Ottolenghi Returns - Potato Tarte Tatin

I am happily relaxing on vacation and have been cooking casually (in bad light) and eating out on the town. Last night I went to Sun of a Gun, the seafood counterpart to Animal. We sat at the communal table and had a nice meal of shared plates among friends. It was my first experience with alligator - tastes like tender chicken - and I also discovered that I do like smoked fish when it comes in the form of a mahi mahi dip created by Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, mmmm)! Hence, I have been lazily abstaining from blogging and the entire e-world, which is probably good for my sanity every now and again (although, I have been watching some late-night trash-cable-TV because I can).  In spite of my vacation mindset, I have managed to do some cooking and taken a few photographs along the way.

Continuing on my Ottolenghi-kick, I bought my dad the new cookbook, Plenty, and, while I had it in my grasps, decided I needed to take advantage. I scoured the recipes and found the biggest challenge to be choosing just one thing to make, but, being a potato-lover, decided upon Ottolenghi's "Surprise Tatin."

It was a delicious 'tarte' with potatoes, caramelized onions, and sweet, slow-roasted tomatoes. Being that it was a "tatin," there was a small caramel sauce on the bottom of the pan that, in the professional cookbook photos, looks like it ought to meld beautifully with the fingerling potatoes. In my experience, it worked out a bit differently. I still don't have my caramel procedures down pat - I threw my sugar and butter into the pan, turned on the heat and stared and stirred intently making sure that it browned but did not burn. Alas, it never got really smooth and liquid-y, instead preferring to remain chunky. As it turned a nice golden color I "poured" (scraped) it into the pie pan and attempted to "spread it evenly" (deposited the clumps around the pan).

Once I had my caramel positioned, I spread around some fresh oregano, placed my potato-halves and then squeezed the roasted tomatoes and caramelized onions in the gaps. To finish the tarte, I was supposed to add a dry-aged goat cheese but opted for a not so dry goat cheese, because it was what I had. Then, the final piece was to place a round crust of puff pastry atop my pie . . . unfortunately, I bought filo dough instead. I made it work by melting a bit of butter and layering sheet after sheet of filo with a generous shmear of the melted butter - not quite what the recipe called for but it worked out and was delicious.

Lunch at Artisan, Paso Robles

On our way back to the city we stopped for a nice lunch at Artisan in Paso Robles. We jumped right in with an order of the jalapeno cornbread accompanied by honey lavender butter. The cornbread was served in a cast iron mold shaped like mini corn (the actual bread just looked nothing like corn but it was a cute idea and I liked the pan). The cornbread was nice, clearly there was some butter involved (not complaining) and I loved the hint of jalapeno flavor.

We also shared a bowl of black bean lentil soup with shredded tortilla crisps on top. The restaurant kindly gave us a taste of the soup which promptly convinced us to order a bowl of it (we couldn't stop ourselves at just a cup).

For our entrees we had the chopped salad with Point Reyes blue cheese. As you can see above the egg was PERFECTLY  cooked (I know this is subjective) but I am often wooed by oozy yolk-y goodness.

]Jan - this is a pasture on Highway 1 somewhere between Hearst Castle and Cambria.

The reuben with red cabbage and housemade russian dressing. The sandwich was yummy (although my favorite reuben is still from the La Brea Bakery take out counter).

I chose the burger. It is a rare occasion that I meet a burger that I don't like, and this was no exception. Quick observation: I think the trend of the moment is to serve a burger with a large serrated knife stabbed through the center of it -- very dramatic. Anyways Artisan's burger was served with white cheddar and housemade thousand island-y dressing. It was tasty and actually served medium rare (yay) but the patty was of the baseball-variety (extremely thick and not that wide across) and I thought the meat was just meh. When I make burgers at home I like to add spices or a little something extra into the meat (cilantro or cheese or Worcestershire) to give it flavor and flare and I found their meat a bit boring for the snazzy $13 presumptions. One last important note - the fries were perfection, golden and crusty exterior, melty buttery interior - yes please.

Jan - this is Moonstone Beach.

For Artisan's recipe for their Cuban sandwich with housemade zucchini pickles click here.

Lunch on the Coast - Moonstone Beach

In a pleasant turn of events I got to spend this week not working, not exercising, not running errands but . . . ON VACATION! I am visiting the central coast of California this week and testing out some new recipes, some local haunts and one or two tourist-y traps. Driving from San Francisco the weather did not bode well for a beach vacation, but after about 18 hours of serious rain (even a dusting of snow on the tops of the hills!) things turned around and we  have enjoyed sunny, mid-50's weather - perfect for beach strolls with a well-loved sweater.

After some serious tourism we went to lunch at Moonstone Beach Bar & Grill. This isn't the height of cuisine by any stretch of the imagination but it was tasty and exactly what you would want sitting across from a big ocean view framed by bright yellow blooming oxalis. Being beachside, I decided fish was in order and tried the grilled salmon sandwich. It was pleasantly delish - standard french roll, out of season under-ripe tomato (yah yah), yum yum YUM tartar sauce, and very moist perfectly cooked salmon (hallelujah!).

(I want this - It is roughly 1/3 the size of my apartment)

We also couldn't resist the burger (I have had more burgers and fries in the last eight days than I care to/is healthy to admit). The burger was pretty standard as burgers go - nice pink in the middle, once again good sauce ("secret sauce" - aka Thousand Island). In addition I snuck in a few bites of fish tacos that were really good and accompanied (on the side - so thoughtful) by a "spicy" (a certified spice wimp, I deemed it spice-less, but scrumptious) crema.

The meal was a good, slightly overpriced, moderately touristy, immensely worth it lunch. More Cambria ramblings to follow . . .

Quick Bite - Arizmendi

Happy Holiday Weekend! We took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather (67 degrees in San Francisco - sounds like bathing suit weather!) and went for a bike ride yesterday over to Irving Street. We worked up quite an appetite biking those relatively level 3.4 miles and eagerly headed into the neighborhood cooperative bakery, Arizmendi. We got a slice of focaccia with goat cheese and marinated artichokes to tide ourselves over while waiting for our pizza. Arizmendi makes one type of pizza each day and the selection changes daily. The focaccia was good but the pizza was spectacular - parsley, button mushrooms, housemade tomato sauce and cheese all united on a glorious piece of crust. mmm. . .

Frances Restaurant

I made it to Frances. On a Friday evening we decided to head over to Frances restaurant in the Castro to try getting a walk in spot at the bar. We got lucky and even got our choice of seats. We cozied up in the window and hunkered down for what turned about to be a scrumptious, sumptuous, 2.5 hour-long feast.
We ordered their house wine which is cleverly served in a 16 ounce beaker from which the diner can pour as much or as little as they please (not to mention it's $1 an ounce, which is pleasant).
For our starter we went with the chickpea fritters which were accompanied by a tomato aioli. The fritters are rich and the texture unique, but in my opinion, fabulous (think thick polenta). It had a wonderfully light and crispy crust (cornmeal?) with a perfectly smooth interior - the aioli was superfluous.
I am often a salad skeptic, I enjoy them but usually they remain a simple refreshing interlude between the main events. At Frances, I think the salad might have been my favorite dish. A lovely mix of fresh greens with roasted beets, a little bit of citrus and ras el hanout (a traditional North African spice blend). The ras el hanout was interesting but not overpowering creating a FABULOUS dish.
Despite the fact that there were just two of us we decided to go big and had a first course (we didn't want to be gluttonous so we split one between the two of us, of course!).
We ordered the ricotta gnocchi with chanterelles, corn and cherry tomatoes. Another deliciously rich and creamy dish. Basically chanterelles are like my kryptonite and once I see them on a menu I can't help but order them (see below for more of my vice).

As one of our two main dishes we tried the saffron risotto made with carnaroli rice, lobster mushrooms, squash and tomatoes.

Followed by soul food farms chicken with polenta, corn and, you guessed it, chanterelles! I should start by saying the polenta upon which this lucky chicken sat was stellar - melt-in-your-mouth goodness. The chicken was perfectly cooked BUT there was a little bit of stuffing in the chicken (I'm pretty sure it was a stuffing) which was seasoned with tarragon which in this was a bit overwhelming for me and overshadowed the other flavors on the plate.
The food was lovely, but in a way, what was more remarkable was how pleasant the meal was as a whole. The company, the atmosphere, the service, and the leisure with which we were able to enjoy our meal. Thank you, Frances.

6.15.10

OTD Bush Street - The light fixture is made out of a weathered buoy.

The daikon rice cake with cilantro and spicy soy makes my day better.

6.13.10 . . .

Heart Wine Bar in the Mission. House wine is $6.00 (quite good) served in mason jars - what's not to like.

Appetizer at Flour + Water of sea bass wrapped in speck. We also tasted the seared yellowtail appetizer with greens and fresh lemon. For dinner we shared the osso pizza (who doesn't love lumps of bone marrow on dough-y goodness), the zucca pizza (which had ricotta, squash, cerignola olives, and the un-advertised addition of lavendar), a delicious raviolini with shaved fresh porcinis, and chitarra verde with fennel, agrumato & prosecco braised mussels & clams. yumm. For dessert all but one of us declined, yet all of us enjoyed tasting the chocolate budino with sea salt. Delish.

6.4.10

Dine About Town. Dinner at Isa on Steiner at Chestnut Street. We had calamari with flageolet beans, mussels in traditional white wine, garlic, and parsley brothy goodness. For our mains we had the pork chop with rapini and cheesy polenta and duck breast with huckleberries, arugula, and beets. This was topped off with a dessert of mascarpone, strawberry and huckleberry trifle and a grapefruit granita. The calamari and duck breast tasted oddly similar (some sort of honey-5-spice rub) and much to my surprise ... so did the trifle (huckleberry 5 spice). I thought I might have been losing it but when my dining partner tasted and agreed I decided there was indeed a little five-spice slipped into the huckleberry mascarpone creation (trifle a la Joey Tribbiani). The mussels started us off on a good note but I think it was downhill from there. Nothing terrible but nothing worth writing home, or maybe a blog entry about.