Category Archives: Chefs

Preview II: Ad Hoc Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Recipe

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My first attempt at pineapple upside-down cake.

I’ll let you in on a secret: I’ve never made this iconic Americana dessert before.

Sure, I’ve made my share of pineapple compote for glistening slabs of baked ham. I’ve chopped mounds of pineapple for salsa for grilled fish tacos. And of course, I’ve enjoyed plenty of fresh pineapple au naturele.

But pineapple upside-down cake kind of frightened me, I must admit. Maybe it’s because so many recipes call for baking it in a cast-iron skillet that you then have to flip over to invert onto a serving plate. Yeah, flipping over a scorching hot skillet containing molten caramelized syrup (and we all know how cast-iron retains its heat) just seemed like a recipe for not just cake, but third-degree burns to boot.

Then along came the promotional brochure in the mail for the upcoming “Ad Hoc At Home” cookbook (Artisan) by Thomas Keller with his rendition of this homespun cake.

The book won’t be out until November. But after trying the fantastic recipe for Ad Hoc’s “Chocolate Chip Cookies” last week, I decided to put my fears aside to attempt Ad Hoc’s “Pineapple Upside-Down Cake.”

A silicone cake pan makes it a breeze.

No cast-iron skillet needed here.

Instead, Keller uses a 9-inch silicone cake pan.

He doesn’t melt and caramelize the sugar and butter in the pan beforehand, either, like many other upside-down cake recipes. Instead, he creates a “schmear” of softened butter, light brown sugar, honey, dark rum, and vanilla that gets spread all over the bottom of the pan.

Then, a light sprinkle of salt goes over the top. Next, quartered rings of fresh pineapple are overlapped in the pan before the cake batter is added.

After baking, the cake rests in the pan for a short while. Then, you invert it onto your serving platter — with no fuss, no bother, and no dialing 911.

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Born to Cook

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Dominique Crenn, chef of Luce restaurant, serves up melon specialties in her home.

Dominique Crenn, chef de cuisine of San Francisco’s Luce restaurant, was practically born to be a chef.

After all, as the adopted daughter of a well-known French politician and his wife, Crenn grew up with an adventurous palate thanks to her mother’s fine cooking highlighted by fresh, seasonal ingredients from farmers markets in France.

With her father’s best friend a famous restaurant critic in France, Crenn also found herself often accompanying the two powerful men on excursions to Michelin-starred restaurants when she was all of 8 years old.

“When I was 8, I told my mother I wanted to be a chef,” Crenn says.

“Or maybe a policeman or a photographer,” she adds with a laugh.

It may look like tuna sashimi, but those are actually slivers of pickled watermelon rind atop that tomato-melon salad.

Cooking did win out, but not before she had to battle French culinary school directors who discouraged her from becoming a chef because she was a woman.

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Delicious Doings

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Redwood City's new Donato Enoteca. (Photo courtesy of the www.diLuNa.org)

Hungry for braised Niman Ranch oxtail and asparagus tips served over “bigoli” pasta ($14)?

Or pizza topped with house made spicy sausage, broccoli rabe, tomato, and fresh mozzarella ($11)?

Or Mediterranean sea bream sauteed with prawns, mussels, clams and tomato sauce ($18)?

Then, head to downtown Redwood City’s new Donato Enoteca. It’s the new venture by Executive Chef-Owner Donato Scotti who cooked at the Michelin-starred Ristorante dell’Angelo in Italy, and most recently at La Strada in Palo Alto. Originally from Bergamo, Italy, Scotti’s menu reflects his northern Italian heritage.

The wine program focuses on smaller-production wines, most of them Italian. A large variety of grappas is also available, as it’s one of Scotti’s favorite spirits.

Ubuntu Annex is open for business. (Photo courtesy of Ubuntu)

In the market for upscale gourmet cookware, plus stylish yoga clothing?

Then, you’ll be glad to know that Ubuntu Annex has opened next door to acclaimed Ubuntu Restaurant in downtown Napa.

Find specialty dishware, specialty salts, artisan olive oils, and Ubuntu chef coats and aprons. Wines also will be available by the taste, vertical flight, or bottle at the wine tasting bar.

Colorful houseware available at Ubuntu Annex. (Photo courtesy of Ubuntu)

Wine specials can be had at Lark Creek Restaurant Group establishments throughout July.

For the seventh year in a row, every bottle on every wine list at every restaurant in the group will be offered at half price for brunch, lunch, and dinner during that month.

For instance, at Yankee Pier in Santana Row in San Jose, a bottle of 2008 Honig Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley that’s normally $32, can be enjoyed for $16.

Wine aficionados will find more to like at One Market and LarkCreekSteak restaurants, both in San Francisco. Through July and possibly beyond, both restaurants are touting a premium wine special.

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Tantalizing Preview: Ad Hoc Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe By Thomas Keller

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Just-baked chocolate chip cookes from the upcoming Ad Hoc cookbook

Confession time.

I have “The French Laundry Cookbook,” the “Bouchon Cookbook,” and the “Under Pressure” sous vide tome, all by Thomas Keller.

These oversized, coffee-table books reside in a prominent place on my bookshelf. I have leafed through them all, savoring the recipes, and lusting after each and every magnificent dish photographed so dreamily.

But I’ve yet to cook from any of them. Maybe I’ve felt unworthy. Maybe I’ve lacked the equipment necessary. And maybe I’ve lacked the time for some of the rather involved dishes that my husband joked he’d have to take days off from work to help me pull off.

That is, until now.

Until a promo brochure for the upcoming “Ad Hoc At Home” (Artisan) book arrived in my mail, and I fairly ran to the kitchen to start pulling measuring spoons and bowls out of my cabinets.

I’ve had the pleasure of eating at Ad Hoc in Yountville a couple of times. I’ve always been won over by the impeccable quality of the seasonal, family-style food served at this casual eatery. It’s comfort food done with utmost fun and finesse.

Salmon tartare cornets I’ll leave to the French Laundry staff to construct. A Bouchon recipe for French onion soup that requires a half day to caramelize onions ever so slowly (I’m exaggerating, but not by much) makes my eyes glaze over. Sous vide anything makes me start to tremble.

But chocolate chip cookies? OK, this I can do.

Making the dough.

Keller acknowledges his other books might be intimidating to most of us. He goes so far as to refer to the new Ad Hoc book as “the long-awaited cookbook for the home chef.” It’s described as uncomplicated, the way Keller cooks at home — without intricate garnishes or an immersion circulator. Though, knowing him, I’m sure he cooks in the world’s most organized, uncluttered home kitchen around, with everything labeled and alphabetized, and every electrical cord neatly wound just so. He can’t help himself.

The book won’t be available until November. But the promo materials give a hint at the very doable, very delectable dishes in store: leek bread pudding, blow-torch prime rib roast, caramelized sea scallops, and pineapple upside-down cake.

Being the cookie fiend that I am, though, it was the recipe included in full for chocolate chip cookies that got me pumped up.

With so many chocolate chip cookie recipes already out there, how could this one be any different?

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Foodie Happenings

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The winery that put California on the map. (Photo courtesy of Chateau Montelena)

You’re invited to take part in a James Beard Foundation gala event to honor one of the Napa Valley’s — and the world’s — most lengendary wine-making families.

The Barrett family of Chateau Montelena helped put California wine on the map when its 1973 Chateau Montelena won the famous “Paris Tasting,” beating out all other wines, including notable French ones.

To honor the family’s historic contributions to the wine world, the foundation is hosting a “Legends of Wine” event, July 11-12, in the Napa Valley.

It starts with a tasting, tour, and lunch at Chateau Montelena in Calistoga on July 11. A flight of Chardonnays, going back 15 years, will be sampled, along with a tasting of Estate Cabarnets. Lunch will be prepared by Chef Ken Frank of acclaimed La Toque restaurant in Napa. That night, dinner also will be prepared by Frank at his restaurant.

The next day, La Toque hosts a gala dinner with guest chefs that include Neal Fraser of Grace in Los Angeles, and Michel Richard of Citronelle in Washington, D.C.

VIP tickets that get you into all the events are $1,500 per person. If that’s too rich for your blood, the gala dinner is $500. For reservations, call (707) 257-5157. The event is a fund-raiser for the James Beard Foundation.

For more fabulous wines to enjoy, don’t miss “Pinot Days San Francisco,” now through June 28.

The event thatl celebrates everyone’s favorite varietal, includes a grand festival that features more than 200 pinot producers from around the world, as well as winemaker dinners, and focused tastings. Tickets range in price from $50 to $150.

A wine deal at Terzo. (Photo courtesy of Art Gray)

Terzo restaurant in San Francisco has a deal for wine afficionados. Sunday through Thursday through Labor Day, the restaurant is offering all $40 and under wines on the menu at half-price for dinner guests. Just order two small plates or one large one per person to take advantage of the vino special.

To commemorate San Francisco’s Pride Parade on June 28, Macy’s Union Square Cellar is hosting a cooking demo, noon June 27, with some of the Bay Area’s top toques. They include Adam Jones of Market Street Grill in San Francisco; and Jennifer Biesty, former contestant on Bravo TV’s “Top Chef” and now chef at Scala’s Bistro in San Francisco.

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