Cooking and Eating in San Francisco
We …
… enjoyed the company of Noah and Ayla. And feasted.
And lost power for about 12 hours.
And so we slept in.
And ate lunch at Dolores Park. And fell in love again with our beautiful city. I mean, look at her!
And tried out three new recipes! Coming soon!
And lounged in the spot of sunlight trickling into our apartment. (How beautiful is this photo that Jordan took? I absolutely love it)
I hope you all had a beautiful long weekend.
-Emily
One of our favorite things is a nice loaf of fresh sourdough. Another one of our favorite things is how versatile the leftover bread is when it gets stale. Normally we just make toast with it, but I was inspired by Thomas Keller’s leek bread pudding from Ad Hoc at Home. My sister and her boyfriend Kyle gave Emily and me this book as a gift. After my sister confessed to reading the entire thing, she turned to page 213 and informed me that I must make this beautiful side dish. The recipe calls for brioche and serves twelve, so I made a few minor changes. With about half of an Acme sourdough batard leftover and leeks from our CSA box, I got to work.
First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Slice the leeks and clean them in a bowl of cold water; the grit will fall to the bottom and the leeks will float. When you’re confident that they are grit-free, add them to a dry saute pan over medium-high heat. Season and stir until they release liquid (it won’t be much), then lower the heat to low, add about two tablespoons of butter, and stir to create an emulsion. Cover and stir occasionally until the leeks are very soft. Once they are done, taste and season with salt and pepper.
While the leeks are getting soft and sweet, cut your bread into one inch cubes and place in the oven and brown on both sides. When the bread is toasted and the leeks are done, mix the two in a bowl and add a tablespoon of chopped chives and a teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves.
Now that you’ve got your bread and your leeks, you need some pudding, right? Kinda. It’s a custard and while that sounds difficult, it’s actually really easy. Whisk together one egg, one cup of whole milk, and one cup of cream. Add a very small pinch of nutmeg and a generous pinch (maybe a half teaspoon) of salt and some fresh pepper. That’s it.
Next, you need some cheese for extra decadence. The recipe calls for comté or emmentaler, but any semi-soft, flavorful cheese will work. I had some cave-aged emmentaler on hand, so I used that. I shredded it all and got about half a cup. Butter an appropriately sized baking dish (I used a medium sized, round casserole) and put about a third of the cheese on the bottom. Then place about half of the bread mixture and top with another third of the cheese. Then add the last of the bread and pour in the custard until there’s about half an inch of bread poking out of the top; you can push the bread into the custard a little bit if it looks like there’s not enough custard. Here, the recipe says to let the bread pudding sit to absorb the custard for about 15 minutes, but Emily and I don’t really like a super gooey texture, so I just topped it with the rest of the cheese and threw it in the oven. Bake until the center has set up and the top is browned, about 45-60 minutes.
Conclusions:
It was very tasty, you don’t have to be very precise with it, you can switch thing out if you need to, and it make a great side dish. The cookbook says it can be a main course, but that seems like a bit much. It would be fantastic with any hearty fall or winter meal, but it may overshadow the main course. As a matter of fact, I can’t remember what we ate this with. I guess that means it was a winner, right?
-Jordan
Last Sunday we enjoyed an awesomely American dinner of steak and potatoes. These potatoes are great – crispy on the outside, tender on the inside and salty – almost like french fries, but without the fry-o-lator.
Crispy Roasted Potatoes, adapted from the Spilled Milk podcast
3 – 4 mini red or yellow thin-skinned potatoes per person
olive oil
salt
Boil potatoes until tender in a pot of salted water. Drain potatoes. Smoosh the potatoes in between clean dish towels (so you don’t burn your hands – hot potato!) until they are about 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle with a little salt.
Now, I’ve tried crisping these two different ways and both work well. Either – coat a baking sheet with olive oil, lay the potatoes on the sheet, drizzle with a bit more olive oil and bake at 425 degrees for 30 – 45 minutes. Or – heat some olive oil in a nonstick skillet and pan fry the potatoes over medium heat for 10 minutes or so per side, until brown and crispy. Sprinkle with a bit more salt to taste. Now, who doesn’t love a good crispy, salty potato!
To state the obvious, the steak (chateaubriand – a cheap, but decent cut offered at our local Whole Foods) was also very good. Jordan slow cooked it at 200 degrees until the internal temperature reached 140 degrees (about 45 minutes) and then seared it quickly on each side in a skillet. This cooking method, which we stole from Jose Andres, is great for making less prime cuts of beef pretty darn tender and delicious.
-Emily
I made these cupcakes for a coworker’s birthday last week. I had high hopes for them – cinnamon + sugar + cake = awesome, right? Well, sadly, Martha failed me this time. The cupcakes were a little too dense, a little too dry and only tasted good the first day. However, the tangelo glaze that Jordan improvised to replace the meringue frosting recommended by Martha was awesome. I’ll post that recipe instead and you all can go glaze your hearts content.
Also, I took all these photos to make a cute photo recipe entry for the blog. I think the photos turned out pretty well, so I’m going to post them even though the recipe was less than stellar.
Tangelo Glaze
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 t citrus zest, we used a tangelo, but you could make this with any citrus
3 T fresh citrus juice, we used a tangelo, but you could make this with any citrus
Whisk together all ingredients. Use immediately.
-Emily
Jordan and I had a low key Valentine’s day. In fact, the day of love kind of snuck up on us. But, because I am a lucky girl with a talented cook of a boyfriend, our Valentine’s day meal at home was just perfect.
Pappardelle with Lamb Ragu
1 lamb shank
1/2 c red wine
1/2 c stock
salt, pepper, chili flake
1 cup tomato sauce
1 lb fresh pappardelle pasta (It is worth springing for the fresh stuff for this dish. The thick noodles and the sauce just go great together)
Salt and pepper your lamb shank. Sear all sides in a cast iron skillet or dutch oven. Add a little red wine, broth and part of the tomato sauce. Braise in a 325 degree oven for 2 hours, until tender and falling off the bone. Remove shank from braising liquid to cool. Reduce braising liquid until the consistency of watery ketchup (Jordan’s description). Shred meat from bone and return to sauce.
Boil a pot of salted water. Add the remaining tomato sauce to the meat mixture and warm. Cook fresh pappardelle for 3 minutes. Add to sauce mixture and toss. Serve with grated parmesan, a little dab of ricotta, chives and a splash of olive oil. Jordan served it with blanched and broiled romanesco on the side.
Yummmmm! Delicious, comforting and balanced. A perfect winter dish!
-Emily
To be honest, we didn’t cook much over the weekend. We spent most of our time walking, laying around in public parks, drinking cocktails and playing cribbage. It was pretty fabulous. (Although I have a super-secret recipe in the works that most likely will change my life. I did want to make this super-secret recipe over the weekend, but the life-changing will have to wait).
Here are a few photos and beverage recipes.
Classic Gin Martini, Jordan’s cocktail of choice
2.5 oz gin
0.5 oz dry vermouth
Chill glass, stir over ice for 30 seconds, strain into glass, add olive. Jordan says this is more complicated than it sounds, and he is right. It takes finesse to make a good martini.
Pamplemousse, my new favorite, inspired by Orangette
1 oz Aperol
2 oz white wine
2 oz grapefruit juice, about 1/2 grapefruit
Stir together with ice, strain into a cocktail glass and enjoy a citrusy, herby, slightly bitter, very enjoyable drink. Even Willow was tempted!
-Emily
I used to have a phobia of cooked greens. I thought they were gross, mushy and sea-gunky and so I religiously avoided them for years. And then I moved in with Jordan, who happens to like cooked greens. And then we joined a CSA. And now I have winter greens up to my eyebrows!
Guess what dear friends … I’ve embraced cooked greens. I actually like them now. Yep! Amazing! My fear has dissipated because I have learned the secret to cooking greens so that they are edible (delightful even) and the exact opposite of the greens I once feared.
The secret: Blanche them quickly in boiling, salted water. They cook, yet they retain their texture and don’t become a gloppy indistinguishable mess.
Pasta with kale, parmesan, and portobello
Put a pot of water to boil. Once boiling, add a hefty handful of salt and your kale. Boil the kale for 3 minutes. Pull it out with a slotted spoon and set aside (it will continue to cook a bit while it sits). Add your pasta. Cook according to package directions. Meanwhile, sauté a little garlic in olive oil. Crack an egg in the serving bowl, set aside. Grate a little parmesan or pecorino, lemon zest and chop any herbs you have lying around.
Turn on the broiler. Broil your portobello, 7 minutes per side. Slice.
After the pasta is al dente, add to your sauteed garlic. Toss. Pour this into your serving bowl and toss with egg, cheese, zest, herbs and kale. The egg and cheese combine with a little of the residual pasta water to make this awesome, super easy sauce. Top with portobello and more cheese and serve.
Note: You can easily omit the portobello or replace it with another protein. We didn’t really think it’s flavor melded with the other ingredients. But, don’t forget that kale! Turning icky greens into a delicious dinner is the whole point!
-Emily
As we described a few weeks ago, Jordan and I joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) group. We’ve been enjoying our box of super seasonal and fresh produce and trying new recipes. Our farm is Eatwell Farms and I want to share the beautiful produce we just picked up!
This week we received: navel oranges, lettuce, stir-fry mix (kale, chard, other winter greens), romanesco, box choy, turnips, leeks, carrots, red beets, apples and butternut squash.
So pretty! So tasty! And, honestly, how adorable is that little group of leeks! I squealed when Jordan showed them to me and Willow came rushing over to see what the excitement was all about.
If you are interested in joining a CSA in your area please visit LocalHarvest.org.
-Emily
This post will deviate slightly from the butter and pork theme that dominates our blog, but don’t worry folks, it’s only temporary. Plus, the departure is justified because Heath Ceramics is such an amazing place and because they primarily produce dishware. (Food blog + artisanal dishware = peas in a pod, right?). Okay, here is the story.
Heath Ceramics was founded in 1948 in Sausalito, CA by Edith Heath. She was a feisty lady who knew her mind. She built her ceramic factory on the values of quality and sustainability, using local materials as much as possible and paying the real cost of labor always. Basically, she wanted to make simple, good things for good people. And so she did for the next 50 years. In 2003, husband and wife team, Robin Petravic and Catherine Bailey purchased Heath Ceramics with a mission to revitalize the company. By placing a strong emphasis on design, handcrafted techniques, and the reinvigoration of the company’s designer-maker legacy, Robin and Catherine have preserved and perpetuated the Edith’s values. Today, Heath Ceramics is one of the few remaining American potteries still in existence. Every piece they sell is made in their Sausalito factory by a team of 60 craftsmen and every piece is truly a work of art.
Last Friday, I took off work and Jordan and I went on the factory tour. We got to see first hand every step of the process and learn about the company’s history. It was incredible! I was so impressed by the time and attention put into each piece. The techniques were fascinating (I had zero idea how to make a stoneware platter from scratch) and the staff eager to share how they produce what they produce. It was evident how proud everyone was of their product, but even evident how proud they are of their process. It was truly unique experience and I loved every moment.
* this image courtesy Heath Ceramics
At the Sausalito store, they sell factory seconds – pieces that didn’t quite make the quality standards primarily due to aesthetic reasons (bubbled glaze, little nicks) – for 30% off. We purchased a few beautiful pieces, including the serving bowl pictured up top, a little milk pitcher, and two tiles to use as trivets or spoon rests. I’ll just show them off here …
*I think the little split makes this little guy even cuter!
I am kicking myself for not taking more photos while in the factory. It is a beautiful place and the processes are amazing and artisanal and unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
If you want to go on a tour (do it!), give them a call or click here for more information. And, remember to bring your camera!
-Emily
Why do I love having fairly decent baking skills … because when I’m sitting at the kitchen table watching Jordan bustle around cooking dinner and I’m stuck with a sudden desire to consume carrot cake, instead of suppressing that urge, I bake and actually eat this delightful carrot cake in less than an hour. Awesome. Not that I should always cook and eat desserts like that – with great power comes great responsibility – but still, it feels pretty good. (Aside: Jordan is going to kill me for posting that quote).
Yum!
-Emily