Bistecca a la Florentina

In Florence, the best place to get bistecca florentina is Cipolla Rossa. We walked into the small cozy restaurant with dark wood tables and italian wines lining the shelves of the walls. The dinner started off with appetizers of sopressata and ricotta topped parmesean crepes, and anchovy crostini. We then ordered the house Chianti, the best wine of the Tuscany region made from Chianini grapes. After we ordered, the waitress brought out the slab of steak on a plate before it was cooked. We approved the cut of meat, and it was sent back to the kitchen for it's florentine searing. This bistecca is no joke, here they don't ask you how you want your meat cooked. You can only get it done one way, and it's some of the most flavorful meat I've ever tasted. Here is a little peek at what we were working with.

As a sidenote, the cappuccinos in Florence were amazing and let's just say the sweets were delectible. The gelato creamy, rich, and plentiful. The winter sweet panforte was by far my favorite dessert. This Christmas treat is a combination of dried fruits and nuts with some fabulous spices.

Chicken Parmesean

The roomies and I decided to make dinner together. One of Rene's specialties is chicken parmesean, an I must say, it tasted pretty special. The mozarrella was amazingly soft, the tomato sauce, courtesy of 101 cookbooks, it one of the simplest recipes, with garlic, onions, salt, pepper, and crushed tomatoes. The flavors are so great that you don't need to dress up the tomato sauce with fancy spices. I would suggest some oregano if you have it.

We breaded the chicken in egg wash and bread crumbs. Then we baked it for 35 minutes. We put the tomato sauce on top and mozorella and let it bake for 10-15 more minutes. When the chicken was fully cooked, we transferred the chicken with sauce over pasta. Serve with a green salad. The green salad has a tomato, garlic, and lemon juice dressing.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

This was inspired by Tartine, one of the best bakeries in San Francisco. This place is always so packed you can barely walk to get a table, but it's location in the mission is the perfect place for this not-so-secret culinary gem.

I had some extra baguette bread and roasted pumpkin so I thought this combo was too good to pass up. I mixed and egg with some milk, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and a little sugar to taste. Then I poured the mixture over cubes of bread and mixed in the shredded roasted pumpkin. I don't have measurements because I eyeballed most of it, but make sure the bread gets its fair share of the wet ingredients. Then bake the bread for about 20 minutes. I topped it off with some yogurt and honey right after taking it out of the oven.....It was sooo delicious still warm from the oven. I highly recommend this breakfast, especially if you have leftover stale bread.

A Taste of Thai: Thai Pumpkin Curry

It's the season for pumpkin and since I just moved to San Francisco, I've been inspired by all the wonderful Thai restaurants in the city. After visiting OSHA and getting a taste of the lemongrass and coconut milk, I had to set out and make this seasonal dish. It turned out very well.

I used a real pumpkin and roasted in in the oven. The advantage to this was that I got to roast the seeds as well. They made for a great topper to the dish. Make sure to use a sugar pumpkin because they are smaller and easier to work with. The large ones are just best for carving.

Thai Pumpkin Curry:
2 chicken breasts
garlic
red onion
cilantro
coconut milk
pumpkin
curry powder
lime juice
yogurt
little peanut butter

Saute the onions with a bit of olive oil until they are tender. Add the curry powder and garlic and cook until fragrant, only a minute or two. Add the chicken and cover until mostly cooked through. Add yogurt and coconut milk and simmer for a few minutes. Add a small dallop of peanut butter. Toss in cilantro at the end and serve over rice. Spritz some lime juice right before serving.

I had this with Broccoli Rabe and Farro which was a very Berkeley "chrunchy" version of Thai pumpkin curry but it was tasty!

The Whole Meal

On Saturday night I had the pleasure of making dinner with two great friends.  I was the student present to learn the ways of the master chef and apprentice the saute, grind, chop, char, reduce, and smoke.  The dinner was FABULOUS and the flavors were unique and wonderful.  Here's what we had:

Broiled lamb chops with cherry ginger reduction

6 Lamb chops (trader joes)

1/2 cup lamb stock (Christopher's freezer)

handful dried cherries

1 tsp minced ginger

splash port

Simmer dried cherries with port and ginger.  Heat up lamb stock and combine with cherries and port, reduce 10 minutes (maybe less depending on heat).

Broil lamb chops under high broiler for 5-7 minutes.  There is about a 30 second window of opportunity to get these right, otherwise you've got well done chops and that's no good.

Cous-cous tabbouleh 

1/2 red onion

2 cloves garlic

3 lemons

1/3 cucumber

parsley

mint

cous cous

oregano

olive oil

salt and pepper

Chop onions and garlic and let soak in lemon juice.  Cook cous-cous and cook in refrigerator.  Chop parsley and mint and add to cous-cous.  Cut up tomato, cucumber and add to cous-cous.  Add the onion garlic mixture with oregano, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.  Serve chilled.

Chinese green beans 

with roasted red pepper

red onion

garlic

vermouth

olive oil

This is my favorite! Take a blow torch to the red pepper while it sits over the open flame on the gas stove.  Char the heck out of it.  Put it in a bag or covered pot for at least 10 minutes.  Remove and peel off charred skin.  Cut chinese green beans to desired length and steam for 10 minutes.  Add red onion to steamer.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  Cook garlic and vermouth and olive oil in a saucepan for about 5-10 minutes.  Put beans, onions, and red pepper together and toss with garlic vermouth sauce.  yum-o!

* Check out the crab on the apron.  Nelie's humor for sure :)

Chicken Veggie and Red Quinoa Medley

I'm in Berkeley again!  I can first tell that I'm back in Berkeley when I smell jasmine and pine as I walk down the street.  Here and there I get some roses and other various flower scents that I can't identify but are divine none-the-less.  Another way I can tell that I'm in Berkeley is when I go to the market and see all the amazing fresh produce gleaming with beauty.  I've never had a white peach as good as the one in my fridge right now.  

So what is the deal with this recipe?  It's a one dish meal which is ideal for my current living situation, aka not my own place.  It has all the essentials, covers all my nutritional bases, and is easy to make.  So what is in it?

1/2 green pepper

1 husk corn (boiled and cut off the husk)

1/2 cup black beans

1/4 cup quinoa

1 stick celery

1/2 tomato

1/4 Ib chicken thighs cut

2 Tbs soy sauce

1 clove garlic

splash lemon juice

dash salt and pepper

1 tsp rice vinegar

       

Directions:

Marinate the chicken in soy sauce and garlic while it defrosts in the refrigerator (Do this beforehand).  Pour quinoa in pot and add water (1:2 ratio quinoa to water) and cook uncovered for 15 minutes.  Wait until quinoa is almost done to cook the chicken.  Chop celery, tomato, corn, green pepper in the meantime.  Add chicken and marinade to the pan.  Simmer and cover about 5 minutes.  Add chopped veggies, black beans, and cooked quinoa until tender.  Add lemon, salt, pepper, rice vinegar.  Enjoy!

The San Francisco Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival

The Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival

The festival was crawling with chocolate food lovers (most of the population of San Fran would fall under this category).  The festival had some amazingly good looking chocolate-y treats and I, along with Grace and Kevin, got to eat and admire the creations of some chocolate adventurers.  Here is a little tour:

There was a great ice cream sunda station:

Needless to say, foodies can always find a way to pair anything with wine.  Chocolate is no exception.

Some delicious chocolate chip cookies.

Chocolate covered bananas.

Chocolate drizzled shortcake squares. 

The trolley cars of SF.
Grace and I wanted to know how to make these decadent chocolate souffles! yummmm
Tea infused chocolate: The delicate flavors of earl gray, chai, lemon, berry, and orange teas.
Chocolate moon cakes.  A little Chinese influence.