Foodie San Franciscan Saturday

Well, Frangelico and I had another tiring day today, eating our way through San Francisco.  Thankfully, this city has so much more to offer than food, but the day did have to start with brunch...

Does Gott's directive absolve me of any personal responsibility?

And for said brunch we headed to an outlet in the Ferry Building that we'd missed the last time.  I had memories of excellent seafood from my last trip to San Francisco (for Cinnamon's wedding), and here was Gott's menu promising fish and chips, calamari and Ahi tuna.  So, I followed my genetic programming and headed to the waterside for some fruits de mer.

Face-off between the salad and the fried calamari

The calamari was clearly fresh and wonderfully succulent.  The fried batter was wholesome with a grainy, powdery touch.  The salad and the garnish that came with Frangelico's Ahi tuna burger were fresh and crunchy.  But the winner has to be the side of garlic fries.

Fries smothered in herby garlic butter

I absolutely love the aglio, and the powerful punch of garlic wrapped in silken butter with a foil of parsley on crunchy fries was just perfect for me.

The second highlight was that the seemingly-plastic drinks containers were actually made of compostable plant material!  Isn't this so much better than a derivative of $104 crude?

Made in the USA, like many other great, innovative ideas

After plenty of walking, we found ourselves, late afternoon, in the Castro district.  Here, we stumbled upon Marcello's.  Initially, my London instincts told me to run away from ready-made pizza being sold by the slice, but my foodie radar told me to stay.  A large, thin-crust topped with sliced mushrooms and pesto melting into each other was all it took for me to change my mind.

Marcello's magic

The Italian theme continued, as we wandered out of Marcello's and into a nearby deli, A. G. Ferrari.  Studying the deli counter all the way to the end, we came to the desserts.  A torta di mandorle was selected, given Frangelico's love for all things almondy.

Jam packed with almonds

It was too nutty for me (despite the layer of jam), but Frangelico enjoyed it.  It reminded me of two things from very different parts of the world: Spanish turrón duro (the crunchy variety) and powdery almond squares from India.

We didn't make it out of the deli before we'd somehow starting trying the Italian cheeses on display.  I was particularly intrigued by the parmigiano reggiano, which was advertised as being the best parmesan the owner had ever found (and it was right in his ancestral home town of Borgotaro all along).  I just had to try this, but the salesperson declined, because the blocks were all wrapped up and they didn't have any samples.  When I mentioned that we were from London, I think he took pity on us, and he agreed to let us try the parmesan.  It was a smart move on his part, because one tiny cube and we were sold.  It is the most stunning parmesan I can remember having tasted.

The story of the parmigiano

We went on to have a fabulous Mexican dinner with KB later in the evening, but I didn't have my camera with me to show you proof.  It was an excellent evening, catching up, talking about Singapore, London and San Francisco, hearing about Californian spiritual retreats, and exchanging stories about Cinnamon ;)  KB then very generously gave us a tour taking in Presidio Heights and Crissy Fields, from which we had a wonderful, haunting view of the Golden Gate Bridge by night.  Heading back downtown, we switched places, and she let me drive her car down Lombard Street!  The evening ended where the day had begun, and we stopped at the original Swensen's (of Plaza Singapura fame for some of us) for some vanilla and lychee ice creams.

KB, thank you for a wonderful evening, and I really appreciate you trusting me with your car!  Cinnamon, you really have some great friends - thank you for sharing them with your sisters.

Love

Truffle

Hook, Line and Sinker

Ok guys, you're going to hear from me more often than usual this week. That's because next week I'm going to be at a wedding. (It's an Indian wedding too, so there's going to be a lot of food involved!) Before that, I'd like to share with you a few more discoveries from Madeira.

Bolo de Caco

First, introducing the fabulous bolo de caco. This is a flour and sweet potato bread that's served with a healthy lashing of garlic butter and herbs. It usually comes to your table before a meal (like bread rolls), but it can also feature in a prego, which is steak or veal sandwiched between slices of bolo de caco. Simple and delicious. The edges are crunchy (from having been cooked on a hot plate), but the sweet potato makes for a very soft, stretchy and yielding bread.

Next, take a look at this dish, from Villa Cipriani's pasta menu: a gorgonzola tortelloni in a pumpkin sauce, with shavings of crisped parma ham. (Excuse the picture quality, romantic candlelight doesn't make for excellent photography...)

Gorgonzola Tortelloni

This dish was incredible. It's inspired me to try (in the New Year) roasting chunks of pumpkin with a bit of pancetta and thyme, and serving it with some gorgonzola crumbled on top. Perhaps a nice accompaniment to a simple fillet steak?

Finally, this one's a warning. If you see the word 'pudding' (or 'pudín' or 'pudim') in a dessert menu in the Iberian peninsula, don't imagine (like I did) a nice, warm, comforting bread and butter pudding-type thing. What you'll get is a cold, heavy-set custard.

Not a Pudding

It wasn't bad, but I just felt so cheated! There was a happy ending for the pudding, though. My husband ate it.

Love

Truffle

The Perfect Roast

I mentioned in my last post that Cinnamon had inspired me to try my hand at some Thanksgiving dinner classics. Having never so much as roasted a chicken before, and since there are only two of us at home, I wasn’t about to go the whole hog (or, to be precise, the whole turkey).

And so, thanks to a suggestion from Cinnamon, we made a small roast chicken on Sunday night. I also made gravy and stuffing to go with it, these being my favourite parts of a roast meal. To this we added some French pommes rissolées (courtesy of my husband) and steamed mange tout. The pumpkin pie I’d dreamed about didn’t make the cut in the end, because I figured that three new things I’d never cooked before were enough. An English treacle tart was purchased as a substitute.

Your eyes do not deceive you – I did admit above that I’d never roasted a simple chicken before. Roast anything had always sounded so complicated to me, having grown up with a cuisine that doesn’t use ovens. And I thought that my humble kitchen was way too small to attempt anything as ambitious as a festive dinner – all of that would be for when I had my dream kitchen.

But one of England’s heroes, Jamie Oliver, has made it so easy for restaurant-dependents like me. (Yes, Jamie’s stock is down in the market, but I still think he seems a great guy - he’s so positive and real.) Again on Cinnamon’s suggestion, I looked up his perfect roast chicken recipe and, putting aside all my excuses and fears of never-seen-it-done-before and kitchen-too-small, followed it. I was amazed at the result: the chicken was moist and flavoured perfectly with the bundle of herbs (sage, rosemary, bay and thyme) it had been stuffed with, and the gravy was bursting with the essence of the carrots, celery, onions and garlic from the roasting tin. With relatively few ingredients that you can pick up in any supermarket, I really did get a great roast chicken.

There’s a streak in me that often wants to have everything lined up before I can embark on something – I feel like x, y and z have to be in place before I can do a, b or c. But when is it ever enough? I couldn’t get a photo of the roast chicken to share with you, but here’s a photo of the humble kitchen with its 2 1/2 feet of prep space.

Maybe everything doesn’t have to be perfect before you can create something beautiful. That's what I learned from making a simple roast chicken.

Just in case you feel like attempting this before Christmas, you can find Jamie Oliver’s perfect roast chicken recipe (that's really what he calls it) here and the gravy recipe here. Here is the cranberry and chestnut stuffing recipe (although I’d recommend going easy on the cranberries; and pork and bramley sausages worked as a great substitute for the turkey sausage).

And experienced chicken roasters, please share with us your one best tip (like how to get the skin nice and crispy!).

Love

Truffle

Serving Leftovers with Flair

When the weekends arrive, we are usually left with a few leftovers. Rather than re-heating the same and serving them up, I try to be creative, or should I say recreative. Last week, we had a fridge that included spiced, sauteed chicken filling for tacos, cherry tomatoes, rice, pasta and a pantry full of the usual suspects. Wanting to make some form of Mexican rice, the internet seemed to suggest that onion, cumin, garlic and beans were the integral ingredients. So, I sauteed some onions, added cumin, threw in the chicken, sprinkled garlic powder, a can of black-eyed peas, cherry tomatoes, chilli powder and finally the rice. As a side dish, opened up a can of refried beans and heated it up. I grabbed a handful of cilantro (coriander) from the backyard, chopped it up and threw it on the rice before turning it off. Note on cilantro, do not overcook, and do not cover the dish after adding it. This is my mother's advice when cooking Indian food. 'Cause if you do, it turns bitter.

A family favorite is a re-hash of leftover pancake batter. The one-cup flour recipe I detailed last week shouldn't leave a family of four with leftovers, but doubling the recipe might... So, my solution is to make my version of Okonomiyaki - a type of Japanese pancake with vegetables and a tasty dipping sauce. Please see link for an authentic recipe: http://japanesefood.about.com/od/holidaytraditionalfood/r/okonomiyaki.htm

Okonomi literally means "as you like it" - quite Shakespearean... Yaki means fried. It usually comes with a thick dark sauce and some mayo and is covered with fluffy bonito flakes - flakes of dried tuna. My version lacks all the above, except for the Shakespearean title. It originates in Osaka, which is where I had my first Okonomiyaki.

Here is my recipe for leftover pancake batter:

1. Make pancake batter from "Lemony Pancakes"

2. Saute one of the following veg combos-
*sliced cabbage and carrots
*leeks and ham
*onions and spinach
with garlic powder, soy sauce,salt, and pepper

3. Prepare sauce of soy, sesame oil, and Chiu Chow Chilli oil (or any Chinese chilli oil).

4. Add sauteed vegetables to batter and mix well. Make small pancakes and serve with sauce.

It's a great way to get kids to eat vegetables! I hope you enjoy it.

Cinnamon