san francisco chicken salad

Best chicken salad ever (to date)

left-over roasted chicken
lemonaise (to taste)
greek yogurt (to taste)
savory (fresh; to taste))
mustard (to taste)
dijon diced radish (1-2)
hot sauce (splash)
pinenuts - ~2T, lightly toasted
salt + pepper (to taste)

Dice or shred chicken. Add lemonaise/yogurt until it is as creamy as you wish it. Add remaining ingredients to taste. Mix and eat on bread, crackers, or sliced pink lady apples (as we did, tonight).

San Francisco Restaurants: Part One - Italian

Just as I was moving here, I read an article in the NYTimes about San Francisco and Italian food . At that moment I was, and had been, pursuing an obsession with pizza. Cooking it, but eating it. We had been making crust from scratch, sauce from scratch, and whipping out pizza margheritas from the grill. We also near-perfected a pizza with sauteed broccoli raab (near-perfect meaning our crust was about as good as we could get, but could not reach the quality of a brick-oven/other 5000deg beast). I was also at that time travelling to SF on a work expense account, so I could eat out. It started out with eating at 54 Mint , which was really good. Specifically I recall eating an amazing panna cotta with balsamic glaze, which was stunning. I also loved the plaza so much I considered moving in there, except that I would have had to stay in the plaza for my own comfort and safety level. This was rapidly followed by a trip to Una Pizza Napoletana, of NYC fame. Una Pizza lacked glamour, but the pizza was outstanding, with perfectly charred crust, and hard-to-make spot on margherita. When I moved to Potrero Hill, I became enamored with Piccino , at that time a tiny maybe 10 tables haunt with an excellent short wine list, pizza, a handful of delicious desserts where one could nearly always score a table with two people. This has changed since Piccino expanded to a larger, and decidedly more upscale space down the block. The pies are still excellent, but I have to admit missing the smaller, more neighborly, cafe-style space. Having moved to the Mission and tried Delfina's Pizzeria, I have to say that it's margherita cannot be beat. It's the pizza I dream of when I've been here by myself and have no one to split it with, though I could regrettably down a whole one myself if I dared. Moving on from pizza, I have been to SPQR, Perbacco, but for amazing pasta and atmosphere to-die-for, Farina is my pick. You could not ask for a more stunning interior space, and the fettuccine with pesto is the best I have ever eaten. Even in Italy.

moving west

I've moved west! There are infinite food possibilities here. Unfortunately, I've mostly been eating lately. And riding my bike. I should say bikes, as I have two - a kawasaki ninja as well as my old specialized. But, I vow to start cooking again soon. More than a tamale out of a bag from the grocer on the stovetop, or a poached egg on greens. Or, worse, a peanut butter pretzel clif bar with a glass of milk. Followed by a glass of pinot noir with a chunk of mt. tam a few hours later. I have developed a wine problem, although I would prefer to call it an appetite. More on that later. SF food is better, everywhere. Trust me.

it's been a long time...........

which means there is a lot missing! but i'll try to do better hence forth. need to eat: oysters from Island Creek Oyster Bar on Commonwealth Ave. This was the first of my birthday dinners, and it was amazing! I also had the most amazing calves brains at Hamersley's Bistro in the South End. I've got to get Boston food while I still can, we're headed west in the coming months!

wild blueberry pie

I've had the luck to find wild blueberries twice this summer, once at the farmer's market a few weeks ago, where Jon grudgingly allowed me to fork over a small fortune for a pint, and last Thursday in my CSA share. Our CSA, the Farm Direct Coop, is amazing. Last year was our first experience with a CSA share, and we were somewhat disappointed. The weekly pick up yielded far too much lettuce and greens, which never looked very fresh/appetizing, and hardly any fruit. The lack of fruit was somewhat excusable, as I didn't really notice that this particular CSA was a vegetable share when we signed up, so I supposed I should have been happily surprised when we got any. The CSA was in it's first year, so I am sure it will get better. However, when when the FDC was able to open up more shares this year, we moved up off the waiting list and signed up. They have separate fruit and vegetable shares, and even offer a local cheese share. Everything has been absolutely top notch thus far, and a few things were really amazing, including the pea tendrils, strawberries, peaches and the wild blueberries. The first pint of blueberries I bought I mixed with normal, highbush variety to make a pie (not being quite extravagant enough to buy several pints). Somehow, the crust I made did not turn well. Recently I decided to switch from an all-butter pastry dough to a part shortening variety. I think I was overtly conscious of the humidity that day, and simply did not add enough water to the dough, and it would not stick together when I rolled it out. Subsequently, the crust was flavorful, but not at all flaky, and the top was sort of pieced together in spots. I decided to give it another go this weekend, and it turned out much better. I do think the pie would be over-the-top if made entirely with the wild berries - too bad I don't have any birthdays in July.

Wild Blueberry Pie

Pastry Crust (doubled-crusted pie)
2 1/2C. all-purpose flour
1/2t. salt
12T. unsalted butter, cold
1/4C. shortening, cold
4-6T. ice water

Place flour and salt in a large food processor; pulse until mixed. Cut butter into ~1/2inch chunks and add to processor. Add shortening in ~4 spoonfuls over flour mixture. Pulse just until pea-sized chunks of butter and shortening are still visible. Sprinkle 4T. ice water over mixture. Pulse until mixture just starts to come together. Squeeze a handful of dough to see if it sticks together; if it still appears crumbly/your hand appears dusty, repeat, adding ice water 1T. at a time. When mixture holds together, pour onto counter top and smear with the palm of your hand until entire mixture is smeared. Scrape into 2 balls of dough, one slightly larger (this will be the bottom crust), and form ~1inch disks. Refrigerate at least 1h, up to 24h.

Filling
30oz. blueberries (I used 12oz. wild berries, and the remainder highbush berries; ~6C. total)
1T. lemon juice (~1/2 lemon)
1C. sugar
2T. all-purpose flour
2T. cornstarch

Place a large jelly roll pan/cookie sheet in oven and preheat to 425 (preheating the cookie sheet will enable the bottom crust to crisp better). Mix berries in a large bowl. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Mix remaining ingredients in a separate bowl, then toss with berries. Roll out large piece of dough. Place in a 9inch pie dish, then place in fridge while rolling out the top crust. Roll out top crust, and cut decorative holes if desired. Remove bottom crust from fridge, then add berries. Place crust on top, and crimp edges. If you want a glossy, browned crust, whisk an egg with 1T. water, and brush lightly over top. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until berries are bubbling in center of pie. Check periodically to make sure crust is not browning too much, and cover with foil if necessary. Cool at least 1h on rack before serving (this will help set the filling).

pick-your own fruit

I spend half the summer trying to figure out when and where to pick fruit that I can stock-pile in the basement freezer for the winter, to make jams, and to generally eat copious amounts of fruit without feeling guilty over the amount of money I've just consumed in a very short timespan. I am fully aware that between the 2 of us, no matter how much fruit we purchase, we seem to eat all of it within 2-3 days of purchase (this is a generous estimate). This doesn't so much apply to apples and oranges in the winter, but all forms of berries and stone fruit during the short growing season. In Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire there are many, many fruit and vegetable farms. This is a wonderful thing. However, I have several qualifications for a topnotch, visit-every-year (or multiple times per year) farm. It seems simple, but I want to pick great fruit at reasonable prices at a farm that is focused on growing produce, not on 'agritainment'. A nice produce stand is a plus, but not necessary. Many places I have found are more of a novelty, where people drop by on there way home from the beach to pick a pint of raspberries. Many of these places also are more focused on entertaining families, with petting zoos, ice cream stands and hayrides. I can understand the rationale; these farms are trying to make money, and set themselves apart from the other farms. However, I want to pick lots of fruit, and therefore don't want to pay grocery store (or more) prices, since I am picking it myself. I know I am getting better fruit, but there should be some discount for labor. I love to see families picking fruit together; it's a great learning experience as well as a productive activity. But, if the fruit picking part is more of a sideshow to the ice cream stand, I would rather not deal with these people. Anyhow, as I visit more of these places, these are my favorites:

Verrill Farm, Concord MA
We went strawberry picking here; the strawberries were amazing and well priced. And this was in a year where we had a solid month of rain and no sun. I would imagine other years are even better. The farm stand also had great vegetables; we purchased chiogga beets, bunches of radishes and some great greens. Concord is a beautiful area, and a nice place to have lunch/shop on your way home. Also near De Cordova Sculpture Park and Museum.
Brooksby Farm, Peabody MA
We picked apples and strawberries here. Great location, well-priced fruit.

TBD
Smolak Farms, North Andover MA
This farm lists daily picking conditions on their website. We are planning to pick peaches here in a few weeks. The are planning to have sour cherries in 2010! This would be a miracle.

Farm stands:
Green Meadow Farms, South Hamilton MA
Everything at this farmstand is wonderful. They have a CSA, and carry loads of veggies.

porch tomatoes

Tomato blight? Not my tomatoes. My six heirloom plants, purchased as seedlings from the Seed Savers Exchange, are doing amazingly well. It seems that the combination of big pots, miracle grow soil, watering daily, and the porch roof locating works. I did have a minor catastrophe when I had to retroactively put the cages on (note to self: next year do this early, when the plants are small). Several of the vines split, and I had to mend them with tape. It sounds ridiculous, but they really do heal themselves and all of my taped vines survived. It does make me wonder how it is that a plant can produce a fruit that it can't seem to bear the weight of without human intervention....... Some plants seem to be more prolific producers than others, but I am keeping a tab on the tomato yield per plant:

Amish Paste: 6
Brandywine Sudduth: 1
Trophy : 5
Green Zebra: 5
Hungarian Heart: 3
Unknown (lost label): 2

As of now, there are 50+ green tomatoes out there, and ~10 turning pink or orange. I love climbing out onto the roof and monitoring the tomatoes every day. Jon makes fun of me, but I really love those tomatoes.