Day 301: Little Bit of This, Little Bit of That

One reason I love Isa is that no matter what you're craving, they can deliver it.  The plates there are smaller and are meant to be shared so you can have a little bit of this, a little bit of that.

There are a couple of items that we order 100% of the time:  baked goat cheese with tomatoes, basil, and pine nuts and sea scallops with asparagus (or brussels sprouts, depending on the season) and mashed potatoes.  From there, we choose another couple of things to suit our mood.

Tonight I had a mild craving for carbs, so we had a bowl of spaghetti with truffles and cheese.  We rarely order the pasta at Isa so this was a nice change and a great treat.  We also had spicy tuna tartar with avocado and roasted duck with braised cabbage.  Like I said...a little bit of this, a little bit of that.  And all of it delicious!

Day 299: Kitchen Sweet Kitchen

I love eating and I dislike doing dishes, but tonight, after a week on vacation, I was excited to be home where I'd have to cook and clean.

I decided to make up for my insanely unhealthy diet of the past week with a meal packed with lean protein, whole grains, and lots and lots of veggies.  That manifested itself in brown rice with shrimp and sauteed vegetables.

Ingredients (serves 2):

1/2 cup brown rice, prepared as suggested on the package

2 T olive oil

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

24 large shrimp, peeled and deveined and cut into three pieces each

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1.5 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced

1 shallot bulb, minced

White wine or chicken broth

1 medium zucchini, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 cup sugar snap peas, halved crosswise

2 stalks of celery, chopped

Zest from 1 large lemon

Pre-heat olive oil & red pepper flakes in a saute pan over medium heat.  Add shrimp, season with S&P, and saute for a minute or two until pink.  Remove, set aside, and cover.

Reduce heat to medium-low and cook garlic, ginger, and shallot until soft.  Turn up the heat to medium-high, add a few splashes of white wine or chicken broth, add all veggies, and saute for 8-10 minutes until all veggies are crunchy tender.  If the pan dries out during cooking, add another splash of liquid.

When veggies are cooked to desired consistency, add shrimp and cooked rice to the pan and mix all ingredients together until it's all heated through.  Turn off the heat, mix in the lemon zest, and serve!

I adore vacation, but I also like getting back to "normal life", especially when it includes homemade, nutritious, tasty dinners like this one!

Day 290: Recession Deals & Steals

Lots of restaurants are employing new strategies to bring customers in during the recession.  In our neighborhood alone, Three Seasons offers happy hour specials, Isa has half priced wine, Mezes has introduced appetizers with wine pairing, and Izzy's is now open for Sunday brunch.

We noticed that Jardiniere, a normally pricey restaurant in Hayes Valley, recently began serving a three course prix fixe menu with wine pairing for only $45 on Monday nights.  Each week, the meal has a different theme, this week being "Celebration of Spring".

This was my third time dining at Jardiniere.  I've found their food to be a little inconsistent.  Some dishes are wonderful.  Others, not so much.  But a great deal like three courses with wine pairings was intriguing enough to get me there for another try and I am so glad because the meal was wonderful.

We started with chilled pea soup, which was perfect given the steamy hot weather we've been experiencing here these past few days.  I literally felt my entire body cool off as I ate it.  Next, we had house made pasta with asparagus, morel mushrooms, ramp greens, and parmesan cheese.  Dessert was vanilla angel's food cake with whipped cream and macerated strawberries.

To see the wine pairings, click here.

If you live in SF and know of other great restaurant deals, please leave a comment and give the what, where, and when.  I'm happy to eat and drink my way to a stronger economy!

Day 249: Dinner in (Practically) an Instant

Believe it or not, this dinner took about 15 minutes to put together.  And it was healthy.  And tasty!

I purchased some marinated pounded pork tenderloin at a fantastic store in my neighborhood and my husband grilled it up.  Because it had been pounded, it cooked up quickly and because it was already marinated, it was full of flavor.

To go with the pork, I sauteed some zucchini, yellow bell pepper, and mushrooms and mixed them with some leftover quinoa from the other day.  To flavor and season the dish, I ran about 1/4 cup of leftover chimichurri sauce through a fine strainer and mixed the resulting liquid into the quinoa and veggies.  I also added two chopped vine ripened tomatoes for some freshness and additional color.

Before we knew it, dinner was ready!  You've gotta love that on a work night - especially if you work late or want to get to the gym after leaving the office.  The key is having some good staples and leftovers in the house to make things quick and easy so always make extra and be creative about how you use what's left.

Day 248: Dinner Overseas

An SF urbanite friend of mine refers to traveling over the Golden Gate or Bay Bridges as "going overseas".  I always found that very amusing and rarely can I go to Oakland or Berkeley without thinking of him or that funny phrase.

Tonight I had to attend focus groups in Berkeley for work.  My husband, who works overseas, agreed to pick me up and since it was 7:30, we decided to find dinner over there rather than drive back into the city and eat too late.

I was hoping to eat at Bette's Oceanview Diner, a famous Berkeley institution with my name in it.  Unfortunately, we got there and it was closed.  While this Bette blogs about her dinner every night, that Bette doesn't even serve dinner (and nor does the restaurant have an ocean view)!  So, we wound up at the next open place we found, Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto.

Oddly enough, I was craving beef, so I ordered the surf and turf dish:  a sirloin steak and half a stuffed lobster.  It was fair.  The lobster was stuffed with more mushroom than lobster, but I suppose that's to be expected for $28.  The steak was actually quite tasty.

Unlike my friend, I love going overseas and trying out the restaurants there.  We'll probably try lots of other places before we ever go back to Spenger's.  If you have a recommendation in Oakland, Berkeley, or beyond, leave a comment and let me know!

Day 206: A+ for Plating!

Finally!  Plating that I can really be proud of!  And this dinner was as easy as it is beautiful!

It all started with a ham steak.  These come in packs of three at Costco and just need to be re-heated.  We usually do this on the grill, but have also chopped it up and cooked it in a skillet before adding it to an omelette or a frittata.  These steaks are perfect for work-night dinners as most of the work is done for you.  Plus, they are low in fat and therefore offer a good dose of lean protein.

Our side dish also had a good head start with a roll of polenta that we purchased at Trader Joe's.  For easy preparation, you just slice it up into discs and pan fry them in olive oil or butter.  But as much as I love polenta, I admit that it relies heavily on the flavors infused by other ingredients.  So, I made a delicious tomato-mushroom mixture to go with it.

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil

1 T butter

3 gloves garlic, pressed

1 T fresh thyme leaves

1 dozen large cremini or white button mushrooms

1/4 cup white wine

2 vine ripened tomatoes, chopped

S&P to taste

Heat olive oil and butter in a non-stick pan over medium-low heat.  Once hot, add garlic.

Saute garlic for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add thyme, mushrooms, and white wine and turn heat up to medium-high.  Cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms have softened (approx. 5 minutes).

Add tomatoes and S&P and cook for another 3-5 minutes, until tomatoes are softened and mixture is to desired consistency.  Taste to make sure you have the desired amount of S&P.  Remove mixture, separating solids from liquids and set aside.

We added a little more oil to the pan to fry the polenta cakes.  Once they were browned on both sides, I stacked the mushroom & tomato mixture with the polenta cakes in alternating layers, starting and finishing with the mushroom/tomato.  You can then drizzle the stack with the liquid you set aside - if it's thin, consider reheating it and simmering it until it's thickened up.

I was really happy with the visual effect and by the way - it isn't just pretty, but tasty too.  I will definitely make this again next time we entertain.

Day 203: Thank Goodness for the Walk Home

We live in an an awesome neighborhood with lots and lots of phenomenal restaurants.  The problem is, we rarely leave the neighborhood due to the lack of taxis in this city and our mutual refusal to act as a designated driver.  So, once in a while I start to get tired of the same old same old, no matter how delicious it is.  Such was the case tonight.  Fortunately, I remembered a neighborhood joint that we hadn't visited in 157 days (a side benefit of keeping this blog is the ability to easily recall such details!).

The Baker Street Bistro has very good food, but what I like best is the atmosphere.  Step into this restaurant and you will feel as though you've been instantly transported to France.  Who doesn't need a little mini-vacation on a Friday night?

My husband and I shared a green salad and the cheese plate to start.  The highlight for me was the disc of walnut crusted goat cheese, followed by deliciously sharp cheddar.  A big wedge of blue cheese offered the pleasant surprise of not being TOO bluey for me (I'm a bit of a blue cheese wimp).  The Emmentaler was the one we both liked least, but to fair, that mild cheese had a lot to compete against compared to the other stronger flavored wedges on the plate.

We also shared our entrees.  I opted for the lamb stew, which was just so appealing after a long, rainy SF day.  It was okay, but lacked the elusive "something".  I probably wouldn't order it again.

My husband chose something from the specials list:  quail stuffed with mushrooms (pictured).  It sat atop a bed of mushrooms, spinach, and diced potatoes - all blessed with super garlicky flavor.  The technique used to prepare the quail was really interesting.  All of the meat had been removed from the quail, minced and seasoned, and returned.  So, the quail looked whole until we cut into it.  Unfortunately, the result was kind of dry, but once it was mixed with the veggies, it was really good.

Of course, as you can imagine, I was totally stuffed after this meal.  Fortunately for us, Baker Street Bistro is a longer walk than most of our usual dinner places.  That walk was much  needed tonight!!

Day 197: Thanks, Julie!

Our friend Julie hosted us for dinner tonight with a yummy and healthful meal.

Lemon slices tucked underneath the skin infused the roasted chicken with a fresh citrusy flavor and ensured the meat stayed moist.  Yum!

We had two side dishes as well:  steamed asparagus with sauteed mushrooms and corn pudding.  The corn recipe came from a recent issue of Cooking Light magazine and was really tasty.  Oyster crackers crumbled on top added some nice crunch - and it was served by spooning it out of the baking dish.  It seemed like a great dish to serve at a dinner party.

I love having dinner at other people's houses - I always learn something and add a new trick to my cooking repertoire!

Day 178: Doesn't Get Much Better Than This

Tonight was my second pilgrimage to Chez Panisse in Berkeley and once again, I had a wonderful experience.

Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse in the seventies, soon after graduating from UC Berkeley.  She is known as the originator of California cuisine and as a huge supporter of local farmers, was the first restauranteur to begin crediting her sources within her menu.  Goat cheese wasn't just goat cheese, it was Laura Chenel goat cheese.  This dedication to local growing means that the Chez Panisse menu always features the freshest and most seasonally relevant ingredients.  Ms. Waters also played a huge role in introducing the Slow Food movement to America, in an attempt to encourage people to take their time with food, enjoy meals together, and to think about and appreciate the food they eat.  One of the best books I've read about Alice Waters is called "Alice Waters and Chez Panisse" by Thomas McNamee.  I highly recommend it.

So...back to dinner.  Chez Panisse has two parts - the downstairs dining room and the upstairs cafe, which is more casual.  The thing to make sure you understand about the Chez Panisse dining room, is that they offer one set menu per day, the only alternative being the vegetarian menu.  So, you really need to be open minded when it comes to food and willing to try new things.  Monday nights, the restaurant offers a 3-course meal and as the week goes on, additional courses are added.  You can see the current Chez Panisse menus on their website.

Last night's dinner began with a salad of grilled squid and chicories with herbs and preserved lemon.  Delicious.  The entree was a fish and shellfish soup with saffron, leeks, green garlic, and aioli.  I actually opted for the vegetarian entree, as saffron is one of the few ingredients on this planet that I just do not care for.  Instead, I received a plate of warm and creamy fettucini with wild mushrooms - shitakes and black trumpets, I believe.  Dessert was a warm chocolate cake with burnt caramel ice cream.  Amazing.

The food isn't the only reason to splurge on a visit to Chez Panisse.  The service is always impeccable.  The atmosphere is warm, cozy, and very welcoming.  All in all, dining at Chez Panisse is a really wonderful and special experience.

Day 174: Merry Christmas to All!

If you grew up in a Jewish household in the US, you likely celebrated Christmas just as I always did.  Say it with me now - Chinese food and a movie!

Having married someone who is not Jewish, the Chinese food dinner has been replaced with a gourmet Christmas dinner, usually prepared at home.  But I'm not ready to abandon my idea of a traditional Jewish Christmas and so we switched things up this year and went out for a Chinese food lunch.  Or, I should say, we tried to.  I was saddened to find our local Chinese restaurant closed - especially since we phoned them up yesterday to make sure they'd be open.  And so, no Chinese food for me this year - instead, I had a tuna melt.

Fortunately I had an amazing meal in which to drown my sorrows tonight.  Late in the afternoon, we began with sparking wine, shrimp cocktail, and goat cheese with baked whole grain crackers.

After we had enjoyed that, my husband lit up the grill and began to cook a 4-rib rack of pork - low and slow.  We saw this cut of meat prepared by Guy Fieri on the Food Network a couple of weeks ago and decided to give a try as something special for our Christmas dinner.  The best part?  My husband was more than eager to be in charge of this meal - after all, it involved a huge piece of meat and the grill.  A man's dream!

My husband created a yummy homemade marinade last night and the pork bathed in it for about 20 hours prior to cooking.

Marinade:

3 T honey

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 tsp Chinese Five Spice Powder

1/4 cup whiskey

Prior to putting the meat on the grill, he strained the marinade to avoid burning the garlic, added 3 T olive oil, and used that mixture to baste the pork every 20-30 minutes.  In all, the pork spent nearly 3 hours on the grill until it reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

To accompany the pork, I made a simple side dish of sugar snap peas and shitake mushrooms.  The peas marinated for about an hour in the juice of 1/2 a lemon, 1 T white wine, 1 T olive oil, 1 tsp honey, 2 smashed cloves of garlic, and two shakes of cayenne pepper.  I added the mushrooms to the mix about 15 minutes before I was ready to cook them.

The whole mixture - marinade and all - was sauteed in a heavy saucepan, preheated with about 1 T of olive oil.  As they were cooking I added S&P and cooked everything for 6 or 7 minutes.

All of this was enjoyed tree-side.  Who needs Chinese food.  Merry Christmas to all - and to all a good night!

Day 148: If it Ain't Broke, Don't Fix it!

I'll never understand why restaurants tinker with perfectly good or even amazing menu items.  Unfortunately, such was the case tonight at Isa, our favorite neighborhood restaurant which has many a great meal to this blog (entry #78, entry #119).

One of our favorite dishes at Isa was soft, flaky butterfish with a mix of earthy mushrooms baked in parchment paper.  Perfection.  Isa's new version replaces the mushrooms with leeks and artichoke hearts and something has changed with the cooking style.  It's still bundled together in parchment, but the fish is less flaky and more mushy.  We even sent the first one back - something I hardly ever do - but it wasn't even recognizable as fish.  The second one was better but still overcooked.  Sadly, this dish has now moved from our "must have" list to the "should be avoided" list.

Fortunately, everything else at Isa continues to be stellar, including the scallops pictured above.  Served with mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts, and bacon, they are absolutely divine.  The baked goat cheese with tomatoes, basil, and pine nuts is simple, warm and cozy, high end comfort food.

So, we'll forgive Isa this one mistake and look forward to many more excellent dinners there.

Day 138: Withdrawal Symptom?

The headache I was suffering from yesterday hung on throughout the day today.  I started thinking that perhaps it was a withdrawal symptom caused by lack of seafood in my diet.  Perhaps my body got used to a daily dose of fish during my Florida vacation.  Hey - I know it's a long shot - but after 37 hours of headache, I was willing to try anything.

I bought a beautiful swordfish steak and prepared it as I always do - simply.  I patted the fish dry with a paper towel, and then sprinkled both sides with salt & pepper, and squeezed about a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice and drizzled a little olive oil on each side.  Then, my husband grilled it - feel free to leave a comment regarding the gorgeous grill marks he created.  

To go with the fish, I sauteed bok choy and shitake mushrooms in lemon juice and garlic.  I made this recipe up:

I trimmed the bottom off of 3 bok choys and then sliced them across at approximately 1/2 inch intervals.  Once I got to the leafy part, I just cut the leaves in half and then I submerged all of it in some cold water and swished it around to make sure it all got clean.  Bok choy hides a lot of dirt inside, so you have to really give it a good rinse.

I cut the stems off of about a dozen shitake mushrooms, and then cut the caps into quarters.

I heated some olive oil & a couple of shakes of red pepper flakes in a large saute pan on medium-low heat and then sauteed three cloves of chopped garlic for a couple of minutes until they were soft.  I added the mushrooms, which of course sucked up all of the moisture that was in the pan.  To make sure nothing burned, I added a couple of tablespoons of chicken broth to the pan.  Once the mushrooms had softened up, I added the drained bok choy and cranked the temperature up on the burner to medium-high.  I added the juice of a small lemon, some S&P, mixed everything together, and mixed frequently for the next 10 minutes or so.

For a hot dish, this side was pretty refreshing because of the lemon juice and really complemented the fish.  I drizzled some of the liquid from the pan over the fish and sprinkled lemon zest over the whole dish.  Yum!

Whether or not this is a secret headache cure is yet to be determined.  Tune in tomorrow to find out!

Day 108: Back in the 'Hood

After a long weekend away with girlfriends and a late flight home, tonight I was really looking forward to some low key bonding time with my husband.  So, we went to dinner at Bistro Aix, one of our favorite neighborhood destinations when we're seeking such a vibe.

The menu is updated daily to allow the restaurant to take advantage of seasonal ingredients.  The dish I chose tonight, however, has been a fairly regular item over the past several months - seared tuna with shitake mushrooms, garlic mashed potatoes and fried spinach.  I've had this dish many times and it never fails to please.  They will even happily replace one off the sides with something else if you ask them to - usually I trade out the potatoes and replace them with green beans or some other healthier option.  Tonight, however, I splurged and enjoyed every bite!

I love to travel but I also love coming home!