I Love You More Than Food

Category: San Francisco

  • Fava Bean & Blood Orange Salad with Ricotta Salata

    Fava Bean & Blood Orange Salad with Ricotta Salata

    Fava Bean & Blood Orange Salad with Ricotta Salata

    Spring is a time of transition–Fava beans, along with calcots, ramps & fiddleheads, are some of my favorite in-between spring crops. The hearty fava’s season is a bit longer, and they’re more available across climates and geographies than some of the others, and they pair well with a variety of other foods, and can be really enjoyed both hot and cold.

    Blood oranges have a late season this year, so I’m still enjoying them here in California. This is a really straight forward but delicious and loved dish, which serves 3-4 as a side.

    Fava Bean & Blood Orange Salad Recipe

    1-2lb fresh fava beans, whole
    1 medium blood orange, peeled with a knife
    1 tbsp (Spanish! buttery!) olive oil
    Ricotta salata (or bits of fresh goat cheese, farmer’s cheese, sheep’s feta or shaved pecorino romano)
    lots of salt & fresh cracked pepper

    Pop the beans out of their pods, and bring water to boil. Boil the beans for about 1 minute, until the color has brightened a bit. Strain, and dunk immediately into a cold water or ice water bath. Once cooled, strain again and begin peeling the beans out of their membrane. You can do this part ahead, stopping at any junction and resuming later. Cut the blood orange into diced chunks. Toss all the ingredients together, topping with shaved ricotta salata (which I clearly managed to get in the photo…) or other cheese as mentioned above.

  • Rack of Lamb with Winter Vegetables

    Rack of Lamb with Winter Vegetables

    Warm Winter Vegetable Salad

    Winter Rack of Lamb Medium Rare

    The lamb I made according to my Weeknight Rack of Lamb Recipe–hands down the easiest, tastiest rack of lamb recipe you’ll come across. The special part of this that will make you feel extra good after eating is all the delicious vegetables. I took a smorgasboard of what I had in the refrigerator–you can do the same–and cut, washed, and blanched (cooked in salted, boiling water for a few brief minutes) all of it. I then dressed it while still warm with excellent, buttery Spanish olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon zest.  Get creative!

    Warm Winter Vegetable Salad Recipe

    Serves 4
    1 sweet potato, cubed
    1/2 head romanesco or cauliflower (or 1/4 head of each), cut into small pieces
    1.5 C sugar snap peas, trimmed and cut in half
    2T kosher salt (for boiling water)
    zest of 1 lemon
    1T olive oil

    Bring a pot of water to boil and add 2T kosher salt. Add the sweet potato, cooking for 90 seconds. Add the cauliflower/romanesco, and cook for 60 seconds more. Add the snap peas, and cook an additional 30 seconds. Drain all well, and serve with olive oil and lemon zest on top.

  • Thanksgiving Floral Arrangement

    Thanksgiving Floral Arrangement

    thanksgiving floral arrangement

    thanksgiving floral arrangement

    Stopped by Bi-Rite Market and selected a few stems to make a tall bouquet for the mantle. I already had the rocks and vase, so this more than 30 inch high arrangement cost $18, and I suspect it will last at least a week.

     

     

  • A Muse: Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem

    A Muse: Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem

    I’m in love with this cookbook. Jerusalem – Ottolenghi’s latest is super sensory pleasing. Since I’m off nightshades and grains–probably permanently, middle eastern cuisine has been a great fit. Clearly, this change in my diet is why you’re off a lot of my recipes–there’s been a marked lull in my post frequency, and it’s because I’m cooking more for necessity and nourishment, and I’m slowly marrying that with decadence, deliciousness and beauty. It’s a time of testing recipes and I hope to deliver many new, healthy, wonderful ones to you soon.

    In the meantime, please enjoy Jerusalem. It’s an incredible cookbook, delicious, approachable, and healthy.

  • Fennel & Stone Fruit Salad, Tri-tip on Coconut Corn Salad, Flourless Chocolate Cake with Creme Anglais Whipped Cream

    Fennel & Stone Fruit Salad, Tri-tip on Coconut Corn Salad, Flourless Chocolate Cake with Creme Anglais Whipped Cream

    Stone Fruit Salad with Cucumber, Bell Pepper, Peaches and Plums

    tritip on coconut corn salad

    quick flourless chocolate cake with creme anglaise whipped cream

    For seven weeks, we’ve had family staying with us. They’re really nice people, interesting, appreciative, but man.. It was rough. I wasn’t conditioned for this. Never in my life did I think I’d have people living effectively in my house for seven weeks in a go. I’ve barely cooked for two months because of it, but the eve before their (very recent) departure (which was followed by 24 hours of blissful retreat in Calistoga), I made a seasonal and tasty multi-course dinner for us all to enjoy. Then, I made it again, a little modified, in Calistoga for our hosts.

    Fennel & Stone Fruit Salad Recipe
    Serves 4-5 as a starter
    Very fast if you have a mandolin! See the mango version here.

    1 small head fennel, sliced very thin, with a mandolin
    1 white peach, sliced with a mandolin
    1 red plum, sliced with a mandolin
    1 black plum, sliced with a mandolin
    1 large cucumber, cut in half, seeds removed, sliced with a mandolin
    1 orange, yellow, or red bell pepper, diced
    1 T seasoned rice vinegar
    2 tsp mirin
    1/2 tsp kosher salt
    2 tsp toasted sesame oil
    raw sesame seeds to top

    Mix it all together, and serve in beautiful messy lumps, like bedhead, with sesame on top.

     

    Tri-tip on Coconut Corn Salad with Chard Recipe
    Coconut Corn adapted from Heidi Swanson
    Serves 4-5

    1.5-2lb tri-tip or flank steak*
    5 ears corn, kernels sliced off
    2 T butter
    1 T fresh thyme
    1/2 C raw, soaked almonds, chopped
    1 very small red onion (1/2 large)
    1 C raw, dried flaked coconut (The bigger the better), toasted freshly
    4 C torn chard

    Sautee on the corn in the butter at high heat, giving it color but retaining crisp texture. Add chard, thyme and some salt to taste. Turn heat off, mix in onion, almonds, and coconut.

    Season tri-tip with salt and pepper. Cook on low heat in a closed top grill for about 10 minutes each side. It will be medium.

    *You could also choose to make a roast (5 lbs=4 hrs in oven at 250=rare, delicious roast beef) and serve that on top instead, or use flank steak, which you may want to marinade in garlic, whiskey, sesame oil and soy sauce for at least an hour or no more than overnight.

     

    Quick Flourless Chocolate Cake with Creme Anglais Whipped Cream
    Serves 5-6

    No-Bake Chocolate Cake From Heidi Swanson

    I made creme anglais the evening before with Gran Marnier Souffle (which photographs terribly!), and had some leftover. I mixed it into whipped cream; it was divine.

  • Backyard Feast: Fava Beans and Pecorino, Rosewater Fruit Salad

    Backyard Feast: Fava Beans and Pecorino, Rosewater Fruit Salad

    Backyard feast with pecorino and fava beans, rosewater fruit salad, mexican chia crackers, and raw macadamia nut cheese rolled in pistachios

    Fava Beans with Pecorino

     

    Rosewater Red Fruit Salad

    The weather has been wonderful lately, a real treat compared to last year’s never ending “winter” in SF. We’ve been enjoying our backyard and sat out around 3:30pm yesterday to have a little backyard feast after a rough day of household tasks (and, admittedly, the diligent avoidance of all things Bay to Breakers, and the decision to not leave our own property, which has become an annual tradition on the day Bay to Breakers is held; we cannot get that drunk anymore, we are too old). Oh, and to observe the solar eclipse, which made some really neat patterns on our front door and cast an interesting level of clear, bright light onto the whole Golden Gate Park area.

    I offered up a civilized bottle of vinho verde, raw macadamia nut cheese rolled in pistachios, raw “Mexican” chia crackers, raw sugar snap peas, rose water fruit salad with raw cashew cream sauce and delicious fava beans with pecorino.

     

  • The Holidays Through What We Cooked & Ate

    The Holidays Through What We Cooked & Ate

    lobster raviolo with chantrelles

    lobster raviolo

    lobster ravioli being made

    lobster ravioli filling

    lobster ravioli on silpat

    crab salad with yuzu, pink peppercorns, arugula

    crab salad with arugula, yuzu, pink peppercorns

    buche de noel from cafe madeline in san francisco

    Christmas Eve Dinner for 8:

    – Dungeness Crab Salad with Yuzu, Pink Peppercorns, Arugula

    – Lobster Ravioli (lobster tail, bechmel, seasoning) in crab bisque concentrate) C/O KimPim (thank you you magical Christmas elves!)

    – Filet Mignon with Mushroom Wine Reduction, kohlrabi & turnip puree, and creamed spinach (not pictured, since we’ve done it so many times before)

    – Buche de Noel from Cafe Madeline in San Francisco

    Joanne Ruggles in her studio with her paintings

    rack of lamb

    rack of lamb

    raw lamb rack

    eaten lamb ribs

    persimmon salad

    roasted brussel sprouts

    butternut squash\

    home made sweet baguettes

    home made sweet baguettes

    New Year’s Eve Dinner for 10, C/O Joanne Ruggles, artist, mentor, chef & friend:

    – Salad with Persimmons grown just outside the door, freshly roasted pecans and sweet vinaigrette

    – Rack of Lamb with Mustard & Seasoning Recipe

    – Roasted brussel sprouts & butternut squash

    – Good company & Wine

    pumpkin cinnamon rolls

    Christmas Day Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

  • Flowers from Birite Market in San Francisco – California White stars, peonies, ranunculus & green pom poms

    Flowers from Birite Market in San Francisco – California White stars, peonies, ranunculus & green pom poms

    bouquet of white stars, ranunculus, and green pom poms from birite market in san francisco

    Visited Birite yesterday to get a couple of steaks and procured some beautiful spring flowers for our dinner party last night; the combination turned out beautifully.

     

  • Oolong Tea Macarons with Tea Infused Buttercream

    Oolong Tea Macarons with Tea Infused Buttercream

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    The Master Macaron Recipe

    A few months ago I pledged my friend P that I would attempt making a tea macaron. I was given some shake from a Wuyi oolong from Red Blossom (heritage tie luo han), and had to figure out how to get the flavor in. Turns out, it’s not so easy to make tea infused buttercream.

    Admittedly, this batch was a little screwy–I used some leftover egg whites (from one of those cartons that claims to be only egg whites) and everything was a little thinner than it should have been. In short, I don’t recommend using carton egg whites for macarons. It’s a bad idea. I’m confident if you follow the regular recipe with normal, fresh egg whites–you’ll be fine.
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    – sprinkle a bit of tea on each macaron before baking, or on 1/2 of the cookies.

    – use the buttercream filing, but reduce sugar to 1/4 cup. Separately, steep 2 T tea in 1/2 C heavy cream, strain well and press excess liquid out of tea. Chill the cream, and whip it into whipping cream– fold into finished plain buttercream and pipe the cookies

     

  • Ribeye from BiRite Market in San Francisco

    Ribeye from BiRite Market in San Francisco

    ribeye steak from bi rite market in san francisco

    Saturday night dinner for two. Birite Market – Five Dot Ranch.

    The fat was so tender and tasty; just salt & pepper and the fat was catching on fire at the grill. Crispy on the outside, rare on the inside.