when in tuscany, do as dario does

these last few months have been kind of a doozy. it started on fourth of july weekend when i broke my thumb (and let's not forget my chin - gashed that, too) and ended just recently with a 2-week vacation to italy in september. (yes, my life is nothing *but* hardships.)

sandwiched between the broken thumb and the vacation were several weeks of fun shizzle like taking showers with plastic bags over my hand, using things like my teeth as proxy for -1 opposable thumb, and just generally operating at ~50% capacity in some activities (work) and 0% in others (cooking).

the good news was that by the time we went away on vacation, my thumb was not only out of the cast, but was about 90% functional, which meant i could finally get my cooking back on.

the even better news was we were staying near the town of panzano, home of a famous tuscan butcher: Dario Cecchini. his family have been butchers for the last 250 years in panzano. crikey. (for those of you who can't do the math in your head [yeah, me neither], this would mean these dudes were butchers before things like the "declaration of independence" were even glimmers in our forefathers' eyes...)


anyway, with a butcher shop like that, feller and i went to gape as often as we could get away with, and of course we made sure on the few nights we ate in that we availed ourselves of the most wondrous cuts of meat.

on our final night in tuscany, we went big (but also went home - so there you go, LV, it doesn't always have to be an "or") with a beef tenderloin. i couldn't use the freedmoon classic marinade 'cuz feller isn't down with the mustard, so i improvised a little on a recipe i managed to print out from epicurious, despite the fritzy dsl connection. (apparently rain can knock the interwebs out in chianti.) below is the recipe - enjoy!



Garlic-Herb Roasted Beef Tenderloin

2 2-lb beef tenderloins, tied
6 garlic cloves, finely minced
3 tbsps minced fresh thyme
3 tbsps tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
6 tbsps butter, softened
salt and pepper

In small bowl, mix garlic, herbs, and butter until well combined. Generously salt and pepper beef, then coat with garlic-herb mixture. Refrigerate for at least an hour, up to overnight.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Place beef in roasting pan with rack. Roast until meat thermometer inserted into centers registers 125°F for medium-rare. Transfer to platter and let stand 10 minutes. Slice beef into desired thickness. Serve with red wine sauce (recipe follows); serves 8-10.


Red Wine Sauce

4 tbsps chilled unsalted butter
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 fresh rosemary sprig
1 teaspoon coarsely cracked black pepper
1 cup red wine
3 cups beef stock

Melt 2 tbsps butter in large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onions and sauté until soft and translucent. Add rosemary and black pepper and saute for 1 minute. Add wine, bring to a boil, then add beef stock. Boil until reduced to 1 1/2 cups. Strain, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard solids and return sauce to saucepan. Whisk in remaining 2 tbsps butter. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

this little piggy went to market...

as i was writing about last night, little cami turned 1 this past saturday! part of me can't believe it's already been a year since she was born. i mean, golly, it feels like only last year that her parents were dating, never mind married. oh wait, no, what i mean is it WAS only last year that all of their friends found out they were dating secretly for over 3 years. ...but that's a long story for another time. moving on.

like i was saying, little cutie cami turned 1 this past saturday. i asked if i could bake the cake, because i have a huge soft spot for her. (yes, shocking, i know) of course, how can i help myself? not only is she extremely cute, she also seems to enjoy my company... frankly, this pleases me about as much as it worries yi-fang. which is to say: immensely.

anyway, for those of you who don't know, 2007 is the year of the pig (don't worry, i didn't know either). cami's parents are both chinese (although yif will take pains to point out that HE is not a canton like p), so p thought it would be fitting - not to mention funny - to have a piggy birthday cake.

now, for those of you who don't know her, p does what she can to, ah, influence dinner and dessert menus in order to maximize her eating pleasure. in my baking repertoire, her favorite dessert is banana whipped cream chocolate cake. you can guess what it was she first requested. only problem is, p had been holding off on giving cami any sugar until she turned one, so she had no idea if cami would react well to chocolate. now p is many things (and i like to tease and give her a hard time on about half of them;), but when it comes to cami - oooog, it pains me to pay her any compliments - she's a great mother to that cutie pie. i say this with certainty because p actually sacrificed an opportunity to have *HER* favorite cake and asked that i make a toddler friendly flavor: banana.

this suited me just fine, because banana cake is ridiculously easy to make, and is universally loved (except, um, by matt sweenlinghouse and byron... both hate bananas. weirdos, the both of them!). the cake had to serve about 35 people, so i decided to make a 2-tiered cake (6" and 10" cakes), with a banana caramel cream filling and cream-cheese icing. i used all organic / pastured / sustainable ingredients... well, except for the jelly beans; yes, even i have to make compromises with high-fructose corn syrup sometimes. i used white (coconut) jelly beans on the snout and brown (root-beer) ones for the toes. check out the photo yif took of it and let me know what you think. i think it came out pretty cute, if i do say so myself! recipe is below. enjoy!!!



Banana Layer Cake with Caramel Cream and Cream Cheese Icing

Banana Cake
2 1/4 cups cake flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cups mashed ripe bananas
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs

Banana-Caramel Cream Filling
3/4 cups (packed) brown sugar
1 small ripe banana, peeled, cut into 1/2" pieces
2 tbsps unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups chilled heavy whipping cream

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
2 8-oz packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar

Cake
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter and then dust with flour 2 9" round cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Sift dry ingredients together in medium bowl. Combine bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla in another medium bowl. Using electric mixer, on high speed cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to blend after each addition. Add dry ingredients alternately with banana mixture in 3 additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients and beating just until blended after each addition. Divide batter equally among cake pans.

Bake cakes until tops are just beginning to color and tester inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs attached. Cool cakes in pans on rack for 10 minutes, then turn cakes out onto racks and cool completely.

Filling
Combine brown sugar, banana, and butter in processor; blend until smooth. Add 3/4 cups whipping cream; blend. Transfer to heavy medium saucepan. Whisk over medium heat until sugar dissolves and mixture boils. Cook without stirring pan until mixture reaches 218°F. Pour caramel into bowl. Cool to room temperature, whisking occasionally.

Whisk remaining whipping cream in large bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually fold in cooled caramel mixture. Chill until cream is firm enough to spread, about 3 hours.

Frosting
Beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and then gradually beat in powdered sugar. Cover and refrigerate frosting until firm enough to spread, about 15 minutes.

Cake assembly
Place 1 cake layer on cake platter. Spread banana caramel cream evenly, then top with 2nd layer. Frost cake with cream cheese frosting. Cake be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Let stand 1 hour at room temperature before serving. Serves 8-10.

palatable pot roast

so my broken thumb is now nearly not broken. i should be getting the "all clear" from the doc in about 2 more weeks, meaning i'll be able to resume my impressive feats of right-handed strength... up to and including twisting doorknobs, eating sandwiches, and holding cups. (please please, contain yourselves. no autographs, NO AUTOGRAPHS!)

in any event, last wednesday, the dr pulled out the pins that were holding my bone in place as it healed. i think he said something about taking it "easy" and to "go slow," but i wasn't really listening, so i'm not sure. besides, i had a party to cook for. my friends' daughter - cami! - was turning 1 this past saturday (also the 1-year anniversary of my spilling an entire liter of slice on the front passenger floor of my car...long story...still haven't really cleaned it up, either *sheepish blush*), and i was pretty determined to help provide the grub. specifically some kind of beef dish. why beef? well, not being able to cook for the last several weeks has caused my frozen meat collection to grow considerably ("useless hand" never factored into my calcs wrt joining that meat csa), so i jumped at the chance to contribute something substantial enough to make a dent into my supplies.

i selected two chuck roasts and thought over what the fudge i could do with them. "pot roast" was the obvious answer... but as this was going to be a lunchtime partay, i figured pot-roast sandwiches were a better bet. after all, my meat slicer was languishing away, calling to me, desperate to understand what it had done wrong that would make me turn my back on it... oops, sorry, got carried away there. i mean, c'mon, i know meat slicers don't have feelings. (right?)

so you're probably wondering how the fudge can you slice pot roast with a meat slicer; it's so tender there's no way, right? well, not if you refrigerate it overnight. when you do that, it firms up and becomes very easy to slice, and thin no less. then it's just a matter of reheating it before serving it. and besides, everyone knows that pot roast always tastes better the second night. what's that? you DIDN'T KNOW?!?!?! sheesh. well, it's true. (the key is to let it hang out in the gravy.) for the party, we served the very tender, thinly sliced pot roast on some nice and crusty fresh baguette, with the gravy on the side. delish. recipe below; should be started at least the day before you plan on serving it. enjoy!


Korean-Style Pot Roast
4 lbs chuck roast
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup water
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup sake
3 tbsps Korean hot red pepper paste
1/2 cup brown sugar

Rinse and pat dry chuck roast. Rub 1/4 cup of brown sugar all over roast, and place meat in slow cooker. In a medium bowl, whisk together soy sauce, water, vinegar, sake, red pepper paste, and rest of brown sugar until well combined. Pour marinade over beef. Set slow cooker on high and cook for 5 hours, or until beef is fork tender. Turn off slow cooker and cool in juices. Remove meat from slow cooker and wrap tightly in tinfoil; pour pan juices into a quart measuring cup. Place both in refrigerator overnight.

The next day, slice meat to desired thickness. Discard fat from pan juices, and season with additional red pepper paste and sugar if necessary. Place beef and pan juices in a 9" x 13" baking dish. At this point, you can refrigerate overnight for some additional marination. When you're ready to serve, preheat oven to 350 degrees; cover baking dish with tin foil and bake for 30 minutes. Serves 8-10.

no bargains at flea street cafe

the weekend after i broke my thumb (and um, also gashed my chin), we went to dinner with our friends lyd and mikey venturson. they live in saratoga, we live in sf, so when we get together for "dinner out," we usually pick a restaurant that's somewhere in the middle-ish.

this go-round, lyd picked the place: flea street cafe in menlo park. i think it might actually have been technically my turn, but that week, between keeping my hand elevated 24/7, finding out i needed surgery, getting surgery, and then dealing with the kind of pain that only overmedicating will take care of, i was pretty much useless. thankfully, most of the pain subsided by saturday early afternoon, so dinner out was a go.

when we got to the restaurant, we were greeted by numerous copies of a cookbook - strangely, one that i actually owned: Simply Organic. in fact, it was the very first cookbook i went out and bought after i read Omnivore's Dilemma (no, not my first cookbook ever). turns out the author of Simply Organic lives in the area and owns flea street cafe. guess i need to read those book prefaces more often. oh well. lyd had told me she chose the restaurant b/c she read about how it supports sustainable, organic farmers/producers. all in all, pretty cool and random (although i guess it wouldn't have been random had i bothered to read the front of the cookbook).

for our first course, i chose the toybox squash fritters (i'm not a good judge of deep-fried food. i luv it all); kevin and mikey had the caesar salad (very tasty); and lyd had the raw beet "ravioli" (she liked it). pretty great start.

i then made the mistake of ordering the salmon. long ago, i decided i would never order salmon at restaurants b/c they always cook it past where i like it. well, my non ability to cut my food for the next 4 weeks was 100% the reason i ordered it. MISTAKE. not the restaurant's fault at all since no one can cook salmon the way i like it except me. mikey had the salmon, too, and seemed to really like it. it came with beet potato mash, early summer vegetables (broccoflower and baby carrots), and a trio of sauces (though i forget what they were. they were kind of like chutneys.) kevin enjoyed the steak (hearst farms grass-raised rib eye), which came with a blue cheese topping and scalloped potatoes. lydia had the short ribs, which came with horseradish cream and summer beans, organic tomatoes, roasted new potatoes as sides. she won the ordering award for the night. the short ribs were great.

for dessert, we all shared the basil lemon cake (very yummy) and the midnight chocolate cake (VERY chocolate-y!).

all in all, dinner is best described as solid - i'd say a 3 out of 5. service was solid, the food was solid (despite the rigmarole with the salmon). that said, it was somewhat pricey - and i say that even after accounting for the higher cost of the organic / sustainable ingredients - and this is excluding the alcohol (although for once, *I* didn't have any. i know, shocking. do you mind picking yourselves off the floor? THANK you.). so if you go there, know that you might feel a little sticker shock given the cost v. the overall food experience. bottom line is this is a place that while i won't be rushing back to, i'd certainly be open to going to again.

venerable veggie burgers

well, dudes, i broke my right thumb this weekend, so posts for the next few weeks are going to be a bit shorter than usual (or, at least take a LOT longer than usual), since i only have use of my left hand. (i guess this is when i'll find out if my nursery school teachers forced me to be right handed - i've been suspicious i was supposed to be a lefty for years.)

anyhoo, i'm making the effort to post tonight because i promised jsk i would share the veggie burger recipe i used this weekend for my contribution to the fultzes 4th of july bbq. i dunno about you, but most veggie burgers are pretty gross: discs of disgustingness, if you will. hence why i wasn't interested in buying any prepackaged ones for the shindig. there happened to be a very interesting quinoa burger recipe in the july issue of martha stewart magazine, so i knew this was my opportunity to try it out. i luv quinoa with as much passion as a person can feel towards a grain product without feeling deep shame, so any excuse to cook with it works for me.

well, it turns out that not only did the adults who tried them like them (vadim, katie, jsk, p, and mwah), but they were a hit with the little kiddies, too. both cammy and jaden ate them like they were candy. frankly, when a toddler loves your cooking, it doesn't get much better than that. ultimate compliment, 'cuz kiddies don't choke something down to be polite; they'll just spit it back out and scream. (hunh, what's that? cammy and jaden will eat anything? oh... [awkward, crushed pause])

well ah, moving on, the recipe (changed to my tastes) is very simple. the one thing i would say is these burgers are relatively fragile, so be careful as you flip them. enjoy!


Quinoa Burgers

8 oz portobello mushrooms, stems removed, coarsely chopped
1 small summer squash
1/4 cup finely minced onion
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups cooked quinoa
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
4 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsps unsalted butter

In a food processor, pulse mushrooms until they resemble a coarse paste, and transfer to a bowl. Using fine shredding disk, shred zucchini, then using paper towels, squeeze several times to remove as much water as possible. Add zucchini to mushrooms.

Heat 2 tbsps olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and red pepper flakes, and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and zucchini, and cook until tender, another 2 minutes. Place mixture in a medium bowl, add Parmesan, quinoa, and salt and pepper to taste. Let mixture cool slightly, then stir in breadcrumbs and then egg. Cover, and refrigerate until cold and firm, about 1 hour.

Firmly shape quinoa mixture into 6 patties. Using a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, melt butter with 2 tbsps olive oil. Cook patties until golden brown, crispy, and cooked through, about 5-7 minutes per side. Serves 6.

4 down, 51 more to go

so before february of this year, kevin and i would go out to dinner. a lot. or order in. a lot. in other words, i wasn't cooking. very much. at all.

but all that changed once i read Omnivore's Dilemma; i started to cook almost every night, and somewhere along the way, we forgot that the bay area has a lot of great restaurants that subscribe to the sustainable ethos.

then, the sf chronicle's 2008 top-100 bay area restaurant list came out in april, and i realized there was some work i had to attend to. life can be so *difficult* sometimes, right?! well, it's now the beginning of july and i thought i would report back on the progress made.

the bad (horribly pathetic) news is i've only made headway on 4 of the 55. for those of you wondering, that's a totally lame-o 7.272727272727272727%. shameful. at that rate, i will definitely NOT accomplish my goal to try all 55 before the new list comes out. *sniffles. honnnnnnnnnnnk* like i said, life can be so difficult sometimes. and if i were being perfectly honest, "4" is actually "3" because i realized literally tonight i've already eaten at chow. oops. heehee.

AAAANYway, the good news is that of the 3 places i've bona-fide, brand-new been to, two of them were great, and one of them was solid.

the first place was kaygetsu in menlo park. we went with feller and suz fultz. jaden didn't come with; apparently he had better options that night. whatever. that dude thinks he's too cool for school or something. his loss anyway, because dinner - which was a multi-course tasting menu - was awesome. i highly recommend if you like japanese food; and make sure to get the sake pairing. everything was beautifully prepared, extremely fresh, and most importantly: tasty. it's definitely not cheap, so save this place for a special occasion (or not, if you're high-roller money bags). when you go, try to ignore that it's in a random strip mall. (for reals; but don't worry, you'll forget once you're inside the restaurant.) definitely will be going back to this place. someday.

the second place was incanto in noe valley. the service was a little spotty (took them about 15 minutes to even give us menus), but the food was pretty good. we stuck with pasta for our main dishes, so i have no idea how well they prepare their entrees. for appetizers, i had the pig's trotter with foie gras, bacon & roasted figs (extremely rich; i shouldn't have PIGGED OUT and eaten so much of it. get it?! PIGGED OUT? hahah-- *sigh* never mind.); kevin had the little gem salad with house vinaigrette and shaved parmesan cheese. for dinner, i had the bucatini with sardinian cured tuna heart, egg yolk & parsley; yi-wyn had the handkerchief pasta with rustic pork ragù; kevin had the rigatoni with an heirloom tomato sauce. yi-wyn's was the best out of the three; mine was definitely the most unusual, but solid. (we didn't stay for dessert and decided to go to mitchell's for ice cream instead.) basically, the restaurant was good enough that i'd go back if someone else said they wanted to try it, but i doubt i'll go again on my own.

the last place was pizzaiolo in oakland. to be honest with you, before this restaurant list came out, i had NO idea that there were so many great places to eat in the east bay, much less in oakland. the executive chef/owner of the restaurant used to cook at chez panisse, supposedly manning the pizza oven for 8 years and learning how to use local, seasonal ingredients from the master herself. i had the black mission figs with prosciutto, crème fraîche and mint; kevin had the little gem caesar salad (damn good croutons). for dinner, we shared a margherita pizza, which had this really great spicy tomato sauce (i'm very picky about tomato sauce) and a nice thin crust with perfectly charred and soft-yet-chewy edges. for dessert, i had the affogato made with a shot of blue bottle espresso [my absolute favorite coffee. *contented sigh*]; kevin had the dark chocolate pine nut tart. the whole meal was excellent and reasonably priced (and this includes the fact we both had proseccos, kevin had a chimay, and i had an old fashioned with bulleit bourbon. ...which also explains why i decided i needed a jigsaw puzzle afterwards. long story, don't worry about it.). i'll definitely be going back. (pizzaiolo, not jigsaw puzzle store. ok, maybe i'd go back there, too.)

so that's that for now. hopefully i'll be able to pick up the pace. in fact, on the docket are nopa and bar bambino in the next few weeks. i'll be sure to let you know how all of this goes. did i mention that life can be so *difficult* sometimes? no? well it can be. very.

using your noodle(s)

i've been kind of tired these last couple weeks, so i haven't had as much energy to cook dinner every night. still, a girl has to eat, so on one of the nights this week where i was just so not in the mood to stand over a hot stove, kevin and i went out to dinner instead.

i made reservations on opentable (luv it - suits my desire to not have to talk on the phone) at a place called circolo in our neighborhood. in hindsight, i should have realized the fact this joint offered 1K bonus points was a big red flag.

circolo is in the space that used to be home several years ago to tasty gordon's house of fine eats. do any of you remember it? that place rocked - good thing, too, with a name like that, otherwise: *awwwwkward*. especially loved their donuts. (mmmm, donuts) circolo has actually been around for about 4 years now, and frankly, i'm surprised b/c i can't figure out how it's lasted this long. maybe it used to be good, and something changed; whatever the case, i'm not sure for how much longer it's going to be around.

to make a long story short, circolo is pretty close to a disaster. (another red flag: when we got to the restaurant, there was a big banner hung outside the restaurant announcing it was now going to be open for lunch...bad sign.) the service was borderline (waiters were very friendly, but not around a whole lot, even though the place was pretty empty) and the food was mediocre - a direct result, i'm pretty sure, of the cooks not bothering to TASTE what they were making.

dudes, seriously, making delicious food isn't hard, but you can't do it unless you *taste* the dish as you cook it. if whatever you're making doesn't taste good enough for you to want to eat very much of it, then do what you need to do to fix it, and then taste it again (and do this again and again and again, if you have to). just don't go double dipping your tasting spoon into things, or, uhhhhh, go ahead and double dip, but just do it quickly before anyone SEES you. [i refuse to comment on whether i am guilty of the latter on the grounds that i may incriminate myself.]

anyway, i ordered the ahi tartare and garlic noodles. two extremely simple dishes to make - or so you would think. i can count on one hand the # of times i've actually sent something back and circolo has the dubious distinction of being one of them. i sent back the ahi tartare. seriously: yuck. the restaurant tried to make it up to us by 1) remaking it; 2) not charging us for it; and 3) giving us a complimentary dish (halibut ceviche). only problem is, when the food isn't good, you don't exactly want MORE of it ;) don't get me wrong, we appreciated that they actually cared (and yes, of course we tipped the waiter on what the bill would have actually been. i mean, come on, do i look like an ass? wait, don't answer that...).

the garlic noodles were also pretty disappointing - more like really bad chinese lo mein. where was the garlic? why was it oily not buttery? worse, there was going to be a lot left, b/c the portion was HUGE - enough for 4 people. i felt so badly about how much food was going to be wasted - especially since the restaurant was trying so hard to make it right - that i asked them to box up the noodles to take home. i figured this would be as good an excuse as any to experiment. would the noodles hold up under a "do over" the next night? i waited to see with bated breath (ok, not really; 24 hours is a long time to do that.)

the answer is: definitely yes. the next night, i made a really simple roast chicken (rinse and pat dry a 3 lb whole chicken; salt and pepper inside and generously salt outside; roast at 425 degrees until thigh reaches 170 degrees. rest for 10 minutes then carve and serve.) and served it with revised garlic noodles. turns out you CAN just rinse noodles a few times in hot water to remove any grossness. and turns out my hunch was correct: garlic noodles are freaking ridiculously easy to make. recipe below. enjoy!

(oh, and in case i wasn't clear before: don't go to circolo. i'd give it 1 star. kevin and i have an over/under bet going on when they'll close. we'll get back to you on who wins.)


Garlic Noodles

3 tbsps unsalted butter
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 tbsps soy sauce
2 tbsps brown sugar
12 oz lo mein noodles

Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter and then add garlic. Saute for a few minutes, until softened and fragrant, then add soy sauce and sugar and stir until sugar dissolves. Add noodles and stir until evenly coated and heated through. Place in a large serving bowl, add - if you're into it - the grated Parmesan cheese (how much is up to you) and toss to combine. Serves 4.