Monthly Archives: May 2009

Man-Happy Cookies

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You can't resist taking a bite of these chewy cookies.

Whenever I pull out my mixer and measuring cups, my husband will eagerly chirp, “Oooh, what are you baking?”

If I answer “lemon-grapefruit-kumquat coconut bars” or “cardamom-nutmeg-pine nut chewies” or anything else a little exotic, he’ll sigh dejectedly.

“Oh,” he’ll fret. Then add, “How about chocolate-chip or peanut butter instead?”

You see, besides his nickname of Meat Boy, he’s also known in our house as Basic Boy.

Sure, he likes his fancy four-star dinners at swank restaurants. But after awhile, he’s craving the simpler tastes in life. A good burger or — dare I say it — Taco Bell.

Like many men that I know, he’s also a milk chocolate lover. He much prefers that to the dark, earthy, slightly bitter, dark variety I can’t get enough of.

So when I spied this recipe for “Peanut Butter Cookies with Milk Chocolate” in the “Baked” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang) cookbook by Brooklyn bakery owners Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, I thought I’d give it a try.

Milk chocolate swirled with peanut butter in a cookie.

Unlike other peanut butter chocolate chip cookies I’ve made, this one calls for milk chocolate, coarsely chopped from a bar, rather than milk chocolate chips. So instead of a peanut butter cookie studded with milk chocolate chips you get a cookie that’s a little like a melted Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. As the cookies bake, some of the milk chocolate melts into the peanut butter batter, creating chewy cookies that are swirled throughout with nutty and chocolatey goodness.

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Scenes From Star Chefs & Vintners Gala

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Tasmanian ocean trout with potato rosti and quail egg

Take 80 of the Bay Area’s celebrated chefs and 76 top vintners. Put them together in one venue, and what you have is the 22nd annual Star Chefs & Vintners Gala last Sunday at San Francisco’s Fort Mason.

The lavish event is the main annual fund-raiser for Meals on Wheels, which provides more than 16,000 meals each week to homebound seniors in San Francisco. Yours truly was invited as a guest to enjoy the festivities that featured almost every well-known chef imaginable — from Chris Consentino of Incanto in San Francisco to Maggie Pond of Cesar in Berkeley to Daniel Patterson of Coi in San Francisco to Charles Phan of the Slanted Door in San Francisco to Richard Reddington of Redd in Yountville. For the sixth year in a row, Chef Nancy Oakes of Boulevard in San Francisco was the gala head chef.

Rabbit terrine with pickled ramp salsa

The $400-per-person gala started off with a walk-around reception, where 40 chefs doled out specialty hors d’oeuvres throughout the cavernous hall.

Saddle of lamb with shelling beans and foraged mushrooms

Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani of Ame in San Francisco set up their popular Nagashi somen station. Made of bamboo and looking a little like an amusement park game, you “catch” your somen with a small sieve as a tangle comes shooting down a bamboo trough flowing with water.

Catch your somen if you can.

You didn’t have to worry about missing, either. Doumani stood at the ready with her own handled basket to catch it if you didn’t. Once you nabbed your somen, you transferred it to a small cup filled with dashi, chopped ahi, salmon eggs, and konbu slivers to enjoy.

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Events To Drink To

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Renowned restaurateur and winemaker, Joe Bastianich, comes to San Francisco. (Photo courtesy of Joe Bastianich)

Restaurateur (with Mario Batali), son of Lydia, winemaker, and author, Joe Bastianich will hold court in San Francisco May 20 for two delicious events.

First up, 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Bastianich (whose restaurants include Del Posto in New York; B&B Ristorante in Las Vegas; and Pizzeria and Osteria Mozza, both in Los Angeles) will host a talk, tasting, and book signing at Spuntino di Ottimista on Union Street in San Francisco.  Enjoy tastes of his wines from the Bastianich and La Mozza labels, as he signs copies of his book, “Vino Italiano” (Clarkson Potter). Price for the event is $20.

Next, join him at Ottimista Enoteca-Café across the way. This wine dinner also will feature Chrystal Clifton of Palmina, the Santa Barbara winery that specializes in Italian varietals.

This is a six-course dinner, in which every course will be paired with a Bastianich and a Palmina wine of the same varietal. Price is $100 per person.

An array of fresh shellfish at Waterbar. (Photo courtesy of Val Atkinson)

On Monday nights at San Francisco’s Waterbar restaurant, indulge in the “Shellfish & Champagne” special. For $60 per person, enjoy a three-course prix fixe dinner featuring shellfish, and accompanied by three sparkling wine selections. The menu will change weekly.

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Precious Pintxos

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Pimente d'Espelette

As a long-time food writer, I’ve found myself in some enviable positions over the years.

One of my fondest memories is the time a few years ago when I was invited to Chef Gerald Hirigoyen’s Marin County house for lunch. It was a gathering of just three other food writers. We all hung out in the kitchen as the charming Basque chef cooked us lunch in honor of his friend’s new cookbook.

Oh, the friend in question? That would be New York four-star Chef Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin. And the other cooks in the kitchen that afternoon? Laurent Gras, who went on to open his acclaimed L2O in Chicago; and Laurent Manrique, chef-partner of the Aqua Restaurant Group in San Francisco.

It’s hard not to feel a little star-struck in that company, especially when Ripert hands you a warm croque monsieur (done his way with salmon instead of ham) that he just made in a frying pan at the stove. But as we all sat down at the kitchen table to eat, chit-chat, and share laughs, it was as comfortable as any gathering of old friends could be.

Therein lies the beauty of Hirigoyen’s hospitality and cooking that permeates his San Francisco restaurants, Piperade and Bocadillos. Both are infused with warmth and soul throughout.

His new cookbook is no exception. “Pintxos: Small Plates in the Basque Tradition” (Ten Speed Press) by Hirigoyen and co-author Lisa Weiss is filled with recipes for small plates that pack a lot of gusto. They are mostly Basque-inspired, but a few also feature the Cal-Asian flavors Hirigoyen has grown to love. Pintxos (the Basque version of Spanish tapas) make for perfect, casual party food.

Many of the recipes call for piment d’Espelette, a dried red chile powder from the Basque French region. The chiles, grown only in and around the town of Espelette, have a smoky, complex flavor and a subtle kick. Hirigoyen imports his own that’s sold under the Igo Foods brand. I picked up a 1-ounce container ($16) at the Spanish Table in Berkeley.

The piperade before pureeing.

I decided to try making his “Chicken Thighs with Spicy Basque ‘Ketchup’.” You make a piperade first (a stew of sweet peppers and onions) that gets pureed in a blender and seasoned with more piment d’Espelette.

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Take Five with Peninsula Chef-Restaurateur Jesse Cool, On Three Decades of Championing Organic Food

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Jesse Cool in her organic garden in Palo Alto. (Photo courtesy of Jesse Cool)

Long before it was popular, Peninsula chef-restaurateur Jesse Cool served organic food. Back then, it wasn’t what most diners wanted to eat. They certainly didn’t want to pay extra for it, either.

How the culinary landscape has changed. And Cool couldn’t be more pleased.

Despite hard times for so many restaurateurs now, Cool is coming off her busiest year ever in 2008. There’s more to come, too.

June 7, she’ll host “Dirt to Dining,” a benefit held at her Palo Alto home for the Ecological Farming Association. Spend an afternoon enjoying appetizers, mingling with organic farmers and vintners, and learning about organic gardening and pest control. There also will be a silent auction.

Price is $25 for the garden tour alone; $75 for the organic food and wine tasting if purchased by May 29 ($100 at the door). For information, call (650) 854-1226.

Additionally, Cool just closed her 10-year-old jZCool Eatery in downtown Menlo Park. She is moving her CoolEatz Catering to a larger site in the Menlo Business Park in East Menlo Park. In June, a new organic lunch cafe will open there, as well.

Pasture-raised chutney chicken salad sandwich at the Cool Cafe.

The business park also happens to be where she held her 60th birthday party earlier this year. I sat down with her over lunch at her Cool Cafe inside the Cantor Arts Center in Palo Alto to dish about how her interest in local and sustainable food came about, what she’s most proud of, and whether 60 is indeed the new 40.

Q: You’re the hippest 60-year-old around. How do you do it?

A: I am who I am. I think it’s more organic to be real about your age. I attribute it to exercise, attitude, and eating real good food. It does make a difference.

Q: This is the chicken-and-egg question: Who was the first organics pioneer in the Bay Area — you or Alice Waters?

A: We both were. In the beginning, I was into organics and chemical-free. That spilled into sourcing locally.

In the beginning, Alice was into small, local, and artisan. We were both ingredient-driven.

Q: Back in the day, organic food was a hard sell, wasn’t it?

A: It was when I started with Late for the Train in Menlo Park in 1976 and Flea St. Cafe in Menlo Park in 1980. Back then, I couldn’t put organic on the menu without people thinking it was hippy-dippy, that it was unwashed and unsanitary, which it wasn’t.

Being in the South Bay made it even harder. Just try getting product down here back then. The trucks stopped at San Francisco and Berkeley. I had to go pick up from Niman Ranch, myself.

The cool thing is it’s mainstream now. Food is finally connected to personal, long-term well-being.

Balsamic beet salad with Pt. Reyes blue cheese.

Q: What’s your business philosophy?

A: That the customer comes last. Always.

Q: Really?

A: I decided to do organics for my staff, so they wouldn’t have to wash this stuff off the produce. I didn’t want my staff or the farmers around chemicals. We figured if we took care of our staff and the farmers, that it would spill over to the customers.

Q: You faced some real challenges early on?

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