Category Archives: General

It’s the Season For Slow-Roasted Romano Beans

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Romano beans turn ever so soft and juicy in the heat of the oven.
Romano beans turn ever so soft and juicy in the heat of the oven.

They look like green beans on steroids that have been run over by a Mack truck.

Now’s the time to get your fill of Romano beans.

Don’t let these sturdy flat beans fool you, though, into thinking you can cook them just like you would green beans.

These meaty beans do best when cooked for a much longer time beyond al dente.

Earlier this summer, I tried the Zuni Cafe method for “Long-Cooked Romano Beans” in which they’re gently cooked on the stovetop. It’s a super-easy and wonderfully delicious recipe. But it does require 2 hours of cooking time. And I’ll be the first to admit that there are days when time gets away from me, and I find myself with all of 1 hour to get dinner on the table.

Thankfully, I came across this alternative method for cooking them that takes only 40 minutes in the oven. “Slow-Roasted Romano Beans” is from “The A.O.C. Cookbook” (Alfred A. Knopf, 2013) by Suzanne Goin, the chef-owner of Los Angeles’ revered A.O.C. and the dearly departed Lucques restaurant.

An alum of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse, Goin has a skilled hand with most any ingredient, and especially seasonal produce.

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Sizzling Turkish Lamb and Eggplant Kebabs

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Lamb meatballs interspersed with big chunks of eggplant turn delightfully smoky on the grill.
Lamb meatballs interspersed with big chunks of eggplant turn delightfully smoky on the grill.

Husband-and-wife chefs Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer like to play with fire.

And the after-effects are sure to make your mouth-water.

After honing their craft at Yotam Ottolenghi’s acclaimed London restaurants, the couple opened the popular Israeli-influenced cafe, Honey & Co. in London, in 2012. That was followed in short succession by Honey & Smoke, and the Honey & Spice deli.

Their first cookbook, “Honey & Co: At Home: Middle Eastern Recipes From Our Kitchen” (Pavilion) was named “Cookbook of the Year” in 2015 by The Sunday Times in the United Kingdom.

Now comes their follow-up, “Honey & Co: Chasing Smoke: Cooking Over Fire Around the Levant” (Pavilion), of which I received a review copy.

As the title implies, this book is all about grilling, smoking and imparting coveted char in dishes. Join Packer and Srulovich as they take you on a journey to discover the most delicious live-fire-cooking through Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Turkey, and Greece. Photographs of market stalls, desert landscapes, seashores, and all manner of blazing grills transport you to these evocative places. So much so, that you’ll swear you can feel the heat and smell the smoke right off the pages.

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Meet Your New Favorite Condiment: Umami Crunch

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An indispensable new condiment you'll want to put on most everything.
An indispensable new condiment you’ll want to put on most everything.

Chili crisp may be all the rage now as the “It’ condiment, but a worthy competitor has stepped up to challenge: Lazy Susan Umami Crunch.

This new Chinese condiment is from Lazy Susan, the takeout- and delivery-only Chinese restaurant that opened earlier this year in San Francisco by Salt Partners, the restaurant group behind the (Dominique) Crenn Dining Group, and Humphry Slocumbe.

While chili crisp is a mix of Sichuan peppercorns and chili flakes floating in a generous pool of oil that carries a kick of spiciness, Umami Crunch is not about heat at all but an explosion of savoriness. That’s what I found when I received a sample recently to try.

Umami Crunch is made with rice bran oil, but just barely enough to hold all the minced ingredients together. As a result, when you study a jar, you will immediately see the mix of diced pieces of garlic and fermented black beans visible that gets bloomed in the oil and seasoned with shiitake mushroom powder.

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David Kinch’s Ricotta Gnocchi with A Simple Tomato Sauce

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Pillowy ricotta gnocchi in a fresh and lively tomato sauce.
Pillowy ricotta gnocchi in a fresh and lively tomato sauce.

If you’re someone who was mesmerized by the beauty, creativity, and precision of the “Manresa: An Edible Reflection” (Ten Speed Press, 2013) cookbook, you are not alone.

And if you are someone who sheepishly admits to never having actually cooked anything from it, I am right there with you.

Because let’s face it, few — if any — of us have the daring or dexterity to cook Michelin three-star food at home.

Chef-Owner David Kinch knows that.

That’s why his newest cookbook, “At Home in the Kitchen: Simple Recipes from a Chef’s Night Off” (Ten Speed Press) focuses not on what this renowned chef creates at his revered Los Gatos restaurant, Manresa, but what he cooks at his Santa Cruz home, particularly on Tuesdays, his day off, when he’s apt to invite friends over for impromptu, beachy eats .

The book was written with Devin Fuller, a former Manresa backserver and expeditor who is now a freelance writer.

Included are more than 120 recipes, including “Baked Miso Eggplant,” “Pasta with Pesto & Avocado,” “Trout with Fennel & Grapefruit,” and “Almond Granita.” Each recipe includes a fun addition: a song recommendation by Kinch, a vinyl fan, to play while indulging in the dish.

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Stuffed Peppers Of A Different Sort

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Feta, olives and pesto make up the delectable filling for these stuffed peppers.
Feta, olives and pesto make up the delectable filling for these stuffed peppers.

Take summer bell peppers from supporting players to superstars.

The fruit that we mistakenly think of as a vegetable is so often relegated to a secondary role, cut up for salads, soups, and stir-fries, where it lingers in the background of so many other ingredients.

But “Peppers, Pesto, Feta” shines the spotlight directly on them prominently.

This super easy recipe is from ““Greenfeast: Spring, Summer” (Ten Speed Press), of which I received a review copy.

By best-selling food writer Nigel Slater, this is the companion cookbook to his “Greenfeast: Autumn, Winter” (Ten Speed Press), which debuted last year.

Like that book, this one is also vegetarian, comprising 110 no-frills recipes that take the simple approach to highlighting the fresh bounty of spring and summer.

The recipes all take their name from the three ingredients they most highlight. Most of them require only a handful or two of total ingredients, too, many of which you probably already have on hand, to create such delights as a salad of “Bulgar, Nectarines, Parsley,” the contrast of “Eggplant, Honey, Sheep Cheese,” the unique combo of “Green Falafel, Watermelon, Yogurt,” and a jammy compote of “Plums, Cloves, Bay Leaves.”

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