Hippy Food!

I'm getting a head start on my new years resolutions and beginning my attempt to eat much more balanced meals. I intend on gaining 10 lbs this year through strength training, it's going to require a very varied diet to give my body what it needs to build. I am going to start taking flax seed and super greens in the morning, I'm already eating oatmeal in the mornings. This is a fairly complete meal that I had today.

• Kombucha and Kombu in winter broth
  
• Yellow foot chantarelle and porcini risotto, chevre, parsley, winter broth
  
• Kale sauteed in olive oil with vinegar, garlic, winter broth
  
• Garbanzos with tomatoes and thyme, carrots, shallots, winter broth

*Winter Broth (Greens) variant
kombucha, carrots, parsnips, celerey root, chard, onion, celery, sage, parsley, thyme, nutritional yeast, lentils, olive oil

Yellow Foot Chanterelle Pasta

This is a modified version of Chanterelle Pasta from Chez Panisse Vegetables.
But it,
Replaces Leeks with Shallots
Replaces Chanterelles with Yellow Foot Mushrooms
Replaces Parsley with Chervil
Replaces Parmesean with Chevre
Added herbs to fresh pasta recipe
Extra Virgin Olive Oil replaces butter

I sorta changed everything in it...

the base of the sauce is broth and cream infused with porcini mushrooms,
which is mixed in with, sauteed diced shallots, sauteed yellow foot mushrooms, thyme, salt, pepper, and tossed into some fresh herb pasta. I garnished with chervil, and topped it off with some chevre. its like beef stroganauff except not gross.

I also roasted a Radicchio in the oven with some olive oil and dropped a few drops of vinegar on it before eating it. (not pictured)

a little pasta

Sun-dried tomatoes, basil, pine-nuts, spinach, lemon zest, béchamel, parmesan on bed of spinach fettuccine

goat-cheese and roasted garlic raviolis, tomato sauce

cook you up some dinner... a little pasta

listen to some music... a little rasta
(my all time favorite ALO lyrics)

Potatoes and Chanterelles . Red Onion and Red Wine Soup

I could finally use the kitchen again. I needed to cook the Chanterelles that I almost put into Sundays mac and cheese. I decided with the Greens recipe for Potatoes and Chanterelles Baked in Cream (p. 210) . There is a note that a Red Onion and Red Wine Soup with Tomatoes and Thyme would pair well with the potatoes. (p. 106) The recommended wine was Pinot Noir. But really, fuck wine. It cost more than the whole damn dinner, that's probably my fault... it tasted fine.

I've been a bit concerned with nutrition and balance lately, for my health in general. But mostly since I've started lifting weights again and I'm trying to get a bit more bulkier.

I added Rainbow Chard, sauteed with olive oil and garlic, pecans and raisins, tossed in a splash of sherry vinegar.

And I cooked some Basmati rice. I'm going to try to post photos now, my food is a little ugly but oh well. I'll go retro with it so the old posts might get new photos soon.

Gnocchi Field Trip

The kitchen is still completely ruined from the party. So I went out to eat. I felt like Italian, the closest is ernesto's but if you walk one more block you'll probably pass by Mescolanza without noticing it. Well I had a mental note of it, so this is where I wanted to go. It's over priced, and I thought our server acted too much like a butler, it's weird for me to judge service though. Free Port with dessert... no complaints.

I ended up having:

roasted polenta with assorted seasonal mushrooms

it's polenta, i love polenta. i wasn't impressed with the selection of mushrooms, and i'd rather have had it grilled. it was good still.

Gnocchi Spinaci, spinach dumpling, creamy tomato sauce

seems like they just mixed spinach into the dough and made a simple sauce with italian plum tomatoes, olive oil and parmesean. i got a full plate of them. they were yummy i ate every one.

anyway this was dual purpose order... i want to make some soon, i wanted a reminder of how it's supposed to be and portion size. i don't know if i can get the ingredients for what i want to do anyway. when i had gnocchi in napa they seared each one, which made it kinda crisp. but thats the same deal with polenta being roasted vs grilled... i just like a bit more crunch.

so the floral dinner i want to make is going to go like this.

• mesclun with variety of edible flowers, poppy seed dressing
  
• grilled gnocchi with a nasturtium butter sauce
• angel food cake with rosewater and jasamine scented white tea and lavender honey ice cream

get some nice bread of course. if i can't find nasturtium i could re-do that saffron butter sauce from greens.

the issue is that it's still too much milk fat and sugar... i have to cook maybe 2 healthier meals before letting myself have this one. just a thought. the salad would be good. i've never made gnocchi before... the sauce and mushrooms are things that i like but i don't know if it all combines... tea honey and cream, its very likely the ice cream will work.

its fun to experiment. i wonder if its going to be gross, i kinda want to invite guests.

Pot-luck

My roommate Linda threw a holiday party so I made 3 dishes. And 1 paper snow flake.

Firstly, I threw together some Coconut Green Curry Noodles, like the ones I had in Seattle. They were vegan... I wanted to make sure my peeps were taken care of.

• half can of green curry paste,
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 carrot sliced
• 1 orange bell sliced
• half a can of pineapples
• fermented black beans mashed with a little brown sugar
• oil infused with some red chilis and garlic
• toasted peanuts, chopped
• green onion
  
• 1 package of chow fun sized noodles

Second, I wanted to make a house favorite. Mac and Cheese. It was penne, a nice gorg cut with parm and oregon white truffles.

Last, Mint Chip Ice Cream. Its my roommate Mike's machine. So attempt number 2 was successful, I learned that putting in a teaspoon of alcohol (i went with macallan) will keep the ice cream from getting too hard.

Quick Instructions:
De-leaf 3 bunches of mint and soak in 2 cups half and half heated to before boiling,
let stand 30 mins, then bring back to just before boiling and steep another 15 minutes. strain the infused cream, mix 2/3 cup of sugar and 1 cup of cream until it all comes together. slowly mix cream into 6 beaten egg yolks, then heat and whisk until the cream coats the back of a spoon. let cool. stick it in an ice cream maker as directed. add chocolate chips. tsp. whiskey.

There was a lot of great food at our house tonight, we some how managed to fit like 10 cooks in the kitchen. Fun.

Not the most interesting blog... pot luck menus are so pot luck you know.

I'm going to whip up something floral soon, it's going to be hit or miss i'm sure. we are approaching the dead of winter and of course i want some flowers... i'm weird. but i gotta cut back on all this heavy food.

Manzanita

My first restaurant "review" blog will be of this absolutely wonderful vegan macrobiotic place: Manzanita which is at 40th and Linden in Emeryville. It's not new ,it's been around for 30 years.

It was the celebration of my friend Shivani's birthday, she works here.

The food was great, flavorful, balanced. This is the definition of a solid meal. I think Macrobiotics is probably the way to go... although I don't really know a thing about macrobiotics. Everyone at the restaurant had a very healthy glow to them. The menu changes every day, and is always fixed. I so dig the style.

In addition to the menu below, Shivani made vegan chocolate and carrots cakes that were beautifully decorated with walnuts, flowers, pomegranate, and one frosted mini wheat.

Saturday Dinner
December 13th, 2008

In the Kitchen: Tienzen
In the Dining Room: Carla

Full Meal ... $13.75
Moderate Meal ... $11.75

Choice between: The Varietal Salad and Lemon-Mustard Dressing
or Squash-Kombu Miso Soup

Mixed Grain Brown Rice
Garbanzo Bean w/ Onion, Garlic, & Dulse
Baked Turnip, Carrot, Beet, & Cabbage w/ Tahini, Sage, & Thyme
Steamed Kale w/ Cashew, Pumpkin, Parsley, & Cilantro Sauce

I think it's time to re-evaluate my diet...

"Cali-Mex"

I had a craving for some flavors south of the border. At most "Tex-Mex" restaurants you get some entree, rice, beans, salad all put onto one plate. I decided to mimic the same thing, except put a little California Love into it. The resulting menu is as follows, but the recipes will help you imagine the food much better.

• Rice, seasoned with black beans
  
• Black Beans, with onions, garlic, herbs, sherry
• Curtido with white wine vinegar and fresh herbs
• Roasted Pepper, Tomato, and Queso Blanco Quesidillas
• Pineapple Aqua Fresca
• Mexican Hot Chocolate Ice Cream

Rice,
2 cups basmati rice
* the left over bean juice from a can of black beans
2 sprigs thyme, leaves only
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tomato diced
1 tbsp. truffle butter
cayenne, new mexico red chili powder

mixed and cooked in a rice cooker.

Black beans,
1 can of black beans
1/2 onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 roasted Serrano pepper
marjoram, thyme, oregano, bay leaf
dry cooking sherry

reserve liquid from can of black beans.
combine 1 can of black beans to 2 cans of water, bring to boil. simmer 1 hour.
add the rest of the ingredients, bring to boil and simmer an additional hour.

Curtido, this is like a coleslaw/sourkrout type dish, more of a topping.

1 head cabbage
1 sweet white onion thinly sliced
2 carrots shredded
thyme, marjoram, oregano
1 tsp. new mexico red chili powder
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. brown sugar
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
salt

chop cabbage into rough strips, place in bowl of boiling water for 1 minute, then drain.
mix together the rest of the ingredients. fridge for a few hours,

Quesidillas,
slow roast the tomatoes with cumin, marjoram, oregano, thyme, salt, new mexico red chili powde, olive oil at 250 degrees for 2 hours, flipping once. remove skins, dice and set aside.

roast poblano peppers, remove skin and de-seed. cut into small strips. set aside.

crumble queso blanco.

use flour tortillas and cook the quesidilla in truffle butter.

eat topped with the curtido (see above).

Pineapple Aqua Fresca
note: I sneakily watched the owner of a carribean restaurant make this while waiting for a breakfast burrito. :)

1 can pineapple chunks in syrup
1 can crushed pineapple in juice
1/2 cup of sugar turned into simple syrup (or use pineapple syrup)
water
blend up the mixture a bit and serve over ice

Mexican Hot Chocolate Ice Cream
1 slab of mexican hot chocolate
1 cup of half and half
1 cup cream
3 egg yolks

heat half and half and melt the mexican hot chocolate into it
remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of cream
slowly mix into the 3 egg yolks already beaten
let sit at room temperature then cool in fridge
mix 1 tsp of vanilla extract
make in ice cream maker as directed

This entire dinner cost less than $25 and serves like 4. with lots of left over ingredients... I'm a little proud of this one. That was fun. Left over burritos!

Wild Mushroom Risotto

A risotto as wild as my trip to Seattle. Needs work. But I like the idea of it.

I came home from a day trip to Seattle with a pound of "Fresh Local Chanterelle Mushrooms" at $8.99/lb. I am a fan of the Chantarelle, and honestly don't like mushrooms in general, so I am always excited about finding them. (I wonder what it feels like running into them in the woods!)

I asked the the guy working the produce stand if there's a difference from the ones I get down south in SF. He said he did not know. He also mentioned that they were at the end of the season.

So, after my long sleep my first thought was what I would be eating for dinner. My mushies of course. What to do... well I remember a recipe with greens in a ravioli, but I just had agnolotti last night and didn't want that. I can do risotto, same flavors, different spin.

I head over to the Ferry Building to get ingredients and go straight to the mushroom store. I ask the lady the same question regarding the Chanterelles... she is sooo knowledgeable. The differences are the following: Chantarelles come into season from north to south with the first rains. The rain is much lighter in the north so it accounts for smaller, yet drier, mushrooms. As the rain goes south it is more heavy and will yield larger wetter mushrooms. But flavor is pretty much the same, the drier ones are probably a bit stronger.

Over in the case is a bunch of truffles, I wanted to buy some at Pike's but the truffle store was sold out, how bogus is that? I'm talking to like the mushroom guru right now so I just gotta pick her brain some more. What's the difference between the Oregon White and the Italian Truffle?

They're NOTHING alike.

Different variety. She shoves a jar of the Italian ones into my nose.

WOW!

Then she lets me smell the Oregon ones. The oregon truffles have a more chemically smell in comparison. I ask, "you gotta use these like immediately right?" And the answer is. Within a week but after a week you can make truffle butter and fridge it than freeze it and have it for a long time. A little light bulb icon just appeared over my head.

"What do you think about using truffle butter in a Chanterelle Risotto?"
"Excellent."

Oregon Truffles $12.50 OZ.
Italian Truffles $312.50 OZ.

Are Oregon Truffles a gastronomical equivalent to brown mexi-brick weed? Did I just buy some gateway drugs?

Next stop, Escarole. I walked over to the farm fresh store and picked up what I believed to be Escarole. It's been awhile. I asked the lady working the store and she goes through a book says what I am holding isn't it. (I swear at this point I almost just grabbed a Raddachio instead... maybe i should have) But she goes gets help and finally tells me my guess was right all along. I grab a little thyme too.

I head over to Cowgirl Creamery and grab a number. I wanted to get some Oregonzola but they were out so I ended up getting just a bit of Stichelton. That shit is strong! I only got a little bit. planning on cutting it with parm.

And that completes my risotto, almost.

* Truffle Butter, cream finely minced truffles 1 oz to 1 lb butter (the fucking irony kills me)

2 cups risotto rice (your choice)
1 lb Chanterelle diced, cooked golden in 2 tbsp. Truffle Butter
1 Head Escarole cut into thick strips
2 Shallots minced
5 cups broth, I used no-chicken, soaked a bunch of porcini mushrooms, a bay leaf, and a few sprigs of thyme.
1/2 cup of Champagne
1/4 lb Stitchelton
Parmesan
Salt, Pepper
touch of white wine vinegar

So the idea here is to use very little of everything. All the flavors are quite delicate. But my ingredients are quite poor in quality as far as the champagne and truffles go.

"I can't get enough, I want to eat you up, have you for dinner left overs for lunch."

Seriously. I'm thinking about getting a baguette at acme and bringing a small amount of truffle butter with me. I like apple juice too.

Roasted Beets. Green Garlic Ravioli. Chocolate Cake

I was walking out of brunch at the Blarney Stone, I personally wanted to stay home and make pancakes but my roommate insisted on going out. I had the standard veggie omelet and an Irish Coffee. The store next door had young garlic, and I immediately got excited and bought 6 of them remembering a recipe with young garlic and potatoes in a ravioli; which is perfect since I've wanted ravioli's in broth all week. Unfortunately, I only bought enough for half a recipe, which turned out to be about 12 large-ish raviolis.

I went out looking for new potatoes, the yellow fingerlings or the french pink potatoes looked like good choices but I didn't want a whole bag. Organic gold potatoes were on sale so I chose those.

I felt like a salad, so I thought some roasted beets tossed in some mesclun with some chopped apples in a vinaigrette would be fine. And that's what I did.

The ravioli's were easy, I put about a 1/4 cup of whole wheat (3/4 all-purpose) into a 1 egg pasta recipe. Chopped and stewed the young garlic, Alice tells you which parts of the garlic to take to adjust your flavor accordingly... I really don't have that fine of a palate. I guessed. Chop them uniformly and cook until done in some butter. Boil the potatoes. Then puree them together adding salt and pepper to taste. Roll out the pasta, fill, cut, and drop in boiling water.

Chocolate cake was a last minute add, and also a moderate disaster. I didn't have any of the right ingredients. I had only 2 eggs instead of 3, so I chucked out 1/3 of the dry mix I had made. I didn't have unsweetened chocolate, just semi. And I didn't have buttermilk, just some left over cream that I forgot to add,(then added last minute directly into the cake pan)... while waiting for the cake to cool, I got impatient and made some frosting. Well the cake still wasn't that cool when I started to frost it... melt-age. If there was a way to fuck up this cake, I did it. I got a theory with working with this much freaking butter and sugar though, it's almost impossible for it to suck, so don't trip on it.

More roommates just happen to show up when I finished so I had to ration things out a bit more scarcely. I did not make my own broth, I got lazy and used a carton of no-chicken broth. Wish I had just made my own, would've been better and cheaper. I think it was all decent in the end.

Fettuccine and Saffron Butter with Spinach and Roasted Peppers

This is taken directly from The Greens Cookbook, p. 166

It's saffron, shallots, marjoram, parsley, lemon peel, and cayenne creamed into butter and later melted into sauteed red onions, garlic, sliced roasted red and yellow bells and spinach. It's then tossed with fresh fettuccine and toasted pine nuts. Topped off with some Parmesan and pepper.

This dish has a lot going on in it, there are a ton of flavors, but the saffron definitely stands out, perhaps a bit too much to me. I'd use less next time. And a nice slice of bread would've been so money, especially to sop up some of that butter sauce.

Greens is my favorite restaurant in the city, right now. I like it. Given the ingredients and skill required to perform the dishes they do, it really isn't that pricey either.

This particular recipe cost about $15 in ingredients plus roughly 2.5 hours of cooking... I'm still slow with a knife and what not.

The number of servings is two to four. I would guess the dish is about $15 for one serving, but it's going to be done correctly with better ingredients.

Brie and Poached Pears on Focaccia w/Lavender Lemonade

I had a craving after lunch for a Brie and poached pear sandwich after walking by crossroads today. I had some pizza dough left over from the yam pizza still in the freezer, so I defrosted that and baked it topped with salt, rosemary, and lavender. While poaching the pears, it hit me, why not add more lemons, steep some lavender, and make lemonade! It was great. I also put some mint leaves into the sandwich which ended up complimenting with the flavor of the rye in the bread.

1 Foccacia bread (50% rye), salt, lavender, rosemary
2 Pears poached in
4 cups water
1.25 cups sugar
1 zest of a lemon
1 juice of a lemon
Remove pears and slice

turn off heat on poaching solution and add:
juice of 3 lemons
5 sprigs of lavender

let the lavender steep for about 10 minutes or so.

Pour over ice and add soda water.

To make the sandwich spread a nice layer of brie over the bread.
layer the sliced pears, top some mint on top.

I was pretty happy with the results, will repeat.

Scallion Pancakes . Lo Mai Gai Tofu . Gai Lan

I was thinking about how I've been cooking for about exactly a year now, and I've made good progress. I'm consistently making 3 solid courses a night. This night I got a little help. And I needed some comfort food, and there really is nothing more comforting for me than Chinese.

The scallion pancakes were a gift from my old boss/neighbor's wife. They totally rocked. I forgot about them, I had them in the freezer.

Gai Lan is a chinese vegetable which is much like rapini, or brocolli. It's a little bitter. I cooked this with some ginger, garlic, olive oil then poured some vegetarian stir fry sauce, the veg oyster sauce replacement.

The Lo Mai Gai was a failed attempt at a raging success. (stole that line) If you were to ever ask me what is the one meat dish I miss the most, this would be it. It is lotus wrapped glutenous rice with chicken on the inside. It usually also has chinese sausage and mushrooms in it, this usually gets the rice all greasy something that I failed at.

The task is a lot less scary than it seems, it just takes a little prep time. First, soak lotus leaves in water for 1 hour to make them flexible enough to use. Soak short-grain "sticky" rice too, to make it more sticky. What is going to happen is much like a tamale, you will layer rice, filling, and rice
then wrap it in a lotus leaf and steam it. So the filling possiblities are endless. I decided to go with, marinated pressed tofu, garlic, ginger, shitake mushrooms, water chestnuts, and baby corn. everything diced up, its a filling remember.

This will be stir-fried in a sauce, I think the rice-wine is important hear as its got a distinct taste that I remember. Mixed that with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, vegetarian stir-fry sauce, white pepper, and a some water and corn starch. I really barely cooked it.

My roommate told me I was good at wrapping them, I thought about it... it's much like rolling a cigar, I can roll up a mean burrito too. You want to make little square packages. Then steam it for 30+ minutes.

I really love the idea of these lotus flavored rice packages. And the filling came out perfect for wontons... which I will try very soon. I need to re-work this filling and get it greasier.

I had 2 cups of jasmine scented white tea, I think it really wanted to be in ice cream though. I need an ice cream maker.

Vegetable Pot Pie . Mac and Cheese . Angel Food Cake

Vegetable Pot Pie

I still had some tart pastry left over from the apple turnovers from last night, and it was actually better today than it was yesterday. I rolled this out thin and lined a couple of ramikins, cut some circles for the top, and stuck it in the fridge to keep the dough from melting anymore.

I started by caramelizing onions, and soaking some porcini mushrooms in hot water. Added a small amount of dry white wine once the onions were done caramelizing. Then I added some basic soup veggies, carrots cut into sticks, potatoes, celery sliced, mushrooms sliced and some dinosaur kale. Sliced up the re-hydrated porcinis and put the mushroom water in with some thyme and a bay leaf. Salt and Pepper.

I finally covered and sealed up the ramikins with the top circles that I made. Brushed the tops with a egg/cream mixture and baked the pies at 350 for 1 hour.

I guess I didn't seal them good enough because they started leaking about 20 minutes in. I had to stick a pan underneath them to catch the soup. really not so good at this baking stuff.

Mac and Cheese.

This was sort of a make shift side dish. I wanted to make a side of something, and its been about a week since I last made mac and cheese so I thought I'd make use of those apples my parents gave me. The only issue was that all I had was cream and no milk. I ended up busting out the dry non fat milk I use for white bread along with the heavy cream... I probably should've used more butter and flour in retrospect but it came out okay. I used some sharp cheddar and parmesan.

On another note, my roommate just came back from Napa and said she had Mac and Cheese with Gorgonzola and Truffles. Not fair.

Angel Food Cake

I finally saved up enough egg whites. I laced it with some orange-blossom water. My cake came out too cakey, maybe I needed to get more air into it when whisking. It still tasted great.

Potato Leek Soup . Roasted Yam/Potato Pizza . Apple Turnovers

This started out with trying to figure out what to do with these apples my mom sent me home with. Apple Pie! Shit. Alice didn't print a recipe for apple pie... apple tart? Not feelin' it. Apple Turnovers, yes, sounds good. (wait, don't all these taste the same?). Google.

I went with Tartine's tart crust recipe. Cut into squares.

Filling, a variation on an "All Recipes": 1 apple peeled cored sliced 1/4", chopped. 1 Tbsp Raisins. 1 Tbsp. Dried Cranberries. 1 Tbsp Chopped Walnuts. 1/4 Cup Sugar. 3 Tbsp butter. So, what went different here is that I forgot to put in 1/8 tsp of vanilla, I didn't have dried currants so I used rasins and cranberries. And I didn't have apple sauce so I used butter.

Mix the filling together. Split the filling amongst the squares, fold into triangles, and try to seal it up. Use a fork to clamp more and make those stylin' imprints. poke some venting holes on top. Bake 20 mins at 400 degrees, or until brown.

What I would do differently next time: I got lazy and didn't make an egg wash which probably resulted in leakage and why the top didn't come out all golden brown. I was thinking that I should've used the ravioli cutter, and why not just make them ravioli sized? Would be fun.

The pizza. I attempted to copy a pizza I had at Pizetta which was roasted yam with mustard greens. I didn't see mustard greens at the store and I didn't feel like walking any further to another grocer, so I settled with Arugula... it's kinda bitter spicy... I added some walnuts to get some nutty.

The dough, since this was last minute I made a quick Yeasted dough. Half of the flour was rye, half all-purpose. I thought I'd help out the yeast and match the potatoes and yams with some lavender honey. I was wrong; more later.

I used some left over Russets/Yukon Golds from the soup. And sliced up a yam. Tossed it all with olive oil, rosemary, lavender, and thyme. Salt and Pepper. Roasted them.

The cheeses were boring, Mozzarella (this organic brand is pretty good for a dry one, but I don't remember the name of it anyway) and Parmesan.

** What I would do differently next time: ** The crust was too sweet, I shouldn't have put the honey in. I think a very plain crispy crust would've worked better. And also find those damn mustard greens, arugula was a nice try though.

The potato leek soup turned out OK. I love this stuff. I'll probably be drinking it for a bit.

Pupusas

I set out on a mission today to make tamales. I've been obsessed with the idea of cutting out my lunch expenses entirely or near entirely, such that I have a $5 budget on a side order at the ferry building. I went to the mexican grocer on clement and id guess 24th. I was planning on ripping off Donna's Tamales chipotle tofu filling. So I found the Chipotle in Adobo sauce and masa de harina, i was still short on those corn husks. I wish somehow highschool spanish taught me enough to ask for tamale wrappers or corn husks, but it didn't. I bet it was a funny sight me all squinty eyed with a smile on my face making hand gestures of what I think means tamale wrapper. The lady laughed at me and just said "sorry nino".

Well, I had my heart set on some tamales, what am I going to do? Reading the label on masa it said tortillas, tamales, pupusas.... PUPUSAS! life's a lot less coincidental than you'd think. I did end up learning that tamale and pupusa filling should definitely be a different chunkiness. I should've just made cheese and blackbean pupusas.

Anyway, the filling. Carrots diced. Onions diced. Can of black beans, rinsed. corn kernels. chipotle peppers, some of the adobe sauce. tomato paste.

So now the fun part, filling the pupusas, don't worry I watched a few youtube videos... I'm good to go.

You roll them into a ball then thumb out a little cavity, fill it up then seal it trying to have no air in it. then you press it down into a pancake. Due to the chunkiness of my filling I had a hard time getting the thickness down to where I wanted it.

Then you just fry it in a very lightly oiled pan.

As it turns out, my roommate decided to have an early thanksgiving day dinner... so this ended up going out to a dinner party... i didn't taste enough to know if it was as horrible as i think it was. The filling with diced extra firm tofu added ended up being great in these burritos I made the next day. Just add rice, cheese, sour cream, lettuce. Rockin.

Big Game Pizza

I had a few friends over for the Big Game (Cal vs Stanford). I woke up early to get some dough started, I've been really bad about the over-night rise or using sourdough starter lately. I use
my usual 25% dark rye to all-purpose that I took from Alice and combine it with the cheeseboard recipe for pizza dough.

Zucchini and Feta Cheese Pizza with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto. p203 the cheeseboard collective cookbook.

Well the only real reason why I wanted to write about it at all is because one of my friend works at CPK and said that my pizza was the best vegetarian pizza he has ever had. I'll take it, even though its cheating when you got cheeseboard pairing your ingredients.

French Onion Soup

my first dinner party
i caramelized onions for 5 hours
and only made 2 of 5 courses
im sure everyone was still hungry
but when you have more wine than food
its all good

Salad
French onion soup with herb broth, Gruyere and Ementeller
Sauteed Kale with Vinegar and Cranberries
Quiche
Almond Cake with Berries

Butternut Squash

Butternut Squash Roasted Red Pepper Tomato and Mint (Greens Cookbook)
Butternut Squash and Sage Risotto (Chez Pannisse Vegetables)
Killer Granola Cookies (Cheeseboard Collective Works)

I added a very special ingredient to all of it ;-)

Eggs Florentine

I'm upset at Park Chow. If I don't eat at the bar, something bad will happen. They screwed up my Eggs Florentine by giving me a Benedict and telling me that's what I asked for. I can make these at home... forget park chow.

First start with Rose Levy Beranbaum's crumpet recipe, it will take about 2 hours. You will need a ring and a non-stick pan, wish i had a skillet but i don't... worked fine in a regular pan. The ring, can be as rose puts it an old well washed tuna can with the tops and bottoms gone. I'm not gonna
have a can of tuna any time soon, so i used these circle cookie cutters i found at the Chinese restaurant supply spot on 7th and Clement.

I used the volume measures since I don't have a kitchen scale (someday...)

1 cup unbleached all purpose
2 tbsps non-fat dry milk
1 tsp. instant yeast
sugar 1/2 tsp.
salt 1/2 tsp.
water 3/4 cup

mix all well in kitchen-aid using paddle attachment slowly reaching #5 until smooth ( around 5 minutes ) place in a container and let double in size (~ 1 hour)

you could make some hollindaise sauce around now. (*)
make some spinach (**)

mix, 2 tbsp. water
and 1/4 tsp. baking soda.

mix into the batter, it will collapse a bit.

let double again.

~ 30 mins ~

heat pan at lowest temp until a drop of water fizzles out quickly. (evenly heated)

melt tsp butter, brush the rings
put the rings in the pan
brush inside the circle on the pan

pour batter in let it cook until the top is not shiny.
remove ring with tongs or something, flip the crumpet to the other side.
cool on a wire rack

Next, (*) hollandaise sauce.

whisk 3 egg yolks, 2 tbsp lemon juice in a metal bowl
place bowl on top of boiling water (double boil)
slowly whisk in about 3/4 stick of melted butter until sauce has doubled
add a small pinch of sugar, pinch of salt, pinch of cayenne whisk it together
put it aside

(**) spinach

wilt in small amount of water and lid salting the leaves and adding a few drops of lemon juice.
chop

-- poaching eggs... i dont know how to do this right, my first try. please advise me as this will need modification at a later date (TODO)

boil water in a heavy bottom put in about 3" water (??) a splash of vinegar. i think alice said to use something good tasting because it will show up a little bit with the egg. bring to just before boil. no bubbles. drop eggs in and let cook. fish them out with a slotted spoon.


assembly, i don't know the right order i guessed...

toast a crumpet
place a poached egg, some chopped spinach on top,
hollandaise sauce
salt and pepper.

Vegetarian Lasagna

Every vegetarian makes a lasagna. I just made a mighty mean one. So, the end all idea I've taken away from lasagna is that pretty much anything you find in a ravioli is going to work great in a lasagna. I learned this lesson the hard way, after finding myself making raviolis at 2am with about 40 bucks worth of cheese that still needed a home. My pasta wasn't behaving one way or another and I was tired of rolling it out. That's when it finally hit me, out of laziness of course, I'm just going to stick all of this into a lasagna.

* Sauce
--------

roast tomatoes and red bell peppers (burn them first and remove the skin)
Edit: Roasting them in the oven at 350 until wrinkly is waaaay easier, but you lose the charred flavor.

**** season with sugar, salt, oregano, and use a liberal amount of olive oil. bake 200 degrees for 2 hours, flipping once.

saute shallots and leeks
white wine, marjoram. reduce.

add roasted tomatoes and red-bell peppers sliced up.
let simmer, break things down with your spatula.
puree it all.

* Cheese layer
--------------

Goat cheese, ricotta, parmesan, roasted garlic (touch of olive oil and a sprig of thyme), egg (mix it all together)

* Vegetable layer
-----------------

Chanterelle mushrooms, sliced, sauteed golden in olive oil. Sauteed diced onions. Spinach wilted down in all that left over oil from the last two. Chop the cooked spinach so that it can come out in a bite and not completely pull its way out of the lasagna. Mix this together with some fresh chopped parsley, salt and pepper.

* Pasta layer - Spinach
------------------------

Spinach colored pasta is so pretty, I can't help but color my pasta nowadays.

2 Cups flour, 2 yolks, 2 eggs, 1/2 lb spinach pureed, rolled out into sheets.

Assembly,

sauce, pasta, cheese, pasta, vegetable, pasta, sauce, pasta, cheese + sauce +
mozzarella on top.

bake 400 degrees @ 20 mins covered with foil, remove sprinkle parmesan cheese on top,
return to the oven for 15 minutes or until top starts to brown up.

Spinach and Red Chili Fettuccine with Pesto-Alfredo Sauce

First, the Fettuccine

~1/2 lb of spinach
2 eggs
1 cup, all-purpose flour
1 cup, semolina flour
Crushed red-chili flakes
Salt

Mix flour (i like the bounce semolina adds, you can use just regular flour if you like it lighter) separately, process the spinach all the way down, beat 2 eggs and mix in add salt and chili flakes. Slowly mix in the flour, i use a mixer pushing the flour out to the edge and pouring the egg mixture in the middle. When the flour comes all together you can knead it by hand and wrap it up in plastic to let rest for about 20 minutes. Roll-out the sheets to the second to last setting and cut fettuccine size. Boil in salt water.

Pesto-Alfredo sauce

Pesto, I kind of guess on the ratios...
Pine nuts (toasted)
Garlic (about 3 cloves)
1-2 bunch(es) basil
Good Olive Oil
Salt

Butter (3 tbsp.)
Flour
Cream (1/2 pint)
Milk
Parmesan cheese (~ 3/4 cup grated)

Mortar and pestle or process, toasted pine nuts, fresh garlic, basil, olive oil, salt. (hold the cheese, since the sauce will be loaded)
Set aside.

In a pot, melt the butter. Whisk in about (~ 1/2 cup) all-purpose flour, pour in cream (1 cup) then milk (1 cup), slowly add cheese, always whisking. Continue until you have a consistent creamy Alfredo. Whisk in all the pesto you just made.

Toss the noodles and the sauce together, I like it topped with some fresh ground pepper.



*variation w/sundried tomato pesto.