Roasting Beets

Okay - so Beets are one of those really great foods that kind of got a bad rap.

Most people associate beets with either coming out of a can - or being boiled to death and mushy.

But in fact - beets can be incredibly flavorful - not to mention being super jam-packed with vitamins!!

You just need to know how to cook 'em right!

I had my first *revelatory* beet experience when I started working for the wonderful Dana Tommasino at Woodward's Gardens

She was so passionate about, well, EVERYthing - especially when it came to the philosophy of really showcasing the food you were cooking.

The flavor & integrity of the vegetable should come first.

She made this signature dish with beautiful roasted beets and nutty organic Farro - that to this day, is one of my favorites.

I adapted the recipe slightly by using a technique that my friend, Chi had shown me.

The best way to cook beets is by roasting them - it preserves the flavor & retains the moisture.

Basically - you get a roasting pan, it can be a sheet pan or even a really big sautee pan,

you coat the beets in olive oil, salt & pepper - cover them in tin foil tightly - and throw 'em in a 350 degree oven for an hour or two - until they're tender.

What Chi showed me was great - throw some dried whole spices in the roasting pan with the beets - and as the beets are "steaming" themselves out, they absorb all those great flavors from the spices!

Pictured below are the spices I chose to roast my beets with. I'm a little more than OBSESSED with Cardamom, so theres a lot of that in there. Along with Cardamom we got some Allspice, Clove, Star Anise, Juniper Berries & dried Orange Peel. I always get the freshest dried spices that I can - from Scarlet Sage in the Mission.

Roast the beets until they're tender - about an hour.

Then uncover them, and let them cool slightly .

Before they're fully cooled, while they're still a little bit warm - peel them with a paper towel. The skins come off a lot easier when they're warm like this - you can wait until they're fully cooled, but you'll end up working at it for a lot longer.

Once the beets are roasted - cut them to edible bite-sized slices, and toss them with some balsamic, oil & some s&p.

Then you're ready to add them just about anything!

To prepare the infamous Woodwards Garden farro salad, simply follow the recipe a few posts back about how to cook the farro (in my dinner party post).

Cook the farro - then toss with the beets, a little more balsamic & olive oil - and then perhaps a lovely herb of your choice. I really like the beets with Mint - it adds a really nice addition to the spices that come through with the farro. You could also do Chives, Tarragon or Basil.

Last - you'll want to top the salad off with some fresh goat cheese - it really just brings it all together.

I served this recently for an event I did for the fabulous Brawlio, and received rave reviews!

i love quail

Check out this picture below...

This is my tattoo on my inner left arm - and it is dedicated to the mighty quail!

its the california state bird, pictured in front of some golden poppies- which are the california state flower. I got it the design off an old 1920's postage stamp...

But i also chose this design because its one of my favorite things to eat

So Ray and I sauntered down to the Ferry Building Farmers market for brunch and pick up some yummy tidbits for dinner....

Thank you Golden Gate Meats for having such a great product for so cheap!

At $4.99 per quail - that price is nothin' to sneeze at! how cheap!

I picked up some oranges,

a bulb of fennel,

some gorgeous arugula

and a bunch of chioggia beets.

Ray had gotten me some Chamomile tea the other day - which inspired to me to somehow incorporate it with this quail... but what to do?

i did a little research...

i could have tea-smoked it - which sounds great... but i didn't really have the attention span for that today.

So i decided to make a Chamomile glaze for my little birds, which i would then use as a drizzled sauce for the salad it was to go on..

Chamomile Syrup:

2 Cups Water

5 bags of Chamomile tea

2 cups sugar

3 T Honey

some mulling spices

(a clove, some dried orange peel, a few allspice berries, a cinnamon stick)

First, i boiled the water and added the tea bags and let it steep for a few minutes. I removed the tea bags.

Then I added the sugar and the rest of the ingredients and let that simmer until it thickened into a syrupy consistency - about 10 minutes.

I let a pan get hot on the stove and when it was smoking hot, i added a touch of olive oil - and my little birds. I salted and peppered them generously, turned 'em over after a minute or two and let the skin get a bit crispy.

My oven was on - cranked up to 350 degrees.

I glazed those quails with my tea syrup and popped them (pan and all) into the oven.

While those were roasting away, i made my salad:

I shaved the fennel super thin, sliced the oranges into little segments and tossed that with the arugula and bit of champagne vinegar. (salt & pepper too!)

After only a few minutes... say... 5 - my little guys were done, so i pulled them out and let them rest for a moment. This is important - because if you cut them right then and there, the juice is just gonna spill out everywhere - and then you've lost half the flavor, haven't you??

I had pre-roasted my chioggia beets (in the oven - 20 minutes) and arranged them on the salad.

I also had some leftover sauteed sweet corn that i threw on top of the arugula..

Then i cut my Quails into quarters, stacked them on the salad - and did a final drizzle of that Chamomile syrup....

and Voila!

Roast Quail over a summer salad with Chamomile Syrup

Mac n' Cheese Footage

Ray and i got interviewed by the Fabulous Ronn Vigh about the Mac n' Cheese Battle...
I'm 2:20 seconds in.... and its ridiculous, as we always are...
Check out Ronn's videos at VidSF

Mac n' Cheese Battle Royale!

The Mac N' Cheese Battle Royale took place this Sunday afternoon at the Stable Cafe... and it was intense.

Do you see this mac n' cheese here?

It was so San Francisco,

so sustainable, so creative and so enjoyable!

There were 20 different kinds submitted by local chefs - and all of them were unique & exceptional.

There was this great mac n' cheese with maryland crab (also served with a bloody mary shot!) - never hurts to get the judges drunk!

there was mac n' cheese with peanut butter,

mac n' cheese with truffle - with home-cured bacon,

with Vadouvan spice,

vegan mac n' cheese (a few kinds actually) and even mac n' cheese with mushrooms and apples.

I don't mean to sound... um, cheesy - but everyone was a winner!

It was actually so tough my fellow judges and i had to confer for close to 10 minutes, weighing the merits of each kind over and over again.

We finally all voted on our own and then tallied them together - which produced our results. But it was tough!

There was a great turnout -

the guys from VidSF were there (thank you Ron Vigh!)

as were some folks from Chow - handing out awesome knife T-shirts and little portable cake testers.

Mostly though, the crowd was made up of fun-loving foodies who wanted to see some down n' dirty mac n' cheese action!

In the picture above is the crowd at the Stable Cafe!

Its such a great location - they do great cafe fare during the day

and at night they do awesome tapas!

check them out!

located on Folsom between 17th & 18th.

Do you see the internal struggle i'm going through here?

This is me internally saying "So many good mac n' cheeses? Which one to crown the winner???"

Here are the judges and I conferring on our favorites:

The judges included myself, Tamara of SF Weekly and Allan of MissionMission blog!

Heres me turning in our results to Jeannie - the SF Food Wars master organizer extraordinairre! She's the best!

Notice the shock and awe on her face as she reviews our choices...

And drumroll please....

the winners were the Bike Basket Pies who made mac n' cheese in little pastry cups paired with shitake mushrooms and diced granny smith apple. Smart move ladies! Because your mac n' cheese isn't sitting on a chafing dish - your sauce isn't going to break and get oily and/or dry. Instead, it will stay crispy on the outside, and sweet/moist/delish on the inside with a great crunch of the apple to offset the earthiness of the mushroom!

The festivites continued....

Ray and I gave an interview

(guess who stole the spotlight? that would be my microphone stealing finance.....)

Ciara and I can't wait for the Cutthroat Cupcake Battle of October 18th!

We'll actually be competing!

I'll keep you posted on what we're entering...

Anthony Bourdain in San Francisco

So - I actually ran into Anthony Bourdain on the street when he was here filming his San Francisco episode.

He's tall tall tall in person!

He was outside the Hotel Monaco on Geary - not smoking surprisingly.

I went right up to him - and he saw me coming and looked... less than enthusiastic that yet ANOTHER person wanted to talk to him.

There are certainly cities in which he can acheive some sort of anonymity - but definitely not in San Francisco.

With our culinary awareness here - I'm sure he's noticed more in San Francisco than most cities.

he looked tired.

really tired.

But he was more cordial than he had to be i guess - he shook my hand, and listened while i rattled on about how he HAD to visit my restaurant and how he was an inspiration to me.

Once he heard I was a chef - and was.... slightly more interested.

he said "yeah, well - i probably won't be able to visit, i'm really busy..."

and i looked at him in the eye and said

"Look - i know you're busy. And you're probably not going to come.

But if you do - you've be very welcome."

he seemed to appreciate my straight-forwardness.

Heres a clip of him at the Ferry Building - One of my favorite farmers (marty) is actually in the clip - he's a few seconds in - white hair w. a baseball cap.

I love that it's actually my JOB to shop here every week.

I feel so lucky as a chef to have access to this!

Belated house warming party!

Ray and i moved into our Nob Hill apartment February 1st.

that was 7 months ago - and we JUST HAD our housewarming party.

yes yes

it was indeed - very belated.

This was all due to our extremely busy schedules (Both of us work over 40 hrs a week on various projects) and lack of decorating (again... busy schedules and love of minimalist interior design) meant that we never had a welcoming party for our friends!

Well... nothing that a few coats of Kensington Blue paint couldn't fix!

We hopped in our Scion Zipcar and headed to Ikea to buy the following:

little stools

more pots

and a BEDFRAME!

And we decorated to make our apartment be a little less ... modern

Yes, we are the epitomie of the nesting Obama generation yuppie couple.

Did you see 500 days of summer?

oy vey thats us

So we did a Facebook invite to our closest friends and I got set.

Its mid summer.

The farmers markets are so incredibly bountiful,

I guess I feel a *smidge* of Smugness (very sanfrancisco! reference:South Park)

On the menu:

Roasted peaches with Spicy Coppa & balsamic reduction

Gnocchi with a Creamed Corn/White wine sauce & Opal Basil

and my absolute favorite...

Farro!

If you don't know about this fabulosity you must run to your local Williams Sonoma or Whole Foods and buy it immediately!

From the New York Times:

"From a cross-country reading of the culinary winds, it appears that farro, an ancient grain believed to have sustained the Roman legions, has finally made it to the New World. Used in soups, salads and desserts, the little light brown grain is an intriguing alternative to pasta and rice.

Not that farro hasn't been in active use in Italy for the intervening centuries; it has, if only in a few central and northern Italian regions, where it is grown. These are relatively poor areas, where the longevity of the populace is sometimes attributed to regular farro consumption.

But now farro (pronounced FAHR-oh) appears to be moving from rustic tables into fashionable restaurants not only in Tuscany and northern Italy (where it suddenly seems ubiquitous on menus), but also in the United States, particularly on the West and East Coasts. Farro dishes are now regularly on the menus at high-profile restaurants..."

New York Times, June 11, 1997.

Healthy, delicious, green, sustainable, organic, whole-grain, antioxidant rich, protein packed....

oy vey!

Bea's Summer Farro Salad:

3 Cups Farro!

Steeping spices:

1/2 bunch thyme

4-5 cloves garlic

5 Cardamon Pods (whole)

3 Cinnamon Sticks

2 Bay Leaves

(if you don't have these, or only some of 'em - don't sweat it! it'll still taste great!)

Get a large pot of water on a high flame. You'll want it to cover the farro with at least 3" of water. Bring it to a boil. Add your farro & all your spices.

Let the water come to a boil again, then turn the flame down to a low flame.

Cook until the farro is tender - about 20-30 minutes.

It will never really get mushy, so if you cook it a little longer - thats okay!

Farro is great because it will always have this toothsome-ness.

It will always have this chewey quality that other grains can lose as they cook.

Now, you'll want to dress it in a vinaigrette.

My go-to dressing is always Sherry Vinaigrette, but Balsamic would work just as well here.

Nows the fun part!

The whole *point* is to add as many of your favorite summer vegetables as you can and top it all off with a great crumbly (preferably salty goat) cheese!

Possibilities include:

Sweet Corn (Sauteed in butter - hello!)

Fresh Snap or English Peas (quickly dunked in salted boiling water for a 1 minute)

Cherry Tomatoes

Red Onion (thinly sliced)

Zucchini / Summer Squash (Grilled/Sauteed with garlic)

Cucumber

Fennel

Radish

Fava Beans (same method as the peas above)

Golden Chioggia Beets

Baby Red Beets

Radicchio

Endive

Whatevers fresh and delicious and crunchy too...

Then you'll want to add great fresh herbs like

Mint / Basil / Tarragon / Cilantro / Opal Basil / Parsley

Okay, so needless to say it was quite a hit at the dinner party!

If you guys think of great things to add in it - Let me know!

and oh yeah, when you have your next house-warming party...

don't forget to rub Cheesecake on your Fiancee's face...

SF Food Wars

So are you going to be there or what????

The stable cafe (as pictured below) is a gorgeous little jewel in the Mission -

and thank you Jeannie for bringing this to the city!

I'm going to be a judge - come on by and say hi!!

Not fair that New York gets to have all the fun

there are tons of food competitions all over New York and the surrounding boroughs,

but us San Franciscans have been averse to it.

Leave it to the Californians to be supportive, cuddly, tolerant & non-competitive....

thats great and all

but thank you Jeannie for injecting some excitement to this city!

See you there guys...

Check out the SF Food Wars website