oil smoke points

2007-08-06T16:16:00.000-07:00

danielle: any idea what can be substituted for veggie oil
lawrence: what's the use for?
danielle: making banana bread (from a box) and it calls for it
lawrence: corn oil, canola
lawrence: BUTTER
lawrence: =D
lawrence: i think,
danielle: i can almost hear my arteries clogging
lawrence: that it calls for veggie oil because of its neutral flavor
lawrence: and not because of its high smoke point properties
danielle: hmmmm
lawrence: because you're baking, it won't matter that olive oil or butter have lower smoke points
danielle: what on earth does that mean?
danielle: im a new cook-er lawrence
danielle: :D
lawrence: smoke point
lawrence: when you heat oil over high heat
lawrence: the longer it takes for the oil to start smoking... aka start to burn... the higher the smoke point
danielle: ok
lawrence: so
lawrence: when you're stir-frying things at high heat temperatures
lawrence: you want to use an oil that has a high smoke point, so that you can get the temperature of the oil up really high so it cooks the ingredients quickly without burning the oil, which would make the dish taste bad
lawrence: chinese cooks use peanut oil to stir fry
lawrence: which has one of the highest smoke points
lawrence: and cause it also adds flavor to the dish
lawrence: if you were to use butter in a stirfry
danielle: i see
lawrence: the butter would've been completely burned by the time your veggies and meat start to cook
danielle: true
lawrence: and that'd add a charred flavor to your dish
danielle: but what about the banana bread?
danielle: is all that dirty bad for you oil my only option?
lawrence: which is why many cooks add olive oil to the butter when they want a buttery flavor but want to be able to cook at higher temps
lawrence: no
danielle: o i see
lawrence: what oil do you have at home
danielle: veggie
danielle: oliv
danielle: *olive
danielle: and i think canola
lawrence: uh
lawrence: but you said you wanted a sub for veggie oil
danielle: ya
danielle: bc i read the nutrition facts and it was BAD
lawrence: for veggie oil??
lawrence: vegetable oil is soybean oil
lawrence: it's 0 cholesterol
danielle: canola maybe? i dont remember
lawrence: anything can be subbed for veggie oil
lawrence: just depends on the use
lawrence: in yours,
lawrence: you can use canola, corn or olive oil
lawrence: although olive and corn will have a slightly stronger flavor
lawrence: how much oil are we talking about here?
danielle: not sure
danielle: i will have to look at the box when i get home today and report back
lawrence: can i post this convo on my blog?
danielle: are you joking?
lawrence: no

paella

2007-07-11T23:13:00.000-07:00

what goes better with good spanish wine than a good spanish paella? nothing that i know of. and so when i scored a couple bottles of good spanish wine from a tasting for an event i knew paella was the thing to make. i've never made paella before, so forgive me if this doesn't stick to tradition. but i find experimenting with ethnic dishes all the more fun when you just go with the flow.

i started off by browning 6 chicken legs in the rendered fat of a few strips of bacon.

danna, who joined me for diner, helped out by shelling a pound of shrimp.

i used 31/40 count shrimp for this because that's what i had in the freezer. i recommend using larger shrimp because they shrink considerably in the oven.

after browning, the chicken and bacon are lifted and drained on paper towels and 1 chopped white onion and a 1/2 pound of ground chorizo goes in to brown.

a cup of aboria (short grain risotta) rice is added and toasted in the oil for a minute.

a teaspoon of saffron threads is crushed and added to the rice. saffron threads are the stigma stems of the crocus sativus flower. the world's most expensive spice, it takes over 200,000 stigmas to make a pound of saffron.

a couple cups of chicken broth are added to the rice mixture and then the chicken and bacon go back in. a pound of clams, and a pound of bay scallops (the little ones) are added and mixed.

the bacon tops the pan and the whole thing pops into a 350* oven with a tight lid for about 45 min.

halfway through, you'll want to tuck the raw shrimp in. the later add time is to ensure the shrimp doesn't get overcooked. after the clams opened and the rice was cooked, i took the pan out and topped it all with fresh cilantro.

you'll see that the clams have all opened and the shrimp are nice and orange-pink (although a little overcooked to my tastes).

i used a 12" saute pan for this instead of a paella pan. the recipe makes more than enough food for... well, let's just say i had enough for lunch and dinner for a week. but unfortunately, with such a thick layer of rice, i didn't get the nicely toasted layer that many paella-eating revelers enjoy.

but the paella was very well seasoned and the seafood great. i would reconsider using so much bacon alongside the chroizo next time since it was a little too smoky. but other than that, i'd say this was a pretty good first paella.

how do you do paella??

how clean is your corn?

2007-07-02T22:31:00.002-07:00

2 years ago at a bday bbq, i engaged in a contest with my friend, janelle. the contest was to see who could finish his/her cob of corn the fastest and cleanest. we're talking about every last kernel picked off the cob. i went in my usual typewriter fashion. janelle curiously chewed on the cob vertically. after about a minute, janelle emerged victorious. sad. i never lose.

how do you eat your corn? is it picked clean? or are there sloppy scraps and broken kernels all over the cob?

janelle says, "there's only one way to eat corn. and it should look like this..."

"any other way, and it's not respecting the corn."

amen, sistah.

cafe lo cubano

2007-06-21T22:55:00.000-07:00

cafe lo cubano is one of my favorite cafes in the city right now because 1) it's comfortable and there's a good amount of seating, 2) there's free wifi, and 3) it's got friendly staffers and tasty food and drinks. what more can you ask for?

my first visit to lo cubano was a drink-only affair. starving this time, i tried their havana chicken sandwich which is grilled chicken breast, plantains, and homemade cilantro aioli on cuban bread pressed in a panini grill.

the plantains were unexpected and totally made the dish, being a sweet and sticky compliment to the chicken. the cilantro wasn't overpowering and added just enough moisture to the bread. very well done and only 7.50.

i subbed a house salad for an additional 1.50 which was very fresh mixed greens, corn, goat cheese and walnuts lightly dressed. i'm not sure how this was "cuban" but it worked for me.

a tall glass of iced chai latte washed this all down as i caught up on my blogs with the free wifi. a much better way to spend the evening instead of passed out from a whirlwind weekend.

summer herb linguine with grilled garlic shrimp

2007-06-19T22:44:00.001-07:00

sometimes, the simplest preparation yields the freshest and best tasting dish. with summer cranking up many chefs will shy away from fussy, complex dishes drowned in fancy sauces and instead take advantage of the ripe, fresh produce available this season and let those flavors shine through on their own. this method, popular in california-mediterranean cooking, highlights things like fresh herbs and lightly cooked seafood, among other things. and it's certainly easier and simpler on the home cook!

this recipe is adapted from the book easy entertaining. i pretty much follow it to the T, but added a couple other things i had lying in the fridge that needed using. what's great about this style of cooking is that you can pretty much sub anything, so long as it's fresh. so here we go.

i first prepared a pound of linguine according to package directions. i tend to like barilla because it's usually on sale and i like their packaging. haha. anyway, make sure you moderately salt the water to season the linguine properly.

while that was going i thawed and shelled about 1 pound shrimp, 31/40 count. feel free to use larger shrimp if that's what's available and is inexpensive. i then combined it with 2 cloves minced garlic, a couple dashes of red pepper flakes, 1 T olive oil, and salt and pepper.

once mixed, the shrimp went onto a hot grill pan (make sure you use non-stick) for a couple minutes per side or until golden brown. don't overcook. doing so will result in rubbery meat. this should be the finished result. perfectly cooked shrimp should have a bright, spongy-firm texture.

as that cooked, i prepped a bunch of herbs and such to be tossed in with the linguine. 1 T fresh chopped rosemary, 1/4 white onion thinly sliced (red onion would be better but i didn't have one), 2 T chopped italian parsley, 1 T minced mint, and a package of arugula hand torn.

once the pasta is cooked al dente and drained, return it to the warm pot, add 1/4 cup good extra olive oil (yes, use the expensive green-tasting stuff. it's worth it.), season with salt and pepper, then toss with all the herbs.

after the shrimp come off the grill, slice a juicy lemon into sixths and grill directly on the hot pan until browned.

plate a couple tongs of pasta with some grilled shrimp and garnish with a lemon wedge. voila!

looks light and fresh doesn't it? it's also very tasty and all the flavors complement nicely.

when cooking with just warm olive oil as the "sauce," i cannot stress how important it is to have high quality extra virgin olive oil. this stuff is not to be used as a cooking oil, but in dressings, pesto, or simply tossed with pasta. you want something with a great green aroma and taste. last year fran and ali surprised me with a huge 5 liter can of oleificio andreassi "del poggio" extra virgin olive oil.

this stuff is wow. italian import only, very high price point, and just wow. if you can get your hands on this stuff, i highly recommend.

anyway, this recipe yielded 4 more servings. guess what i'm having for lunch and dinner the next few couple of days? and i'm not complaining...

time for sharing! what's your go-to summer dish? leave a comment below...

what's up dog!?

2007-06-18T22:27:00.000-07:00

when i'm hungry at lunch, the last thing i think about getting is a hot dog. it just doesn't sound filling nor appetizing to me. but what's up dog capitalizes on financial district salaries by serving up 3 to 6 dollar gourmet links on warm, toasted buns. with special toppings, a side, and a soda, you wind up shelling out 7 or 8 buckaroos. for hot dogs.

but i must admit, what's up dogs are pretty damn good. and filling. last friday, i met up jared, my roommate, at the location on howard and and beale, for a chicken linguica sausage topped with mustard, mayo, onions and sauerkraut.

onion rings and a lipton iced tea rounded off the meal under a hot sf sun.

ah yes. stuffed to the brim on a hot dog. who knew? thank gawd i had a few blocks to walk the dog off.

quickly daly city

2007-06-18T22:09:00.000-07:00

sometimes, when i've been eating healthy, i get cravings for bad food. sometimes, i just want fried chicken.

so last week, i indulged. popcorn fried chicken and a pudding milk tea from quickly, an asian tea house serving popular boba milk teas and snack foods.

my partner in fried food crime, ellington, opted for fried calamari and almond milk tea.

fried chicken craving cured.

just for you cafe

2007-06-18T21:58:00.000-07:00

good, inexpensive, homely brunch places are hard to come by. brunch seems to be a hot trend these days and you find more and more nice restaurants developing brunch menus for the weekend. the problem i find is these restaurants end up charging ridiculous amounts of money for brunch items. eggs benedict for 12 dollars?? i could make that for 3. send me your money.

but, brunch is popular and i do enjoy being able to eat a hearty breakfast-ish meal on my schedule of a 11am wake up call. my current favorite brunch place is mabel's just for you cafe, a very small, kinda dingy joint located in the quiet, developing neighborhood called the dog patch. the wait can be lengthy, up to 20-3o min at peak time, and don't expect much elbow space when you do sit. but you're here for the hearty, homey food and friendly service.

and the beignets! omg. after picking up my college friend, jenny, from the beacon, we sat down to a hot plate of beignets, freshly-fried square donuts dusted with powdered sugar and posessing notes of rum in the dough. a pool of rich syrup rounds it out. 3 for 4 dollars. worth every penny. do not leave here without eating beignets. order it as soon as you sit down.

jenny ordered the vegetarian fritatta, a slow-cooked open-faced omelette with various vegetables and cheese. house potatoes and biscuits were on the side

i had my usual, greg's scramble with chorizo, grits and cornbread. the scramble consists of 3 perfectly scrambled eggs, spinach, onions, and parmesean cheese, with your choice of meat. so good. the grits i get mainly because i never see grits on the menu elsewhere. and it feels healthier than a spoonful of roasted potatoes. the cornbread, i never finish. just way too big. but great with butter. about 8 buckaroos.

the service is quick and friendly, total neighborhood feel. to me it's distinctly san franciscan. you'd think with all the business they get from all over the city they'd consider expanding or rennovating to be like those other brunch joints. but just for you cafe's charm is exactly that old, friendly neighbor that will lend you a cup of sugar if you asked nicely. i don't want it to change, ever.

mcdonald's

2007-06-13T00:16:00.000-07:00

big mac combo. yes. yum.

i don't eat it often. but oh how good it tastes when i do.

genki ramen

2007-06-11T23:11:00.001-07:00

what do you think of when you hear the word ramen? my idea of ramen is a small plastic package of dried, squiggly instant noodles with a small foil envelope of spice and msg. appetizing, eh?

it wasn't until i vacationed in the land of the rising sun 10 years ago that i encountered what ramen can be: steaming hot, soulful goodness. my friend and i entered a tent coming off the side of a van parked on the street at 2am, one of several such ramen street tents that litter tokyo avenues late nite catering to intoxicated kareoke bar revelers. the broth is rich and intense, the noodles slightly chewy, the toppings simple and perfect. and let me not forget, cheap!

since then i have really struggled to find a similar experience in the states. there were a couple of ramen houses in west la's sawtelle corridor, a small neighborhood of authentic japanese restaurants and shops, that were good. another place in the south bay, torrance i believe, was the reputed ramen leader of la. but nothin really compares to authentic street food.

over the years i laid to rest this vain search, never really craving ramen anymore. i still don't. but a hollow stomach will do wonders for a discerning appetite and so my friend cameron and i stumbled into a new japanese restaurant cutely called genki (happy) ramen on geary st at 4th in the richmond.

genki ramen's use of dark woods and a grid ceiling gives it a modern vibe. flat screen tv's line the bare walls like live picture frames, showcasing gleaming j-pop music videos.

the tablesetting was decidedly minimalistic but high style. the big menu sported fantastic, almost artsy, pictures of each dish. and everything was spelled properly!!

we started with an order of cha-shu, thinly sliced pork tenderloin that has been soy-marinated and perfectly roasted. at 6 salami-thin medallions for 5 dollars, it wasn't cheap. but the pork was very, very tasty, had a thin swirl of juicy fat, and was excellent for perking up the tastbuds. it'd get lost in a sea of ramen broth though.

we also shared a small order of agedashi tofu. the batter was a lightly fried, thin coating and the tofu was nicely firm. the broth was carefully seasoned, not too briny, not too sweet. the whole thing was topped off with bonito flakes, shavings of dried fish fillet. another 5 bucks or so. very well executed.

cameron ordered shrimp tempura ramen, which you see below. i would've included a picture of my dish, ramen with chicken karage (fried chicken), but my camera phone doesn't take low light pictures very well and my dish came out blurry. anyway, the pork broth was rich, well-seasoned, and not too fatty. noodles were a little overcooked, but the addition of corn, thinly sliced scallions and bean sprouts to the broth were great textural points. the fried, dark meat chicken was crunchy and pleasantly salty. at under $8-9 a bowl, this was rather good.

what's interesting is the head-to-toe stainless steel kitchen residing behind a glass wall, allowing you to see the ramen chef in action. it's definitely worth a check, because you'll find equipment that only a ramen house would have. it's also kinda fun and voyeristic. this picture almost reminds me of tokyo ramen tents.

all in all, i really liked genki ramen. everything was well executed and flavors seem carefully developed, auspicious signs of a successful start. but only time will tell. as competition heats up (there's a lot of choices on geary at very competitive prices) and as the restaurant gets comfortable and possibly complacent, it may deterioate into one of the many other deadbeat ethnic restaurants littering the richmond district. but for the moment, it seems quite genki to me.

tartine bakery

2007-06-11T22:38:00.001-07:00

i've heard a lot about tartine bakery. everyone in sf who knows of it seemingly has nothing but raves for it. i've wanted to try it for some time now, but never could "stumble" across it. little did i know it sits quite close to dolores park, a park i frequent enough to regret not having come across tartine earlier.

it occupies the corner store at guerrero and 18th in the busy, parking-gods-hate-you mission district. it's pretty non-descript and i never realized it was the famous bakery, instead mistaking it for a laundrymat whilst whizzing by looking for a damn parking spot.

this past sunday danna and i headed to tartine after a relaxing afternoon of sun and red balloons in the park for a little snack. we both had a savory gougere filled with gruyere cheese and fresh herbs and shared a delicate lemon cream tart.

a gougere is basically a cream puff. this version happened to have cheese and herbs baked into it. it was pretty good. light and fluffy all around.

but where tartine shined for me was in the lemon cream tart. the lemon cream was perfectly light in consistency and very lemony without being overly tart. the crust was also perfectly baked, no undercooked spots and a buttery flavor. the unsweetened whipped cream cut the sweet and tartness perfectly too. ok fine, it was perfect. mmm...

now i understand why there's consistently a line out the door for this place. although they could vastly improve their processes to serve people faster. there's a total hold up at the register. oh well.

what do you think of tartine? and what should i try next time i head in there?

pre-dinner munchies

2007-06-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

there's little better than a slice of sopressata and a wedge of parmesean on a torn piece of warm french bread fresh from the bakery oven.

oh. and a couple of garlic stuffed olives.

what's your favorite pre-dinner snack?

fog city diner and que syrah

2007-06-06T22:07:00.000-07:00

do you have a friend that you dine with whom you always end up spending a fortune on one evening's meal? that person for me is danna.

we always seem to end up with a bill of $80 - 100. now i'm not complaining. danna is great company and we both now how to appreciate good food. but damn, girl! my wallet is thinning at the temples. (she remarked the same to me.)

i like fog city diner. it's got that classy, old school feel. everytime i'm in there i feel i should be hanging my bowler hat and cane umbrella on the brass hook before sliding into the tight, dark wood booths. service is always friendly and attentive. food is tasty and well done.

i've been to fog city diner 3 times now. i will say this last time, while good, was a bit overloaded on the salt factor. everything was a bit too salty. but we still had a grand time.

whole clam and roasted sweet corn chowder. lightly creamy, good clam flavor, lots of fresh roasted corn sliced off the cob. 9.95

oysters "jackpot" baked with dungeness crab, pancetta and cheddar. smallish, but good. i rarely eat baked oysters, preferring raw, but this was a tasty combo. the mixed greens bed was oversalted though. 12.95

veal parmagiana with angel hair pasta and wild mushroom sauce. veal wasn't as tender as it should've been and the sauce was overly salty. disappointing. it could've been amazing. 19.95

marinated hanger steak with wild mushrooms and sweet corn ragout. we subbed the "amazing" truffle fries with asiago for the mashed potatoes. o. m. g. we made the waitress take the plate of leftover fries away at the end. we couldn't stop eating them. 19.95

we made room, nay, forced room, for dessert. apple crumble with vanilla bean ice cream. great together, although the apples were a little tart by themselves. it wasn't as tender as it should've been either. 8.00

we headed to a wine bar in west portal afterwards called que syrah. cute little place, dark and somewhat cozy, but they could improve the environment a little more. it felt a little unfinished and imparted a more homey vs sophisticated feel. not many wines by the glass. more geared towards bottle selection.

i did a flight of pinot noirs. 16. i liked the 2nd glass the best, a 2005 russian river valley. the others were too thin or too big.

i'd go again but there are other wine bars with more bang for the "experience."

thanks danna for a fun friday nite!

samovar tea lounge

2007-06-06T21:20:00.000-07:00

andre, a collegue i worked with earlier this year, invited me out for lunch today and suggested the samovar tea lounge in the yerba buena gardens downtown.

as luck would have it, it was a gorgeous day. after 2 weeks of horrible, misting fog in the city and daly city, the weather today was like manna from heaven. the view from our patio table today...

definitely gotta soak it up while you can.

samovar specializes in freshly brewed teas from around the world and offers food pairings with some of them. this was new to me. i typically don't associate tea with "pairing." my mind thinks more of dim sum and how ridiculous it was to me when my aunt would ask for a cup of hot tea on a 100*+ day in LA.

but i have had good tea before and can taste the difference. samovar's menu is fantastic. it's like reading a wine list with descriptors for each blend. i took andre's advice and went for the moorish tasting at $17. he went for the american at $14.

the tea arrives first. mine is a moorish mint tea, piping hot, with a small vessel of dark simple syrup on a small tray. andre's is an herbal iced tea accompanied by some rustic looking trail mix.

the mint tea is well brewed, not bitter, and pleasantly minty and complex. the addition of the syrup makes it very refreshing, even on a hot day. go figure, aunty.

the food arrives next. my rustic tin tray holds grilled halloumi kebabs and mint salad, dolmas and olives, and medjool dates stuffed with goat cheese and a candied walnut.

halloumi is a crumbly cheese from Cyprus, a cross of feta flavor and mozzarella texture, and takes well to grilling. it was great with the cippolini onions and the minty salad. the dolmas were good too. but wow, those goat cheese dates were amazing. i will have to remember that for my next hors d'ouevres party! and all 3 paired perfectly with the moorish mint tea.

andre's tofu burger had a house-made patty that looked complex in ingredients and soft-textured vs the typical hard, grainy veggieburger patty i'm used to seeing. andre said samovar's version is a favorite.

he also had a delicious looking chocolate cupcake alongside.

service is fine and polite. portions, while on the smaller side, are adequately satisfying. presentation is exquisite and feels upper-crust. great place to sit back, relax, and sip on fine teas in the gorgeous and rare city sun. i highly recommend. thanks andre!

what the heck is that??

2007-05-29T23:02:00.000-07:00

any idea what this is? leave your comments below. bonus points if you know the name and preparation. =)

mmm... tasty.

brother's korean restaurant #1

2007-05-27T23:04:00.000-07:00

brother's korean restaurant is a popular and well-known joint in the richmond district on geary between 5th and 6th avenues. there are apparently 2 on the same block, and this is the dingy, older, original one. it serves korean bbq, cooked at your table or in the back, as well as pan-fried dishes and stews. the draw here is the use of real wood charcoal for the in-table grill instead of the natural gas fixtures found in most modern korean bbq restaurants, high-end and hole-in-the-walls alike.

there is the age-old argument that charcoal-grilled foods, especially real wood charcoal, ultimately taste superior to gas- and propane-seared meats and veggies, an argument i tend to agree with, but one i will concede when you take into account ease of use and cleanup. in this situation, does it actually effect discernable difference in the meat? or is it all for gimmick and show?

the meat at brother's is also purpotedly one of the best in the city. well tonite scott and i put it to the test. well, maybe just me. he was just there to eat.

a few minutes after we order, the waitress brings out the panchan, 10 to be exact! it's a pretty good assortment with very pungent and ripe daikon radish kimchee, tasty dried anchovies, and good spicy fish cake. the cabbage kimchee, however, was just so so, as were the limp bean sprouts and tired-looking seaweed salad.

what was unexpected for me was that kim, rectangular sheets of dried, salted roasted seaweed, was served along with the usual lettuce leaves. nice alternative to wrapping your grilled meats in the lettuce.

we ordered 2 meats to grill at our table (minimum of 2 meat orders are required to use the grill tables. otherwise, you sit at a non-grill table). at the top of the picture is kalbi, or marinated short ribs. it was a little salty but had good flavor and was slightly sweet. unfortunately the meat got dry with cooking, due to being sliced rather thinly. at nicer bbq joints the ribeye meat is at about a 1/2" thick, which results in juicier, tender cuts of fat-rich beef when grilled. these were more like 1/8" to 1/4" and dried out too quickly. the kalbi cost 22.95 an order, which seemed to be a little skimpy to me size-wise.

the 2nd meat, daeji bulgogi, is thinly sliced pork doused in spicy red marinade, shown at the bottom of the picture. this cut is supposed to be thin, so the pork cooks quickly on the grill, the marinade keeping it moist and flavorful. however, the marinade wasn't spicy enough, was on the salty side, and seemed to turn chalky as the meat grilled. the daeji bulgogi cost 18.95 a plate.

true to form with korean restaurant hospitality, a complimentary clay pot of jigae, or stew, was provided. this was soon du bu, or soft tofu soup. the soon du bu had excellent concentrated flavor in the thickened broth, a sign of unhurried simmering, very soft tofu, lots of zucchnini, but only 1 clam. it did make me wanna go back and try their jigaes on a future visit.

i've found these restaurants tend to serve a small bowl of cold sweetened rice broth at the end of your meal. it's a great, simple palate cleanser after a heavy meal of grease and spice. brother's version was very good, concentrated in flavor and well balanced.

the wood charcoal was blazing hot and once the grate got hot, grilled the food quickly. no control of flame here though. there was no sputtering of grease landing on the charcoal, nor did it seem too smokey. hood vents above the tables seemed adequate, as there wasn't a thick haze of greasy, grey smoke hovering in the air like most korean bbq places. upon leaving the restaurant though, both scott and i had the tell-tale carnivorous odor clinging to our clothes, skin and hair, which took two days of airing out.

the service here is adequate. 45 + tip for 2 people left us completely sutffed, but oddly i felt the portion sizes were slightly smaller than typical.

so the wood charcoal definitely has the cool factor, since a waiter hauls out a tin box bulging at the seams with glowing coals from the kitchen to your table into the grill box. but i will say i can't tell a major difference between charcoal and gas grilling in this application. maybe if we allowed the meats to char longer, but being sliced so thinly, you really can't do that the way you'd let a fat ribeye steak sit on the searing grill for 8 min a side. so in this instance, i'm inclined to say the charcoal is more for show.

in summary, brother's korean restaurant does an average job of delivering on the basics of korean bbq, with the added pizazz of wood charcoal. panchan is hit and miss and meats are just ok. i would go back to try their pan-fried dishes and jigaes (stews) based on how well they developed flavors in the soon du bu. perhaps it is its popularity amongst the younger asian crowd and knowledgable non-asian diners that keep it at the top of the list for so many. while i'd go again, for lack of adequate korean food joints in sf, i'd rather save my appetite for the soulful hole-in-the-walls of LA's k-town.

asian slaw

2007-05-24T21:08:00.000-07:00

andrea was looking for a different take on a bbq salad. i suggested the asian slaw i made for my bbq in LA last month.

this recipe comes from dave lieberman's young and hungry cookbook, one of my most well-worn and food-splotched titles. the slaw is sweet, tart and gingery, while fresh and crisp at the same time. plus it's extremely easy to make if you have a food processor. or a sharp knife will do.

finely shred or lightly process the following:
1 head green cabbage
1/2 head red cabbage
3-4 carrots
1 red onion

toss the above in a large bowl and add 1 bunch scallions thinly sliced.

in a plastic container, make the dressing by combining the following:
1/4 c soy sauce
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 c mayo
2 T grated ginger (use micro planer)
2 T white vinegar
2 T brown sugar
1 t sesame oil
20 grinds of fresh black pepper

cover the container tightly and shake the hell out of the dressing. add salt to taste (i found this unnecessary) and then pour over the slaw and toss well. i'd recommend doubling the recipe so you have plenty left to dress the salad to taste. you can also bulk up on the ginger, sugar or lemon to suit your tastes. remember, you want this to be pretty strong since the slaw ingredients are relatively bland. the remainder makes a great marinade for meat.

if you want something easily spoonable, the processor method is better. if you're looking for something more salad-esque, shred the cabbage and onions with a sharp chef's knife and grate the carrots with a box grater. either way, it'll taste great. happy slaw!!

zushi puzzle

2007-05-23T22:34:00.000-07:00

wanted to share some snapshots of a recent visit to zushi puzzle last month. i love this place. my wallet doesn't.

only sit at the bar. 8 stools. choice cuts. and chef roger dodger is quite the character.

a fantastic array of toro, salmon, trout and arrowjack. one of the reasons i go to zushi puzzle is the availability of regional varieties. can you discern the taste and textural differences between hawaiian and japanese arrowjack? you will after chef roger takes care of you.

flying fish sashimi. fresh. sweet. clean. firm. we watched chef roger filet this one just for us. yes, those fins are real. the "wing span" was about 1.5 feet across.

kobe beef. ribeye cut. grade A1. over $100 a pound.

kobe beef remix. $10 a piece.

other goodies to get. butterfish. crab remix. a sampling of different toros. or better yet, tell chef roger to do whatever he will with you. he's never disappointed me. although my credit card disagrees. =)

stir fried rice noodles with shrimp and asparagus

2007-05-22T21:22:00.000-07:00

what was funny about tonite's dinner is that i completely intended to make something different when i was headed to albertson's to pick up ingredients. i saw a recipe for ginger-sesame asparagus and thought it looked delicious. so i picked up the asparagus and ginger and began perusing the meat section for some protein to match. lamb chops, chicken breast, chicken thighs, rib eye steaks... i just couldn't decide.

then i encountered a 2 lb bag of frozen shrimp. hm, shrimp and asparagus sound good. but without rice or another carb i'd have to eat a lot of shrimp and spears to satisfy my appetite. so i strolled through the staple aisles for something to match. all the rice a roni pilafs looked gross. stuffing wouldn't do. pasta is boring. and then i came across a box of rice stick noodles.

ah yes! i've been wanting to cook with these for a while. think pad thai noodles: chewy, starchy and springy. i thought the aspargus sauce would stir fry nicely with the noodles so there you go. on to the good stuff.

to prep the noodles, i had to soak a 1/2 lb dried rice sticks in very hot tap water for 25 min. this gets it "al dente" for the stir fry.

rice noodles are made from rice flour and come in several widths from threads to flat sticks. they're used in many different asian stir fries and noodle soup dishes.

i then thawed 1 lb shrimp under cold running water, minced 3 cloves of garlic, chopped 3 scallions, and prepped the asparagus by snapping off the tough woody ends and and slicing thinly on the diagonal.

a wok is heated over high heat and canola oil (substitute whatever oil you want) is heated until barely smoking. the garlic goes in for a few seconds to fragrant the oil and the asparagus follows. a minute later the shrimp is tossed in.

fresh ground pepper is added and the sauce, prepped before cooking, is dumped over the shrimp and asparagus. the sauce is 2 T hoisin sauce, 1 T soy sauce, 1 T sesame oil, 1 T grated ginger (use a micro planer), and 1 T plum sauce mixed together.

the drained, softened noodles are added and tossed with the scallions and some cilantro.

after a couple of minutes, it's ready to be plated.

the sauce blends well with the shrimp and aspargus and coats, or is absorbed by rather, the rice noodles so it's more of a dry stir fry.

the chewy noodles counter the crisp asparagus nicely. and the shrimp is tender and sweet.

this turned out rather well. next time, i might increase the amount of sauce going in; i think i'd like it a little wetter. i'd also look at using larger shrimp, as they shrink incredibly when cooked. i used a 31/40 count (which means 31-40 shrimp per pound) but should look at a 21/24 count size.

anyway, guess what i'm having for lunch tomorrow??

tani's kitchen

2007-05-20T23:36:00.000-07:00

i do love me a hole-in-the-wall dining establishment. tani's kitchen is truly a hole-in-the-wall. in daly city's westlake center behind the nation's burger joint is a very small retail front (i'd say about 12 feet across?) which is split into two rooms; the front houses the kitchen, 4 tables of 2, and a bar seating 6 (all snugly), the other room back-of-the-house fare including bussing and storage. it has a greasy, rundown, yet greasy, homey feel to it. and everything - an 8 burner range, cold storage, assembly line, sushi bar, prep space, cash register, to-go container storage - is truly cramed in there. but i really can't call it efficient use of space either.

scott and i are seated at the bar where we can watch all the action happen. we had incredibly good timing and were seated immediately. typically when i drive past tani's, there's about 2-6 people waiting for a spot in this 14-seat "dining establishment." true to rep, 5 people show up right after us and ultimately end up waiting 30 min for their table.

why the long wait? it's basically a one-man show. while the cozy space behind the counter is occupied by no fewer than 4 staff, including a hostess/waitress, runner/line cook, dish washer/prep cook, and the chef himself, the production all depends on one man, the frenzied japanese chef that makes the sushi, fries the tempura, sets the donburi eggs, grills the ribeye, and simmers the udon broth. each order taken, whether dine in or take out, is given a target time for finish, each order being about 10 min. so you can possibly imagine why the long wait is what it is.

why do they wait? now here's an interesting question. i think the draw is tani's home-style, hole-in-the-wall style. nothing is polished, nothing is refined. it's good food served quick and cheap. but is it worth it?

i've read on yelp reviews the beef teriyaki is the thing to get. but this evening, we decide to sample other things. we start off with spicy tuna maki, 8 small pieces of sloppily slapped together rice, tuna, seaweed, and very, very spicy hot sauce. disappointing. not only did it look ugly, i only tasted hot sauce. the raw fish in the 2-foot long display case looked tired as well. i can't imagine it being refridgerated properly what with the blazing stove 2 feet away. this was $3.95. i'd pass on the sushi next time. especially after watching him prepare sushi orders to go. just doesn't look fresh.

next came a huge order of shrimp and vegetable tempura. at only $5.95 this is an amazing value. i watched the chef individually dip each piece in batter before tossed into a stockpot of hot oil on the stove top. yes, this place doesn't have a deep fryer. although one would argue that you don't fry tempura in a deep fryer, only a wok. anyway, while piping hot, the tempura batter was much too thick, almost a bready texture. i like my tempura crisp and thin. you're supposed to taste the vegetable, not fried dough. again, disappointing. variety was amazing though. shrimp, onion, squash, zucchini, eggplant, green beans, broccoli. but i don't know if that makes up for the heavy batter issue.

the enticing picture menu in the window up front was what influenced our entree choice, japanese hamburg steak. no i didn't spell that wrong, it is hamburg, not hamburger. i watched the chef pull out a mixture of ground meat and hand form 2 patties by slapping it between hand and hand. the result was an amazingly soft, tender, fluffy "hamburger" steak that was beautifully flavored, especially when lightly dipped into the accompanying soy vinaigrette and grated daikon. a fresh, green salad with japanese dressing rounded out the dish. (amazing that the greens hadn't wilted in the greasy, warm air of the kitchen.) this dish really shined. and at $7.95 it was amazing.

water glasses were filled regularly (hard to imagine it being otherwise, there's only 14 diners at a time) and we were in/out of there relatively quickly. but we watched a couple people wait about 30 min for their take out meal. everything is made from scratch and to order, so i guess that's another reason for the draw. i'm just not 100% sold yet. it does seem to get the neighborhood regulars - the chef and staff were chummy with a handful of people, but otherwise non-descript with other customers - and is a good value so maybe that's why it seems so popular whenever i drive by. in any event, i'm down to give this place another chance, especially the grilled beef teriyaki which looked amazing from across the counter.

la bbq

2007-05-20T22:40:00.000-07:00

memorial day weekend is approaching fast and that typically signifies the start of bbq season. but for some reason, it just doesn't feel the same up here in the bay as it does in la. blame the fog, and i do, but it's just too damn cold here in daly city for a real bbq.

what follows are a few pictures of a bbq i did at home in la during my bday weekend. we had about 20-30 ppl show up over the course of 5 hours. ironically, it was cloudy and drizzling that day too. but the food still turned out pretty tasty.

citrus sangria.

the grill.

mango bbq spareribs. pre-sauce.

paprika, rosemary, and thyme dry rub wings.

slow-braised cuban pork shoulder.

fork-tender.

asian slaw.

closeup.

ingredients for bowtie pesto pasta.

fresh guacamole, pre-mix.

the spread.

happy bbq season!!

the crocker cafe

2007-05-03T23:09:00.000-07:00

yes, boys and girls... it's the latest hot spot in town.

cozy cafe seating...

mellow laid back neighborhood people...

free wi-fi...

latin house and trip hop records grooving in the background...

lush tropical fish and plants to gaze at...

and a zealous barista to boot!

the crocker cafe. the place to be.

reservations accepted and walk-ins welcome.

background: my other roommate, andrew, moved out a couple weeks ago taking the couch with him. for my sangria 29 party, i picked up some extra stools and rearranged some things in the living room to what you see above. tonite, jared walks by the room as i'm working on my short ribs post with some latin house playing in the background. he pokes his head in and exclaims as he surveys the rennovated room, "oh my gosh, i feel like i'm a barista!"

hence what you see above. lol. good times.

short ribs braised in guinness

2007-05-03T21:35:00.000-07:00

i worked a catering event for my friend, chef paul, back in december for his company's holiday party. paul decided on a succulent and rich main entree of boneless short ribs braised in guinness beer. after working almost 10 hours straight, us kitchen slaves were left to fight and salvage what little buffet scraps were left in the bottom of the pans. i came up wearily with some mashed potatoes, guinness gravy, and a couple morsels of meat.

o. m. g.

literally the best short ribs i have savoured in my entire life. through this day i have been craving and secretly plotting to steal that recipe from paul. the meat was fork tender, the gravy rich and complex. the aroma... omg. so yesterday, i finally got around to picking up a pack of boneless short ribs at albertsons.

and dialed up chef paul to see if i could glean the recipe from him. instead, i asked him outright, "i'm calling to steal your short ribs braised in guinness recipe." paul laughed and half-obliged. you can't really expect a chef to give up all his secrets can you? so after i rattled off a list of things i had picked up, he added, "you need some tomato paste or something to finish the gravy and blend the veggies and add that back to the mix." ah, so that's how he got such rich flavor. other than that, i was on my own, relying on my kitchen experience and what i could remember of braising technique and sauce reduction from cookbooks i've read. here's what i did...

i began by salting the ribs moderately on all sides. i didn't pepper them since the high heat needed to sear meat can scorch the pepper, resulting in a burnt, bitter taste. this is debatable, as the book, kitchen science, discusses, but i decided to omit the pepper this time.

after heating olive oil in a hot saute pan, the ribs went down to sear on all 4 sides until nicely browned.

while that was going, a total of about 10 min, i took the opportunity to rough chop 4 carrots, 6 celery stalks and 2 small brown onions.

after the ribs had been browned, they were removed to a platter and i dumped in the chopped veggies. 5 whole cloves of garlic, smashed, were added and everything was tossed with some salt and pepper.

i then added 1/2 a can of guinness and 1/2 a can of chicken broth to deglaze the pan.

and the ribs were nestled back in.

2 bay leaves and some parsley sprigs went next. and then i clamped a tight-fitting lid down on the pan and a pair of potholders ushered the hot pan into a 350* oven.

1.5 hours later, i checked the ribs which were pretty much fork tender. the aroma that fills the house is amazing. so out comes the scorching hot pan onto the stove.

i remove the veggies to my processor and blend away until i have a thick puree. oh yes, i removed the bay leaves first.

meanwhile the sauce has begun reducing over med-high heat.

i whisked in about half the puree and added a nice pat of butter to enrichen the sauce. and the thick, aromatic gravy was poured over the ribs in a serving platter garnished with fresh parsley.

the gravy actually resembles more a vegetable puree soup and has a beautiful tan-brown color.

i realize at this point that i have no veggies left to eat, having pureed the whole lot without thinking! darnit. oh well. time to taste.

as you can see, the meat falls apart in meaty fibers. very tender and meaty. the gravy was pretty rich tasting as well; the guinness definitely adds a smoky, complex note to the sauce. but for some reason, it just wasn't as robust in flavor as chef paul's version. i guess that's why he's the chef and i'm not. haha. but this was still pretty damn good. and the gravy will taste great over some mashed potates which i'll make tomorrow.

i think for my next run on this, i'll add some fresh herbs to add another flavor dimension to the sauce, like thyme or something. i had a package in my fridge, but it had gone rotten with mold. bleh. i can never use up those $1.99 packs of organic herbs fast enough.

chef paul! what's your secret?!? =)