Category Archives: Great Finds

Bonkers For These Beans

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A Dozen Cousins Mexican Cowboy Beans.

A Dozen Cousins Mexican Cowboy Beans.

 

For some endeavors, it might take a village.

But to create some deliriously delectable beans? It simply takes A Dozen Cousins.

This new Berkeley company has launched a line of gourmet, ready-to-eat beans with global flavors that will win you over from the first taste.

Ibraheem Basir, a former marketing manager at General Mills who worked on natural foods brands such as Annie’s Homegrown, named the company after his daughter and her 11 cousins.

Made with avocado oil, the beans are non-GMO, vegan and gluten-free. They come in 10-ounce BPA-free, microwaveable pouches that serve two (about 1/2 cup each). They boast 6 to 8 grams of protein per serving and 7 grams of fiber.

They come in handy microwavable packages.

They come in handy microwavable packages.

They are available in three flavors: Mexican Cowboy Beans, Cuban Black Beans, and Trini Chickpea Curry.

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A Delicious Taste of Georgia (As In Eastern Europe, Not the Deep South) in Palo Alto

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Giant soup-filled dumplings at Bevri.

Giant soup-filled dumplings at Bevri.

 

Russian food is certainly not something you find on every street corner.

Georgian cuisine? Well, you have to squint even harder for that.

Fortunately, though, if you point your eyes in just the right direction, you will find what is thought to be the only Georgian restaurant in Northern California.

Bevri opened in downtown Palo Alto in 2018. It is a gem of a place founded by Google employee Pavel Sirotin with his brother and sister-in-law. Russian-born Sirotin noticed the dearth of Georgian restaurants when he moved to the Bay Area a few years ago. So he decided to open his own — despite not ever owning a restaurant before.

The open kitchen, where bags of spice blends and jars of preserves are displayed for sale, too.

The open kitchen, where bags of spice blends and jars of preserves are displayed for sale, too.

The intimate dining room.

The intimate dining room.

When my friend and I took our Russian-born friend Lina out for her birthday recently, we couldn’t think of a better place to celebrate than Bevri, where we paid our own tab at the end. It even gave Lina a fun opportunity to converse in Russian with the waitstaff.

Bevri celebrates the cuisine of Georgia, located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, which was once part of the Soviet Union. You can see influences from both those regions in this hearty, comforting food.

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Salt Fat Acid Heat — And A Whole Meyer Lemon

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This lively Meyer lemon salsa will add more punch to most anything.

This lively Meyer lemon salsa will add more punch to most anything.

 

Meet one of the easiest, most useful recipes you’ll ever encounter: “Meyer Lemon Salsa.”

Of course it’s from the best-selling Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking (Simon & Schuster, 2017) by Berkeley’s extraordinary Samin Nosrat.

If you haven’t yet picked up a copy of the book, do yourself a favor and get one pronto. With whimsical illustrations and a warm, engaging voice, it will teach you instantly and painlessly how to be a better cook.

Salt Fat Acid Heat

And if you haven’t yet caught Nosrat’s “Salt Fat Acid Heat” four-part Netflix cooking show, binge-watch it this week. It’s thoroughly captivating and will make you fall in love with this natural-born teacher and food personality with the winning, infectious spirit.

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Your New Favorite Winter Salad — And It Doesn’t Involve Kale

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A simple salad that hits all the notes.

A simple salad that hits all the notes.

 

From get-go, you know you’re in for a cookbook packed with thoughtful culinary wisdom and wicked, sly humor when it’s entitled, “Almonds, Anchovies, and Pancetta: A Vegetarian Cookbook, Kind Of” (William Morrow).

After all, anchovies and pancetta are as far removed as you can get from being vegetarian. But they are flavor boosters like no other, adding salty, meaty umami notes to anything they touch, even in minute proportions.

And who knows better about that than a chef who cooked at Chez Panisse for 22 years? Cal Peternell is now a best-selling cookbook author and the creator of the marvelous podcast, “Cooking By Ear.”

Almonds Anchovies and Pancetta

Peternell’s newest cookbook will make you a better cook — by offering up easily doable recipes, all written with mouth-watering descriptions, that teach you why certain ingredients work so well with others, and how a dish built around just a handful of items can truly sing. Enjoy everything from “Steamed Clams with Almond and Parsley Butter and No Linguine” to “Caesar’s Gougeres” and “Almond Granita.”

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Andrea Nguyen’s Herby Oven-Steamed Eggs

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This herby oven-steamed egg custard is one smooth operator.

This herby oven-steamed egg custard is one smooth operator.

 

One of the dishes I most fondly remember my Mom making when I was a kid was a Chinese savory custard, redolent of seasoned ground pork and with a surprise duck egg yolk the color of a Hawaiian sunset hidden at its very center.

I also remember her expression when it did not turn out perfectly smooth.

She’d wait till it was done steaming to lift the lid to reveal the outcome. If it had a bubbly interior, she would frown and fret — even if the taste was still delicious. But if it was as smooth as creme brulee, she would take it as a personal triumph.

I thought of my late-Mom when I spied “Herby Oven-Steamed Eggs” in the new “Vietnamese Food Any Day: Simple Recipes for True, Fresh Flavors” (Ten Speed Press), of which I received a review copy. It’s the latest and greatest by my friend and colleague, award-winning Bay Area food writer Andrea Nguyen.

Vietnamese Food Any Day

As the name implies, this cookbook aims to streamline Vietnamese dishes so you can enjoy the vibrant flavors of the cuisine any day of the week without special trips to Asian markets.

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