Category Archives: Great Finds

A Tea Time Twist

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Take tea time to another level with a blackberry tart flavored with Darjeeling.
Take tea time to another level with a blackberry tart flavored with Darjeeling.

Make tea time even more delicious by adding a treat alongside made with tea.

I’m not talking about matcha, either.

But Darjeeling.

It may not have the showy color of that now-ubiquitous Japanese powdered green tea. But this black tea from India has an appeal all its own, possessing haunting smoky, apricot, and peach notes, as well as gentle astringency.

It’s also simply fabulous in this “Blackberry-Darjeeling Frangipane Tart,” where the dried leaves get pulverized into the sweet hazelnut cream that’s spread on a crisp tart shell, then studded with fresh blackberries.

This lovely recipe is from “More Than Sweet” (Hardie Grant), of which I received a review copy.

It was written by Marie Frank, a Danish pastry chef in Copenhagen. Interestingly enough, Frank was not a fan of desserts as a child and teen, thinking them too boring or too sweet compared to the rest of the meal. It wasn’t until she was on maternity leave after giving birth to her son that the switch flipped. She happened to pick up a French baking book she had bought years before but never looked at, and grew mesmerized.

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Marvelous Microwave Mushrooms

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You won't believe how easy and delicious these microwaved shiitakes are.
You won’t believe how easy and delicious these microwaved shiitakes are.

This is the mushroom hack that you didn’t know you needed.

It’s a quick-as-a-wink recipe that’s perfect when you’re time-pressed.

Or in need an ideal base for a quick vegetarian meal. Or a no-brainer side dish to any Asian-influenced main.

“Steamed Shiitakes with Ginger-Garlic-Scallion Sauce” is fast, delicious, and deceptive. That’s because the “steaming” happens in about 5 minutes in your microwave.

It results in the silkiest, slipperiest, most supple mushrooms that are also plenty saucy.

This genius recipe is from “Hello, Home Cooking” (Clarkson Potter), of which I received a review copy.

The cookbook is by Ham El-Waylly, a New York City recipe developer and video creator who is chef-partner of the New Orleans-style seafood bar, Strange Delight in Brooklyn.

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More Summery Sips

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The 2023 Arkenstone Estate Blanc exudes complexity.
The 2023 Arkenstone Estate Blanc exudes complexity.

2023 Arkenstone Howell Mountain Estate Blanc

A hefty, dark bottle and a $145 price tag lets you know immediately that this white wine is unequivocally built for aging.

But with seriously warm evenings this summer plus the belief that there’s no time like now, I didn’t hesitate to uncork a bottle of the 2023 Arkenstone Howell Mountain Estate Blanc when a sample landed on my porch.

Produced by the family-owned winery in Angwin on Napa Valley’s Howell Mountain, it’s an elegant wine in the style of classic white wines of Bordeaux.

The 12-acre estate is perched on steep, rocky land with a dry climate. Its hallmark are white wines that exude minerality, and this one is no exception.

It is 93 percent Sauvignon Blanc and 7 percent Semillon that’s been aged 18 months in a concrete egg and French oak. The Semillon rounds off the sharp edges of the wine’s acidity and minerality, and adds a weightiness to make this a rather full-body wine.

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RT Bistro Completes A Trifecta

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Porcini doughnuts with caviar at RT Bistro.
Porcini doughnuts with caviar at RT Bistro.

When it comes to their brand of cooking, husband and wife chefs Evan and Sarah Rich have a knack for throwing you for a loop — in the best of ways.

Think you’re getting potato chips at their flagship, 14-year-old Rich Table in San Francisco? You are — but ones uncannily threaded with whole sardines.

Expecting a whole roasted cauliflower at their two RT Rotisserie locations in San Francisco? You might want to don sunglasses when it arrives blanketed in technicolor fuchsia from a dazzling red beet tahini sauce.

Hankering for shrimp Louie at their newest restaurant, RT Bistro, which just opened in January? The chilled shrimp in a creamy sauce will arrive not on a mound of lettuce, but on disks of fried eggplant that are crisp on the outside and creamy within.

The Riches call their food “New American.” In truth, it’s what Sarah and Evan most like to eat — familiar sounding dishes with deepened flavors that get playfully and imaginatively tweaked without losing any focus.

It’s proved to be a winning formula for them and General Manager-Partner Jonny Gilbert.

RT Bistro's entrance is around the corner from Rich Table's.
RT Bistro’s entrance is around the corner from Rich Table’s.

Last week, I finally had a chance to check out RT Bistro, which is actually located in the same building that houses Rich Table, with its entrance just around the corner from it.

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Summer Sips

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A Sauvignon Blanc that drinks like a Chardonnay.
A Sauvignon Blanc that drinks like a Chardonnay.

2023 Larkmead Lillie Napa Valley Estate Sauvignon Blanc

Summer heat may beg for chilled wines. But that doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice oomph and lush body.

Not when you uncork a bottle of the 2023 Larkmead Lillie Napa Valley Estate Sauvignon Blanc, of which I received a sample.

It’s 100 percent Sauvignon Blanc but made in a Bordeaux-style, meaning it’s not only rich tasting but full-bodied.

Fermented in new oak barrels, this isn’t your racy New Zealand-style Sauvignon Blanc with searing acidity. Instead, this is a wine that lushly fragrant with grapefruit and white flowers that tastes of lemon curd, milk bread,, and melon, and boasts a flinty quality. Highly regarded, it’s been described by others as a “Sauvignon Blanc that drinks like a Chardonnay.” Though, thankfully, without being achingly oaky.

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