event: market-inspired summer dinner with chef tom call

You guys, something very fun and exciting is happening. My good friend, Tom Call, is an amazing chef in San Francisco (you can read all about him here). I should know—cause he practically lived at our house in SF—and would always cook for us. My roommates and I would be all whiney and complainy about how we didn't know what to make with our four random ingredients and he would whip up the most amazing, delicious, legit meals. You have some tomatoes, corn, cheese and potatoes? Oh, perfect. Tom will hand-make some gnocchi with polenta and a tomato sauce. AND BLOW YOUR MIND. Just to name one of many examples. Anywho, he and his lovely wife, Sarah, and their awesome new baby are coming out here in June, and he is hosting a pop-up dinner. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the concept—it's basically a dinner that is not in a restaurant, but in a private location and that is prepared by a legitimate chef. He has started to do these in SF, and will be gracing us with one here. And guess what? I'm helping. I'll be supplying the desserts. I'm very excited and a lil' nervous about making something that is good enough to be paired with his food. Let me know if any of you would like to reserve a seat. Or just RSVP to Tom@FoodMadebyTom.com.

Ok, that's all for now... I'm going to go rack my brain about what I can make. I'll be testing recipes all month, so if you iz my homie, you'll probs get some taste tests within the next few weeks. Hope you are hungry...

peanut butter munchies

A new friend of mine from work came over the other day, wanting to have a baking night. We were looking through some recipes I had pulled a while back of things I wanted to try. She was feeling peanut butter, and you know how I'm always down for the peanut butter. I had printed out this recipe that I found via foodgawker, and boy are we glad we made them! They are really easy to make and so much easier to eat. We brought a few to some friends and the rest to work the next day, and if you like chocolate and peanut butter, these are THE cookies for you. If you don't, well then I don't think I can help your special kind of problems...

Peanut Butter Munchies

Chocolate Cookie Dough:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla

Peanut Butter Filling:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl beat together butter, both sugars, and peanut butter until creamy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; mix well. Beat in dry ingredients. Put dough in refrigerator while you make up the peanut butter filling.

In a medium mixing bowl mix together peanut butter and powdered sugar until smooth. It will be the right consistency when you can shape it into balls. Shape the mixture into 32 small (2 cm) balls.

On the palm of your hand flatten out a ball of the chocolate dough like a pancake, place the peanut butter ball in the middle and wrap the chocolate dough up around the peanut butter ball until it is covered. Repeat for the rest of the dough and peanut butter balls. Place balls on cookie sheets (about 2 inches apart).

Bake cookies in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or until they are just set and the surface begins to crack. Let cookies stand for 1 minute, transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

ode to tartine

The main thing I miss about traveling to SF every week (besides seeing my parents) is getting together with friends to eat amazing food at least once a week. I have a whole list of my favorite spots that I send to people when they travel there, and it was getting outdated because there are so many new and great places. My new favorite is Outerlands in the Outer Sunset neighborhood. I have many classics, but the one I will wax poetic about  right now is Tartine. I've talked about them before. Their cookbook contains my all-time, absolute favorite lemon bars recipe. It's a must-see spot. On my last week of travel, I discovered that my friend Ruel had never been. So we decided we must go to indoctrinate him, and satiate my cravings for it, since it will be a while till I get back to the city. We ordered the Pastrami sandwich that had two of my favorite ingredients: gruyére and horseradish. We'd be chatting and one of us would have to stop and take a moment while the horseradish drew a tear or two. SO. GOOD. 

We ordered two desserts, and I was only able to manage to get a picture of one, cause we devoured the other  (bread pudding—you know how I love my bread pudding) before I could think of documenting the evidence. Dessert #2: Banana Cream Tart. Here is the description on the menu: Flaky pastry coated in dark chocolate with caramel, pastry cream, and lightly sweetened cream.Yup. It's as good as it sounds.

In summation. Go to San Francisco. Then, whatever you do, EAT HERE.

(ps, sorry about the crappy camera phone photography)

Pear and Fresh Ginger Crisp

I love a good crisp. Warm fruit and spices with a crispy topping is just magic to me. It's one of the most ultimate comfort foods out there—and we all know how much I love my comfort food. I found this recipe in a cookbook called The Craft of Baking. The thing I love about this book is that it will give you a recipe and then on the side of said recipe it says "varying your craft" and gives you alternate versions to the original recipe. This is totally my steez, y'all. I love tweaking stuff and seeing what works better (and sadly, occasionally, sometimes worse) than the original. Most of my favorite recipes have come from that very practice. This book is definitely one of my favorites for this reason, and just the fact that it contains so much goodness. So, without further ado, here is the "varied" recipe of a Pear and Fresh Ginger Crisp.

FRUIT:
6 ripe Bartlett or Anjou pears, peeled, halved, cored, and diced
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour

STREUSEL:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup (4 oz.) almonds, roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoon (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

FOR THE FRUIT:
In a large bowl, mix together the pears, ginger, sugar and flour. Let the mixture stand at room temperature until juices begin to draw out from the fruit, about 30 minutes.

FOR THE STREUSEL:
Combine the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, almonds, cinnamon, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix just to combine. Add the butter and mix just until the streusel comes together. Spread onto a baking sheet and chill in the refrigerator until firm, about 15 minutes.

Crumble the streusel with your fingers, and store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to use.

Pour the fruit and juices into a 6-cup casserole or an 8-inch square baking dish. Top with the streusel. Place the baking dish on the prepared baking sheet and bake, rotating the sheet halfway through, until the fruit in tender, the juices are bubbling and thickened, and the topping is browned, about 40 minutes. Transfer the baking dish to a wire rack and let the crisp cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature.

The crisp is best eaten the day it is baked.

the knife that changed my life

Ok, so that's a bit dramatic, but holy crap, this knife is amazing! My parents continued their tradition of amazing Christmas gifts, and this was one of them. They somehow always find the most amazing kitchen utilities. This knife says it's a tomato knife, but I use it for everything. It makes the perfect paper thin slices of anything—strawberries, yams, brussel sprouts, tomatoes, bell peppers, etc. This is my absolutely go-to knife. They hand grind each knife, and all the materials are sourced and made in the good 'ole US of A. The wood is Virginia birch wood (my Grandpa would have loved that). You can find out more about the process here. Anyway, I can't wax poetic about this knife enough. If you are looking for a great go-to knife, hit this baby up!

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm back to my full-time life in just one city every week. It's amazing how having weeknights to run errands and get stuff done feels like such a luxury. I started a new job at a rad Ad Agency that's only a mile from my place. Having a short commute after traveling across 2 states every week and before that, driving about 45 minutes each way is the dreamiest. Anyway, starting at a new job can always be a little daunting and since it's been so long since I've started a brand new job, I was extra nervous. I decided if I couldn't win people over with my "sparkling personality", I could try to win them over with cookies. So far, this cunning plan seems to be working. It must be because this recipe is so legit. My oldest sister sent this to me a while ago, raving about it. Since I'm always looking for and collecting good recipes, I get a little overwhelmed with all the options, thankfully my good friend Rachel was over she helped me narrow down the selection to these. She also helped me with this mini shoot for the cookies. Thanks, Rach! These are moist deluxe with all the coconut and the perfect amount of chewy vs. crispy. I suggest you try them if you are trying to bribe people to like you—or just for your stomach to like you. (Also, my sister said to make the recipe exactly as listed, I only made one change out of necessity, but this recipe really doesn't need to be tweaked at all).


Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
Cream until fluffy.
Add:
2 eggs, beating in one at a time
2 tsp vanilla
Add:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Mix well and add:
2 2/3 cup coconut (yes, you read that correctly)
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (**I didn't have any, so I did all semi-sweet -- sorry sis!)

Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.


**I don't know the original source of the recipe, but my hat is tipped to whoever out there made this happen.

chocolate dipped macaroons

These just might be the easiest thing I've ever made. And that's not just cause my Mama helped me. Anyone could make these—in a very short amount of time, and with only 3 ingredients to boot (plus the dipping chocolate, if you so choose). We made these and the ever delightful Peanut Butter Bon Bons (or Buckeyes, as my Dad prefers to call them) within the space of a few hours. So, hold on to your seats, cause I'm about to blow your mind by dropping this easy/delicious/fast knowledge on you...
 
5 cups coconut (that's just over one normal sized bag)
1/3 cup flour
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Mix coconut and flour together. Add milk, mix and drop in spoonfuls (we used a medium sized cookie scoop, which worked like a dream) onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 325° or until lightly browned.

After they cooled, we dipped half each cookie halfway into melted dipping chocolate. (A tip I just learned from Mama King: make sure the chocolate doesn't reach much higher than a melted lukewarm, otherwise it will get unruly on you)

**I do not know the recipe source, except that my Dad's ex-girlfriend from high school sent it to my Mom. I know that totally sounds weird, but I won't question the raddness of this.

steel cut oats with a bunch of other stuff

 (not great photo, courtesy of my phone)

This is the breakfast of champions. Well if I gave this to a champion of something—then it would be. But, I do CHAMPION this breakfast (see what I did there?). In the winter, this is the way I prefer to start my day (when I'm in town, and have the time to make something.) You can mix and match a few things, but this is my basic formula:

1/4 uncooked steel cut oats
1 tablespoon of uncooked quinoa 
1 cup water
2 teaspoons honey
1/4 teaspoon allspice or cloves or cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground flax
2 teaspoons toasted wheat germ
1/4 cup almond milk
a few drops of vanilla
a handful of frozen blueberries
a handful of sliced almonds

Bring water to a boil, add the oats and quinoa and turn down to medium-low heat. Cook for about 15-20 minutes, or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add the almond milk and stir. Cook for another 2-3 minutes, then add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. Let cook until desired consistency (I like mine pretty thick) and serve. This set of portions feeds one fairly hungry strawberry blonde.

**In OTHER NEWS: I will have a normal life again, starting a week from today. So, I will be back to more regular posting, testing, and maybe I'm thinking about reviewing places. We'll see what 2011 has in store, but I'm thinking this year will be tops.

slow cooker granola

Slow cooker granola sounds totally weird, right? Well, as you know, I've been looking for mulitple ways to use my crock pot/slow cooker and have looked up a lot of ideas on the interwebs and in books. I keep finding great recipes in this one that my parents got me a few Christmases ago (before they realized that I didn't have a functioning slow cooker.) This is the same book I got the apple butter recipe from. And we know how much I liked (loved) that. This is a great granola recipe, and the thing I love about granola is that it's so flexible. You can really change things up depending on what you have on hand or are just in the mood for. I was regretfully out of coconut (the horror!) and had some toasted macadamia nuts on hand so I changed things up a little from the original recipe, but you can really be loosey-goosey with these things.

Maple-Almond Granola
5 cups rolled oats
1 cup sliced almonds (I added 1/2 cup of toasted macadamia nuts, as well)
3/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries (I used this amount of a mixed bag of dried fruit)
3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (it's near impossible to find unsweetened so just use what you can find)
1/2 cup chopped dates (I substituted raisins)
1/2 cup sesame seeds
2/3 cup pure maple syrup (this doesn't leave an overwhelming maple flavor. Just enough to sweeten)
1/4 cup canola oil (I did a little less)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt

1. Combine all the ingredients in a lightly buttered slow cooker and stir to combine. Cook on high for 1 1/2 hours, uncovered, stirring occasionally.
2. Reduce the heat to low and cook, uncovered, for 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is crisp and dry.
3. Spread the granola on a baking sheet to cool completely (I totally skipped this step). Store in airtight jars. It will taste best if used within 2 weeks.

raspberry cranberry crumb breakfast bar

The other day I saw some good-looking raspberries on sale, so I bought a few pints and was looking up some ideas for how to utilize them. I came upon this recipe from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, and realized I needed to make and eat this, but I didn't have enough raspberries. As soon as my wheels started turning, I remembered I had some frozen cranberries, and I sure do love cranberries mixed with other berries. And I always like a little more tart with my sweet. At first, I wasn't sure I should make it because of the word "breakfast" in the title of the recipe, but in reading the intro, it looks like this bar is good for any time. And that sure came out to be true. These were the perfect texture and consistency, and very much hit the spot. In fact, I'm craving some right now...

Raspberry Cranberry Crumb Breakfast Bar
adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

For the crust and crumb:
1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 1/4 cup rolled oats (not instant)
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces

For the Raspberry Cranberry filling:
1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 pound raspberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 pound cranberries, fresh or frozen
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Make the crust and crumb:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of 9-by-13 inch pan. Put a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, letting the parchment extend up the two short sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. (This will make it easy to remove the bars from the pan after they have baked.) Butter the parchment.

Put the flour, brown sugar, oats, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a food processor. Pulse in short bursts until combined. Add the butter and pulse until loose crumbs form.

Reserve 1 cup of the mixture and set aside. Pour the rest of the mixture into the prepared pan and use your hands or the back of a large wooden spoon to push the crust into an even layer in the bottom of the pan. The crust should touch the sides of the pan. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let the crust cool. Keep the oven on while you make the raspberry filling.

Make the Raspberry filling:
In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar, cinnamon, and flour together.

Add the raspberries, lemon juice, and butter and use your hands to toss gently until the raspberries are evenly coated.

Assemble and bake the bars:
Spread the raspberry filling evenly on top of the cooled crust. Sprinkle the reserved 1 cup crust mixture evenly on top of the filling.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the pan every 15 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the filling starts to bubble around edges.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, then cut into squares and serve. The bars can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 2 days.