The weather is still dropping cold in San Francisco, so I see no reason not to dip into a new fondue book. Written by fellow Cowgirl, Lenny Rice, and her friend Brigid Callinan, Fondue is witty, cute, and perfectly delicious. Dropping allusions to Laverne and Shirley and Hawaii 5-0, this cookbook takes you through fifty fondue recipes -- sweet and savory -- as well as fondue accompaniments, like mango marshmallows, Irish soda bread, and spiced doughnut holes.

While I didn't make it yet, my favorite recipe by far has to be the one that came out of Lenny's football-watching childhood in Oklahoma. It's called "Whiskey Tango Game Day" and the recipe includes ground beef or pork and Velveeta. (Yes, Velveeta -- stop your pearl clutching.) Lenny writes, "And the name? If you're familiar with military radio alphabet, you'll probably know how we came up with it!" While drink recommendations for other recipes guide you to specific wines and beers, this recipe suggest you pair your WT Game Day fondue with Dr. Pepper, Bud Light, and RC Cola. Awesome.

The other night Big Cheese and I melted up a big pot of California Country Roads, which throws together the tangy-stinky combination of Cowgirl's own Red Hawk and Bellwether Farms Carmody. The recipe notes suggest using walnut bread, Fig Newtons, Graham crackers, and apples as dippers and pairing with a blanc de noirs. The Fig Newtons were definitely an interesting idea and the Fig Newton lovers in the group became addicted to the combo after the first bite.

With all these recipes at the ready, and a whole lotta cheese out there just begging to be turned into bubbly, velvet masses of goo, I hope these cold nights continue for quite awhile.

California Country Roads

Makes 2 cups

1 (12-ounce) round Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk, rind discarded and cubed
8 ounces Bellwether Farms Carmody, grated
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup Napa or Sonoma sauvignon blanc
2 tablespoons muscat or other sweet dessert wine

Toss the cheeses with the flour in a bowl and set aside. In a fondue pot, bring the sauvignon blanc to a boil over medium-high heat. Decrease the heat to low and add the cheese mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until melted after each addition. Add the muscat and stir until smooth. Serve immediately.

Serve with: toasted walnut or other rustic bread cubes, pear chunks, apple chunks, fresh figs, quartered, fig bars, Graham crackers.

Beverage Suggestions: pinot noir, blanc de noirs (sparkling wine), fino sherry

Labels: bellwether farms, cheese, cookbook, cowgirl creamery, fondue, local author, stephanie v.w. lucianovic

When I worked as a counselor in a homeless shelter I gained an appreciation for casseroles. The shifts were long and dinner was often the main focus of the evening for counselors as well as guests. Churches and synagogues provided meals at the shelter, and casseroles were served night after night. Because we didn't always know what was in them, when asked what was for dinner, one of my colleagues used to say "hot dish." The best casseroles ironically came from the poorest part of the county. Those Baptist's sure knew how to stretch a food dollar and make something out of close to nothing, they put the Episcopalians from the expensive neighborhood to shame!

In Bake Until Bubby, author Clifford A. Wright explains that casseroles gained a bad reputation after World War II when home cooks relied on processed, packaged and canned food rather than farm fresh ingredients. Thankfully, with the exception of canned tomatoes, Bake Until Bubbly eschews the cans, boxes of crackers and bags of chips and uses great high quality ingredients to create both traditional and modern casseroles.

Wright is a food historian and begins the book with casseroles throughout the ages. The recipes are divided into Breakfast Casseroles, Classic American Favorites, Casseroles from other Countries, Vegetable Casseroles, Vegetable Casseroles without Meat, and Dessert Casseroles. It's great to see casseroles being elevated into something worth savoring because they are generally easy to make, economical and yield something comforting. I've always been a fan.

Macaroni and Cheese
Makes 4-6 servings

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
3 Tablespoons finely chopped onion
1/2 garlic clove, finely chopped
3 Tablespoons all purpose flour
3 1/2 cups whole milk
1 pound milk or sharp aged white cheddar cheese, shredded
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt plus more to taste
1 pound elbow macaroni or any short tubular pasta
2 Tablespoons dry bread crumbs

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 10 inch round baking casserole that is at least 3 inches deep.

2. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, then add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the flour to form a roux, stirring for about 1 minute. Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in the milk. Return to low heat and simmer, stirring until smooth but liquidy, about 15 minutes. Add the cheese, 1 cup or a handful at a time, stirring frequently until it melts. Add the mustard, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, and stir to blend well.

3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of abundantly salted water to a vigorous boil. Add the macaroni and boil until half-cooked (follow the package instructions). Drain the macaroni and transfer it to a large bowl. Pour the cheese sauce over the macaroni and stir and toss a bit. Transfer the macaroni mixture to the casserole. Sprinkle with bread crumbs on top and bake until the top begins to turn golden and the sauce is bubbly, about 25 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes, then serve.

Reprinted by permission from Bake Until Bubbly, by Clifford A. White. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Copyright © 2008 by Clifford A. White. All rights reserved.

Labels: amy sherman, baking, casseroles, cookbook

Lee's favorite food is Japanese. When we celebrate his birthday or really any occasion it's Japanese food that he wants. Much as I love Japanese food, and I really do, I have to say Italian is still my all-time favorite. Italian food just spells comfort to me. I love rustic food and great ingredients treated well but not fussed over. Ok, I like them fussed over some of the time. But on a day to day basis nothing makes me happier than a plate of pasta, risotto, or even polenta.

It should come as no surprise that I was utterly charmed by Massimo's Italian Kitchen. The subtitle is not totally accurate, "authentic one-dish meals from a seasoned chef" because there are plenty of desserts and side dishes too. That said, there isn't a recipe in this book I wouldn't make, except perhaps the tripe soup, I'm still a bit squeamish about tripe. The photos really do a good job of showing the food, which when it comes to rustic food is not always so easy. A fancy plated dessert is much easier to shoot than say rice and pea soup or handmade noodles with ragu.

The recipes are written in a very conversational style, but are generally not that complicated or long. One of the things I particularly like about the book is the large number of both vegetable dishes and one pot meals that include less common vegetables like radicchio and cabbage. Living in Italy I discovered how much vegetables were loved. In fact, they were usually served as their own course to be totally savored without distraction.

This book covers the different regions that the chef has knowledge of and is a nice compilation for the intermediate home cook looking for something beyond Italian-American classics. Recipes include Winter Salad with Potatoes and Apples, Garganelli with Fava Beans and Crispy Prosciutto, Risotto with White Asparagus, Black Pepper and Wild Strawberries and Baked Cardoons with Pecorino.

Pork Spareribs and Cabbage
Costine di Mailale e Verze

Makes 4 servings

4 whole racks baby back ribs
salt and pepper
1 Tablespoon sugar
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 cup julienned onion
1/2 cup white wine
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes (note: I think canned would be fine here)
1 cup chicken stock
1 head cabbage

Wash the rib and pat dry. Cut between each bone to separate them, and season with salt, pepper, and sugar.

Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomoed pot over medium-high heat. Add the ribs and sear until golden brown. Add the garlic and onion and cook for a few minutes.

Pour in the wine and vinegar and cook until they evaporate. Stir in the tomato paste and then the tomatoes. Pour in the chicken stock, reduce the heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes, covered.

In the meantime remove each leaf from the cabbage and cut our the center spine, splitting the leaf in two. Cut the cabbage into wide juliennes. Add the cabbage to the meat, season with salt and pepper, stir, and cover. SImmer until the cabbage is tender about 10 minutes.

Reprinted from Massimo's Italian Kitchen, Seller's Publishing 2008

Labels: amy sherman, cookbook, italian food

I could have saved $40,000 and 6 months, endless cuts and burns, bad hair days, bruised egos, fashion disasters, gas that could peel the paint off the side of a barn, and having cats follow me home because I smelled like a mackerel! If I'd only waited 5 years...

Y'all have heard me prattle on about cooking school and know that I attended the full time 6-month culinary program at the FCI a few years ago (and yes I experienced all of the above... in abundance!) so when I saw this book come out, I had to buy it. Like James Peterson's Sauces, this book too could ballast a boat - all 500 pages! - but it is also a veritable treasure chest, a culinary Fort Knox if you will, of all things cooking. If Techniques is the only cookbook you ever purchase, you'd be set.

Techniques is almost verbatim our first quarter (6 week) curriculum. Really! Word for word, gram for gram, ingredient for ingredient. I even pulled out my notebook and compared the Sauces section. Exactly the same. Our first quarter was spent learning these 250 techniques. I had to learn all 250 since before I went to cooking school I burned water! I still do, just less often... But I digress... We then spent the next 3 quarters refining and practicing and expanding on all these techniques. So if you don't want to sacrifice 6 months and $40,000 and the above mentioned humiliations to attend cooking school, then buy this book and cook every recipe over and over and you will become an excellent cook. If you master all the skills and techniques in the book, you can walk into any kitchen (even in France!) and hold your own as this is the foundation of classic cooking and the language of the kitchen.

Hints and tips from the Deans and Chef Instructors pepper the book in every technique with tidbits such as "...cook beans at a constant low temperature and cool them in their cooking liquid. ~Dean Alain Sailhac" or "Do not cover a chicken after roasting or it will steam and make the meat taste reheated." ~Dean Jacques Pepin". It's like getting a personal cooking lesson from some of the world's the greatest chefs. A few that I'm not sure made it into the book that will I will never for include, "If you have time to lean, you have time to clean ~Chef Henri Viain" and "What you put in the pot, you get out of the pot. ~Chef Pascal Beric" and God love them both for their dedication to their students.

Techniques teaches the 250 classic foundation techniques including stocks, sauces, soups, salads, eggs, potatoes, poultry, game, beef, veal, lamb, pork, fish, shellfish, marinades, stuffings, organ meats (my least favorite day in cooking school!), pastry dough, creams & custards, crepes, brioche, frozen desserts, meringues, mousses, and soufflés (my favorite day in cooking school! :) As I flipped the pages, 6 months of my life flashed before my eyes, intermittently cringing while remembering slicing off the tip of my thumb on the mandoline or burning my wrist on the convection oven and laughing out loud picturing the over-whipped genoise, splattered pommes anna, and over-salted Poulet Rôti Grand-mère.

Many if not all of the recipes in my humble little blog, such as a Christmas Menu and Magret de Canard aux Figues de Vendée, are based on the foundation and techniques I learned in cooking school. Techniques also explains in great detail terms in a kitchen, names of equipment and pots and pans (and the difference between stainless steel and aluminum, cast iron, non-stick and the benefits and pit falls of each), food safety, knifes and knife skills, and professional kitchen management.

If you want to become an great home chef or are considering or about to attend cooking school, I implore you to devour (pun intended) this book. If you learn all the techniques, or at least become familiar with them, then you will be leaps and bounds ahead of the game. Bon courage et bon appetit!


Michael, Beverly, Michele, and me proudly displaying our Poulet Rôti Grand-mère

Poulet Rôti Grand-mère -- Grandmother's Roast Chicken
Serves 4
Estimated time: 1-1/2 hours

Ingredients
For the chicken:
• 3-1/2 lb (1.5 kg) roasting chicken (including neck, gizzards, heart)
• coarse salt, fresh ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons (30 gr) unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil
• 3-1/2 ounces (100 gr) carrots, mirepoix (rough chopped)
• 3-1/2 ounces (100 gr) onions, mirepoix (rough chopped)

For the garnish:
• 14 ounces (400 gr) russet potatoes, peeled
• 3-1/2 ounces (100 gr) slab bacon
• 4-1/2 ounces (125 gr) button mushrooms, cleaned
• coarse salt, fresh ground pepper
• 2-1/2 ounces (70 gr) pearl onions
• 3 tablespoons (40 gr) unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon (7 gr) sugar
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons (10 gr) flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

For the gravy:
• 3-1/2 tablespoons (50 ml) dry white wine
• 2 cups + 2 tablespoons (500 ml) brown veal stock
• coarse salt, fresh ground pepper to taste (optional)

Equipment:
• Chef's Knife
• Trussing twine
• Trussing needle (optional)
• Heavy-bottomed roasting pan or poêle
• Instant read thermometer (if necessary)
• Paring knife
• Large shallow saucepan
• Strainer
• Small, sharp knife
• Sauté pan
• Slotted spoon
• Paper towels
• Stainless steel bowl
• Sautoir or russe
• Parchment paper
• Ovenproof poêle
• Heatproof bowl
• Wire rack
• Baking pan
• Wooden spoon
• Boning knife
• Large metal spoon
• 4 warm dinner plates (I will never ever ever forget Chef Henri admonishing us with "Hot food, hot plate. Cold food, cold plate!")

Preparation
1. Prepare your mise en place.

2. Preheat the oven to 450°F (232°C)

3. Remove and reserve the gizzard, neck and heart from the chicken; set the liver aside for another use. Using a chef's knife, carefully trim the chicken of excess fat. Season and truss the chicken.

4. Heat the butter and oil in a heavy-bottomed roasting pan or poêle over medium heat. Add the chicken and sear, turning frequently without pricking the skin, for about 10 minutes or until the thighs and legs are well-browned and the breast is just lightly browned.

5. When all sides have browned, turn the chicken on its back and add the gizzard, neck and heart to the pan. Place the pan in the oven and roast for 10 minutes.

6. Add the mirepoix vegetables and toss to coat with a bit of fat.

7. Continue to roast, basting frequently, for about 40 minutes or until the skin is golden brown and the juices run clear from a hole poked in the thigh or when the internal temperature measured between the breast and thigh registers 60°C to 66°C (140°F to 150°F).

8. While the chicken is roasting, prepare the garnish.

9. Using a paring knife, turn the potatoes into 5-centimeter (2-inch) cocottes (small football shapes with 7 sides). Place the potatoes in a single layer in a large shallow sauce pan with cold water to just barely cover over high heat. Bring to a simmer. Immediately remove from heat, drain well without refreshing, and set aside to air dry.

10. Cut the bacon into 1/2-inch (1.3-centimeter) thick slices and then into strips about 1/2-inch (1.3-centimeter) wide to form lardons.

11. Place the bacon in a sauté pan over medium-high heat and sauté for about 5 minutes or until the bacon has rendered its; fat but has not browned. sing a slotted spoon, transfer the lardons to paper towels to drain, leaving the rendered fat in the sauté pan.

12. If the mushrooms are small, leave them whole; if large, cut them into quarters. Add the mushrooms to the rendered bacon fat. Place the pan over medium heat, season the mushrooms with salt and pepper to taste, and sauté for about 5 minutes or until just lightly browned on the edges. Set aside.

13. Place the onions in a stainless steel bowl with hot water to cover. Soak for about 3 minutes or until the skins have loosened. Drain well and, using your fingertips, push off the skins.

14. Place onions in a single layer in a sautoir or russe just large enough to accommodate them over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon (15 gr) of the butter, the sugar, and just enough water to barely cover the bottom of the pan. Salt to taste. Cover with a piece of parchment cut to the exact size of the pan opening to make a loose lid and glacer à brun (cook until a golden brown). (Take care not to use too much water, as the onions will steam and overcook rather than brown. They should begin to brown in the remaining butter after the water has evaporated.) Taste, and if necessary, add seasoning. Set aside and keep warm until ready to serve.

15. About 10 minutes before the chicken is ready to come out of the oven, heat an ovenproof poêle over medium heat. When hot but not smoking, add the oil. Add the potatoes, keeping them in a single layer. Sauté for about 5 minutes or until all of the potatoes are evenly browned. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons (25 gr) of butter and season with salt and pepper to taste. Please the potatoes in the oven and roast for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown and tender when pierced with the point of a small, sharp knife.

16. When all the garnish items have been cooked, combine them in a heatproof bowl. Toss to blend, then sprinkle with parsley. Set aside and keep warm for service.

17. When the chicken is done, remove it from the oven, drain off and reserve the fat, and transfer the bird to a wire rack placed over a baking pan to rest. While the chicken is resting, make the gravy (jus de rôti)

18. If the pan drippings have not caramelized during roasting, place the pan on the stovetop over high heat and bring to a boil. Boil just until the drippings caramelize; take care that they do not burn. Carefully drain off the fat. Lower the heat and add the white wine to the pan, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to lift up the sucs and deglaze the pan. Add the stock and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and cook at a bare simmer, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes or until the mixture is slightly reduced and fall-flavored. Taste, and if necessary, season with salt and pepper. Strain. Keep warm until ready for service.

19. Using a boning knife, remove the breasts and the thighs from the chicken. Manchonner the ends of the drumsticks (cut off the big joint at the end of the drumstick) and the wings. Cut each breast half into two pieces on the bias. Cut the legs in half at the joint. Remove the thigh bones and any cartilage. You should now have 8 pieces

20. Assemble one leg piece with one breast piece on each of the four warm dinner plates, taking care that only one of the pieces on each plate has a bone.

21. Garnish each plate with an equal portion of the warm vegetables. Spoon the gravy around the chicken pieces. Serve remaining gravy on the side.

WHEW! All that for a roast chicken!
Bon appetit!

PS: Don't miss Michael Procopio's interview with FCI President, Dorothy Cann Hamilton where they discuss her PBS show "Chef's Story," her tenure as Chairman of the James Beard House and her day job running the FCI.

Labels: cookbook, cucina testa rossa, dorothy cann hamilton, French Culinary Institute, recipe, roast chicken

I love cookbooks. If I didn't, I wouldn't bother reviewing them. When I read them, I try to imagine who the book might appeal to, if not me, and I try to be as fair as I can. If I don't think a book is worthwhile, I generally don't bother to review it. I'd rather focus on the ones I'm excited about.

I am particularly wary of self-published cookbooks. They usually lack editing and sometimes lack focus. The authors don't necessarily have much credibility or authority either. But there was something about Throw a Great Party. I was intrigued by the premise of the book "Inspired by evenings in Paris with Jim Haynes." The book offers recipes and tips for throwing and catering parties for 25 to 100 people. It's written by three friends who have been throwing legendary Sunday night dinner parties in Paris for 30 years. One of the authors has been a restaurant chef, a cooking instructor and also a food blogger.

Could the book have used some editing? Absolutely. There is plenty of shorthand, some details are skipped, there are some odd choices in the index, and not every recipe feels like it has been independently tested, but in some ways that's part of its charm. Each recipe comes with a story about who created it and tips on how to make it work for a big group.

I'm sure if you are one of the estimated 100,000 people who have eaten dinner at Jim's and perhaps dined with people like Yoko Ono or R. Crumb or Chloe Sevigny, this book would be a memento of sorts. But it's a practical guide for another audience. If you are in the position to throw a big dinner party, this is a very unique book written by those who have done it again and again and again. Recipes range from Gazpacho to Sabz Ghost (lamb in coconut milk) to Cassoulet. Each are home cooking recipes, not restaurant recipes and generally inexpensive and fairly easy to prepare. And if you'd like to dine in Paris with Jim, by all means, head to the Jim Hanes website and request an invite!

Note: Each recipe comes with amounts for 25 or 100, but we're only posting the 25 person version.

Beet Salad with Walnuts, Shallots and Parsley

Serves: 25

Ingredients
5 lb (2 1/2 kg) beets, cooked and peeled (see method below)
1 lb (500 g) walnuts, toasted briefly
12 oz (375 g) shallots, minced
1 bunch parsley, finely chopped

Preparation
1. Chop beets in to bite sized pieces and place in a large bowl.
2. Chop the walnuts coarsely.
3. Make the vinaigrette. (see recipe below)
4. If the salad is to be served later, store all the ingredients in separate closed containers in the refrigerator.

To serve: Beat the vinaigrette to emulsify and add the remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Toss lightly, but thoroughly. Serve in small bowls or plates.

To cook raw beets in quantity:
1. Thoroughly scrub beets, having first cut off the greens but leaving about an inch of stalk at the top.
2. Place the beets in 1 or 2 baking or roasting pans, packing them in one layer.
3. Drizzle generously with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
4. With your hands, roll the beets in the oil and seasoning so all sides are covered.
5. Cover the pans tightly with foil and bake in a moderately hot oven (375 degrees) for 1 hour.
6. Check for tenderness by piercing with a knife. Beets cook slowly and may need more time.
7. Cool and peel, using rubber gloves to keep our hands from staining.

Vinaigrette

Ingredients
1 Tablespoon garlic, finely chopped
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pepper

Preparation
Place the vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper in a large bowl and whisk in the olive oil in a steady stream. Store in a closed container until ready to serve.

Recipe reprinted from Throw A Great Party copyright © 2007 by Mary S. Bartlett

Labels: amy sherman, cookbook, paris

Hungry Planet takes a look at what the world eats, country by country, family by family. Photos show 30 different families posing with a typical week's worth of food, and details include how much they spend on food, the breakdown by types of food, a family recipe and an essay about the family and their relationship to food. Author Peter Menzel also includes field notes which are a bit like personal journal entries. The countries he visited for the book include places like Bhutan, Mali and Cuba and more than one family in places like China, the US and Japan.

Hungry Planet won a prestigious James Beard award in 2006 and is now out in paperback. If you haven't seen a copy of the book, you can see the photographs over at Time.com. But it's well worth getting a copy. While the photos are most impressive, the book also includes essays by noted writers such as Marion Nestle, Michael Pollan and Corby Kummer. The essays and photos will shock, dismay, encourage and enlighten.

I recently reread the statistic that in America we spend only 10% of our income on food. I don't know what percentage of income each of the families from the 24 countries featured spends on food, but it is interesting all the same to see just what they eat and how much it costs. Often it seems from the pictures that people in the more industrialized nations are not eating as well as those in the "developing" world. It will be interesting to see if the families featured will be revisited to see if and how their diets change over time.

Family Recipe--Great Britain

Mark Bainton's Cheese and Potato Pie

Ingredients
12 oz mashed potatoes per person
9 leaves basil, finely torn (save half leaf for garnish)
3 sprigs parsley, finely chopped (save 1 leaf for garnish)
8-12 oz Cheddar cheese

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Combine mashed potatoes, basil, and parsley (or other herb of your choice)
3. Cover the bottom of an ovenproof casserole about 1" thick in mashed potatoes; cover with sliced cheese. Repeat, finishing with slices of cheese, so that all the mashed potatoes are covered.
4. Bake until golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Serve with garnish.

Reprinted from Material World Books and Ten Speed Press, Hungry Planet, 2007

Labels: amy sherman, cookbook, michael pollan, politics of food

What do you do when the rain won't relent, when those gorgeous bay windows welcome in the wind, and when staying home in your pajamas is not only comfortable but life-saving?

Why, make soup, of course!



Soup of the Day

Yesterday's soup highlighted a lucky pantry find -- a forgotten can of Italian white beans. First into the pot went a lonely though generously proportioned carrot, two stalks of celery, a tight-skinned onion, and the final sprigs of holiday herbs: oregano, thyme, rosemary, and parsley. After these were sauteed to fragrant softness, in followed chicken stock, hand-torn plum tomatoes plus their juices, and those toothsome white beans.

I let the pot simmer for as long as it took to read a few chapters from The Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency. For an extra chapter, I tossed in some leftover roasted potatoes, the last of the red wine jus from the New Year's rib roast, then any and all dark greens hiding out in the fridge. That meant, for this pot, some slightly wilted mustard and a wedge of ever hardy cabbage.

Sense a theme here? A simmering soup pot is the best way to clean out your kitchen while steaming up your windows. Slice some bread, pull out the biggest mugs you have, and -- voila! -- the best food ever for curling up on the couch.

Mandu Soup



Around now, the first of the year, is also the time to enjoy ddeok mandu guk, Korean dumplings served in a simple broth. My friend Jineui invited me over to her brand-spanking-new kitchen in Sacramento to celebrate the start of a delicious 2008. Her promise to make mandu was all I needed to hop in the car.

Some dedicated cooks still make their mandu dough by hand, but many just buy thick, round prepared potsticker wrappers. (Be sure to look for “potsticker” on the label; “gyoza” or “wonton” wrappers are too thin for the distinctively chewy mandu texture.)

Jineui’s filling starts with ground beef and tofu that's been crushed finely between her fingers. She blanches bean sprouts then chops them. She adds minced cabbage, salt, pepper, and not much else. No sesame oil for her (“makes them taste funny”), but she does take time to squeeze moisture out of the vegetables. An egg wash helps seal the half-moons, and then the dumplings go into bamboo steamers lined with cabbage leaves.


(Photo by Jasmine Lee)

Serve the first batch of mandu straight from the steamer with dipping sauce. Serve the next few batches in bowls of clear stock with a light sprinkling of green onions and maybe some nori or egg strips if you're wanting to be fancy. Freeze the other few hundred or so mandu to eat through the rest of the winter. (I have one friend blessed with a mother who visits once a year and leaves about 2,000 or so homemade dumplings in their garage freezer before heading back across the Pacific.)

You can read how different families ring in the new year with mandu at the Kimchi Mamas. The Asia Society posted a simple recipe from the Korean National Tourism Organization, about as official as it gets for a humble dumpling, but a much more detailed recipe with helpful technique shots and lessons learned from past mistakes appears at My Korean Kitchen.

Oxtail Soup



Another Korean treat, ox-tail soup, is as easy as they come: Dump a few pounds of bones in a pot, add water plus a healthy pinch of salt, and then simmer for six hours, three if you're in a hurry. Jineui, always going the extra mile, likes to blanche her bones first for a clearer stock. During their long simmering, the bones give off their milky white goodness into a supremely flavorful broth. Serve with a spicy sesame seed dipping sauce. For those of us who live on the edge (fault lines and BSE be damned!) a bowl of liquified marrow manages to be both comforting and decadent at the same time.

What happens if you leave the pot over the wok burner instead of the special, low-flamed simmer burner? Umm...add more water and know that a few crispy brown bits floating around just means more flavor.

Vietnamese Crab Soup



On the more labor intensive side of soups comes one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes. Few restaurants even attempt to offer bun rieu, and a mere handful get it close to right. After feasting on Dungeness, I make broth with crab shells, shrimp shells and pork bones. Tomatoes add brightness, fried tofu offers some chewiness and, for old-school folks like me, cubes of freshly coagulated blood punctuate with silky richness. There's a raft of crab and shrimp bound with egg that hovers over rice noodles. And, finally, there are platters at the table piled high with sprigs of fresh mint and rau ram, chiffonade of cabbage and banana blossom, wedges of lime, tiny but fearless bird eye's chiles, and a dollop or two of shrimp paste to provide those layers of flavor that make Vietnamese food so distinctly fresh and complex.



So...what if you don't want to spend a day at the stove? Then head over to Pho King in East Oakland for a proper bowl. Di Da, one of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants in San Jose, an excellent establishment that happens to be vegetarian, also offers a wonderful, satisfying interpretation of bun rieu.

Pho King
638 International Boulevard, Oakland
(510) 444-0448

Di Da
2597 Senter Road, San Jose
(408) 998-8826



Soupsong

In my last love note to soups, I'm pointing you to the best resource ever for recipes celebratory and everyday, favorite and obscure. I fell hard for Pat Solley the "Soup Lady" a decade ago, while we were trapped in a car among the hills of West Virginia. Her job at the J. Edgar Hoover Building kinda, sorta freaked me out, but her dedication to all things brothy tugged at my heart. Of course, my stomach was never in doubt -- Pat knows more about soup history, traditions, tales, jokes and, of course, recipes from around the world than anyone else I've met. It's rare to find someone who can quote Herodotus and Bob Dylan in the same breath while cooking with all four burners going at once. She's now ensconced far away in Paris, but fortunately I keep warm with her Soupsong website and her excellent book An Exaltation of Soups.


(Illustration by D.C. Bloom)

Labels: cookbook, korean, soup, thy tran, vietnamese

This Fall saw three dessert books by local chefs, Elizabeth Falkner's Demolition Desserts, Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich and Indulge by Claire Clark. Each of these books are masterful and exacting. When it comes to pastry, exacting is important. I'm often intimidated by the fact that you can't "fix" dessert the way you can fix something savory. You can't add more leavening or salt or sugar or cook the fruit a bit longer once your creation comes out of the oven. What you can do, is rely on recipes that work.


Elizabeth Falkner's Demolition Desserts is the first book by Elizabeth Falkner. Go ahead and skip Fisherman's Wharf, but I consider Citizen Cake a requirement for any out-of-town visitor. Falkner's creations are sophisticated and smart, never sickly sweet. She composes plated desserts the way other chefs compose main courses with multiple elements that complement and play off of each other in both unexpected and whimsical ways. The book has both complicated desserts but also more straight forward ones like chocolate chip cookies, cupcakes and brownies. It's the chapters like The Chocolate Crawl, Fruitscapes and the Construction Zone that are most likely to inspire. Fantastic creations with even more fantastic names are par for the course. The manga style illustrations add the sense of fun and pleasure that comes so naturally with dessert.


Another first time cookbook author is Clarie Clark, the head pastry chef at The French Laundry. Indulge 100 Perfect Desserts is filled with French, English and American desserts, and ingredients are given by weight. The recipes are very well-written and chapters called "The Secrets of Success" share the insider tips that can only come from years in the kitchen. A section on puff pastry has 8 tips to make sure you get it right. A bit like a class in pastry-making, this is a terrific reference book and the photographs will guide your plating and presentation as much as the instructions.


Pure Dessert is written by veteran chocolatier and cookbook author, Alice Medrich. The focus of the book is on "true flavors and inspiring ingredients" and it is a celebration of simplicity. That's not to say the recipes are easy, but certainly easy to love. In an earlier book Medrich revisited chocolate desserts using the higher quality, higher percentage cacao and this book is in some ways very similar. It's about creating desserts that celebrate ingredients. A chapter dedicated to the flavors of grain, nuts and seeds includes recipes like Buckwheat Strawberry Shortcakes, Walnut Sponge Cake and Corn Tuiles with Salt and Pepper. Some of the recipes are classics, others are innovative.

Chocolate² Chip Espresso Cookies
makes about 4 dozen standard cookies or 8 dozen mini cookies

11/2 cups (71/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (21/4 ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably natural
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons finely ground espresso-roast coffee beans
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (71/4 ounces) firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon (4 ounces) granulated sugar
1 (11/2 ounces by weight) large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
11/3 cups (8 ounces) semisweet, milk, or white chocolate chips, or a combination

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and ground coffee. In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon, cream together the butter and brown and granulated sugars until smooth but not overmixed. (I do this by hand, but if you use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a handheld mixer, beat on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes, and then scrape down the sides of the bowl before continuing.) Add the egg, vanilla, and salt and stir just until combined. Add the sifted ingredients to the butter mixture in two additions, stirring gently after each addition just until combined. Add the chocolate chips and stir just until evenly distributed throughout the dough. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Position the racks in the upper third and lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop up 1-inch balls of dough for full-sized cookies or 1/2-inch balls for mini cookies with a spoon or mini scoop. Set the large scoops 2 inches apart or the small scoops 1 inch apart on the prepared pans.

Bake the mini cookies for about 5 minutes and the full-sized cookies for about 8 minutes, and then rotate the pans and bake both sizes for another 3 minutes, or until they are puffed and still look a little wet in the center. Transfer to racks and let cool. (Okay, you can sneak a couple of warm cookies, but let most of the batch cool.)
These cookies will keep for 2 to 3 days in an airtight container, but they will be at their most tender the day you bake them.

Reprinted from Elizabeth Falkner’s Demolition Desserts, Copyright 2007 Tenspeed Press

Labels: alice medrich, amy sherman, claire clark, cookbook, dessert, elizabeth falkner

Three Indian-inspired cookbooks tantalized my tastebuds this year. Each presents a new way of experiencing Indian flavors and food.


Madhur Jaffrey's Quick & Easy Indian Cooking is actually a reprint of a book first published about ten years ago, but you-know-who made the whole "quick and easy" thing in fashion again so I can see why it was reprinted. What's interesting about the recipes, is that Jaffrey is not trying to dumb down the cuisine or simplify it. There actually are plenty of Indian recipes that don't take days to make or long shopping lists. The notes with each recipe tell you if it is a one-pot dish, how to serve it and sometimes the history of the dish. Many of the recipes are ones I had not seen before such as Chickpeas Cooked in Tea, Gently Stewed Beets, and Stir Fried Green Cabbage with Fennel Seeds.



The next book called Modern Indian Cooking, is still firmly more Indian than American but presents contemporary interpretations of classic Indian dishes. The merging of traditional Indian flavors with ingredients or techniques more likely to be found in the West, makes the dishes seem fresh and exciting. Lamb Chops with Rosemary and Lime is a perfect example of the unexpected, of a combination of India and European cuisines. Curry Corn Chowder with Roasted Poblanos sounds enticing and Paneer Picatta (sic) is a great vegetarian version of the classic Italian dish. Slices of paneer cheese are sauteed then the pan is deglazed with sherry, onions, capers and ginger are added and finally lemon juice, butter and cilantro.


American Masala is in some ways the least Indian. These are the recipes from the home kitchen of restaurant chef Suvir Saran. Masala is the Hindi word for a spice blend, and also refers to excitement and vibrancy, says Saran. While there are plenty of Indian recipes, there are also plenty of recipes with nary an Indian hint of spice such as Three Cheese Spinach Dip, Asparagus Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette, Lemon Raspberry Cream Cake or Honey Glazed Pork Roast with Vegetable Confit. Still, the use of garam masala changes the nature of some dishes such as Fried Chicken Masala, Spiced Meatballs with Tomato Chile Sauce or Scallops with Roasted Red Pepper Chutney. I guess if the concept is vibrant dishes, it certainly achieves it.

Curry Corn Chowder with Roasted Poblanos
makes 4 servings

2 poblano chiles
1 pound potatoes, peeled and diced into (1- inch) cubes
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup green pepper, diced
Salt to taste
3 cups fresh corn kernels or frozen corn, thawed
2 cups vegetable stock or water
1 cup cream
1 tablespoon curry powder
3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

PREPARATION
Pre heat the grill or a broiler. Grill or broil the chilies until the skin begins to blacken, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let steam until the skin loosens, about 10 minutes. Peel the chiles and chop coarsely, Set aside In a small sauce pan, add the potatoes and enough water to cover and cook until tender. Drain and set aside. In a large sauce pan, heat the oil, cumin, onion, celery and pepper and saute until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Add salt and corn and cook for 3 to 4 minutes longer. Stir in the roasted chiles, potatoes, stock, cream, curry powder and 1 tablespoon of cilantro and simmer until the soup thickens, 20 to 25 minutes.

Recipe courtesy of Modern Indian Cooking, Copyright 2007, Silverback Books

Labels: amy sherman, cookbook, indian food

If you had to choose one book this season and only one book to be your cooking bible, Cooking by James Peterson is an awfully good candidate. Filled with 600 recipes, 1500 photographs it is a "kitchen education". Peterson walks you through all of the French basics and then some.

When you want to return to the classics or just experience them for the first time, Peterson is a tremendously experienced teacher. He learned to cook in France, taking both classes at the Cordon Bleu and working the kitchens of three star Michelin restaurants. He ran his own restaurant in New York and has taught cooking for the last twenty years.

Peterson's writing is detailed, and the photo lessons are a great way to really see techniques up close. The book covers the 10 basic cooking methods, and then just about every category of food including such things as sauces, pastries and custards. Peterson admits to a bias towards French and Mexican cuisine, but there are also Moroccan, Thai, Indian and Italian recipes, to name but a few. They tend to be the more emblematic dishes to be sure.

The only other how-to book with so many photos that I can think of is Jacques Pepin's Technique book. It is for both beginners and advanced cooks and unlike the CIA book The Professional Chef, it geared for home cooks, albeit home cooks who might want to take on making croissants, warm sea urchin mayonnaise, or a foie gras terrine. My only complaint about the book is that some of the non-basic recipes are not very authentic. For example the Moroccan chicken tagine is not cooked in a tagine, but simmered on the stove in a pan, delicious I'm sure, but not really a tagine. Regardless of my quibbles, this book is a treasure trove of great recipes and techniques and tremendous value for the price ($26.40 on Amazon, including free shipping).

Squid Braised in Red Wine
makes 4 main-course servings

3 pounds squid, cleaned, hoods cut into 1/2 inch rings, tentacles left whole
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups full-bodied red wine
Bouquet garni
Salt
Pepper

Ailoi
French Bread

Rinse the squid and let drain in a colander. Gently cook the onion, carrot and garlic in the olive oil in a pot large enough to hold the squid. When the onion turns translucent, after about 10 minutes, add the squid and stir over high heat. Continue stirring until the liquid released by the squid completely evaporates. Add the red wine and the bouquet garni and simmer gently, partially covered, for 45 minutes. Remove the lid and simmer until the sauce cooks down and thickens slightly but still remains soup-like. Season with salt and pepper and serve in heated soup plates. Pass the aioli and bread at the table.

Recipe courtesy of Cooking by James Peterson, Tenspeed Press, 2007

Labels: amy sherman, cookbook, cooking, james peterson

My last meal on a recent trip to Japan wasn't anything fancy, it was a rice omelet, also known as "omu raisu". I enjoyed this savory and filling dish at the Tokyo Narita airport and it left me even more sorry to be heading home than I was before. Fortunately the recipe for omu raisu, a luscious and creamy omelet filled with tomatoey rice with little chunks of chicken, and many other rustic home-style meals are featured in Let's Cook Japanese Food! by Amy Kaneko.

Let's Cook Japanese Food! focuses on recipes that author Kaneko who lived in Japan, has been able to easily recreate at home in the US, using mostly supermarket ingredients. These are dishes that don't have to be part of an elaborate Japanese meal but can be one pot meals, appetizers or side dishes. Because eating dessert is not an after dinner tradition in Japan you won't find any sweets in the book.

Kaneko's light breezy style will encourage even the frying phobic to take on crunchy treats like tempura, fried marinated chicken, potato and pumpkin croquettes, and crispy fried shrimp. There are also yoshoku dishes, or Japanese-style Western dishes like Japanese style hamburger steak with sauce, creamy macaroni and cheese with shrimp and broccoli and Japanese influenced Chinese dishes like Chinese-style crab omelet with soy sauce gravy and Chinese-style spicy tofu and pork. Try a few dishes and it's likely a few will soon become part your repertoire.

Hiyayako--Cold Tofu with Ginger and Green Onions
Serves 1

4-inch square soft tofu
1 teaspoon peeled and grated fresh ginger
1 Tablespoon minced green onion, including tender green tops
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce, preferably light soy sauce

Place the tofu in a shallow bowl. Arrange the ginger in a mound on top of the tofu, and sprinkle with the green onion. Let the diner top with soy sauce according to his or her taste.

Recipe from Let's Cook Japanese Food! by Amy Kaneko Photographs by Deborah Ory, Chronicle Books, 2007

Labels: amy sherman, cookbook

Amy Kaneko is a Bay Area resident now, but she spent time living in Japan and earlier this year she published her first book, Let's Cook Japanese Food! Her book details some of her favorite recipes for home-style Japanese cooking.

How is Japanese home cooking different from what's served in Japanese restaurants?
Here we get a lot of sushi, teriyaki, and tempura, the three stations of the Japanese food triangle, as per American tastes. But there are so many really fantastic things to eat--using really familiar cooking techniques, just with a little tweak--that are part of contemporary Japanese food and what people eat every day at home and in restaurants, take out, etc. in Japan, that I think Westerners would just love, things like croquettes, gratins, rice bowls, stir frys. They are not all super esoteric ingredients or completely devoid of fat and flavor, either. A meal of Japanese style fried chicken, a rice ball, spinach with sesame dressing, even potato salad is very Japanese and not what Westerners might expect people are eating in Japan.

You mentioned in your book that your husband brings certain ingredients back from Japan. What ingredients do you miss most now that you are living in the US?
1/2 fat mayonnaise! That is #1. In fact, I am panicking a little because my secret Thanksgiving dish (which I bring to any Thanksgiving event to which I am invited) is the kabocha (pumpkin) croquette in the book, and I need the mayo to make it. So I will need to suck it up and pay like $5 to get a small bottle to make the croquette for Thanksgiving this year, since we recently ran out. The other thing is packaged beef curry in vacuum bags. In Japantown you can buy vegetable curry but it is not a good brand. In Japan you can get fantastic prepared beef curry in a boil in bag thing, and it is extremely good. Don't tell the dogs at customs. And sansho, a kind of peppery spice but apparently it is illegal in the U.S. It is essential for eel dishes.
(note: Sansho is available in the US, I recently found it at Super Mira)

Where do you recommend shopping for Japanese ingredients in the Bay Area?
I am lucky that I live on the Peninsula and have two great markets nearby: Suruki in san Mateo on 4th St. and Nijiya (a chain, but good) on El Camino near 92 in San Mateo. There's also one in the city. Super Mira on Sutter in the city is also good. And 99 Ranch (all over) has a lot of the ingredients. Try the Japanese brand organic eggs at Suruki. They are unbelievable, with a golden yolk and great flavor. We eat them raw mixed into natto. Yum.

What is "yoshoku" cuisine?
Yoshoku is literally Western and basically refers to all the Westernized and borrowed dishes in Japanese cuisine, like curry rice, hayashi rice, gratins, doria, and so on. It is SO popular in Japan. Omu raisu (omelettes stuffed with rice), and wafu spaghetti are other examples. Japanese have take western cuisines and adapted them to their own tastes. Croquettes are from Netherlands, tempura is from Portugal, etc. Yoshoku is incredibly popular in Japan, and I have a lot of yoshoku (and chugoku (Chinese) ryori (cuisine) in the book.

What are the main ingredients cooks need to create authentic tasting Japanese food at home?
Soy sauce, mirin (sweet rice wine), sake, sugar, and dashi (bonito fish stock). these are the core Japanese flavorings. And although dashi doesn't taste all that fishy and is fairly easy to find, I substituted chicken broth in a lot of my recipes and the taste was still OK. And rice! Very easy to get short/medium grain rice here. Cooking it, not so easy, unless you have a rice cooker or are patient.

What's your favorite dish in the book?
There are two, toriniku no kara age (fried chicken) and toriniku no amasu an (chicken meatballs with sweet sour sauce) But I am influenced a lot by what I can serve quickly to my two little girls that I am assured they will eat, and these are no-fail. To be honest, I eat every recipe in this book, so it is very personal--it is edited very specifically to my and my family's tastes!

Come back next week for a review of Amy Kaneko's book, Let's Cook Japanese Food!

Labels: amy sherman, cookbook, Japanese

Did you know Thanksgiving is barely a week away? If the thought of preparing a Thanksgiving meal sends you to heading for the Turkey Talk-Line here are a couple of books to consider.

How to Cook a Turkey and All the Other Trimmings from the editors and contributors of Fine Cooking magazine has plenty of recipes from appetizers through dessert. It begins with a "How to Survive Thanksgiving" chapter and ends with suggestions andrecipes for using your leftovers.

The strength of this book is in the number of variations on a theme, and the how-to charts and illustrations. You can roast, brine, grill, butterfly or stuff your turkey and find recipes for each. Some of the recipes feel a little dated to me, like Goat Cheese, Pesto & Sun-Dried Tomato Terrine or Crudite with Creamy Roquefort Dip but other recipes like Stuffed Mushrooms with Pancetta, Shallots and Sage are a nice twist on the classics. The vegetable dishes such as Baby Spinach with Scallions & Lemons are bright and lively and there are separate chapters for pies and desserts with lots of options for both.

Thanksgiving 101 is a paperback reprint from author Rick Rodgers. Rodgers also includes a survival guide in this case called "Getting it all together". This book includes almost every variation on cooking a turkey as well, including deep frying and French boned. While there are no pictures, this book focuses on recipes used time and again in cooking classes that have been tested with countless students. I was particularly impressed with the variations on pumpkin desserts--Pumpkin-Walnut Roulade with Spiked Cream, Pumpkin Marbled Cheesecake, Pumpkin Creme Brulee, and Pumpkin Hazelnut Pie. There are also a whole array of leftover-centric recipes and timetables to help you get organized.

...and if worst comes to worst, you can always call that hotline.

Pumpkin-Walnut Roulade with Spiked Cream
Makes 8 to 10 servings

Make-Ahead: Bake and fill the roulade can be made up to 2 days ahead.

Roulade Cake
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup canned solid pack pumpkin
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 cup (3 ounces) finely chopped walnuts
Confectioners' sugar, for sifting

Filling
Two 3-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger

Spiked Cream
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons dark rum or brandy, optional
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts, for garnish
2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger, for garnish

1. To make the cake, position a rack in the top third of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Lightly butter a 10 X 15-inch jelly roll pan. To line the bottom and sides of the pan, cut a 12 X 16-inch piece of parchment or waxed paper. At each of the four corners, cut a diagonal slash about 2 inches long. Fit the paper into the pan, folding the cut ends over each other at the slashed to form neat corners. Lightly butter and flour the paper, tapping out the excess flour.

2. In a large bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer set at high speed, beat the sugar and eggs until light in color and texture, about 3 minutes. (The mixture should form a thick ribbon that falls back on itself when the beaters are lifted about 2 inches from the bowl. It must be stiff enough to support the weight of the dry ingredients.) Stir in the pumpkin and lemon juice.

3. Sift the flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cloves onto a piece of waxed paper. With the mixer on low, gradually beat in the flour mixture, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan, being sure to reach into the corners. Sprinkle the batter with the walnuts.

4. Bake until the center of the cake springs back when lightly pressed with a finger, about 15 minutes. Sift confectioners' over the top of the cake. Place a clean kitchen towel over the cake, then top with a baking sheet. Holding the baking sheet over the cake, turn the cake upside down and invert it onto the towel on the baking sheet. Carefully peel off the paper. Place the paper back on the cake. Using the towel as an aide, roll up the cake and cool completely.

5. To make the filling, in a medium bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer at medium speed, beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until combined. Gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar until smooth.

6. Unroll the cake and discard the paper. Spread the filling evenly over the cake and sprinkle with the crystallized ginger. Re-roll the cake (you won't need to use the kitchen towel) and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until the filing is firm, at least 1 hour. (The cake can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.)

7. To make the spiked cream, in a chilled medium bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer set at high speed, beat the cream, confectioners' sugar, optional rum, and vanilla until stiff. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch-wide open star tip.

8. Transfer the roll to a long serving platter. Garnish the cake with swirls of the whipped cream, and sprinkle with the walnuts and crystallized ginger. To serve, cut the cake diagonally into thick slices.

from Thanksgiving 101 © Copyright 1998, 2007 Rick Rodgers. All rights reserved.


Experienced a Thanksgiving disaster? Head over to Cooking with Amy to win one of three copies of Thanksgiving 101.

Labels: amy sherman, cookbook, thanksgiving

Gourmet magazine recently picked their top cookbooks for 2007. I agreed with some of their picks, but not all of them. One book that was missing from the list was Cook with Jamie. If you are a Jamie Oliver fan, and I admit I am, this book is a must. But if even if you're not, this book is really worthwhile and very different from other cookbooks on the market. Subtitled "My guide to making you a better cook" it's filled with all the little secrets that chefs learn in the kitchen.

So what kind of secrets are revealed? How to perfectly dress a salad so there is just the right amount of dressing, how to make really good schnitzel (a recipe taught to him by David Bouley), a technique for knowing when fish is cooked through that doesn't involve breaking it apart, how to pick leeks in the market, how to properly store things in the freezer. I could go on and on.

In addition to all the tips and techniques, explained in the typically "easy-peasy" Jamie Oliver manner, there are the recipes. The thing I like about Jamie Oliver recipes is that they each seem to have that added element that elevates them into something special. It might be an extra sauce, or topping of crispy herbs or even an unexpected ingredient. There are 160 recipes that range from Ultimate Rib of Beef with Rosemary and Garlic Potatoes to Slow Roasted Pork Belly with the Sweetest Braised Fennel to Roasted Baby Leeks with Thyme. If you are like me, these are recipes you will want to cook. At just under $25 on Amazon, I highly recommend this book.

Labels: amy sherman, cookbook, jamie oliver

In case you didn't know, yesterday marked the 14th anniversary of Vincent Price's death. I hope everyone took a little time out of their busy schedules to remember him. Since this post falls conveniently between his death day and Halloween, there is no other possible topic for discussion, as far as I am concerned.

As a poster child for classic American horror films, one might expect Vincent Price to have had more blood in his food than the other way around, but I assure you that is quite untrue. His father, Vincent Leonard Price, founded the National Candy Company, which did not, as I had previously thought, invent wax lips (that honor goes to the American Candy Company). I was crushed to learn that Mr. Price was not, in fact, a scion of the House of Wax Lips. I realize it's a horrible joke, but it's early and I'm just having my coffee.

Price was, however, the grandson of Dr. Vincent Clarence Price, creator of the first commercially manufactured baking powder in the United States, which must count for something.



Though most famous for his roles in horror films, Price was a well-known art collector and gourmet. A Yale graduate with a degree in Art History, he appeared on the $64,000 Question as an "expert" contestant in the same category (He won half that amount), and was an avid collector and promoter of art, founding the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College in 1958-- the first "teaching art collection" owned by a community college.

As a gourmet, Price made his rounds on the talk show circuit in the 1960's and 70's, once chatting up Johnny Carson while demonstrating how to poach a fish in a dishwasher. (Note: I gleaned that information from wikipedia, so I hope it's true. Please do not suggest I punch myself in the face again). If any one happens to own that clip, I'd give anything to see it. The man had an odd sense of humor.

On a slightly more serious food note, Price and his second wife Mary produced a small number of cookbooks, one of which, I have in my own collection.



I found Come into the Kitchen quite by accident as I spent a lazy afternoon browsing The Abandoned Planet Bookstore on Valencia Street with a friend. At the time, I had no idea Mr. Price was an avid cook. As a lover of kitsch cookbooks, I immediately bought it without much reading it, simply noting the rather odd style and choice of illustration, as seen below...



When I got it home, I found that this book-- which is as old as I am-- was filled with bits of odd information, like the facsimile of the "Public Dinner Given to the Honorable James K. Polk" at the St Louis Hotel dated March 22nd, 1849. Given the expanse of the eleven course dinner created in his honor, I am not at all surprised that, weakened by diarrhea and severe intestinal cramps, Polk succumbed to an outbreak of cholera a few weeks later. No. that is not mentioned in the book.

What is in the book, odd tidbits aside, is a collection of American recipes, collected at a time when American food was not fashionable among "foodies". Fish balls a la Mrs. Benjamin Harrison is a favorite and one I shall be making in honor of our next inauguration. Check it out, if you are so inclined. It's worth it.

That's it for this week. I leave you with a clip from the film Theater of Blood, which I think perfectly combines Price's status as a horror film icon, his love of food, and his famously dark sense of humor.

Warning: This clip, though amusing, is rather violent, but not in a blood-and-gut-spewing way. If you are the queasy sort, or can't stomach the thought of anyone hurting puppies, do not view.

Labels: cookbook, michael procopio, vincent price

I've never been to Vermont and frankly I've only recently developed much of a taste for maple syrup. Though I receive a fair number of regional cookbooks I usually don't find them very interesting. So I really did not expect to fall in love with Cooking with Shelburne Farms Food and Stories from Vermont. But I did.

Shelburne Farms is a 1,400 acre working farm that was declared a National Historic Landmark and serves as a nonprofit environmental education center. The book is filled with stories about farmers and food producers in Vermont and recipes from the inn on the property. And it's the recipes that really speak to me the most. They are organized around food groups from the region such as Sweet Maple, Wild Mushrooms, Apples. They're a combination of old-fashioned, and new and appealing combinations.

Here are some recipes that really caught my eye--Beet, Apple and Radish Salad, Tomato-Cheddar Soup, Pasta with Sweet Peas and Morels, and Apple and Cinnamon-Sugar Pancakes and Maple Sugar Blondies. There is something cozy and inviting about all of them. Though not the focus on the book, some of the recipes are fairly healthy, using ingredients like yogurt and plenty of vegetables. It's a cloth bound hardcover book and there are chef tips sprinkled throughout and a handful of color photos. Like a good travel book, this cookbook makes you feel like you are there.

This recipe sounds perfect for a crisp Fall day...

Maple and Black Pepper Chicken
Serves 4

1 1/2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
1 chicken, about 4 - 4 1/2pounds, cut into 6 pieces: 2 legs, 2 thighs, 2 bone-in breast halves with wings
2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt plus more to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large shallot, finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F with a rack set in the second highest position. With a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder, coarsely grind the peppercorns and set them aside.
2. Pat the chicken pieces dry and season them well with 1 1/2teaspoons of the salt. In a large, heavy-bottomed saute pan or skillet set over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil 3-4 minutes until shimmering. Put the chicken breasts into the pan skin side down and cook for about 7-9 minutes, without moving, until the skin is golden brown. Remove the chicken to a baking dish or roasting pan large enough to hold all the chicken. Next, brown the thighs and drumsticks, turning so the skin is evenly browned, up to 10 minutes.
3. Add the thighs and drumsticks to the baking dish and put the chicken in the oven. (Reserve the pan.) Roast for about 30-35 minutes until the chicken flesh closest to the bone is opaque. An instant-read thermometer should register about 165 degrees F for the breasts, and 175 degrees F for thighs and legs.
4. While the chicken is roasting, make the sauce in the reserved pan. Discard all but 2 tablespoons of the fat and set the pan over medium-high heat. Add the shallot and thyme and cook, stirring, 1-2 minutes or just until the shallot starts to color. Add the vinegar and simmer 1-2 minutes, using a spatula to scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the maple syrup and cracked black pepper and simmer for about 8-10 minutes until the sauce is reduced by about half. Adjust seasoning to taste. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and serve immediately.

Recipe reprinted courtesy of Viking Studio published by Penguin Books, 2007

Labels: amy sherman, cookbook

Last month I got a chance to see local personal chef and cookbook author Eric Gower do a cooking demonstration. I was sitting next to veteran culinary industry insiders, and we all marvelled at his creativity and at how truly delicious his dishes were.

Eric Gower's latest book, The Breakaway Cook is one that in all likelihood will make you rethink how you use certain ingredients. Some of his unorthodox ideas include adding yogurt to scrambled eggs to make them fluffly, baking eggs and rhubarb for breakfast, grinding up lentils to use as a breading for chicken or fish, and making a finishing salt out of kafir lime leaves and salt.

While many of the ingredients used are Japanese such as maccha powder, miso, umeboshi, shiitake mushrooms and tofu don't look for traditional Japanese recipes. Many recipes start with dishes from all over the world including roast chicken, risotto, tomato soup, braised turkey, kofte meatballs but are boosted with his "flavor blasts" like flavored salts, lemongrass citrus syrup, chipotle sauce and garlic confit. The philosophy of the book is also about taking shortcuts, and how to create a lot flavor in not a lot of time. You can check out recipes for Five Flavored Salts, Crispy Tangy Tofu, Maccha Poached Eggs, and more here. This book is a real keeper.

Pomegranate Potatoes
Serves 3 or 4

4 medium red potatoes, sliced into rounds slightly thicken 1/4 inch
Extra virgin olive oil in a spray bottle
1 Tablespoon pomegranate molasses
A few shakes of ground cinnamon
Coarse sea salt
Freshly crushed black pepper

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Lay the potato rounds on a wire rack over a baking sheet that's been lined with foil (to facilitate easy cleanup) and spray the potatoes liberally with olive oil. Spoon a small amount of pomegranate molasses over each round, smearing it around with a spoon, and top with cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Bake until the potatoes start to brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, flip each one with tongs or chopsticks, repeat the seasoning, and bake for another 5 minutes or so, until nicely browned on both sides.

Labels: amy sherman, cookbook

... or The Carnivore's Dilemma.



Originally, I had thought to do a little post on yet another odd celebrity cookbook, this one by Ted (Cat Scratch Fever) Nugent and his wife, Shemane. I thought I might be able to write an entire piece on the cover photo alone. Or Her name. Shemane.

I was immediately drawn to the cover photo with its creepy magenta-red side lighting, as though the blood from an elk Ted had just shot was seeping from the carcass, onto the hood of the truck where it was tied, and over the headlamps like some macabre gel. They may have thought the light looked pretty, so they got out of the truck and had their son take a picture. Or used a self-timer. That seems a more appropriate technique given this book's subtext of self-sufficiency.

I was also intrigued by the fact that, though Ted may be holding a long phallus of a rifle, Shemane holds an infinitely more sinister-looking instrument of torture. Something that might be a large hunting version of a tomato knife. And a spatula. Of course, with the spatula, she looks more the kill-it-and-griddle-it-type.

Kill It & Grill It is an entertaining read, whether one agrees with Nugent's politics or not. Just take a look at an excerpt from Chapter 16: Limbrat Etouffée:

"Kill tree-dwelling vermin, remove PJs, take to flame, chow down. Drive safely. It's really that simple to get a good meal of squirrel. Limbrat whackin' is truly bigfun [sic] any ol' way ya choose it-- bow and arrow, pistol, rifle, scattergun, slingshot, falconry, grenades, and my favorite, flamethrower. How can ya go wrong? Squirrels are, after all, rodents, so have fun blasting away. That there exists a season or bag-limit on the little shits is mind-boggling to say the least."

When he's not busy telling Democratic presidential candidates to either sit on or fellate his AR-15 rifles, Nugent spends a good deal of time hunting his own animal protein. He reportedly has not bought meat for decades. He hunts, he shoots, he eats what he kills. Outspoken arch-conservative or not, he is a man of strong opinions. He's caused me to take a moment and think about my own meat-eating ways.

I am a carnivore. Okay, I'm an omnivore. I could never give up bacon however I might try. But I've often thought about how far removed I am from the proteins I ingest. Would I, as an eater of animal flesh, be able to hunt down and kill my dinner?

In some cases, yes. If the animal isn't cuddly. I have in the past hunted, killed, and dressed lake trout. Cold blooded animals can be offed by me, naturally, in cold blood. A chicken? I've never seen one in the wild but, though unpleasant the task might be, I think I could do it. Maybe it's that animals whose eyes are on the sides of their heads are less unpleasant to slaughter due to the fact that they cannot look at you with both eyes at the same time.

I once had a lunch date with a man who turned out to be vegan. He was very pleased with his choice of lifestyle, as one should be. Having once dated a vegan in college, I knew that, no matter how wonderful this person might be, we could never have what I would consider a normal dating life. Vegetarianism I can happily accommodate. I eat vegetarian meals quite often. But the minute someone tells me I shouldn't eat cheese or that consuming honey is morally wrong because it represents bee enslavement, I want to remark that I think narrow-bandwidth thinking and a joyless, hyper-sensitive lifestyle is morally wrong because it results in human boredom.

Fortunately, my lunch date was a bore, or not that cute. I can't remember. My response to him was adolescent, at best. I ordered a pork dish and started talking about how, as Americans, we needed to start taking more responsibility for the meat products we eat and, should it become necessary, I would be willing look a cow in the eye and slaughter it on the spot.

It was perhaps the quickest lunch I've ever eaten outside a fast food restaurant.

And now I realize that, though my statement to the vegan was meant to provoke, it was utterly untrue. I don't have the guts to kill any animal cute enough to name. Yet I will happily eat from its flesh if someone else has done the dirty work. I am a hypocrite, yes, but a hungry one.

Though I am not a fan of guns, Sean Hannity, the current war, or much of anything loved by Ted Nugent, I have to give a grudging amount of respect to anyone who puts his money where his mouth is. Or his mouth where his bow and arrow have been. He, by and large, feeds his family on what he himself kills. I go to the store and ask if the neatly packaged chops that were once part of whole animals had been humanely treated in their lifetime. Sometimes. Other times, I forget and am shamed. I am aware of my own hypocrisy. Nugent occasionally makes others aware of their own. The fact that Animal Rights activists (in this case, extremists) have issued death threats against Nugent's children is a rather delicious irony.

By the time you read this post, I will be roaming the island of Santorini. Perhaps I might take the time to spear my own lavraki and throw it on a grill. Or perhaps one might catch me beating an octopus senseless on the rocks in order to tenderize its flesh in time for dinner. I doubt it. I'll let someone with a little more animal integrity to that for me.

I will be living such an aimless lifestyle for the next to weeks.

Apart from the angry comments from vegans I am likely to receive as a result of this post, I am curious to know the thoughts of you out there who are experiencing the same, or similar, meat-eating moral dilemma.

I'll see you in two weeks.

Labels: cookbook, kill it and grill it, michael procopio, ted nugent

Eric Gower is a San Francisco-based personal chef and cookbook author. He is also has a blog over at Yahoo! Food. Here he shares his approach to cooking, ingredients as well as shopping and dining around town.

1. How did living in Japan influence your cooking?
Japanese aesthetics, eating sequence, using chopsticks, caring about eating on great ceramics, eating seasonally .... all have been hugely influential. Each of those could get a multipage response, but if I had to break it down I'd say:
• use good plates and bowls -- it's remarkable what a difference it makes
• think about presentation, both on the plate and at the table -- use great materials and keep things exceedingly simple
• lots of small courses are good! It's fun to make meals composed of small amounts of many different things
• it's now become common sense, but eating what's in season makes a great deal of sense -- whatever your local farmers' market has the most of, buy in great quantity, and think of different things to do with your bounty.

2. How does your latest book The Breakaway Cook differ from your last book, The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen?
The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen focused on Japanese ingredients and my unorthodox "spins" on them. I used common Japanese ingredients like miso, green tea, umeboshi, shiitake, shiso, among others, and combined them in very simple ways with common staples like seasonal vegetables, meats and fish, pasta, and eggs. It is in no way a "Japanese" cookbook yet every recipe in it uses classic Japanese ingredients, all written with the home cook who has little experience with Japanese ingredients in mind. The recipes are vibrant and fresh, and tend to use quite a bit of fresh herbs, citrus, nuts, and fruit as key components of dishes, along with the Japanese ingredients and fresh produce.

The new book, The Breakaway Cook, uses a similar methodology--that is, common fresh produce and meats "woken up" with the judicious use of herbs, spices, citrus, fresh ginger, vinegars, and good oils--but instead of concentration only on Japanese ingredients I've opened it up to include key ingredients from a few other great culinary traditions, notably India, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia).

The idea is to produce easy, delicious food at home by rethinking the quintessential flavors of countries with rich culinary traditions. We do this by capturing/applying those flavors to everyday staples without necessarily doing it a traditional or "authentic" manner. We simply don't worry that much about keeping anything authentic; the only thing we're concerned about it is making and eating insanely great food, using whatever methods and ingredients that get us there.

3. If you could convince home cooks to add 3 ingredients to their list of staples, which would they be?
Pomegranate molasses, flavored salts, and miso.

4. What are "global flavor blasts"?
Global flavor blasts are ingredients from culinary traditions around the world that deliver intense flavors, with no work on our part except to open the jar/bottle/package and use them as is. Typically, they take a great deal of time to make from scratch. Pomegranate molasses, for example, is simply pomegranate juice that has been boiled down to a viscous, treacly syrup with intensely concentrated flavors. We could to this ourselves by buying large quantifies of pomegranate juice and simmering it all day long, but why bother? Someone has already done the work! Same goes for miso.

Tamarind concentrate, mole, adobo, umeboshi ... all can add just wonderful zing and complexity to the homeliest of meals to create flavor sensations you never thought possible to create at home, virtually instantly. They are worth getting to know.

5. Do you still have 15 kinds of vinegar in your pantry?
Well I think I'm down to about 12! Let me see what I can do to rectify that.

6. What is your piece de resistance?
Hmm, I'd say matcha (powdered green tea) salt. Just combine matcha and sel gris in a coffee grinder to produce an ethereal, wildly delicious salt to sprinkle on things, especially poached eggs. As an added bonus, it is hauntingly beautiful.

7. Who would you most like to cook for?
My hero, Bill Clinton!

8. What are some of your favorite local (SF Bay Area) restaurants and places to shop for food?
For restaurants, I like Aziza, on Geary near 21st, very, very much. It's "breakaway Moroccan" and just wonderful. Dosa on Valencia has terrific Indian food. Dragonfly on Judah has some serious breakaway Vietnamese dishes, and Burma Superstar on Clement has one of the world's best salads, the heavenly green tea salad.

Food shopping: I buy all my spices at the wonderful San Francisco Herb Company, on 14th Street. Monterey Fish on Pier 33 has by far (and I mean by far) the best fish in the Bay Area. I buy my meats in whole-animal form from local farmers (it's tastier, more humane, and even cheaper, believe it o not, though you do need a large freezer). Veggies and fruits come from all over, but my favorite market is the Marin farmers' market in San Rafael. I also like Alemany, and I try to shop most Wednesdays at the Civic Center farmers' market. Dairy, juices, and nuts come from Trader Joe's.

Next week come back for a review of The Breakaway Cook and a recipe

Labels: amy sherman, cookbook