Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Moro Bread

Excellent recipe and sooo easy-
courtesy of the magical Justine Reese who, if you are in her kitchen and you blink your eyes, fresh hot bread/bagels/chicken/cookies may emerge, as if from thin air. it's weird.

5 cups white flour (i use king arthur's bread flour)

2 1/3 cups wheat flour (i use arrowhead mills stone ground) or mixture
of 2 cups wheat flour & 1/3 cup flax meal and/or wheat germ)

4 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp yeast

1/2 cup tepid water for dissolving yeast

3 additional cups tepid water

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup tepid/warm water for 5 minutes. Mix
flours/grains together. Mix in yeasty water and additional 3 cups
water. Mix with dough hook until well mixed, dough will be too sticky
to handle easily. Ease into two well-oiled loaf pans. Cover with damp
towel and let rise 2-5 hours (depending on how active/instant your
yeast is). Bake at 450 for 30 mins., then remove from pans and bake
10-15 mins more. (I keep a close eye on it towards the end, sometimes
it gets done more quickly)


Saturday, July 2, 2011

The Milk Taste Test

Some how the topic of milk floated into our kitchen while we were patiently waiting for our gnocchi dough to chill. We were curious what kind of milk tasted better: O organics, Strauss, or Berkeley Farms. Everyone tasted, and ranked them from best to worst. To my surprise Strauss came in last place, O Organics second, and Berkeley farms first. Even with the results, I am still partial to Strauss!

Friday, July 1, 2011

ricotta gnocchi in the house


Anna and i had a fantastic cooking date with some helpers there at the end.



gnocchi:
lots of ricotta
Parmesan
eggs
flour
salt

sauce:
caramelized onions, yes for an hour
tomatoes, fresh until we panicked about not having enough, so some canned too
corn, ah summer
cream, oo moo

And we did a milk taste test- anna: blog away on how nobody's fav was Strauss.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Slightly Salty Caramel Corn


Popcorn is one of my absolute favorite foods. Covered with a sweet caramel sauce and sprinkled lightly with sea salt, it makes the best snack. Ever!
Popcorn
Sugar
Cream of Tartar
Corn Syrup
Butter
Sea salt

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Strawberry Rhubarb Tapioca Pudding

This is delicious summer desert, incorporating luscious Spring/ Summer ingredients into my favorite food, pudding. What could be yummier?A special bonus: Its perfect to eat the day after getting braces!
Tapioca pearls
Orange zest
Sugar
Water
Strawberries
Rhubarb

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

family staple


FISH STEW
chicken stock
clam juice- mmm
white wine
tomatoes
garlic
onion
peppers
potatoes
fish- cod, etc.

sauce:
mayo
garlic
lemon zest
cayenne or ground dried peppers left over from Thai cooking

Thursday, June 16, 2011

hi summer- let's post

watercress
kale
roasted baby shitakes
slivered kumquats
grilled corn

white balsamic & sensational olive oil from Orvieto (thank you so Mimi)



Monday, March 21, 2011

Guest post: Faking the KFC Doubledown

Please enjoy the following movie, courtesy of Michael Cecconi.
Hit the full screen button at the lower right of the video screen in order to read the captions.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Grilled Kale Salad


We have declared our favorite dinners in the Presidio when the 3 of us hover over our mini Weber grill, and the food goes from the fire directly into our bellies. Very cave man/woman/toddler and a sight you wouldn't see in Nana's house. Here is a recipe that often accompanies the carnage- it is inspired from Michael's days at Back Forty.
Grill a bunch of lacinto (dino) kale
throw into a bowl with
*juice and zest of one lemon
*olive oil
*salt or gomasio
* 1 clove smooshed garlic
*a squirt of anchovy paste

toss and ingest

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Comforting Tapioca Pudding


I remember eating and enjoying tapioca pudding made by my mother and grandmother during my Midwestern childhood in the 1940s. To please my grandchildren, in recent years, I started making it and have always used Kraft Minute variety, until recently when I purchased large pearl and then small pearl natural tapioca at Real Foods. When I see it, which only seems to be in that grocery, I have an urge to buy and make it. After much discussion about the source of tapioca, we found that it is a thickening agent used in milk or fruit puddings made from the root of the cassava plant which grows in the tropics.
Making tapioca is not quick and easy, but an act of love! When using large or small pearl it must be soaked for 30 minutes before cooking. No doubt that is why minute tapioca, which only needs to soak 5 minutes is more readily available for American cooks. All sizes of tapioca take about 20 minutes of constant stirring, so you have to be patient or have a good book or TV close by.
Rather than copying the recipe from a package or a cook book, I suggest that people who want to give others a comforting treat should use the recipe on the package. The instant variety has a simple/shorter version and a longer yummier version. I am including a few photos of the process and a short video on the technique of folding egg whites into the creamy hot pudding, which makes it more complicated than cooking the whole beaten egg with the sugar and milk. These photos are from the one time I made chocolate, the all-time favorite of the grandchildren. Don't worry if when adding the cocoa it looks like the above photo. As you stir it will mix in with the milk.

Make Tapioca as directed on the packaging. Here is a short video of the important step of folding the egg whites into the hot pudding. But wait, first be sure to temper the egg whites by slowly mixing some hot pudding into the beaten whites. (See, I said it is an act of love!)

Below is a photo of the finished chocolate tapioca ready to deliver to loved ones in individual bowls set on a tray that I inherited from my grandmother.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Mendocino Memories

Papa and I had a great salad at the Mendocino Cafe, and Margi and I recreated it in SF.
Main ingredients:
red cabbage, golden raisins and browned sliced almonds. Make a dressing that appeals to you and enjoy a nutritious side dish.

3 Youngs at Farmers' Market

Here we are on a chilly September day choosing fresh produce at Ft. Mason.

Friday, January 7, 2011

lentil spread


Most people see this and ask me if it is pate. To which i get a film in my mouth recalling the last time i accidentally stuck a big blob of pate in my mouth getting a FREE sample at a cheese store in Bayhead. I have a relatively open palate, but pate makes me barf.


I can't put amounts, because every batch is different and fin throws everything in- and at this age, he is lacking in culinary precision.

lentils
garlic
onion
sun dried tomatoes
dijon
red peppers
alepo pepper (highly optional- a butcher gave me some when i bought goat to grill, and i am moving product)
toasted walnuts
capers

darn- i am having my problem again where blogger doesn't let me upload another image. blogger, i need to have a talk with you.

it's hot in here and i feel stuffed


Monday, January 3, 2011

Presidio Chicken

My dad has always laughed at how much I love free stuff. Whenever an amuse bouche arrives, or there is a pile of mints, or chocolate chip cookies at First Republic, he whispers "free," and we giggle because we are so psyched. Tori calls it "granddaughter of the depression" syndrome.
Now that i live closer to the land, I have a little obsession with foraging so on Michael's rehab walks when we come upon mass amounts of rosemary, I want to pick pick pick because it is free free free.

Honestly, I don't even like rosemary and at this moment I am over roasting whole chickens, but I couldn't think of anything else to do with it- ideas? rosemary popsicles?

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Minty Hot Chocolate



Now that Christmas has gone and 2011 has come, the last bit of fall that we have been holding has been pushed out of our grasp . The chilly rain falls and the gray sky sits, and all I want to do is sit by a heater with a warm blanket. I eat soup and drink tea with lots of honey. But when the cold days seem to drag on and the rain hasn't stopped streaking down for days, I want hot chocolate. Delicious, creamy, steamy hot chocolate, to make everything better.


My hot chocolate experience started with the packet and water after skiing, then I started to add milk, and eventually cinnamon. But how do you make hot chocolate, actually using real chocolate?! Because I love me my hot chocolate, I heated milk added chocolate and sugar and mint extract, and there it was sitting in my favorite cup.

Making hot chocolate from scratch is very, very easy. You can use any kind of chocolate depending on the bitterness you want, and you can use any kind of milk; including cream or half and half. I used half dark, dark chocolate and half semi sweet chocolate chips with a teaspoon of sugar. I also added a bit mint extract, to make it minty and bring out the chocolateyness ( if that is not a word it definitely should be)

I love stuff, as in toppings. Toppings just make everything better, so i used whipped cream (yumsers) and some shaved chocolate! You could also use marshmallows, candy cane, anything you want to make it delicious.

Recipe: serves 2-3

1/3 cup dark chocolate
1/3 cup semi sweet chocolate
4 cups 2% milk
1/2 teaspoon mint extract
1 teaspoon sugar
whipped cream
chocolate shavings

Bring the milk to a simmer over low heat. Slowly add the chocolate, and mint extract. Whisk for several minutes until the chocolate has been incorperated with the milk. Poor into a cup and top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Enjoy :)