CityMama™

Fava bean crostini with shaved pecorino romano

Favas in the Cuisinart. I swear, this is my favorite color of green.

We're smack in the middle of fava bean season here in Northern California. My local market and farmer's markets are bursting with them and we've been scooping them up since they won't be around for long.

Never cooked favas before? Favas do require a little work but the reward is so worth it. You have to shell the beans and then remove the skin that covers each individual bean. Look for pods with small-to-medium-sized beans. They are sweeter, and when the beans are small you don't necessarily need to remove the skin that covers the bean. The larger the beans are, the tougher the skin on the bean. If you do end up with larger beans, no worries. Just plop the shelled but unskinned beans into boiling salted water for a minute or two, then drain them and shock them in an ice bath. The skins will soften and shrivel and you can pop them right off.

I bought 3-4 pounds of fava beans in their pods to yield about a cup of pureed favas for my crostini. They go so well with garlic and your best, fruitiest olive oil, and if you have a food processor (love my Cuisinart) you can make these crostini in just minutes.

Garlic Edamame Heaven

Not garlic edamame, but still delicious.

When I was in Honolulu for spring break we had dinner at Side Street Inn which has become a sort of "last night in Hawaii" tradition for me. Side Street looks like every sports bar/restaurant in any city in America. The thing that sets it apart is the delicious, anything-goes, local-style food. This is a sports bar that forgoes most of the usual sports bar fare. You won't find nachos here, but you will find other treats like broiled hamachi kama (when they have it), sublime deep-fried chicken gizzards, and passion-fruit-glazed ribs. And, yes, the most kickass chicken wings you've ever eaten.

I am never disappointed when we have dinner there and this time was no exception. In fact, we had eaten an entire dinner consisting of: steamed clams with Portuguese sausage, kalbi, kimchi fried rice, mixed poke (ahi and tako [octopus]), king crab legs, Caesar salad and macaroni salad all served family style, when for dessert, my brother ordered another order of the steamed clams.  They were that good.

But the dish that took the meal over the top was their garlic edamame. Try to see if you can imagine it: boiled, salted edamame (already delicious in their own right) tossed with tons of chopped garlic, melted butter (which made it heavenly), and olive oil (or just olive oil if you prefer) with just a hint of spiciness, finished with a squeeze of lemon.  Presented at the table they looked like green velvet dusted with snow from all the garlic. (Here's a photo that does not do it justice--there's just not enough garlic on this batch.) They were amazing.

Today I went out and got a bag of edamame with the intention of recreating the dish, when lo and behold, some quick Googling brought up Side Street's very recipe.  Their recipe makes a mountain, which is perfect for dinner parties (or one very ravenous party of 8).  If you make this I promise you will be addicted.  And you don't even have to go to Honolulu to taste them.

More Side Street Inn photos.

How the Grinch tried to ruin Christmas and how he didn't know he would be blogged

Wallie with her beloved smoked salmon plate.

On Christmas Eve eve the girls and I hit up the local mall with my mom and brother to do some last minute shopping and along the way, we decided to stop and have lunch.  My brother wanted to continue shopping and said he'd meet us for dessert so my mom and I headed into the restaurant with Bunny and Wallie and promised to save him a spot.

Naturally, the narrow restaurant was crowded with shoppers and the many outside tables—normally packed—were empty due to inclement weather. When I asked for a table for five, the grandmotherly hostess (aka Strega Nona, who I think was also the owner) tutted and asked where the fifth member of our party was. I could tell this wasn't going to go well.

"He's shopping," I explained. "But he'll meet us later for dessert."

I was prepared for one of those "we can't seat you until your party is all here" spiels, but instead she huffed and said something even more frustrating, "You are going to order food...right?"

It was the "dot-dot-dot, right" that killed me.

I blinked.

Twice.

Why would she ask that question? Sometimes I think (and this is something that is probably common with mixed race folk though we don't readily admit it), "Is it because I'm not white? Is that why you think I won't order something?" I don't want to go there, but I've been learned to be disappointed by presumptuous people. And she looked presumptuous. It wouldn't be the first time someone assumed something incorrect about me based on my appearance.

I wanted to scream, "I'm half-Italian! Aren't you Italian, too?" But instead I said."Yes, we're here for lunch." We were standing in the crowded entry and people were pushing past us bumping their shopping bags into ours and all I could think was, "I'm getting out of here." But at that moment she sighed and said, "Hold on, let me prepare a table."  And so we waited.

Our Thanksgiving Menu

I finalized my Thanksgiving shopping today. We've been through the farmer's market, the regular market, and I think it's safe to say that there is nothing left to buy at Costco, we cleaned it out. P.S. If you haven't bought your turkey yet, Costco has organic fresh turkeys for a little over $2.25/lb. That's practically the same price as those hormone- and antibiotic-laden Butterballs, so hie thee to your Costco for a better-for-you turkey.

Our menu is truly a collaborative effort as you will see. Our focus is mostly on seasonal, local foods, but a couple of side dishes were picked mainly because they just sounded so damn good. I'm cooking two turkey's this year because we got two smaller ones instead of one biggie, and I wanted to do one on the grill and one in the oven. So without further ado, I present, the Butler Family Thanksgiving 2008.

Appetizers (this is what we'll nosh on throughout the day while we watch the parade and football)

• Auntie Jill's (my sister's) Famous Clam Dip and Potato Chips
• Homemade gravlax (from local wild salmon) and mustard sauce
• Salumi (bresaola, fennel salami, prosciutto, Serrano ham)
• Assorted cheeses (P'tit Basque, Triple Cream Explorateur, Pt. Reyes Blue) w/ bread and crackers
• Crudités & olives
• Zia Gabriella's Salmon Mousse (made by my sister)

Then we will all go for a loooooooooong walk.

Thanksgiving Dinner (served at dinner time)

• Auntie Sheila's Mimosa Turkey done on the grill (basted with champagne, orange juice, and butter—will post recipe!)
• Traditional Turkey with Whiskey glaze
• Mashed Potatoes
• Twice-baked potatoes
• La Brea Bakery Stuffing
• Fresh Cranberry-Orange Sauce
• Gravy
• Green beans (still deciding on preparation)
• Walnut, Blue Cheese, and Cranberry Tart
• Southern Fairytale's Yellow Squash and Zucchini Casserole
• Spicy Hot Pepper (from Auntie Charlene's CSA) and Fresh Corn Pudding
• AMomTwoBoys' Three Cheese and Prosciutto Cauliflower Gratin
• Suebob's Chestnut, fennel, and shallot confit
• Butternut squash puree

Then maybe we'll take another looooooong walk before:

• Pumpkin Pie (baked by my hippie church's Senior High Youth Group)
• Auntie Jill's Apple Pie
• Sour Cherry Pie
• Coffee & Port

What are you cooking?

Walnut, Blue Cheese, and Cranberry Tart [NaBloPoMo Day 19]

As promised, here is a recipe for a savory tart that can be served as a first course along with a simple green salad or with your Thanksgiving meal. I first came across the recipe about 10 years ago in an ad for Diamond walnuts.  As is to be expected, it is heavy on the walnuts.  I like nuts, but I found the tart a little too walnuty for my taste. This time when I make it, I will decrease the amount of nuts.  I am also going to adapt it slightly this year and use caramelized onions instead of regular sauteed onions. I'm going to use 4-6 onions depending on the size and caramelize/reduce those down to one cup.

If you don't like cranberries you can substitute firm pears or figs.

Also, the quality of the tart depends on the kind of blue cheese you use.  My family (especially Bunny and Wallie) are blue cheese freaks so I am going to increase the amount of cheese by about 2 ounces.  One of my issues last time around was that it wasn't cheesy enough. For best results, I highly recommend you use one of the following of my favorite blue cheeses:

• Italian Gorgonzola
• Italian Gorgonzola Dolce which has a creamier, sweeter flavor
• Pt. Reyes blue cheese (eat local California!)
• Australian Roaring 40's (one of my all time faves)
• Irish Cashel blue cheese
• an artisinal blue cheese from Wisconsin like Hook's (eat local Mid-west!)
  

So without further ado, here is the recipe for the tart. Ground walnuts can be found in the baking aisle if you don't want to grind them yourself.

And if tarts aren't your thing, just try not to drool while looking at the photo and recipe of this Blue Cheese Cheesecake. I might have to make both!

Eating from one end of San Francisco to the other

I took a much needed break from the norm today and headed to San Francisco with my mom and the girls.  We went to the Rotunda at Neiman-Marcus for lunch and there we met up with my sister and Aunty Cat. Please to enjoy my cell phone documentary, click to make photos larger.

Little ladies who lunch (they love dining out, just like their Mamma):

We started with lobster club sandwiches and glasses of chilled Prosecco. A match made in heaven...

And then after a day a shopping, we stopped at my favorite Russian market in all of San Francisco, New World Market:

That is only one third of the deli case. Not shown: the fish/caviar case and the large case with all the veggie salads and pickles.  Also not shown, the hot bar with the stuffed cabbage, meatballs, and other good stuff. On top of the case you can see two giant platters of sausage and cured meat samples. It's like a party in there. 

I came home with chopped chicken livers, Russian potato salad, three kinds of sausage (one a freebie from the lady at the cash register), and rye bread. We had this for dinner and mmmmm. I might need to start making a monthly trek to New World. Bunny asked when we could move back to San Francisco.

Bin Dae Tok [Korean Mung Bean Pancakes]

These pancakes (or fritters if you make them smaller for appetizers) are one of the dishes that my mom makes that I don't ever even attempt because they won't turn out the same. (Apparently I'm not alone.) When I was in college and home on a vacation or break, bin dae tok, roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, and pasta alla carbonara (my mom is a fabulous cook) were three dishes I would request as soon as I returned home.

Now that she lives in Silicon Valley for part of the year, I can have her make mung bean pancakes anytime. Tonight, as she was preparing them, I finally wrote down the recipe for posterity (something I've been trying to do more of) and can share it with you. I forgot my camera so please note that the camera phone photos do not do these justice. They are much yummier-looking in person. And they smell amazing as they are cooking.

The mung beans you need for this look like yellow split peas. They are also sold whole and are green, but avoid those. They are available at any Korean market and at Indian markets where they are known as moong dal. These pancakes are very forgiving and as long as you have the base of the pureed mung beans, you can pretty much add anything to it making them vegan or not.  Koreans like to make their pancakes "pretty" so there is an art to skillfully arranging sliced carrot flowers and chives atop the "raw" side of the pancake before flipping them over, but you don't have to bother.  Just chop up your veggies (leftovers are great in these) and huck them into the batter, then pan fry away!

Cooking with Kids: Thin Crust Pizza

Bunny was delighted to learn that her new first first grade teacher was known throughout her school as "The Cooking Teacher." Never mind that her school has all sorts of really wonderful fringe benefits (like science classes taught at the science museum; drama, music, and poetry classes taught by resident members of the local community theater; music; afterschool chess, sports, French, and Spanish; a perceptual motor skills class in addition to P.E.taught by a real Ph.D.) that make us bite a huge financial bullet to live where we live. It's a charmed public school with so much to offer students, but nothing compares to the fact Bunny has a teacher that loves to cook.

And sure enough, on Back to School night, her teacher outlined how she uses cooking in her classroom: it not only teaches an important life skill, but requires reading, math, and time-telling knowledge. As I perused her three-page grocery list of ingredients that she hoped parents would donate (15 lbs each of flour and sugar, chocolate chips, every spice, extract, and herb imaginable) I knew Bunny was in for a memorable year. 

My girls, ages 4 and 6 love to help in the kitchen, and I encourage it at every turn. Bunny will be champion chef in her class because she has so much hands-on opportunity at home. One of my girls' favorite meals to make is homemade pizza. This is something even little kids truly can do themselves from start to finish (aside from putting it into/taking it out of the oven).

I was recently sent a couple of tubes of Pillsbury Pizza Crust Thin Crust version to try. It's not unlike the dough we buy from Trader Joe's except that it's much easier to deal with. It rolls out nicely and really does crisp up but remains tender. I would definitely recommend it for times when you don't have time to make your own dough but still want homemade pizza. (Would be nice to see it in a whole wheat version.) We thought the dough was a great success. See for yourself!

Start by stretching the dough to fit a cookie sheet:

Sweet and sour quick pickles

This is one of those deals where I just winged it.  I boiled together the following in a small pot:

• 1/3 cup vinegar
• 1/3 cup sugar (next time I will add more to make these sweeter)
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 serrano chili
• 2 tsps of Hawaiian salt (or coarse/rock sea salt)

Once boiled and sugar and salt were dissolved, I poured the mixture over 6 Kirby (or you can use Persian) cucumbers which I sliced on the bias and layered into a lidded container (jars work). Then I stuck the whole container in the fridge until the next day.  They are sweet and tangy and crisp and just plain heaven on a ham sandwich, I tell you.

Note: These are refrigerator pickles so they should be eaten within a couple of weeks. Which, in my pickle-crazy household, is noooo problem.

Mexican-style Grilled Corn

My favorite way to eat corn is boiled with butter and salt and pepper. I like it plain so you can really taste the sweetness.  This, however, is a very close second. Or maybe a tie for first.

Grill corn:

Smear corn with mayo (or my fave: mayo mixed with Sriracha or Tapatío sauce) the roll in finely crumbled cotija cheese:

Squeeze a lime over it (and add extra hot sauce if you're me) and devour. Wallie says, "It's deee-lishiss!"