Bluebird

In which my kitchen becomes an unholy greasy mess...

Our first father's day without our dads means no dwelling on sad allowed. It helps to have kids focused on their own singular dad to keep things in perspective. The girls made presents and cards and we all went on an awesome hike in Tilden Park up at Lake Anza. I did my part my own way, i.e. I cooked his faves all weekend. Last night we had buttermilk fried chicken from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc restaurant in Napa. Since we could not go there, I decided to make it here. It was a mass of ungodly goodness graciousness... 

After the hike, we stopped off at Trappist, a local brew purveyer, for some rare imported Belgian beer for the golf-watching while secretly-napping dad of the day to imbibe. The girls had spa-day with honey avocado facials and cocoa-steeped baths.

Meanwhile, I stirred up some luscious gravy....

After a couple rounds of two-square out on the back patio, I golf-balled out these most amazing meatballs. Raised a meatball-lacking child, our spaghetti was suburban 70s sauce made with cans of contadina, ground beef, onions and a skootch or too of garlic powder. Tommy had them a la canned spagettios, which I didn't get to taste until college--also when I learned the crap I coveted for so long was actually truly crap. This recipe tonight is from Rao's cookbook, recenty posted on Food 52. Happily I own the cookbook, but it was so good to be reminded of such accessible deliciousness....http://food52.com/recipes/22467-rao-s-meatballs

And thus we set our supper tableau with sauced-up meatballs, pasta and slices of baguette. It's bittersweet, but thankfully we've no room for dessert.

Dear Betelnut...

however good your spare ribs tasted they were exhausting to prepare and not especially ecstatic-making. From ten this morn to six tonight, I did everything your prissy and high minded recipe requested. But like an 80s frat brat on an incompatible dinner/movie date, I'm left wondering where's the payoff. Going forward, I'll be defaulting to the tried and true traditional, like the way more easy Bone Sucking Sauce from a jar brushed on after grilling for a reasonable amount of time. You had your chance...you're just a  fancy tease...but now I've learned my lesson. Even worse, you've been upstaged by a most astounding salad. C'est la guerre...

Pineapple, Cucumber, and Shiso Salad

Ingredients

• 1 slightly underripe pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into long, slim wedges
• 3 Persian cucumbers, quartered lengthwise
• 8 shiso leaves* or 1/4 cup small cilantro leaves
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped red onion $

Preparation

1. Thinly slice pineapple and cucumbers crosswise. Stack shiso leaves, cut in half lengthwise, then thinly slice crosswise. Toss all ingredients together in a medium bowl.
2. *Find shiso (also called perilla), an aromatic herb in the mint and basil family, at Asian markets and farmers' markets.

Elaine Johnson, Sunset 

 

Summer in SF

So wonderful was the weather that we hopped in the car early Saturday and beat the bridge traffic. Headed to the SF zoo, it was a bit cooler than Oakland over by the mighty Pacific, but still sunny and gorgous. It's always fun to wade through sand blown from the beach along Sloat Blvd. Saw the Doggie Diner head, lots of animals, including a seagull that divebombed an unfortunate fellow's just-purchased hot dog. 

Back home by 2:00, skirting city traffic by taking 280, we stopped at the market and bought some crab. Messy as they are to eat, an 80-degree evening means we can eat the critters outside. We don't get typical summer weather here, so when it happens, you've gotta grab it and run.

Tokyo Fish Market

Surrounded by amazing food year-round, the Bay Area can be a bit spendy depending where you shop. Wild salmon is in season and I was determined to try the following recipe from the SF Chronicle. I can buy incredible salmon at my favorite upscale neighborhood market for about $30 a pound--or I can go to Berkeley's Tokyo Fish Market and get it for $20.

I love this shop because they also have great wine prices, although a limited selection, outstanding sakes, soy sauce and 15 lb. bags of rice. The girls love their Yam Yam cookies, butter cookies that come with chocolate frosting for dipping.

The dinner was a hit, especially good on a warm evening like we had last night. Now the temp's back to its seasonal spring normal, highs in the 60s, so I'll probably make pasta or something tonight.

 

Grilled Salmon BLT Salad

Serves 4 to 6

 A creamy garlic dressing punches up this deconstructed salmon BLT. This is a great use for a leftover filet of grilled salmon. The dressing can be made ahead of time, and the whole salad can be assembled while the bacon cooks. Use smaller grape tomatoes, which will be sweeter at this time of year.

• The dressing
• 6 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• -- Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
• The salad
• 6 slices thick-cut bacon
• 2 to 3 romaine hearts, bottom core removed and leaves left whole
• 1 cup halved cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1 avocado, pitted and diced, optional
• 1 pound fresh wild salmon fillets, skin on

Instructions: Preheat the oven to 325° and prepare a grill for high heat cooking.

To make the dressing, whisk the mayonnaise, buttermilk, vinegar and garlic in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.

Place the bacon slices on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet, and bake about 25 minutes, flipping the slices once halfway through cooking. Drain on paper towels and break each slice in half.

While the bacon is cooking, arrange the lettuce, tomatoes and avocado, if using, on a platter. Place the salmon flesh side down on a well-greased grill, and cook until desired doneness, flipping once about halfway through cooking, about 8-9 minutes for medium.

Top the salad with salmon and bacon, and drizzle with the dressing. Serve immediately.

Per serving: 301 calories, 18 g protein, 3 g carbohydrates, 23 g fat (6 g saturated), 67 mg cholesterol, 379 mg sodium, 1 g fiber.

 

Chili con Carne, Standarized Testing and Love

California public schools demand crazy nonstop testing, ie CST's, an annual week-long torture that negates the value of individual achievement. Trying uber hard to help our niblits achieve the required scores, however lemming-like, while  remaining true to our subversive arty selves is a most delicate and dedicated balance. Somehow they manage to achieve despite the schools and us. Hence my hearty reward of a meal ...chili, biscuits, and chocolate rice krispie treats, all homemade, cause these girls so rock the mainstream.

When in doubt, she cooks...

I hope the blogger and the NY Times I stole these images and recipes from forgive me, but with the recent Boston Massacre I needed to deal with it all somehow...so I cooked and baked my way towards processing the senselessness of it all.

Too affected to document what I made, I am reduced to sharing the original poster's images. My bad, lo siento, big time. But it was so so good...a super moist blood orange pound cake we capped with fresh strawberries and twirls of whipped cream, preceded by the most delicate cheese ravioli along with asparagus tips and sugar snap peas all in a succulent parmesan broth....that I have to share the yum. This is the comfort food that sustained us here tonight. Here are the links and fotos to our most bittersweet and blessed meal...

Blood Orange Vanilla Loaf Cakes from Dorie Greenspan

 

Dorie Greenspan, Baking from My Home to Yours

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 45 mins

Total time: 1 hour 15 mins

Serves: 16

Seasonal sweet-and-tart blood oranges bring brightness to a buttery, vanilla loaf cake.

Ingredients

• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 2 1/3 cups sugar
• 2 blood oranges, zested and juiced
• 2 Tablespoons blood orange juice (I squeezed the juice and then reduced it on the stove, resulting in 2 Tablespoons of syrupy, concentrated juice.)
• 1/8 teaspoon orange oil
• 1/2 plump, moist vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped out and reserved or 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 6 large eggs at room temperature
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 stick plus 7 Tablespoons (15 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled (I browned mine a bit, but it isn’t necessary)
• Syrup
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup blood orange juice (I used 1 1/2 oranges for the syrup as the size of the oranges I had varied a bit.)

Instructions

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 8 1/2-x-4 1/2-x2 1/2-inch loaf pans (I used one regular loaf pan and two mini-loaf pans), dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. (Even if the pans are nonstick, it’s a good idea to butter and flour them.) Place the pans on an insulated baking sheet or two regular sheets stacked one on top of the other.
2. Melt the butter, or brown it if you choose. Set it aside to cool.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.
4. Put the sugar, the zest of the two oranges and the pulp from the vanilla beans, if using them, in a large bowl, and working with your fingers, rub them together until the sugar is moist and thoroughly imbued with the fragrance of blood orange and vanilla. (If you are using vanilla extract, add it later, after you’ve added the eggs.)
5. Squeeze the juice of the blood oranges that has been zested; you’re aiming for about 1/4 cup. Either use 2 Tablespoons of the juice for the cake (and reserve the remaining juice for the syrup, or heat the roughly 1/4 cup of juice on the stove, bring to a boil to reduce until you have 2 Tablespoons. Set it aside to cool.
6. Whisk the eggs into the sugar, beating until they are thoroughly incorporated. Whisk in the extract, if you’re using it. Add the blood orange juice and the orange oil, and then whisk in the cream.
7. Continuing with the whisk or switching to a large rubber spatula, gently stir in the dry ingredients in 3-4 additions; the batter will be smooth and thick. Finish by folding in the melted butter in 2-3 additions. Pour the batter into the prepared pans, smoothing the tops with a rubber spatula.
8. Bake for 55-60 minutes (if you make mini-loaves, they’ll bake in 30-40 minutes), or until a knife inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. (As soon as the cakes go in the oven, make the syrup). After about 30 minutes in the oven, check for the cakes for color — if they are browning too quickly, cover them lightly with foil tents.
9. Meanwhile, make the syrup: Stir the water, sugar and blood orange juice together in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the sugar melts, then bring to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat, and pour the syrup into a heatproof bowl to cool.
10. When the cakes test done, transfer them to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before removing them from the pans and turning them right side up on the rack. Place the rack over a baking sheet lined with wax paper and, using a thin skewer, cake tester or thin-bladed knife, poke holes all over the cakes. Brush the cakes all over with the syrup, working slowly so that the cakes sop it up. Leave the cakes on the rack to cool to room temperature.

Spring vegetables in Parmesan broth with goat cheese ravioli

This was our main accompanied by a baguette..

2 hours. Serves 6

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups water

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 1/2 to 2 ounces rinds from Parmigiano-Reggiano

Herb trimmings

Salt

2 dozen asparagus tips

1/2 pound sugar snap peas

Goat cheese ravioli or fresh pasta squares

2 tablespoons chopped chives

1 ounce freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1. In a soup pot, simmer the chicken broth, water, garlic, Parmesan rinds and herb trimmings until aromatic and flavorful, about 90 minutes. Strain and return to the soup pot.

2. In a wide pot, blanch the asparagus tips in plenty of rapidly boiling, generously salted water until just tender, about 3 minutes. Use a wire skimmer or slotted spoon to transfer them to an ice water bath to stop the cooking, then transfer to a bowl and set aside.

3. Cut the sugar snaps in half on a bias, then blanch them in the same way, stopping the cooking with the ice water bath and holding in a separate bowl. (The recipe can be prepared to this point up to 24 hours in advance and refrigerated until ready to use.)

4. When ready to serve, warm 6 shallow pasta bowls. Bring the Parmesan broth to a simmer, taste and correct seasoning with salt to taste.

5. Bring a large, wide pot of water to a boil. Cook the goat cheese ravioli or fresh pasta squares until the pasta is tender, 3 or 4 minutes. Divide the ravioli among the serving bowls. Warm the asparagus tips in the same pot of water and divide them among the pasta bowls. Warm the sugar snaps in the same pot of water and divide them among the pasta bowls. Sprinkle each bowl with chives and then ladle over roughly one-third cup of hot Parmesan broth. Sprinkle with a little grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and pass the remainder at the table.

Unruliness in the Kitchen

Most everyone has a messy kitchen drawer. I have at least three, but they are semi-categorized. This is my baking drawer. It may look haphazard, but I know exactly what's inside, even if I have lost sight of my half teaspoons lately. Not to worry. When baking cookies, I can always double up on the quarter teaspoon.

These Brown Butter Cookies are dedicated to those types that prefer pure butter and brown sugar, c'est moi. Kinda like a chocolate chipper sans chips, they called for something new to me--vanilla paste. Ever curious, I sourced some even if it was a bit spendy. The proof is in the cookie, though, cause my niblets loved them.

 

 

The key is to brown the butter to a light brown nuttiness. There's an awful lot, but it's the only liquid along with eggs.

The swirling vortex of brown sugar enlivened by the browned butter.

I adapted the recipe from a bakery in Pasadena. The dough is rather crumbly, but it baked all right. Here's the link: http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-sos-brown-butter-cookies-20130406,0,4763560.story

When she made too much for dinner

The dinner plan called for lamb chops, garlic mashers and fresh asparagus, but when I spotted fresh hoppers, pink shrimp that had not been frozen, I jumped. Sweet and yum, really fresh shrimp are not to be missed. It was a bit spendy with the chops, but all so good. Especially when capped off with my friend Lisa's homemade chocolates.

Tapioca always makes me teary...

My mother just despised it. Dad said it was because they used to call it fish eyes and she couldn't get past the thought of that. But we loved it, him and I. Bonded by a love for a lumpy pudding/custard mash-up, never mattering if homemade or from the light blue Jell-O box, it was something only he and I appreciated. There were other hidden food covens in our family of nine. Some chewed glass in secret, sucking rock candy or swallowing chocolate from our auntie who worked at a local candy shop. Others chose the popcorn/kool-aid diet, typical of Sunday nights accompanied by the Wonderful World of Disney. It was the 70s. I greedily ate cake, and pie, and poundcake after sucking the bone marrow from the leavings of my parent's kitchen date night-- sirloin steak with the bone-in on Saturday nights. As I grew older my younger brothers and I were included, after which we watched Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart and the Love Boat. Dad also loved lamb chops, which were admittedly too gamey, if not too sophisticated and spendy for my thrifty Polish/German mix of a mother. He made excellent fried chicken, pancakes locally famous, and the most amazing eggnog I dearly loved  until it was banished due to acute raw egg paranoia. I still mourn that lost recipe he magically whipped up almost every December.

But our love for tapioca lives on--because it was just between us two.

Pearly Whites

A classic treat with a fruity twist

Serve this tapioca pudding warm or chilled.

Just because it’s January, that doesn’t mean we’re giving up dessert. That said, we are cutting back slightly on the saccharine. Enter this creamy, large-pearl tapioca pudding, naturally sweetened by swirls of puréed fresh mango and topped with a cowlick of toasted coconut. The finished pudding (delicious warm or chilled) loiters on the cusp of sweet, making it a good recipe for both breakfast and dessert.

Mango-Coconut Tapioca Pudding

Recipe from the Tasting Table Test Kitchen

Yield: 4 servings

Cook Time: 20 minutes (plus overnight refrigeration)

• INGREDIENTS

1½ cups unsweetenedlarge flaked coconut

2½ cups whole milk

½ cup large-pearl tapioca

1 ripe mango

2½ tablespoons granulated sugar, plus more to taste

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon coconut extract (optional)

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Add the coconut flakes to a rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven until the flakes are golden-brown and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the coconut flakes to a large plate to cool completely.

2. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, add the whole milk. Once the milk comes to a soft boil, turn off the heat and add 1 cup of the toasted coconut flakes. Set aside to steep for 10 minutes, then pour the coconut-milk mixture into a fine-mesh sieve set over an medium bowl. Use a rubber spatula to press on the coconut flakes to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the coconut and pour half of the coconut-infused milk into an airtight container. Add the tapioca, cover and refrigerate overnight. Refrigerate the remaining liquid in a separate airtight container.

3. Slice the bottom off of the mango, then peel it using a vegetable peeler. Stand the mango upright and slice off the two fleshy, wide lobes on either side of the pit. Carve away the easy-to-remove fruit from around the pit and chop the fruit into ¼-inch pieces. Set one-quarter of the diced mango aside and add the remaining mango to a food processor. Process the mango until totally smooth (if the mango proves difficult to purée, add up to 2 tablespoons of water to help it along).

4. Transfer the tapioca mixture to a medium saucepan and whisk in the remaining coconut-infused milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then add the sugar, vanilla, coconut extract (if using) and salt. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring constantly, until the pudding is thick, about 10 minutes. Gently swirl in the puréed mango until the mixture looks marbled.

5. Spoon the tapioca into 4 small glasses, bowls or ramekins. Serve warm or refrigerate until the tapioca is chilled and set, at least 4 hours. Serve topped with the reserved chopped mango and the remaining ½ cup toasted coconut flakes.

 

When they came to curry

Oona had a project for World History last week, her topic was the spices of the subcontinent of India. She made a poster showing a map with pix of each region's spices, wrote an essay detailing it and pinned bags of spices on each area. It was a great success..but even better was when my pickiest eater ever expressed an interest in trying curry, an area I am bereft of knowledge...so I thought I'd try this mashup from Food52: Japanese curry meatloaf. It was SO delish...we licked the plates clean up.

http://food52.com/recipes/3578-panko-crusted-mozzarella-stuffed-japanese-curry-meatloaf