A Salad from Hiroko Shimbo To Start the New Year Off Right

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A kale-tofu salad that you will sing the praises for all new year long.

At the top of your New Year’s resolution list are the vows to eat more kale and more tofu, right?

They should be.

Especially when they’re combined in this healthful salad that tastes so delicious that you’ll forget it’s even good for you.

“Kale in Peanut Butter-Tofu Sauce” is so satisfying that even my husband Meat Boy inhaled it even though there are no meat products in it.

The recipe is from “Hiroko’s American Kitchen” (Andrews McMeel), of which I recently received a review copy. The book is by Hiroko Shimbo, an authority on Japanese cuisine who is also a trained sushi chef.

It features 125 straightforward recipes that make cooking Japanese food at home much simpler with Shimbo’s tips and substitutions when you can’t find certain ingredients at your local market. Don’t have dashi? Use low-sodium chicken stock instead. No Japanese curry powder in your pantry? Reach for Madras curry powder instead. Don’t want to make kelp stock? Plain water will do in a pinch.

This particular dish tastes like one of those pricey prepared salads you’d find at Whole Foods.

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A Look Back at the Tastiest Bites of 2012

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Which restaurant dishes would I gladly enjoy again and again because they were deliriously delicious and magically memorable?

Oh, so many.

When putting together this list, though, I left off any foie gras dishes (since restaurants are banned from selling them in California now) and any dishes that I deliberately chose not to photograph in order to just enjoy the moment (Le Bernardin in New York).

Here, in no particular order, are the 10 dishes of 2012 that were my most favorite:

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Classy Non-Alcoholic Beverages to Ring In the New Year

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12NtM's Blanc, a sparkling, non-alcoholic beverage.

If you’re the designated driver on New Year’s Eve or just prefer to imbibe something that won’t leave you tipsy, you’ll enjoy two new non-alcoholic beverages.

First up, 12NtM sparkling beverages, created by New York Chef David Burke.

Not surprisingly with that pedigree, they are a most elegant alternative to wines. The fizzy beverages come in a white, Blanc, and a red, Rouge. The Blanc is made with citrus, ginger, cardamom, herbs, spices, fruit juices and a blend of three teas. The Rouge features pomegranate, black currant, bergamot, juniper berry, herbs, spices, fruit juices and three different teas.

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A Delicious Ride at San Francisco’s RN74

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A dramatic uni dish at RN74.

Named for the highway that runs through Burgundy’s fabled Cote d’Or wine region, RN74 still offers up a smooth culinary ride worth taking.

The splashy $4.5 million San Francisco restaurant housed on the ground floor of a gleaming condominium tower, is the brainchild of Rajat Parr, wine director for the Michael Mina Group, of which this restaurant belongs.

Now three years old, the restaurant continues to hum along with Executive Chef Jason Berthold at the helm. Berthold, who was sous chef at the French Laundry in Yountville, helped open Per Se in New York, and makes his own wine under the Courier label, is a perfect match for this wine-centric restaurant, accented by antique metal lanterns, lots of warm wood and even piped-in French dialogue in the restrooms. There’s also a custom-made flip board like the ones you see at train stations that post arrival/departure times. Only this one lists wines with only one bottle remaining in stock at the restaurant. If someone buys it, the board flips to erase the wine selection.

The famous wine list flip-board.

The dining room with its unique light fixtures and ample use of warm woods.

Recently, I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant. The food had even more finesse than when I last visited shortly after it first opened.

If you want to start the meal off on a luxurious note, do order the Fort Bragg sea urchin ($19). It arrives dramatically in its spiky shell. Dig down into the creamy pool inside to find potato mousseline, crab, butternut squash, preserved citrus and vadouvan, a Francophile version of an Indian curry blend. It’s gorgeous to behold, with a sweet, briny and over-the-top richness. It’s also as seductive as it gets.

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Apple Brownies? You Bet!

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Not your usual brownies. These are made with apples.

OK, technically, “Apple Brownies” are not brownies at all.

For one thing, there’s no chocolate in them.

But there are plenty of apples in a tender crumb that is suffused with cinnamon.

Plus, just like the best brownies, these bake up with an irresistible crackly texture on top. So much so, that just like brownies, you will be grabbing for the corner pieces first just to get as much of the sugary, crisp edges as you can.

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