Our new friend Keith who came to do some work on our house gifted us with a giant box of tomatoes and peppers!  I couldn't let this awesome produce go to waste (especially the tomatoes, since I knew they had a short shelf life), so tonight I made a giant pot of fresh tomato sauce, using this recipe from smittenkitchen.com.

Luckily my friend Anna happened to come over right as I was getting started with this project, so she was my awesome sous-chef, helping me with all the tomato prep: boiling for 30 seconds so we could easily peel the skins, chopping and finally squeezing out the seeds through her handy-dandy chinois. 

Once the tomatoes were ready to go, I sauteed a mirepoix of onion, carrot and celery along with lots of garlic, then dumped in all the tomatoes and juices.  Simmered this baby down for about an hour (you can see how much liquid I cooked off---about two inches!), then seasoned with freshly chopped basil, salt, pepper, and a dash each of sugar and red chili flakes. The picture of the final product really doesn't do the real thing justice---in real life it looks way more chunky and fresh and delicious!  I'm going to freeze some of this for when we're truly craving a taste of summer, but I might just have to eat some tomorrow....

Thanks, Keith, for sharing your bounty with us!

This past Saturday, our local farmers' market had its annual Customer Appreciation Day, during which you could drop your name in a bucket and be chosen to win a reusable tote bag filled with produce and sundry from various vendors.  We arrived a few minutes before the last drawings of the morning (they pulled a few names every hour) and I scribbled our names on 2 tickets, one for me and one for the hubs.  We proceeded to do most of our shopping and made it back round to the stage area where they were about to start pulling names again.  The first name called?  My dear husband's!!  It was so awesome!!!  Our bag was filled with goodies, with only a few items that overlapped with what we had just purchased.

One of the overlap items was a bag of stone fruit---between what I had already purchased and what we won, I now had about 4-5 pounds of assorted peaches, plums and apricots.  Since we didn't have any plans for the day, I decided to try a new dessert to use up this fruit and settled on making a stone fruit galette.  I really debated between making my own pastry dough or going out to buy some frozen puff pastry, but since I didn't have much going on (and honestly I didn't feel like leaving the house again), I thought I'd give it a whirl.  Now, I've only tried to make my own flaky/pastry-ish dough once past, with some success---the dough for empanadas I made in the past came out fine, but not super flaky.  Somehow the whole "cutting cold butter into flour" thing just hasn't been my thing.  But I also realized that I'll never get better at it unless I practice. 

So, I embarked on this dessert using a recipe from my Tartine book (the baked goods one, not the bread one).   Check out the neato slideshow of the process!

The final product: good but not great.  The pastry dough was fine, though I think I still need to do it a few times in order to get flakiness.  But I was pretty pleased with it.  The part that I was kind of bummed about was that it wasn't very sweet.  Some of the fruit wasn't quite ripe yet, so there wasn't the natural sweetness of the fruits I was imagining.  I had added some sugar to the fruit but not enough.  However, the sweetness factor of this particular galette was fixed with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  =)

I had another piece of pastry dough left over so the next night, I made a savory galette (definitely way more up my alley) filled with shaved fennel, sliced oyster and cremini mushrooms, garlic, a pinch of red pepper flakes, and goat cheese.  Dee-lish!

This weekend I picked up my share of a cow.  1/8th of a cow, to be exact!  Last year we had a chance to visit Stemple Creek Ranch up in Tomales in Marin County and met with the lovely 4th-generation farmer and his wife who run it.  They raise all-natural grass-fed beef and lambs and held an open house/BBQ to get to know the community and spread the word about what they have to offer.  It's a great story---the farmer (Loren) shared that they had been raising cattle on grass for years, but that the cows were sent off to the Midwest and finished on corn/grain.  Then a few years ago he read Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma.  Loren realized he could have a positive impact on the environment by keeping the cattle locally and finishing the cows on grass (check out their ranch practices here).  The beef from Stemple Creek is organic, free-range, grass-fed and antibiotic/hormone free.

Anyway, we've since wanted to purchase beef from Stemple Creek, but hadn't yet found enough people who would want to split an entire cow with us (that's a LOT of beef).  Last fall, however, one of my coworkers brought up the topic and said he was going to organize the splitting of one cow.  With the organizing and other shares taken care, we were ready and thus committed to 1/8th!

I wanted to post this blog with these pictures to give others who are interested an idea of how much space an 1/8th of a cow takes up and how much it cost.

The full cow was about 440 pounds, so I came home with about 55 pounds of beef.  With butchering and wrapping fees, we paid a total of $260, which comes out to about $4.70 per pound, which is a great price for organic, local meat---and keep in mind this includes lots of cuts (tri-tip, brisket, ground beef, steaks, etc.). 

And now, the space---the pictures below show the full box of frozen cuts, and how much space it takes up in my freezer---essentially, the full bottom shelf of my freezer is now full of cow (all the way to the back of the freezer), as well as the top shelf of the freezer door (packs of ground beef). 

Can't wait to grill!!!!

After we work through cow...I'd really like to go in on some delicious pork....  =)

It was another new-cooking Saturday at our house!  After our success and fun with the meat grinder/sausage attachment to our stand mixer last Christmas (and a few times since then!), my dear husband got me the pasta-making attachment for the stand mixer as well. 

The thing is....he got it for me as a Valentine's Day present.  As in, in February.  As in, it's been sitting in our cupboard for over 7 months just waiting to be used.  I had heard from friends that it's not too hard to make fresh pasta, but somehow I just felt like it would take a lot of time and effort.  But a new co-worker mentioned that he made his own pasta the week prior, and it got me motivated to finally give this new attachment a try.  Additionally, I had picked up a used copy of Lidia's Italian-American cookbook while we were in Hawaii, and had wanted to try a recipe out of my new book. 

So, on Saturday morning, I decided this would be THE DAY.  Flipping through the cookbook, I decided to try her Bolognese sauce recipe---a good, hearty and meaty sauce which called for 2 pounds of meat, which meant I could freeze some for later (I love cooking extra and freezing portions for those nights I just don't want or have time to cook!).  To go with the sauce, we decided we'd start our pasta-making with a standard fettucine. 

The pictures show the story: I started by making the sauce as it calls for simmering for 2-3 hours!  It was a relatively easy recipe with not too many ingredients.  You start by mincing onion, celery and carrot and sauteing in olive oil (I also threw in a bunch of minced garlic though Lidia's recipe did not call for it).  You then add and brown one pound each of ground beef and ground pork.  Cook until most of the liquid/fat has rendered.  Add dry red wine, tomato paste and finally, crushed Italian plum tomatoes.  Lidia's only herb were three Bay leaves; I later ended up adding oregano, parsley and some red chili pepper flakes (in addition to salt and pepper, of course).  You then simmer away for 2-3 hours, adding hot water in small batches to keep the meat/veggies covered.  The longer you simmer, the better the flavors meld and develop.  It was a delicious sauce, but I think I liked another recipe of Bolognese I cooked before (which included pancetta, white wine instead of red, and some milk). 

At about hour two of the simmering sauce, we started on the pasta.  We made two batches of dough, as the first dough (started in the stand mixer) came out crumbly and unlike what we thought it should be like.  So, we started a second dough which had a larger egg to flour ratio.  After hand-kneading instead of using the stand mixer, we figured we'd add another egg to the first batch and give it a try instead of throwing out the whole thing.  This made the first batch and lot more similar to the second, so we decided we would roll and cut both doughs.

The pasta rolling and cutting was actually quite easy and fun!  Here we are first rolling out the sheets of the pasta (each time you send it through the roller, you change the setting of the attachment so the sheets get thinner, etc.).  Once you reach your desired thinness, you can change the attachment to a cutting one.  We decided to go with fettucine to match the heartiness of the meat sauce, rather than spaghetti or something thinner. It was really fun and the noodles cooked up really well.

The final picture is our dinner---a piping hot plate of homemade fettucine with Bolognese sauce...with some freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano.  DELICIOUS!!

And in terms of leftovers...since we two batches of pasta dough, we froze a bunch of the cut noodles as well as a bunch of sauce.  So, we'll definitely be eating this meal again soon.  =)

 

 

This week we enjoyed one of the most fun evenings ever!

Famed French chef Jacques Pepin is turning 75 this December and KQED is currently hosting a number of celebration events to honor Jacques (KQED has produced most if not all of Jacques' cooking shows).  We missed Jacques the last time he was in the Bay Area so when I got the KQED email about the upcoming events (including a birthday dinner, sitting in the live audience for tapings of his new show, etc), we decided we really wanted to go to one! 

We decided on joining the birthday dinner celebration at Left Bank restaurant in Menlo Park.  It was so much fun, and the food and service were great!  We also totally lucked out that evening---for one, we got seated in a booth with just one other couple (rather than on long tables of 30+!).  Then, halfway through the meal...the other couple left.  Sooo....we ended up with a whole booth to ourselves for the rest of the evening!  It was awesome, and no less than 5 wait-staff commented on our "best seat in the house"!  This also meant we got double the dessert, as they were served as platefuls of small bite-sized desserts.  Haha! 

The evening was just such a fun affair and we got to see a bunch of familiar KQED faces...including the guy who does all the KQED pledge drives, which was fun/funny.  He ran the evening's live auction, which was also really fun.  We knew going in that we would not be taking any auction items going home, but I did raise my number at the opening bid of a couple of items just for kicks.  ;)  Another fun surprise was another special guest to give Jacques some birthday wishes...Martin Yan!!!!  That was really cool and he walked right by our booth, though he did not stay for the evening so I didn't get a photo with him.

Anyway, the food was great.  The service was awesome.  And we got to celebrate with and meet Jacques!  Here are a few photos from the evening (the pictures of the food didn't turn out very well plus we skipped a few shots since we were seated with other people...).  My faves are the ones show us BFF-ing it up with Jacques. 

It was an evening to remember!

Once again I was taken by a new find at the farmer's market...and thus I came home with a bag of these fun little green and white balls---Thai eggplants!!

I've been wanting to make Thai green curry again (having made it once like 4 years ago) and when I found these at the market, I knew the time had come.

A stop at 99 Ranch provided the other necessary ingredients I lacked: coconut milk, a stalk of lemongrass, bamboo shoots, and most importantly, Thai green curry paste!

I made the curry with cut-up pieces of chicken thighs (which I browned in the pot first) and served it over white rice with Thai basil. Spicy, piping hot, and delicious!! This dish will definitely be making repeat appearances at our home this fall/winter!! Yummy!

After a vacation or work trip---or really anything that changes my normal routine---it always takes me awhile to get back into cooking.  So, having been extra-busy with visiting guests, a wedding to attend, and a trip to Hawaii (I know, life is hard)....I was excited for a full weekend at home to play in my kitchen.  I wanted to try new things, but didn't quite know what I wanted to make.  We went to our farmer's market on Saturday morning and I loaded up with fresh produce.  But I knew I wanted to make something with meat...  Later in the day I went to the market and got me a big hunk of pork butt as well as chicken drumsticks---something I love but somehow never think to buy or make.  Finally, I also made a decision to try a new bread recipe as I had gotten into a habit of making the same 2 breads (variations of the no-knead bread and also a pain de mi regular white bread). 

So, armed with ingredients, I decided to go to town!  Unfortunately, I didn't think to take pictures of anything other than the bread....so you will have to use your imagination.  =)

1.  With the pork butt, I made a batch of kalua pork in my slow cooker.  Nothing new or exciting, I just wanted to have this delicious, smoky and shredded pork to stick in my freezer for the next time my cooking routine gets thrown off.  This way I'll have a reserve of pork to stir-fry with cabbage or throw in a quesadilla with jalapeno jack cheese!  The easiest recipe EVER and as a gal raised in Hawaii, it's pretty darn good for not having to dig an imu in the ground to roast a whole big for 3 days with lava rocks!

2.  I got 10 chicken drumsticks in the package I bought.  With 8 of them, I made a version of tandoori chicken with a recipe from Cook's Illustrated.  I made a spice rub with ginger, garlic, cumin and garam masala which I let sit on the chicken for about 30 minutes.  Before throwing in the oven, the chicken drumsticks also get dipped in a yogurt marinade (which includes all the same spices).  While my oven doesn't get to 900 degrees, you can get a similar effect by roasting the chicken till almost done, then finishing off with the broiler---this creates the charred effect on the chicken pieces.  We ate this over white rice and it was good! 

3.  The next night, I decided to make use of some of the fresh produce from the farmer's market and realized I should probably use up the last two chicken drumsticks.  So, I made up my own dish using fresh cannellini beans and Cherokee Trail of Tear beans (like last time, I purchased these because they were pretty...haha).  First I browned the sides of the drumsticks (gotta keep those brown bits at the bottom of the pan!).  Then I sauteed some onion and garlic with a couple of bay leaves and sprigs of thyme.  Then I threw in quartered cremini mushrooms, chard (leaves and stems, chopped), all the shelled beans and some fresh sage.  Threw back the chicken and covered with chicken stock and simmered till the beans were soft, about 30 minutes.  Again, served over white rice for a yummy and nutritious dinner! 

4.  FINALLY---the whole purpose of this blog was to share the newest bread to add to our repertoire: a multi-grain bread!  I've wanted to make "healthier" breads for awhile now but kept getting scared away by whole wheat flour and fears of baking a really dry bread.  I decided to take a stab at whole wheat by using a recipe from the trusty folks at Cooks Illustrated.  Bonus - we found whole wheat flour at our farmer's market on Saturday morning, like a sign telling me TODAY WAS THE DAY.  In any case, this bread took a lot of time (started at 2pm in the afternoon....by the time we could eat a slice it was 9pm...this includes the 3-hour cooling period), but it was worth it!  This multi-grain bread includes 9-grain hot cereal mix, sunflower seeds and is rolled in oats right before baking.  Aren't these loaves beautiful?!?!?!?  The last photo is of my breakfast this morning...two pieces of homemade bread toast...with my homemade marmelade to boot!  Yummers!

All in all, it was a delicious weekend.  And I should mention that it was quite productive for future fooding as well---my dear husband dug out another overgrown garden bed in our backyard and with a lot of labor and love (and nutrients for the soil) created a new, healthy heap of earth for us to use.  Yesterday, we planted a bunch of seeds in our new garden: two kinds of carrots, two kinds of peas, radishes, Bloomsdale spinach, Butterhead lettuce and today I'll be planting some beets.  Cross your fingers that we'll have bountiful harvests this fall!!!

I love going to the farmer's market on the weekends.  It used to be kind of daunting, as I would want to buy everything (and often did!) and then I would end up letting a bunch of produce go to waste.  I have gotten a lot better about knowing how much we can/will eat and how much to buy, and am happy to report that I rarely let anything go bad...I'll find SOME use for it!  Plus...I can always feed any leftovers to my worms.  Having gotten into the habit of farmer's market shopping, we've also gotten much more adventurous over the years.  I used to buy only the staples (onions, carrots, potatoes, etc.) but now we just buy whatever looks fresh/good/interesting to us (in large part thanks to this book). 

This past Saturday, I went a little crazy and filled our bag with pretty vegetables.  Yes, pretty.  Haha!  There were so many colors and crazy things and I wanted them all.  Among them, I bought fun-colored heirloom cherry tomatoes as well as purple and white striped eggplants.  BEAUTIFUL, I tell you.

But what really caught my eye were the CRANBERRY BEANS!  They were so darling and I filled up one of my green bags full of beans, with a recipe already in mind, thanks to my friend mtc!  And so, yesterday, I made the dish, a cranberry bean gratin that can be found in Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food (or on Martha Stewart's website).

While easy, it does take some time because there are different steps that each take their own (long) amounts of time.  But...the result was worth it!

First, you have to shell your cranberry beans from their beautiful pods.  Look how stripey both the pods and the beans are!  Then you must simmer them for a good 15-20 minutes (mind you, if you're using dried beans, you first have to soak them overnight...and then simmer for an even longer time).  Set them aside and let them cool in their water.  Quick note---the cranberry beans turn a crazy gray/purple color after they simmer...weird!

Then you saute minced onions, carrots and celery in olive oil (I didn't have celery so I just put more of the other two).  Saute for awhile, then add thin slices of garlic and chopped-up sage leaves.  Saute for another 5 minutes before adding diced tomatoes (canned or fresh...unfortunately I used my cherry tomatoes with the eggplant in a dish the night before so I used canned).  Then you drain your beans (reserving the water) and stir in to combine with the mixture. 

Pour into a gratin dish, add a bit of bean-simmering water to cover, then top with toasted bread crumbs.  I improvised again with one---we didn't have any bread in the house except for the panco santi we baked over the weekend.  It's a cinnamon-raisin-walnut bread, but I thought, I'm just making some crumbs with them, it won't really affect the taste, right?  So I made the toasted bread crumbs and scattered them atop the gratin.  It turns out...you CAN taste the cinnamon flavor in the bread crumbs, but it was DELICIOUS!  I think it actually went quite well with the gratin and gave it a little extra kick. 

I realize the final picture of the baked gratin doesn't look all that appealing (plus I'm no food photographer), but let me tell you, it was gooooood.  We ate it dished over a bowl of white rice (I AM Chinese, after all...and from Hawaii).  Yum yum!  Definitely want to make this again in the future!