Gourmet Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Posted on by 21 comments

Ready-to-bake cookie dough balls with spectacular results.

In their plastic container, they almost resemble mini scoops of mocha chip ice cream.

But bake them in the oven to transform them into thick chocolate chip cookies with crisp exteriors and chewy interiors — the kind you’ll have an extremely hard time saying “no” to.

These ready-for-baking cookie dough balls are the brainchild of Erin Harrison, a single mom, who left a career as a film industry publicist for Pixar and Sony Pictures, to get her baking groove on.

They look like scoops of mocha chip ice cream.

Her South San Francisco-based Country Baking Company turns out cookie dough balls, a dozen to a container, which can be found in the refrigerator case at local Whole Foods markets, Lunardi’s, Draeger’s and Piedmont Grocery. Look for them soon at Mollie Stone’s, too.

Read more

“Wine and Wishes,” “Martinis & Manicures,” and More

Posted on by 5 comments

A host of wineries will be pouring their varietals at the "Wine and Wishes'' gala. (Photo courtesy of the Greater Bay Area Make A Wish Foundation)

“Wine and Wishes” Tasting and Gala Dinner

More than 50 restaurants and wineries will join together Feb. 4 for the 11th annual “Wine and Wishes,” a benefit for the Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The extravaganza, a fund-raiser for the organization that grants wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses, will take place at City View at the Metreon in downtown San Francisco.

The evening kicks off at 5 p.m. with a “Gourmet Food & Wine Tasting,” where attendees can sample a slew of hors d’oeuvres and wines from from 23 restaurants and 26 wineries, including the Slanted Door in San Francisco, Wayfare Tavern in San Francisco and Cakebread Cellars.

At 7:30 p.m., nine local executive chefs — including Roland Passot of La Folie in San Francisco, Gerald Hirigoyen of Piperade in San Francisco and Arnold Eric Wong of E&O Trading Company in San Francisco — will prepare a four-course dinner, pairing each course with select wines.

Gourmet nibbles at the "Wine and Wishes'' tasting event. (Photo courtesy of the Greater Bay Area Make A Wish Foundation)

Tickets for the “Gourmet Tasting” are $150 per person. Tickets for the dinner range from $350 to $1,000 per person, which includes admission to the” Gourmet Tasting.”

Time for “Martinis & Manicures”

Grab an after-work cocktail — and get your nails done. How’s that for the ultimate pampering?

Indulge in that two-fer, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Feb. 7 and March 6, at the Hotel Valencia at Santana Row in San Jose.

Read more


Part Asian, Part Italian — Momofuku Milk Bar’s Chinese Sausage Focaccia

Posted on by 29 comments

Focaccia gets a wonderful Chinese twist.

New York’s Momofuku Milk Bar bakery is famed for its playfully delicious “crack pie,” “compost cookies” and “cereal milk” ice cream.

But when a review copy of  the cookbook, “Momofuku Milk Bar” (Clarkson Potter) by Pastry Chef-Owner Christina Tosi landed in my mail, it was a more savory-spicy concoction that caught my eye.

“Chinese Sausage Focaccia” is a delightful mash-up of Chinese and Italian all in one bite.

It’s focaccia studded with garlic slivers and sweet Chinese sausage slices — with a veneer of Sichuan chile oil baked into it.

How’s that for breathing fire into this new “Year of the Dragon”?

The book offers a range of sweets and desserts sold at Milk Bar and plated up at the various Momofuku eateries started by the often off-color Chef David Chang. They range from the easy (peanut butter cookies) to the quite ambitious (“Tristar Strawberry Sorbet, Macerated Strawberries, Lovage, Ritz crunch and Celery Root Ganache”). The focaccia falls in the middle of those two extremes.

Read more

Pick a Pimenton

Posted on by 6 comments

A "chem set'' for heating up your cooking.

If you’re a fan of the unusual summer peppers sold at Bay Area farmers markets by East Palo Alto’s Happy Quail Farms, you’ll be glad to know you can savor their exotic tastes year-round now in dried form.

The specialty, family-owned farm smoke-dries its peppers over oak and fruit wood to create its new smoked pimenton powders; and dries other peppers either in the sun or in a dehydrator for its small-batch paprikas.

The result is a range of spices so handy for creating so many dishes at home. Mulatto paprika, made from a mild spicy brown chocolate pepper, is perfect for traditional Mexican moles. Smoked Ají Amarillo pimenton has a vibrant marigold color and is ideal in a sour cream dip or a lime juice marinade. And Serrano paprika, with its sweet-hot notes, makes a mean rub.

Read more

Viognier — Still Full of Vim and Vigor

Posted on by 12 comments

Short ribs elegantly presented at Viognier restaurant.

It wasn’t long ago that the notion of a restaurant operating inside a hotel doomed it to second-tier status.

While that no longer holds true, the idea of a fine-dining restaurant inside a grocery store still prompts some disbelief.

But when Viognier opened inside the gourmet market, Draeger’s in San Mateo 15 years ago, it made a convincing case that unlikely scenario could work.

After all, the restaurant was opened by none other than Chef Gary Danko, who later left to open his own eponymous restaurant in San Francisco. He was followed by Chef Scott Giambastiani, who is now an executive chef at Google. Chef Preston Dishman, former chef-partner of the General’s Daughter in Sonoma, took over the restaurant, named for the aromatic grape varietal from the Northern Rhone region of France, in 2008.

Read more

« Older Entries Recent Entries »