Category: San Francisco

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Recipes San Francisco

to cook a crab

 

For the first time since he started working at Amoeba last July, Jordan had a Saturday off. Happiness! A shared day off work most definitely meant that an adventure was in order. We decided to explore Point Reyes and Tomales Bay to take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather. Luckily for us, our good friends Matt and Alexa were also game and prepared an agenda full of amazing food and beautiful scenery.

We hit up the classic Pine Cone Diner (lovingly called The Cone by locals, aka Matt) explored the tiny town of Point Reyes Station and then went on a hike through Point Reyes National Seashore. After some leisurely hiking,  it was on to the main event … oysters! Hog Island Oyster Co was the destination of choice. A few picnic tables in the sun and the freshest oysters you’ll ever eat, all right next to the pristine Tomales Bay—heaven on Earth.

Still feeling that oyster buzz, we decided to grab a big ole dungeness crab and a few more oysters from their retail shop on the way out. Matt and Alexa also bought two crabs and those lively guys were trying to escape their icy cooler all the way home. Amazingly fresh seafood, round two!

To Cook A Crab

I’d never cooked a crab before. My only prior experience with cooking the larger members of the crustacean family was Lobster Day over a year ago. To be honest, Jordan did all of the real work in both of these experiments, but I did take good notes.

There are several different ways to cook a crab, but we decided to keep it simple and take the steaming route. Boil a few inches of water in a large stock pot with the steamer insert. Put the crab in the pot and steam for 8 minutes per pound with the lid cocked.

Remove the crab from the pot and rinse with cold water.  Flip the crab over and pull off the apron (the oval/triangular belly of the crab). At this point the crab guts will ooze out all over your counter. You’ll need to sop these up with some paper towels and carry on. Some folks like to eat the guts, but we didn’t this time due to unanticipated oozing. With the guts removed,  you have access to the gills and mandible, which you should also remove. Now you’re left with a delicious crab body and delicious crab legs. Take some scissors to the table and enjoy! We dunked ours in melted butter. Something magical happens when crab meets butter, that’s a fact.

And if you’re curious about shucking oysters at home, here’s how.

–Emily

Categories
San Francisco

heath ceramics factory tour—round two

On Friday, my mom and I visited the Heath Ceramics factory and shop. A few months ago,  Jordan and I took the tour of the factory and it was fascinating. I blogged about when I first fell in love with Heath Ceramics here. I thought my mom would enjoy the tour and so we went back. I decided to take more pictures this time.

For those of you who missed my first post, this is a bit about Heath Ceramics—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, which was in a bit of a tough spot. By placing a strong emphasis on design, handcrafted techniques, and the reinvigoration of the company’s designer-maker legacy, Robin and Catherine have persevered. Today, Heath Ceramics is one of the few remaining American potteries still in existence and Edith’s values are still going strong. 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.

 

In early 2012,  Heath will expand their operation and open a tile factory in San Francisco, just a few miles from Jordan and I. It is absolutely wonderful to see a business who does things right in every sense of the word succeeding in this tough economy. And now for some photos …

Slip casting. Vases, mugs, teapots and other complex shapes are made this way.

Plaster molds and a lathe are used to create most of the dinnerware.

Each piece is then hand trimmed and sponged smooth.

Every piece dries in a 120 degree room for 24 – 48 hours to remove all the moisture from the clay so it doesn’t explode in the kiln.

Then the pieces are glazed. Aren’t the names of the glazes something! They make them all from scratch at Heath.

The pieces are then fired in a kiln for several hours. These are their holiday colors. So festive!

Gorgeous tile samples.

Tiles made by Edith after a visit to the Southwest.

The teapot is the most complex design they make at Heath.

The adorable designs on these dinner plates are hand etched.

And, I’ve got to say, coffee out of one of these mugs just tastes better.

If you’re interested in visiting Heath Ceramics, or just picking up a few wonderful handcrafted gifts for the upcoming holiday, visit their site for more information.

-Emily

Categories
Recipes San Francisco

a bread success!

I’ve been working on my sourdough bread for about 9 months now. It was a rough beginning with sad, flat loaves of super sour bread. Still, I was determined. I dreamed of crusty, deep brown, slightly sour loaves of airy but chewy bread. I tried different recipes, different flours, adding commercial yeast to supplement the wild yeast. My breads were ok, but nothing close to the better artisan breads you can get here in San Francisco.

Everything changed when my sister bought me the Tartine Bread cookbook for my birthday. I’ve raved about Tartine Bakery on the blog before, and now I will proclaim that their bread cookbook changed my life. In it are the secrets to amazing bread, simply yet throughly explained, with amazing pictures alongside. While I’m going to go through the process briefly here, if you want to make wonderful bread, you should just buy their book.

The general idea is this: Take your starter. Make a leaven by adding water and flour to a very small amount of your starter. The next morning, take part of your leaven and add more flour, water and a bit of salt. Then start the rising process. The first rise is in a large bowl or tupperware and lasts about 4 hours. Shape the loaves. Now for the second rise with the dough shaped in bowls. The second rise lasts about 4 – 6 hours. Now bake each loaf in a 450 degree oven for 40 minutes.

While each step of this process is extremely important to creating the bread of your dreams, perhaps the most obvious innovation that I took from Tartine was cooking the bread in a cast iron dutch oven. You heat the cast iron to 450-500 degrees in the oven, plop the loaf into the bottom of the pan, cover it with the top and bake for 20 minutes. The dutch oven creates a mini steam chamber very similar to a commercial bread baking oven, but impossible to achieve in a regular home oven. Steam is crucial for a proper rise and also for creating the chewy crust. Using the dutch oven in this way allows the bread to steam itself! Amazing! Then you remove the dutch oven top for the second 20 minutes of cooking and the bread browns to perfection.

Following Tartine Bread’s detailed schedule, I began a sourdough starter from scratch. After culturing my starter for a few weeks, I made my first loaf. It was beautiful, so tasty and almost perfect. My first real bread success! I was so pleased! I gloated by sending photos of this bread miracle to my mother, sister and friend.

I’ve since made bread many times using Tartine’s method and I couldn’t be more satisfied with the results. Seriously good bread.  I’ve tweaked the recipe a bit to match Jordan and I’s tastes, but it has turned out incredibly well every time. Bread from scratch is time-consuming —we’re talking a day of baking here— but it is so fulfilling when it turns out well.

Recently, I’ve been experimenting with the rise and proofing times to figure out the best way to fit this bread into my regular schedule without devoting a day to baking. And, I think I’ve worked it out! I make the leaven before bed 2 days before I plan to bake. Around 3 – 4 pm the next day I mix the bread and do the first rise. I shape the loaves that night before bed and then put them in the fridge. Around 3 pm the next day, Jordan takes the breads out of the fridge for their final rise. They rise until 7 when I get home from work and have preheated the oven and then I bake! Maximum bread, minimum “wasted” down time!

And now I’m really going to brag … last night Jordan said that my bread was better (!!!better!!!) than Acme Bread! Maybe he is biased, but I’ll take the compliment anyway. I set out to make bread that was as good as Acme – and now I’ve done it!

-Emily

Categories
Recipes San Francisco

bourbon ice cream with chocolate coated cornflake mix-ins

This recipe was inspired by the “Secret Breakfast” flavor at a local creamery Humphry Slocombe. While I am not quite sure what is in their Secret Breakfast—they don’t call it secret for no reason—this is a close approximation. Accuracy of replication aside, this ice cream is amazing. I only made a half batch because I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out and boy was I sorry. We ate it in two days, and that was stretching it. I recommend you make the full recipe. It is surprisingly good.

The bourbon ice cream is balanced and satisfying. The bourbon flavor comes through but there is no alcohol burn because of the cream. Bourbon and vanilla are just a great combination. Bottom line: this ice cream unadorned is fabulous. I’m also imagining it topped with peaches and caramel and that sounds like heaven. It was also wonderful with the chocolate corn flake mix-ins. The crunch of the corn flakes is delightful. The cornflakes don’t get soggy because of the coating of chocolate that envelopes them. Plus, bourbon and chocolate is also a good idea.

Bourbon Ice Cream with Chocolate Coated Cornflake Mix-Ins, adapted from Lottie + Doof and Humphry Slocombe

For the ice cream
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 cups half and half
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 t kosher salt
7 T bourbon
1 T vanilla extract

Bring first 3 ingredients to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until milk powder dissolves completely. Remove from heat.

Combine egg yolks, sugar, brown sugar, and coarse salt in large bowl; whisk until thick and blended. Gradually whisk hot cream mixture into yolk mixture. Return mixture to same saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until custard thickens and the temperature registers 175°F to 178°F. Remove from heat.

Mix in bourbon and vanilla extract. Refrigerate custard uncovered until cold, stirring occasionally, at least 3 hours.  Custard can be made 1 day ahead.  Note: I didn’t have this much time to refrigerate my custard and the ice cream turned out just fine, but three hours is what the big shots like David Lebovitz recommend.

Pour the custard into your ice cream maker and churn until the consistency of thick frozen yogurt. This is when you’d want to add in your mix-ins. Continue churning until quite thick. Pour into a freezer safe container and freeze for a few more hours. Or, if you’re like me, spoon into dishes and enjoy right then.

Chocolate Coated Corn Flakes
1/2 cup corn flakes
1 cup chocolate chips
coarse salt

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate over just barely simmering water. Once the chocolate has melted, stir in the cornflakes. Coat both sides of the cornflakes and then spread them in a single layer on the baking dish. Put in the freezer to harden the chocolate. Break apart the cornflakes into small bits. These are your mix-ins. They also make a really tasty snack if you happen to make extra.

Honestly, I am obsessed with this ice cream. It was so good. I’ve been dreaming of other desserts to incorporate it into or serve it alongside. There are so many possibilities!

-Emily

Categories
Recipes San Francisco

fresh strawberry milkshakes & other exciting news

First the milkshakes … we walked the dogs to the park on Saturday afternoon and after a brisk stroll on a sunny summer day, our friend-neighbor Nadr suggested strawberry milkshakes. (Side note: Can you believe that these three beasts all live on the same floor in tiny apartments and get along swimmingly?!?) Now, I’m not one to turn down a great idea like that and so we went back to my place and focused our efforts. I supplied the milk and food processor, Nadr supplied the strawberries and ice cream, Robin provided the charm (and Harry Potter audiobooks  – my new addiction).

Fresh Strawberry Milkshakes
1 pint fresh strawberries, stems removed
1 pint vanilla ice cream
2/3 cup milk

Combine strawberries, ice cream and milk in a blender or food processor. (A blender is probably a better choice, but none of us had a blender and milkshakes could not be denied so food processor it was). Give it a whirl, pour into glasses and enjoy! Tricky recipe, right? Fresh strawberries just make it!

And now for the exciting news … I am officially a published writer. It feels darn good! I wrote an article for GOOD Magazine about La Cocina and the wonderful work they do in San Francisco. You can read it and check out the photos here. I am so proud to see it “in print” and the piece has gotten a lot of social media buzz – great for La Cocina and great for me!

-Emily

Categories
San Francisco

la cocina: street food festival preview dinner

I’ve mentioned La Cocina previously in a few posts, but I’ll give a quick run down just in case you’re new here. La Cocina is an incredible San Francisco non-profit incubator kitchen that provides affordable commercial kitchen space and industry-specific technical assistance to low-income and immigrant entrepreneurs who are launching, growing and formalizing their food businesses.

 

I was honored to be invited to the media preview dinner for their upcoming Street Food Festival. The Street Food Festival is one-day event that showcases La Cocina’s businesses and other local artisans. It is designed to bring together San Francisco food businesses and San Francisco eaters and also publicize the work that La Cocina does in the community. Last year over 35,000 people attended the event, and this year we are hoping for 50,000 visitors.

The media dinner took place about a week ago at Fort Mason Center and was a tremendous success! It was packed with local press, food bloggers and other luminaries in the community, and La Cocina’s businesses did an incredible job cooking a sit-down dinner for almost 200 guests! I was floored by the quality of the food and the energy at the event. Just wonderful!

I am beyond stoked for this year’s Street Food Festival! It will take place on Saturday, August 20th from 11 am – 7 pm in the Mission District on Folsom St. from 22th to 26th Streets. If you’re in the area, please stop by this amazing event and sample some incredible, artisanal food!  You can taste the love in each and every bite, I promise.

-Emily

Categories
San Francisco

la cocina: simple salsa with el buen comer

On Wednesday I attended and photographed the Simple Salsa cooking class at La Cocina. A while back I wrote about the amazing work that La Cocina does in San Francisco, but here is a quick synopsis before we get to the photos.

La Cocina is dedicated to expanding business opportunities for low-income women food entrepreneurs. La Cocina provides affordable commercial kitchen space, guidance to its participants for planning and growing their businesses and access to larger markets for their products. La Cocina helps local women become economically self-sufficient and contribute to the vibrant San Francisco economy doing what they love to do.  If you are interested in learning more about the wonderful work La Cocina is doing here in San Francisco, please visit them here.

Simple Salsa was taught by Isabel Caudillo of El Buen Comer. Isabel specializes in guisados—stewed meats in wonderful sauces—and her class covered both fresh and cooked salsas. I learned a lot about the different types of chiles used in mexican cooking and also about the different ways to prepare salsas. There are raw, fried, roasted and boiled salsas; each technique seeks to maximize the flavor of the ingredients it features. Isabel did an amazing job sharing the building blocks of salsa construction so that participants can create amazing salsas at home. I was so inspired by the class and cannot wait to try out Isabel’s recipes at home.

Here are some photos I took during the event.

If these salsas tempt you as much as they tempted me, you can try Isabel’s food at Sunday Suppers from 5 – 10 at Heart Bar on Valencia St in San Francisco. If you’re interested in taking a cooking class at La Cocina, find out more information here.

-Emily

Categories
Randomness San Francisco

exciting news on the blog front

Guess what team?!? The Answer is Always Pork and yours truly have been featured on Foodia’s Tastemakers series!

Foodia is a young San Francisco-based company that helps users sift through all the clutter in our food system and find foods that are high quality, healthy and most importantly, delicious. Foodia is a great resource when you’re up against shelves and shelves of products at the market and don’t know what’s best. Join Foodia to see what the community is saying about the food around you, find items that are healthful and wholesome and unearth the environmental impact of getting your food from farm to fork.

If you’d like to check out my interview with Foodia and my thoughts on eating good food, blogging and the U.S. food system, visit their blog here. I’d sure appreciate it if you did!

-Emily

Categories
San Francisco

la cocina: african celebration

La Cocina is an amazing San Francisco business dedicated to expanding business opportunities for low-income women food entrepreneurs. La Cocina provides affordable commercial kitchen space, guidance to its participants for planning and growing their businesses and access to larger markets for their products. La Cocina helps local women become economically self-sufficient and contribute to the vibrant San Francisco economy doing what they love to do. Just one quick example: With La Cocina’s guidance and facilities, Veronica of El Hurache Loco has gone from an enthusiastic home cook, to a food stand operator, to catering events, to planning the opening of her own restaurant. Like I said, amazing! If you are interested in learning more about the wonderful work La Cocina is doing here in San Francisco, please visit them here.

Last Wednesday, I went down to La Cocina to photograph their African Celebration cooking class. The class was led by two of La Cocina’s businesses – Chiefo’s Kitchen and Eji’s Ethiopian Gourmet.  I had a great time and I wanted to share some of the photos. If you are interested in attending a future cooking class like Simply Salsa or Back in the USSR, check out the offerings and sign up here.


-Emily 

Categories
Recipes San Francisco

our csa from eatwell farm

Jordan and I have been enjoying the bounty of spring through our CSA with Eatwell Farm. We’ve been obsessed with their strawberries and fava beans (maybe you’ve noticed), and we now count cherries and radishes among those obsessions as well.  The cherries were so good that they didn’t even make it into a recipe. We ate them straight from the bag the day we got them. The radishes were also wonderful – crunchy and spicy. We used them in a salad and also pickled a few. I’d never had them before, but pickled radishes are a good idea. Trust us.

 

 

Pickled Radishes
1/2 bunch radishes, quartered
1 t salt
1 t sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1 clove garlic
1/4 t fennel seed

Heat the sugar, salt and vinegar in a small pot until dissolved. Pour over the radishes, garlic and fennel seeds. Seal the jar and place in the fridge to marinate overnight or up to 1 month. We ate these with some leftover cheese nubbins from a dinner party and they were awesome.

If you are interested in joining a CSA and getting in on this incredible produce, check out LocalHarvest to find on in your area.

-Emily