I had occasion to cook last night– a Sunday– and was feeling pretty inspired by a very solid weekend of good eats. Friday night a feast in our back yard, Saturday a hike from our doorstep to the top of twin peaks, down into the mission for a stop at Delfina Pizzeria, an errand at Tartine (here’s a hint: it involved walnut bread, croissants and an eclair) and another at BiRite (which involved this steak) and yet another feast in our back yard.

There is a huge collection of cookbooks in my living room. You can tell they aren’t used often because they’re behind glass, stacked with ornamental things on top that would have to be moved to use them. I woke up around 9 on Sunday and tip toed into the living room to loot a few, returned to bed and did the most serious reading I’ve probably done since college…and the result, my final paper, if you will–this menu.

Scallop in Fava & Pea Puree from Amuse Bouche (slightly altered for scale and for oil content)
With Vouvray

Clams with White Beans, Sausage & Chard from Amuse Bouche (altered significantly)
With Vermentino from Sardegna

Creme Fraiche Pannacotta with Strawberries (From Sunday Suppers at Lucques — perfect as is but would use more milk/less cream next time)
with Moscato di Asti

A very lovely coworker surprised me a few days ago with a gigantic bag of meyer lemons from a family tree in Napa. I sent about 1/3rd of them to my mom, used several in smoothies (which are not so blog worthy and are certainly very ugly looking with all the chard and other hippie hoo-da I’ve been drinking up, thus, the blog has been rather neglected lately for my newfound need to eat more vegetables in very boring forms), and the rest are either in these lemon bars or waiting to be devoured in the coming days.

This recipe is only slightly modified from David Lebovitz’s Whole Lemon Bars recipe, with my notes and adjustments below. My favorite frequent visitor to Paris (who has on several occasions rubbed shoulders with Mr. Labovitz at certain company events!)  is coming for dinner Sunday and I imagine I’ll find some new, delightful way to use the lemons in our meal. You, reader, can look forward to that!

I did make these by weight and recommend you do the same if possible.

Crust
1 C flour (140g)
1/4 C sugar (50g)
1 stick butter, melted (113-115g)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Topping
2.5 small organic meyer lemons
3/4 C sugar (150g)
3 large eggs
4 tsp corn starch
1/4 tsp salt
3 T melted butter (45g)

Powdered sugar for top

Oven to 350–line a 8×8 inch pan in foil as smoothly as possible, matte side of the foil touching the bars/filling. Get the foil crisply into the corners.

Mix the flour, 1/4C sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, stick melted butter and vanilla until just smoothly combined. Distribute the dough into the bottom of the pan evenly using hands or a spatula.  Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.

While crust is cooking, cut lemons in half and remove seeds. In a blender (I used my wonderful vitamix, but if you have a regular blender you may want to chop the lemons a bit), pulverize two lemons and the juice of 1/2 a lemon with the sugar until mostly smooth, a few chunks are good. Add the eggs, corn starch, salt and the rest of the butter, blending until smooth.

Pour the lemon topping onto the crust when it’s done cooking, reduce the heat to 300 and return the dish to the oven for 25 more minutes, or until it stops jiggling and is set.

Remove from oven, let it cool COMPLETELY before messing with it, then cut with a very heavy sharp knife into squares! Consider topping with powdered sugar and serving with tea.

I recommend NOT leaving these in an air-tight container as I foudn it to make them go very soggy very quickly. Foil wrapped in bunches works much better, at least in SF climate!

For those of you in San Francisco, you can go and make your own comparison–but for the rest of you, you’ll have to trust me: the best French toast you’ll ever have is at Park Chow in San Francisco. It’s light, it’s crispy, it’s moist, it’s sweet and cinnamony. And, for weeks, I worked on perfecting my own version for a cinnamon french toast recipe. Here you have it–enjoy! (and if you’re really in for the whole experience, get some coffee from Thanksgiving Coffee Company–it’s where they get their custom blend!)

Mascarpone Cream Topping Recipe
1/2 C heavy whipping cream, whipped very firm
1/2 C room temperature mascarpone cheese
1/2 C powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 T whiskey, creme de cocoa or other liquor of your preference

Mix all ingredients with a hand mixer. In an ideal world, you’ll cover it (or put it in a mason jar like I do) and refrigerate it until very firm.

Cinnamon French Toast Recipe – serves 3-4
4-5 1 inch thick slices Semifreddi’s cinnamon twist bread (a brioche style loaf with a slightly stick outside & cinnamon layers), quartered to triangles
3 eggs, whisked
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cup milk

Whisk everything but the bread together, and then begin soaking the bread slices in the mixture. They should be pretty darn soggy.

Cook in 1-2 T butter in a 10-12 inch skillet at medium high heat. If your slices are very thick, or seem not to be drying out, reduce heat and cover lightly with a lid to steam through. Serve with real maple syrup, warm.

No-stress Sunday Brunch

- Almond Beignets using Cafe du Monde mix and adding 1 tsp almond extract

- Baked eggs in dandelion greens & collards with nutmeg & cream (modified from smitten kitchen)

- Arugula salad with yogurt-citrus dressing, cara cara oranges, watermelon radish & ruby grapefruit

- Butternut squash-lentil hash with goat cheese (make ahead)

- Lots and lots of mimosas

- A bit of coffee to straighten up

I hosted 8 (including myself) for dinner on Friday to celebrate my gentleman’s birthday; it was lively all night, everybody got full and we washed about 25 wine glasses. We drank champagne, prosecco, sparkling wine from california; we drank mouvedre from Chateau Margene, cuvee from Beckmen, a roussane blend from Tablas Creek–we had delicious wine, and the food came out great.

Recipes to follow in the next day or two. I wish I’d taken a photo of the refuse after making the crab stock, it was a pretty mess in my backyard compost container.

*I’ve added photos of the spread above after the fact, and will be adding recipes over the next few days.

This year, I’m hosting Thanksgiving. I’ve co-hosted in the past, but haven’t ever done the full-throttle. I’m expecting 8 guests, 3 of them being immediate family, one being a boyfriend, two being a pair of friends and another lone wolf friend. It should be a nice blast, this year more liberals than conservatives (traditionally, my brother and dad go at it on a team, I being the black sheep in the family and suffering the brute of the political banter).

I’ll be serving I served:

Persimmon slaw-style salad
Haricot-vert with garlic, lemon zest
Ina’s Sausage stuffing
Butternut Squash/Acorn Squash/Chard/Beet Green gratin (it is divine)
Whipped sweet potatoes with orange and cream
Fresh herb butter with delicious ACME bread
Turkey breast; one lemon pepper, one smoky-sweet paprika
Fresh cranberry sauce
Fresh Pumpkin Galette with cocoa nibs & creme de cocoa/marscapone whipped cream (using this crust and a variation on this filling with less moisture)

Missing recipes to come over the few days as I make them; If you’re a well-versed cook than can handle improvising on the missing ones (which are all quite simple), this is the plan I have for doing-ahead:

Monday:
wash/trim parsley, green beans
cook sweet potatoes, reserve pulp
make herb butter

Tuesday:
make cranberry sauce
dry rub turkey
chop & wash cabbage, reserve

Wednesday:
pick chard (from my garden)
slice butternut squash for casserole
prepare casserole, cook most of way, reserve
make pumpkin galette
make stuffing, cook most way, reserve

Tday:
chop persimmons in AM
cook turkey
reheat stuffing
warm galette
finish cooking casserole
buy good bread
set out butter in AM
make green bean dish
assemble slaw

Another round of macarons..using the Italian method. Admittedly, I was a little rushed and a little lazy piping this out, so they are a bit unevenly sized.

Basic French Macarons (Italian Method)

Part One
1 1/2 C powdered sugar (168 grams)
1 1/2 C Almond flour (or other nut flour; 168 grams)
2 large egg whites (55 grams)
Any extracts (use sparingly, 1/4 tsp or less), cocoa powder, or food colorings are added in this stage

Part Two
2 large egg whites (55 grams)
3/4 C granulated sugar (150 grams)
1/4 C water

Equipment
Stand mixer (If you choose to use a hand mixer I recommend having four hands, or you will find this to be a pain.)
Candy thermometer or good probe thermometer
Piping bags (1 large, one smaller for the icing; I prefer to use one with a coupler)
3/8 plain piping tip
Non-temperamental oven, or oven thermometer and hawk eye

Line 2 baking sheets with silpats or parchment; You may want to create a template to place below the parchment when piping of 1 inch circles. Prep your large piping bag with the tip, using a coupler or not. Preheat the oven to 275 F.

Place two egg whites in bowl of the stand mixer and add the whisk attachment. Plug the beast in.

In a bowl, preferably with a flat bottom, mix the powdered sugar and almond flour well. Add any powders such as matcha or cocoa at this time. For RED VELVET cookies/chocolate cookies, add 20 grams cocoa powder as a replacement for some powdered sugar. Always replace powdered sugar with dry flavorings in order to keep the balance of the batter. Add the egg whites and any food coloring and extracts such as vanilla, almond, etc. Mix into a paste with a large spatula, until it shows even color.

In small saucepan on medium heat, bring water and sugar to a boil. Place the thermometer in the pan from the get-go, when it gets to 226F, begin whipping the egg whites on high. When the sugar reaches 230 (egg whites should be a bit foamy), remove it from the flame and add the liquid slowly to the whipping egg whites to create an Italian meringue. Continue whipping until the bowl is cool to touch, about 8 minutes or so, depending on the temp of the room.

Fold the cooled meringue into the almond mixture. Notice that the batter looks like shiny plastic; watch for it to look like wet plastic shortly after the ingredients are combined. Be sure not to stir the batter, but to fold* cutting in and rotating the bowl. When it looks shiny, stop, and put it in the piping bag.

*Find a youtube video on this if you aren’t sure how. The videos are all wrong, I just looked. None of them are quite right. The main thing is to put your spatula in vertical, like a knife. Then, pull it through along the side of the bowl and around, gently turning it over the center and letting the batter you scooped drop. Rotate the bowl 1/4 and cut into the center and do it again. Rinse and repeat. It’s important.

Pipe them out into even 1-inch circles spaced 1 inch apart. Bake for 12-20 minutes; Mine took about 14. Check every 2 minutes after the first twelve by touching the top of the macaron with a flat finger and trying to shake it. The cookies are done when the top moves just a little against the ruffle.  Let them cool a minute or two before attempting to remove with a small, sturdy metal spatula. They taste best if you stick them in the fridge covered overnight, or even the completed cookies this way. They’re good up to five days, and the cookies without filling can be frozen.

Cream Cheese Icing for Red Velvet Macarons
4 oz cream cheese room temp
1/2 stick butter room temp
1/2 lb confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix butter and cream cheese – whip 30 seconds or so. Slowly add sugar with a hand mixer on low, scrape sides once in a while. Add vanilla and blend until fluffy, 1 minute.

Italian Buttercream Icing – Great standard macaron filling
2 egg whites (55 grams)
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp granulated sugar
60g unsalted butter at room temp, roughly diced (just less than a 1/2 stick)

Whisk together the egg whites and sugar. Set the bowl bain-marie style (over a pot of simmering water) and heat the mixture, whisking often, for 3-5mins until the  sugar has dissolved.

Remove from heat and whisk on high speed with a hand mixer until it is stiff and shiny, similar to the Italian meringue made for the macarons. Add the butter slowly, one cube at a time, and continue to mix till all the butter is combined. Add any flavorings and refrigerate to firm up to use in a piping bag.

You can flavor and color this icing many different ways; try adding some green tea powder when the sugar is melting, or some food coloring once it’s whipped up.

& Thank you gifts! I hosted my old roommate (of Tuscany Road Trip 2006 fame) & her friend a few weeks ago; recently a surprise package arrived! She sent me delicious fig balsamic and extremely hard-to-get-my-paws-on Ligurian Olive oil!! Way to bring back awesome times, K! I spent lots of weekends in Cinque Terre when I lived in Florence, and it just brought back amazing culinary memories. I can’t wait to use it.

French Macaron Recipe is now here.

Please welcome the newest addition to my kitchen family, the marvelous pistachio kitchenaid stand mixer!!

Let me summarize how such a grand belonging came to be in my possession: there was a pair of friends, they conspired to do what lady friends do on evenings that their manfriends are scarce; the evening may or may not have involved a lot of wine, dessert at a 5 star restaurant and coffee with an Algerian, but nonetheless at the start of the evening one asked the other to “put away and lift something heavy in my kitchen” which turned out to be a shockingly good early birthday present to yours truly from said friend.

“BUT CAROLINE! HOW CAN I HAVE SUCH FRIENDS THAT BESTOW UPON ME HEAVENLY MIXERS??” I must tell you only that you should be equally kind and awesome and such things may follow. Thank you so much L, I’ll be thinking about you for years to come as I make tasty treats and watch my waistline expand.

My my, what is that, you say? That’s a matcha buttercream stuffed red velvet macaron.

And, the first batch I made, which cracked, raised funny and flat–and I realized, before cooking the batch above the day after, that it was because they’d been placed on my pizza stone. So, the red velvet-matcha buttercream macarons went on the top rack instead.

Physically challeneged vanilla buttercream black sesame macarons–they suffered the wrath of my pizza stone which made them lack feet and crack in the center–a real mystery for your typical macaron trouble-shooting where lack of feet indicates too cool an oven and cracking indicates too hot!

Macaron & buttercream recipe is here.

Made my way to the Alemany farmer’s market this Saturday with a friend and scored some habaneros (plans to make my own garlicky hot sauce this week), 10 Lisbon limes, some fresh dates (they have a bitter chemical taste on the tongue similar to what tannins in wine do to your palette, but have an AMAZING sweetness that can only be described as like intense honeysuckle or straight up honey), and some amazing flowers

Over the weekend I managed to walk 12 miles, learned make macaroons (french ones, not the coconut gobs of yore), procured a breakfast burrito and accompanying beverage, and watched some friends voluntarily throw their faces in freshly-iced cake.

Following a dinner party for 10 (I’m pleased to say I was a guest and not the host!), our hostess, whom by day is a professional, had us pick up piping bags and go to town on some mini cakes she’d put together beforehand. Above, you’re seeing the result.

I’m proud, admittedly–I only once before have really used piping bags, and that was when I was about 7 years old and took a weekend long cake decorating class (Thanks Mom, that was a good one, it stuck with me), in which I was the youngest student by at least 10 years. I guess it was a good investment, but there were some much more creative designs as well that I hope to share in another post when the photos make their way over to me.