When Life Gives You Leftover French Fries…

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When life gives you extra French fries, make this awesome Spanish tortilla with them.
When life gives you extra French fries, make this awesome Spanish tortilla with them.

I know, I know, French fries are so addictive, that’s it’s rare to have any leftover.

But on the one-in-a-million occasion that occurs, do yourself a favor and repurpose them in “Tortilla Esapanola on Vacation.”

It is an upcycled and comforting version of the Spanish tapas classic, the eggy tortilla.

This wonderful recipe is from “Burnt Toast and Other Disasters” (William Morrow, 2021), of which I received a review copy. It’s by Cal Peternell, New York Times best-selling cookbook author and former head chef at Chez Panisse for nearly 22 years.

This clever, witty, and useful book is all about transforming leftovers, failures, scraps and the like into delectable dishes.

As Peternell writes, “If…you are the kind of cook who never makes mistakes, in or out of the kitchen, then pass this copy along to someone else who does. However, if things sometimes go sideways, like they do in our kitchen, then I hope you’ll use this collection of family fixes, hacks, and more than forty sauces to not only save dinner, but make it redemptively delicious.”

Yes, it’s basically a book we could all use on our shelf.

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Vietnamese-Style Sauteed Artichokes

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Artichokes take to Vietnamese flavors uncannily well.
Artichokes take to Vietnamese flavors uncannily well.

Besides the abundance of raw, fresh herbs and addictive umami of fish sauce, the other aspect of Vietnamese food that I adore is the French influence on the cuisine.

Case in point: “Vietnamese-Style Sauteed Artichokes.”

Artichokes are certainly not a veg you’d normally see in Vietnamese dishes. But they work beautifully in this recipe from the cookbook, “Tasting Vietnam” (Rizzoli, 2021), of which I received a review copy.

Written by Anne-Solenne Hatte, an actress and model of French and Vietnamese heritage, the book showcases the home-cooking of her maternal grandmother, who grew up in the rice fields of Hanoi, then emigrated to Washington, D.C. and then France, where she opened the restaurant, La Hanoienne.

From surviving the famines of Vietnam to raising nine children in France, her grandmother’s cooking sustained and satiated through the decades, preserving tradition but also adapting to her surroundings along the way.

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The Cake That Hides A Dramatic Surprise

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Put some green in your life in a different way this St. Patrick's Day.
Put some green in your life in a different way this St. Patrick’s Day.

There are cakes, which when cut, tumble out a hidden torrent of rainbow sprinkles or M&Ms.

This cake also boasts a surprise center, but a far more sophisticated one.

Cut into it with a fork, and a gush of melty, brilliant-green, matcha-chocolate will flow out instead.

This genius recipe for “Matcha Chocolate Lava Cakes” is from “The Honeysuckle Cookbook” (Rodale, 2020) by Dzung Lewis, a former Bay Area financial analyst who moved to Los Angeles to pursue her passion for cooking with her YouTube channel “Honeysuckle.”

There are several techniques to create the molten center of lava cakes. This one relies on freezing matcha ganache — melted white chocolate mixed with matcha and a little oil — in an ice cube tray until solid. The frozen cube then gets set into the cake batter, so that during baking, the frozen ganache slowly liquifies within the set cake.

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Dining Outside At Kaiyo Rooftop

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Bluefin tuna toast gets glam at Kaiyo Rooftop.
Bluefin tuna toast gets glam at Kaiyo Rooftop.

To find San Francisco’s newest hot spot, all you need do is look up.

That’s where you’ll find Kaiyo Rooftop, up on the 12th floor of the Hyatt Place Hotel in the SOMA neighborhood.

Opened barely a month ago, it’s already drawing crowds, as evidenced by what I saw last Wednesday night when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant. Even at 5 p.m. on a school night, every seat was taken at the eye-catching bar done up in glazed emerald tiles, along with about half the tables.

Kaiyo Rooftop is the sister property to Kaiyo restaurant in the Cow Hollow neighborhood, both of which specialize in Nikkei cuisine, a blend of Japanese and Peruvian In fact, a similar Kaiyo restaurant is expected to open on the ground floor of the hotel by the end of the year to serve more substantial fare like its Union Street sibling. In contrast, Kaiyo Rooftop’s menu is designed to be more bar food. Even so, it’s ample food for a meal.

The elevator doors.
The elevator doors.

Just be sure to dress in layers, and don’t forget a scarf or hat, too. That’s because the winds can be fierce up top, and the chill will definitely set in once the sun goes down, despite heaters being all around.

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The Pureness of Miso Soup with Halibut

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Soup does a body good, and this miso one with halibut surely does that in a most delicious way.
Soup does a body good, and this miso one with halibut surely does that in a most delicious way.

As much as I love halibut, it can be precarious to cook.

A lean fish, it can easily go dry and tasteless.

But “Miso Soup with Halibut” solves that conundrum by gently poaching halibut fillets in flavorful miso soup.

This fantastic recipe comes from “The Complete Autumn and Winter Cookbook” (2021), of which I received a review copy, by America’s Test Kitchen.

Yes, with spring around the corner, I just squeaked in under the wire with this recipe.

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