I Love You More Than Food

Category: San Francisco

  • Thanksgiving 2008: Full Details

    Thanksgiving 2008: Full Details

    So as you know from my last entry, Thanksgiving this year was a big, cooperative event. What follows is a photo entry of the action and dishes. I don’t have all of the recipes, but will follow this post with 2-3 of them. If there’s a specific recipe you’d like, please post a comment and I’ll be sure to acquire it for you.

    “Mommies 2” – my host had invited me to join her mother, her mother’s best friend, her daughter, and others. The two daughters–one of them being my friend and host–call their mothers who are best friends “mommies squared” to indicate the amplification when they’re around each other.

    Potato-Leek Soup

    Home-made Chicken Liver Pate

    Pepper & Onion Cornbread Stuffing

    Oyster Stuffing

    Roast Turkey Carving

    Cranberry Orange Ginger Relish

    Sticky Toffee Pudding, before topping

    Sticky Toffee Apricot Pudding

    Pumpkin Cheesecake layered on Pecan Pie

  • Orange & Garlic Rainbow Chard

    Orange & Garlic Rainbow Chard

    For some time, I’ve been considering a home produce delivery, as the Bay Area has a large selection of vendors for this purpose–from private farms to co-op vendors who source several farms and deliver, there’s a wealth of good, organic produce in these parts. I had put off starting the shipments because I was torn between several vendors, but as an impulse buy a few days ago I signed up with Farm Fresh To You. (Ok, so really, I haddn’t been thinking about the produce deliveries since October and I was reading an article in the Chronicle about Tyler Florence in which he mentions HIS delivery of Farm Fresh To You…) Today, I received my first shipment.

    I was pleased. The box sat in the shade on our stoop and I grabbed it on my way in the door, eager to dig in and see what goodies I had from the sesasonal selection. Almost everything in my box bore the Capay farms seal even though I’d opted to receive mixed produce, not only from their own farm. I received many beautiful things–including the largest and most symmetrical butternut squash that has quite possibly ever existed–but will today talk about the beautiful rainbow chard. I’ve never cooked rainbow chard.

    1 bundle rainbow chard
    1/4 yellow onion
    4 garlic cloves
    zest of 1 orange
    olive oil
    salt & pepper

    Wash your chard and seperate the leaves from the stalks. Remove the very bottom part of the stalks if they’re especially brittle or large, then chop the stalks in 1/2-1 inch peices (smaller at the thick end larger at the thin.)

    Heat a skillet or large pan to high heat and add some olive oil–don’t reach the smoking point.

    Chop your onion finely and add it to the hot oil. Chop your garlic and add it a little later, reducing the heat to medium. Add salt & pepper. Once the onions are colored and translucent or soft but not shriveled (that’s too much), add your chard stalks. Let them soften for 10-15 minutes on medium heat, tossing occasionally. Add the zest of 1/2 the orange. Once softened, chop your chard leaves in 1 1/2-2 inch ribbons and add them to the pan, reducing the heat to medium low. Add the rest of the orange zest.

    Let the mixture soften and reduce and once the leaves are fully cooked but not BROWN, you’re done! Serve it up. I served it with quinoa, which you can find instructions for on this site.

    Wine: You can pair this with a meaty or smoky red, perhaps a Spanish one.

  • Rigatoni “Puttanesca” with Cowgirl Creamery Creme Fraiche

    Rigatoni “Puttanesca” with Cowgirl Creamery Creme Fraiche

    History has it that Pasta (in this case, Rigatoni) puttanesca had something to do with prostituites in Naples, but all I can tell you is it’s great in winter and terribly typically Mediterranean.

    180g rigatoni (pasta for 2-3), dry
    80g (several T) good quality tomato paste
    1 yellow bell pepper
    1/3 red bell pepper
    2 T capers (packed in salt if possible)
    2 T diced black, kalamata, or other full flavored pitted olive
    2 Heaping spoonfuls of creme fraiche
    1/4 C stock (vegetable or chicken or water if you must)
    chili flakes
    salt & pepper
    olive oil

    Boil the pasta in well salted water until al dente. While cooking, sautee 1 inch chunks of yellow bell pepper & diced chunks of red bell pepper in hot olive oil, medium high heat. Add salt & pepper. If you want, you can start with a bit of finely chopped onion. Add 2 tsp red pepper flakes or less/more to taste.

    Once a bit softened, add tomato paste and a splash of vegetable or chicken stock (water if you have to). Let paste incorporate and sauce simmer until reduced. Add capers and olives, let warm. Turn off heat and add creme fraiche (I used the ultra full flavored and delicious local SF Cowgirl Creamery variety), stir in. Toss pasta and serve.

    Wine: It’d be nice with a nice spicy red wine like sangiovese (chianti, chianti classico, rosso di montalcino, etc) or a lighter zinfandel, or a well balanced merlot to soften it up and take away the spice a bit

  • The Sentinel SF’s Chocolate Walnut Cookies

    The Sentinel SF’s Chocolate Walnut Cookies

    Very close to my place of work in downtown San Francisco is a popular gourmet take-out staged in a former cigar/tobacco stand, aptly named The Sentinel (you can read people’s thoughts on the place here). They serve a rotating, limited menu daily which is updated every morning on their website. Almost every day, they offer their signature chocolate-walnut cookies.

    They are amazing. I flatter myself by attempting to re-create this cookie when the chef is so famous in our area…Mine came out almost equally tasty, but a little more chewy and a bit darker in color. A few mornings ago, I asked the Chef when I swung by to get myself a pear muffin at 7:30am, what I might have done wrong. He is pretty short with people, but he told me not to cook them so long. I’ll update this post next time I make these cookies.

    3/4 C raw, fresh walnuts (I picked mine up at the Bernal Heights Farmer’s Market in SF)
    1/2 C chocolate chips
    1 stick butter
    3/4 C white sugar
    1 egg
    1 tsp vanilla
    1/2 tsp baking soda
    1/2 tsp salt
    1 C all-purpose flour

    Preheat oven to 325.

    In a food processor, grind walnuts until the texture of fine breadcrumbs or panko. When almost there, add the chocolate chips, and blend so they’re smaller than chocolate chips overall and mixed with the walnuts. Reserve.

    Melt the butter, mix with sugar and vanilla. Add the egg & blend. Add walnut mixture, blend. Add flour & other dry ingredients until blended. Add additional flour if necessary to have a solid but not stiff mixture.

    Cook several inches apart on parchment/baking paper or on greased pan; I put 6 cookies on a standard sheet and gently press them flat into discs rather than balls, this ensures even spreading so the edges don’t burn.

    Bake 6-9 minutes until spread evenly. Allow to cool a few minutes before moving to retain flat, even shape. Makes 8-10 cookies.

  • Roasted Vegetable Crostini & Coconut-Macadamia Green Beans

    Roasted Vegetable Crostini & Coconut-Macadamia Green Beans

    Roast Vegetable Ragout
    2 large heirloom tomatoes, preferably green/purple variety or other rich color
    2 large carrots, peeled & trimmed
    1/2 medium onion
    6+ garlic cloves, peeled & trimmed
    1/2 red bell pepper

    Cut all vegetables into chunks; carrots diagonally. Put into baking dish, toss with 1/4-1/3 C olive oil, pleanty of sea salt & cracked pepper. Cook for 45-90min until soft and rich in color. Add 2/3rds mixture to food processor or blender, pulse until coarsely incorporated. Mix with left over whole vegetables. Reserve to place on bread, eat with roast meat, etc.

    Alternatively, roast these vegetables with a london broil steak or other cut to roast; the juice from the meat will enrich the flavor, or add your own beef stock (1/3 cup) before roasting.

    Place on toasted baguette that has been rubbed with a fresh, uncooked garlic clove.

    Coconut Macadamia Green Beans
    3 spring carrots (small with tops on) trimmed, peeled
    1 lb green beans, trimmed
    1/4 cup halved macadamia nuts (roasted & salted)
    1/2 medium size hot pepper, small diced
    2 cloves garlic
    1 handful fresh pea shoots, washed & drained
    3 T unrefined raw coconut oil (looks for lack of better description like large chunks of crack cocaine, with lots of actual coconut pulp left in it)

    Cut green beans into 1-inch segments, cut carrots into 1/8th inch thick segments (or thinner). Mince garlic. Smash macadamia nuts unevenly to have mostly small pieces and some larger ones.

    Heat non stick pan to medium heat, fully. Add coconut oil, let melt a little. It will retain some uneven chunks of coconut, don’t worry about this. Just make sure the heat is not so high it wil burn the coconut, though browning is OK. Add the carrot, hot fresh pepper, and garlic, cook 1-2 minutes until slightly softened/brightened color. Add cracked pepper, and a small amount of salt.  Next add the green beans. Reduce heat after 2-3 minutes to medium low. Let cook until beans slightly softened and much brighter in color. Add macadamia nuts, cook several more minutes, tossing as you go. Add the pea shoots at the end, raw on top.

  • Spiced Banana Bread with Calvados & Sour Cream

    Spiced Banana Bread with Calvados & Sour Cream

    DRY:
    1 2/3 C. flour
    1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
    1.5 C walnuts
    1 tsp baking soda
    1 C sugar
    2 tsp cinnamon
    1/2 tsp salt
    1 tsp nutmeg
    1/2 tsp ground cloves

    WET:
    2 eggs
    4 overripe bananas
    1/2 C melted butter
    1 tsp vanilla extract

    Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour a large souffle container (2 qt) or two 8×3 inch loaf pans.

    Chop walnuts in food processor until they become like flour/meal. If you do not wish to include walnuts, add 1/3 C flour. Whisk the dry ingredients together so that there are no lumps, or sift. Reserve.

    Roughly cut bananas and then mush with fork or whisk into a pulp. Add eggs, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, cloves. Mix until combined. Stir in melted butter and vanilla, then fold flour mixture until combined into batter. Pour into the cooking pan of your choice.

    It’s done when a toothpick/skewer is inserted to the middle and comes out relatively clean (read: almost completely clean). Let it cool 10 minutes or so before you remove it from the pan. Should come out easily. Stays for about a week at room temperature.

    Would be tasty served warm with Calvados and sour cream.

  • Sesame Seared Maguro Tuna with Heirloom Tomato Ensemble

    Sesame Seared Maguro Tuna with Heirloom Tomato Ensemble

    1 large block Maguro sashimi grade tuna, sliced in 2/3 and 1/3 blocks
    1/4 English cucumber, trimmed and sliced thinly
    Several heirloom tomatoes of varying color, ripe
    Mixed greens
    Live sprouted beans
    Sesame seeds (regular toasted and black)
    Lemon
    Salt & Pepper
    Olive oil

    Heat olive oil in a pan to medium high heat (just before the smoking point). Roll the smaller peice of tuna in black sesame seeds, the larger one in tan. Pan sear the fish in the oil, using your hands to hold the fish side by side in the oil and cook evenly on all sides. Make sure your hands are dry so the sesame seeds do not fall off.

    Whisk juice of 1/2 lemon a

    nd 1/3 as much olive oil as lemon juice together with salt & pepper. Dress your mixed greens, live beans, and anything else you’d like in the salad.

    Slice the heirloom tomatoes evenly and assemble in short stacks with the cucumber slices (I did not do this but am determined it is a preferable presentation).

    Assemble on a platter and let everyone tear in.

  • Flakey Buckwheat Southern Biscuits

    Flakey Buckwheat Southern Biscuits

    1/2 C buckwheat flour*
    1 1/2 C unbleached all purpose flour
    2 tsp kosher salt
    1 heaping tablespoon baking powder
    dash baking soda
    6 T unsalted butter, cubed the size of dice
    roughly 1 cup milk, buttermilk, or almond milk (do not use soy)

    Preheat to 425 degrees. Mix dry ingredients with a whisk; add COLD butter cubes to the dry and quickly use your fingers to smudge the butter into the flour to make it look like an uneven collection of breadcrumbs. Don’t let the fat get too warm, as the pockets of it are what create the air bubbles that make the biscuits airy/flakey.

    Make a well in the center of the bowl, add milk and mix quickly but not too thoroughly until its a sticky but not too wet mess. Use floured hands to handle as little as possible into biscuit shape and toss onto parchment or silicon lined baking sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes until cooked through and golden on top.

    *alternate white flour here for regular southern biscuits and make sure to use whole milk or buttermilk (sub partial yogurt to reg milk for same volume if you want)

  • Fluffy Buckwheat Pancakes with Peaches

    Fluffy Buckwheat Pancakes with Peaches

    Lately I’ve been on a major health kick, trying hard to stabilize my blood sugar without any other aids. Food, you’ve probably heard, is a drug. I’ve been trying all sorts of strange things from San Francisco’s famous Rainbow Grocery Co-Op, including different types of grain and especially flours like chickpea flour, buckwheat flour, quinoa flour and more (I’ll be writing more about this in the future as I figure out things that taste good, especially pastas).

    This morning I was asked to make pancakes, and so sad that I wouldn’t be able to eat any because of the white flour & sugar, I made some adjustments to the recipe I posted a few days ago for Fluffy, American pancakes.

    DRY:
    1/4 C buckwheat flour
    1/4 C unbleached, enriched, all-purpose flour
    1 T baking powder
    3 T sugar
    1 tsp. sea salt

    WET:
    2/3 C almond milk (unsweetened) *don’t use soy, it makes it tough
    1.5 tsp sherry or cidar vinegar
    1 egg
    1 T sour cream or creme fraiche
    2-3 T sparkling water
    zest of one orange (or lemon)

    Whisk together the dry ingredients. Whisk together the wet ingredients. Combine them. Cook immediately on non-stick skillet with minimal butter at a medium heat. If you wait to cook this batter, do not combine the wet and dry until right before you cook, or you will loose the fluffiness that happens when the vinegar and baking powder meet.

    Using buckwheat flour increases the nutrition in these pancakes, lowers the glycemic index, and makes them slower processing, meaning less of a blood-sugar spike results. They also have a higher protein content.

    Serve with peaches or other fruit on top. I suspect this recipe would also be fantastic with chunks of dark chocolate with chili pepper in it.

  • Incorporating Raw Food: Quinoa Bowl with Hazelnut oil & Summer Vegetables

    Incorporating Raw Food: Quinoa Bowl with Hazelnut oil & Summer Vegetables

    I’m single-handedly battling my own metabolic syndrome by getting off of corrective pills and embracing a healthier, vegetable rich, flour & sugar low diet. I’ve found an easy way to incorporate more vegetables is to start adapting raw recipes and ideas into my diet. It really is like power food, though sometimes hard to digest depending on what you make.

    Surprisingly, it’s very filling and I was only able to eat half of the below portion in one sitting:

    For One:
    1/2 C quinoa
    1/2 avocado
    raw cashews
    bell pepper (orange or red)
    broccoli
    sprouted beans
    arugula, chopped
    1 snack box raisins
    cayenne pepper
    hazelnut oil
    salt & pepper

    Cook the quinoa (1 – 2, bring to boil while combined, cover and reduce to low for 10-15 minutes until water is absorbed; quinoa is the quickest cooking whole grain & is also high in protein.), meanwhile chop vegetables into diced size after washing and toss in hazelnut oil, salt, pepper. When quinoa is finished cooking, add raisins, salt and cayenne pepper. Lightly mix all the ingredients and serve with sea-salted avocado in top.