Category Archives: Recipes (Savory)

Stew Sensation

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Fennel stars in this awesome stew.

This is without a doubt one of the best stews ever.

Since it was published four years ago in Gourmet magazine, I’ve made this “Braised Pork with Orange and Fennel” at least annually, if not twice or thrice a winter. It’s the one stew I can’t wait to make once the weather turns the least bit chilly.

Moreover, it’s the stew that created a sensation when I wrote about it a year or so ago in the San Jose Mercury News Food section. Readers wrote to tell me how much they loved the flavors of orange zest, fresh ginger, soy sauce, cinnamon, and anise seeds. A friend even recalled that women friends at her gym were all gabbing non-stop about how divine the dish was.

Who can blame them? The pork shoulder cubes cook up tender alongside slices of fennel in a sauce that’s hauntingly part Asian and part Italian. Serve it over plain steamed rice or, as I do, over soft, spoonable polenta cooked with plenty of Parmigiana.

The presentation is pure rustic comfort. The taste is a savory sensation. It’s homey enough for family; chic enough for company. And it’s a straightforward recipe that cooks up mostly unattended, so it can be easily whipped together even on a weeknight if you find yourself with a little extra time on your hands.

I’ve already made it once this winter. Try it, and there’s no doubt, you’ll be making it again and again, too.

Braised Pork with Orange and Fennel

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Her Majesty’s Secret Flour

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Italian doppio zero flour

That’s ”00” to you.

And yes, you can shake it or stir it, but you might get very messy in the process.

Sorry about the James Bond 007 pun, but I couldn’t resist. Doppio zero flour is also known as “OO” flour. The numbers refer to the grade of flour. The “00” is the finest milled available.

I was induced to hunt it down after making the pizza dough recipe in the “A16 Food+ Wine” (Ten Speed Press) cookbook by Nate Appleman and Shelley Lindgren. The first time I made it, I used all-purpose flour. It turned out incredible. But of course, wondering if a good thing could be made even better, I was curious if “00” would produce an even more spectacular dough, since A16 restaurant uses that regularly for its pasta and pizza doughs

While in Wine Country recently, I happened to find bags of Italian doppio zero at Sunshine Foods Market in St. Helena. I loaded up on it.

The “00” flour is very light and powdery to the touch. Following the A16 recipe, I mixed the “00” flour with a smidgen of yeast dissolved in water, olive oil, and salt. I covered the bowl and put it in the fridge for two days to ferment and slowly rise.

A16 pizza dough made with doppio zero.

When I pulled out the dough, I noticed it was stickier than the one I had made with all-purpose flour. It might be that the “00” is so fine, you need more of it. But because the recipe gives the flour measurement only in cups, not in grams, it’s hard to tell.

This dough also was more elastic. Indeed, it was easy to stretch the dough very thinly so that the pizza baked up with a very crisp center.

Before putting the pizza on a baking stone in the oven, I layered on my own combination of paper-thin slivers of garlic, truffle cheese, and fresh basil leaves. When it emerged blistered and golden from the oven, I draped prosciutto over it.

Pizza topped with garlic, basil, truffle cheese, and prosciutto.

It was one mighty fine pizza. I can’t say that the “00” flour imparted any more taste necessarily to the pizza. But it made the dough a pleasure to work with, and perhaps even crispier.

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Memories of Dried Shiitakes, Sweet Chinese Sausage, and Sticky Rice

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Dried shiitakes -- a must-have ingredient for Thanksgiving sticky rice.

For my brother Dale and I, Chinese sticky rice has been both the hallmark and the bane of the Thanksgivings each of us has hosted over the years.

This traditional dish of glutinous rice studded with salty dried shrimp, slices of fatty Chinese sausage, earthy shiitakes, and crunchy bits of water chestnuts has been a staple at our family’s Thanksgivings since I can remember.

But the sticky rice also has proved, well, a sticking point. You see, try as we might, for years he and I could never make sticky rice that proved up to snuff for our Mom.

My late-Mom took pride in all that she did, and was quite the perfectionist. When she sewed, if a stitch was at all crooked, she’d rip it out and start over. When I used to sew as a teenager, I was less fastidious. I remember times when an inner seam might turn out a little less than straight, and I’d tell her, “Nobody will ever see it.” She’d give me that look, which basically said, “Yes, but you will know it’s crooked. You will know you did not do it as best you could.” All it took was that look, and the next thing I knew, I’d be ripping out the thread to redo it.

Of course, with a rice cooker full of steaming sticky rice cooking away, it’s a little harder to rip things out and start over.

Still, even as a child, I remember my Mom anxious over the outcome of the sticky rice. It was always made in the big rice cooker, not the smaller one we used for everyday meals. She’d peer into the rice cooker now and then to stir the contents or to monitor its progress. She’d fret if it wasn’t cooking as fast as it should. She’d sigh if it started sticking on the bottom of the inner pot.

Who knew rice could be so nerve-wracking?

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A Whirlwind of Information on Sustainable Seafood

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Gravlax topped with a creamy sauce of Greek yogurt and Dijon mustard.

That’s exactly what my buddy,  Jacqueline Church, has created in her 2008 “Teach a Man to Fish” blogging extravaganza.

Church, a Boston food writer and the creator of the LeatherDistrictGourmet blog, asked notable chefs, homecooks, seafood experts, and food writers from around the world — including yours truly — to submit a favorite recipe, and our thoughts on why we so strongly champion sustainable seafood.

You’ll find a wealth of seafood resource links, video clips, and 37 mouth-watering recipes you can enjoy without environmental guilt.

I hope you enjoy my contribution on the “Teach a Man to Fish”  roundup: New York Times food writer Mark Bittman’s Gravlax, served with Carolyn’s Creamy Greek Yogurt-Dijon Sauce.

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Playing With Fire

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Chef Mourad Lahlou preparing a tangia to cook in the ashes.

It was a brisk morning in St. Helena, but troughs of burning, glowing coals provided warmth as we gathered together, our appetites already primed for the charred, long-simmered delights yet to come.

We were there to watch three Mediterranean culinary stars demonstrate the ancient art of cooking over fire: Mourad Lahlou, the Marrakech-born chef-owner of Aziza in San Francisco; esteemed cookbook author Paula Wolfert; and Haouari Abderrazak, chef-owner of Haouari Restaurant on the island of Djerba, Tunisia.

It was all part of the recent “Worlds of Flavor International Conference” at the Culinary Institute of America’s Greystone Campus. This year’s theme was: “A Mediterranean Flavor Odyssey.”

Shrimp and fish skewers

Shrimp and fish brochettes sizzled on a grill, as Abderrazak mixed up a boldly flavored red sauce of tomatoes, olive oil, lemon juice, and harissa (a blend of chiles, cumin, coriander, and caraway) to accompany them.

Lahlou planned to make lamb tangia — chunks of lamb shoulder simmered for 12 hours with saffron, garlic, preserved lemons, and ras el hanout (a Moroccan spice blend that can contain about 50 ingredients, such as ginger, anise, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, turmeric, and dried flowers).

Saucy Moroccan lamb tangia

It is made in a tanjia, a clay vessel that is sealed with wax paper, then buried in hot coals or wood ash to cook.

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