Lotus root and gobo salad

inspired by the gobo salad and Delica rf-1, i am making my own for lunch today. i got the lotus root, gobo, mizuna and sweet tofu skin from the japanese grocery shop. i went to wholefood and found the purple carrots! the bunch was so pretty with the deep beet purple, orange and light yellow carrots. i am using fennel instead of celery. i am also skipping the onion and the japanese mountain potato. lets get on with making the salad.

peel lotus root and gobo. bring water (enough to cover the lotus root and gobo) to a boil, add a teaspoon of salt, add lotus root and gobo. cook at medium low heat or simmering water (not a rolling boil) for 10 minutes, shut off the heat, leave the pot sit on the stove for another 10 - 15 minutes. the lotus root and gobo are still being cooked slowly with the residual heat. take the roots out and let it cool down. slice lotus root crosswise, about 1/8" thick. slice gobo to match stick size.
peel and shred carrot, i cut by hand to match stick size since i don't like the texture of shred carrot.
shave or thinly slice fennel lengthwise.
cut tofu skin to match stick size.
pick out the green leaves of the mizuna, discard the white bottom. wash and dry mizuna in paper towel.

for dressing:
2 tablespoons sesame seed oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon honey
1-2 tablespoonsrice vinegar. the kind i used is very mild, i used 2tablespoons, use less if vinegar is too strong or acidic.
fresh cracked peper

whisk everything together, and done with the dressing! this is enough for about 600gr of salad.

toss lotus, gobo, fennel, carrot and tofu skin with dressing, cover and let everything marinate for about 30 minutes. add the mizuna, toss, sprinkle with toasted black sesame seed and voila!

the salad (without the mizuna) can be refrigerated for a day. add mizuna and sesame seed to salad when ready to serve.

Revisiting the macarons

i am having lunch with friends at my old work place and i promised to bring them some macarons. since the caramel fleur the sel got the most votes, i made them again. i used chubby hubby's recipe this time, it's almost the same as the recipe that i always use. still 225 gr powder sugar, 125 gr almond, 110 gr aged egg white (i/o 100gr), 30 gr sugar (i/o 25 gr). i skipped the salt and cream of tartar. also, this time i mixed less, there was still some specs of meringue in the batter. the feet were good, not as explosive as last time. i'll add back the salt and cream of tartar next time, i think the feet are more explosive with those 2 tiny ingredients. the shells were good this time, no wrinkle or collapse shells. i am happy with the result, yes!

the caramel fleur de sel turned out different this time, i think i got it right this time. last time it was like butter texture (spreadable). this time it's like a thick syrup, not quite as thin as caramel sauce but not as thick as butter. anyway, i'm not sure what the texture supposed to be like but i prefer the caramel this time over the last one. i'll come back to experiment with the macarons again soon.

Madame Yoko and I at Spruce

Dindin at Spruce for madame Yoko's birthday. i had to make reservation a month in advance, what we'd do for food...

lets talk about the space - love the decor, very dim lighting, a big open space with high ceiling or roof with exposed roof frame and ventilation pipes... there're big window panes as dividers between the bar and the dining room and the terrace (an indoor outdoor dining space)... check out some of the photos at their website. the crowd - mostly men in their 30's and up, all in conservative business suits, i felt like i was in finacial district.

now on to the food, umm delish! at the bar, Madame Yoko had a Kir royal and i a french 75 - a cocktail with gin, lemon and sparkling wine. it was good... although i don't know why i ordered that. we got seated 15 minutes later, i love the big table by the way. i glanced over the neighboring tables to see how big the portion is, all seemed kind of big. so we decided to share a starter and have our seperate entrees. charcuterie plate for the starter, there were country pate, duck liver pate, something looked like headcheese, ham (looked like serano) and things that i don't know the names but they were all good, served with a couple cornichons, a small mount of chutney and perfectly grilled bread. for entrees, madame Yoko ordered herself the sole with savoy spinach and dungeness crab with leek fondue. i had the pork tenderloin with pork belly and shelling beans. the pork was perfectly cooked, crisp with sweet glaze on the outside and still pink inside but fully cooked, not rare at all. the pork belly was crispy and sweet as well, perfectly cooked, again! the beans, beautifully cooked, not a split in the skin and yet so tender. i had a couple glasses of barolo from seralunga and the Yoko had a martini and a kir royal again. the barolo is excellent, deep ruby color, dry and very hearty... almost too strong for the pork but i like it anyway. we were stuffed after the 2 hr feast, no room for desert.... actually, i had a glass of muscato for my night cap. a perfect meal, actually worths a month wait.

http://www.sprucesf.com/

Sables - sand cookies

there's quite a bit of mango curd leftover from the barquettes yesterday, so i decided to make sables (sand cookies) to use up all the curd. this is the keylime sables recipe adopted from Martha Stewart's desert book. i used mango curd instead of key lime, obviously. and for the extract, i used bergamot since i don't have mango extract. bergamot is in the citrus family and i had some lemon in the curd, so it's the logical choice considering what i have available.

for the sables:
200gr flour, plus more for rolling
50gr powder sugar, plus more for dusting
25gr sugar
170gr butter, cut into 1/4" cubes, chilled
1/2 teaspoon of coarse salt
1-1/2 teaspoon of bergamot (or mango) extract

for the mango curd, same recipe as mango barquettes from yesterday.

in the food processor bowl, pulse flour, powder sugar, sugar, salt for a couple seconds to mix the dry ingredients. add butter pulse for about 10 seconds to get to corm meal texture. add extract, pulse for about 5 seconds more to get to crumbly texture. turn the crumbs on to a work surface, gather them into a ball, wrap in plastic and chill for at least 2hrs.

preheat oven at 325F

roll out the dough to 1/8" thick, use 2" round (Martha used square) flute cutter to cut out cookies. . place cookies on parchment lined sheet, cut half of the cookies with 1/2" - 3/4" round cutter in the center. bake for 15 minutes until the bottom edge of the cookies turn golden. transfer to rack and let cool completely

dust the cut out sables with powder sugar. spread about 1 teaspoon of curd on top of each whole sable, place the cut out sables on top of the whole sables to make sandwiches. chill sables for about 20 minutes for everything to set before serving.

Mango Meringue tart

i saved all the dough scraps from last week berry tart, there was quite a bit of scraps and i couldn't bring myself to throw them away. so i decided to make mini tarts again. I reworked the dough a bit more for the scraps to become one big piece. the shell turned out ok, not as flaky as last week but it's kind of expected. i adapted the mango curd recipe i found on line from epicurious and the meringue recipe from Martha Stewart.

for the shell, left over pate brisee from last week berry tart.

for the meringue (more than enough for 20 mini boat tarts, 3-1/4" size)
75gr egg white (about 2 large egg whites)
40gr sugar
pinch of salt

for the mango curd (enough for 60 mini boat tarts, 3-1/4" size)
240 gr mango cut in 1" pieces.
85gr sugar
30gr lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
60gr butter, cut into 6 slices, chilled
70gr egg yolk, about 4 yolks.
pinch of salt

puree all ingredients except the egg yolks, i used hand blender for this task. add yolks to mixture and blend well. strain mixture through a sieve.
whisk curd mixture over simmering water until curd temperature registers 170F, this took me about 20-25 minutes. remove from simmering water, whisk in the chilled butter 1 slice at a time. when the last slice of butter is incorporated, the curd should be cool to the touch. cover and let it rest in refrigerator for 3 hrs or overnight.


roll out tart dough, fit dough into mini boat pans. prick the dough a few time with a fork, line with foil and add pie weight. i just stacked another boat pan on top and add pie weight since it was kind of challenging to line a tiny tart shell with foil. chilled for 30 minutes. bake for about 12-15 minutes at 375F. since the tart shells are smaller, they were baked faster this time.

let the tart shell cool down completely. fill tart shells with curd, let them rest in refrigerator while making meringue.

whisk egg whites with salt over simmering water until frothy, add sugar and whisk until sugar disolves and the meringue is warm to the touch. remove from simmering water and beat util stiff peak. pile it on top of tarts and set it under broiler at 500F for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. watch it carefully since meringue get burnt real fast. i set the tarts on the bottom rack so the meringue would brown slower.

i've never made meringue before, the meringue was kind of sliding allover the place when i piled it on the first couple tarts and the meringue texture was kind of like dried foam. i decided to deflate the meringue by stirring vigorously with a flexible spatula. the meringue then seemed more agreeable to work with.

Berry tart with white chocolate mascarpone

Sunday, my baking day. i got some new mini tart pans - in boat shape and rectangle - so for this week, tart it is. i decided to fill the tart with mascarpone and white chocolate - a recipe adapted from Nigela Lawson's book - Domestic Goddess. i like this filling instead of traditional custard. it tastes less sugary, lighter (i'm not sure if it is actually lighter??), cleaner, and so simple to make. For the shell, i used another domestic goddess - Martha Stewart - pate brisee recipe since i like all butter crust (not 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortenning like most recipes).
Tart shells:
325 gr flour
230 gr butter cut in small cubes, chilled
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
50 gr ice water
mix flour, salt, sugar in food processor for 2 seconds. add chilled butter, pulse until the texture gets to cornmeal texture, about 20 seconds. add ice water through the food processor tube and continue to pusle until the dough come together and still dry. turn the dough on to a work surface, form into 2 discs, wrap with plastic and chill in refridgerator for at least 1 hr.
pre heat oven at 375F. roll out dough, fit dough into mini tart pans. prick tart shells with a fork in a few places, line tart shells with foil and add pie weight. chill tart shells in refridgerator for at least 30 minutes. bake for about 20 minutes, remove foil and pie weight, bake for 4-5 more minutes. let tart shells cool down to room temp.
Filling:
60gr dark chocolate, chopped - optional (i used callebaut brand)
60gr white chocolate, chopped (i used el rey brand)
60gr heavy whipping cream
250 gr mascarpone ( i used ciresa brand)
fruit for topping, i used blueberries and raspberries.
glaze, i used 50 gr blueberry jam + 2 table spoon water for blueberries only, i left the raspberries unglazed.
melt dark chocolate over simmering water, coat inside the tart shells with chocolate using a brush, this step is optional. i do like a thin layer of dark chocolate to add more texture and flavor.
melt white chocolate over simmering water, let it cool for a couple minutes. beat mascarpone and cream at low speed until well incorporated, about 20 seconds. add white chocolate, beat at low speed for 10-20 seconds. fill piping bag, use any round or star decorating tip for piping. fill the shells with mascarpone cream, top with fruits.
if using glaze, bring jam and water to a boil, let it cool down and brush the fruits with glaze.

Delica rf-1

saturday, i had to go to work... yike! i got out at 3 in the afternoon and decided to swing by the ferry building to get some japanese food for dinner. i used to come to the ferry building for lunch all the time back when our office was still downtown. now it's a real treat to come here, i do miss the japanese delicatessen in the ferry building. the food here has very delicate taste which i love, everything here tastes just right to me. i ordered the shrimp, gobo (burdock root), edamame (soy bean)tempura and 1/2 lb of the gobo/lotus root salad, yummy. the salad has shaved celery, onion, shreded carrot, konnyaku (japanese mountain potato) and mizuna (japanese green). tasty as always, what a refreshing treat after the heavy birthday dindin last night.
http://www.delicarf1.com/

Jeanty at Jacks

Friday night, a small group of friends (3) and i gathered at Jeanty at Jacks - a classic french restaurant in the financial district to celebrate our little friend's birthday.
starting out with the extensive wine list, we decided to get a bottle of french red from bordeaux since we were in a french restaurant... but of course!
the starters were yummy! we ordered the salmon carpacio, the pork belly and lentil stew, the pike dumplings in lobster sauce and... the lobster bisque with dungeness crab. YUM! we shared all the appetizers, i didn't try the salmon and the bisque since salmon is not my favorite and i just feel weird about sharing soup... i don't know.... but the pork belly was ummmm... good! it was well caramelized and stewed with lentil, very tender and sweet... the pike dumpling was delish, i wished i ordered one more of that for the entree.
then came the entrees, oh my... the portion was large, enough for 2 hungry hogs... i ordered the rib eye with bernaise sauce and fries and i got (i think) a pound of meat! i need to go on a diet after this. i completely forgot what my friends ordered, i remember the giant pork chop... and that's it. anyway i finished my steak with the wine, i only had a few fries so i didn't feel too guilty. if i dine here next time, i'd just order 2 starters or 1 starter and spit the entree.
and we weren't done yet, oh no. no birthday dinner is complete without desert. i think we were all in a food coma at that point so we decided to order the lemon sorbet and the creme caramel to share. what a delightful surprise, i love the sorbet - so light and fresh that it took me out of my rib eye coma. the creme caramel came with a thin palmier and i think i ate most of it...


http://www.jeantyatjacks.com/

still deciphering the macarons

i found some black currant jam yesterday at wholefood and decided to fill the macarons with black currant jam.
i used the same regular meringue recipe as last week and the result was kind of mixed. the first tray was good but the remaining trays got a bit deflated outside the oven. they all have good tops and beautiful feet in the oven - as in picture. when i took the tray out of the oven some of the tops got deflated and almost wrinkled but not quite yet. i wonder why??? last week, the last tray also got deflated a bit but not as bad as this week.
the jam, even though sugar free (it was made with grape juice and fruit pectin) is still too sweet when added to the macarons. i think i'll fill with macarons with buttercream base from now on. And the black currant extract was too artificial, the macarons smelled like jolly rancher!
i'll revisit and experiment with the recipe some more. But next week, i am going to take a break from the macarons and bake something new.

Lunar New Year dindin at Umami

New Year day, we still had to work late! i was looking forward to the dindin and a chance to escape work at 7pm. Umami is on Webster at Unnion, all this time i've been up and down Union street and did not notice?? the menu offers Pan Asian dishes and a seperate menu for sushi. the drink menu was interesting... i couldn't remember what was in my drink but the liquor was cachacca some sort of sugarcane brazillian rum, it was interesting. others ordered some kind of champagne with elderberry and the "faded crane"??? - some sort of cocktail with satsuma citrus. i tried all the drinks and my favorite was the champagne with elderberry. my friends all got seconds but i decided to have a pinot blanc from Alsace with my meal, buzzzzz....
the meal portion was bigger than i thought. since the menu did not indicate appetizers or entrees, i assumed that everything was tapas size. we ordered 3 appetizers to share and 3 dishes for entrees. the appetizers were yumyum! the edamame humus was good with fresh cumin leaves, much milder flavor than dried cumin powder. the popcorn rockshrimps was tasty, the rockshrimp texture has more bite with the thin/ light crunchy tempura batter and the pop of tobiko... all that texture was perfectly seasoned with soy aioli. i ate that with the shiso garnish, i think they should serve this dish with more shiso... and the last appertizer was the chicken gyoza or potstickers, tasty! i had the scallops for entree, it was very good but i think i always prefer snacky appetizers...
the desert was too much for me, we ordered pineapple crumb tapioca pudding with vanilla ice cream and caramel topping... delicious and alot of it!!! way to start the new year.
http://www.umamisf.com/

Luna New Year's Eve at Basil

Wednesday, Lunar new year's eve, we all had to work late preparing for the coming meeting on friday. so we - a small group of people from work decided to dine simple on the eve since some of us had to go back to work after dindin! We settled on Basil - a yummy Thai restaurant near work. the appetizers were delicious, first time i had the roti - a slightly sweet thai pan fried pancake with eggplant curry topping. the curry puffs were also excellent, again a first for me, i don't order curry on my own since it's not my favorite dish but the puffs were yummy. for entree, i had the pad keemao, it was good but my favorite has to be the appetizers...
Try to roti at Basil next time you're in the SOMA neighborhood...
http://www.basilthai.com/

Happy New Year - Year of the Rat

back in Viet Nam, we always had some kind of yellow dogwood flowers, yellow mums, or orchids...for Tet (Lunar new year also known as Chinese new year). we don't have the yellow dogwood here in San Francisco so i went to Whole food and got some forsythia instead. yellow and red are for good fortune and luck in the new year. And so i wish all my blog viewers/readers good health, good fortune, good luck and everything will go your way in the year of the rat. so chuc mung nam moi, cung hee phat choi or happy new year!!!

The right macarons... finally

Finally i was able to get the right look and the right texture on the macarons. the feet were even and at the correct height, not tucking under the top (mushroom like). the shell is more delicate than all the ones that i made before. they finally look right, YES!!!
so here's the recipe i found on the internet (i copied it down and forgot the source, very sorry! i owed whoever posted this recipe on line)

225gr powder sugar
125gr almond flour
100gr aged egg white
25gr sugar - i used super fine.
pinch of salt
1/2 tea spoon cream of tartar

preheat oven at 325 degree F. i've tried baking at different lower temperature and resulted in cracked tops. of course this only applies to my oven.

use heavy duty baking trays, i did not double up the tray. i've tried baking with double trays and outcame again the cracked tops and wrinkled tops.

i left egg white out for over 60 hrs by accident, definitely not neccessary. leave egg white out uncovered anywhere from 24-72hrs(i read that on line). weight egg white after aging, not before. i aged 6 egg white and had some left over.

mixed powder sugar and almond flour, i ground them again in coffee grinder to get finer texture. sift through medium sieve.

beat egg white at low speed, add salt, increase to medium speed, add cream of tartar. beat until frothy, add sugar in a steady stream, increase to high speed, beat until stiff peak.

add all meringue into almond/powder sugar at once. again i mixed with my very clean hand and used a flexible spatula to scrape the side and the bottom of the bowl. mix fast and a bit more forceful to get the meringue into the dry ingredients. the mixing process took about 30 seconds for me.

pipe batter at whatever size you want. i piped mine at 1 1/4" and the batter spread to around 2" in diameter. tap hard under the tray for even spreading and to get rid of peaks. i left the piped macarons out for 1 hr for the skin to form.

bake at 325F, it took around 9 minutes for each tray. rotate half way to get even baking.

sandwich with whatever flavor you like. i used up all my leftover caramel fleur de sel this time.

What to eat with saffron rice???

i got some japanese eggplants from the japanese grocery shop in Japan town, naturally! i prefer japanese eggplants, the color of the skin is a beautiful deep inky purple and the taste is much more delicate with a sweeter aftertaste than regular eggplants. i wanted to roast some eggplant and cook some sausages to go with the saffron rice. so off to Wholefood i went. i got some mild italian sausages, red bell pepper and chives.
wash and dry chives, eggplants and bell pepper. i dried them with paper towel to prevent splatter later. cut chives in 1/2" length. in a hot pan on stovetop, add some olive oil, add chives to the hot oil and take off heat, transfer the chives with oil to a bowl immediately to stop the cooking, let it cool.
stab eggplants all over with a fork to let the steam out (during the cooking process later). preheat oven at broil 500 degree F. in a roasting pan, add olive oil, add eggplants and bell pepper, roll them in the oil to get even covering. cover with foil, poke a few holes in the foil to let the steam out. cook under broiler for about 30 to 40 minutes or until the epplants and bell pepper are cooked thoroughly. once done, immediately put the bell pepper in a paper bag and keep the bag tightly closed, let the bell pepper cool down inside the bag for 15 -30 minutes. the skin on the pepper will blister from the steam and come off real easy. you can roast the pepper over open flame (which will be faster and has better smoked flavor) if you have gas stovetop. while waiting for the pepper to cool down, cut the eggplants to whatever size you prefer, sprinkle some salt and pepper, add the chives and toss. peel bell pepper, remove seeds and dice.
add olive oil to roasting pan, add the italian sausages, drizzle some honey, roll the sausages around to get even oil and honey covering. cover pan with foil, poke a few holes in foil to let steam out, cook under broiler for about 40 minutes, flip sausages half way to get even cooking. when the sausages are almost done, remove the foil and brown the sausages directly under broiler for about 3-4 minutes on each side. the honey will help speed up the browning. take the roasting pan out of the oven, let the sausages rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting. slice the sausages and toss with diced roasted bell pepper.
for lunch, i packed the sausages with roasted eggplant on a bed of saffron rice... and bon appetit!

Saffron rice with toasted almond

i went through my kitchen cabinets and found some Turkish saffron, i bought it last spring in Istanbul at the very shop in the photo (for real). it's the famous spice bazaar in Istanbul - the old town part of Istanbul. so i decided to make saffron rice for lunch on monday. i wanted to add some slice almond for the nutty texture and a nice mix of fragrants of all things from that part of the world. first, i toasted the slice almond in a heavy pan over the stovetop, stir often to get even toasting, or you can do it in the oven. once done with the toasting, tranfer the almond onto a plate and let it cool.
on stovetop, add olive oil to the hot pan, then add the saffon. i also added 1/2 teaspoon of tumeric powder since i love the taste and the color of tumeric - a nice complement to the saffron. stir them quickly and add the basmati rice (or jasmin if you prefer) to the pan. stir to get even cooking for about 2 minutes. add hot water, a bit at a time since it will splatter. water should be just enough to cover the rice, no more. you can add more water later if needed. sprinkle some salt, cover at let it simmer at medium low for a few minutes. add toasted almond, roughly mix it with the rice, cover and continue cooking at medium low heat until the rice is done. add more water during the cooking process if needed. the rice should be cooked but has more bite - a bit nuttier than regular steam rice.

Bulgoki at New Korea House

i went to Japan town for grocery on sunday but before i did my shopping, i stopped by the New Korea House for some bulgoki. it's been raining on and off on sunday so there wasn't many people in the restaurant. i ordered the pork bulgoki for lunch. on saturday and sunday, the restaurant does not offer the lunch menu so all dishes are at dinner price which is twice as much. although you get your money worth with the dinner menu because on the lunch menu, the pork bulgoki they serve is a different cut of meat, much more chewy and has more fat and tendon... the dinner cut of meat is much leaner and very tender. the meal came with toasted barley tea, a cup of daikon soup and potato pancake (or at least i thought it tasted like potato).
and then there's all kind of typical Korean condiments - kimchi, of course, pickled cucumber and daikon, sweetened black bean, fried tofu, fried and glazed potato... the condiments and bbq here taste more on the delicate side, not overdone with the garlic. i'm not an expert on Korean food so i'm not sure if less garlic taste is better??? but i know i definitely prefer delicate taste...
Lunch was yummy as always, now i must get on with my grocery shopping.
New Korea House
1620 Post street.
San Francisco, CA 94115
415.931.7834

Wednesday night at Absinthe

Hump day, i was heading home when a colleague asked if i want to meet some old friend for dindin at Absinthe. yes, of course! i told them that i was going to meet them there around 7:15pm. i got there early, reserved a table then i decided to go for a walk instead of waiting for them at the bar. A couple blocks from the restaurant is one of my favorite home boutique - Alabaster, i decided to window shop and see if there's a sale. Yes, there was indeed a sale - a store closing sale! i was sad for 5 minutes, that store had been my muse since...forever. it was very disappointing and sad. it had something to do with the new owner wouldn't renew the lease. i hope they'll find a new location and open the boutique again...
i got back to the Absinthe just in time, my friends got there a minute after... and our table was waiting for us, perfect timing!
it's Absinthe 10 year anniversary and they have a few things on the menu at 1998 price. i ordered the onion soup - my favorite - and the wild mushroom risotto. my friends shared a flat bread pizza for starter and both had the steak (at 1998 price) for the main course. And we ordered a bottle of Pinot noir from Sonoma, a bit sweet and fruity, not dry enough for me. it was good nonetheless. the food was simple and good. i love the space and the food here, always have, very cozy, relaxing with the dim lighting...

http://www.absinthe.com/index.html