purple cauliflower soup

just like the regular kind, but prettier!

ingredients
1 head purple cauliflower, chopped
1 chopped potato
~3 small leeks, white and pale green parts only, chopped
butter
olive oil
coriander
oregano
paprika
salt & pepper
chicken stock
lime juice
tiny bit heavy cream

directions
seriously, this couldn't be easier:
saute leeks in butter & olive oil until soft but not brown.
add potato, cauliflower & spices.
add chicken stock and/or water, enough to cover.
bring to boil.
reduce heat, cover & simmer until cauliflower is tender.
adjust seasonings.
puree in blender.
add a tiny bit heavy cream and lime juice.

i am a sucker for purple food.

oh yeah, and check this out: when i squirted a little lime juice on the soup, it turned this gorgeous bright fuchsia color! dinner + chemistry!

pulled pork sandwich

ingredients

2 lb pork shoulder

for the rub:
pimenton de la vera
paprika
sea salt
black pepper
the dirty dozen rub (a gift from jean -- thanks, jean!)

for the mop:
3/4 c red wine vinegar
1/4 apple cider vinegar
3 T worcestershire sauce
2 t sugar
1 T spicy brown mustard
1 T sweet habanero mustard
1 T cayenne powder
honey

directions
combine the rub spices and rub all over the roast.
wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate overnight.
in a bowl, combine all of the mop ingredients and mix well.
unwrap the roast.
heat the over to approximately 190-200 degrees F.*
heat up a cast iron skillet and sear the roast on all sides.
pour the mop over the roast.
cover the skillet with aluminum foil.
cook for ~6 hours. maybe 10.*
pull apart.
pile onto buns and eat!

*so ... it's pretty difficult to get the oven to hover reliably at such a low temperature. i put this in the oven and set the dial to what i thought would produce about 200 degrees, but it ended up heating to about 330. the meat cooked there for about 40 minutes. so, i turned the dial down even further than i thought necessary, thinking that i could leave it for about 4 hours, and cruised over to dolores park for some beverages and laying about in the sunshine. when i got back, the meat was definitely nowhere near done, and the oven temp read about 140ish. so i turned the dial back up, checked to see that the oven flames were still on, and kept the roast in for another four hours or so -- enough time to have a bowl of french onion soup, a bottle of wine, and a goat cheese-and-bacon burger at chez maman. the pork turned out perfectly tender, moist and pull-able. in other words, i'm not really sure how long the pork was cooked or at what temperature, but it turned out great regardless.

walnut tofu: not pretty, but cool

in 2006, i did a temple stay (shukubo) at ekoin, a shingon buddhist temple in the japanese mountain town of koya-san. koya-san is home to a massive cluster of monasteries, a ton of buddhist monks, and the glorious, mystical graveyard okunoin, where kobo daishi's remains hang out (as do the remains of lots of other famous buddhists and important folks who wanted to be buried near kobo daishi). the temples are pretty famous for their shojin ryori -- traditional gourmet buddhist vegetarian food -- and it might not surprise you that at least part of the reason that i went to koya-san was to eat it! and more than two years later, i still remember the sesame tofu -- a light, slippery square with such a rich taste that i didn't miss meat for a second. that memory fired me up to make another type of "not-tofu" tofu out of walnuts.

ingredients
about 2/3 cup blanched walnuts
(note: blanching = boiling in water until slightly softened)
2 packages gelatin
2 cups water
1 t sugar
1 t salt

directions
blanch the walnuts.
begin heating the water. add the gelatin before it gets hot. dissolve the gelatin in the water, whisking pretty constantly to make sure it doesn't clump.
grind the walnuts in a food processor until they form a thick paste.
add the salt and sugar.
gradually add the gelatin-water. keep processing until it looks sort of like a thin milkshake.
strain out the solids.
pour the walnut liquid into a mold (if you have one) or any old bowl.
let cool. refrigerate until set.

this stuff ended up being really neat, quite a bit like a creamy walnut jell-o in a gorgeous shade of pale lilac. the creaminess (and hint of sweetness) reminded me of a delicious nut-milk shake at cafe gratitude, and it was so unexpected coming from this wobbly little bit of goo. i'll definitely try it with sesame seeds and edamame and probably with almonds. i'm also curious how much the texture would change if i used the more traditional kuzu method (which would also enable me to serve the tofu warm). whole foods has kuzu ...

niku-jaga

aka japanese beef and potato stew.

ingredients
about 1.5 lb beef (i used a top sirloin roast), chopped into approximately 1.5 inch squares
about 1.5 lb cooking potatoes (like russets), peeled and coarsely chopped
two big carrots, peeled and sliced
fresh shelled peas
3 c water or dashi
~5 T shoyu
~3 T mirin
~2 T sugar (rapadura)
vegetable oil
cooked rice

directions
heat oil.
add beef and cook until lightly browned on all sides (don't cook all the way).
add potatoes and carrots. continue cooking.
add water.
skim the scum that foams to the top.
reduce heat. add sugar, soy, and mirin.
cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.
check the taste and adjust if necessary.
continue simmering until you're happy with the amount of liquid left.
5 minutes before you're done, add the peas.
ladle over rice and serve.

way easy, way good dinner and lunch for two. cheap, too.

otsu

i had actually forgotten where i found this recipe -- a standby now for more than a year -- until i decided to post about it. no surprise, really, that this came from 101 cookbooks. i tend to add asparagus, and i think the black sesame seeds make it look a bit sexier than the white.

my best pizza so far

dough from the A16 cookbook, with slight modifications based on the fact that i actually do have a rustic italian kitchen (i.e., no stand mixer). seriously, the A16 cookbook -- a christmas gift from tom that, as it turns out, was sort of a gift from tom to himself -- is stupendous. everything i've made from it has been spot-on amazing. their pizza dough is no exception.

ingredients
1/4 t dry yeast
1 1/2 c warm water
2 t olive oil
2 t salt
4 c flour

directions
sprinkle yeast over the water and let proof for about 10 minutes in a warm place.
add the olive oil and salt, and stir.
combine flour and yeast. i let them sit together for a bit to autolyse. mix until the water is absorbed, then knead for about 10 minutes or until the dough is fairly smooth (a few little lumpies are ok).
cover bowl with a damp towel and let rest for a few minutes. then knead again unti the dough is smooth and soft.
coat the bowl and the dough with a little olive oil. cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
the next day, punch down the dough, then turn it over in the bowl. re-cover and put back in the fridge.
4 hours - 24 hours later, turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and divide it into approximately 4 pieces (i've used five before for smaller zas). form balls, and cover with a damp towel for about 1.5 - 2 hours to proof, or until volume has doubled.
preheat oven (with pizza stone) as hot as it will go. the best thing about my ancient 1920s oven is that it hits at least 650!!
shape dough into pizza shapes.
place dough on a piece of parchment paper on top of pizza peel. (some people say to use semolina but i am anti -- it burns, it's messy, and since my pizza peel is a little small, the parchment paper stabilizes the raw dough.)
add a light coating of olive oil.
slide the dough and parchment onto the stone.
bake for about 2-3 minutes. (for me, cooking it a bit first adds some fluffiness to the edges of the crust, and stabilizes it for toppings.)
add toppings.
bake for about 7 minutes, or until the dough is crisp and charred on the bottom and the top bubbles.
eat immediately.

toppings
this one is topped with roasted acorn squash, leeks from the alemany farmer's market sauteed in butter with salt & pepper, fresh goat cheese from sierra nevada, sage, and grana padano. i can't wait to make another one.

irish car bomb cupcakes

these are guinness cupcakes filled with bailey's cream. decadent and fabulous in honor of st. patrick's day!

for the cupcakes:

ingredients
2 large eggs (room temp)
½ c sour cream (or yogurt)
6 oz Guinness
2 t vanilla extract
½ c dutch processed cocoa powder
1 c sugar (i used rapadura)
1 ¼ c + 2 T cake flour (all-purpose is ok too. just subtract the extra 2 T.)
1 t baking soda
1/8 t ground cinnamon
6 T melted unsalted butter

directions
preheat oven to 350 degrees.
line a cupcake pan with cupcake papers. this recipe makes about 12 cupcakes.
melt butter, then set aside
whisk together eggs and sour cream in a large bowl. add Guinness and vanilla and whisk.
mix all of the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. some will tell you to sift, but not i.
add the dry mixture into the wet ingredients about a third at a time, mixing well after each addition. add the melted butter at the end and continue mixing until very well combined.
pour batter into the 12 cups, filling each about ¾ full.
bake for approx. 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
let cool.

for the filling:

ingredients
6 T softened unsalted butter
1 ½ c powdered sugar
¾ c marshmallow fluff
2 ½ T (or so) bailey’s irish cream liqueur
1 T (or so) heavy cream

directions
beat the butter with the powdered sugar, fluff, bailey’s and cream.
(the idea here is to make the cream taste as much like bailey’s as humanly possible, so i just kept on adding bailey’s until the taste was strong enough for my liking.)
transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a ¼ inch plain round tip.
insert the tip of the pastry bag into the top of each cupcake. squeeze way harder than you think should be necessary -- you want a lot of cream in there. squeeze some extra cream on the top to make a little nipple.

okay, confession: these were supposed to have frosting on them, but the frosting (an attempt from the normally foolproof martha stewart baking handbook) was a total bomb, i suspect because i didn't whip the eggs enough, so i nixed it. perhaps you have hardier forearms than i. still, i thought that the cupcake-to-cream filling ratio was moist enough that the frosting wasn't missed.

dim sum

our friends from japan took us to old shanghai for the first time, and now it's the go-to spot, especially when folks come into town. go with as many hungry people as possible, to ensure variety and a lazy susan. and definitely get:

(1) tan tan noodle soup (noodles with meat in a spicy, peanuty soup)


(2) shanghai soup dumplings with pork


(3) green onion pancake


(4) pan-fried pork buns


(5) veggie dumplings (if you must). actually, despite my primary devotion to all things pork, these mushrooms-and-greens-filled dumplings are pretty tasty.

homemade flour tortillas

= totally delicious.

ingredients
2 c flour
3 T butter (or lard -- i used homemade lard for a while -- or some combo)
2/3 c water
1/2 t baking powder (optional -- this makes them thicker)

directions
mix flour and baking powder.
melt butter and mix with water.
combine ingredients.
knead briefly.
allow to rest for about an hour, covered.
divide into balls. i doubled the recipe to get 16 medium balls.cover with a damp towel and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes and up to 1.5 hours.
on a floured surface, roll into tortilla shapes.
heat a cast-iron skillet.
to cook, place a piece of dough in the heated skillet. it should start to bubble within about 30 seconds. when it does, flip it. in another 30 seconds or so, it should start to get little brown spots and puff up a bit in places, like so:
flip again, and the whole thing should start to puff up. once it does, remove from heat and wrap in a warm towel or put in a tortilla warmer. or give it to a waiting hand, to be filled with taco yummings:

pizzetta 211

dear other pizzas of sf,
i apologize to all of you. i love many of you -- some of you, deeply -- but my greatest love is reserved for the pizzettas of 211. i mean, good lord. just look at them!
exhibit a: exhibit b: exhibit c:(sorry, other pizzas. was that insensitive?)