This Food is My JAM

Three Words: Bourbon - Chocolate - Pecan

2011-10-24T00:01:00.008-04:00

It's been awhile since I've made a pie from scratch. Ever since I rewatched Waitress with Keri Russell I've been itching to make a pie with a catchy name like, "I Hate My Husband Pie" or "Earl Murders Me Because I am Having an Affair Pie". It's actually hard to think of cool pie names that aren't negative though. I like to call this pie, "Three Shots for Pie One Shot for Me" Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie. I mean come one its what Julia Child would do.

Roll with it.

While my pie-naming skills may need some work, this recipe from David Lebowitz will make anyone look like a pie wizard. The crust is the hardest part of this recipe. But fear not ladies and gentleman with the help of a food processor anyone can make this pie. (NOTE: I made a little extra dough, because I like THICK crusts and I cannot lie.) You essentially throw flour, a spoonful of sugar, salt, a stick of cold butter, and cold water into a food processor and bam - pie dough is made.

The trick with the pie dough is keeping it cold enough so that the butter doesn't melt while you roll it out. After at least 30 minutes in the fridge you roll it out and place it in a pie plate. Then you refrigerate it again for at least 30 minutes (or until firm). You want the crust pretty cold when it goes in the oven, so the butter doesn't melt and your crusts look like blobs. I skimped a little on the time and you can see my crusts are a little flat (I mean RUSTIC). Seriously though, if your pie crusts fall a bit, just tell everyone you prefer the rustic aesthetic. People love that stuff.

I be up in the fridge just workin' on my chillness.

Mmm toasty.

Isn't that pumpkin just perfect for this still life.

While your pie crust is getting firm you can start on the filling. The most time consuming portion is toasting the pecans. Be sure to watch those nuts, you don't want them to burn! Make sure to toast some extras for snacking. It will go great with the shot of bourbon. For the filling you whisk together a lil bourbon (I used Bulleit Bourbon, but you don't have to go fancy as you're baking this), dark brown sugar, eggs, corn syrup, salt, and butter. Don't forget to give yourself some bourbon! Then you stir in the pecans and some bittersweet chocolate chips. You pour the filling into the pie crust and then pop it in the oven for 55 minutes or so on 375.

Bourbon, chocolate, pecans - oh my!

If you're like me and you're bringing this pie to a party or event, a long car ride is the perfect amount of time it needs to cool down. Your pie will still be warm on arrival, and everyone will thank you for your procrastination. Consider it for your Thanksgiving dinner you will be the hit of the party (or at least your pie will be).

Happy Birthday AJ! - Funfetti Cupcakes

2011-09-11T22:48:00.003-04:00

Funfetti Cupcakes with pink vanilla buttercream and chocolate buttercream.

Wow it has been awhile. I have been seriously absent from blogging, which I'd like to blame on a couple of things: work, school, and wedding planning. But I'm not one for excuses, so I will just say it's good to be back.

I think it is rather appropriate that my first entry after quite some time involves cupcakes. I have posted a number of cupcake-related entries. Magnolia, Sprinkles, and Georgetown Cupcake brought about a cupcake resurrection as it were - making cupcakes not just for kids, but for adults too. For awhile it seemed that cupcakes were all the rage, you couldn't go anywhere without some bakery or restaurant peddling their version of the cupcake. I don't know about you, but for a little while I was "cupcaked out." But in recent months I've found myself looking at cupcakes with fresh eyes and a fresh tummy. There's a reason cupcakes are popular - they're individual sized, cute, and when done well they're just the right amount of fat and sugar to send you on a dessert high.

Fresh from the oven - those sprinkles sure are pretty!

If you think it's been awhile since I blogged, it has been even longer since I baked a cupcake (perhaps AJ's last birthday?) But with another birthday on the horizon I felt inspired to make cupcakes. I thought about doing something traditional (red velvet) or maybe something gourmet (mexican chocolate), but decided to just go with fun (fun-fetti that is)! I had never made a funfetti cupcake from scratch. I think most of us have just resorted to the Pillsbury box cupcakes. But a birthday for someone as special as AJ deserves homemade (I know I'm a snob).

I think I managed to get frosting and sprinkles all over my clothes.

AJ loves chocolate so I knew I would do a chocolate frosting. But to me funfetti cupcakes need pink frosting. My friend Kim used to make funfetti cupcakes all the time in high school and they were awesome. And guess what she always had pink frosting! So, I divided the frosting in half and added unsweetened chocolate to one half and red dye to the other.

Birthday Boy!

The funfetti cupcake recipe was from a blog called Sweet Tooth, which is rather appropriate. I substituted cake flour for AP flour (just add an extra 2 tbsps for every 1 cup). In her recipe she forgets to tell you where the milk should go. My mother taught me well, so I remembered that you alternate flour and milk, beginning and ending with flour.

The cupcakes turned out well and were a hit at our bbq. I think the cake was a lil dry, but overall these were a lot of fun to make and eat. The chocolate frosting was pretty awesome (go Joy of Baking), I ended up eating the cold leftovers out of the bowl the next day. Almost like a quick fudge. NOMS. Happy Birthday AJ, Jenny, Natalie, Cammy, and Mom - love to my September favs!

Indulge your inner child - make some funfetti cupcakes.

Happy Easter! (Don't call it a comeback)

2011-04-24T23:00:00.007-04:00

Roasted sweet potatoes; garlic, lemon, herb lamb chop; roasted asparagus with parmigiano reggiano

Every so often it's fun to cook a special meal, and Easter is the perfect occasion for such an endeavor. Some of you are probably surprised to see lamb chops were on the menu, but I DO eat meat. One of my coworkers asked me if I even eat meat and just last week my best friend requested that we eat meat when she comes to visit! Actually, I love meat! Which is why my vegetarian stint lasted just a little over 1 month...

Lamb chops browning up in the pan.

Now, it is true that I tend to cook vegetarian at home. It's a nice way to eat more vegetables. But I saw a recipe for lamb chops in last month's Bon Appetit mag, which inspired this meal. I headed down to my local Whole Foods and got some nice grassfed lambchops. I riffed on the recipe and put together a rosemary, thyme, lemon zest, garlic, olive oil marinade. The nice thing about this marinade is that the meat only needs to marinate 30-60 minutes at room temperature.

While the lamb chops were bathing in their herby blanket, I got started on the sides - roasted sweet potato wedges with rosemary and roasted asparagus. The sweet potatoes get cut into nice wedges and tossed with olive oil, salt, and fresh rosemary and roasted at 400 F for 30 minutes (tossed halfway through). In retrospect, I would turn up the temperature to 425 F for a crispier exterior. The asparagus got the same treatment minus the rosemary which I cooked in my toaster oven to make room for the lamb chops.

Browning on the other side!

The cooking method I employed is really an easy one that will give you perfect results every time. You get a little oil in a saute pan and heat it up until its practically screaming. You want that heat high to get a nice brown crust. This will ensure that the juices stay in! You brown the chops for 2 min on each side and then pop 'em into the oven for 8-10 minutes (8 for rare).

Sweet pots.

Asparagus children who are insecure about the smell of their pee (anyone get that movie reference?)

Final product!

These lamb chops were perfectly cooked if I do say so myself. Nice and tender with great flavor from the herb crust. The asparagus were topped off with some nice parm and the sweet potatoes rounded out the meal. A lovely Easter meal that made me feel a little closer to my family (even though I'm 3,000 miles away). Happy Easter everyone!

That's some tasty meat.

Mardis Gras - Shrimp Creole

2011-03-20T11:21:00.003-04:00

I am a little late posting this recipe, since Mardi Gras has come and gone, but I think it would still be a great meal any night of the week, especially now that Lent is upon us, as this is a meat free dish.

Mardi Gras, French for Fat Tuesday, is the culmination of the the Mardi Gras season, traditionally celebrated by consuming copious amount of alcohol and fatty foods in preparation for Lent. Mardi Gras varies from city to city, with Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Fastnacht in Dusseldorf and Carnevale in Milan, but all have ties to the religious obligations and fasting period of Lent that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday, lasting forty days. While Lent is a Christian tradition practiced by Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists and Anglicans to remember -- Mardi Gras has become a celebration that can be embraced by all. In the United States, Mardi Gras has its strongest associations with New Orleans, Louisiana. The tradition of Mardi Gras was brought to the area in the 17th century, when King Louis XIV sent Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and Jean Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville to lay claim on the French territory of Louisane (now the states of Alabama, Mississippi and Lousiana). The residents of New Orleans pride themselves on their French heritage and embrace the slogan of Mardi Gras, Laissez les bon temp rouler, meaning "let the good times roll".

Shrimp Creole

New Orleans has made a name for itself by upholding the spirit of Mardi Gras and integrating those traditions and the cultures of their mixed southern and french, spanish and carribean heritage into everday life. The mixture of cultures is evident in the people and the cuisine in Louisiana, and creole food is just one great example. Creole food is centered around the idea of the "Holy Trinity": chopped onions, celery and bell peppers. This shrimp creole recipe relies heavily on the "trinity" and the freshest, plumpest shrimp you can find. You can definitely play around with this recipe and add in chicken and sausage or chorizo for a heartier dish, as well as adjusting the heat factor to your liking. I added more hot pepper flakes to mine! My little sister Veronica and I really enjoyed this dish with a class of pinot grigio and some crusty bread to soak up the sauce with. Rice would be great, we were just ready to dig in and didn't have the patience for the cooking time!

Check out the recipe here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/neelys/shrimp-creole-recipe/index.html

Valentine's Day Pancakes - Quinoa Beet

2011-03-13T16:58:00.004-04:00

Nothing says I love you like quinoa beet pancakes and scrambled eggs.

Wow it has been quite a while since I have posted. To the few people that read this blog, I apologize for the long absence. I have been taking night classes recently, which has cut down on my free time for blogging. However, I have still been eating, cooking, and baking (just a little bit). :)

I don't make a huge deal about Valentine's Day, but I do love a reason to celebrate or cook something a little special. My friend, Katy, recently got me a whole grains baking book, and I had been intrigued by the quinoa beet pancake recipe. What better day to serve beautiful pink pancakes than on Valentine's Day?!

These pancakes take a little more effort than your standard buttermilk recipe, but if you roast the beets the night before these come together rather quickly! Also be sure to buy the quinoa flour ahead of time because if you're like me you probably don't have quinoa flour on hand. The flour is worth the investment, as it imparts a unique sweet, almost grassy flavor to the pancakes, which really compliments the sweet earthy beets. It took me a couple tries on the griddle to cook these to perfection. Overall, I really enjoyed the flavor profile - just a little something different. Try serving these to people without telling them what is in the batter - you might be surprised how much people like them! Plus, the presentation is just stunning. I don't think I've ever had a more beautiful pancake.

If this recipe intrigues you, why not consider picking up "Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole Grain Flours" by Kim Boyce. I have also made her whole grain choco chip cookies, which were a big hit with some of my coworkers.

Happy Belated Valentine's Day! (1 month late)

Chocolate-Mint Brownie Cake

2010-12-13T23:37:00.005-05:00

Brownie Cake with Peppermint White Chocolate Icing, topped with Melted Semi-Sweet Chocolate.

Recently I have been posting a lot of holiday recipes, and today's post will be no different. I threw in a fish taco post yesterday so that you all would realize that my diet doesn't solely consist of sugar, butter, and chocolate. But it is the holidays, so I thought I would post another solid dessert to serve at Christmas dinners and office holiday parties, or package up as homemade gifts.

Franken-brownie-cake: Part brownie-part cake.

For my own office potluck holiday party I knew I wanted to bring a chocolate dessert. Chocolate is such a crowd pleaser. My first thought was brownies, but I wanted to spruce them up a bit (Christmas tree pun intended). What better compliment to chocolate than peppermint (with peanut butter a close second)? I found a recipe on epicurious.com for a Chocolate-Mint Brownie Cake. Now it's not usually a good idea to bring food that you've never tried out to a party. But having had good luck with epicurious I opted to give it a go.

Makeshift double boiler with white chocolate.

This brownie-cake thing comes together in three steps. First you make the brownie cake. I multiplied all the ingredients by 1.5 to fit into a 13x9 inch pan. The brownie-cake has no leavening ingredient which is what makes it more cake-like. However it is a rather dense cake, making it somewhat in between brownie and cake.

Frosting with peppermint white chocolate icing.

After the cake comes out of the oven you can start on the peppermint frosting. The frosting is essentially a white chocolate ganache with peppermint extract. Mine came out a little grainy and was a little hard to spread, but once I froze it for an hour it seemed to solve the texture problems.

Top with melted semi-sweet chocolate.

Once the cake has been in the freezer for at least an hour you can make the chocolate ganache topping. I opted just to spread melted semi-sweet chocolate on top. Then I put it in the refrigerator to set up. The cake tastes great a little on the cold side. You can let it sit out for a couple hours to soften up a bit. I loved the hard peppermint chocolate topping to complement the softer chewy cake. These are kind of hard to resist. Like a more decadent york peppermint patty.

Mmm peppermint chocolate perfection.

Fish Tacos and Red Cabbage Slaw

2010-12-12T22:38:00.003-05:00

Pacific Dover with mango, jalapeño glaze and red cabbage slaw and avocado.

Today AJ kicked my butt with an intense lifting circuit. I haven't lifted in months, so this was pretty hard for me. I really need to start lifting more. All the ladies out there should start too, because we all have to be worried about osteoporosis as we age. Weight lifting strengthens bones as well as making your muscles strong. Also, muscle burns more calories than fat, so you can eat more!

So after my workout session I was ready for some protein. I was in the mood for fish tacos and despite the plethora of Mexican food options in San Francisco I felt like making these myself. I ran to the store and picked out some pacific dover fillets from Oregon. I have never eaten dover before, but its a white fish that I thought would work with tacos. I marinated the fillets (which were super thin btw) in a store-bought mango jalapeño dressing. Always keep your marinade time to a minimum with thin flaky fish. One time I left some fish fillets in for a couple hours and they basically disintegrated. Those acids will par-cook the fish, so be careful! I seared the fillets in a pan and finished them off in the oven. They were super flaky and some of the fillets came apart in the process. But with fish tacos it doesn't really matter, it's all going in a tortilla.

Red cabbage, carrot, and cilantro slaw with a citrus, garlic dressing.

To compliment my fish, I immediately thought of cabbage slaw. I have been eating a lot of red cabbage in salads. It is super crunchy and adds great texture. It also holds up well to vinegars and citrus, so I knew it go well with the fish. I added some grated carrot and chopped cilantro to the sliced cabbage. The dressing was a simple lime, orange, vinegar, oil, garlic, salt mixture. It was delightful with the fish. The finishing touch was slices of avocado. Mmm now that's a good meal.

Fish Tacos

Ingredients

- 1 lb white fish (dover, tilapia, red snapper)

- mango jalapeno marinade (or your favorite storebought)

- 2 tbsp canola oil

- quarter to one half head of red cabbage, sliced thinly

- 1 carrot, grated

- 2 handfuls cilantro, chopped

- 1/4 cup lime, orange juice

- 1/4 cup champagne vinegar

- 1/4-1/3 cup canola oil (depending on how vinegary you like it)

- 2 cloves garlic (minced)

- 1/4 tsp salt

4 flour tortillas

1 avocado, sliced

lime wedges

Place fish fillets in a glass pan with marinade just covering them. Let stand in fridge for 20 minutes. Start on cabbage slaw while the fish marinates. Mix citrus juice, vinegar, oil, garlic, and salt in a bowl. Place the cabbage, carrot, and cilantro in a large bowl. Pour dressing on top and mix well. Place in fridge until ready to eat.

For fish, heat oil in saute pan on medium high. Make sure to wipe away excess marinade from fillets. Place fillets in pan in batches (I put 3 at a time). They cook very quickly, so they only need about 60 seconds on each side. You can preheat the oven and keep the fillets warm while you finish the rest. Warm tortillas in microwave or toaster oven for 30 to 60 seconds. Serve fish on tortillas with slaw, avocado and lime juice (if you desire).

Salud!

FFWD: Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts

2010-12-09T23:05:00.005-05:00

Sweet and spicy nuts.

Hey Gang! Sorry about the absence from FFWD, but I have been traveling and getting over a cold for the past couple of weeks. This week I made Dorie's sweet and spicy cocktail nuts. I like sweet, I like spicy, so I figured I would like these.

These nuts are a perfect treat for the holidays. You could bag them up and give them to friends, or put them out at a party. They are super crunchy, slightly salty, slightly sweet, with just a touch of spice. These nuts came together rather quickly and were devoured shortly thereafter. I used a blend of almonds and pecans, but you can use whatever nuts you like best. I increased the amount of chili powder, but these were still on the mild side because I was out of cayenne pepper. So if you want a little more kick be sure to add that. Again, I love Dorie's recipes because they are simple, yet brilliant.

Mixing together the sugar, egg white, spice, nut mixture.

Toasting in the oven.

Another holiday treat to add to the list! These might become a tradition in our household (If I can stop myself from eating them all myself).

...then we'll eat a whole roll of Tollhouse Cookiedough as fast as we can

2010-12-07T23:30:00.000-05:00

Thin mints and cranberry, white chocolate, pecan cookies.

Can anyone guess the movie that this quote is from? I will give you a hint, it's a film from the last decade that has become a holiday classic. Will Ferrell is in it. It's Elf! AJ and I have watched this film every Christmas season since it came out (that's going on 8 years)! Now Elf is one of my favorite ways to celebrate the holiday season, second only to eating a whole roll of cooking dough (and snuggling).

This year we had some friends over to watch the movie, drink some eggnog, and feast on some cookies. I decided to go with two of my favorite holiday cookies, thin mints and cranberry, white chocolate, pecan cookies. The thin mint recipe came from that lovely robot, Ms. Martha Stewart. But in all seriousness she has some amazing cookie recipes (and she's only part-robot). I made them a couple years ago when I spent New Year's Eve in Boston. The best way to finish these cookies off is to drizzle them in white or dark chocolate. This year I didn't have time, but they still tasted great.

The second cookie I chose to make is a JAM holiday favorite that all started 4 years ago or so (Jenny or Malia can correct me if I'm wrong) in my mom's kitchen. Us girls got together for a seasonal cookie bake off. We ended up making the cranberry, white chocolate, pecan cookies, mexican wedding cookies, and one more that I seem to have forgotten. The cranberry, white chocolate cookies have been made with great frequency ever since. Sometimes we throw in some oats for extra texture, sometimes we don't. This time I left out the oats, but they still have the most wonderful sweet, tart, nutty flavor. The recipe (from the Washington Post) calls for cups and cups of cranberries (dried and fresh), pecans, and white chocolate chips. I ended up reducing the amounts by about half a cup each, so that they were more cookie like and less mass of mix-ins. Either way they're super tasty, but the more mix-ins you add the more crumbly they become.

I'm going to have a marsh made out of marshmallows.

To top off my whole baking extravaganza I made marshmallows...from scratch. They were actually pretty easy to make. You soften some gelatin in water, heat up a sugar, corn-syrup, water mixture, and then mix them all together. Fresh marshmallows are the jam! Seriously, you can't beat them. I dusted them in confectioners sugar so you can handle them without them sticking to everything. The only hard part is waiting three hours to eat them (they have to cool and set sufficiently).

I hope I have inspired you all to bake some sweeeet holiday treats! Merry Chrismakwanakah everybody!

FFWD: Roast Chicken for Les Paresseux

2010-11-12T00:02:00.000-05:00

Roast Chicken with potatoes, carrots, and onions.

For this French Friday with Dorie I decided to make the roast chicken for les paresseux. Les Paresseux means "lazy people." I love recipes for lazy people. My mom has a fabulous recipe for lemon roast chicken, that is extremely easy and delicious, so I was hoping for similar results.

Roast chicken in dutch oven, stuffed with garlic and herbs.

This recipe really is rather lazy. You simply season and stuff the chicken with half a head of garlic, fresh rosemary, thyme, and oregano and put it in a dutch oven for 90 minutes. BAM! Dinner is served. (Emeril couldn't have said it better.)

New Le Creuset! Thanks Mom and Dad!

The great thing about this dish is that it will give you chicken for days to come! There are only two in this household, so I have been eating chicken sandwiches for lunch (which are delicious). It's like I'm preparing for Thanksgiving early. But seriously, the chicken is extremely moist and allows you to spend time doing other things (like baking cookies or watching reruns of "Parks and Recreation" - you know the important things).

Beautiful bird out of the oven.

Apple Cider Doughnuts

2010-11-07T13:35:00.011-05:00

Apple Cider Doughnut and Coffee

There are a couple of things that come to mind when I think of Fall: leaves, pumpkins, turkeys, crisp air, and apples. I love apples, don't you? Malia went apple picking recently, and boy was i jealous. I love walking through orchards and hauling a big bag of fruit home with you. Apples are great on their own, versatile in sweet and savory dishes, and darn do they make some nice cider.

And of course apple cider makes me think of apple cider doughnuts. Apple cider doughnuts may be more of an east coast thing, as I haven't seen these in California. So when Malia came to visit, we decided to make something epic - and apple cider doughnuts are pretty epic if you ask me.

I thought it would be cute to make doughnuts shaped liked pumpkins

(but you couldn't really tell).

Cute shapes don't work well for frying.

Test batch of doughnut holes.

Smitten Kitchen has a great recipe for apple cider doughnuts (see link for recipe) with excellent tips from how to heat the oil, to rolling out the dough. Her pictures are absolutely lovely. Now let me make it clear that these are cake doughnuts, no yeast involved. I usually prefer yeast doughnuts to cake, but you haven't lived until you've had a cake doughnut straight out of the oil!

The oil is probably the most critical step. You want to make sure that the oil heats up to the correct temperature and stays there. Too hot and you'll burn your doughnuts, but too cold and they won't cook all the way through. You need a thermometer. Unfortunately, Malia and I picked up a meat thermometer (only goes up to 250 degrees). So we ran a test batch and ended up with the right temperature (but I don't recommend this kind of improvisation).

Frying up the big ones.

We served these doughnuts on Sunday morning for some friends who came over to watch the Redskins play. These were a hit! We dusted them in sugar and cinnamon mixture. Delicious! These are more dense than a yeast doughnut, but still rather delicate, with a perfectly crisp exterior. I wish the apple cider would have been more of a dominant flavor, but that is my only minor complaint. The dough was really easy to put together. Just make sure to give yourself adequate time to prepare these if you're serving them for brunch. Now go make them.

Enjoying the finished product.

Caught me doughnut handed.

Don't forget to fry the doughnut holes. Because they're smaller you can eat more.

FFWD: Pumpkin Flan

2010-11-04T19:15:00.005-04:00

Pumpkin Flan with Brown Butter Fried Sage

Happy Friday everyone! This Friday marks the fourth recipe I have made with French Fridays with Dorie(check out the other members' posts using this link), from Dorie Greenspan's cookbook, "Around My French Table". We were given free reign to choose the order that we want to cook the four recipes for the month of November. Being in the pumpkin mood, I decided to make the Pumpkin Gorgonzola Flans. Flan makes me think of Sabrina the Teenage Witch (anyone get that reference?) and delicious caramel. However, this recipe is for savory flan. Because I don't care much for gorgonzola, I excluded the cheese and the walnuts. Due to my substitutions, my flans could aptly be named "pumpkin flan with brown butter fried sage".

Frying the sage leaves in brown butter.

My flans had some cracks in them, but they were the perfect consistency.

These flans came together in a snap. You simply toss eggs, heavy cream, pumpkin, salt, and pepper (and my secret addition of nutmeg) in a blender and the flan is ready to be poured and baked.

Mmm savory pumpkin flan.

These flans were like a pumpkin pie without the sugar. AJ kept thanking me for making pumpkin pie for dinner! They were creamy, yet light. I loved the hint of nutmeg and the crunchy sage leaves. Really a wonderful meal, especially with the weather getting cooler. I served these with sauteed garlic kale and a Riesling. Delicious and by far my favorite dish thus far!

FFWD: Marie Helene's Apple Cake

2010-10-29T10:25:00.004-04:00

Apple Cake

Marie Helene's Apple cake had a few simple ingredients: flour, eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, salt, baking powder and rum. I ended up subbing bourbon for the rum. Not sure this was an entirely good idea, although I think it still tasted pretty good.

Mixing up the apples.

Side view.

Lots of apples.

Another issue I had is that I didn't have a springform pan (I know I should just buy one!) I decided to use a regular cake pan instead. I lined it with wax paper as some other FFWDers suggested. My cake doesn't look as pretty as the one in the book, and I'm not sure if it could have used another 5 minutes in the oven. I also kept opening the oven (another no-no). I might try making this one again, as I loved the way the apples tasted, but was a little less enthused about the cake.

Warm slice.

FFWD: Hachis Parmentier

2010-10-22T05:00:00.001-04:00

Hachis Parmentier - For One.

So I missed last week's French Friday's with Dorie (FFWD). Long story short, it was hot, I didn't feel like making soup. I apologize. But now that the temperatures are below 90 degrees, I'm feeling a little more in the comfort food mode. This week's dish is Hachis Parmentier - the French equivalent of Shepherd's Pie. Leave it to the French to make something simple like Shepherd's pie sound like something gourmet. "Hachis" refers to a dish in which the ingredients are chopped or minced (my French language friends can correct me if I'm wrong). And indeed this meal consists of chopped meat and veggies. I should note that traditional hachis parmentier does not have vegetables, but I enjoyed the added flavors from the mirepoix. Look at me using fancy french terms (mirepoix means carrots, celery, and onion)!

Filling ingredients - ground (grass-fed) beef, chicken sausage, celery, carrot, onion, garlic, tomato paste.

This dish is rather simple and comes together fairly quickly. I ended up making this dish for one. Don't look at me with those sad eyes, it was actually rather fun enjoying this meal by myself with a glass of merlot. That's right I had a glass of wine - by myself. No, I don't think that makes me an alcoholic. I think it makes me rather French! But back to the Hachis Parmentier! It essentially entails sauteeing ground beef, vegetables, and some tomato paste and topping it with mashed potatoes and cheese. Does that sound delicious? That's because it is delicious.

Sauteeing the mirepoix and tomato paste with the ground beef.

Now, I'm not usually a huge beef person. I think this is actually the first time I've made red meat at home since I moved to California. Don't get me wrong, I love a good hamburger. I had a burger a couple of weeks ago. But in an attempt to decrease my carbon footprint (ya da ya da ya da) I don't usually cook meat at home. I found this dish easy to make, especially because I went for the ground beef instead of the cube steak. The cube steak may be super amazing, but I didn't use it.

The filling goes into a casserole dish.

Once, the filling is done you start on the mashed potatoes. I boiled one potato (as this dish was for one person). You make the mashed potato and add it on top of the filling. Then you add some grated gruyere on top and bake. The flavors were rather wonderful, I think the herb and garlic sausage I used was a great addition. The mashed potatoes are nice and creamy and work well with the ground beef filling. I recommend eating this with a glass of merlot. As Julia Child would say, a little sherry for the soup, a little sherry for me! Replace with merlot and repeat.

"A little sherry for the soup, a little sherry for me!" - Julia Child

Mashed potatoes.

Top with gruyere.

Golden out of the oven.

Enjoy!

French Fridays with Dorie (FFWD) - Gerard's Mustard Tart

2010-10-08T10:32:00.003-04:00

Mustard Tart with carrots and leeks.

Happy Friday everyone! I recently joined a cooking blog called "French Fridays with Dorie." Every Friday I will be posting about a different recipe from Dorie Greenspan's book "Around My French Table." I am excited about this new venture as it will expand my recipe book and give me a better hand on french cuisine. AJ says he doesn't like French food, but I am convinced that I will prove him wrong!

This week's recipe is called "Gerard's Mustard Tart." If you have ever made a quiche before, then you will be familiar with the steps. The crust was the first step, which was a pate brisee - made with flour, butter, a little sugar, salt, egg, and water. My typical pie crust leaves out an egg, so I was interested to see how different this would taste. I made the crust a day in advance and I would recommend you do the same. It needs to chill for several hours.

Food processor makes this easy.

Turn out onto a clean surface and then...

Form into a nice disc and chill.

Then you end up with something like this - ready to bake!

Whisking together the filling.

The filling came together in a cinch! And once you have the dough baked this comes together in just over 30 minutes. The mustard adds a tanginess that compliments the custard very nicely. The sweetness of the carrots and leeks really brings this together! I wasn't sure if the mustard would be too overpowering, but I really enjoyed this. I have lots of tart to eat for brunch on Saturday - yum.

Layering the steamed carrots and leeks on top of the filling.

Fresh out of the oven!

The Blue Fig

2010-10-06T10:31:00.009-04:00

The Blue Fig - Blue cornmeal waffle with bananas, whipped cream, fig reduction.

One of the joys of moving to San Francisco has been the plethora of restaurants to choose from. Last weekend we went to Yelp in search of a breakfast/coffee place and landed upon The Blue Fig. The Blue Fig opened up in the Mission district a couple of weeks ago. This quaint cafe has some steep competition what with being right next door to Ritual Coffee. But the Blue Fig's emphasis is more on the food than the coffee - serving up waffles, pastries, and sandwiches.

Chai Latte and Soy Latte.

The Blue Fig was hopping when we arrived around 10am on Saturday - with every table taken but one. Not that there are a ton of tables - approximately 12-15 seats in the place, with an extra 4-5 outside. They were a little shortstaffed, with one woman serving as cashier, barista, and waitress all in one. The chef was right behind the counter, making waffles and eggs. He helped out, delivering our food to our table himself.

We ended up choosing the signature "Blue Fig" waffle, bacon waffle, and a soy and chai latte. The lattes were rather standard, reminding me somewhat of Starbucks. Our food took a little longer than usual, but came off hot from the griddle. The Blue Fig is a blue cornmeal waffle served with bananas, whipped cream, banana syrup, and fig reduction. I was expecting more of a bright blue, than the lavendar waffle that appeared. The sundae that was served on top also took me by surprise - there was enough whipped cream for an episode of Double Dare! But I digress, the waffle was rather interesting, with a spongy texture. The fig reduction was incredibly tangy and complex, which worked well with the sweet bananas and whipped cream. I'm not sure I would order it again, as I prefer my figs whole, but it certainly was a different experience.

The bacon waffle was more traditional, but just still unique in its own right. A buttermilk cornmeal waffle is made with bacon inside of it, which is then topped with bacon and scrambled eggs. The salty bacon worked really nicely with the waffle and eggs. Drizzled with maple syrup - this really hit the spot.

I like the vibe of Blue Fig - a neighborhood joint with some decent eats, and friendly staff. On our way out we asked the chef to recommend some good bakeries. He pointed us to Arizmendi's bakery a couple blocks away, which was serving up free goodies that day! Waffles plus baked goods = an excellent start to the weekend.

The Blue Fig

990 Valencia St.

San Francisco, CA

Heat Wave in Northern California - Dishes to Help You Cope

2010-09-27T22:52:00.002-04:00

Virgin mojito - my relief from the heat

This summer has generally been rather cool, only occasionally rising above 80 degrees. As a former Virginian a typical summer day is in the mid-90s combined with unbearable humidity. So you can see why I don't usually bat an eye when the thermometer creeps up to the upper 80s. However, as the months go by the wussier I seem to get. This weekend's high of 90 degrees had me begging for A/C.

Green bean, zucchini, tomato, chickpea salad.

Now in Virginia I could crank up the A/C all I liked, but in the San Francisco Bay area A/C is a rarity. With no respite from the heat, I prefer to keep my oven and stove off. But a girl gets hungry (and thirsty), so here are some nice dishes (and drinks) to keep you cool.

The green bean salad was a concoction I threw together when I got home from work. I had just gone to the farmer's market on Saturday so I had some nice green beans, zucchini, and heirloom tomatoes. But trust me, this salad would be just as lovely with some broccoli or maybe some cucumbers and bell pepper. The key is the simple dressing which adds such depth of flavor (BONUS: and little fat). I serve this salad with a nice loaf of multigrain bread (from the store, because who wants to bake in this heat?)

My favorite drink to accompany this beauty of a salad is the virgin mojito. Now don't get me wrong if you're feeling the need for some rum, I enjoy those too. But when it's really hot alcohol will just make me sleepier. The combination of mint, lime juice, club soda, and just a shot of sprite is so refreshing.

Green Bean Salad

1 zucchini

1/2-3/4 lb green beans (trimmed of ends)

1 heirloom tomato (diced)

1/2-3/4 can of chickpeas (6-8 oz)

1 clove garlic (minced)

1-2 tbsp mint (chopped)

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp salt

zest of one lemon

juice of one lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

Place an inch of water into a large pot with a steamer to place the vegetables on. Bring to a boil. Take the zucchini and cut into 1/4 in rounds and slice those into half moons. Cut green beans in half or thirds. Place vegetables into pot and steam for 5-7 minutes (depending on how crunchy you like your vegetables). Set aside to cool for a couple minutes. Chop tomato, mint and mince garlic and set aside. Zest the lemon and pour lemon juice into a large bowl. Add the olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper and mix until thoroughly combined. Drain chickpeas. Add steamed vegetables, tomato, chickpeas, and mint to the vinaigrette in the bowl. Toss to combine. Serve with bread and cheese.

Virgin Mojito

1 lime

3 ice cubes

couple sprigs of mint

club soda

sprite

Take a glass and fill with juice of half a lime, torn mint leaves, and a shot of sprite. Muddle in glass with a spoon. Add ice and club soda. Enjoy!

Perfection in a glass.

When the soup's in the cup...

2010-09-16T15:40:00.002-04:00

Sip it like its hot, sip it like its hot. Oh Justin Timberlake, you crack me up. If you haven't seen his SNL skit as the Cup O' Soup, you must check it out:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2159391/cup_o_soup/

Now that September is upon us, what better way to mark the beginning of the fall season than by cooking up a batch of butternut squash soup! Katy and I took one evening this week to make ourselves a warm, comforting and quick meal. We used a Giada De Laurentis recipe and I have to say she really does know her stuff. We've tried a bunch of her dishes and they've never failed. I don't always love that she must pronounce every word with the proper Italian accent, I mean we get it, you're Italian, you don't need to force these words, "paahnchettaahh, mooozaaahrellaaa and parmaahgeeaahnoo reggiaahhnoo!" down our throats, okay?

Butternut Squash soup with Sage

That being said, I love that Giada uses fresh simple flavors with just a few ingredients. Don't you love when you don't have to buy 15 million ingredients for just one dish? I was skeptical about how just a few veggies, herbs and some olive oil could make such a rich and tasty soup, but it really was one of the best soups I've ever tasted. No cream required! It tastes so earthy from all the sage, and the onions and garlic really bring out the sweetness and nuttiness of the squash and carrots. The color of the soup was a beautiful orange with little flecks of green from the herbs. What really kicked this soup up a notch was the fontina and sage crostini Giada pairs with the soup. It just adds another level of flavor and a nice gourmet touch. All you have to do is cut up a nice Italian loaf or whatever bread you have on hand into rounds, sprinkle with olive oil, shredded fontina cheese, chopped sage and sea salt and pop it into the oven. The bread gets golden and crusty and the cheese is melty and delicious. I loved sopping up my soup with the crostini. Yum!

Please give this soup a try, I plan on making it again soon! It's the perfect starter course or light lunch or dinner meal. I might even put this on our family's Thanksgiving menu!

Recipe courtesy of the Food Network and Giada De Laurentis

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/butternut-squash-soup-with-fontina-cheese-crostini-recipe/index.html

I love summer...

2010-08-01T22:01:00.007-04:00

Heirloom tomatoes with goat cheese and pesto, spanish tortilla, white corn

I absolutely adore summer, especially in California (you know where the temperature rarely reaches 85 degrees). AJ and I have gotten in the habit of frequenting the Mountain View farmer's market every Sunday. It is a lovely little ritual. We get some fresh air and sun, while picking up fresh produce for that evening's dinner. AJ bought me some lovely sunflowers. I didn't realize it until we brought them home, but they're actually dyed with a pink water to get that vibrant orange color!

We also picked up some blackberries, raspberries, peaches, dates, heirloom tomatoes, basil, potatoes, eggs, white corn, and onion. I knew I wanted to do a twist on the caprese salad for dinner, but wasn't sure what else to make.

Corn for the corn! I love those corn holders.

Potatoes have made a comeback as one of my favorite foods, especially after Heather made some delicious roasted ones with chilis. I had never made a spanish tortilla before, but was suddenly inspired to make one after picking up some beautiful yukon golds. For side dishes I sliced the tomatoes and topped them with peppercorn crusted goat cheese and my own basil pesto. This combo is absolutely divine! The tortilla came together fairly easily. I sauteed the onion with olive oil and boiled the potatoes for 3-4 minutes before adding them to the onions, with some garlic. I recommend letting the onions get fairly brown and caramelized - the flavor is worth the wait! Our meal was so simple, but so flavorful.

Close-up of the tortilla.

We topped our meal off with some watermelon and dates. A sweet end to a sweet meal.

I look a little tired from my run. That melon revitalized me.

Spanish Tortilla

3 medium sized yukon gold potatoes

1 large yellow onion

2 cloves garlic

4 eggs

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Olive oil

Directions

Boil a pot of water. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in frying pan on mediumheat. Cut potatoes in half, then slice them crosswise into thin slices (matchsticks) and boil for 3-4 minutes. Drain potatoes in colander. Cut onion into thin slices and sautee in pan for about 5-6 minutes. Add potatoes and garlic to the onions and cook on medium heat for another 7-8 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool in colander.

Mix 4 eggs in a large bowl with salt and pepper. Add onion and potatoes and mix with eggs. Add 2 tablespoons oil to frying pan. Add egg mixture to frying pan and cook for 5 minutes. Take a plate and place it over the pan. Invert the pan and tortilla onto the plate. I put tin foil on the plate. This made it easier to add the tortilla back into the frying pan and cook for another 4-5 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve warm.

Gourmet Eats - Yountville, CA

2010-07-09T23:46:00.005-04:00

Domaine Carneros Estate

Have I told you about my love for Northern California? Well, let me say it is just a lovely area. There is so much to do! One day, you're sitting on the sand by the ocean the next day you're in the city, and the next you're hanging out in wine country. I have probably explored more of this area in one year than I had explored VA/DC in ten years. Such is the life of a newbie.

Living in California means that people are much more inclined to visit. I love having visitors because it always provides an excellent excuse to play tourist. With Malia in town, I knew I had to take her to Napa. Wine country is just amazing. Not only are there some great wineries and vineyards, but the countryside is absolutely gorgeous. We planned on hitting up one of my favorite sparkling wineries, Domaine Carneros. It is crucial to make sure you are properly fed before you go on a tasting tour. I had heard some great things about Bistro Jeanty - so we headed to Yountville for lunch.

French countryside? Even better, Yountville, CA.

Bistro Jeanty is just that - a classic french bistro. What is a bistro exactly you ask? Traditionally, a bistro is a small restaurant serving moderately priced food in a modest location. Bistro Jeanty serves up classics, such as coq au vin, cassoulet, and escargot. Because we were going to be sampling some wine in a couple hours, I didn't want to order anything too heavy.

Clockwise from left: tomato soup, sardines, mussels, haricot verts salad, fresh baguette with butter.

We had high expectations for Bistro Jeanty after reading rave reviews of their creme de tomato en croute (cream of tomato in puff pastry) and moules au vin rouge (mussels in red wine). We ordered everything to share - the tomato soup, mussels, the haricot verts salad, and sardines. Our waiter was probably disappointed at the amount of food we ordered, but hey we had to save room for Bouchon Bakery!

The cream of tomato soup was extremely rich. While I enjoyed it, I was expecting a little more. The amount of cream overpowered the tomato, in my humble opinion. The moules au vin rouge were probably my favorite part of the meal. The mussels were fresh and creamy. The fresh baguette provided an excellent instrument for sopping up the salty, winy broth. The sardines were quite good as well. I have now eaten sardines twice in the past month and I must say I enjoy them much more than I did ten years ago. It certainly helps when when they are fresh and prepared well.

Disappointed Face.

Now to be honest the food was good, not amazing. AJ was a little more disappointed. He isn't the biggest fan of traditional French food. Although, I still think he hasn't tried the right things. After paying our bill, we headed next door to Bouchon Bakery for some treats.

Cappuccino, pistachio, and raspberry macaron and a "nutter butter".

I love Bouchon's macarons - so we each ordered one - cappuccino for me, pistachio for AJ, and raspberry for Malia. And because I can't resist baked goods I also got a "nutter butter". The macarons were crisp and chewy. AJ's pistachio macaron tasted a bit stale. Poor AJ wasn't having the best luck thus far. The "nutter butter" was delightful full of peanut buttery goodness. The cookie was crisp with a nice creamy filling. However, Malia and I missed the peanut shape. And if I had to choose I think I would take the original (gasp).

So what are your favorite places to eat in Napa or Yountville?

Nopalito - San Francisco, CA

2010-07-08T21:56:00.002-04:00

Ceviche - it was so tasty I forgot to take a pic-pre chowtime.

San Francisco , home of the burrito, produces some wonderful mexican cuisine. I haven't eaten at a ton of Mexican establishments in San Francisco. However, the places I have visited have served up super fresh, cheap, and most importantly tasty fish tacos, burritos, and quesadillas. Mexican cuisine has recently moved up on my list of favorite cuisines - and now Nopalito stands at the very top of that category.

Vegetable tamale

Nopalito, opened up a little over a year ago and is a self-proclaimed "sustainable, organic, Mexican kitchen." Nopalito's name is a nod to its sister restaurant, Nopa, and its Mexican cuisine (referring to the slices of cactus leaf used in traditional cooking). Cacti adorn the windows of the restaurant creating an inviting dessert feel. The restaurant celebrates "traditional cookery of Mexico, utilizing local, organic, and sustainable ingredients." You can order a couple small plates or a large plate as your meal. The prices are very affordable, so all you have to worry about is your appetite, not your wallet.

Nopal or Cactus

Some people think of Mexican cuisine as heavy, greasy food. But traditional Mexican food is anything but that, offering up fresh produce enhanced with minimal fat and lots of herbs and spices. Malia and I ordered up a couple items to share - ceviche de pescado y calamari, tamal de huitlacoche, and mole poblano con pollo. AJ ordered up the empanada de suadero and the taco de pescado al pastor.

Chicken with Mole Sauce

The tamal was earthy and substantial with a nice filling of black beans, greens, onions and jalapenos. The sweet corn played nicely with the earthy filling and the sour crema sauce. AJ enjoyed his super fresh taco al pescado. The fish was marinated in a bright mixture of cilantro, adobo, chile, and orange. Served up on hearty yellow corn tortillas this made for a nice start to the meal.

The ceviche was the highlight of the meal - quite possibly the best I have ever eaten. The seafood was incredibly fresh, and the calamari were so tender. Often times calamari are chewy or rubbery, but these were prepared exquisitely, bringing out the sweetness of the flesh. The lime juice, cilantro, and tomatillo complimented the sweet fish with a nice acidity. The smooth, creamy avocado slices were the perfect addition. I loved how these were served with warm, salty, corn chips. This dish exemplified the simple, clean flavors of Mexican cuisine.

The mole poblano con pollo was excellent as well. A chicken leg is served on the bone, with a rich mole poblano sauce. The mole was warm and spicy - made with toasted chiles, cinnamon, chocolate, nuts, sesame seeds, and onion. The mole sauce combined the sweet and savory elements well.

The food at Nopa is exceptional, and I would highly recommend checking the place out. While they don't take reservations, try to get to the restaurant early, as they get especially busy on Friday and Saturday nights.

Little Skillet - San Francisco, CA

2010-06-30T22:02:00.006-04:00

View of the California Academy of Sciences Museum from the Observation Tower at the DeYoung Museum.

Malia came to visit a couple of weeks ago (it feels like it was just yesterday!) and on her second day here we visit the DeYoung Museum to see the "Birth of Impressionism" exhibit on loan from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. After our museum visit we planned to eat lunch at Little Skillet, a chicken and waffles join in the SOMA neighborhood of San Francisco.

Outside of Little Skillet

Malia and I had never eaten chicken and waffles before our trip to Little Skillet, but I love waffles and I love fried chicken, so why wouldn't I love them together? I had always wondered about the origin of chicken and waffles. One account ties Thomas Jefferson to the origin, stating that he brought a waffle iron back from France. Shortly thereafter waffles and chicken showed up together in American cookbooks. This popular pairing has strong roots in African American culture. Wells Restaurant, which opened in Harlem in 1938, is regarded as the home of chicken and waffles.

Chicken and waffles, plus biscuit.

We left the Museum at 12:45pm knowing that we had to travel 5 miles to Little Skillet before it closed at 2:30pm. With a little less than a mile to go I looked at my cell phone and saw it was 2:05pm. There was no way I was not eating chicken and waffles that day, so Malia and I took off running!

We made it on time and ordered up a waffle and two pieces to share. They also offer other items, such as bbq pork sandwiches and po' boys, but they're known chicken and waffles. The shop itself is run out of a small space. You order at the counter and take your food to go. It was a beautiful day so we sat outside and enjoyed the sun.

Malia loves these waffles!

The waffles were crisp on the outside and nice and fluffy on the inside. The real star of the show is the fried chicken! The skin was crunchy and super flavorful, with flecks of herbs, salt and pepper. How could you possible make waffles and chicken better you ask? Add a biscuit! The biscuit was flaky and buttery. It was the perfect meal after 5 miles of walking/running.

Worth the 5-mile walk!

Don't let this unique combination scare you - chicken and waffles make a great meal any time of day.

Philz Coffee - Palo Alto, CA

2010-06-17T11:07:00.003-04:00

Iced Mint Mojito Coffee

Coffee shops are everywhere these days and sometimes its hard to distinguish one from the next. Philz Coffee is anything but your average shop. Every cup is handcrafted - that means they brew it, they add milk, and they add the sugar. You tell them what you want and they do it for you. I'll admit the first time I walked in the door I was very overwhelmed. They offer a plethora of special blends, customized by Phil himself, and as someone who loves coffee but knows little about it I was unsure what to order. Don't be afraid to ask the staff for help in figuring out what you want.

Bluberry Cobbler Muffin

With Malia in town, I knew I wanted to take her to Philz Coffee. Now we could have tried one of their delightful blends such as Ambrosia or Philharmonic, but I wanted to experience the Iced Mint Mojito Coffee with Malia. We are huge Mojito fans. Now these coffees don't have any light rum or lime in them, but they were so refreshing on a hot morning. The mint was so fresh and went wonderful with their house iced coffee.

Nectarine Cobbler Muffin

We weren't sure what kind of pastry would go well with a iced mint mojito coffee, so we picked ones that looked the tastiest - a blueberry and a nectarine cobbler muffin. The muffins had that lovely crumb topping and the fruit was really fresh. The muffins were rather dense - indeed more biscuity like a cobbler topping. We both agreed that we could make better muffins.

But let's be honest the coffee is the star at Philz. With 7 locations in the Bay Area you can be sure to find one close to you. So head over and try a cup, I guarantee you'll like it.

Summer is Here - First Caprese Salad of the Year!

2010-06-09T23:34:00.006-04:00

Clockwise (from left): toasted Henry's Harvest bread from Grace Baking Co., sunflowers, sauteed asparagus and cauliflower with garlic, and caprese salad.

There are so many wonderful things about summer - corn, berries, peaches, but one of the best things is ripe heirloom tomatoes. One of my favorite dishes is the caprese salad. I know what you're thinking, that played out salad that you see on every italian menu in town is getting you excited? And trust me you can really mess this dish up. But the key to making this simple dish is using really good ingredients. I head to the farmer's market for some amazing heirloom tomatoes and fresh basil.

Caprese salad close-up: Heirloom tomatoes, mozarella, basil, and balsamic vinegar.

Using fresh, exceptional ingredients makes a simple salad a really amazing meal. I drizzle a little balsamic vinegar on top of the sliced tomatoes and mozarella and torn basil leaves. It is just wonderful! I toasted up some bread, sauteed some cauliflower and asparagus and my vegetarian feast was ready. Also, I just love the colors, don't you?

P.S. Malia get ready for some wonderful Cali eats!

National Donut Day - This Friday, June 4th!

2010-06-03T07:30:00.002-04:00

Free Doughnuts this Friday!

Friday, June 4th is National Doughnut Day! What better way to celebrate Friday than with a warm glazed doughnut. And did I mention Krispy Kreme is giving them away for FREE?!

If you're on the East Coast Dunkin' Donuts will give you a free doughnut, but only if you buy a drink.

The cool folks at Psycho Donuts in Campbell, CA are celebrating with the unveiling of their tacOnut - a doughnut folded like a taco and filled with fresh strawberries.

TacOnut - yum!

Cherry Pop-Tarts

2010-05-25T23:32:00.010-04:00

Homemade cherry pop-tart!

Pop-tarts are a treat that brings back memories from childhood. We used to get the strawberry (no icing) and brown sugar varieties. There was also the occasional cherry and grape. Does anyone remember grape pop-tarts? I have heard and read that they discontinued the grape pop-tart a while back. Apparently Kellogg has added a wild grape flavor to replace the old grape. Did they think "wild" grape would be more appealing?

Rolled out dough (homemade too, of course).

Of course if you consumed pop-tarts you also probably ate a toaster streudel at one point too. Toaster streudels were far superior to the pop-tart - with their flaky crust and warm icing. The fruit filling even resembled actual fruit (well sort of). You could even draw sweet pictures with the icing packets. But I don't think Toaster streudels could ever compete with the plethora of flavoring offerings for pop-tarts. Have you seen some of the new flavors? Hot fudge sundae, really? I mean kids could pretend a strawberry pop-tart was an acceptable breakfast, but ice cream in a pastry pocket form? I don't think so.

Just a spoonful (or two) of cherry jam.

But regardless of their nutritional value, pop-tarts will always have a nostalgic place in my heart. And pastry chefs across the country realize the nostalgic power of the pop-tart, putting their own versions on dessert menus. I ate a rather fine pop-tart at Tremont 647 in Boston a couple years ago.

Baking in the oven at 425 F. I could barely contain my excitement!

I have been meaning to create my own gourmet spin on the pop-tart, but didn't get around to it until NOW. Cherries have been on my mind for a couple weeks, and with a fresh supply from the farmer's market I knew I wanted to create a cherry pop-tart. Their are three key ingredients to making your own pop-tart: 1)pie crust 2)jam 3)icing.

Now I made my own pie crust, jam, and icing cuz that's how I do. My mother created this "everything from scratch" mentality, so you can thank her for that. :) Luckily I had some pie crust in the freezer, so it didn't take me ages. If you want to make your own dough from scratch I would make it the night before. Make the jam two nights before, that way you won't feel like you've spent 6 hours making pop-tarts.

Beautiful pockets of goodness.

The "jam" I made came together in a cinch. I chopped up three cups of cherries, threw them in a pot with 1/4 cup of sugar, juice from one lime, and lime zest. I cooked it on medium low for 40 minutes or so. You want to make sure the excess water boils off, so that the mixture is thick and chunky. This was more of a "quick" jam.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. While the jam cools off you can start rolling out your pie dough. Roll the dough out really thin - 1/8 in or so. I cut the dough into rectangles that were about 4 x 3 in (some looked more like 5x2). Put the dough back in the fridge for 15 minutes before you fill them.

Pink frosting what could be sweeter?

Once the jam has cooled, spoon on a couple tablespoons. You don't want to overfull the pockets, as they will burst open in the oven. Place a second rectangle on top. Using a fork, press the sides together to form a seal. Using the fork, poke a couple holes in the top of the pop-tart to allow some steam to escape during baking. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Mine needed about 12 minutes.

Make the icing using 1 cup confectioner's sugar and 1 teaspoon milk. I used part of it to drizzle over half of the pop-tarts. Then I added four drops of red dye to make pink icing for the second half.

This Googler approves!

These pop-tarts were flaky and butter. The cherry jam filling was tart and sweet. The icing made them visually stunning and added the right amount of sweetness to counter the buttery pastry and tart filling. These were a hit! They might be one of the best things I have baked. These would be wonderful to serve at a brunch, people will love you for it.

Verdict: Three JAMS!

Dynamo Donuts - San Francisco, CA

2010-05-15T16:06:00.005-04:00

From top left: Sticky bun, maple apple bacon, vanilla bean, cornmeal cherry rosemary

However you spell it, donuts or doughnuts, fried dough is delicious. In the past couple years I have become more appreciative (and more discriminating) of these fried treats. The Doughnut Plant in New York elevated my expectations for what doughnuts can be - serving up divine flavors like coconut custard and dulce de leche. In Hawaii, Leonard's introduced us to the portuguese version of fried dough, malasadas, with exotic fillings like passionfruit and guava.

I have been searching for a comparable doughnut out in California. Stan's doughnuts doesn't offer any fancy, gourmet flavors, but they make one of the best glazed doughnuts I've ever had -warm from the fryer. Still I had heard great things about Dynamo Donuts in San Francisco and wanted to give them a try before declaring the winner.

Dynamo Donuts was created by Sara Spearin, a graduate of the New England Culinary Institute, who wanted to bring her love of a well crafted donut to SF. These doughnuts are made with premium, organic, local, and sustainable ingredients whenever possible. And at $3 a pop they better be. The prices didn't seem to stop the yuppies and hipsters from forming a line at 9:30am on a Saturday morning. As I took my place in line (what does that make me?) I could smell the sweet dough hitting the oil. The menu is updated daily with offerings like lemon thyme and chocolate star anise. AJ and I ordered up a maple glaze bacon apple, cornmeal cherry rosemary, vanilla bean, and a sticky bun.

I took a bite of each doughnut before I declared the cornmeal cherry rosemary the winner. The cornmeal gave this yeasty donut some amazing texture, while the hints of orange zest and tart cherries paired well with the floral rosemary and honey glaze. Hello flavor! My only complaint (besides the hole in my wallet) was the temperature. These donuts were cool and would have been amazing warm. AJ declared the maple glazed bacon apple his favorite. I loved the maple glaze paired with the salty bacon, but I could've used more apple pieces.

The vanilla bean was rather tasty too - with flecks of vanilla bean swimming in the glaze and lovely lemon zest in the dough. The sticky bun was just that a sticky bun. I was hoping for some kind of fusiony doughnut - a doughnut that tastes like a sticky bun. Regardless of my expectations it was delicious with wide swirls of cinnamon and a caramel glaze. It didn't stand up to Flour bakery's version, but it was still tasty.

My final impression of Dynamo Donuts is that they have some amazing flavor combos and some great coffee that will top most donut shops in the Bay Area. But for $3 I'm not sure I would head here too often, when I can get a hot glazed donut for $0.80 at Stan's.

Cherry Bran Muffins

2010-05-07T20:07:00.013-04:00

Go Muffins!

I don't know about you, but sometimes its hard to get excited about breakfast on a workday. I usually end up eating oatmeal (steel cut if I have the time to make it) in an effort to start off my day on a healthy note and mostly out of convenience. Now I love steel cut oats, but eating the same thing every day can be tiring. I love bagels, donuts, and muffins (all from my favorite food group - carbs), but I can't justify eating these every day. So what options are there for the person trying to make a healthy, tasty choice for breakfast?

Nice plump cherries.

I have actually come across a fairly healthy and tasty banana blueberry bran muffin at Peet's Coffe and Tea. I know what you're thinking - bran, really? What is bran? Whole grains are comprised of three parts - the bran (outer layer), the endosperm (nutrient-rich portion), and the germ (embryo). The bran is rich in fiber. Most refined grains have had the bran removed.

This batter is so easy to make.

But seriously these bran muffins are tasty and wholesome at the same time. I have been wanting to replicate this muffin in my own kitchen and came across at Bran Muffin recipe at 101cookbooks.com. The recipe takes a healthy approach to baking - using whole wheat flour, wheat bran, yogurt (instead of oil), natural unrefined sweeteners (honey), and just a touch of butter.

Again, you're probably thinking B-O-R-I-N-G. Hello, where's the flavor? I wanted to up the flavor too. I decided these babies needed some cherry action to brighten the flavors. But you gotta give wheat bran a chance - it adds a lovely wholesome texture. The yogurt adds a lovely buttermilk tang. You just have to make sure to use whole fat yogurt - see I wouldn't deprive you of fat entirely! The honey adds just the right sweetness and the cherries add depth with tartness (JAM Note: I also soaked a cup of dried cherries in hot water before I added them to the batter).

These go perfectly with a cup of tea or coffee.

These come together in a jiff and will have you set for many breakfasts to come. My batch came out with 21 muffins (I used regular sized tins). I may freeze some so I can heat them up when I'm in need of some oatmeal relief!

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with Cookies and Cream Frosting

2010-04-11T16:55:00.006-04:00

The masterpiece.

As I may have mentioned earlier, we have started a nice tradition of celebrating birthdays at my office with team lunches. It is a great way to spend some time with my coworkers and a great excuse to bake! I was feeling a little cupcake fatigue and decided to bake a cake. I really wanted a classic chocolate cake. I asked my mom to recommend a couple, and decided that chocolate whiskey cake might be a bit too fancy for such an occasion. I ended up going with the classic Hershey's Heritage Chocolate cake.

This recipe is pretty traditional in that it uses buttermilk, cocoa, flour, eggs, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. I tweaked the recipe slightly, substituting cake flour for the all-purpose. I think it resulted in a lighter, fluffier cake.

Fluffy, thick, cream cheese goodness.

After baking the cake I had to decide what kind of frosting I wanted to make. I was leaning towards a classic chocolate buttercream, but AJ called it B-O-R-I-N-G. So I asked him what he would suggest. Of course he said cookies and cream! He probably didn't believe there was a recipe for that. But the internet is a wonderful thing, and I came across a cream cheese cookies and cream frosting recipe. Seriously, what could be better than cream cheese frosting with crushed Oreos?

Crushing up the Oreos.

The fun part about this recipe is that you get to smash a bunch of Oreos. Baking can be very therapeutic. Once you have beaten the cream cheese, butter, and sugar together, you add the oreos. This step is critical in that you do not want to overbeat the mixture - otherwise you will end up with a gray mess.

Perfect color - you can still see the white of the frosting base.

The frosting is a little tough to spread as a result of the chunks of cookie. Just pile it on, it is easier to spread if you start with a lot of frosting in the middle and work your way out to the edges. This frosting was insanely delicious. I think I could have eaten the frosting just by itself (oh wait I did...)

Slice of perfection.

This cake got some rave reviews. AJ said it was the best cake I've ever made. I don't know if that is true, but I do love a happy customer. I would definitely recommend this cake, especially when left in the fridge. It tastes amazing cold. So go on - indulge your youthful love of the Oreo.

You know it's Spring when Pastel-Colored M&Ms are in stores!

2010-03-28T18:56:00.006-04:00

The weather in Mountain View has been incredible the past couple of weeks - sunny and warm! The flowers are blooming and the birds are chirping. But you know it's really Spring when pastel colored M&Ms make their way into stores.

To commemorate the beginning of Spring I decided to make some M&M cookies. These were a fun treat my mom used to make when we were kids. I think the pastel colors are just beautiful. And did you notice that these Spring M&Ms also have bunnies, lambs, and chicks? I don't think they taste any different, but they sure are cute!

Cookies pre-bake time.

I looked online for a good recipe, and ended up using one from the Joy of Cooking. I ended up tweaking the recipe, because I ran out of all-purpose flour. I subbed 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour to make up the 2 cups of flour. I also used baking powder instead of baking soda. As a result of these substitutions I ended up with a puffier, "cakier" cookie. They had more of a wholesome flavor due to the wheat.

The trick to making these cookies visually appealing is to push the M&Ms into the dough after you have formed them into balls and smashed them down into discs. This way you can show off the cute lil' chicks and lambs. I let AJ decorate a couple. He said, "This is how a man makes a cookie." That crazy kid.

"Man" cookies.

I like the lambs with "Ms" for eyes.

I am not sure I would add whole wheat flour to the next batch of M&M cookies I make, but they were tasty. I think the whole wheat version could do well with the addition of some spices and maybe a brown butter glaze. Something to try next time.

Enjoy! Happy Easter!

Bouchon Bakery - Yountville, CA

2010-03-07T18:09:00.010-05:00

Nothing says "Happy Valentine's Day" like a heart shaped TKO and a macaroon.

AJ (and our friend Kelly) planned a lovely Valentine's Day weekend in Sonoma wine country. AJ and I spent the weekend with two other couples, sipping on wine and eating some lovely meals together. Kelly did an amazing job of planning our wine tours and dinners, so I got to sit back and enjoy the ride. However, I did have one request - a stop at Bouchon Bakery on our drive up.

Bouchon Bakery is the brainchild of Thomas Keller - the reknowned chef of the French Laundry and Bouchon Bistro. Bouchon Bakery was originally built to provide the fresh baked bread for Bouchon Bistro in Yountville. Chef Keller's wonderful pastries find inspiration from the exquisite bakeries of France. After experiencing great success with the original Bouchon Bakery in Yountville he opened up two more bakeries - in Las Vegas and New York City.

Treats galore.

We arrived in Yountville just around noon and found a line had already crept outside of the small bakery. As we stepped inside the sweet smells of fresh bread and sweet dough hit our noses. The plethora of treats that lined the glass cases was almost overwhelming. The bakery sells a couple of sandwiches, savory quiches, and some salads in addition to their sweets. I knew that I wanted to try a macaron and their namesake bouchons, but wasn't sure if that was sugar overkill.

Lucky for me, my friend David ended up buying a bag of bouchons to share (score!) I ended up ordering a turkey, brie, and cranberry sandwich on fresh bread and a pistachio macaron. AJ went with the mushroom and cheese sandwich and Thomas Keller Oreo (TKO).

Fresh baked bread - my weakness.

Joe Cool.

It was a beautiful day in Yountville and we were fortunate enough to snag a table in the sun. The bouchon was too enticing to wait to consume. Dessert before lunch? Don't mind if I do! The bouchons are named for their cork-like shape. They were almost the perfect brownie - moist, chocolatey, and a mix between fudgy and cakey. I stopped myself from filling up on brownies alone and moved on to my sandwich.

Turkey, brie, cranberry sandwich.

The bread on these sandwiches was freshly baked - nicely warm, with a slight crunch on the outside, and soft on the inside. The gooey cheese paired wonderfully with the slightly sweet, tart cranberry sauce, and the tender turkey. I only ate half to save room for my macaron.

Pistachio macaron.

The french macaron is quite different from its cousin - the coconut macaroon. The macaron is a meringue-based cookie consisting of egg whites, almond flour and confectioner's sugar. My pistachio macaron was a beautiful pastel green, but the pistachio flavor itself was much more subtle. The cookie was light and crisp, with a chewy interior. The creamy pistachio filling was delightful. AJ's TKO was delicious as well, especially if you are an Oreo fan. But if it were up to me, I would take a whole box of macarons to go!

All smiles at Bouchon Bakery.

Bouchon Bakery was the perfect place to start off our Valentine's Day weekend in Sonoma. This cozy bakery transported me to a French village. I certainly plan on coming back again soon!

Chez Panisse Take Two

2010-02-15T08:00:00.001-05:00

Pizza with artichokes, olives, onion and herbs

This post has taken me awhile to write. But I think it is perfect that I decided to post this on Malia's (and my) birthday. Malia is my best friend, and I hope that when she reads this she feels like we're eating dinner and celebrating our birthday together. Feliz Cumpleanos Mi Gemela! (No we're not spanish, but I do love the spanish language).

So back to the post - when Malia last came to visit, we spent a fabulous day together hiking in Muir Woods and exploring Berkeley. After a morning of hiking I knew we would be hungry and have a perfect excuse for a three-course lunch at Chez Panisse. As you may recall, I took my parents to Chez Panisse for dinner when they came to visit. I really enjoyed the meal, but there were a few things that could have been better - namely the service.

My second trip to Chez Panisse was quite different, the service was impeccable. Malia and I were seated promptly, at a cozy table, with the sun shining through the windows. The warmth of the cafe comes through much better at lunchtime. There were a number of regulars eating at the same time, but we were treated no differently. Our waiter was very conscientious, refilling our glasses with water before they could ever become empty.

We started our first course with a woodfired pizza, topped with artichokes, olives, onion, garlic, and fresh herbs. The last time I visited, I was remiss about not ordering a California pizza.

This time I ordered it and was not disappointed by the blistered crust - crispy on the edges and chewy on the inside. The toppings played together beautifully. I never would have thought of this combination myself.

The caramelized onions, garlic, and fresh rosemary and thyme really stood out. And the robust olives were not to be overshadowed. After two small slices, we both refrained from eating more so as not to ruin our appetites.

Sweet corn souffle with roasted beets, carrots, and beet greens.

For my main course, I chose the sweet corn souffle. Corn was nearing the end of the season, but boy did the corn work well in this dish. The sweet corn shone in this incredibly light souffle. This is how a souffle is made! The vegetables were tender, sweet, and buttery (I don't think I want to know how much butter was on them). A cream sauce was drizzled over top of everything. Just thinking about it takes me back to that lovely afternoon.

Malia ordered the chicken with parsnip chips and sauteed spinach. The chicken was pounded thin and was incredibly moist and tender. It was crusted with herbs and bathed au jus. The parsnip chips were salty and crisp and the spinach was incredibly garlicky (something both of us love).

Close up - corn souffle and roasted turnips, carrots and greens.

Close up - Chicken, parsnip chips, and garlic spinach.

You may be wondering if we had saved room for dessert. I don't know if "saved" is an appropriate term, but we couldn't resist ordering dessert. We split the fig tart with creme fraiche ice cream. Oh it was the perfect end to the perfect meal. I can't wait for Malia to come visit again, so we can share another wonderful meal together!

Fig Tart

Love you Malia!

A Vegan Valentine's Day - Sprinkle's New Red Velvet Cupcake

2010-02-12T22:53:00.002-05:00

By now you all know how much I love cupcakes. When done right the red velvet is one of my favorites. If done poorly it can be rather flavorless. But a good one is not just a vehicle for cream cheese frosting, but something moist and fluffy with a subtle cocoa flavor.

"V" could stand for velvet or vegan.

Of all of the red velvets I have tried, I must say Sprinkles makes a mean red velvet. And now you can get a VEGAN red velvet! It is amazing how the food world has responded to dietary needs - vegan and gluten-free items are just popping up everywhere. Now if only they made a zero calorie version...

But back to the matter at hand - VEGAN baked goods. I tend to love my dairy products, and am very impressed by those who eliminate them from their diet completely. Now when you hear the words "vegan" and "cupcake" in the same sentence most people expect the words "disgusting" or "flavorless" to follow. But I have had some delicious vegan baked goods - particularly these awesome choco chip cookies my friend Travis made (perhaps he will share the recipe?) So while vegan goods can certainly go wrong, it just takes the right recipe. I was hoping Sprinkles would deliver.

Banana with dark chocolate frosting.

Now as soon as I heard about the Vegan red velvet at Sprinkles I knew I wanted to try it. Luckily AJ and I happened to stop by the Stanford Mall one afternoon, and I dragged him into Sprinkles for a snack. We chatted up one of the Sprinkles cashiers who told us that she actually prefers the vegan red velvet to the original (high praise indeed)! She also told us that they use coconut oil in the frosting (very interesting).

A very dark interior.

I of course ordered up a vegan red velvet and AJ went with the Banana with dark chocolate frosting. Let me start with the red velvet. First to note, the "V" is still as tasteless as those dots they put on the cupcakes. But the cake itself was extremely moist and perhaps slightly denser than the original red velvet. The frosting is where the big difference occurs - instead of the traditional cream cheese you get a fluffy coconut frosting. It was very tasty, especially if you like coconut. I myself still prefer the tangy cream cheese frosting, but this vegan cupcake is a winner in my book. The banana with dark chocolate frosting was amazing with visible flecks of banana. It was moist and fluffy and the dark chocolate frosting was the perfect accompaniment - not too sweet.

Any time you step into Sprinkles you can't go wrong. Head on out and buy your best bud or sweetie a cupcake this Valentine's Day!

A nifty way to eat your brussels sprouts

2010-02-11T08:00:00.001-05:00

Health gurus are always pushing leafy greens on us. Although incorporating things like kale and brussel sprouts into your diet can seem intimidating, all you need is a good recipe. I never cease to find inspiration for vegetarian dishes from 101 Cookbooks. And if you don't like the recipe I post here, please check out the website, I guarantee you'll find something you like.

Now back to the brussels sprouts. I always enjoyed brussels sprouts as a kid, and maybe that makes me one of the weird ones, but I think preparation can make all the difference. If you don't like steamed or boiled brussels sprouts, try shredding them and sauteeing them. I find this gives them a sweeter flavor.

For this dish, I took inspiration from 101 Cookbooks' Shredded Brussels Sprouts and Apples. Brussels sprouts and apples are in season. The dish is really rather simple - chop up a bunch of veggies and apples and saute them with oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper and the secret ingredient - maple syrup.

I used brussels sprouts, carrots, apples, toasted cashews and tofu in my saute, but feel free to experiment. The maple syrup adds this lovely caramelization. I would also recommend using a hickory baked tofu, as it totally complements that maple flavor. To add in some whole grains serve up with some quinoa or brown rice.

Shredded Brussels Sprout Saute
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks.com

1 large apple, julienned (I used a Pippin)
2 large carrots, julienned and cut into 2 in lengths
1 lemon, juiced
4 oz extra firm tofu, cut into cubes (I recommend a baked hickory)
a couple pinches of salt
2-3 tsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoon maple syrup
1/3 c toasted cashews
12 oz (or 3-4 handfuls) brussels sprouts, washed and cut into 1/8 in ribbons

Cook the tofu in a large skillet over medium high heat with a bit of salt and tsp olive oil. Saute until golden, about 4-5 minutes. Add the carrots and saute until start to soften, 5 minutes. Turn heat down to medium and add apples, garlic, and maple syrup and saute 2-3 minutes. Transfer mixture into a large bow.

Turn heat up to medium high and add brussels sprouts with 1-2 tsp oil, salt. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Add 1 tbsp maple syrup. Add tofu-apple mixture back to skillet and heat for another 2 minutes. Sprinkle cashews on top.

Remove from heat and serve immediately with quinoa.

The new kid on the block recommends...

2010-02-10T17:56:00.026-05:00

As the new blogger on the JAM, I figured it was my duty to introduce myself and start off by giving readers a clue into the best meal of my life. That's me to the right. I am so freakin cool right?! So here goes...

I guess that food has always been in the background of my life and has only come to the forefront of my interests within the past 3 years. Senior year of college ushered in a desire to have some artistic outlet from my science-driven academic career and cooking somehow drew me in with its savory wiles.

Maybe it was the first cookbook I bought after asking my mom for recipes... or maybe it was the boredom. Regardless of the reason, I still remember that first overcooked, underseasoned mound of meat and spinach on a store-bought roll. That was the sandwich that spurred the incredible culinary journey I have since undertaken.

Today, after having lived in LA, I am all about incorporating the finest, freshest and most beneficial ingredients into my cooking... and about going to the most unique and ingenuitive restaurants I can find. Now in DC, I am looking to explore that some more... especially with my JAM ladies of course.

So are you bored yet? I hope not... because here is the entertainment. What is the best meal I have ever eaten? To date, I would have to give it Bouchon in Napa Valley.

This little bistro is marketed as Thomas Keller's whimsical and modern cafe which stands sadly next to its unassuming brother, French Laundry. Being a in a lower income bracket as a graduate student, I believed I was "settling" for Bouchon. I thought wrong.

Though the seating was meager and we had to make reservations at 2pm... it was worth it! My great friends Muoi and Joao indulged me by joining me for the meal; I was the one excited about the food. It was a meal none of us will ever forget. Simple bread began the sumptuous meal. Something as ordinary bread is worth mentioning? Yes, it certainly is worth mentioning. Eating this bread alone makes the trip to Bouchon worth it, but how to describe its tantalizing perfection... crispy, moist, light and utterly enticing.

Then some foie gras? Yes, yes I believe I will enjoy the artery-clogging goodness. And Tommy Keller did not disappoint. We were given a literal pot of foie; there was no hope of finishing. After eating a seeming pound of duck liver, it was time for more.

Gluttonous, yes, but so incredibly worth it. I proceeded to order a beautiful burgundy to pair with my pan seared pork belly, served on a confit of currants and local sweet corn. When our meals came, it was love at first sight. Muoi ordered the chicken and Joao ordered the trout. Mundane you may think? Nope, not at Bouchon.

Does it look amazing? Are you envious? I am and I ate it...

All the necessary elements achieved: presentation, aroma and most importantly taste. Everything on the plate added to the texture and savory flavor.

We shared, we savored, we fell in love with lunch. For what it was, the food at Bouchon failed to disappoint. The entrees were expertly executed and served on a bed of pure happiness. Clearly this was a culinary adventure gone surprisingly right. I guess going into the meal with moderate expectations allowed those low thresholds to be easily surpassed.

The food was as beautiful as it was delicious... we were all members of the clean plate club that day. Cheers to outstanding meals and voracious foodies everywhere!

Until next time hungry readers!

(Meyer) Lemon Squares

2010-01-25T22:07:00.012-05:00

Lemony lemon squares.

If you aren't a huge lemon-dessert-kind-of-person then you may be rather annoyed with my current obsession. However, I would encourage you to make these for the lemon-dessert-kind-of-people you know. These are really easy to make, and they make for cute gifts. I love how the dusting of confectioner's sugar looks on these bars.

I found this particular recipe in My Nepenthe: Bohemian Tales of Food, Family, and Big Sur by Romney Steele. This book was another gift from my parents. What can I say, they know I love cookbooks. The book in and of itself is great - giving a perspective on California cuisine from the vantage point of Nepenthe restaurant in Big Sur. I love the stories of family, Hollywood, and art that surround these simple yet elegant recipes.

Shortbread crust

The first step to these bars is making the shortbread crust. The ingredient list is short - flour, butter, confectioner's sugar, and a pinch of salt. Pulse it together in the food processor, press it into a pan, and it's ready for the oven. The buttery crust is a nice complement to the tart, bright filling.

Mixing the lemon filling.

The filling is almost as easy, with the added grunt work of squeezing a couple of lemons. Make sure to zest your lemons first! I used Meyer lemons, because they are just a little bit sweeter (and I just like the flavor that much more). Sugar and flour get sifted together. One egg (of four) is added at a time until the mixture is smooth. Then the lemon juice and zest are mixed in. The filling is rather runny. I was a little alarmed, but you shouldn't be.

The filling is poured on top of the cool, yet slightly warm crust.

The crust should cool 10 minutes before the filling is poured on top. It is fine if the crust is a little warm. I used a slightly smaller pan (8"x8") so I baked mine for about 30 minutes, until the middle stops jiggling. After the pan had cooled for 2-3 hours, I dusted them with confectioner's sugar, and cut them up into little bars (28 or so). This allows you to eat about 3-4 of them without feeling bad, right? But seriously, I ate like 4 of them out of the oven. They are seriously addictive, tart and sweet, with a nice buttery crust. Luckily I gave the rest to AJ's boss (she loved them) so I didn't eat the whole pan.

Beautiful blocks of gold.

Lemony Lemon Bars

Crust

1 cup flour

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

pinch salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into 1/2-in pieces

Lemon Filling

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup flour

4 eggs

2 tsp finely grated lemon juice

2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Confectioner's sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-in (I used a 8-in) square pan with overlapping foil.

For the crust, combine the flour, confectioner's sugar, and salt in the bowl of a processor. Add the butter in pieces and pulse until it resembles coarse meal. Scrape into the pan and press evenly onto the bottom. Bake until the crust is golden brown and thoroughly cooked, 18-20 minutes (17 minutes). Reduce the heat to 300 degrees.

For the filling, whisk the granulated sugar and flour in a medium bowl. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, until smooth. Stir in the lemon juice and zest.

Pour the filling onto the still-warm crust. Bake for 20-25 minutes (25-30 minutes for 9-in pan), until the filling sets and no longer jiggles in the middle. Cool completely in the pan on a rack. Gently lift out the foil liner and transfer to a board. Cut into small squares using a sharp knife. Dust with confectioner's sugar just before serving. (I dusted them before cutting them).

When life hands you meyer lemons you make Lemon Loaf

2010-01-21T16:34:00.009-05:00

Look at the beautiful lemon glaze.

Recently I have been on a lemon kick. But not just any lemon will do. I am in love with the meyer lemon, something I only first tasted after I moved to California. If temperate climate and beautiful landscapes haven't convinced me to stay, the meyer lemon may have tipped the scales.

Meyer lemons were brought over to the U.S. from China in 1908 by Frank Nicholas Meyer, a Department of Agriculture employee. Since then, they have been widely grown in California. The meyer lemon is thought to be a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange. This fruit is more golden in color than your typical lemon and bears a sweeter and brighter flavor.

Golden orbs of goodness

I have been buying mine at our local farmers' market, but I have seen them at Whole Foods and Safeway as well. With a bunch of meyer lemons staring at me yesterday, I began looking for a good recipe. My mother gave me the Barefoot Contessa Parties! book last Christmas, and I found a lovely recipe for lemon loaf.

I pulled out all of the ingredients: the flour, sugar, butter, milk, eggs, salt, leavening, vanila, and meyer lemons. I measured everything out and mixed together the dry ingredients, including the zest. Zesting meyer lemons is a pain in the butt, because their skin is softer and thinner than regular lemons. It actually becomes more of a paste. I creamed the butter and the sugar. I mixed together the milk, lemon juice, and vanilla. I alternated the dry with wet ingredients, forming a lovely batter. Everything was going swimmingly, until I read that I was supposed to make a syrup with lemon juice and sugar. Oops! I added a 1/4 cup extra sugar and 1/4 cup extra juice. At that point it was too late, so I scooped the batter into a pan and popped it in the oven. 50 minutes later it was done.

Lemon Loaf

I decided against the syrup, and instead just made a simple glaze with lemon juice and confectioner's sugar. The cake was delicious. Extremely moist with wonderful lemon flavor. The glaze gave it a little crunch. I brought it into work and it was gone before 10am! I will have to try the recipe as it was originally written, but it is safe to say that my "tweaks" to the recipe worked well.

Lemon Loaf Cake

Barefoot Contessa (my notes in parentheses)

1/4 lb unsalted butter

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 extra large eggs

2 tbsp lemon zest (or as much as you can get from 5 meyer lemons)

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/8 cup meyer lemon juice

3/8 cup milk (I used 1% milkfat)

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Glaze

1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease one 8 1/2 x 4 1/4 x 2 1/2 inch loaf pan. Cream the butter and 1 cup of the sugar (I used 1 1/4 cups) until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on medium speed.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the zest. In another bowl combine 1/8 cup of lemon juice (I used 3/8), milk, and vanilla. Add the flour and the milk mixtures alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with flour. Pour batter into the pan and bake for 45-60 minutes (I baked mine for 50 minutes).

(I IGNORED THIS PART) Combine 1/4 cup sugar with 1/4 cup lemon juice in a small sauce pan and cook over low heat until sugar dissolves. When the cake is done let cool ten minutes. Spoon the syrup over the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely.

(I USED THIS GLAZE) Combine lemon juice and sugar and mix until smooth. Pour glaze over cooled cake.

Enjoy!

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Meyer Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

2009-12-06T23:47:00.008-05:00

Gingerbread Cupcakes

I have yet to write about our Thanksgiving feast with the Franks, but the big hit of the evening was the gingerbread pumpkin mousse trifle. This masterpiece of gingerbread inspired me to bake up another gingerbread creation. My coworker's birthday was the perfect occasion to test out some gingerbread cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I found a neat idea for a lemon frosting on epicurious.com. This recipe combines your basic cream cheese frosting with lemon zest and juice. I jazzed up the lemon factor by using meyer lemons. I absolutely adore meyer lemons. They have a slightly sweeter and brighter flavor.

Rich molasses batter.

The cupcake batter came together very easily. The recipe indicates that the mixture will look curdled after adding the boiling water to the molasses mixture. This could not be more accurate. It looks kind of gross, but once mixed into the flour the batter begins to look normal again. The molasses is so dark that the batter almost looks chocolate.

Fresh out of the oven - these smell like Christmas!

Dress them up with lemon cream cheese frosting!

Out of the oven, the gingerbread has an intense molasses flavor, which gingerbread lovers will appreciate. The ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves adds warmth and depth. The gingerbread is complemented by the tangy, sweet cream cheese frosting. The meyer lemon adds a slight tartness and brightness that lightens up the dark cake. Definitely be sure to refrigerate before frosting, as the juice makes the frosting a bit runny before refrigeration. The combination of flavors is really perfect for the holidays.

Sprinkle with crystallized ginger.

Hope you all enjoy!

Gingerbread Cupcakes:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) plus 2 tbsp unsalted butter (softened)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsulfured molasses

1 large egg

1 tsp baking soda

8 oz cream cheese (softened)

1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp grated lemon zest

2 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp thinly sliced crystallized ginger

In a bowl sift together, the ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and salt. In another bowl, cream 1/2 stick of the butter, add the granulated sugar, and beat the mixture until fluffy. Beat in the molasses and the egg, beating until the mixture is smooth. In a measuring cup combine the baking soda with 1/2 c boiling water. Stir the mixture until dissolved and add to the molasses mixture (the mixture will appear curdled). Add molasses mixture to flour and stir until well combined. Line twelve muffin tins with paper liners and spoon batter into the liners, filling halfway. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool.

For lemon cream cheese frosting:

In a bowl cream together cream cheese and remaining 2 tbsp of butter. Add the confectioner's sugar and vanilla and beat until fluffy. Beat in zest and lemon juice. Chill frosting for 30 minutes and spread on cupcakes. Top with crystallized ginger.

Tis the season for Pumpkin Cornbread

2009-11-06T10:14:00.006-05:00

Pumpkin Cornbread

Gosh it's been awhile since I last wrote. My oven has been broken for the past month or so, but I have been cooking (perhaps not as much as AJ would like). But now the oven is back and I can start whipping up some fall goodies.

I absolutely love fall, and eventhough the weather has been rather warm in Northern California, we have had hints of that lovely cool weather. I recently went for a walk one evening and could smell the lovely perfume of burning wood and damp leaves. This kind of weather inspires baking, especially with seasonal ingredients. My hands down favorite fall ingredient is squash. I love roasting acorn squash and eating it simply with a dab of maple syrup or pureering butternut squash and apples into a creamy soup. And of course you can't forget the pumpkin.

Mixing together pumpkin, eggs, brown sugar, and oil.

I use pumpkin as most people do, pureed in muffins, quick breads, and pies. But last night I was looking for a different way to use pumpkin. I had thoughts of making cornbread and asked myself, "Would pumpkin cornbread be good?" Now, you may think I'm crazy, but apparently I am not the only has thought about this unique combination. Recipegirl has a nice recipe for pumpkin cornbread. I decided to give it a whirl!

Mmm pumpkin.

The recipe, like most quick breads is very simple. Sift your flours and spices together in one big bowl. Then mix your wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Then combine in a couple swift turns of a spoon. Pour into a greased pan and bake in the oven. Thirty minutes later you have a somewhat denser, moister, spicier corn bread. I am absolutely in love with this bread. I reduced the sugar by half to get a more savory bread. I think this reduction allows the pumpkin and spices to shine through a bit more. But you could easily add back the sugar if you are looking for more of a sweet treat. The bread is super moist and yet you still get that lovely nuttiness from the corn meal. This is a hearty bread, perfect for serving with a bowl of chili or eating it with a cup of coffee in the morning (as I am right now).

Bottom Line: How could you not make yourself this delicious cornbread?!

Pro Bono - Palo Alto, CA

2009-10-12T22:41:00.004-04:00

Merlot and candlelight - what a lovely ambience.

I have had trouble with Italian restaurants recently. I love pasta, but lately the meals I eat at Italian restaurants have fallen flat. Paying $12.95 for a plate of spaghetti, that I could make at home for a fraction of the cost, seems absurd. However, when my coworker recently raved about Pro Bono in Palo Alto, I decided to give Italian another shot.

Two friends, AJ, and I arrived for a late dinner on a Saturday night. This small, cozy restaurant was packed at 8:00pm. The candlelight tables evoked a warm and homey feeling. We were seated fairly quickly even without a reservation. Unfortunately it took quite a while for the waiter to bring by a basket of bread. Incidentally, the waiter tried to makeup for this inconveniecnce by continuing to bring baskets of bread to our table throughout the night. While I appreciated the gesture, it was a bit of overkill.

Penne with mushrooms, arugula and tomatoes.

We ordered some merlot to start off the evening. Sometimes I love a nice mellow merlot. It goes great with pasta. AJ ordered a penne dish with mushrooms, arugula, and tomatoes. Simply prepared with a little garlic and olive oil, the dish was tasty, but nothing extraordinary.

Susan's Downfall - ravioli in a cheese and toasted almond sauce.

Being a fan of appetizers for dinner (it allows you to sample more of the menu), I order an arugula salad and Susan's downfall. Susan's Downfall is aptly named for its rich gorgonzola and toasted almond sauce. This divinely creamy sauce drowns the cheese and herb raviolis it is paired with. I love how the dish was run under the broiler before presented at the table, giving the sauce a delicious golden top.

Most of the fair is good, but not great. However, a trip to Pro Bono is worth it, if just to sample Susan's downfall.

Stan's Donuts - Santa Clara, CA

2009-10-12T20:10:00.000-04:00

I have been craving sweet, fried dough for the past couple weeks and had yet to find a proper outlet to satisfy this particular hunger. There is a Krispy Kreme somewhat close by, but after reading the Gastronomer's blog post on the Doughnut Plant, I yearned for a doughnut shop with a little more local flavor.

Freshly fried doughnuts.

I went to trusty old Yelp.com for some reviews of local doughnut shops. Stan's Donuts popped up with an average 4.5 stars (out of 5) from over 200 reviewers. The reviewers touted Stan's glazed donuts as some of the best they have ever tasted. I decided to check out what all the hype was about. A 15 minute drive down El Camino and we pulled up to a small shopping center. Stan's Donuts is a hole-in-the-wall joint, serving up fresh batches of yeast and cake doughnuts throughout the day. When we arrived, a small line had formed out the door. Stan's keeps the line moving, so you don't have to wait long for some fresh donuts.

Cake donut with vanilla frosting and peanuts.

AJ and I knew we were going to sample the yeast doughnuts, but we also wanted to try some of their cake varieties - we went with chocolate/sprinkles, peanut, and chocolate/coconut. The chocolate/coconut cake doughnut was nice and crisp on the outside, with a nice moist cake on the inside. The chocolate/coconut combination was just lovely.

Glaze yeast doughnut with Red Rock coffee

The real story is the glazed yeast doughnuts. They come out of the fryer warm and fluffy. Watch out Krispy Kreme, Stan's doughnuts will give you a run for your money! And don't forget, doughnuts are best eaten with a hot cup of coffee.

September was the Month of Birthdays

2009-10-04T18:50:00.004-04:00

September is one of the busiest birthday months. I celebrate my mom's birthday, my best friend, Jenny's, AJ's, Natalie's, and Cammy's. And let's not forget important blog birthdays - This Food is My JAM celebrates its 1st birthday, reaching 10,000 hits in under a year! We have had far more readers than I could have imagined, so thank you to everyone who continues to read. I would also like to give a shout out to my friends of Matzo and Rice who recently just celebrated their 1st birthday as well!

Being on the West Coast for the first september meant that I couldn't be there in person for everyone's bday. But luckily I was able to celebrate AJ's birthday during our first year living together! We had some friends over for a dinner party. I served a menu using mostly local and organic produce, per the birthday boy's request.

Mint chocolate chip ice cream Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache.

Caprese salad, paninis, asparagus, watermelon, sweet corn, guacamole, salsa, and chips.

This meal was an amalgamation of fresh ingredients -which was great because it meant I didn't have to do much to make this meal tasty. For starters I made homemade salsa, guacamole, and chips. Chips and salsa are always crowd pleasers. AJ and I also made two great sangria - a risesling/pinot grigio with citrus, peaches and apples, and a cabernet sauvignon with raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and apples. We added a touch of vodka, and sugar, which made the fruit quite potent (Note: the key to good sangria is to let it sit overnight.)

The remnants of our dinner.

For dinner I served sweet corn on the cob, asparagus with lemon juice, watermelon with mint, and roasted red pepper, portabello, and zucchini paninis with goat cheese and pesto. We took our plates and ate outside. It was a great way to savor the last warm summer nights.

Even the boys love Sangria.

For dessert I made Georgetown cupcakes' chocolate cupcakes. I froze them and then topped them with mint chocolate chip ice cream and chocolate ganache. They were amazingly messy and amazingly delicious. I need to figure out the timing for defrosting the ice cream, these were a little melty. But I don't think I heard any complaints. :)

Cheesecake Brownies

2009-10-02T11:23:00.001-04:00

Broccoli Cheddar Quiche and French Onion Soup

2009-09-27T11:47:00.001-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I finally saw Julie and Julia. While the movie didn't blow me away, it was a fun movie about food. And let's be honest I love watching things involving food or cooking or baking. (Also, Meryl Streep is amazing in this movie! She totally captures the essence of Julia Child.)

For those of you who saw Julie and Juila, didn't it make you feel like making something a little challenging? I woke up the next morning with the intention of hunkering over the stove for a couple hours, perhaps even getting down and dirty with some dough. Luckily it was a Sunday, the perfect day to spend some serious hours in the kitchen. I know I am talking up the amount of work, but I was actually looking forward to spending my day cooking, a Sunday tradition that has been lost in the wake of prepackaged meals and the tendency to eat out. While Julia inspired us to cook, food television of late has had the opposite effect, so it seems. (Check out this article if you're interested in learning about how time spent in the kitchen has decreased considerable since the 1960s).

Alright, off of the soapbox and back to the kitchen. Julia inspired me to try out some french cooking. I had some beautiful vidalia onions that I needed to use, and decided they would be a lovely french onion soup. I got the most recent issue of Gourmet magazine celebrating seasonal recipes using produce from the lovely intersection of late summer and early fall harvest. I decided to try my hand at my first quiche - a broccoli cheddar recipe. Two simple yet classic french recipes - would I manage to cook both of these up in one day?

I began with the soup - slicing onions incredibly thin and then sauteeing them with butter and sugar to the point of caramelization. I continued to add wine, mushroom broth, a little balsamic vinegar, and thyme. The room filled with a wonderful aroma - there is something so comforting about making soup.

With the soup simmering on the stove, I began working on the pie crust for the quiche. Gourmet magazine features a rather traditional pie crust using butter. I love butter pie crusts -the flavor is so much better than one made with shortening.

The idea of making a pie crust can be quite daunting, but I think most people find it rather easy to pull together once they get started. A couple of tips: 1) Make sure your butter is very cold - this makes for a nice flaky crust and 2) don't use too much water - you want to use just enough to pull the dough together (too much yields a tough pie crust).

After making the dough you want to let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or so (Gourmet says 1 hour, but 30 minutes works just fine). Once you roll the dough out, place it in a pie plate and prick the dough with a fork (to allow steam to escape during baking). At this stage, you will chill the dough again for 30 minutes. Take the pie crust out and bake for 20-25 minutes.

While the pie crust was bakin, I began to make the filling for the Broccoli Cheddar quiche. The filling is rather simple as well - a mixture of eggs, broccoli, half-and-half, cheese, garlic, and nutmeg. When the pie crust has cooled, pour the filling into the shell and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. My quiche came out wonderfully -AJ loved it. The eggy custard was light yet creamy. The combination of broccoli, cheddar, and garlic was classic.

The soup was lighter with the use of mushroom broth, but still wonderful with the carmelized onions and salty swiss melted on top. Give French cooking a try, I do think you'll like it!

Picnic in September

2009-09-13T20:48:00.004-04:00

Cheese plate (Manchego, cheddar, grapes), Sourdough, Prosecco, Riesling, and Caprese salad (mozarella, tomatoes, basil, balsamic vinegar)

I love early September - the air has cooled down, but it is still warm and sunny. Last weekend, AJ bought us a lovely Prosecco and some wonderful cheeses. We sat outside and enjoyed the weather and ate some simple yet delicious food. Wine, cheese, bread and good company - what more could I ask for?

Mom's Apple-Banana Cake

2009-09-06T18:28:00.005-04:00

Apples and ba-nay-nays

Sometimes baking is an excuse to get rid of some fruit or milk that's about to expire. I know that statement isn't entirely logically (you're going to use flour, butter, and sugar just to make sure you don't waste one banana?) I know it's illogical, but sometimes inspiration comes in mysterious ways.

I had originally thought about making plain old banana bread, but it turned out I only had one banana sitting on top of my fridge. I realized that I had two gravestein apples (which are supposed to be great for baking) and a jar of applesauce. A-pples and Ba-nay-nays, I knew I could do something with that!

Apple Banana bread smells like cinammon, spice, and everything nice.

I searched the internet for some recipes involving apples and bananas and came across "Mom's Apple-Banana Bread". When I saw that the recipe involved adding caramelized apples to the batter, I knew it would be a winner. This recipe also appealed to me because it incorporates two treats that my mom and dad make really well - banana bread and apple cake respectively. My dad doesn't put on his baker's hat too often, but his apple cake has become a family staple. And my mom's banana bread just tastes better than any other banana bread I've tried. This recipe is essentially a combination of the two! The bananas and applesauce make for a very moist bread, and the caramelized apples add lovely bites of sweet and tart. The warm spices just scream fall. With the cooler weather approaching, I beg you to try this one.

I tweaked the recipe a little to accommodate the ingredients I had in my pantry (who uses that word?)

Ingredients

1 stick plus 2 tbsp unsalted butter (JAM Note: 1/2 stick butter, plus 2 tbsp, plus 1/4 c applesauce)

2 tbsp dark brown sugar

2 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2 in dice (JAM Note: used Gravestein apples)

1 tsp cinammon (JAM Note: used 1 1/2 tsp)

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (JAM Note: used 2 tsp)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cloves (JAM Note: used 1/2 tsp)

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (JAM Note: used 1/2 tsp allspice, 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 ripe bananas, mashed (1 cup) (JAM Note: used 1 ripe banana, 1/2 c applesauce)

1/4 c orange juice (JAM Note: used 1/4 c applesauce)

Directions

In a large skillet, melt 2 tbsp butter with brown sugar. Add the apples and cook over moderate heat, stirring until tender and golden, 4 to 5 minutes. Add 1/2 tsp of the cinnamon and 1/2 of vanilla and transfer apples to a plate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x5x4 in loaf pan. In medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, nutmeg (JAM Note: allspice, pumpkin spice) and the remaining cinnamon.

In a large bowl, using the handheld electric mixer, beat the remaining butter (half stick) with the granulated sugar (JAM Note: beat in 1/2 c applesauce after). Beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time until smooth. Add in bananas (JAM Note: and applesauce), orange juice, and remaining vanilla. Beat until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Using a rubber spatula fold in apples.

Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake for 1 hr and 20 minutes (JAM Note: my bread was done in 50 minutes). Let the loaf cool and turn onto rack to cool completely.

Flea Street Cafe - Menlo Park

2009-09-01T09:28:00.001-04:00

Sweet corn soup with basil

So my biggest expense in life right now is food (oh yeah and health insurance, but I try not to think about that - come one healthcare reform!) When I splurge on something, its usually not a new dress or a fancy purse, but perhaps a delicious fillet of wild salmon or a local raw milk cheese. While some girls spend hours shopping for shoes (don't get me wrong, I love me a pair of these too) I prefer to spend hours in the market searching for that elusive red quinoa or purple asparagus. These are things I take great pleasure in. While I do tend to cook a lot of my own dinners, it is also fun to have someone else cook for you, especially when the produce is fresh and local.

Blue cornmeal crusted diver scallops with green and wax beans

I rarely venture into Menlo Park, but I had heard good things about Flea St. Cafe. Jesse Ziff Cool, the owner of Flea St Cafe and Cool Cafe, takes pride in her restaurants mission of serving local and sustainable food and wine. This strategy ensures quality produce, protects farm lands and the environment, promotes economic growth, and preserves traditions.

This all sounded good, but would the food taste good? For our appetizer, AJ and I decided to split the vegetarian tasting plate - corn and bean succotash, sauteed peppers and onions, roasted beets, and fried squash blossoms. While everything on our plate was fresh, the only thing that really wowed us were the fried squash blossoms. Stuffed with goat cheese and fresh herbs, served with a bright slightly acidic tomato sauce, these were divine. We were sad there were only two.

Ricotta gnocchi with heirloom tomatoes, guanciale, basil, and asiago.

For the main course I ordered two appetizers, the sweet corn soup and the cornmeal crusted scallops. I love ordering appetizers for dinner because it allows you to sample more items on the menu. Boy was I happy when my soup arrived. A sucker for soup, this creamy corn concoction was just divine. Let me tell you there is nothing better than fresh sweet summer corn. I scraped my bowl clean. The cornmeal crusted scallops were seared and cooked to perfection. Sweet with an excellent crust, these paired nicely with the sweet corn soup. However, for the price I wish there had been more than three of these!

AJ ordered the ricotta gnocchi. I am always tempted to order these soft potato pillows whenever they appear on a restaurant's menu, so I was delighted that I would be able to sample them. The gnocchi were light, topped with ripe heirloom tomatoes, basil drizzle, asiago cheese, and guanciale. AJ was a little disappointed to find meat in his dish. I think the salty bits were a nice pairing to the ricotta gnocchi, but not entirely necessary. I would have preferred more fresh basil, as opposed to the oil drizzle.

Rosemary angel food cake with rasberry sauce and creme fraiche ice cream.

Next to the corn soup, I think my favorite part of the meal was my rosemary angel food cake. I loved the use of this fragrant herb in a sweet dish. The angel food cake was light and airy, but still moist. A lot of angel food cakes end up being dry. The addition of raspberry sauce and creme fraiche ice cream sealed the deal. I think my angel food loving sister would enjoy this one.

AJ is a chocolate man, and went with Flea St's very own chocolate cupcake served with ice cream and pecan caramel sauce. The chocolate cake was dry and dense. I wasn't a fan. The ice cream was good, but even better was the pecan caramel sauce! Sweet, thick, buttery and loaded with pecans. I would serve just the sauce!

Chocolate cupcake with carmel sauce and pecans with vanilla ice cream.

Bottom Line: While a little overpriced, Flea St delivers on their promise of fresh, local ingredients.

Eggplant salad with toasted garlic pita chips

2009-08-27T01:13:00.007-04:00

Eggplant salad.

"Salad? B-O-R-I-N-G." Like me, you may be a little tired of the usual leafy green salads. When it comes to salads, I often find myself in a rut. Baby spinach - been there. Arugula - done that. Don't get me wrong, I still find myself eating them, because they are an easy way to get in a lot of veggies, but I needed more inspiration.

That is when the wonderful Mark Bittman came to the rescue. You may have seen his NY Times article on "101 Simple Salads for the Season". Seriously, there are so many possibilities that I had never thought about.

Homemade tzatsiki verus storebought hummus (there's only so much a girl can do).

I found myself drawn to the "simple" mediterranean flavors of #27. Another great thing about these salad recipes - they are only a couple sentences in length. No stressing over minute details! I blackened a whole eggplant in a skillet and finished cooking it in the oven until it began to deflate. While the eggplant was in the oven, I chopped cucumber, tomatoes, and mint. I opened up a can of white cannelini beans and mixed all these together with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and salt. When the eggplant was super soft, I took it out of the oven and removed the charred skin. I chopped up the flesh and tossed it with the other ingredients.

I decided to toast up some pita chips to go with the salad. For the finale, I made my own tzatsiki - a simple mixture of greek yogurt, shredded cucumber, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and a drizzle of olive oil.

What can I say, this salad rocked my tastebuds. The eggplant was sooo smoky. You know that wonderful flavor you get from baba ganoush - finally I get how they do it! The mint added this amazing freshness. The tzasiki gave this extra creaminess in contrast to the acerbic lemon and garlic.

Bottom Line: Try this salad and you won't regret it.

BBQ Oysters - Point Reyes

2009-08-23T18:09:00.005-04:00

Light House in Point Reyes.

There is never a dearth of things to do in California. A couple of weekends ago, we visited Point Reyes and explored the beautiful coast. The trip in the car was incredibly slow and twisty. I wasn't sure I was going to make it all the way there without forcing Justin to stop the vehicle. I was quite relieved when the ocean air finally hit my lungs.

We planned to visit the light house in Point Reyes, a monument that has kept many a ship from crashing into its steep cliffs. Little did we know that in order to reach the light house we would have to traverse 30 stories worth of steps. It certainly was a good way to work up an appetite.

BBQ Oysters

We stopped at a cute little restaurant by the water. I ate my first oyster a couple of years ago, and it has become one of my favorite treats. These briny treasures are like tasting the ocean, and I mean that in a good way. The menu highlighted bbq oysters, something I have always wanted to try. Anna and I split a dozen of the steaming beauties. The bbq sauce was simply cocktail sauce, which worked surprisingly well. The smokiness came through, and the sweet and sour flavors complemented the creamy, salty flesh. I had no problem polishing off my half dozen.

Blue cornmeal crusted oysters.

AJ ordered up some of the fried oysters. Crusted in blue cornmeal, the crunchy batter provided a nice contrast to the soft oysters. The cornmeal provided a light shell without overwhelming them. We paired our oysters with some wonderfully creamy tomato bisque soup.

Nothing like spending the afternoon taking in the ocean air, and dining on some of the ocean's gifts.

Domaine Carneros - Napa Valley

2009-08-18T22:15:00.007-04:00

Napa Valley - ain't it grand.

California seems to have it all - beaches, mountains, great food, and oh yes great wine. I have been dying to check out the Napa Valley wineries since I got here. Luckily, our visitors from Boston gave us an excuse to visit a couple of weeks ago.

Nick graciously planned our entire day in Napa. We were going to start off with some sparkling wines and then move on to wineries that specialized in sauvignon blancs and cabernets.

Sippin' on some bubbly.

Our first stop - Domaine Carneros - vines covered the rolling green hills and valleys. We picked an absolutely perfect day - sunny, warm, and breezy. Domaine Carneros was opened in 1987 by Taittinger. Taittinger winery is one of the top producers of Champagne in France. Partnering with Kobrand Corporation, Taittinger declared that its future lay in American wine and established these vineyards.

Chardonnay.

The wine vats.

Nick arranged for us to tour the vineyard and chateau, sampling five wines along the way. For $25, this was a great bargain. Our tour guide, the charming Jean Claude, led us through the beautiful vines ripe with chardonnay and pinot noir grapes and poured us full glasses of their 2005 vintage Brut. The refreshing effervescent sip tasted of apple and melon, the perfect way to start our day.

Brut Rose.

Domaine Carneros makes three sparkling wines - Brut, Brute Rose, and Blanc de Blancs. The Blanc de Blancs is french for white wine made from white grapes. This luxurious wine made from 100% Chardonnay certainly had a more acidic, citrus flavor than the Brut. I preferred the Brut for its smoother flavor, but the Blanc de Blancs is consistently rated one of the top wines in the country.

Pinot Noir.

After sampling three of the sparkling wines (although I am not sure if drinking three full glasses can be called ) we moved on to the Pinot Noirs. Domaine Carneros makes three Pinot Noirs. You may remember the Pinot Noir, made insanely popular by the film Sideways. While, no one in our party ended up drinking straight from the spit barrel, we were feeling a bit lightheaded by the time we finished our fourth glass. I was a fan of the medium priced Pinot Noir, the 2006 Domaine-Carneros Estate. Tasting of cherries, with spicy notes of pepper, this wine was smooth to the finish.

While I enjoyed the other vineyards we visited that day, Domaine Carneros is level above all the rest. I would certainly recommend the wine tour for your next trip to Napa.

Gilroy Gaaarlick Festival

2009-08-16T22:58:00.007-04:00

We're the garlic-teers, you can be one too! Eating lots of garlic is what we do!

I know not everyone is a fan of garlic (and I don't think I will understand those garlic-hating palettes) but I was thrilled to hear about the annual garlic festival in Gilroy, CA. Located about an hour away (or 45 minutes if your friend drives like a bat out of hell) from Mountain View, Gilroy is famous for its fields and fields of garlic. If you ever take the 101 down to LA, the smell of garlic will hit you far before you reach the city limits.

Garlic mushrooms + pesto + garlic bread + garlic fries = Garlic coma (and crazy delicious). ;)

Gilroy has held this annual 3-day summer festival in honor of this pungent member of the Alliacea family (aka the onion fam) for the past 31 years. Vendors serve up everything from the traditional garlic dishes like pesto and shrimp scampi to the highly unusual - garlic ice cream.

Garlic Fries.

I was particularly excited to try the pesto and the garlic fries. The place was packed and the lines were long, but they moved rather quickly. The vendors did a great job of feeding everyone, and quickly at that! The garlic fries smelled so wonderful and they were all that and more. The crisp fries are cooked to perfection. The minced garlic, oil, and parsely coated these potatoes packing a potent punch. I could have eaten just these and been satisfied.

The creamy pesto had the right basil to garlic ratio, with enough cream to mellow these flavors. The garlic bread served with the pesto overshadowed the pasta dish. The combination of bread, butter, and tons of slightly sweet yet spicy garlic left me yearning for another slice.

Garlic ice cream?!!!

After filling our bellies, we walked around to check out the crafts and music. Garlic paraphernalia was available in mug, key chain, and hat form (garlic bulb shaped caps). We stopped to take some pics with Garlic Man. While I enjoyed checking out the scene, I was still intrigued by the concept of garlic ice cream. Friends who had visited the festival in previous years had given conflicting reviews. "Stay away at all costs," said one friend warily. Another opined, "You have to try it!"

Curiosity got this cat, and I stood in line to check it out. The vendors were giving this treat away for free (maybe because no one would pay to eat it?) When I finally got to the front I was handed FOUR mini cones. The first lick was intense, an odd combination of spicy, pungent garlic and sweet cream. AJ gagged and refused to eat anymore. Me and my more adventurous friends continued licking. The more we tasted, the more the garlic mellowed in our mouths, leaving a mostly sweet creamy flavor. While I wouldn't necessarily order this, I was surprised at how well this worked.

We c-LOVE garlic!

The Gilroy Garlic festival combines amazing garlic cuisine with kitschy festival fare. Enjoy!

What a Hoot!

2009-08-08T14:48:00.005-04:00

As you all have probably learned by now, I love cupcakes. I love eating them, I love baking them, I love decorating them. I came across this cute idea for cupcakes from one of my favorite blogs: "How to Eat a Cupcake". Who doesn't enjoy a cupcake shaped like animals, especially owl mamas and babies. This recipe comes from the book, "Hello Cupcake" by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson.

The recipe requires a basic chocolate cupcake recipe. I went with Martha Stuart's one-bowl chocolate cupcakes. Malia and I made these for our bday, and they were a hit. They are also super easy to make. For this recipe you are going to need a regular cupcake tin, and a mini cupcake tin. I halved the recipe and ended up with 6 regular cupcakes, and around 16 minis.

Assembling the cupcakes, frosting starts first!

Let me tell you, assembling these cupcakes was NOT as easy as baking them. I recommend making these when you have a couple hours with nothing better to do than devote your life to making the perfectly shaped owl beak from an M&M. Okay, so they weren't easy, but I did enjoy myself for the most part. It was fun seeing these owls come alive.

These iris-devoid owls look a little creepy.

In order to decorate these owls you are going to need chocolate frosting, oreos, mini oreos, junior mints, mini M&Ms (I used regular sized M&Ms), and runts (I used yellow M&Ms for the beak). In essence you will need two halves of oreos (with creme) for the eyes of the mama owls. You will use two mini halves for the baby owls.

While I thought these came out pretty well, they certainly were nothing like the perfect owls shown in the first picture. I mean to get out all of the crumbs in the creme would take another two hours in and of itself! The mini M&Ms were hard to come by, so I ended up using regular M&Ms for the baby owls. The orange M&Ms certainly made for some interesting expressions. I do like how the regular M&Ms accentuate the large iris to white ratio.

All in all these cupcakes were pretty cute, and they were a hit with my friends and coworkers.

Hoot!

Chez Panisse - the home of the slow food movement

2009-08-05T19:52:00.002-04:00

Finally we get to eat at Chez Panisse.

Ever since moving to Cali, I have taken a greater interest in eating locally sourced produce and goods. By establishing relationships with local farmers, not only are we helping to stablize our local economy, but we can better understand where our food comes from. Now, I wish I could take credit for the local food movement, but these ideas have actually been around for quite some time.

A preview of the dessert offerings.

Alice Waters established Chez Panisse in 1971 with just with those thoughts in mind. She believes that the best food is locally, sustainably, organically farmed by people who take care of the land. She also wanted to make her guests feel like they were at a friends dinner party, where they can feel comfortable and taken care of.

Summer squash salad with toasted pine nuts, mint, and pecorino.

After planning a month in advance, I set out with AJ and my parents in tow to experience Alice Waters cooking. Reservations are available a month in advance, and a month in advance is when they fill up. I called as soon as the restaurant opened in the morning and dialed repeatedly for an hour until I finally got through to a real person. The earliest they could seat me was 8:45pm. They certainly aren't feeling the effects of the recession.

Chez Panisse is divided into a downstairs dining room, which serves a 4 course pre fixe menu, and an upstairs cafe, allowing diners to choose items a la carte. We got reservations upstairs and were seated in a homey booth with an excellent view of the open kitchen.

Avocado and beet salad with lemon vinagrette.

The worn wooden benches certainly reminded you how long Chez Panisse has been around. The warm wooden decor and the baskets of produce and racks of fresh desserts certainly make one feel at home.

Mixed greens with goat cheese.

We all chose salads to start. My mom was absolutely in love with her avocado and beet salad. The creamy avocados were the perfect vessels for the sweet, slightly crunchy beets. The pungent garlic, and acidic lemon vinegrette provided the perfect foil. I ended up replicating this salad a couple nights later, it was that good.

AJ ordered the mixed greens and goat cheese salad. Simple with large chunks of cheese, AJ could not have been happier. My dad and I ordered the summer squash salad. The extremely fresh mint really brightened this dish. The salads are an exemplary microcosm of the restaurant. Composed with only a few ingredients, the attention is focused on the quality and pairing of ingredients.

Our table had a great view of the kitchen.

For the entree I ordered the house made spaghetti with Louisiana gulf shrimp and tomatoes. I was curious to understand why Chez Panisse would use Louisiana gulf shrimp, when there motto seems to be "local and organic". What I forgot to take into account is Chez Panisse's dedication to sustainable farming. This would explain the tender gulf shrimp. The shrimpy broth was sweetened further by the tomatoes and perfectly cooked pasta.

AJ ordered the leg of lamb with fennel mashed potatoes and green beans. The olive tapenade brought out the earthiness of the lamb. While the lamb was good, the fennel mashed potatoes were really excellent - creamy, buttery, with just a slight hint of licorice.

Homemade spaghetti with Lousiana gulf shrimp and tomatoes.

Eggplant parmesan.

My mom worked as a manager at an Italian restaurant in the Valley when she was younger, and she has always held a spot in her heart for eggplant parmesan. While this may not compare to Leonard's thinly sliced version, she really enjoyed the flavors of the cheese, eggplant, and tomato.

Lamb with olive tapenade, green beans, and fennel mashed potatoes.

Seared tuna with corn and tomato salsa.

My dad's tuna was an example of where the accompaniment may have stolen the show. The corn and tomato salsa was extremely fresh and bright. The oversalted fish fell a little flat in comparison.

Cozy Cafe Area.

While I felt very full, especially with two glasses of wine inside of my tummy, I couldn't resist ordering dessert. AJ and I got the nectarine tart with creme fraiche ice cream. Nectarines are practically overflowing from our local farmer's market, and so I was glad to see this ripe fruit in a starring role. The warm fruit went perfectly with a dollop of rich ice cream.

Panna cotta with fresh strawberries.

Nectarine Tart with creme fraiche ice cream.

My ordered the panna cotta with strawberries, an interesting play on strawberries and cream. In some ways our beginning and end to the meal overshadowed our entrees.

What a lovely dinner with my parents.

Chez Panisse does a great job of creating simple dishes with fresh, local, and sustainable ingredients. While they don't always wow you with technique or presentation, the flavors are what will keep you coming back. The one criticism I have to offer is in regards to the service. Our wait staff took quite some time taking our order and even longer bringing it to the table. They failed to check up on us regularly. For a restaurant of this stature, you would hope they would welcome new guests with the same vigor as regulars.

Despite the service, I still think Chez Panisse has a lot to offer, and I intend to come back, even if only for appetizers and dessert.

Flourless Peanut Butter Blossoms

2009-07-27T23:18:00.005-04:00

Peanut butter blossoms with dark hershey kisses.

There are some things that are just meant to be together: health care and reform, mario and luigi, and of course peanut butter and chocolate! Now one of my favorite recipes involving those two ingredients is peanut butter blossoms. My bff, Travis, recently sent me a recipe for flourless pb blossoms. Wait, no flour? I was highly skeptical, but Travis said they were amazing and super easy to make.

Bringing the dough together.

If you are looking for a simple recipe, you need look no further! This recipe requires four ingredients: egg, sugar, peanut butter, and hershey kisses. The dough comes together quite easily. I recommend chilling it for 10 min before rolling the balls out.

Into the oven they go!

In ten minutes, these babies are ready to be taken out of the oven, and kissed with some delicious dark chocolate. I recommend having the kisses unwrapped before you remove the cookies from the oven. The kisses need to be pushed into the cookies while they are still soft and warm.

Mmm choco peanut butter.

These cookies are much richer than the blossoms that are made with flour. If you are looking for a simple rich treat, I would recommend them. Also, what can be better than a recipe sent with love from an old friend? Thanks Travis!

Flourless Peanut Butter Blossom Recipe (makes about 20 cookies)

1 egg

1 cup sugar (I used 3/4)

1 cup peanut butter (I used all natural pb)

20 dark chocolate hersheys kisses

Heat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a mixer bowl, beat together the egg, peanut butter, and sugar until a dough forms.
Shape the dough into small balls and place 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes.
*Remove baking sheet from oven and immediately press a chocolate kiss in the middle of each cookie.

Leonard's Bakery, Kapahulu St, Honolulu

2009-07-20T21:16:00.006-04:00

Leonard's Bakery

Hawaii is a wonderful mixing pot of different cultures: japanese, polynesian, filipino, chinese, portuguese, german, and the list goes on. Hawaii is one of two states in which non-hispanic whites do not make up the majority.

This unique mixture of cultures provides a variety of cuisines to try. I wanted to get some local flavor, step off the beaten path, while i was in Hawaii. My mom, recommended heading down to Kapahulu St, about 1.5 miles from Waikiki beach. There are some places like the Rainbow Drive-In that serves up a great lunch plate. While we didn't make it to the Rainbow Drive-In, I knew I wanted to check out Leonard's Bakery.

Got malasadas?

In 1882, two Portuguese immigrants came from San Miguel Island to Maui under a contract to work the sugar cane fields. 33 years later, their grandson Leonard was born. Leonard and his family moved to Honolulu, where he worked at Snowflake Bakery until he founded Leonard's Bakery in 1952. Not long after opening, Leonard's mother suggested making malasadas for Shrove Tuesday, a portuguese tradition. While they were afraid these treats might not appeal to the masses, they were an instant hit.

Malasadas are simply the portuguese take on donuts. Large pieces of dough fried in hot oil and rolled in sugar. Traditionally there were no fillings, but many places fill their malasadas with custard fillings. At Leonard's you can get malasadas filled with chocolate, coconut, and regular custards. In addition to the standard fillings, they offer a monthly flavor.

Where's my malasada?

6 Malasadas: sugar, cinnamon, and 4 filled custards (coconut, chocolate, regular, and lilikoi)

We got to the bakery early on Sunday morning. A line was beginning to form at 9am. Always a good sign. Looking at the menu, I knew I wanted to try a traditional sugar coated malasada, but choosing a filled flavor proved more difficult. We ended up trying one of each: sugar, cinnamon, coconut, chocolate, regular, and lilikoi. Lilikoi is the hawaiian name for passionfruit.

AJ and I took our donuts to a nearby coffee shop and got to work. AJ is a chocolate fiend, so that one was clearly his favorite. I was a huge fan of the coconut and lilikoi fillings. The coconut was sweet and fragrant. The lilikoi filling was slighly tangy and sweet. All of the fillings were still warm, which was wonderful.

Chocolate monster!

Chomp!

While we didn't intend to eat every donut we purchased, we managed to polish off almost every one. These donuts were some of the best I have ever eaten. Warm from the oven, and filled to order, the people at Leonard's know what they're doing.

Bottom Line: If you find yourself in Oahu, you must make the trip to Leonard's for some great local eats.

Food Sculptures

2009-07-19T23:18:00.005-04:00

Wall-E Sandwich.

Remember when you were a kid and your parents made you pancakes shaped like hearts or cut up your sandwiches into different shapes. Food shaped like animals or other objects always tasted better.

I recently saw a bento box inspired by the movie Wall-E. I personally love Wall-E, and have had that character on the brain ever since. I made AJ a cashew and pumpkin butter sandwich and created this little work of art.

Do you ever create your own food sculptures?

Mahalo Oahu!

2009-07-11T14:01:00.009-04:00

View from John Domini's Restaurant in Waikiki.

I just got back from Hawaii and what a beautiful place it is. Although we stayed in the super touristy Waikiki beach, we still had a wonderful time. I did a little research on some good eats in the area. I was glad I did, because our concierge was less than helpful. We heard quite a few people say, "I don't eat in Waikiki." As our trip progressed we began to understand that the slew of chain restaurants and high prices would discourage one from eating around here. We did manage to find a couple gems.

Another view of the water.

When you're on a tropical island, you want to be able to look at the water as often as possible (at least that's my strategy). I was hopeful about John Domini's because of its good reviews and view of the ocean. We walked into the restaurant fairly early in the evening, to find only a few other tables occupied. The lack of a crowd can make one nervous, but we were not to be disappointed. The wait staff was friendly, albeit a little pushy about certain dishes. The local fish came highly recommended.

Opakapaka.

Lucky for us we were able to see the fish up close and personal. Whether or not this really aided in our decision, it was cool none the less. I ended up ordering the Opakapaka, with the waiter recommending the lemon butter sauce.

Onaga.

AJ was set on ordering Mahi Mahi that evening, but our persuasive waiter managed to steer him towards the local beauty - Onaga. Crusted with macadamia nuts and stuffed with crab, how could you go wrong?

Coco cabana.

Mojito.

Besides eating as much seafood as possible, you have to order tropical drinks while vacationing in a beach destination. You have to. The mojito has always been my favorite drink of choice, more refreshing than alcoholic. John Domini's prepared this one beautifully - fresh mint and lime juice, with rum, simple syrup, and club soda. A little on the sweet side, this mojito was the perfect accompaniment. AJ had been talking about pina coladas, but went with the coco cabana - a combination of pineapple juice, coconut rum, midori melon, and a dash of cream. A sweet tropical blend that screamed Hawaii.

Opakapaka sauteed in a lemon butter sauce with capers.

Our entrees came out fairly quickly to our delight. The portions were quite large. The fish were fresh, warm, and flaky. My lemon butter sauce was light, yet creamy, working well with the mellow white opakapaka. Although to be honest I think lemon butter sauce works well with cardboard.

Macadamia crusted Onaga stuffed with crab and tempura prawns.

AJ was pleased with his dish as well. The sweet crab meat and crunchy nuts were a welcome addition to the moist onaga. Both dishes were served with sauteed veggies and your choice of brown, white or fried rice, or mashed or baked potatoes. Our fried and brown rice were both rather bland. The fish are clearly the main event.

Happy faces and happy bellies.

Bottom Line: John Dominis is a pretty pricey place to eat. But the service, view, and wonderful seafood makes this destination much more appealing than the Cheesecake Factory on the Waikiki strip. Afterall, if you're on vacation you might as well do it up.

A Summer Resolution: Wings Night

2009-07-11T00:54:00.004-04:00

After several months of constant takeout (and a respite from this blog), Travis & I decided it was time to buckle down and start cooking our own food for a change. FreshDirect, a Manhattan/Hamptons/NYC area grocery delivery service, was offering unlimited summer deliveries (minimum $30) for $10 (instead of $6 per delivery), so I decided to sign up in hopes that we'd take advantage and start saving money and spending more time in the kitchen.

While some takeout I clearly am unable to reproduce in my lovely apartment kitchen (sushi) I was hoping most of what we normally order I could make myself.

Enter, wings. Now I love wings as does Travis and we typically order them a couple of times a month, at least. However, adding up the cost of wings (insanely hot for him, medium for me), fries/onion rings, salad and soda, the total each delivery ended up somewhere around $30 - $35. Trying to both stick to my summer cooking resolution AND potentially save a free dollars in the process, I decided to make my own.

Remembering that Ariel & Malia's mom, Ms. Brady, makes her own wings from scratch and how awesome A&M made them sound, I thought, "hey, I may not subscribe to Gourmet magazine, but I can certainly try and make my own!". I also decided to go ahead and make my own blue cheese dressing.

I selected this wings recipe with minor alterations from Gourmet magazine's site, Epicurious, as it was based on Anchor Bar's (the originator of the Buffalo Wing) recipe AND I thought it had a higher chance of being similar to Ms. Brady's recipe.

Yum! The wings were delicious and we both agreed they were a definite new addition to our regular rotation of home cooking. Especially nice was being able to put piping hot sauce over crisp wings instead of them waiting around under a hot lamp or in a delivery bag. The blue cheese dressing was a little too salty and too much Worcestershire, but overall I enjoyed it.
Texture-wise, definitely more of a dressing than a dip, but it could be thickened with more mayo if you desired.

Recipes are as follows:

Buffalo Chicken Wings:
Makes 2 dinner or 4 appetizer servings

Ingredients:
3 lbs chicken wings (12 to 14)
6 cups vegetable oil (for frying, or approximately one inch deep)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup Frank's hot sauce (can use less if desire less heat)
1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

To prep the chicken (can do while oil heats):
Cut off chicken wing tips, reserving for another use, and halve chicken wings at joint

To deep fry:
Pour oil into deep, heavy pot/kettle. Heat until a thermometer reads 375 degrees F. Right before the oil hits 380 degrees F, pat dry 6 or 7 wings. Carefully lower wings into oil and fry, stirring/flipping occasionally until cooked through, golden and crisp, 6 to 8 mins. With a slotted spoon/tongs, transfer wings to paper towels to drain. Return oil to 380 degrees F. Pat dry remaining wings and fry in same manner.

To make the hot sauce:
In a small pot melt butter over moderately low heat and stir in hot suace, vinegar, and salt to taste (if needed). Once combined, remove from heat.

To coat the wings:
Place slightly cooled wings into bowl. Pour warm hot sauce over wings and toss to coat. Serve wings warm or at room temperature. Serve with celery & carrot sticks and blue cheese dressing.

Blue Cheese Dressing (recipe from Joy of Cooking):
Makes 2 cups

Ingredients:
1 cup mayo
½ cup sour cream
¼ cup chopped parsley
1 to 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
6 dashes Worcestershire sauce
Salt & pepper to taste
4 oz blue cheese

In a blender or food processor, combine all ingredients except cheese and process until smooth. Once smooth, add cheese and process to desired consistency. Taste and adjust if needed, use immediately or cover and refrigerate.

Peach Raspberry Pie

2009-06-26T23:01:00.000-04:00

Presenting my masterpiece of pie to my Dad

I bet you didn't think you'd see me on this blog again! Yes, the JAM blog has been missing its bookends J and M, and has basically become Ariel's blog. She has a great passion for cooking and writing and I applaud her frequent blog posts and the style she imparts on them. I think this A can stand up just fine on its own, but I did bake a pie last night that I had made for the first time with Ariel and I needed to honor her with a blog entry. Oh...and maybe now she will get off my case about blogging (just kidding, love you Ariel!).

I embarked on a pie making mission last night in honor of my Dad who loves pie just about as much as I do (I absolutely cannot think of Thanksgiving without apple pie and I think he would agree). I missed Father's Day last weekend while I was visiting Ariel in California (so much fun!) and I decided I needed to get back into his good graces by bringing a pie to dinner with my parents tonight. When deciding what pie to make, I immediately thought of the winning peach and raspberry pie Ariel and I made for family members a summer or two ago. This pie got so many compliments, I knew I had to make it again. Realizing I didn't have my baking partner in crime with me this time around I was a little worried about how it would turn out.

Heart shaped peach raspberry pie

I did have a couple mishaps along the way...is anyone surprised? The first problem arose with my filling. The peaches I bought at a local grocery store were awful! I mean not even 1 of my 5 peaches was completely usable and 2 of them were utterly inedible with mushy, mealy flesh. I think I need to start frequenting the farmer's markets because the quality of supermarket produce is apalling. Ariel has an abundance of farmer's markets at her fingertips-- those lucky Californians! Luckily I bought two pints of raspberries and was able to splice out chunks of useable fruit from each peach and I added one nectarine I originally had in mind for a snack. Thankfully the filling came together pretty easily...altho it was a little soupy from the sugar macerating the fruit, as well as the added grapefruit juice. The crust was what I had been most scared about making, but it came together beautifully. I think it was because the butter was cold, but not too firm so it was much more manageable to knead into the flour mixture.

The second mishap was in not having a pie plate. I have no idea where mine went, but I ended up using a heart shaped cake pan. It was a blessing in disguise because this makes the cutest heart shaped pie. Once I put the lattice crust together, I glazed the top with a warm preserves and water mixture and then sprinkled it with sugar. I think this made the crust more susceptible to burning, so after about 10-15 minutes in the oven I covered the top loosely with aluminum foil. I thought everything was smooth sailing until I smelled a faint smoky smell about 30 minutes into the cooking time and realized the juices from the pie were overflowing into the bottom of the oven, creating a burnt caramelized blob that was bubbling and smoking. I cracked the oven open and placed another pan underneath the oven rack the pie was resting on to catch any more of the overflow. After about an hour and ten minutes the pie was saying "take me out!" with its bubbly filing and nicely golden crust (I forgot to right down the baking time from the recipe I used so it was a guestimate).

The verdict at dinner was unanimous -- a winner once again! My Dad told me it would have made the professional bakers on his family's side proud. What a compliment! This recipe will definitely be making many more appearances in the future.

Peach and Raspberry Pie w. Lattice Crust

(adapted from various pie recipes)

Crust:

2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

5 tablespoons (or more) ice water

Filling:

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar (JAM note: I used a mix of 1/2c brown sugar and 1/2 c white sugar)

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 peaches, skinned and sliced (JAM note: I probably used roughly 3 small peaches and 1 nectarine)

1 pint raspberries (JAM note: I used 2 pints)

juice from 1/2 orange (JAM note: I used a couple tablespoons of grapefruit juice I had on hand)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg ( JAM note: I mixed about a tablespoon of raspberry preserves and equal parts water and heated in microwave for a couple seconds to glaze the pie crust and then sprinkled with sugar)Vanilla ice cream (optional...fresh whipped cream would be great too)

Preparation

For crust:

Whisk flour, sugar, and salt in large bowl to blend. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until small pea-size clumps form. Add 5 tablespoons ice water; mix lightly with fork until dough holds together when small pieces are pressed between fingertips, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough together; divide into 2 pieces. Form each piece into ball, then flatten into disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. (JAM note: I only refrigerated for 10 minutes...I'm impatient what can I say?) Do ahead Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Let dough soften slightly before rolling out.

For filling:

Position rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 425°F. Whisk 1 cup sugar, cornstarch, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Stir in peaches, raspberries, orange juice (JAM note: I used grapefruit juice), and vanilla; set aside.Roll out 1 dough disk on floured surface to 12-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch glass pie dish. Trim dough overhang to 1/2 inch. Roll out second dough disk on floured surface to 12-inch round. Using large knife or pastry wheel with fluted edge, cut ten 3/4-inch-wide strips from dough round. Transfer filling to dough-lined dish, mounding slightly in center. Dot with butter (JAM note: I skipped the butter). Arrange dough strips atop filling, forming lattice; trim dough strip overhang to 1/2 inch. Bake for 1 hr and 10 minutes (JAM note: I estimated since I had forgotten to write down the time when I transcribed the recipe)

The Best Sandwich in the Country?

2009-06-24T23:53:00.004-04:00

Long line at Saigon Sandwich in Little Saigon in San Francisco.

I was in San Francisco for work, checking out some meeting venues. After checking out the Asian Art Museum, I found myself hungry and in Little Saigon. While I was deliberating where I might eat, I saw this long line forming outside of a little sandwich shop. This small shop is located in a rather shady part of the Tenderloin District. But, after reading the Gastronomer's recent post on banh mi, I knew I had to stop and eat one. After all, a line this long must mean good things.

I saw people waiting in mini vans outside, while their kids waited in line for sandwiches. I thought to myself "Damn, this sandwich has got to be good!" When I finally got to the counter, I ordered the roast pork, or banh mi thit, and waited a couple more minutes while the ladies behind the counter methodically baked bread, and stuffed them with meat, pate, and veggies.

Roast pork Banh mi.

I bit into my sandwich and knew I was in heaven. The fresh baked bread had a nice crispy exterior with a soft chewy interior. The sweet roast pork and creamy pate was well balanced by the extremely fresh cilantro, jalapeno pepper, pickled cucumbers, and carrots. The heat from the peppers provides the perfect contrast to the sweet meat and tangy veggies.

The long lines are a good indication that I am not the only who digs these sandwiches. Interestingly enough, Playboy magazine just named Little Saigon one of the ten best sandwiches in the country. And for $3, that is one heck of a deal.

Saigon Sandwich

560 Larkin St

San Francisco, CA

An Ode to Eggs and Salsa - Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-21T00:01:00.004-04:00

Eggs with Salsa

My father loves eggs with salsa. This simple dish always brings fond memories to mind. On this father's day I will be eating salsa and eggs in your honor, Dad. Oh yeah, and I wrote a little poem for you as well. Hope you enjoy your day. Love you.

Eggs with Salsa

by Ariel Holland

There once lived a little girl.

She loved to dance and twirl.

She liked to eat eggs and toast.

"But never with salsa." she'd boast.

Trying new things made her hurl!

One slow Sunday afternoon,

her father handed her a spoon.

"You will try something new.

Egg with salsa will do,

or write a poem, but please do it soon!"

"Eggs with salsa is gross!"

"Then write a poem about toast."

"Neither I'll do. I'll sit here till I'm blue!"

"Then I shall wait, you must choose one of the two!"

With her arms folded tight, her face was pale as a ghost.

Then he brought her a plate.

Would spicy eggs be her fate?

Or would she choose to

write a poem or two?

"Pick one or do both, I'm willing to wait."

The girl looked down at her plate.

She didn't want to stay up late.

She picked up her pen,

Thinking deep, and then

She wrote an ode to a lobster and his mate!

No sooner had the little girl begun,

She started having some fun!

Rhyming about lobsters and sand,

was like traveling to a far away land.

If trying new things was like this, maybe she'd try another one.

She dug into the eggs with her spoon.

The spicy salsa shot her to the moon!

"Trying new things can be grand!

I now see what you had planned."

Her dad had her singing a different tune!

Happy Father's Day Dad!

Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers and Lulu Noodle

2009-06-17T10:52:00.008-04:00

The view from the Hoover Tower at Stanford University.

Last Saturday was another beautiful day in the Bay Area, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and Stanford students were graduating. I hit up the "Last Lecture of the Year" with some friends from work. Reknowned neurobiologist, Robert M. Sapolsky, gave a talk about the differences and similarities between humans and primates. I am certainly interested in reading his book, "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers".

The Bells.

After the lecture we walked around Stanford's campus and caught the view from the Hoover Tower. You can see San Francisco in the distance! All of that thinking and walking made us hungry. One of my friends is more familiar with the area than I am, having gone to Stanford herself. She suggested a noodle place in Mountain View, Lulu Noodle.

Spicy beef noodle soup.

Lulu noodle is a casual eatery with noodles galore and a number of boba drinks. I am always up for a bowl of noodles and some boba, so I was pleased with the lunch choice. I usually go with pho ga at noodle places, but decided to try the spicy beef noodle soup. The broth was rich and spicy, but not spicy enough in my opinion. I added some sriracha for an extra kick. The beef was fairly tender with large pieces of fat swiming in my bowl. The broth was flavorful, but a little too oily.

Mixed Combination Chow Fun

My two friends ordered the mixed combination chow fun with chicken, pork, shrimp, and mixed vegetables. While the service wasn't always the most attentive, they sure are serious about their food. A stray shrimp fell off the platter and was promptly replaced with another shrimp on a small serving platter. You have to respect that kind of service!

Replacement shrimp.

I ordered the thai tea boba, a slightly bitter, extremely creamy beverage. My favorite part is the tapioca bubbles. I love the chewy texture. The jelly grass and bean beverage was order by my adventurous friend. The extremely sweet drink can almost serve as another meal, filled with sweet red beans and jelly sliced into thin strips.

Boba Tea.

I love dining out with friends with adventurous tastes. I never would have ordered the fried taro with egg and peanuts on my own, but was delighted to share this dish. The taro almost tasted like silken pieces of tofu. The fried egg and peanuts added depth of flavor. Dipped in soy sauce, this salty treat is the epitome of simple comfort food.

Taro with fried egg and peanuts.

Lulu Noodle serves up some cheap, large portions of asian comfort food. If you're strapped for cash and looking for something filling, you know where to go.

Lulu Noodle

Located off of El Camino between Showers Dr and San Antonio Rd,

in the Shopping Center with the Trader Joe's.

Thanksgiving in June

2009-06-16T21:09:00.000-04:00

Cornbread, herb, and bacon stuffing with maple mashed sweet potatoes.

It has been three months since I moved to Mountain View and the longest I have gone without seeing my family. While I chat with my mom, dad, and sisters often, I still miss seeing their faces. Feeling a little homesick, I turned to my mom's cornbread stuffing.

If I had to pick one dish that my mom cooks that I couldn't live without (and trust me there are so many amazing ones) I would have to choose her cornbread, herb, and bacon stuffing. I used to hate stuffing until she started making this. The fresh sage, thyme, and rosemary really brighten this dish up. It was actually these herbs that inspired my June thanksgiving. The strong aromas bring back so many good memories.

AJ appreciates Thanksgiving in June too!

The main component of stuffing is the bread, so why not using something extra special like cornbread. I love how this hardy bread really stands up to the liquids. I don't like mushy stuffing! And bacon, well who doesn't love it?

I whipped up some mashed maple sweet potatoes to go alongside the stuffing for a decadent meal. These dishes really hit the spot. So tell me, what do you cook when you're feeling a little homesick?

Gourmet Magazine's Herb and Bacon Cornberad Stuffing Recipe