Food

Another of E's necessary SF stops was Bi-Rite Creamery, "featuring small-batch artisanal ice creams". On our first trip (we would have gone every day if we could have fit it in), E had the salted caramel, which is pretty much the king of gourmet ice cream flavors. It's a perfect blend of flavors, especially if you like the salty as much as the sweet. This one was really good, a smoky caramel flavor with hints of salt. I had a peanut butter with fudge swirls. I love me some chocolate and peanut butter and this one was good, not too sweet or overwhelming, but a good subtle peanutty base.

On our next trip, we got there five minutes after closing, but they saw us outside the door looking distraught and let us in. When he heard we were from Seattle and heading back the next day, one of the guys made us big scoops, and chatted us up about ice cream and seattle and what-not. I took a mint chip (good, but not especially remarkable), and E got a deluxe combo of ginger, honey lavender ("the best ice cream in this place!"), and more salted caramel. The ginger was really good and gingery, and the honey lavender was a surprise, a subtle blend of flavors. mmm... ice cream.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 10:55 PM | Permalink

Another of E's planned stops was at Delfina, a packed, friendly Italian place in the mission district. The place was loud and jolly, though just short of being too loud. Everything here was good. The menu is grouped into antipasti, salads, sides, pastas, and main courses; we didn't feel up to tackling more than a couple of appetizers and some pasta (and planned on going to Bi-Rite for dessert). We had:

A boar sausage appetizer that had the sausage skewered between two grilled squares of bread and topped with very flavorful tomatoes.
Gioia burrata with fagiolini and "pane pomodoro". E says they make the burrata in house -- it's a soft, fresh mozzarella-like cheese. This dish went really well with the sausage.
Rosemary tagliatelle with guinea hen ragu and vin santo. They were actually out of the tagliatelle, so I got it with a (non-rosemary) penne-like pasta.
Pansotti with a cream-walnut sauce. We both expected this to be overwhelmingly rich, as many cream-sauce dishes are, but it was fairly light for a cream sauce. The walnut flavor was really good and took it beyond a regular ol pasta-in-cream-sauce dish.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 10:52 PM | Permalink

Monday was a walking tour of chinatown, north beach, waterfront, russian hill, union square, etc. We read some good reviews of an "asian fusion" places called The House and decided to stop by. The decor was beautiful, lots of light wood and that pale yellowish lime green color I now pavlovishly associate with good asian (particularly vietnamese) food. The menu was interesting and the food good, though the best thing we had was the simple sashimi salad, with the other two dishes being interesting but not perfect. We had:

Hamachi sashimi salad. large slices of hamachi on greens, with a wasabi-soy dressing. Simple and very good. The sashimi was fresh, and the dressing was perfect.
Warm wasabi house noodles with grilled pork. Basically udon noodles in a fairly heavy soy-based sauce with thick pieces of pork (tenderloin). It was a little heavy and salty -- I think my recent plunge into vietnamese cuisine has turned me away from the more chinese-ish heavier saltier stuff a bit.
Unagi avocado sandwich. I had this, large pieces of unagi and thick slices of avocado on lightly-grilled bread (crunchy outside but still basically soft inside, not fully toasted, very good). it was a good sandwich, though the avocado was a bit much (and made things slippery and prone to fall apart). It tasted great, but unagi being a fairly strong flavor, a whole sandwich worth was a bit much.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 02:51 PM | Permalink

E and I met up with my friends V and J and all went to Limon, a peruvian restaurant (my idea, for once). I'd never had peruvian before, but I'd heard about it enough to be eager to try (Seattle had one peruvian place, which I tried to go to several times, but which has now disappeared). Anyway, we had:

Ceviche de Pescado. Fresh raw halibut marinated in lime juice, served with yam and Peruvian corn. This was really really good. The fish was very good quality, and the flavor was great. Peruvian corn turns out to be huge corn, which was cool, but it was sort of mushy in consistency and not very corn-tasting; not sure if that's the way it generally is or what.
Tatara de Atun. Diced sushi grade Ahi Tuna, diced pears, roasted bell peppers and pine nuts tossed in sesame oil with aji Amarillo vinaigrette and wonton points.
Anticucho de Pulpito. Aji panca marinated baby octopus, grilled and served over chimichurri mashed potatoes, with Peruvian Adresso sauce. Good, but way way over-salted.
Lomo Saltodo. Traditional Peruvian dish of Top Sirloin slices sautéed with onions, tomatoes and fries, served with a side of rice. This was kind of a big mix-up of all the ingredients, including the fries. Simple, but good flavor.
Arroz con Mariscos. Clams, scallops, mussels, shrimp and calamari cooked with saffron rice in a pepper shrimp sauce.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 10:12 PM | Permalink

E was very excited to go to Zuni Cafe in SF, since she has their cookbook and had never been there before. We had a lunch reservation on friday (yes, you need a lunch reservation). It's a nice space, a triangular building on a market st corner, with lots of big windows and a kitchen right in the middle with a huge brick oven. E had a salad; it was good, but I forget what was in it. I had the burger with gruyere on rosemary focaccia, and she had the chicken and tomato sandwich. I thought everything there was solid and good, with no special standouts. I liked the way her sandwich was constructed, on very very thin grilled bread with thin slices of chicken and tomato. The only problem I had with it was that the chicken was sort of bland and colorless, entirely dominated by the tomato. for dessert, we had a peach ice cream that was really really good and reminded me of home (yes, I'm a peach state native).

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 03:03 PM | Permalink

I took a couple of the pancakes left over from this morning's red bean red rice pancakes and stuffed them with a couple of left over shrimp/rice patties from last night, along with lettuce, carrots, red onions, and a little green jalapeno sauce, eaten soft taco style. tasty! that's a lot of red rice.. but it seems to be comparable to brown rice nutrition-wise. to use the pancakes as a flatbread, I'd make them a little bigger, and leave out the cardamom and red bean (maybe adding other flavors). they'd be good stuffed with almost anything.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 06:22 PM | Permalink

I've been obsessed with my red rice and my spice grinder lately. After yesterday's mostly successful experiment with broken rice, I started to wonder about going all the way and making rice flour. since it was morning, the natural direction was to make pancakes. red bean paste seemed like a natural addition, with its semi-sweet flavor and matching red color, and so RBRR pancakes were born. they were definitely a bit dense and heavy, but tasty all the same.

Ingredients
3/4 c red rice flour
1/3 c white whole wheat flour
1 c milk
1 egg
2 tbsp sweetened red bean paste
1 tsp freshly-ground cardamom
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
butter

Directions
if you're making the rice flour, grind the rice in a coffee/spice grinder in small batches until powdered, maybe a minute each. put the milk and egg in a blender and add the flour. blend until smooth. add the red bean paste, sugar, cardamom, and salt to taste and blend until smooth. heat a skillet or two to medium and melt a little butter. pour the batter in and let it spread from the center to the desired size. cook for a few minutes, until holes begin to form and the top side is no longer wet. flip and give a few more minutes. stack on a covered plate. serve with butter, cinnamon-sugar, apricot jam, or whatever you like.

Verdict
these are definitely not light, fluffy pancakes. they're almost flat and denser, more like a crepe, flatbread, or injira. my usual pancake recipe is the same but with white flour, and it's a little lighter, but still mostly flat rather than fluffy (no baking powder). these had a very good flavor (though a little overwhelmed by the cardamom, which I'll reduce or leave out next time) and the red color is really nice. they're also really healthy; the red bean paste is pretty sugary, but it didn't seem to add a whole lot and could probably be eliminated. I'd experiment with making these thinner (more milk) for crepes, either sweet or savory. I'm also thinking about using the same basic recipe (without the cardamom or red bean) as a flatbread, to stuff and serve soft taco style.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 12:35 PM | Permalink

Since my first kroot, I've been thinking about different ideas of what to put in them. So I thought I'd list some of them out. for fillings, I want something that is fairly easy to cut without destroying the whole kroot (no pieces of steak or entire chicken breasts) but also holds some structure as you eat the kroot (no loose rice or stew-like fillings).

- shrimp/rice patty topped with a slice of grilled pineapple; topped with a mango salsa with thai basil
- same but with mango or papaya
- same but topped with peanut sauce
- mashed potatoes, turkey, gravy; topped with a cranberry relish
- rice or rice patty, spicy shredded pork; topped with ??
- same with other chinese stir-fry flavors
- corn patty with shredded chicken; topped with spicy tomato salsa
- shrimp or pork, cilantro, lettuce, bean sprouts; topped with something nuoc-chamish
- mashed sweet potatoes, chicken or pork; topped with corn relish
- chicken, chicken patty, or turkey patty, grilled tomato; topped with tomato salsa

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 11:42 PM | Permalink

since I started experimenting with my "kroots" I've been thinking about what to put inside them. following on the recipe with the turkey burger, I started thinking about bringing my old shrimp cake idea into the kroot world. I thought of layering it with rice, but then decided to try a shrimp/rice patty, using "broken" rice to make it stickier (the red rice I wanted to use being somewhat coarse and grainy, like brown rice). the result is a patty that tastes fairly interesting in itself and should be good in a kroot, roll, or who-knows-what.

Ingredients
1/2 c red rice
1 c water
1/2 lb shrimp, food-processored into a paste
a few green onions, white and light green sections diced fine
1 tbsp lemongrass paste
1 tsp green curry paste
1 egg, beaten
salt, white pepper, olive oil

Directions
"break" the rice in a coffee/spice grinder in small batches, 2-3 pulses each. you should see some powder, a number of split grains, and some still-whole grains. put the rice and water in a small saucepan on high and bring to a boil. reduce heat, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. mix the rice with the shrimp at a ratio of about 2:1 rice. add the green onions and mix thoroughly. add lemongrass, curry paste, and 1-2 teaspoons each of salt and white pepper. add in the egg and mix to a hamburger-like consistency. pan fry the patties and finish at medium heat with the lid on the pan.

Verdict
pretty good! the flavors of the onions, lemongrass, and curry paste all come through nicely but not overpoweringly. the shrimp is pretty subtle, but provides a sort of seafoody background. the rice makes a nice texture, especially where it's fried and crispier around the outside. the consistency of the patties is a lot like hamburgers, but the flavor is nothing like meat. they should be good in a roll or kroot, especially paired with pineapple, mango, or papaya, as well as lettuce, cilantro, or thai basil.

I'd like to bring out the shrimp flavor a bit more, but I'm not sure how (more shrimp!). given that the flavors lean in a vietnamese direction, a little lime juice might go nicely, though perhaps just as a component in a sauce or relish. I'd probably also reuse the lemongrass or curry paste in a sauce to bring out that flavor, but the amount in the patty is about right. a similar patty with pork instead of shrimp would probably be good, as might a patty of just rice and flavorings. and using different kinds of rice could be good -- white rice would probably be very tasty, though not as healthy or hearty.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 10:53 PM | Permalink

I like dark chocolate, but I have to say that 87% is too dark for me.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 10:10 PM | Permalink

I took K to Crow tonight for her birthday. The atmosphere there is good, and we had a good time, but the food overall was fine but not especially memorable. It gets a lot of rave reviews on citysearch, but I agree more with the occasional blah one. We had:

- a pinot grigio for me and a sauvignon blanc for her (forgot the names)
- the summer fruit salad, with toasted nuts and arugula. very good peaches and berries, a good merge of flavors.
- the cured meat selection. good, but disappointingly little variation among the different meats offered.
- pan-seared halibut with lobster mushrooms, fennel, cherry tomatoes, and some other stuff. the fish was very well cooked, but I thought the vegetables were a bit blah. they didn't look that exciting when they came out and they didn't taste that exciting either.
- pork chop with uh stuff. the chop itself was pretty good, though a bit tough in places. it was served on I'm not sure what kind of grain (quinoa-like but not as nutty tasting) with bacon, with vegetables. the chop itself tasted good and was well cooked, but the grain and vegetables mostly had a heavy, salty, meaty flavor that echoed rather than complemented the pork. it was a bit much overall.
- ginger pana cotta with berries. very good, delicate consistency and good ginger flavor.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 09:48 PM | Permalink

I don't know the exact recipes, but E and I had a couple of friends over saturday and made:
- turkey burgers (with parsley, garlic, green onion, salt, and pepper)
- sweet potato and yam oven fries
- salad of greens, tomatoes from my yard, goat cheese, bacon, and green apples
- blueberry pie

I did the grilling and experimenting with various condiments for the fries and burgers.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 04:49 PM | Permalink

In my ongoing exploration of the world of rice, I picked up some bhutanese red rice this week. Red rice is supposedly even healthier than brown. The basic recipe, according to the sticker on the bulk bin, was: boil 1 c rice and 1.5 c water, simmer for 20 minutes, let stand for 5 minutes. I felt like experimenting with sort of a sweet rice as a possible breakfast, and just to see what would happen. The rice itself was fairly coarse, somewhat like brown rice, though chewier. It turned the milk a nice red color. The dish overall tasted good and would be good for breakfast in the winter.

Ingredients
1 c bhutanese red rice
1 1/2 c skim milk
coarse-ground cardamom, cinnamon, allspice, butter, olive oil, honey

Directions
melt the butter in a large saucepan on medium heat. add some olive oil. saute the spice for a few minutes. add the milk, increase the heat and bring to a simmer. cover, turn to low, and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. add the rice, bring to a boil on high. cover, turn to low, and let simmer for 20 minutes. remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes. add honey to taste.

Verdict
red rice is really chewy. maybe a bit softer than brown rice, but chewier. I'd like to experiment with congee-style broken rice with red or brown rice, make something more porridge-like. the sweet flavor was good, but would probably be more appetizing for breakfast with a softer stickier type, like sushi rice. I'm looking forward to trying red rice with something savory.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 12:28 PM | Permalink

It's not really en croute, so I won't call it that. Not too long ago I picked up some mountain rice bread at central market. It's pretty great stuff, unlike anything I've gotten before. It's significantly thinner than a tortilla or similar, but stronger and more flexible. They're fairly healthy too. Anyway, I wanted to try making a sandwich in one of these, almost like a wonton or en croute dish, and it came out pretty good. we'd made turkey burgers the night before, so I used that, but of course lots of things would be good.

Ingredients
1 sheet of mountain flat bread
1/3 lb ground turkey
1/2 large tomato
grated parmesan, olive oil, salt, ground black pepper, garlic, italian parsley, green onions

Directions
dice parsley, garlic, green onions. mix with the turkey, and add salt and pepper. form into a thin patty. fry in olive oil on medium high. remove from pan and pat dry. cut one thick slice of tomato, and fry in the oil, adding salt and pepper, until the skin comes off and it just starts to fall apart. lay out the flatbread and put the patty in the middle, with the tomato slice on top, topped by salt, pepper, and parmesan to taste. fold in the corners of the flatbread one at a time, moistening slightly so they stick together. fry the sandwich folded side down in olive oil on medium for a few minutes. do not burn! meanwhile, dice some of the tomato and fry it in some olive oil with garlic and pepper for a few minutes. plate the sandwich folded side up, topped with the tomato salsa and parmesan.

Verdict
except that I slightly burned the sandwich while I was making the salsa, it was very good. I also put the tomato under the patty and it ended up soaking through -- putting it on the folded side should do a little better. next time, I'd probably make the patty more flavorful and add jalapeno or something to the salsa. some basil in the sandwich might be good as well. but basically, this should work with all sorts of food combinations, like any sandwich. It did look really good when plated.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 12:07 PM | Permalink

Sliced honeydew and raspberries with cream, ground cardamom and a little kosher salt, accompanied by cubes of peccorino-romano and dark chili-accented chocolate.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 06:11 PM | Permalink

(I'm adding "tasting" posts to this journal, so I can remember things I try, like wine, cheese, etc.)

I like to have some interesting cheese around the house, to have with bread or fruit as a snack, whenever. I tried peccorino-romano this week, which I hadn't really had plain as a snack before. It's a nice firm cheese, somewhere between gruyere and parmesan. It's very salty, almost a bit much eaten straight, but good with sweet fruit.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 06:08 PM | Permalink

(I'm adding restaurants to the food journal, more just to record meals than to review them carefully)

Barking Frog in Woodinville, at Willows Lodge next to the Herbfarm. E and I went and had:

Russell Creek Sangiovese
Sashimi Ahi Poke. Local radish & cucumber, Hawaiian sea salt, jalapeno-watermelon sorbet. Ahi on a bed of diced cucumbers and radish, presented in what looked almost like a layered cake, though it fell apart once you dug in.
Dungeness Crab Beignet. Mango, baby frisee, toasted coconut & almonds.
Seared Sea Bass & Lobster Ravioli. Mascarpone & tarragon lobster ravioli, baby spinach, oyster mushrooms, lobster butter broth.
Grilled Kurobota Pork Chop. Sage & yukon potato pillows, asparagus, prosciutto di parma, peccorino gran cru, balsamic reduction.
Chocolate Cherry Bombe. Chocolate mousse, cherry-pinot confiture, amaretto truffle. The confiture was a gelled cherry square, almost like a very upscale gumdrop (that kind of chewy fruity consistency).

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 11:13 PM | Permalink

I've been experimenting a bit lately with soup, with the basic approach derived from a thom ka gai recipe I got out of Cook's Illustrated. I've most made them pretty spicy, with garlic and curry paste and other fairly strong flavors. For this one, I wanted to bring out a strong lemongrass flavor, so I kept competing flavors to a minimum, the main thing being shallots, which I thought would be a nice complement. The soups I've been doing have also been mainly a broth with a little bit of stuff in it (mushrooms, typically). I wanted this one to be more chunky. I had originally planned to add some rice or quinoa as well, but I misjudged the amount of liquid and decided that if I'd added those, it would barely have been soup any more. next time.

Ingredients
3 c low-sodium chicken stock
1 c water
15-20 medium white button and/or crimini mushrooms, stemmed, halved, and sliced
2 sweet potatoes, peeled, quartered, and sliced
2 strips bacon
a bit of tofu, cut in 1cm cubes
2 stalks lemongrass, diced
2-3 shallots, diced
2 chicken breasts, bone in and skin on
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
olive oil

Directions
heat the oven to 450 and bake the chicken on a roasting rack until just done (a little underdone is okay, since it will go into the soup). meanwhile, fry the bacon in a large pot. remove it, dice it, put it aside for later, and add more oil to the grease if needed. sautee the lemongrass and shallots for a few minutes, until they smell nice and flavorful. add the chicken stock and water and bring to a simmer on high. cover, turn to low, and simmer for about ten minutes. strain the soup, rinse the pot, and return the liquid to the heat. turn up to high, add the sugar, and stir until hot. add the mushrooms, sweet potatoes, tofu, and bacon. cover and let simmer on low until the sweet potatoes are soft, probably 20 minutes. meanwhile, when the chicken's done, remove the skin, shred the meat, and add it to the simmering soup (probably one full breast and half of the other will be enough chicken). serve the soup with bread, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, and ground toasted quinoa or nuts.

Verdict
success! I was pretty happy with the result. The lemongrass flavor was very strong. The soup was full of stuff, all of it pretty healthy (be careful when buying low sodium chicken stock; some of it is "lesser sodium" which still has an unbelievable amount of sodium). It was flavorful and filling, and with some bread and cheese made for a satisfying meal. I'd like to try a similar thing but with brown rice or quinoa in the soup -- I'll probably make a big pot at some point. I'd also like to get a clearer, lighter broth, but I'm not sure if using proportionally more water will make it too bland.

Update: the next day, the lemongrass flavor was a lot less noticeable and the chicken was sort of chewy instead of tender. not sure what to do about that. maybe only add the chicken for serving, and save the soup without it, adding it in after reheating. not sure about the disappearing lemongrass.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 07:31 PM | Permalink

I've been experimenting with rice off and on, trying to make something tasty that will reheat well with leftovers over the course of the week. Brown rice is healthier than white, but I don't really like its discrete, grainy consistency, especially when reheated. This recipe tries to overcome that by mixing brown with white and adding a moist, flavorful sauce with mushrooms.

Ingredients
1 c brown rice
1/2 c white rice
3 c chicken stock
10-12 medium button mushrooms, halved and sliced
2-3 shallots, diced
a bit of ginger root, diced
olive oil, ground black pepper, red wine vinegar

Directions
heat some oil on medium high in a large saucepan. add the shallots and ginger (or whatever aromatics) and saute for a few minutes. add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer on high. cover, reduce to low, and simmer for at least 15 minutes. meanwhile, heat some oil on medium high in a frying pan. add the mushrooms and saute. add some black pepper to taste. add a little vinegar or chicken stock to keep things moist. saute for 5-8 minutes and then add to the chicken stock while simmering. after simmering for a while, uncover and bring back to a boil on high. add the rice, reduce to low, cover, and simmer 45 minutes, until the rice is done.

Verdict
pretty tasty, a good accompaniment to chicken or whatever leftovers. the consistency though is pretty much brown ricey. I'm not sure where the white rice went, but this wasn't really an improvement in that regard. I'd make it again though, with just brown rice, and the basic technique of pretending like I'm making broth for soup and then cooking the rice in it worked great.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 09:58 PM | Permalink