Cauliflower is the New Cauliflower!

Ok, I'll admit it: I've never been a huge fan of cauliflower. I dig it in a good curry, but otherwise, I haven't been enamored. Until now. I've finally emerged from beneath whatever rock it was that was keeping me from seeing and tasting the wonder of cauliflower. Yum!

I found the version of this recipe below on Epicurious, originally published in Bon Apetit. As far as I'm concerned, you *could* stop after the initial roasting--it will be the best food you have ever tasted.

However, completing the recipe will also result in the best food you have ever tasted. Really!

Cauliflower with Mustard-Lemon Butter
1 small head of cauliflower (about 1 3/4 pounds)
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons whole grain Dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter rimmed baking sheet. Cut cauliflower in half, then cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Arrange slices in single layer on prepared baking sheet; sprinkle with salt. Roast until cauliflower is slightly softened, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in lemon juice, mustard, and lemon peel.

Spoon mustard-lemon butter evenly over cauliflower and roast until crisp-tender, about 10 minutes longer. DO AHEADCan be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. If desired, rewarm in 350°F oven until heated through, about 10 minutes.

Transfer cauliflower to platter. Sprinkle with parsley and serve warm or at room temperature.

from Bon Appétit
November 2006

Apricot Blueberry Crostata

An impromptu dinner for friends includes some extra special items: organic apricots and blueberries become a sweet crostata, and some pizza dough from Gialina's in San Francisco (thanks Ned!) will become a very special pizza. Here is the crostata...

Here is the recipe, from Michael Chiarello's Casual Cooking, one of my favorite cookbooks.

Substitute apricots and blueberries for the cherries in this recipes. I've also made this using peaches, plums, apples, apples and pears, or apples, pears, and quince.

Fresh Cherry Crostata

Tart Dough:
2-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
2 Teaspoons salt
1 cup (1/2 pound) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup ice water, or more if needed
1 Teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Filling:
4 cups pitted fresh cherries
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 Teaspoon ground cinnamon


1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon heavy cream for egg wash
2 teaspoons coarse sugar

Make the tart dough: Combine the flour, granulated sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse to blend. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture forms coarse crumbs. Stir together the 1/4 cup ice water and the vanilla and sprinkle it over the mixture in the processor. Pulse just until a dough forms, adding a little extra ice water if necessary. Divide the dough in half, and shape each half into a 1-inch thick round. Wrap 1 disk tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Freeze the other half for future use.

Put a pizza stone in the oven and preheat the oven to 425F for 45 minutes. Remove the dough from the refrigerator about 15 minutes before rolling to soften it slightly.

Place the dough round between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll into a 13-inch round, flouring the round lightly as needed to keep the dough from sticking. Remove the top sheet of parchment. Slide a pizza peel or rimless baking sheet under the bottom sheet of parchment.

Make the filling: Combine the cherries, granulated sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a bowl and toss well. Fill the center of the dough round with the cherries in an even layer, leaving a border of about 1-1/2 inches. Fold the border up and over the cherries to make a rim. Brush the rim with egg wash, then sprinkle with coarse sugar. Trim the excess parchment with scissors.

Use the pizza peel or baking sheet to transfer the crostata, still with parchment underneath, to the oven, sliding it, along with the paper, directly onto the pizza stone. Bake until the crust is nicely browned and the cherries are bubbling, about 40 minutes. Remove from the oven with the peel or baking sheet and let cool on a rack for 15 minutes before serving.

Yum.

Fresh Cherry Crostata

OMG. :)

Here is the recipe, from Michael Chiarello's Casual Cooking

Fresh Cherry Crostata

Tart Dough:
2-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
2 Teaspoons salt
1 cup (1/2 pound) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup ice water, or more if needed
1 Teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Filling:
4 cups pitted fresh cherries
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 Teaspoon ground cinnamon


1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon heavy cream for egg wash
2 teaspoons coarse sugar

Make the tart dough: Combine the flour, granulated sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse to blend. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture forms coarse crumbs. Stir together the 1/4 cup ice water and the vanilla and sprinkle it over the mixture in the processor. Pulse just until a dough forms, adding a little extra ice water if necessary. Divide the dough in half, and shape each half into a 1-inch thick round. Wrap 1 disk tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Freeze the other half for future use.

Put a pizza stone in the oven and preheat the oven to 425F for 45 minutes. Remove the dough from the refrigerator about 15 minutes before rolling to soften it slightly.

Place the dough round between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll into a 13-inch round, flouring the round lightly as needed to keep the dough from sticking. Remove the top sheet of parchment. Slide a pizza peel or rimless baking sheet under the bottom sheet of parchment.

Make the filling: Combine the cherries, granulated sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a bowl and toss well. Fill the center of the dough round with the cherries in an even layer, leaving a border of about 1-1/2 inches. Fold the border up and over the cherries to make a rim. Brush the rim with egg wash, then sprinkle with coarse sugar. Trim the excess parchment with scissors.

Use the pizza peel or baking sheet to transfer the crostata, still with parchment underneath, to the oven, sliding it, along with the paper, directly onto the pizza stone. Bake until the crust is nicely browned and the cherries are bubbling, about 40 minutes. Remove from the oven with the peel or baking sheet and let cool on a rack for 15 minutes before serving.

Yum.

Happy Tomato Flowers

'nuf said.

Chewy Organic Oatmeal Cookies

You want thick, chewy oatmeal cookies? You came to the right place! This is the best oatmeal cookie recipe I know of--enjoy.

2 sticks unsalted butter (1/2 pound), softened but still firm 
1 cup light brown sugar 
1 cup granulated sugar 
2 eggs 
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 
1/2 teaspoon table salt 
1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg 
3 cups rolled oats 

1. Adjust oven racks to low and middle positions; heat oven to 350 degrees. In bowl of electric mixer or by hand, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time.

2. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg together, then stir them into butter-sugar mixture with wooden spoon or large rubber spatula. Stir in oats and optional raisins.

3. Form dough into sixteen to twenty 2-inch balls, placing each dough round onto one of two parchment paper–covered, large cookie sheets. Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes. (Halfway during baking, turn cookie sheets from front to back and also switch them from top to bottom.) Slide cookies on parchment onto cooling rack. Let cool at least 30 minutes before serving.

Organic Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

These are thick, chewy cookies... yum.

I use organic stone ground flour and free-range, organic eggs from my friends at Full Belly Farm. The chickens that lay the eggs roam free, and help keep the farm land healthy by eating insects and grubs, scratching and helping turn and aerate the soil, and fertilizing as they go. Quite a system when you think about it. The butter is from Strauss Family Creamery in Marin County. All these folks care deeply about how they produce food, and I respect their organic, thoughtful, and sustainable approaches. Support your local food community!

On to the cookies, and a quick story: these cookies also make great gifts. This batch is a thank you gift for the owner of the shop that recently managed to press the wrinkles out of my fancy-go-to-city duds within an hour after I dropped them off.  One of these days, I'll own an iron. Until then, I'll keep trading favors with my friends and neighbors. :)

2 cups plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled until warm
1 c brown sugar, packed
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Adjust oven racks to upper & lower -middle positions, and heat your oven to 325F. 
   
2. Sift dry ingredients together; set aside.
   
3. Mix butter and both sugars until thoroughly combined. 
   
4. Beat in egg, yolk and vanilla until combined. 
   
5. Add dry ingredients & beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in chips.
   
6. Roll a bit less than 1/2 cup of dough into ball. Holding dough ball in fingertips of both hands, pull into 2 equal halves. Rotate the pieces 90 degrees so the rough surfaces face up, and place  onto cookie sheet.
   
7. Bake about 18 minutes, (alternating the baking sheets on the rack after 9 minutes) until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden. The centers should be soft and a little puffy.
   
8. Cool the cookies until you can move them without breaking, then move to wire racks. 
   
9. Makes about a dozen big, chewy cookies.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Well it's finally really raining, and I decided to go ultra-cozy and bake some chocolate chip cookes.  These are yummy-chewy-chocolately, and I think you'll like them.

1 cup flour

1/4 cup oats

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/8 cup canola oil

1/8 cup vanilla soy milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp molasses

In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, brown sugar, oil, soymilk, vanilla, and molasses together, whipping it a little to emulsify the oil.

In a small bowl, sift together the dry ingredients, then add to the sugar mixture, mixing to form a stiff dough. Add a few more oats if it's not stiff enough, or add a little more soymilk if it's too stiff.

Spoon onto a baking sheet, and bake at about 360F for between 8-12 minutes, watching carefully to pull them out just as they begin to turn golden brown. Remove from baking sheet right away to cool on a rack, but start eating them as fast as you can because they are so good. :)

Vegan Apple Crisp

I recently found myself afloat in apples (if you've read my previous posts about apples, then you understand why!), and decided to make an apple crisp to bring along to an impromptu dinner with friends.  Use these amounts as a guide, and adjust if you use more apples or if you like extra topping (like me!). 

4-6 locally grown, organic apples, or more

juice of one lemon

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 cup brown sugar or other sweetener

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup canola oil

Wash, peel, core, and slice the apples. I use thick slices, but do whatever you'd like--it'll all work out. :)  Toss together with the lemon juice, and pour them into a baking dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix the brown sugar, flour, and oats together and add the canola oil, mixing until it comes together. Sprinkle this topping on the apples. 

Bake for 45 minutes at 375F, or until the apples are soft and the topping is browned.

Chai to Smile About :)

It turns out a friend of mine likes chai as much as I do, so I decided to share my recipe for this delicious spiced tea. Like many of my recipes, use the amounts listed below for guidance. Add more ginger if you like a more potent gingery zing, and more pepper if you like a little more spicy heat. I promise you'll enjoy this!

3 cups water

6 green cardomom pods

6 black peppercorns

Ginger, about 1/4 cup chopped fresh ginger, or 2 tablespoons dried ginger pieces

Sweetener, to taste. I like both honey and agave nectar

Black tea (optional, if you want some caffeine)

Milk, almond, soy, rice, or dairy

Add cardamom pods, peppercorns, and ginger to the water, and boil for about 30 minutes. Pour through a fine sieve and store, refrigerated, in a glass container. 

When you're ready for a cup, just mix up some of the chai with sweetener, milk and tea, then reheat. I always just guess about how much to mix, and somehow it seems to work out just fine. Don't worry, it'll work for you, too. Enjoy!

The Promise of Fresh Bread -- with Full Belly Barm!

Full Belly Farm, one of my favorite local farms, has teamed up with another local, Alton Spiller of Los Altos to produce barm using Full Belly Farm whole Sonora wheat flour. So for a buck you can jump start your own batch of barm to use for making fresh sourdough bread whenever you like. It's also pretty fun to have found another local bread/flour geek who knows what I'm talking about when I start asking about protein percentages and poolish. :-)

No Bad Apples

Hauer, Red Delicious, Pippin, and Sundowners. All great! No bad apples!

A Peck of Patient Peppers

When I asked the folks from Serendipity Farms how it was that we have these beautiful, organically grown, Hungarian red peppers in January, the farmer that grew them told me that they simply finally have ripened. They were grown near the coast, and have been waiting all this time to get enough sun to finally ripen. Since there hasn't been a freeze along the coast, these peppers waited patiently to arrive at the market, and to my kitchen. Another fabulous day at the farmer's market! We are so lucky to live here...

Fresh Meyer Lemon Tart

I had a bowl of Meyer lemons, an extra pastry shell from another recipe, and a few minutes cook. I should also mention that the pile of baking cookbooks in my kitchen is growing, and I've been having fun with Tartine, the cookbook by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson, titled after their amazing bakery in San Francisco. I'll add details about how I made this soon!

Organic Cinnamon Rolls - Sunday Morning Could Be Way Worse

Recipe and instructions coming soon...

Best Organic Brownies Recipe

Sometimes there's no substitute for moist, chewy perfect brownies. Here is a recipe that has never failed to inspire those quick enough to taste some before they disappeared!

1 cup or so of chopped walnuts
1¼ cups organic flour (low-gluten cake flour is ideal, but whatever you have will do)
½ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon baking powder
6 ounces semisweet or unsweetened chocolate, broken into pieces
12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter cut into pieces for easier melting
2¼ cups organic sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees, and put the oven rack in the middle position. You don't want these puppies to burn on the bottom, or get too hot near the top of your oven.

Butter a 9 x 13 pan, or something near that size. A smaller pan will give you thicker brownies, and you better know what you're doing so you get the baking time right!

Toast the walnuts on a baking sheet for 5-7 minutes, and remove from oven. You'll add them to the batter later.

Whisk to combine flour, salt, and baking powder in medium bowl; set aside.

Melt chocolate and butter in large bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove bowl from heat and gradually whisk in sugar. Add eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition until completely combined. Add the vanilla and whisk some more.

Add flour mixture in three additions, folding with rubber spatula until batter is completely smooth. Add the nuts now, or sprinkle them on top before baking.

Pour the batter into your baking pan. Bake until toothpick inserted into center of brownies comes out with few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for an hour or two (like you can even wait!), and cut into squares.

These are awesome. Enjoy!

Classic French Madeleine Cookie Recipe

Here is my recipe, straight from some French family friends. Once you get the hang of this simple recipe, you can have fresh, delicious madeleine cookies in 30 minutes (sooner if you're good with a whisk).

Preheat oven to "mi four" (you know, the middle temperature! I use 375F)
2 large organic, free-range eggs
150 grams of organic flour (perhaps 2/3 cup)
150 grams of organic sugar (perhaps a little less than 1/2 cup)
pinch of salt
vanilla, or lemon zest
one stick of organic butter, melted

Whisk the eggs together with the sugar until the mixture is thick, foamy and light in color. This is called a pâte blanche .

Mix in your vanilla (or lemon zest) and salt.

Stir in the flour and the melted butter. You don't want to activate the gluten, so stir as little as necessary to combine the flour, butter and the pâte blanche.

Pour (or scoop, but pouring from the bowl with the aid of a rubber spatula is faster) in to a buttered and flour-dusted madeleine mould, and bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until the tops caramelize to a light golden color.

Pop them out of the pan carefully, then dust with powdered sugar, dip half of each in chocolate, or eat them just as they are with some piping hot coffee, tea or hot chocolate. Enjoy!

Fruitful Fall

Check out the latest fall fruit: grapes in three varieties from my friends at Full Belly Farm in Guinda, and three varieties of apples from my friends at Coke Farm in San Juan Bautista.

Granola Recipe - Sow Those Oats!

Sunny Saturday mornings usually find me with undeniable cravings for good food. Depending on the circumstances, I balance simplicity of preparation with speed to the table. On Saturday it's usually a toss-up between pancakes and granola.

I love good granola, and this is my basic recipe.

Basic Granola Recipe

4-6 cups of organic oats

1/3 cup of oil (or mix of a few, e.g., olive, canola)

1/2 - 1 cup of sweetener (or mix a couple, e.g., agave nectar, maple syrup, honey, brown sugar)

1/4-1/2 cup of warm water

A pinch or two of salt

Everything hinges on the quantity of oats you're dealing with. Aim on the high side of the ingredients list for 6 cups, on the low side if using 4 cups. As always, taste as you go and adjust as necessary. If you like your granola sweeter, then make it so! Feel the power!

Mix the oil(s), sweetener(s), water and salt. Sometimes for fun I see if I can emulsify the mixture, but this isn't necessary (I'm maniacal but usually not dangerous with a whisk). Next pour it over the oats and mix until coated and soaked. Now would be a good time to taste it. If it tastes like your horse's feedbag, add some more sweetener! ;-)

Now spread the mix on a baking sheet and bake for 30-60 minutes at 350-425F (depending on how fast you want to be done).

Turn occasionally at 10 minute intervals. When golden brown, remove from oven let it cool for about 10 minutes until it's crispy, then serve. Store in an airtight container for a week or more. Yummy!

Pizzeria Delfina

Last Sunday brought divine weather to San Francisco, along with the opportunity to make a great day in the Mission nearly perfect with a visit to Pizzeria Delfina. I've been looking forward to this visit after hearing rave reviews of both Pizzeria Delfina and Delfina--the sister restaurant located next door.

Both restaurants are owned by Craig and Anne Stoll. Craig has just been nominated for a James Beard chef of the year award, and with pizza like this, it no wonder--this is some of the best pizza I've ever eaten.

The pizzeria was busy even at three o'clock on a Sunday afternoon. All the tables were filled with happy diners, but luckily some space was available at the bar. This provided an excellent vantage point to watch the pizzas being made, and to meet the folks making them.

Anthony Strong is the pizziaolo, and was kind enough to let me take photos of my visit. They are cooking up some *kind* pizza over there at Pizzeria Delfina--it's like being in Naples!

Anthony Strong, pizzaiolo at Pizzeria Delfina. Brandon, who made my pizza, just calls him "jefe". Just keep making these great pizzas, I'll call you whatever you want!

Here is some time-lapse photography of my pizza being made--the best I could do with the camera in my iPhone. I ordered the pizza Napoletana--tomato, anchovies, capers, hot peppers, olives and oregano. 

This is Brandon making my pizza (according to Brandon, I'm the first person ever to remember how to spell his name correctly!)

Here is my glorious pizza headed into the oven...

And checking on it a few minutes later...

And finally perfect, and ready to cut--go Brandon!

And finally, the moment of truth: this pizza was fantastic. Crisp, thin crust with slightly puff, chewy edges. The crust had a very slightly yeasty complexity, and the crispy chewiness had me saying, "Scandalous!" out loud. To wit:

Mmmm. Scandalously good!

In addition to the great pizza, they've got some pretty amazing antipasti in the display case and several great wines to choose from. 

Alright, enough said--get yourself over to Pizzeria Delfina as fast as you can--this place is fantastic.

Root Vegetable Bliss

Despite my best efforts, I sometimes fall behind with all the good eats that come every week in my CSA box from Full Belly Farm. Today I was a little overwhelmed with root vegetables, and decided to make quick, delicious work of them. Here's the scandal:

Root Vegetable Bliss

Enormous quantities of any and/or all of the following:

Celery root

Carrots

Potatoes 

Onions

Leeks

Butternut squash

Wash and chop as necessary (note those yummy baby carrots floating around in there), and douse with some good extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake at 450F for a few minutes to get things hoppin', and to release some of those volatiles from the onions--wheweee yer house is gonna smell good. Then bake on 350F for a couple hours, stirring occasionally to brown evenly. 

That's it. Welcome to root vegetable bliss. 

San Francisco Sourdough Pizza Dough

My supply of instant yeast stopped working for me at an inopportune moment--just when I was going to make a batch of pizza dough. 

Luckily, many moons ago I went through a sourdough baking phase and whipped up a batch of San Francisco Sourdough barm. I started with fresh grapes from Full Belly Farm to harvest the yeast from the grape skins, and also used Full Belly's fresh stone ground red wheat flour as the basis for the barm. 

I'd never started a pizza dough using barm, but guessed it would be fine to start with about 1/4 cup of the thick barm, mixed with 1/4 cup of water to thin it out a bit. 

I let that warm up to room temperature until it was bubbly, about 6 hours. Then I used that instead of yeast in my standard pizza dough recipe. The rise was a little slower than with instant yeast, and not as pronounced. 

I made the first pizza the same day I made the dough. It was delicious, with a slight sourdough flavor. It was crispier than my normal dough, and not quite as chewy on the edge of the crust. The real fun came on day 3 of the dough. I used the last of the dough, and the pizza crust was amazing! It had just the right about of sourness to lend it a bit of character, and it was a bit chewier as well. Yum!