Day 288: Zuni Cafe's Famous Chicken

After two and a half years of living in SF, we finally made it to the famous Zuni Cafe.  Zuni Cafe opened 30 years ago and is cheffed by Chez Panisse alum Judy Rogers.  It is a legendary place and it's hard to believe that it took us so long to check it out for ourselves!!

Any time I've heard someone talk about Zuni, it is usually coupled with mention of their chicken for two.  It is a whole chicken (cut into pieces), roasted to order with a bread stuffing with currants and pine nuts.  Mustard greens are tossed over the top.

You know when things are talked up so much that you automatically assume that there's no way that they can live up to the hype?  Well, this was one of those times, only it TOTALLY lived up to the hype.  Perfectly seasoned.  Crispy skin.  Delicious accompaniments.  When can I have it again?

Of course we had a couple of starters before the miracle chicken:  fried cauliflower, onions, and capers (fair), breasola with grilled fava beans (I did not care for this), and polenta with marscapone & parmesan cheese (um, YUM!).

Believe it or not, after all of this, we also had dessert.  I was very intrigued by the caramel and balsamic vinegar ice cream, which was most sweet but also a bit sour-tangy.  

What a meal!  And excellent service, too.  Our waiter was a recently relocated New Yorker, like us, and we enjoyed reminiscing about all the great food offered there.  When we go back to Zuni, we will definitely request Jeff as our server.

Day 275: Shepherd's Pie Purists Should Not Read This

The inspiration for tonight's dinner was a head of cauliflower that had been in my fridge for a little over week.  I decided to use that cauliflower to make a healthier version of one of my favorite comfort foods - shepherd's pie.

I love traditional shepherd's pie made with ground lamb and mashed potatoes.  And to be honest, that version is much tastier than the one I created tonight although mine was quite a bit more nutritious.

After cutting the cauliflower up into halved florets, I tossed the pieces with olive oil, S&P, an roasted them at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes (until golden brown along the edges).  Then, I placed them in a food processor with 1T butter and 1/4 cup skim milk and blended until smooth.  I used this mixture as a replacement for the mashed potatoes that are normally smoothed along the top of shepherd's pie.

For the meat layer of the dish, I used an Allrecipes.com recipe as the base with the following changes to further lighten up the dish:

- 1.5 lb ground turkey instead of 1 lb ground beef 

- low sodium chicken broth instead of beef broth

- Red Dragon mustard seed cheddar instead of plain cheddar

I also added 2T worcestershire sauce, 1.5 tsp dried oregano, and replaced the ketchup with tomato paste for more flavor.  In retrospect, a couple of cloves of garlic would have done a lot of good as well.

This dish was okay and there wasn't the usual guilt I feel after eating "real" shepherd's pie.  I'd probably try several other recipes before making this one again.  It simply wasn't all that tasty - and I'm pretty sure it wasn't the replacements that made it so.  It was more likely the lack of spice and seasoning.

Our side dish, asparagus fresh from the farmer's market, was delicious though.  I'm glad we bought two bunches so we enjoy more later in the week!

Day 243: Guilt Free Beef

Just because you're trying to be healthy, doesn't mean that you can't eat beef.  Prepare it the right way, and it can be a tasty AND good for you.

The first tip is grill, baby, grill.  Grilling adds so much great flavor without adding any extra fat.

Next, make a sauce like chimichurri, from olive oil (good fat) and loads of herbs and spices.  Put all of the following ingredients in a bowl, whisk them together, and drizzle the mixture over your steaks prior to serving.  This recipe is enough for 4-6 steaks.

1/2 cup olive oil

1 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp cayenne pepper (more if you want it spicy)

2 tsp dried oregano

1 cup of chopped fresh parsley

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp salt

The side dish I chose to make with our steaks was roasted bell pepper and cauliflower in lemon caper vinaigrette.  The simple recipe from Epicurious.com takes advantage of fresh vegetables and paired really well with the steak and chimichurri sauce.

If you read last night's entry, you know that we had a barely edible meal.  Tonight I redeemed myself, much to my (and my husband's) relief!!

Day 230: The Sauce That Just Keeps on Giving

The Moroccan Chicken recipe I made earlier this week just keeps on giving.  We had the original delicious dish on Monday and tonight we used the leftover sauce for the second time. 

I rubbed a pork tenderloin with Chinese 5 Spice Powder and browned it in a  pan.  Then, I moved it to a roasting pan and cooked it in the oven for another 22-25 minutes at 375 degrees. 

After moving the pork to the oven, I deglazed the pan with chicken broth, added the leftover Moroccan Chicken sauce, and cooked the broccoli in it over low heat for about 10 minutes.

I also tried pureed cauliflower for the first time tonight and found that it's a wonderful substitute for mashed potatoes - similar texture and a whole lot more healthful.

Ingredients (serves 2):

Florets from 1/2 head of cauliflower

Olive oil 

S&P

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.  Coat cauliflower with olive oil and S&P and spread out evenly on a baking sheet.

Roast for 15 minutes, stir, and roast for another 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool slightly.

Place cauliflower and 1/4 cup skim milk to food processor and mix until pureed.  Add more milk if necessary.

Transfer cauliflower to a small non-stick saucepan and add 1/4 cup shredded cheese (cheddar, gouda, parmesan, mozzarella, - whatever you like).  Heat over low flame, stirring frequently.  Taste and add more cheese if necessary.

This is a great little trick, especially if you love mashed potatoes but are trying to limit your carb intake.  Do you have other suggestions for healthier alternatives for carby favorites?  Do tell!

Day 186: Fish is Brain Food. Bring it ON!

This is my first week back at work since before Christmas and it's HARD!!  Conference Calls?  Recommendations?  Analysis?  Points of View?  What are these foreign things that my clients want from me??

It's amazing how quickly I go soft after just a bit of vacation.  My brain needs a quick re-charge and since fish is supposedly brain food, I'll be eating a lot of it this week!!  Last night it was tuna, tonight it was red snapper, and who knows what will be for dinner tomorrow!

I created this recipe and it was pretty good, although it would have been better with a touch more salt.

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 T olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 shakes of red pepper flakes

1 shallot, finely chopped

2 large vine ripened tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1/2 yellow (or orange or red) bell pepper, sliced

1/4 cup white wine

1 tsp capers, chopped

1 tsp dried oregano

2 6-7 ounce red snapper filets, patted dry and seasoned on both sides with S&P

Two slices of lemon

Heat your oil in a non-stick pan on medium-low heat.  Add garlic, shallot, and red pepper flakes and saute for a few minutes until softened.

Add tomatoes through oregano and turn heat up to a boil.  Lay snapper filets across top of tomato mixture, reduce heat to a simmer, and cover the pan with a lid or with tightly fitted foil.  Allow fish to steam for about 8 minutes.  It's done once you no longer see pink spots.

Plate up your fish fillets and veggies from the pan and crank up the heat on the remaining sauce.  It should reduce rather quickly - just a minute or two - and then you can drizzle it over your fish.  Squeeze fresh lemon juice over each filet.

I cooked up some cauliflower as our veggie side dish tonight.  I preheated the oven to 375 degrees.  While it was warming up, I cored the cauliflower and sliced it into 1/2-3/4 inch slices and gently tossed the pieces in a bowl with S&P.  I then laid the slices out in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and roasted the cauliflower for about 20 minutes.  I drizzled some olive oil over it and continued to roast it for another 10 minutes until it was golden brown.  It's so simple, but so delicious - cauliflower actually gets sweet after a good amount of roasting like this.

This is all very easy, even on a work night.  And hopefully, I'll wake up a lot smarter tomorrow and able to easily execute all of those client demands!!

Day 179: This Photograph is a Big, Fat Lie

Our friends Amy and Len and their 2 year old Jack came over for dinner tonight.  They flew in last night from the east coast and were all adjusting to the time difference - especially little Jack.

I attempted to prepare a dinner that would be finished nice and early so that we could eat before complete exhaustion set in.  But somehow, I misjudged the timing of nearly everything and so these three items were eaten separately - first the shrimp, then the butternut squash, and then cauliflower course was served.

The shrimp was salt roasted and served with a lemony dipping sauce - easy and always a crowd pleaser.  I first shared this recipe with you on day #50 ("Party!").

Next, we had roasted butternut squash & cranberries, made tasty with thyme, brown sugar, freshly grated nutmeg, and brown butter.  This was something I "invented" about a week ago on day #170 ("You Must Try This!").

The cauliflower course was simple:  I cut a head of cauliflower into large pieces, tossed them with olive oil and S&P and roasted them at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes.

For dessert, we had a cheese course that included a triple cream brie with chopped dried apricots and Craisins and a mustard seed cheddar called Red Dragon (delicious and available at Cheese Plus here in San Francisco).

So the dinner was super staggered, but everything was tasty and it was fun to catch up with our friends over multiple courses.  Even if one of them was just cauliflower.

Day 164: Not My Best Work :(

I've recognized a trend.  Nights when I come home cranky, I just do not cook very good food.  Tonight was one of those nights - I was cranky to begin with and only got crankier after grocery shopping & cooking complications.   

Tonight's dinner was 5-spice crusted pork with roasted cauliflower and asparagus.  Let's start with the pork chops.  My plan had been to purchase pork tenderloin, which I have absolutely mastered.  Unfortunately, Whole Foods was out of them (huh?) and with no back-up plan, I settled for a couple of super thick boneless pork chops.  I ignored my instinct to take a mallet to those chops to flatten them out a bit and speed up the cooking time and therefore, had a really difficult time cooking them through.  I managed to get a lovely crust on the outside, but the middle was still too rare so I wound up slicing and nuking them for a minute.  That, of course, caused them to toughen up and dry up.

Despite the toughness and dryness, the flavor was good.  5-spice powder is a Chinese seasoning that is absolutely divine on pork.  If you've never tried it, give it a shot.  You'll find it in the seasoning section at most supermarkets.

Our cauliflower and asparagus side dish was inspired by a recipe I found on Epicurious.com and prepared for our Thanksgiving meal.  I sliced up a head of cauliflower and laid it flat on a rimmed baking sheet and then sprinkled salt and cayenne pepper over the top.  I laid a bunch of thin asparagus over the top and salted that layer.  The veggies roasted at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.  While they cooked, I melted 2 T butter in a small saucepan and whisked in 1 T olive oil, 1 T lemon juice, and 1 heaping tsp dijon mustard.  

Using a pastry brush, I coated the veggies with the mixture and returned them to the oven for another 10 minutes.

The only thing I really did wrong with the veggies was the over generous sprinkling of cayenne.  It was really a bit too spicy.

So lots of lessons in tonight's entry:  wield the mallet when necessary, take it easy on the cayenne, and when cranky...order in!!

Day 153: Not Feelin' It

I just wasn't in the mood to cook up a big involved dinner tonight.  Luckily for me, we had a fridge full of veggies that I knew would roast up nicely.  This is a very easy preparation for a work night.  It takes awhile to cook, especially if you use dense firm veggies like carrots, but it's tasty, healthy, and goes with whatever protein you want to eat with it.

Our mix included cauliflower, broccoli, bell pepper, zucchini, pear tomatoes, onion, and carrots.  Everything was cut into large pieces and mixed with olive oil, chopped garlic, lots of fresh thyme, and S&P.  This mixture roasted in a large glass baking dish at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.  Once it's done, squeeze some fresh lemon juice over the whole thing.  If you want it perfect, put the carrots in alone first for 5-10 extra minutes and then add everything else.  If you do it this way, you can cook everything else for less time.

I chose an equally easy protein to have the roasted veggie side dish.  I purchased a couple of skinless, boneless chicken breasts and pounded them thin between two layers of plastic wrap.  You can skip this step, but it helps the chicken cook MUCH faster, so I recommend you at least give it a try.  Then I seasoned the chicken on both sides with S&P and browned it in an olive oil coated pan that I had pre-heated.  Just a couple of minutes on each side, and it was done, so you'll want to cook the chicken once your veggies are done to everything is nice and hot at the same time.

If you want to add just a little flair to this otherwise extremely simple meal, you can then sprinkle one side of the chicken breast with some freshly grated parm and stick it under the broiler for a couple of minutes.

I've noticed that as the week goes on, my cooking enthusiasm wanes and wanes until Friday, when all I want to do is go out and have someone cook for and serve me.  Hey, tomorrow's Friday!  TGIF!!

Day 146: Happy Thanksgiving!!

Holy hell.  I'm full!!  

My parents came to us for Thanksgiving this year and my husband and I took care of all of the cooking.  As you can see from our very full table, we went all out.  Our menu consisted of the following, starting from the upper right hand corner of the table.

Main Course #1:  Turkey!!

Rather than cooking a whole bird, we purchased two breasts at Whole Foods and grilled them.  That freed up the oven for the sides and gave my husband something to do (man + fire = happiness).  We prepared each breast differently the night before to give them a chance to suck up lots of good flavor.

One breast got an herb and garlic rub:  1/4 cup each of chopped fresh sage, thyme, and rosemary, a 1/2 cup of parsley, and 10 cloves of garlic.  All of that was ground up in the food processor and then I tucked a thick layer of it underneath the skin of the turkey.

The other breast was marinated in a mix of the juice of 5 oranges, zest from 2 of those oranges, juice and zest from 2 lemons, 1 large sliced shallot, 6 smashed cloves of garlic, a couple of tablespoons of sugar, about 1/4 cup of olive oil, and S&P.

The breasts took about 2.5 hours on the grill on indirect heat.

Side Dish #1:  Cauliflower with Mustard Lemon Butter

Side Dish #2:  Orange Rosemary Cranberry Sauce

Side Dish #3:  Butternut Squash & Creamed Spinach Gratin

Side Dish #4:  Corn Bread (for recipe, see side of Marie Callender package - this was the only thing I did not make from scratch)

Side Dish #5:  Wild Rice with Wild Mushrooms

Mushroom Gravy

Side Dish #6:  Thyme Roasted Sweet Potatoes

All of this was quite delicious and satisfying, but what's a Thanksgiving dinner without dessert?  After a short break, we were ready to dive in.

We had three desserts:

1.  Chocolate Pumpkin Tart

2.  Apple Crisp (made my our friend and dinner guest Julie)

3.  Coconut Macaroons (recipe available on the back of the blue Baker's Shredded Coconut bag)

Everything was enjoyed by all.  We are slipping into a food coma as I type this.  In fact, typing this is becoming increasing difficult.  Happy Thanksgiving!  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Day 127: You Always Remember Your First

The first time I had duck was November 2002 in Quebec City. It was Thanksgiving weekend I opted to use my 4-day weekend to travel around French Canada rather than to have the traditional holiday meal with my family.

Despite shunning tradition, I had my heart set on enjoying some sort of poultry for dinner on Thanksgiving. Turkey is not a very common menu item in that part of the world, apparently, so I had to be a bit more creative – hence, the duck. I remember loving it instantly – I mean, other than China, where better to first try duck than in a quaint little French restaurant in beautiful Quebec City?

Duck has been a favorite of mine ever since and yet I was intimidated by the idea of cooking it.  With Thanksgiving around the corner once again, I was reminiscing recently about that first delicious duck and decided that tonight was the night I was going to attempt making it.  I turned to a recipe from the tried and true Williams-Sonoma Grilling Essentials cookbook. As usual, I did all of the pre-cooking prep and my husband fired it up.

Orange-Glazed Duck Breasts:

Mix the following ingredients in a bowl:

1 T orange zest

6 T orange juice

1 tsp lemon zest

3 T lemon juice

3 T olive oil

1.5 T freshly chopped tarragon

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Use half of the mixture to marinate your duck breasts for up to 4 hours.  Set the other half aside to be used as the glaze later.

Once ready to cook, heat up the reserved marinade and mix in 6 T orange marmalade.  As you grill the duck, brush it from time to time with the warm mixture.

To be honest, the duck was tasty, but not delicious.  It didn't compare to any of the duck dishes I have ever had.  The glaze was barely detectable - and considering the lengthly marinating time, there was surprisingly little citrus flavor.  I'll definitely try to cook duck again, but with a different recipe or method next time.

On the other hand, I give rave reviews to the cauliflower side dish I made.  It came from Epicurious.com and was so stellar that I have added it to this year’s Thanksgiving menu (Yes! I am hosting Thanksgiving this year!).

Click here for the original recipe, or do it my way (I left out two ingredients):

1 small-medium head of cauliflower, sliced and lightly salted

4 T butter

2 T fresh lemon juice

2 T Dijon mustard

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Lay cauliflower slices in a single layer on a baking sheet (spray sheet with Pam).

Roast cauliflower for about 15 minutes or until it begins to soften up.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a small saucepan.  Add mustard and lemon juice and whisk until mixed.

Spoon mixture evenly over cauliflower and continue to roast for another 15 minutes.  Yum!!