I Love You More Than Food

Category: San Francisco

  • Pasta Bolognese (From Marcella Ansaldo at Apicius in Florence)

    Pasta Bolognese (From Marcella Ansaldo at Apicius in Florence)

    tagliatelle bolognese

    I’ve posted about my favorite Italian comfort food before, but I’ve decided it’s time to wow you with its deliciousness in a way that will allow replication. This dish was the very first recipe (and demonstration of technique) I learned in Marcella Ansaldo’s introduction to Italian Regional Cuisine course at International Culinary School Apicius in Florence.  Marcella was fabulous and ended up to be one of my very favorite and most professional teachers while I was there.

    Typically you’d make your own pasta (once you’ve done it a few times, it’s really not overwhelming), but if you’re in a hurry you could use dry pasta, preferably something with texture like rigatoni, penne, or egg fettucini.

    Mirepoix (celery, carrot, onion small dice)

    All of the measurements below are approximate. You’ll develop your own liking over time. Serves 4.

    1 large carrot, small dice
    2 stalks celery, small dice
    1/2 medium/small onion, diced
    1/2 C red wine
    1/3lb lean ground beef
    1/4lb ground pork
    50g (1 quarter inch thick) slice of pancetta (if you can get it smoked, that’s the best option)
    1.5-2 C san marzano or other good quality tomatoes, preferably whole
    1 tsp chili flakes (this is non traditional)
    olive oil
    salt & pepper

    Heat about 1T olive oil in a large sauce pan. Start your water to boil at the same time, or soon after. Sautee on medium low heat the onion, carrot, and celery which are chopped a small dice, evenly sized. You do not want to caramelize anything here–simply soften and cook. I remember Marcella telling us that Italians 1) do not like to see their vegetables and 2) do not over cook them like the French. Don’t forget the salt at this point, either.

    Once softened but not brown, add the pancetta, diced the same size, and if it’s not smoked, allow it to cook until almost crispy (you may need to adjust the heat upwards). If it’s smoked, cook together for 1-2 minutes, and add the ground meat. You should mix the meat together first and make sure not too add too large of chunks. Once the meat is mostly cooked, crank the heat a bit up and add the wine*.

    When the vapor coming from the pan is no longer astringent, add the chili flakes and the tomato, and reduce to simmer. Adjust salt & pepper.

    Mix your sauce and pasta well in a large bowl/in the pasta pan and serve with good Parmesan (I will cry if you use the pre-grated stuff, seriously).

    *If you’re smart, you’ll buy a dry, red Italian wine that you might actually want to drink not only because it will taste better, but because then you’ll have an appropriate wine to go with your dinner.

    As a side note, we ate it up with some Liguria Bakery Foccacia, which I am very pleased to say is being retailed at my neighborhood Andronico’s, for four times the price as at the bakery and not as fresh, but it is so freaking good and so inconvenient to get at the bakery that I am happy to pay it.

  • Grilled Tri Tip & Favas with Pecorino Ginepro

    Grilled Tri Tip & Favas with Pecorino Ginepro

    For the Tri Tip (can sub skirt or flank steak, etc)
    1 tri tip, marinaded at least 2 hours, up to 36
    marinade:
    1/3 cup soy sauce
    1/4 cup teriyaki or similar sauce
    1/4 cup oil (your choice)
    1 tbsp chili flakes
    2 shots whiskey/brandy/etc
    2 cloves garlic
    salt & pepper

    Grill to your best ability.

    For the Favas:
    1-2lb fresh fava beans in their pods
    2 large shallots*
    pecorino ginepro (romano will do if you live in the middle of nowhere, but if you don’t i expect you to seek a better alternative, really, for shame)
    juice of 1/2 lime
    salt & pepper

    Boil water, salt it, and put the fava beans in (take them out of their pods first). Cook 1-2 minutes until color has brightened a little. Drain them and put them into iced water, and immediately use your fingers/nails to remove their outer shell. Set aside the inner meat/bean.

    Heat a bit of olive oil in a non stick, and add your shallots sliced in rings, with some salt & pepper. When softened, add your favas, salt, and pepper, and cook quickly until warmed and coated. Add juice of 1/2 lime (a tart orange is ok too). Serve with shaved pecorino ginepro or other firm, sheeps milk, salty cheese.

    *If you’re feeling naughty you could add some pancetta at the same time as the shallots and skimp a little on the oil.

  • Sunday at the Market & Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Loaf alla Smitten Kitchen

    Sunday at the Market & Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Loaf alla Smitten Kitchen

    The recipe from Smitten Kitchen was rather perfect (if not caloric–mine, the way I followed, served 12 peices, each I figured out has 260 calories, 12 grams of fat (2 are saturated), 60mg of cholesterol, 145mg of sodium, 1mg of potassium, 33 carbs (20 are sugar), 5 grams of protein, 2% vit A, 4% calcium, 3% iron (based on 2000 calorie diet). I used Face Greek Yogurt (full fat) and organic, wild frozen blueberries.

    As you can see, even with all the calories and fat and sugar and oh my!, two of us managed to nearly kill the damn loaf in a matter of two days. Yeah, heathens.

    I haven’t been posting as much because there has not been as much worth sharing lately. My produce shipment has been much the same (chard, oranges, apples, blah), and most of our meals have been grilled this and that and nothing terribly exciting or new. (Last night we had some sockeye salmon in a lime-cilatro marinade that I wouldn’t make again grilled alongside some zucchini and swiss chard with caramelized shallots).

    I did make my way to the Ferry Building in San Francisco this morning for the first time in probably a year. It happened to be one of the 6 Sundays a year the mayor decides is “good for business” to shut down the embarcadero and allow bikes, skateboards, and walkers to take over the street in front. I was chatting with the gentleman who helped me at Cowgirl Creamery (I found half a mt. Tam, some pecorino genero, and a small goat-looking cow’s milk cheese from the soft case that tickled my fancy at the moment, thanks for asking) about this and then we both stared at the 3 sets of double doors which had not seen a single body enter them for several minutes. I commented that Mr. Newsome probably does not buy his hair gel at the ferry building, and the gentleman added “even when he is in town.” ;)

    I very rarely shop at the building because despite the quality, there is hardly anything I’d consider a bargain. The $1.80 I spent for a grapefruit macaroon from Miette? Probably the best value of the day.

    I picked up some organic russets to add to the leeks that came last week in my shipment, some ginger, some garlic, some shortbread and a Pain Epi from Acme. I grabbed a beautifully trimmed pork tenderloin (you’ll perhaps see him later this week), and some very thick bacon. I came home, we gorged on Mt Tam with our Acme, went for a run, then a long bike ride (the man managed to kill a tube on his bike again so he walked half the way), and then proceeded to make more Potato Leek Soup, sans 1/2 the butter and thankfully with homemade stock from the attempt at chicken pot pie I made last week (sorry, no pictures). So alas, all I can do today is point you towards old and other recipes (I made Katie’s artichoke and chard dip yesterday for an afternoon snack with Rainbow Grocery‘s flax tortilla strip chips. It turned out great but I used Canadian cheddar and imagine the mozarella would have been better).

  • Amazing Educational Resource on Chocolate & Chocolate Terminology

    In my quest to find the word “Palet” when thinking of chocolate disks used for melting, I came across an incredible chocolate resource for information on the process, terminology, and styles of chocolate.

  • Grilled Garlic Prawns with Avocado Collards

    Grilled Garlic Prawns with Avocado Collards

    We had a little surf n turf on Friday evening–a little inspiration from my love/hate visit to Andronico’s in SF. I picked up more of those delicious blue Mexican prawns, and a really gorgeous rib eye steak. Our grill had a little party. Here’s how I warmed up the guests:

    Prawns
    Marinate in 1-2 T olive oil, juice of one lemon or lime, 2 cloves minced garlic, salt & pepper. Clean them first by removing the vein on the outter curve (not the leg area) and removing the shell.

    Steak
    Coat it generously in large rock salt (for eating) and fresh cracked pepper.

    Toss the steak on the grill ahead of the prawns, which should cook while the steak is resting.

    Collards
    Clean and chop your collards, and sautee a small amount of onion (1/4 medium one) in olive oil until almost translucent. Add salt & pepper, add your collards and cook until well wilted and deep in color. Top with some avocado slices. You could also whip up some green goddess dressing and mix the collards in that instead.

  • BBQ’d Cilantro-Garlic Blue Gulf Shrimp + Asparagus Orzo

    BBQ’d Cilantro-Garlic Blue Gulf Shrimp + Asparagus Orzo

    Proportion for each serving of 6 shrimp:
    2T minced garlic
    3T olive oil
    2T lemon/lime juice
    1T minced cilantro
    salt & pepper

    Clean your shrimp by removing the vein which runs along the outer curve (this is its intestinal tract and its contents are gritty and gross to eat–so cut with a small knife along the top ridge, and then rinse under water to ensure it’s all gone, agitating with your fingers if necessary), then discard the shell or reserve to make some other project of yours.

    Adjust the ingredients above as you see fit, but this is a good starting point. Marinade the shrimp for 30 min-2 hr. More than that and the citrus will start cooking them significantly and you’ll end up with oily ceviche.

    Grill on high heat, turning towards the end of cooking so that you char a bit on one side. Watch them, they don’t take long. Serve with fresh lime.

    1/2 pack Eduardo’s Orzo (my favorite blue and clear packaged San Francisco stuff)
    Several stems asparagus
    red onion
    olive oil
    salt & pepper
    1/2 lemon

    Boil the orzo in salted water until tender. Meanwhile, lightly sautee (do not make soft) minced red onion in olive oil, salt, pepper. Add asparagus and cook at medium heat until soft and brightly colored. Add the cooked orzo, turning heat up. Adjust seasoning and add the juice of the lemon to taste.

  • Shallots, Bacon & Shrimp

    Shallots, Bacon & Shrimp

    This is pretty straight forward and is all about the farm fresh shallots I got in my last shipment, some quality pork belly, and some excellent blue mexican shrimp. For good measure I made some very, very simple farm carrots and asparagus.

  • JP Seafood: Hamachi & Grouper on the Grill with Artichokes

    JP Seafood: Hamachi & Grouper on the Grill with Artichokes

    Last weekend I went to visit my favorite fishmonger and life enthusiast Joey at JP Seafood. He sent me home with some gorgeous grouper filet and a beautiful cut of hamachi (yellowfin, sushi grade).

    I am no sushi chef so I threw them both on the grill with very little fuss and cut up some lemons. The grouper was flavorful and buttery, the hamachi was butter soft and deserved a nice salad with a miso dressing or a glaze which I didn’t manage to put together.

    I cut the artichokes I received in my produce shipment a week or two before, blanched them well in boiling water, sliced them in half and threw them on the grill too. I made some skewers of red onion (also from the shipment) and red bell pepper as well as some mushrooms and we made a feast, celebrating the return of grill season.

  • Urad dal – a Quick Indian Snack

    Urad dal – a Quick Indian Snack

    A good friend of mine and his wife celebrated his anniversary recently, and welcomed a houseful of friends with this wonderful appetizer. He has an interesting history and a lot of experience with Indian food, being that he had years of involvement at a restaurant in a small town in India.

    Here’s the secret recipe:

    Urad dal (a white lentil available at Indian Groceries and not really anywhere else)
    Chat Masala spice mixture
    Vegetable oil for frying
    red onion
    lemon & lime
    salt
    cilantro
    raw cashews

    Soak the dal in water for 30 min-1 hour. Drain well. Heat oil to high and pan fry the dal, taking care to stir frequently so they don’t stick (use a nonstick if possible, or a wok). Once golden and oily, put into a bowl. In the bowl, add a tablespoon of masala seasoning at a time to 1C or more of the lentils. Juice the lemon/lime into it, keep extra handy for adjusting the flavor. Mince or finely dice 1/2 or 1 whole red onion. Mince the cilantro. Mix everything together with a few cashews, adding salt and additional ingredients as needed for taste to bring the whole thing together.

    Wine: a dry rose or a champagne without too much acid.

  • I do love you more than food! A birthday dinner

    I do love you more than food! A birthday dinner

    For his birthday, this evening I made:
    – filet mignon with port reduction
    – garlic-orange rainbow chard
    – israeli couscous with cinnamon & laurel leaf

    There is a love-hate relationship with Andronico’s markets that I’m sure many of you in the SF bay area can relate to. They have beautiful meat. They have beautiful almost everything, and everything costs 3x more than similar quality items that you can’t find all in one place. Truly an American dilemma of convenience.

    At any rate, this evening we did become extremely lucky in that they had the most beautiful filets I have probably ever come across in an all-inclusive grocery.

    I heated my oven to 350 and got to work.

    I seasoned them with salt & pepper, and threw them in a searing hot pan just large enough for them to sit evenly on the bottom and with high enough sides to keep some heat in, in a touch of butter. I let them mingle there for quite a while until they had developed a beautiful medium to dark brown crust. I flipped them, let them mingle a few minutes longer, and tossed them in the oven. At the same time, I tossed some butter in the freezer to have it extra cold for the reduction sauce.

    Meanwhile, I had been cooking and prepping ahead and during the process. I cleaned and chopped the rainbow chard, and started sauteeing the cores. I started the couscous.

    Israeli couscous is a larger variety of the popular mediterrenean couscous and lends itself to being a bit more chewy and holding sauce. I adapted a Bon Apetit recipe I found on epicurious.com, using different heat settings, different nuts, and different stock (high until the vegetable stock was added, I cut the recipe into 1/3rd, and used roasted, unsalted almonds). I’d make this a thousand times again.

    The steak turned out a lot better than I anticipated. Once out of the oven, set the steaks aside and turn on the heat at the range to keep the temp up. I threw in minced onions and let them turn translucent and medium high heat. Cranked it to high and added 1/2-2/3 C ruby port, reducing. When mostly there, turned the heat off and added 1-2 T very cold butter, stirring quickly, and serving immediately.

    It was a hit.