TrelayneNYC

Chicken bouillabaisse, from the "Zuni Cafe Cookbook", pages 348-349.

Saturday brunch menu for November 26, 2016: Warm radicchio salad with Meyer lemon, fava beans and anchovy Garlic soup with ham, herbs and poached egg. Clockwise from top: 1 head radicchio; leftover cooked fava beans; 2 anchovy fillets; 1 onion, sliced into half-moons; 1 Meyer lemon, sliced. Warm olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, then add onion and fry until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. Clear a space in the pan and add the anchovy. Mash anchovy with the back of a wooden spoon. Anchovy will disintegrate into the sauce. Clear a space in the pan and add the Meyer lemons. Toast for 10-20 seconds, then stir them in. Repeat with the fava beans. Taste for salt and pepper. Stir in some chopped parsley. Cook fava beans for 2-3 minutes, then remove from heat and set aside. Warm olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, add the radicchio leaves. Wilt radicchio, about 1-2 minutes. Leaves should be halfway between "raw" and "wilted". Remove from heat. Combine radicchio with fava bean mixture. Toss a few times, then serve at once. For the soup: 2 tbsp. olive oil 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 3 slices prosciutto, julienned 1/4 cup minced parsley 2 cups water or chicken stock 2 eggs salt black pepper Fry garlic in olive oil over medium heat, then add prosciutto once garlic begins to turn color. Add half of the parsley. Sauté, then add either 2 cups water or chicken stock. Bring to a boil, thenreduce heat and simmer. Crack a couple of eggs into the pan and poach. When eggs are done, lift out with a slotted spoon. Taste soup for salt and pepper, then ladle into bowls and serve. Garnish with leftover parsley.

I cleaned out part of our freezer today. The remains of 3 roasted chickens, seasoned with kosher salt, black pepper and olive oil, then set in a roasting pan. 1 giant onion, 2 limp carrots and a few celery stalks, similarly seasoned. Roasted for 35 minutes at 350 F. Combined with 5 quarts cold water. Salt. Black peppercorns. Brought to a boil, reduced to a simmer. Skimmed off foam. Simmered for 2 hours on low heat. Liquid gold in the house! Some of this will be for tomorrow night's dinner and the rest frozen for future use. Ironically.

I may have but that was a while ago.

LOL, thanks Don. It's a wonderfully delicious cake. Not too sweet, easy to prepare and it occurs to me that it would be perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack. Clockwise from foreground right: Meyer lemons, ricotta cheese, 4 eggs, sugar, AP flour, baking powder, salt, one floured and greased bundt pan. Grease the bundt pan with either olive oil or butter, then generously flour it with AP flour. AP flour = all-purpose flour. I tend to abbreviate a lot. Pre-heat oven to 350 F. In a large bowl, mix: 2 cups AP flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 2 tsp. baking powder and a pinch of salt. 1 cup ricotta cheese. We bought some from Cowgirl Creamery, although you can probably also use regular ricotta from your local supermarket. In the bowl with the ricotta cheese, mix in: 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil and 4 eggs. Add the eggs one at a time and whisk into the mixture. Eventually you'll end up with something like this. Transfer the ricotta-oil mixture to the flour-sugar mixture. Whisk until you obtain a thick batter. Add: the zest of two lemons. I also added the juice of one Meyer lemon. Stir a few times. Transfer to the bundt pan, taking care to ensure that the batter doesn't rise up more than 2/3 of the way up. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool on a wire rack before removing from the pan. When I removed the cake from the pan, it slid right out. Ricotta and lemon bundt cake. Incidentally, this was our place setting: We gave away a ton of pasta and dessert, and we still have leftovers. I call that a triumph. We're planning our Christmas dinner menu in case anyone would like to fly to San Francisco and join in.

I thought I'd post some more pix of what we're having for Thanksgiving dinner. Fagiulini spilusieddi ("green beans with onion, mint and breadcrumbs") Scarola con aglio e olio ("escarole with garlic and oil" -- this version has pine nuts and raisins) Ciambellone di ricotta e limone ("ricotta cheese and Meyer lemon bundt cake")

We're having an Italian Thanksgiving this year and I prepped a batch of ragù della domenica ("Sunday sauce") last night. Plan is to make the antipasto and contorni on Wednesday evening, and a lemon and ricotta cake on Thursday morning, and cook the pasta shortly after the guests arrive. Contorni will be escarole with anchovy, raisins and pine nuts, and green beans with onion and mint. Not sure about the antipasto but I think some crostini will be in order. I'm sure some of you know what Sunday sauce is, but for the rest of you who don't, this is a short primer on how to make a pasta sauce that knocks any of the jarred stuff out of the park. We decided to make a pared down version of Sunday sauce. I usually don't add braciole or pig's feet. A friend of mine says that the variety of meats is endless. What is required are one or a variety of any of these: meatballs, pork ribs, lamb shanks, pork shanks, pork chops, chunks of pork, pork skin, pork skin braciole, pig's feet, beef roast, oxtail, pancetta, prosciutto rinds, guanciale, dry sausage, fresh fennel sweet or hot pork italian sausage...pork or beef or lamb neckbones... so...what makes the best flavored sauces certainly are the ones with bones and lots of fat. 2-3 tbsp. lard 6 spareribs 4 pork chops 1 lb. sweet Italian sausages 14 ounces ground beef 7 ounces ground pork 2 tbsp. finely chopped flat leaf parsley 2 tbsp. finely chopped mint 1/3 cup freshly grated pecorino cheese 1 cup breadcrumbs 1/2 cup milk sea salt black pepper 1 tsp. ground nutmeg 1 onion, finely chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 cup red wine 4 28 oz. cans crushed San Marzano tomatoes 2-3 sprigs flat-leaf parsley 2-3 sprigs basil Clockwise from foreground: 1 jar of lard; 4 cloves garlic, minced; 1 onion, chopped; 1 bottle cabernet sauvignon; 2 cans crushed San Marzano tomatoes (there are 2 other cans to the right). 2 heaping tbsp. lard being melted. Brown your pork chops. Brown them lightly, then transfer to a plate. Brown your spareribs. We bought 6 from Llano Seco. Add the remaining spareribs, and sweet Italian sausages. Brown them, then transfer to a plate. Meatballs in the making: 14 ounces ground beef7 ounces ground pork1 cup breadcrumbs soaked in 1/2 cup milk 2 tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley 2 tbsp. chopped mint 1 egg 1/3 cup grated pecorino cheese 1 tsp. grated nutmeg salt black pepper Combine all ingredients. Mix with your hands until ingredients are well incorporated. Shape into balls using a tablespoon. Browned meats. Meatballs. Fry the meatballs in the lard until lightly browned. Transfer to a plate. Browned meatballs. This is what you want at the end of the browning process., All those lovely browned bits form the foundation of the sauce. Add the onion first, then the garlic. Sweat the vegetables for 20 minutes over low heat, stirring every so often. Don't raise the heat or they'll steam. Deglaze with 1 cup red wine. We used cabernet sauvignon but pinot noir will also work. Or use any red wine you like. Or skip the wine -- it's just that I like the addiitonal layer of flavor that wine provides. Simmer until alcohol has evaporated. Then we transferred the wine mixture to another pot, then added the browned meats. Simmer over low heat. Added the meatballs. Added some sprigs of parsley and basil, then added 4 28 oz. cans of crushed San Marzano tomatoes and 1/2 can of cold water. I stirred a bit, seasoned with salt and pepper, then brought to a boil, then reduced heat to low and simmered, partly covered, for 4 hours. It's sitting in the fridge as I type this.

I introduced my hubby to slow-roasted cherry tomatoes this year. We like to go to the market and buy 3-4 pints of assorted cherry, pear and grape tomatoes, then toss them with salt, black pepper and 2-3 tbsp. olive oil. Place in a parchment paper and foil-lined tray. Roast for 2 hours in a pre-heated 250 F oven, then for 90 minutes at 200 F. Incidentally, this shot is why we recommend lining the tray with both foil and parchment paper, so you can avoid an outcome that looks like this. Made for a great picture though. We adore them in everything from omelettes to pasta to sandwich and focaccia toppings. And as crostini, as shown below. Take a few slices of bread. Rub each with a cut garlic clove, then season with salt and black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. Toast the bread slices until golden brown. Spread the slices with good-quality ricotta cheese. Top with a basil leaf, then spoon cherry tomatoes over. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Eat, then swoon.

Not particularly. We eat out 1-2x a week because sometimes we don't feel like cooking. We also use that opportunity to (1) mine ideas for future meals and (2) support local businesses. And while we oftentimes can and do better than some of the places we eat at, the differences aren't really a major factor in our household.

Tonight we had pasta con acciughe e bottarga di mugine (pasta with anchovy and mullet bottarga). It's something I threw together in 15 minutes and is something that might be common in either Sicily or Sardinia. I cook Italian about 60% of the time and farm-to-table for the remainder. I also work late during the week most nights so that's why you usually see posts from me on or around the weekends, or occasionally on Monday. Clockwise from upper left: 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced; 3 anchovy fillets; 1/4 cup minced flat-leaf parsley and mint; reserved mint for garnish; red pepper flakes; mullet bottarga. Warm 3-4 tbsp. olive oil in a pan along with the garlic on medium heat. Add red pepper flakes. If you add the garlic to the oil while it's cold, the oil will be infused with more garlic flavor and aroma as it warms than if you added the garlic to already heated oil. Fry garlic until it turns color, the add anchovy and bottarga. Anchovy and bottarga will disintegrate after about 1-2 minutes. Add parsley and mint. Cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add 1 ladleful pasta cooking water. Bring sauce to a boil, then reduce. When pasta is done, drain, then add to the pan. Toss to ensure strands are evenly coated with the sauce. Taste and correct for salt, sprinkle with reserved mint leaves, then serve immediately. Pasta con acciughe e bottarga. I used bucatini because that's what we had on hand, but it could also go with spaghetti.

Yesterday we had involtini, better known as stuffed beef rolls braised in tomato sauce. It was the first night I managed to have any interest in cooking after the surprising events of last week which I won't go into here. Clockwise from lower left: kosher salt, cracked black pepper; 1 carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks; 1 28 oz. can San Marzano tomatoes; 1 bottle of sauvignon blanc; 2 celery stalks, trimmed and cut into match sticks. Not shown are 6 1/8" thick slices of beef rump (or you can also use beef chuck, or sandwich steak slices) and 1/2 lb. prosciutto crudo. Take each slice of beef, season with salt and pepper on both sides. Lay a slice of prosciutto on one side, then add some carrot and celery. Roll up the beef and secure with 1 toothpick. Eventually you'll end up with something like these. Warm 2-3 tbsp. olive oil in a skillet and add the beef rolls to the pan. Brown on all sides on medium heat, about six minutes. Add 1/2 cup white wine and let the wine reduce for a bit. Crush the tomatoes by hand, then add 2/3 of the can to the pan. Bring the liquid in the pan to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and partly cover. Braise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, checking every so often to turn the beef rolls and stir. If the liquid gets too low, add some water, stock or reserved tomatoes. Involtini al sugo.

Tonight was white-cut chicken (bái qie ji) which -- considering that I am in fact of Chinese descent -- is more traditional than the version presented in Christopher Kimball's new venture. Here's CK's version if you're curious. BTW I found his magazine to be underwhelming. But enough about that. Ideally I should have started this last night or earlier this morning but I was a little busy. Take a 4-5 lb. chicken, rinse and pat dry, then massage 1 1/2 tsp. salt all over and inside the cavity. Set on a rack to drain. Next, fill a large stockpot with 3-4 quarts cold water, 1 thumb sized piece of peeled ginger root cut in half, 4-5 crushed garlic cloves and 2 tbsp. salt. Bring to a boil. Add the chicken. Return to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes and skim off any scum that rises to the surface. Cover and remove from heat. Let chicken sit in the broth for 20-25 minutes. After the 25 minutes are up, uncover, bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. It should look like this after all is said and done: Remove chicken from the stockpot and carefully transfer to a colander. Stick a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh; it should read 170 F. If it doesn't, return chicken back to the stockpot and simmer for a few more minutes or until the internal temp. reaches 170 F. If the chicken is done, ladle some ice water over, then set aside and cool. Once cool enough to handle, massage 1 tbsp. sesame oil all over the bird, then hack into serving pieces with a sharp knife or Chinese cleaver. Serve with ginger-scallion sauce (recipe below). Reserve the Chinese chicken stock (basically the liquid the chicken poached in) for another use. Ginger-scallion sauce 3 scallions, minced 2 tbsp. shredded ginger 1/2 tsp. salt 4 tbsp. vegetable oil Combine first three ingredients in a heat-proof bowl. Warm vegetable oil in a skillet over high heat until just short of smoking. Carefully pour oil over ginger-scallion mixture; the oil may sputter and spit. Use as desired. We served that with leftover steamed broccoli, and a large green salad with shallot vinaigrette.

Steamed broccoli, Sicilian-style green beans and slow-roasted cherry tomatoes, drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil

The other is Ijji, a new (to us) sushi restaurant that is potentially the best sushi I've had in this country since my experience at Sushi Yasuda in New York when Yasuda-san was still present. Very small space, about 10 total tables not including the bar. Also a limited menu that changes often with fish flown in from Japan with the exception of some from Alaska and environs. I won't bore you with a pic of everything we had at a dinner there two months ago, but here are some highlights: Asari clams, lotus root, sesame oil and shiso Wild sea bass, hijiki, yuzu vinaigrette. Wild bonito. Barracuda sushi. Kelp-cured Japanese sea bream sushi. Each piece is served with a topping that dispenses with the need for soy sauce. Excellent balance of flavors in the rice. Total for their omakase was $160 per person with 20% tax and tip. Ijji 252 Divisadero Street (Haight Street) Lower Haight

ty!

I want to introduce you to a couple more places on our regular rotation. First up is Izakaya Rintaro. You can see the menu here: http://izakayarintaro.com/wp-content/uploads/menu.pdf and the website here: http://izakayarintaro.com/ Yosedofu -- house-made silken tofu, with scallion, magurobushi and grated ginger. Subtle, faintly sweet, creamy and something I order every time I go. Torikawa no kara-age -- fried chicken skin with spicy citrus salt. Someone in the kitchen knows how to fry. These were addictive and utterly greaseless, no easy feat. Chicken thigh + onion (or scallion) yakitori, served with shichimi tōgarashi. Chicken liver yakitori, with shichimi tōgarashi. The skewers are good but not as great as their other offerings. Dashimaki tamago -- egg omelet with katsuobushi dashi and grated daikon radish. Lovely and well-made. Kamo menchikatsu -- minced duck and onion katsu with panko, cabbage and hot mustard. The small pitcher contained katsu sauce. This was the star of the evening on the night we went. That picture doesn't look like much but it's deceptively filling. Natto-don -- fermented soybeans, Japanese rice, toasted nori, hot mustard. This was "dessert" for me. It was either that or order more of the tofu. Izakaya Rintaro 82 14th Street (Folsom Street) SoMa

Since I live here and have been living here for a little over a year now, I'll be posting on this thread regularly. Every Friday we have dinner at either a "cheap" place or a not-so-cheap place. By "we", I mean my hubby and I. We went to one of our standbys this weekend. It's a small restaurant with 7 tables total and a nice long bar. We showed up at 6:25 pm and didn't get in until 7:30 pm, just to show you how crazy it can be. Walk-ins only, no reservations accepted. Chilled artichoke, salad, lemon aioli Perfect in every single way and the best appetizer on the (limited menu). Cioppino served with garlic bread. This is a "small" size and enough for two people or one hearty eater. Total bill came out to $35 per person with tax and 20% tip. Anchor Oyster Bar 579 Castro Street (19th Street) The Castro http://anchoroysterbar.com/AOBmenuAug2015.pdf

I moved to San Francisco in August 2015 and let me tell you that the variety and extended growing season in California is miles away from what I was used to in New York. It's been kind of an adventure. Cherry tomatoes are still available although I expect them to be gone soon. Each cantaloupe is the size of your hand. These are small heirloom apples called Wickson apples. They're about double the size of a golf ball, have a tart-sweet flavor and are great for eating out of hand. This weekend we bought: whole chicken, herbs (basil, mint), salad greens, rainbow chard, Italian sweet peppers, Seckel pears, green beans, brussels sprouts, Sun Gold cherry tomatoes and regular cherry tomatoes and heirloom garlic.

So it's been a while, right? Let's try this again. This was last night's dinner.... 1 cup breadcrumbs 1/4 cup milk 14 ounces ground beef 7 ounces ground pork 1 egg 1/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese 1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg 3 tbsp. total finely chopped flat-leaf parsley and mint salt black pepper Mix breadcrumbs with milk, set aside for 10 minutes or until crumbs absorb milk. Then combine all ingredients in a large bowl, including breadcrumb mixture. Mix with your hands or until all ingredients are well-incorporated. Shape into balls with a tablespoon. Fry in olive oil until lightly browned all over. Lift out with a slotted spoon and place on a paper-towel lined plate. Make the tomato sauce: 1 clove garlic 3 tbsp. olive oil 2 cans crushed San Marzano tomatoes 2 bay leaves 1 handful basil leaves salt black pepper Warm olive oil in a pot along with garlic over low heat. Crush garlic with the back of a wooden spoon. Once the garlic has become fragrant and has started to brown, add the tomatoes. You can thin it out with a little water if you like. Add the bay leaves and basil. Taste for salt and pepper. Raise heat and bring sauce to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer sauce for 15-20 minutes. Add meatballs, then braise meatballs for 30 minutes. Taste once more for salt and pepper, then serve immediately. Polpette al sugo While the meatballs were braising, I started on the contorno. 1 lb. green beans, split lengthwise 3 tbsp. olive oil 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed 4 anchovy fillets salt black pepper 1/3 cup breadcrumbs Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add green beans and boil for 5-6 minutes or until green beans are tender to the bite. Shouldn't take very long. Remove from heat, then drain and shock in ice water. Warm olive oil in a pan with garlic over low heat. Once the garlic has become fragrant and has started to brown, add the anchovies. Stir a couple of times, then add the green beans. Make sure you stir the beans so that the beans are coated in the flavorful oil. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then stir in the breadcrumbs. The original recipe uses 1 cup breadcrumbs but I cut the amount down since the meatballs have breadcrumbs and we're watching our carbs. Cook for a couple more minutes, then stir in some chopped mint. Taste for salt and pepper, then serve. Sicilian-style green beans

Because they're not, in the context of this particular thread. They are neither meaningful nor particularly helpful, in my opinion. Mr. Joe Doe who might come across this thread probably won't think they are, either. As stated, I provided those pix as a rough guideline so someone who wants to learn more about the dish has an additional resource to use in addition to the content posted above. If this were a thread about how to make the perfect risotto, then your comments are 100% on the mark. I'm pretty sure mine aren't perfect or even authentic. *shrug* Your mileage may vary.

Radish and butter sandwich. Sancerre, Pascal Jolivet 2013, France Arugula and chickweed salad, poached farm egg, bacon and ramp vinaigrette Poached arctic char, glazed carrots with mint

I didn't watch the video. I also don't think comparing experiences by strangers (i.e., my photo of the coconut risotto) to memories of experiences (i.e., your memory of whatever it was you had in Italy) is particularly meaningful, especially since I don't know what you ate so I can't use that as a yardstick. I'm only providing the photo as a rough guideline since as someone noted upthread, it's a dish that you learn to make by attempting it (as is the case with just about anything in life, not just cooking).

You don't have to stir continuously, but you do have to stir often. As for texture, you should strive for an appearance of a "creamy" consistency without having added cream, like so: This was for a mussel risotto from May 2012. Another example is a sweet coconut risotto with Meyer lemon marmalade, from March 2012 (both the mussel risotto and the coconut risotto are on the blog). Neither of those had much cream added (the coconut risotto recipe calls for 2 tablespoons heavy cream stirred in at the end), which should give you some idea of what to look for.

Rillettes de sardines ("sardine spread"). The recipe for this is from pages 78-79 of "My Paris Kitchen". B (my boyfriend; let's just call him "B" for now) remarked that it was quite delicious and addictive. It's also somewhat rich and best consumed over time, or at a dinner party. I halved the proportions David calls for in the original recipe, and subbed lemon juice for lime juice, but otherwise it's as written. Salade parisienne, chive mayonnaise. Clockwise from top right -- cold roast chicken; Jerusalem artichokes; carrot sticks; French breakfast radishes; celery sticks. Not shown are boiled heirloom potatoes. I adore salade parisienne (better known as "leftovers"). It's perfect for a grazing dinner, and best of all, you can do this year-round. Basically, it's slightly warm or cold cooked meats and vegetables with dipping sauces. Although I had herb mayonnaise, the classic accompaniment is sauce moutarde. Other ideas include: roast beef, roast turkey, hard-cooked eggs with anchovy fillets; haricot verts or green beans; cherry tomatoes or tomato wedges; pickled pearl onion; steamed Japanese turnips; heirloom radishes.

Sautéed chicken livers with port and shallots, and mesclun salad Garlic broth, with ramps and spinach Roast chicken; spinach with garlic, anchovy and lemon Honeycrisp apple crostata, pistachio ice cream (no pic)