Cookbook Review - A Platter of Figs

Yum! That's the jist of my experience with A Platter of Figs by David Tanis. The book itself is beautiful with amazing pictures of the food which I always find helpful when trying to determine what my final product is supposed to look like. The recipes are ordered by seasons and in menus, each focusing on the freshest ingredients. That alone would make me buy this book, but before I added to the collection (it's a large one), a group of us decided to test a few of them out.

We decided to make a total of 10 dishes between the 4 of us and we gave ourselves 3.5 hours. We luckily got it all completed, but it definitely required some team work. Everything turned out delicious. We tried to review all of the recipes at the end and here is what I could remember..

Cherry tomato crostini with ricotta - SO GOOD!!! AMAZING! Crostini will never be the same again. I enjoyed eating the leftover the next day even on soggy bread it was so good...
Spinach cake - Surprisingly light and accompanied with a tasty herb salad, which completed the dish perfectly.
Corn, squash, & beans with jalapeno butter - Really tasty.. you can never go wrong with spicy butter.
Green lasagne - Certainly a labor of love... The recipe for the noodles was a little dry, so added a lot more olive oil. I did a lot more than 4 layers too, and kept the filling to a minimum between each layer. Also only used half of the bechemel it required and didn't cook the noodles first.. Turned out delicious. This is obviously one of the one's I worked on
Shaved summer squash - You would never guess that raw squash could be so tasty, but it was good so good.. and so were the raw squash blossoms.. YUM!
Lobster risotto - Delicious.. Another labor of love between cooking the lobsters, taking out the meat, then making the broth and stirring the risotto... It did make tons of lobster broth though, which was saved for another use.. Very very good...
Roast pork loin - This was super tasty. Lots of great flavor. The only change I would make is to buy an instant read thermometer you can leave in the oven. We played it a little too safe and over did it a tad. Also, buy a pork loin with lots of fat is needed to keep it moist or wrap it in bacon.
Peaches in wine - So refreshing and light.. The peaches are not cooked so they keep their firmness.
Blackberry and blueberry crumble - Amazingly good, and I don't even like cooked fruit.. Especially with vanilla ice cream.. YUM!

So all in, I have to say that this book is definitely on the buy list. Everything we had turned out so well, the boys even did the cleaning up.

(pictures to be added soon)

Tante Marie Cooking Class

A little over a year ago, I took my first class at Tante Marie with Jodi Liano. I took The Basics (Series III) course with her, every Tuesday for 6 weeks. The focus of the class was on timing, but I also learned a lot of techniques, which had intimidated me in the past. By the time the 6 week course was finished, I was hooked on cooking classes. I waited for the next round of classes to come out, and as soon as they did, I forwarded them onto anyone I thought would be interested and started planning which classes I would take.

Last weekend I took Tante Marie's Quick and Easy Mediterranean Cooking with Jodi and got so many great recipes using lots of whole grains, which had intimidated me in the past. We made a fantastic harissa, which I can't wait to make at home (I'll share once I get a chance to make it myself). My favorite dish was the Tomato and Pesto Farrotto. Farro, often confused with wheatberry or spelt is actually emmer, which comes from the wheat family. It has a nutty taste and a similar texture to arborio, but without the gummy-ness. SO GOOD, better than risotto, in my opinion! I loved the farro so much that I made it for dinner this week and added lots of fresh veges. As an added bonus, Carl LOVED it! This will definitely be added to the rotation.

Side note: The farro pictured below is the brand I used, and you can find it in Whole Foods near the packaged brown rice.

(Fresh Vege) Tomato and Pesto Farrotto
Serves: 4-6
Cooking time: 60 min. (if you make it with the veges)

2 cups of farro
3 TBS extra virgin olive oil, divided
3 cups reduced-sodium vegetable or chicken broth (or water)
2 medium cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 lb ripe cherry tomatoes, halved
5 TBS prepared pesto (see recipe below)
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper

Optional ingredients
1/2 cup zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 cup red or yellow pepper, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 cup onion, diced
1/2 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
1 cup of broccoli tops, cut into 1 inch pieces

Rinse the farro in a fine sieve. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add farro and cook at a low boil for 15 minutes. Drain and transfer to a bowl. Stir in 1 tbs of olive oil and 1/2 tsp salt. Set aside. (the farro can be prepared and refrigerated up to 24 hours in advance).

Heat broth in a saucepan on medium-low heat. Pour remaining 2 tbs of olive oil in a 10 to 12 inch skillet and heat on medium heat. Add garlic and any "optional ingredients" except peas. Stir in crushed pepper and cook until onions are soft. Salt and pepper to taste. Fold in tomatoes and peas. Stir in farro, mixing well to coat the grains, and add a ladle of broth.

Cook the farro, stirring often to prevent sticking, and adding a ladle of broth every time the liquid is absorbed. Cook until farro is tender but still has a little bite int he center, about 20 minutes total (judge by texture and less by time). Stir in pesto and grated cheese. Taste. Add salt, pepper, more pesto, more cheese, as needed. Serve immediately.

Side note: To refresh leftovers, saute more vegetables until soft. Add leftovers, with a little stock and stir until stock is absorbed and leftovers are cooked through.

Pesto

1 handful of basil leaves
2-3 garlic cloves
3 tbs toasted pine nuts
approx 1/4 cup good olive oil
2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 - 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

In a mini food processor, chop the garlic with the salt. Add the basil leaves, 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese and pine nuts, then puree. Drizzle olive oil into the mixture, until smooth. Periodically push the puree down the sides of the bowl and continue to puree. Taste. Add any additional ingredients to taste.

Sunday Dinner

Last night, Carl and I had our friends J & A and their little one, S, over for Sunday dinner. During our many dinners together, we have often talked about family dinners as kids, and how in all of our homes, Sunday lunch or dinner was a requirement. In Carl and J's house, their mom's always did a Sunday roast, and in honor of that tradition, I made roasted chicken and gravy for dinner.

For some simple side dishes, I roasted potatoes (some under the chicken) and asparagus, steamed some broccoli, and sliced up some fresh bread. A simple dinner, but one that brought back memories of childhood and sitting around the table having dinner as a family.

Roasted Chicken
Serves: approx. 6
active cooking time: 15 min.
inactive cooking time: 1.5 hours

1 4-5 lb roasting chicken (air chilled for better flavor)
salt and pepper
olive oil or butter, softened
herbs (parsley, oregano, thyme, rosemary) - choose as many or as few as you like
1 lemon, cut in half
1 head of garlic, chopped in half width-wise
5-6 cloves of garlic peeled
4-5 potatoes (Yukon gold, russets, etc..) sliced in wedges or 8-10 (red potatoes, fingerling, etc..)
2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into quarters
1-2 parsnips, peeled and cut into quarters
1-2 yellow onion, cut into thick slices

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large baking (preferably metal/cast iron) dish, toss together potatoes, onions, carrots, parsnips, and peeled garlic cloves with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread evenly on bottom of baking dish. If the dish is too crowded, take out some of the potatoes and parsnips, and roast separately.* Set aside.

Remove giblets from chicken, and save them for making gravy. Salt and pepper cavity of the chicken. Stuff chicken with half of the lemon, half of the garlic head , herbs of choice, the other half head of garlic, and end with the other half of the lemon. Then tie together the chicken legs, which should close the cavity. Tuck wings in, or tie them to chicken. Rub the outside of chicken with butter or olive oil, I prefer butter, and salt and pepper liberally. Place chicken breast side up on top of the veges.

Put the chicken into the oven for about 1.5 hours or until the thermometer reads 160 degrees at the breast. Remove the chicken from the oven, and place on a cutting board, preferably with a moat to catch any juices that will inevitably run off, to rest with foil tee pee on top for 10 minutes. The internal temperature will continue to increase to the recommended internal temperature of 165 degrees. Check vegetables to be sure they are done. If not, put them back in the oven until finished. Now carve the chicken and plate.

Once the vegetables are done, remove them from the pan, and see recipe for gravy below for turning the drippings into gravy.


*If roasting some veges separately, 45 minutes before the chicken is done, put the extra veges in the oven with the chicken.




Chicken Gravy
Makes: 2-3 cups


giblets
thyme
bay leaf
3-4 cups of chicken broth
1/4 cup of dry white wine
1 packet of chicken gravy mix (simply organic, knorr, etc..)
salt and pepper
2 tbs. olive oil


In a sauce pan, brown giblets in olive oil. Once browned on all sides, add chicken broth, thyme, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then simmer while chicken is roasting. Once chicken and vegetables have finished roasting, remove vegetables from pan. Hopefully there will be some juices left over in the pan. Put pan over heat and add wine to the pan. Cook slowly, scraping the bits from the pan. Once all of the bits have been removed, add the remaining liquid to the chicken broth. Strain the broth, remove any large bits and the giblets. You should have about 3 cups of liquid. Return broth to sauce pan, then slowly whisk in gravy mix. Let simmer for 2-3 minutes. Then taste.

Salty? Add more chicken broth or water. Remember, that the salty-ness will be diluted once put on the chicken, so if it's a little salty, that's OK.
Not salty enough? Add or salt and pepper
Too much wine flavor? Add chicken broth
Too thick? Add chicken broth

ENJOY!

Offal-ly Yummy!!

Last night we ended up at Incanto and had a delicious meal. We started off with their Antipasto Platter for 2, which had a selection of salamis, a head cheese, and a country pate, many of which you can purchase from Boccalone in the Ferry Building. Then we had Marinated Local Sardines and the Beef Heart. YUUUM-MMMMY! I wasn't sure what to expect from the heart, but it tasted like a rare, moist, piece of beef. It was seared on the outside and served with a little salad. After that, I am more than willing to try more offal, especially at Incanto. We followed that with the Pork Ragu, always delicious, and the Pastrami-ed Cornish Hen... SO GOOD! The Cornish hen was perfectly cooked, juicy and full of flavor, with a hint of citrus in the marinade. It was even delicious when I reheated the leftovers the next day.

If you haven't been to Incanto, I highly recommend it. Chef, Chris Cosentino, is almost always there. You will see him in his signature, striped apron. He also has a website Offal Good where you can read his blog and learn more about offal.

Whether you like offal or not, the food at Incanto is always delicious, organic, locally sourced and sustainable. Check it out....


Incanto, Italian Restaurant and Wine Bar
http://incanto.biz/
1550 Church Street at Duncan
415-641-4500
Rating: 9.5/10
Cost: $$$ (out of $$$$$)

Always a hit - Appetizer

Last year, I took the Basics 3 class at Tante Marie every Tuesday for 4 hours. It lasted 6 weeks and at the end of every meal we had a family dinner with wine. In each class we made 10-12 dishes including appetizers, main courses, and desserts. Each class focused on a different region, and I ended up with a healthy stack of recipes for any occasion. I have used my Tante Marie recipes over and over again, and have found that my favorite dish to make (because it's always a hit) is the Wild Mushroom and Gruyere Tart.

The recipe I was given is for a large tart which I cut into individual servings and is served with an herb salad, which I have served once for a dinner party. The next time I made the tart, I decided to cut the dough into quarters and make individual sized tarts. The more I made it, the smaller I went. Finally, I made them bite-sized.... When making them bite-sized, I skipped the egg-wash. It's not needed. The bite sized tarts are VERY time consuming. Beware....

The last time I made them, I used a biscuit cutter and made them round. This is my favorite method. They were neat and beautiful. Going forward, I will make them round and cut them into quarters if I want them as a hors d'oeuvres

The key to the recipe is the mushroom mixture. Definitely try this before putting the tart together.

Enjoy!!

Saturday night dinner

The first time we went to Babbo's 4 years ago, I fell in love with wild boar ragu. The richness of the sauce, the gaminess of the meat, it was heaven. I'm not sure what convinced me to try making it for the first time, but I end up buying both the Babbo cookbook and Mario Batali's Molto Italiano, both of which had recipes for wild boar ragu. I followed the Molto Italiano recipe to a tee and found that it tasted a lot more like the wine I used than I would have liked. Then I started to blend the 2 recipes and found that it tasted too much like tomato sauce. After many iterations, some better than others, I finally have a recipe that I like.

Disclaimer: I have only made this version of the ragu once and I am writing down the recipe by memory. A lot of the measurements are approximations. I highly recommend tasting at the various stages to make sure everything is seasons properly.

And with that, here it is...

Wild Boar Ragu
approx. 8 servings
active cooking time: 1-1.5 hours
inactive cooking time: 3-4 hours

2.5-3 lbs of wild boar shoulder, divide in 2
.25 - .5 lb pancetta, chopped
1 carrot, fine dice
1 stalk celery, fine dice
1 medium yellow onion, fine dice
1-1.5 cups dry white wine
3 cups of tomato sauce (see Pizza Post)
1 16 oz. can of whole tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 qt. brown chicken stock
1 tablespoon beef bullion
1 bay leaf
Pinch of sugar as needed
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup flour
2-3 TBS olive oil

Trim some of the fat off of the boar. Cut half of the wild boar shoulder [boar] into 1/2" cubes, slightly smaller than if you were making stew. The pieces do not need to be the same size. Mince the other half of the boar in the food processor and set aside.

In a large dutch oven heat 2-3 TBS of olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of the pan) on medium/high heat.

On a plate mix flour and 2-3 TBS of salt and 1-2 TBS of pepper. Coat cubed boar in flour mixture. Brown the meat. To determine when to turn the meat, you will notice that it has stopped sticking to the bottom of the pan. This is the point when there is a good crust built on the outside. If it is continues to stick, continue to cook it longer on that side. This method can be applied to any piece of meat. If the pan starts to get crowded, brown the boar in as many batches as it takes. Once the cubed boar is finished browning, set aside.

Do not turn the heat off on the pan. There will be bits from the browning stuck to the bottom of the pan. Don’t worry about it, that’s normal. Add 1/3 of the chopped pancetta to the pan. Saute on medium to low heat, allowing the fat to render, 4-5 minutes. Turn up the heat to medium/high and add minced boar to the pan. Salt and pepper lightly (the pancetta is already salty). This will add flavor to the minced meat. Cook the meat about 80% of the way through. It will have extra time to cook later. If you accidentally cook it all the way through, don’t fret, it won’t ruin anything. Once the minced boar is finished, take out of the pan and set aside.

You’ll notice at this point that the majority of the bits are gone from the bottom of the pan. Turn heat down to medium/low. Add the rest of the chopped pancetta, and let the fat render, 4-5 minutes. Add celery, carrots, and onions. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Sauté until soft, 4-5 minutes, then add garlic. Sauté for another 1-2 minutes. Taste. You want to make sure the base flavors are well seasoned or they will lack flavor in the final product. Season as needed.

Add the cubed boar to the pan with the vegetables and mix well. Add wine. Bring to boil and simmer until evaporated. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, ½ of the chicken broth, ½ of the beef bouillon, oregano and bay leaf. Mix well, bring to a boil and simmer. Simmer for 1 hour. Taste.

What does it taste like?
Too tart? Add a pinch of sugar.
Tomato-ey? Add more chicken stock. (This may require a longer cooking time)
Too much wine? Add tomato sauce or paste.
Lacks richness? Add tsp of beef bullion (remember, beef bullion is super salty)

Add in small amounts. You can always add, but it’s hard to take away.

Simmer for another 2-3 hours. Stir every 30-45 minutes. If the sauce starts to thicken too much, add chicken broth. If you don’t have another 3 hours, another hour will do, just don’t add as much chicken stock. Keep in mind, the longer you cook the sauce, periodically adding chicken broth, the richer the sauce will taste and the softer the meat will be. You can over cook the meat, so I wouldn't recommend cooking it for longer than 4-5 hours. Taste periodically, it’ll make all the difference.

This is best served over fresh tagliatelle or other wide pasta.

Enjoy!!

Lunchtime Reading

How to Make, Cure, and Smoke Homemade Bacon - YUM! imafoodblog.com, may have just become a new favorite. I love knowing how to make things from scratch (note: gravlax) and they have all kinds of delicious recipes on the site. If I make the bacon, I'll let you know how it goes.

The winners of the James Beard Awards were announced last night. Nate Appleman from A16 won for Rising Start Chef and Douglas Keane of Cyrus won for Best Chef - Pacific Region. Congratulations!!

Have you noticed all of the changes on OpenTable lately, customer reviews, restaurants mapped by location, etc... Well, it looks like this could all be part of their plan to IPO this year. Sounds like this has been in the works since January and should it happen, the influx of capital could add some interesting new features to the site. We shall see.

Ever wondered what a ramp is? Check out norecipes.com ingredients tab. They have a description and picture of the item, they tell you where you can get it and how best to use it (including recipes). They even have nutrition information. I'm loving it right now.