I Love You More Than Food

Author: Caroline

  • Spanish Chili Shrimp in Tomato Broth & Pan-Seared Chicken with Wilted Spinach

    Spanish Chili Shrimp in Tomato Broth & Pan-Seared Chicken with Wilted Spinach

    For two, Spanish Spicy Shrimp:

    10 shrimp–shell & de-vein them yourself
    8 slices baguette, toasted with raw garlic rubbed on them
    5 cloves garlic, minced coarsely
    1/2 cap san marzano tomatoes or package fresh cherry tomatoes (cut in 1/2)
    olive oil
    vegetable stock
    1/2 tsp thyme
    salt
    pepper
    chili flakes

    Two skillets: start one cold with olive oil & chili flakes (about 1/2 tsp), heat on low until chili flakes start to brown, strain and put the oil back in the pan to pan-fry the shrimp later. In the other skillet, sautee the garlic in the oil until beginning to color; add tomatoes, 1 tsp chili flakes, & thyme, and let simmer. When reduced and broken down, add vegetable stock until “minestrone” consistency.

    Heat chili oil to medium high, sautee shrimp. Serve shrimp on top of tomato “stew” with crotistin (toasted bread with raw garlic rubbed on) in a shallow bowl.

     

    Pan-Seared Chicken with Wilted Spinach

    1/3rd orange bell pepper, diced
    1 small shallot, minced
    1 large clove garlic, minced
    olive oil
    salt
    pepper
    spinach
    zest & juice of 1/2 lemon
    1 boneless chicken breast, skin on

    Preheat oven to 375. Use a oven-safe skillet for the chicken. Sautee on medium low bell pepper, shallot, and garlic in olive oil with salt & pepper. On high heat, with 1-2 tbsp of olive oil in a separate skillet, sear chicken skin-down (season skin with salt & pepper), until skin is golden. Turn over, move skillet to oven.

    When chicken is finished cooking (by sight; should become constrained on sides and generally thicker), remove from oven and place on cutting board to rest for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, add spinach to bell pepper mixture, and turn off heat. Zest the 1/2 lemon on top and add the juice. Put a lid on top of it and let it sit in the heat to wilt 70%.

    Slice chicken and serve on top of spinach mixture.

  • Thank You Dinner

    Thank You Dinner

    Pan-seared Duck Breast with Rum Pears & Almond-shallot Risotto

    A friend boyfriend of mine kindly not once but on two different occasions recently provided my cocktail-sipping self with much needed pizza delivered to my hand inside a bar (it was from the “outside”), and to thank him for not only 1. going to get it but 2. paying for it, I offered to cook him dinner. We drank a Sicilian white wine with the first two courses and a cabernet franc from Carmody McKnight in Paso Robles for the duck. There were also some bottles of cabernet sauvignon, but let’s not talk about that.

    Beet Salad  – I used baby bitter greens (in this case, baby kale and arugula) and tossed it in my garlic-lemon-olive oil-salt-pepper dressing, roasted three small red beets in the oven (inside foil, with olive oil, salt, pepper for 1 hr at 400 degrees), peeled them and sliced them in wedges, and served it all up with a slice of the wonderful french goat cheese ($34.50/lb) Tomme Affinee Grandmere.  The beets were still warm, but feel free to roast them in advance.

    Pasta with Roast Tomato Sauce, Fried Eggplant & Mussels – I made fresh pasta, cut the noodles quite thin, dressed them in a food-processor sauce of two roasted heirloom tomatoes, roasted shallots, garlic, fresh thyme, fresh rosemary, salt, and pepper, and added several cloves of fresh garlic at the end, then topped it off with two slices of eggplant fried in olive oil (very thin) and two mussels for each serving.

    Pan-seared Duck Breast with Rum Pears & Almond-shallot Risotto – I scored the duck breast in a diamond pattern, seared it fat side down on very high heat, flipped it over, threw the whole pan in the oven at 350 for a few minutes, took the duck out of the pan to rest, threw the pan back on the burner, tossed in sliced pears and let them brown,  poured some rum in and let it reduce. Meanwhile, I made risotto with home made chicken stock, shallot, and onion, and at the end I mixed in some hazelnut oil, and toasted marcona and sliced almonds, along with some rum & amaratto soaked raisins.

    We ate it right up.

  • Spring-Summer Gnocchetti, Plantains with Creme Fraiche Whip

    Spring-Summer Gnocchetti, Plantains with Creme Fraiche Whip

    Spring-Summer Gnocchetti with Pancetta, Squash & Arugula in Lemon-Thyme sauce

    1 1/8th in slice pancetta, diced
    1 small zucchini
    1/4 cup chicken stock (otherwise omit)
    1 small shallot, diced
    1 clove garlic, course mince
    Zest of 1 small meyer lemon or 1/4 regular lemon
    Handful Arugula
    Fresh Thyme (~1/2T leaves before chopping)
    Piave, Parmesean, Asiago or other grated hard cheese

    Start water boiling for gnocchetti. Meanwhile, dice zucchini, shallot, garlic, thyme. Seperately dice pancetta , and add to hot non-stick skillet on medium high. Let begin to crisp, gain color, and let fat out into the pan.

    Add zucchini and thyme. Add salt & pepper. Let zucchini begin to brown, add garlic and shallot, turning heat down to medium. Water should be ready at this point–cook gnocchetti (alternatively use gnocci). Add chicken stock to zucchini mixture, let reduce.

    Add grated cheese (~1 T before grating), lemon zest, toss. Turn off heat. Add gnocchetti to pan, toss, add arugula to pan, serve with Thyme sprig on top.

    Plantains with Creme Fraiche Nutmeg Whip, Green Apple & Blueberries

    1 Plantain (for 2-3 servings)
    2 T butter
    1/3 C Creme Fraiche
    1/3 C Heavy Whipping cream
    1/2 small green apple
    Handful blueberries
    Pinch salt
    Ground nutmeg

    Peel plantain and slice diagonally. Melt butter in non-stick pan on medium-high heat. When bubbles mostly gone, add plantains with each slice down flat to the surface. Let brown, turn slices over, then reduce heat to medium until browned on the 2nd side. Meanwhile, whip heavy cream into whipped cream. Add creme fraiche, and a dusting of nutmeg on the top of the mixture (just enough to notice some brown specks), whip together. Slice green apple thinly. Assemble and serve.

  • Italian Meatballs in Tomato Stew

    Italian Meatballs in Tomato Stew

    I had a hankering for meatballs a few days ago when I had very little in the house, so I ventured down the street (canvas bags in hand) to Andronico’s in North Berkeley to pick up my accoutrements.

    You will need:

    1/2 lb ground pork
    1/2 lb lean ground beef
    3 T fresh grated Parmesan-Reggiano
    1 egg
    Several T breadcrumbs (I like to make my own from stale baguette)
    Fresh Oregano (several sprigs)
    1 medium yellow onion
    1 shallot
    4 cloves garlic
    Chili pepper flakes
    salt & pepper
    a good 10 or 12 inch sautee pan

    Start by sauteeing 1/2 the onion, and half of shallot in the pan with olive oil after you’ve minced them. Keep the heat medium low or the shallot will burn. Mince the oregano, and add it to the pan when the shallot and onion are becoming translucent, add salt & pepper. When fully translucent and cooked, but not caramelized, add the mixture to a bowl and let cool a bit.

    Add the two meats into the bowl along with the egg, salt, and pepper. Add breadcrumbs as needed until you achieve a wet but not too wet mixture that will allow you to form the meat into balls. Form them into a golf-ball size and add olive oil to the pan you sauteed the onions in. Bring to high or medium high heat, add the meatballs and brown on each side. Don’t worry about cooking through. Once browned, set aside.

    Add a touch more olive oil to the pan, along with the garlic, rest of the shallot and the other half of onion. When translucent, add ~1 T dry thyme, salt, and pepper. Sautee until fragrant but not caramelized. Add 1 large can of San Marzano tomatoes, and 1-2 tsp. of chili pepper flakes. Cook until tomatoes break apart and form a sauce or stew consistency.

    Turn heat to medium low and add the meatballs, loosely covering with a large lid to keep steam in and cook the meatballs through.

    I like to serve it on spaghetti, or in small portions with a bit of bread.

    This recipe can be modified to make something like Spanish Albondigas. You would add more chili flakes to the sauce, use a higher proportion of pork for the meatballs, and you would add chicken stock to the “stew.”

  • Winter Garganelli (Pasta with spicy creamed tomato sauce & chicken)

    Winter Garganelli (Pasta with spicy creamed tomato sauce & chicken)

    Winter Garganelli con pollo - pasta with spicy tomato sauce and chicken

    I’m sick. We’re all sick. Everyone has the sniffles, the sore throat, the strange things coming from their lung. I’ve been working 7 days a week, and haven’t had much time to cook (though I have fit in a few mini dinner parties and even one real one that involved scallops with an orange vanilla cream sauce, and my mother’s recipe for pork & figs with balsamic reduction (very easy)), but because I’m ill I vowed last night to stay in and use what I had to make something nutritious, delicious, and expelling of all grossness inside (read: something spicy).

    First, chop half a slice of 1/4 inch thick pancetta into a dice. Throw it into a hot non-stick skillet at least 8 inches but hopefully more like 11 and let it get a little crispy. Add a boneless, skinless chicken breast cubed into small peices and turn the heat up, tossing frequently until the chicken is mostly done or just barely done.

    Pour in enough heavy cream to coat the bottom of the pan, add a bunch of fresh thyme leaves, let it come to a simmer and pour the mixture into something else and let it sit aside.

    Now put into the pan olive oil, half a shallot in a small dice, at least three garlic cloves or as many as you like coursely chopped on medium to medium low heat (remember my philosophy about cooking garlic slowly–it may smell good right away at high heat, but it will not taste nearly as complex or sweet as if you cook it on low heat for longer. Please also remember shallots have a high sugar content and will burn easily).

    Add about half a large can of san marzano D.O.P. tomatoes (reserve the rest in your fridge for something else), about two teaspoons of dried thyme (crushed between your fingers as you put it in), about a teaspoon of chili flakes, and a good amount of salt (another few teaspoons). Put the heat to medium low or low, and let this cook 15-30 minutes. When it’s almost done, start a huge pot of water boiling for the garganelli, meanwhile add the chicken and cream mixture to the tomato sauce.

    When the garganelli are almost done (you can substitute rigatoni but make sure its semola flour based), and the tomato and cream mixtures are heated and blended, add 2 tablespoons of creme fraiche to the sauce, turn the heat off, and grate a few tablespoons of piave and/or parmesean cheese in. Mix. Now add the pasta to the pan, toss to coat well, and serve (in my case, with kleenex on the side).

    Deliciousness.

  • Muffins with Fresh Blueberries

    Muffins with Fresh Blueberries

    When my roomate’s girlfriend came to visit from out of town and brought a gigantic thing of blueberries with her, I knew I had to make blueberry muffins. I first tried to procure my ex boyfriend’s mother’s recipe, but when I wasn’t able to get it searched for a good metric recipe. I normally dislike using recipes, but for baking feel that they are somewhat necessary for success.

    I realize many of you don’t have metric scales, but using one worked really well because I was able to adjust the recipe to the amount of blueberries I had. I’ve included a link to the original recipe which includes American measurements.

    Makes 12-15 muffins

    115 g unsalted butter
    250 g white sugar
    3 g salt
    2 eggs
    250 g all-purpose flour, divided
    7 g baking powder
    120 ml buttermilk (or whole milk, combination of half & half & other milk, etc)
    400 g fresh blueberries – rinsed, drained and patted dry

    Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

    Cream salt, butter, and sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time and beat until smooth. Add flour and baking powder together (reserving a few tablespoons of flour to coat the blueberries) through a sifter alternating with buttermilk (or milk/milk mixture-I used mostly half & half with a touch of 2%, as it’s what I had on hand). Stir until smooth.

    Crush 1/4th of the blueberries and mix in. Toss remaining blueberries in reserved flour and mix into batter.

    Fill paper lined cupcake pan with batter to top (but not overflowing) of liners. Top each muffin with a sprinkling of white sugar to help with color and texture.

    Bake for 25-30 minutes, until risen and pretty color on top, with only a healthy jiggle and not a “that’s still liquid in the center” jiggle. Let cool, remove from pan, enjoy.

    Original recipe from AllRecipes where you can find the US measurement version. The metric version can be easily adjusted for the weight of your blueberries by multiplying each measurement for proportion.

  • Dinner in the City, II: A Summer Menu

    Dinner in the City, II: A Summer Menu

    We’ve enjoyed dinner with my friend Peter before, but about two weeks ago I worked hard (read: begged) for another home cooked meal in the city.

    Friend and I headed from Berkeley to the city for pre-show dinner at Peter’s (we were to catch the MF Doom/Pigeon John performance at the Independent, but when we arrived later it was canceled), and brought gifts of Berkeley Bowl’s fresh buckwheat & lemon pastas–saving someone who lives in the city a trip to the famous Berkeley Bowl, I’ve now learned, will almost always earn me a delicious meal.

    Peter’s food is especially fun to write about because he has taken to obsessively photographing almost everything he eats or makes these days. This is helpful for me, as inevitably I almost always begin copying and making variations upon the dishes he creates when I’m lucky enough to join him for a meal.

    Friend & I brought a bottle of Bucci’s Verdiccio (a native Italian varietal especially from the southern regions, it is somewhat similar to a Vermentino except lighter, perhaps more like a blend with Pinot Grigio) and the first course was slices of a perfectly ripe (California? Organic?) pluot wrapped in Prosciutto di Parma (Peter has read my entry detailing my dislike for domestic prosciutto), served with aged balsamic vinegar I once gave him from my stint of living in Italy, and ricotta seasoned with blood-orange olive oil.

    I could have walked away satisfied. Can we take a moment to remember how important using high quality ingredients are? I mean, in addition to the flavor and all-important texture combination, the harmony of the perfectly ripe fruit, the freshly cut ham, and the fresh ricotta made it. Things wouldn’t have been the same if the dried out week old stuff in my fridge had finally been saved from itself. Yes, that was an admittance of recent culinary guilt, on my part.

    Next we had a delicious cold layered course of roasted white corn with sesame oil, avocado, mache, and seasoned crab. I was paying more attention to my wine than Peter’s prepping of the crab dressing, but something about olive oil and maybe garlic and some Asian herb he wouldn’t divulge the name of (probably to spite us) were all involved. Wait, his photo says it’s a yuzu and tarragon vinaigrette…was I being tricked all along? I would feel as if my nose failed me :(

    Along with other goodies from the East Bay I brought some Burrata–a wonderful fresh cheese similar to mozarella except that it is super creamy and decadent inside and stringy and fresh on the outside like fresh mozarella. It spoils very fast because of the fresh cream, so it is somewhat difficult (read: expensive) to find it imported but since it’s a cow’s milk cheese and a producer of it is in the LA area, it isn’t too expensive or hard to come by in the Bay Area. It is also incredibly addictive and delicious, and peter used it with the avocado and crab to round out the dish.

    Because P is master of portion size, we were up for a third course. For a while–in fact, we were salivating for both the crab and the smell of the caramelizing heirloom tomatoes while eating the crab, P sauteed some heirloom tomatoes in olive oil and smashed cloves of garlic, adding chili flakes about halfway through and fresh basil towards the end. He chose traditional semolina spaghetti (often underutilized in my kitchen) and made an incredibly satisfying but healthy dish that reminded me of some of my favorite Italian comfort food. I recreated the heirloom tomato spaghetti a few days later with very little effort and wonderful results. The only thing I”ll offer you readers is this: Do not cook the garlic on too high of a heat, and make sure to add the pepper flakes when there is enough fluid for them to break down in.

    Bellies full, friend and I skipped off to walk a few blocks to our show, leaving P wish only a few dishes and his cello. We were actually kind of happy to arrive and see it was canceled–we looked at each other, and said “Dessert?” at the same time, and started heading to get some chocolate ice cream from the store. We called P, and as soon as we said the show had been canceled, he was on the same page as us.

    No pictures of this one, but it’s something I ‘ve had with P before and he stole it from some place I can’t remember in the city. Dark Chocolate Ice Cream with Bergamont Olive Oil and Sea Salt. Oh_my_god.

  • Crispy Zucchini Blossoms (Fried Zucchini Flowers)

    Crispy Zucchini Blossoms (Fried Zucchini Flowers)

    One of my favorite summertime ingrediants is zucchini flowers–they are relatively difficult to find in the US, but common in many parts of Italy. If you are lucky enough to be in the SF bay area, you may find them at farmer’s markets, and often Berkeley Bowl has them but admittedly they are never as large and fresh as overseas.

    At any rate, there are a few ways to prepare them, but before doing so you should always wash them in cool water (the easiest is to fill a small bowl and plunge them in and shake them around), and check the inside for worms (less of a problem in the US because they are often grown inside). Then, you can slice them and add to a simple broth-based pasta, or even a quesedilla with matsuke mushrooms, truffle oil, something like that–but not too much cheese or it will overwhelm their delicate flavor.

    For fried blossoms it’s important to wash them and dry them COMPLETELY before frying. The best thing to do is wash them a few hours before you need them, and let them sit out on towels in a cool, darker place so that they don’t wilt.

    You will need:

    zucchini blossoms (4-6 for appetizer for two people)
    pine nut oil, safflower oil, or other high temperature oil for frying
    flour
    salt
    spumante (Italian sparkling wine or other sparkling wine/champagne) or a full-flavored beer

    Start with about half a cup of flour in a medium or large bowl. Give it a heafty pinch of salt, and whisk it to combine. Pour in some beer/spumante/whatever. If you have to, use carbonated water, but the alcohol is best. Keep adding fluid and flour until the mixture is like pancake dough–somewhat thick but smooth and able to run.

    Heat your oil to medium high. make sure it’s hot enough before you start–you can test with a small amount of the batter, it should sizzle around the edges. You should use a sautee pan with high, squared off sides, we are not deep frying but are pan frying. The oil shouldn’t come up more than half-way. I like to wear long sleeves when I do this. Keep some tongs handy. Also, don’t be afraid to adjust the temperature as you fry. The cold batter WILL change the temperature of the oil and several minor adjustments up or down are probably necessary as you fry. You want to achieve an even color on all sides, but allow the batter that gets in the middle of the blossoms to cook.

    Allow the blossoms to cook mostly on one side, and then turn them over–similar to pancakes. They will take less time on the second side. Place them on paper towels when they are done frying, and be sure to SALT them. I like to serve them with a pepperoncini aeoli, or other mayo-based sauce. They are also good with pepperoncini jam or jelly.

    Zucchini BlossomsFried Zucchini Blossoms

  • Cupcakery: Love At First Bite

    Cupcakery: Love At First Bite

    Love At First Bite, Berkeley, CAPretty in Pink Strawberry Cupcakes From Love at First Bite

    A few years ago, someone turned me on to a little bakery specializing in cupcakes. Located in a little “mall” in the Gourmet Ghetto district of Berkeley, and now a short two block walk from my house, this place cranks out amazing mini cakes in all sorts of flavors, always perfectly moist, never stale, perfect frosting (usually buttercream).

    A few days ago, I took my roomate (who, living two blocks away for a year, had never been) to Love At First Bite (yes, aptly named). I recommended my favorites and we headed home to have a cupcake before heading out to fly kites at the Berkeley Marina, and we planned to have another around dinner time. We bought Pretty in Pink, fresh strawberry; Red Velvet–50’s cocoa cake with cream cheese icing, and Peanut Butter Cup, a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter icing and a quarter reese’s on top.

    Red Velvet CupcakesPretty In Pink Strawberry Cupcake

    Some of my other favorites include the Matcha (green tea), but I liked it better when it had the fluffy piped icing instead of the flat, denser icing, and at one point (though I haven’t seen it in a while) they had one called True Love which was different from another chocolate one in that it was like a moist, dense, milk chocolate with buttercream icing in vanilla or chocolate.

    Pistachio CupcakeMatcha Cupcake

    At any rate, this place is worth a trip, and though we can’t call it cheap (though for some perspective, the worst cupcake of my life was at the famed Citizen Cupcake in San Francisco, and cost almost 100% more than these), let’s admit it: cupcakes are a lot of work, and we just can’t make them like this at home. I use to come in from Oakland (though I’d come much farther with other excuses to be in the area) just jones’n for a cupcake, and you will too, once you’ve had one.

    Coconut CupcakePretty in Pink Cupcake

  • Fusilli con Broccoli

    Fusilli con Broccoli

    This is a very simple and flavorful dish I like to fix on weeknights or as a mini-portion at a dinner party. It’s very dependent on the freshness and quality of the ingredients, like many Italian dishes. You will need a food processor or other pulverizing mechanism for this recipe.

    I like to use Eduardo’s pasta which is readily available in the bay area–it is the only one I really like if I am not going to make the pasta fresh myself, and because Fusilli is extruded and I don’t have the equipment, I generally buy it. (Eduardo’s comes in a clear package with blue and white writing–you can buy some of their pasta on amazon.com, but not the fusilli).

    For two dinner portions, you will need 1/2 a package (about 5 oz or 150 grams for moderate eaters) of Eduardo’s Fusilli (or other, inferior fusilli, unless you’re getting it from a local pasta maker, fresh) and the following:

    1 medium crown of broccoli, fresh
    olive oil
    parmesean reggiano (a block, not the pre-grated stuff)
    a few pine nuts
    nutmeg (just a shake or two’s worth)
    1/4 white or yellow onion
    1/4-1/2 bell pepper (red, yellow, or orange)
    salt & pepper

    Boil a large pot of water (your pasta pot).

    While the water is attempting to boil, dice your onion & your bell pepper and add them to a sautee pan with a bit of olive oil (a few tablespoons) that is already hot. Let them get soft. Add them to the food processor (or a bowl for pulverizing with a wand, whatever you have).

    Sauteed onion & bell pepper

    When the water comes to a boil (while your onion & bell pepper are sauteeing), add a generous amount of salt. Add the broccoli crown, and blanch it until just barely cooked (DO NOT OVERCOOK). Remove it and throw it on a cutting board. Add your pasta to the water. Set a timer for 1-2 min less than the package says–you’re going to eat this al dente (“to the teeth”).

    Coursely chop the broccoli and add it to the food processor. Throw in a few pine nuts, a healthy amount of freshly grated parmesean, a couple of shakes of nutmeg, sea salt, fresh grated pepper. Your bell peppers & onions should already be in there, if they aren’t, add them now.

    Fusilli Con Broccoli

    Pulvarize your sauce. Add olive oil or water as necessary to achieve something that sticks together like a wet or loose pesto.

    Fusilli con Broccoli

    Your pasta should be about done by now, so strain it and throw it in a hot sautee pan, and add however much sauce you think you need to the pan, and toss it until it’s well coated. Serve, enjoy.