Eats For One … or more

Lamb Crepinettes, potato salad, haricot vert
K-Paul Meatloaf, melted potatoes, broccoli

I volunteer at the CUESA Kitchen two Thursday evenings a month (more or less) to help with cooking classes. We prep food for the students, wash dishes and set up and break down equipment and furnishings. The most recent class was “Sausage Making” taught by Dave “the Butcher” Budworth.

On my way to the class I had visions of meat grinders and sausage casings arrayed around the rolling stainless steel pods used as counters. There was none of that. There were mounds of herbs ready to be chopped and spices ready to be portioned, boxes of ground pork, ground lamb and caul fat. The class would not be making sausages in casings as I had envisioned, but crepinettes.

I’m familiar with the word because Fatted Calf sells crepinettes at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, but I had never seen nor eaten a crepinette. That evening I learned how to make a crepinette and Saturday, dined on my own homemade crepinettes.

sage to pick and chop

Sage was only one of many ingredients that went into the sausage. We also picked and minced fresh thyme leaves and parsley, and minced long green Anaheim chilies and garlic.

mise en place

Each pod was set up with a tray of sausage making supplies. Ten students worked at each station.
.

Dave holds a piece of caul fat

Caul fat is the spider web of fatty membrane that encases the internal organs of pigs, cows, and sheep, and it can be used in a variety of meat-friendly ways. Chef Vuong Loc of Portage Restaurant in Seattle calls it “kind-of like the original combi oven, because it allows the meat to roast and steam at once. It can get to a super hot temp because it’s fat, but it also keeps the moisture locked inside. It gives the meat a unique texture and adds flavor.” (more…)

…and a visit to German Village

Dad–
I raved so much about Gary’s rendition of the German Potato Salad to Alison that now she wants us to make it with our latest crop of potatoes. Therefore you *HAVE* to do an EatsForOne feature on the recipe, especially if you can track down Martha’s version (Gary might be able to help you there, a good excuse to give them a call).
–ER

And so the quest began. I called Amy and Gary.

When Amy answered, I said, “Eric’s on me to write something about “Mom’s” German Potato Salad you guy’s brought to the Pigroast. Can you give me the recipe?”

Amy said, “Gary made it, I just helped and coached.”
“Is Gary there?” I said.

“He’s outside, under his truck,” said Amy. “I’ll call him.”

Gary said, “Gosh, I just started cooking… Amy peeled the potatoes and I sliced them… we were just cooking together…

“I don’t remember the proportions… I know we started with a lot of bacon… 1 1/2 pounds, and a lot of onions… saute the onions until they’re good and caramelized… deglaze the pan with a bit of water, then start adding vinegar and sugar until it tastes like the German Potato Salad in German Village. I’ve never seen the recipe written down. Maybe next time, I can make some notes.”

After thinking about it, I fired off an email with a couple more questions, to which Gary quickly replied:

Mustard? No mustard, but that could be a worthy secret ingredient.
What kind of potatoes? The potato was a russet  brown skin and Amy states that we once used some red skin potatoes. Peeled, sliced on a mandolin. and parboiled.

I tried to conjure up what I remember about Mom’s German Potato Salad — I’m sure my recollections were heavily influenced by what I had just eaten at the Pigroast.

Potatoes were sliced, not cubed
Potatoes were firm, not mushy
No other vegetables or eggs.
Sweet and sour taste.

I looked for German Potato Salad recipes on the internet. Surprisingly, none were very close to the picture in my mind. One, from House & Garden, February 1957, on Epicurious, by Eloise Davison was just potatoes, bacon and sauce, but she used cubed potatoes, and only four teaspoons chopped onion, coupled with flour to make a roux with the bacon fat.

The best clues came from Recipes from a German Grandma

What makes a good German Potato Salad?
The Potato
Any potato works well but it is good to understand the qualities of each potato to their advantage in your salad. ?Many Germans like the firm red skin potato but the russet works well as also.
The Dressing
The typical dressing is a very simple vinaigrette that is equal parts water, vinegar and sugar.
Trouble is, the pictures showed a mooshy mass of potatoes, so I didn’t read that recipe carefully before I started writing my own and cooking. (Looking back, its pretty close to what I did.) (more…)

Jackson, Ohio to San Francisco

Sent from my iPad
hello Marc. My typing skills are not very good.  I have room for Lots of improvement.  What are you having for supper.  We are having Keystone Pasta.  You put lots of basil in the bottom of a 9×13 pan.  Peal about 8 large tomatoes. Sprinkle o.o. Over salt, pepper bit of sugar.  Bake 350for@30minutes and serve Over pasta.  This is a Hale original.  I make this when I have lots of basil.  Just wanted to
Let you know we are enjoying the iPad.  I think it was a good choice.  Say hi to Carol.
Jan

On our way to the Hale Hollow Pigroast, we stopped for an overnight at Carol’s brother Mark’s farm in Jackson, Ohio. Jackson is about as far southeast as Ohio goes — you want to get away? — this is away.

Keystone tomatoes

When we walked into the house, I remarked on a gorgeous plate of sliced Keystone tomatoes we would be having for dinner. Mark and Jannie are proud of their tomatoes and this is peak season, so tomatoes are a big part of mealtime. I don’t remember ever having Keystones, but Mark pointed out they’re a close cousin to brandywine tomatoes.

Mark took me on a ride around his place on his Mule, a four wheel get-around-easy-to-keep-up-the-place toy. Fun.

We went rippin’ through the woods and crusin’ th’ dale.

Passing the garden he showed me the Keystone tomato plants, standing taller than me. (more…)

… peach and tomato salad
Gone again… back again

the farm lane

This time we were off to Ohio, a land of heat and humidity, but one of family celebrations, as well. This one was Carol’s brother Alan’s annual pig roast on his farm just south of Lancaster – where Carol grew up – which is just north of Logan – my birthplace – and about 30 miles southeast of Columbus – where I grew up. Having lived in San Francisco for nearly 20 years, a trip “back east” is July is like a hot, wet slap in the face, and Carol tends to obsess over the heat. To my way of thinking, it’s good to go someplace really hot from time to time – not too often. I don the Ohio July uniform of a loose tee shirt, shorts and sandals and live with it. It’s the clammy, usually way too cold air conditioning that gets to me.

dude... check out these Ohio tomatoes!

All of that, to say that I haven’t contributed to eats for a while.

I found this recipe for Spring Cassoulet in the CUESA newsletter and though it’s a bit past spring, I had all the ingredients and SF is cool enough just now to enjoy a bean dish.

So, you make a pot of beans and throw some sausages and pancetta on top, and sprinkle that with baby lettuces and edible flowers. How easy and yummy is that? Quite.

But Dominique Crenn of Luce at the InterContinental hotel showed me a few tricks to make this simple thing sophisticated and sublime.

For the beans, she cooked bacon, shallot, garlic, celery and carrot in a generous amount of olive oil and deglazed the pan (I used my bean pot) with white wine. OK so far… that’s the way I start beans. For the twist, she tied up that vegetable bacon mixture in cheesecloth and put it back in the pot for the beans. Viola… no pesky vegetable and bacon pieces in the beans, just their flavor. She used Rancho Gordo White Runner Beans, I used Golden Eye.

Chunks of lamb sausage, pork sausage and chopped pancetta, sautéed with onion and garlic, then cooked with red wine and chicken stock, made it a cassoulet. I used Fatted Calf Merguez and Mild Italian sausages. (more…)

…sausages, beans, cabbage

What’s for dinner?

My question to myself each day.  Carol likes to cook, so she has taken over on days she doesn’t work. We reached agreement on that a few weeks ago. But the day was Wednesday and I was pondering, “What’s for dinner?”

It was a beautiful day for grilling and I had some fennel sausages from Fatted Calf. That’s a good start. But do I light up the grill just for sausages? The fridge offered cooked Mariquita pinto beans… red beans and rice would be good, but Carol is not a lover of beans. Braised cabbage also had a place on the second shelf. A nice fennel sausage nestled in a bed of braised cabbage would please Carol. Beans, rice, cabbage — that’s stovetop work; I would be back and forth between the kitchen and the grill. Of course the beans, rice and cabbage will hold, but still.

Why not do the beans and cabbage on the grill? They can sit over the gas flame – hardly different than being on the gas range – and I can turn off the center flame and grill the sausage there. Good idea.

And I can cook the rice in lots of boiling water – like pasta – on the stove while the grill is heating up. That takes about 12 minutes and the grill takes 15 to warm up. That’s a plan!

“When I’m making rice salad, a huge pot is just right. Boiled like pasta in too much water, rice gives up its starch. Drained and cooled, it drifts apart into separate grains, no clumping.”

From Pete Wells in a New York Times column on boiling

We have a rice cooker, but once I tried the boiling method, that’s my method of choice. Once cooked, I drain the rice and put the strainer in the empty rice pot with the lid on to hold.

That gives me time to sit on the back porch and contemplate the Pacific Heights skyline while the grill is going. I love that. (OK, a bit of Pacific Heights and a lot of the Alhambra roof and my neighbor’s trees.)

So everything went just right. I loved my beans and sausage and Carol loved her cabbage and sausage. We slathered the sausage with Raye’s mustard, had a bit of the tarragon potato salad on the side and that made a simple, easy, beautiful dinner.

Pan-Roasted Spring Vegetables with Brown Butter Sauce and Hanger Steak garnish

Leftovers + leftovers + new vegetables = a good meal; and the right equipment helps.

My brother accused me of openly coveting his Circulon skillet the last time we visited his South Carolina home. I believe we were cooking shrimp and grits.

My covetous manner paid off. Last Christmas; he gave me a Circulon 10 1/2-inch open skillet, 3-inches deep. Since I’m a mature home cook, I already had a 10-inch cast iron skillet and 10 and 12-inch stainless steel sauté pans, but to my mind, this was something special. Often, when I’m thinking about what to cook for dinner, I think about the pan to use and visualize the cooking procedure.

I had some leftover grilled hanger steak and a couple sprouts of broccoli, not used when I did a veal scaloppini with morel sauce, steamed broccoli as the vegetable. I thought of a pan-roasting procedure from a Cooks Illustrated recipe for Pan-Roasted Broccoli with Lemon Browned Butter. It’s something I’ve cooked many times, one of my favorite broccoli recipes. I can pan-roast the broccoli and garnish with the steak. Viola, a meal easily prepared in my Circulon skillet.

mise en place

As it turned out, there was a bit less broccoli than I thought, and a bit more steak than I thought. I needed other stuff I could cook in the same pan with the same procedure. Summer squash and tiny new potatoes from the Mariquita Mystery box will work. More vegetables than meat, that’s good. All cook in about the same amount of time. Good again. While I prepped the meat and vegetables, I put some rice in the rice cooker to catch the juices.

the vegetables brown

Brown the broccoli stems, squash and potatoes with a little oil… add the broccoli flowerettes and brown… add some seasoned water, cover and cook for a couple more minutes, uncover and cook off the liquid. Reserve the vegetables in a bowl.

Brown the steak in the same pan and reserve on a plate in a warm oven. Deglaze the pan with butter while making a brown butter sauce with a chopped shallot, garlic, salt, pepper; finish with lemon juice and fresh thyme. Add the vegetables to the sauce and toss – easily done in the deep skillet. Serve over rice, garnish with the steak.

Carol noted that the potatoes were superfluous with the rice, but I consider those fine tiny new potatoes a vegetable, rather than a starch.

But wait… there’s more; the Caprese Salad also featured leftovers. Half of a big pineapple tomato – I had the other half for lunch with cottage cheese (a favorite lunch in tomato season). A bit of Buffalo Mozzarella – most of it used on pizza Sunday night. The basil, OK, fresh from the Mariquita box.

One fine meal. Yum. And I have only the one pan to wash and a bunch more refrigerator space.

Sausage in a sandwich of greens

Spring is in the air and the Market is fraught with the fresh and the new. A simple spring dinner is in the offing. I hung the spring garlic on the wall in my kitchen next to the bamboo bread bag.

“You play the guitar on your MTV
That ain’t workin’ that’s the way you do it
Get your money for nothin’ get your chicks for free”
– Dire Straits Money For Nothing Lyrics

Shoppin’ at the Market, that’s the way you do it,
Money for red beets get your greens for free
Over there at Star Route, that’s the way you do it,
Money for turnips, get your greens for free

And so it goes.

After lunch, I washed the beet greens and left them in a big bowl of water, the turnip greens in a plastic vegetable bag. I wanted to use them but didn’t know quite what to do, so I took a nap. Lying on the couch with my eyes closed, drifting, it came to me; I could cook them separately and arrange on a plate on each side of one of those Craft Beer Links I got at Fatted Calf. I could see the picture in my head, so I got up and drew it.

Craft Beer Links are described as “plump smoked pork links made this week with WTF from Lagunitas Brewing Co,” and the guy at the Fatted Calf stand was all over them with praise.

I set to work trimming the greens while roasting the beets. Sauté some chopped spring onions and sliced spring garlic, blanch the greens and brown the links. Drain the greens and add some of the garlic and onion to each. Pot intensive, but easy and quick.

The only thing left to do is arrange the plates.

Bring assorted Raye’s mustards to the table and open a bottle of Cline Cool Climate Syrah. Enjoy.

…an Italian stallion.

It is not yet tomato season in northern California, but hothouse tomatoes are available from certain growers at the CUESA Farmers Market. It seems as though the hothouse heirlooms go south faster than those grown in the fields, but maybe it’s just been so long since the end of last tomato season that I don’t remember.

In any case, I discovered a new variety – for me – at Madison Growers: Costaluto Genovese. I had to noodle around Google for a while before finding the correct spelling of “Costaluto.” I asked Jane Atallah at the Madison Growers stand for the name of this unusual tomato and she was glad to oblige. She told me that Costaluto means “ribbed” in Italian. This is a different – and very good tomato, very high in acid, with a thick, rather tough skin. The skin slips off easily though when its roasted or parboiled for five seconds or so.

I bought five of these tomatoes at the Saturday market, and ate two that day for lunch with cucumbers and cottage cheese. By Wednesday, the three remaining were getting a little wrinkly around their shoulders. As I prepared warm potato salad with smoked tuna for dinner, I figured I better use them.

Roasted Tomatoes
As served May 2010 with Warm Potato and Smoked Trout Salad

Costaluto (ribbed) Genovese tomatoes
fresh bread crumbs
butter
cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450°F

Core the tomatoes.

Fill the core with bread crumbs, pressing them in. (I made fresh breadcrumbs in the little Braun food processor from an Acme Herb Slab.)

Lay a thin slice of butter over the crumbs.

Lay cheese matchsticks over the butter. (I used Cowgirl Creamery Batch 35 cheese (I found they call it Wagon Wheel on their website)… It didn’t melt smoothly. Probably better with grated parmesan or a thin slice of fresh mozzarella or grated cheddar.)

Put tomatoes on a baking pan covered with non-stick aluminum foil. Slather the tomatoes with olive oil.

Bake for 10 minutes or so.

…and a swell Mexican restaurant rediscovered.

Our spirits were high as we boarded the 45 Muni bus bound for the Metreon and a San Francisco Film Society 7pm screening of “The Kids are Alright” opening in theaters in about a week.

Creeping through Chinatown on Stockton Street, we were jarred by an announcement, “Sutter Street is the last stop for this bus,” said the woman driver in a loud and clear voice. “When we get to the bus stop at the end of the Stockton Tunnel, get off, go around the corner on Sutter and get on a shuttle bus; the shuttle will complete a detour route to the Caltrain station.”

There was a buzz among the passengers. President Obama is in town for a fundraiser for Senator Boxer… he’s staying at the Marriott on Fourth Street between Market and Mission and we just happen to be going to the Metreon, on Fourth and Mission. Our bus crept along and into the Stockton tunnel taking 20 minutes to get through the tunnel. I made use of the time, reading the salacious account of Tiger Woods’ mistresses in the current Vanity Fair. Sorry, but the scope of his obsession is beyond the pale; and kind of sad.

When we got off at Sutter it was 6:40. We decided to walk the five blocks, past Union Square and by the Marriott, where the SFPD were out in force in front of the hotel.

At about five-‘til-seven, we joined the end of a long line on the third floor of the Metreon. A couple minutes later, a woman from SFFS, about 30 people ahead of us said, “the theater is nearly full, anyone in line beyond this column has little chance to get in.”

Carol turned to me and said, “We’ll just go to dinner.” As the front of the line moved forward and our end began to disperse, I walked up to Ben, the SFFS Membership Director and said, “What’s up? I got an email this morning that said there were still a few seats available.”

He apologized, “The group we’re sharing the theater with brought many more people than expected. I’m really sorry.” (more…)

Scallops Cooked Onna Plate with Tomato Coulis

After a day at the Giants game (Giants 2 Astros 1), neither Carol nor I felt much like doing real cooking. “Why don’t you do those scallops on a plate in the oven… that’s easy,” she said. Good idea, that’s super easy. I had two Zip-Lock bags of plump super-fresh scallops from Shogun Fish Co., purchased that morning at the market, each bag containing four scallops. (Don’t try this with supermarket scallops!) As luck would have it, I had a jar of Fresh Tomato-Basil Coulis in the fridge, made on Thursday because my tomatoes were going south.

tomato coulis and fresh scallops

I started using what I call the “onna plate” method of cooking thin sliced fish when I found a recipe for Alaskan Halibut Cooked on the Plate with Tomato Confit* in 2004 by Olivia Wu in the SF Chronicle. She described it as an “utterly simple and almost instant dish.” Slice your fish thin across the grain, put it on an oiled plate and into a 500°F oven for two minutes. I’ve cooked that way several times, usually with halibut or salmon, but I even did it once with thin sliced hanger steak.

I got out the jar of Tomato Coulis to come to room temperature while we put our feet up and had a drink and some cheese and crackers. We watched the six o’clock news and At The Movies with the NY Times’ A.O. Scott and Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Phillips. That’s a pretty good show, by far the best attempt to replace Siskel and Ebert. (It only took about 10 years. Roger Ebert teamed with this guy Richard Roeper for a while before Ebert’s extensive throat cancer treatment, but Roeper was a jerk, in my opinion.) Peas would be good with the scallop dish, so I shelled about eight pea-pods from the morning market while Scott and Phillips discussed movies I won’t see.

sliced scallops on the plate

That was a good and necessary respite. I got out the scallops and pre-heated the oven to 450°F – as hot as my oven will go. I found that if I held the scallops on edge it was easy to slice a scallop into four equal pieces – I got a Chef’s Choice knife sharpener for my birthday, so I’m able to keep my knives very sharp with ease. I arranged the slices on two oiled plates and dropped a few peas in the center. While I was doing this, Carol washed, cut up and sautéed some chard to go with. We generally don’t work well together in the kitchen, but in this case, we had our own little space and task so it worked out well and we saved some time. I opened a bottle of Bonny Doon 2009 Paso Robles Viognier I’d been saving for a special meal. Hey, in spite of the simple preparation, this was becoming a special meal. (more…)