Les Desserts - my new favorite book

yes, it is my new favorite. i will try the very 1st recipe next week since i'm in no shape to bake this week. i got one recipe translated today (it's in japanese) - it's the macaron recipe, of course! i will post the new recipe and the result next weekend.

on with the book, why do i like this book even though i can't read it without the help of a translator? first reason is the photos. everything is beautifully photographed but not intimidating fancy artsy photographs. the photographs are simple and very inspiring, make you want to bake and create things... second reason is the step by step instructions with illustrated photos. even when i don't understand the language, i could still tell what i suppose to do according to the step by step instructional photos. third reason is the range of covered subjects. chapter one starts out with the simplest dessert - Blanc Manger. next chapter is all about Custard. then on to Mousse and the next logical step is the Bavaroise... Fruit Compote, Ice cream, Sorbet, Souffle, Tarts, Chocolate, Crepe, Petit Four, Macaron, Cake... every chapter starts with the basic recipe and build up to a more complex ones, it just makes perfect sense to me.

i will have to have many many many... translation sessions with my friends and many experiments to follow... that'll be exciting. haven't tried any recipe from this book, i still reccommend it because the book makes sense to me. i got this book because i know i'm going to ask everyone i know who can translate to decipher this book for me one recipe at a time. even if i can't find anyone, i'd still get the book for all the reasons above, the book is simply very inspiring to me.

Japanese rice cake

i went to J-town for grocery today and got some rice cake. i always crave sweet when i'm sick, why??? my Japanese friend told me to get this pink rice cake - "it tastes more interesting" she said. And indeed it does. the outer skin is made out of sweet glutenous sticky rice and colored in pink. the inside is the typical Japanese sweet red bean paste. the interesting part is the pickled cherry leaf wraping on the outside (that should be or can be eaten with the cake). the pickled cherry leaf taste reminded me of the slightly salty pickled plum crossing with the grape leaf taste in domus (correct spelling here???). very interesting indeed, i really like it.

Chicken rice soup

have been sick all week, i've been eating restaurant soups and grocery store carton soups until today - when i actually felt a bit better to make some homemade chicken rice soup.
i got some chicken breast filets, ginger, green onion and some leftover steam rice, i'm good to go.
in a pot of boiling water, add some salt then add chicken. turn the stove down low, enough to keep the water at simmering, chicken will be cooked better at slow heat. skim the broth if needed, take the chicken filets out when they are just cooked, let them rest. turn up the heat to bring the broth to a boil, add rice. again, turn down the heat to low and cook the rice at simmering heat. if starting out with raw rice, it's better to toast the rice until the grains turn slightly golden, then add to the broth. i used cooked rice since i had leftover.

slice or pull chicken filets to bite size. slice ginger to thread sticks. slice green onion into thin slices. my soup was done by the time i finished slicing everything. season with salt, sugar and fresh cracked pepper. if you are not afraid of fish sauce, add a table spoon of fish sauce to the soup. the fish sauce will add a new layer of taste to the soup. add chicken, ginger, and onion to the soup. i plated the chicken and the garnishing in the bowl before ladling the boiling hot soup into the bowl, just for a nicer presentation. drizzle over the soup with a few drops of sesame seed oil and a couple turns of fresh cracked pepper and voila!

Seoul Garden

Saturday, i went to J-town to get my new favorite baking book which i will discuss in my next blog. it was already after one and i didn't have anything to eat since i got up this morning, i went for the korean bbq at Seoul garden.

the restaurant has always been there but for some reason it's kind of obscured to me since i've rarely gone to that side of the mall.
the restaurant is in a nice space, very clean an more spacious than i thought. it was not crowded here on this saturday afternoon, only a couple interacial families with small toddlers sat at 2 booths. i ordered the bbq pork. it came with soup, steamed rice, all the pickles and lettuce to wrap the bbq. this is the second Korean restaurant that serves bbq with lettuce for wrapping. the first one i had that serves bbq this way was on the other side of the Atlantic - Barcelona, Spain, very odd coincident indeed... everything was good. the pork was a hair on the salty side for me. And the condiments (pickles and such) are in bigger portion but less variety. i, of course, prefer the opposite which is more variety and smaller portion. i will find a perfect korean bbq place one day!

Seoul Garden
1655 Post st. (in Miyako Mall, Japan Center)
San Francisco, ca 94115
415.563.7664
http://www.seoulgardenbbq.com/

Nihon, Manora Thai, Nihon

thursday night, another birthday dinner! yes, our girl wanted to go to Manora Thai restaurant in the SOMA. we've been having some gorgeous weather lately so i suggested we leave work early for some cool drinks. Nihon was a block from Manora so that was our first stop. it's a loft space with industrial decor, eclectic crowd and the drinks are good here. Nihon also offers modern japanese/california bar food in tapas size, my kind of food but since we were having dinner later... no food at Nihon, just drinks. the 2 girls were having pommergranate cosmo and some kind of whisky drinks, i had the vokda with ginger (may be infused???) and peach liqueur... i forgot the name of the drink but it was delish! and it was happy hour so we got a good deal, can't beat that.

Dinner time, yeah. the restaurant was a traditional Thai restaurant with traditional Thai interior. the crowd was mixed (because we were there)...or may be more family oriented. we had a table of 10 next to us with 4 noisy kids... and adults. the food were really good - authentic, said the birthday girl. we had the pad thai, of course. you can't eat at a Thai restaurant and not order pad thai. we also ordered the pooket skewers which are grilled shellfish (prawns, scallops, clams, mussels) and vegetables skewers, chicken curry, and asparagus with prawns in lobster sauce. everything was yummy... my favorite was the asparagus in lobster sauce. i was surprise they didn't have sticky rice, i was kind of in the mood for that instead of the regular jasmine rice.

anyway, we chowed down fast, it was not even 9 yet so we decided to go back to Nihon for 1 more round of deliciousness. we sat down at the same table, got the same waitress and she actually remembered what we had so we didn't even have to order! that's service.


Nihon
1779 folsom st. (at 14th)
san francisco, ca 94103
415.552.4400
http://www.dajanigroup.net/

Manora Thai
1600 folsom st (at 13th, i think)
san francisco, ca 94103
http://www.manorathai.com/

My Eggplant curry

i need more vegetarian dishes at home since i always have some kind of meat or seafood when i'm eating out. i found these round green eggplants from the vietnamese market, i don't know the name for them in english, but i think they belong in the eggplant family.
they are firm like green tomatoes, the flesh inside is white with tiny seeds much like poppy seeds. once cooked they got softer and the flesh has a sweeter after taste than eggplants. i also got some mushrooms, fried tofu skin and peanut for some vegetarian protein. of course lemon grass is a must in my vietnamese curry.

on with making the curry. slice then chop lemon grass as fine as possible. cut all vegetable and tofu skin to bite size. crack roasted peanuts in to big chunks. in a pan with hot oil, add lemon grass and stir occasionally until the lemon grass turns golden. add both kind of eggplants, stir about 1-2 minutes or until the eggplants are half cooked. add mushrooms and tofu stir for 1-2 minutes more until everything is just cooked. season with curry powder, salt, sugar and cayene pepper. add a bit of coconut milk or cream or milk, it helps to mellow out the spices, toss well.

My version of Kimpira

i really like the taste and texture of gobo (burdock root) and a couple of japanese friends had told me how to make kimpira - a simple stir fry gobo dish - something that i really need in my daily diet since i've been eating out too often these days.
i researched online and found out that most of the flavor comes from the skin of the gobo and some people just scrubbed the skin clean instead of peeling it. i used the back of the knife to scrap it slightly, then washed, boiled for 1 minute and let it sit in the pot for another 10 minutes. the gobo will continue to be cooked with the residual heat. take gobo out of hot water and dunk them in cold water to stop the cooking instantly, then cut into thin slices. i had some carrot and celery in the fridge so i thought i add a bit of each for flavor. cut the carrot into match stick size and shave the celery crosswise at and angle.
in a hot pan with hot safflower oil and sesame seed oil, add gobo, carrot and celery, stir to cook for about 3-4 minutes or until the vegetables are just cooked. season with soysauce, honey and cayene pepper. drizzle with more sesame seed oil and sprinkle with toasted black sesame seeds. i had this with steam rice for dinner, clean and simple. i felt lighter already!

Cardinal slice

adapted from "baking with Julia" book, this recipe needs alot of revisions! first, i had problem with the genoise batter, it was a bit runny so it was kind of messy to pipe. next problem was the baking with the oven door cracked open with a wooden spoon. these will be addressed in the latter part of the recipe.
i added toasted almond and changed the whipped cream to butter cream since i need this cake to last longer than 4 hrs. i also skip the color syrup, instead used cocoa powder, espresso powder and kahlua

for the butter cream:

200gr sugar (i suggest using 150gr since it was a bit too sweet for me)
50gr water or less, just enough to cover the sugar.
85gr egg yolk, 5 yolks
230gr butter
2 table spoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 table spoon instant espresso powder
1-2 table spoon boiling water
1 table spoon kahlua

slice butter into about 10 slices total, set aside. add water to sugar, simmer on medium until soft ball or register 240F on candy thermometer. while the sugar is cooking, beat yolks on medium for 2 minutes then high until sugar syrup is ready . once sugar is ready, lower speed to medium and pour sugar in yolk at a small constant stream while continue beating. once done with the sugar, increase speed to high and beat until the mixture cool down completely. add butter, one slice at a time an beat at medium until homogenous.
dissolve espresso powder with boiling water, let it cool then add kahlua, mix well. fold espresso into buttercream until homogenous. add cocoa powder to buttercream and fold again until homogenous. cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate until ready to use.

for the almond
150 gr of sliced almond, toast in oven until golden. let it cool down completely. set aside.

for the cake
preheat oven at 300F. line a jelly roll pan with parchment. on the reverse side of parchment, mark 3 of 3" wide panels, 3/4" apart. the lengh of each panel should be the same as the length of jelly roll pan. prepare piping bag with 1/2" round tip.
the cake has 2 different batter, the meringue and the ladyfinger genoise

for the meringue:
150gr eggwhites, 4 whites at room temp.
80gr sugar
85gr powder sugar

beat eggwhite at medium speed to frothy, add sugar at small constant stream. once done with sugar, increase speed to high and beat until stiff peaks. sift in powder sugar and fold in 2 portion until homogenous. fill piping bags and pipe 3 rows per panel (i need more practice with the piping!). set aside. save leftover for genoise

for the genoise:
leftover meringue
225gr eggs, 4 eggs at room temp.
60gr egg yolks, 4 yolks at room temp.
50gr sugar
110gr flour
1 teaspoon vanilla

add leftover meringue, eggs, yolks, sugar to mixing bowl, beat on low for 30 seconds to mix, speed up to medium for 2 minutes and increase to high until tripple in volume. sift in flour and fold in 2 portions until homogenous. add vanilla. fill piping bag and pipe in between the rows of meringue, 2 rows of genoise per panel.
save leftover for cake or lady fingers.
bake cake about 40-60 minutes, open door for 5 seconds every 15minutes for steam to escape.

the original recipe called for baking with oven door cracked open, it did not work for me. aslo i reccommend cutting the batter recipe in 1/2 or 1/3 so you won't have alot leftover. also using the leftover meringue for genoise is not precise at all, i think this caused my runny batter!! (i couldn't believe a professional pastry chef wrote this recipe and Julia approved) i reccommend making the genoise with its own recipe. i have to search for that recipe. if there's left over meringue, make meringue kisses.

once the cake is done, let it cool on rack completely. trim both ends of all panels to make them neat and even. save the prettiest one for the top layer. spread a thin layer of buttercream on 2 panels, sprinke with toasted almond. save a bit of butter cream for patching up afterward. divide the rest of the buttercream in 2 portions and pipe them on top of 2 almond panels. stack one almond panel on top of the other, press down slightly. stack the last one on top, press down slightly. use the remaining buttercream to patch the ends or sides if needed. dust top panel with unsweetened cocoa powder. refrigerate at least 1 hr to set.

Maki

a friend told me that Maki also has really good noodle soup, so i went on saturday to check it out. i didn't end up having soup but ordered a fancy version of bento box.
everything came in its little dishes and all together on a tray instead of in little compartments of a bento box. miso came in a bowl with a lid! there were seaweed salad, japanese pickles (daikon and carrot) and the cold tofu. the main dish was the unagi (bbq eel) with egg and green peas on a bed of rice all steamed together in a wooden basket with its own lid! everything were good and all were on the sweet side. i think it's more authentic since i've been told that real japanese food is more on the sweet side. the tofu is something different. it was cold, i've not had cold tofu before so it is definitely an acquired taste. that was an interesting lunch, i think i'll try the noodle soup next time.
the restaurant is tiny, all the tables are super close to each other and it's always packed.


Maki
Kinokuniya building
1825 Post st.
San Francisco, CA 94115
415.921.5215

Range

Thursday night, an old friend from work had made plan with us to try this restaurant - Range - since it's in her neighborhood and she's been dying to try it out. it was funny we didn't have any reservation because of our own communitcation glitch but we got in last minute anyhow.

the restaurant is on the ground floor of an old 3 level flat, a typical San Francisco building, narrow and long. the ground floor had been rennovated and has that Mission district industrial bistro vibes, with simple decor and materials such as wood and brush stainless steel table tops, clean lines and not fussy. the front section is the bar with high bar tables and a couple bistro tables. the mid section of the restaurant is a long corridor with the kitchen on the left, a short row of bistro tables on the right and the 2 bathrooms also on the right. And the back section is - i guessed - the main dinning area.

the crowd here is eclectic on this thursday night. the staff or our waiter is friendly, very knowledgeable about the food, ingredients and how it's prepared as well as the drinks/wine list.

we started off with the drinks since we were still waiting for 1 more to come. one had the rose bubbly as usual. one had the special drink of the night - vodka with white tea, i didn't try but she said it was very good. i ordered one from the cocktail list - Vin de Pamplemousse - that has vodka, viognier, grapefruit juice, vanilla bean and lemon. that drink was so good! it tasted very light, i could hardly taste the liquour but felt the impact after 5 minutes. and our last guest showed up! She ordered ice tea for the evening.

for starters, one friend and i shared the seared scallops with pea shoots. this one is new on the menu and was not on their online menu. fresh dayboat scallops, perfectly seared, still stranslucent on the inside, a good starter indeed. the other had the white tuna tartar with orange and herbs, looked very interesting but i didn't try. she said it waw very good and i had no doubt. the last one ordered the escarole puree soup with gruyere and crouton. i had half a spoon to taste and it was excellent. it was fresh and had that leafy green after taste. we were all happy with out staters.

for the entree, one had the roasted chicken. she said it was very good. the table next to us also had the chicken and the lady finished everything on the plate. it was 1/2 of a good size chicken! she said it was the best chicken she'd ever had, enough said! the other 2 ordered the same dish which was not on the online menu neither. it was the fluke, a type of white fish and it looked delish! and they said it was delish! i had the coffee rubbed pork shoulder. it was tantalizing! i thought i would be grilled but not the case. it was slow cooked, the meat came in 1 piece on the plate but as soon as i touched it with the fork, it fell apart like pulled pork. it was tender and flavorful, i could only taste a super light hint of coffee afterward. it reminded me somewhat of a mole dish, but not as intense in flavor. it came with some kind of starch, i couldn't tell if it was potato??? and mustard green i think. i had the pork with a glass of syrah from santa ynez valley, in santa cruz. this wine was not on the online menu neither, so you do get a few nice surprises with the restaurant updated menu. it was a very good red, with deep burgundy color, nice bouquet and has a nice mix of spicey peppery taste, very hearty, perfect with this stronger flavor pork dish!

Desert, we were stuffed but had to try the desert since everything was good so far. And desert was no exception. we decided to shared the chocolate crepe with pink grape fruit and pink peppercorn vanilla ice cream. a perfect concoction again, all the tastes of sweet, sour, bitter and the rich flavor of chocolate balanced well with the delicate fragant grape fruit and a hint of pepper in the vanilla ice cream. a perfect way to end an excellent meal, really!

resvervation reccommended, and the restaurant does request credit card info for resv. sounds fussy with the reservation but it was the complete opposite once you step inside the restaurant.

http://www.rangesf.com/

Tuesday night at Two, Hawthorne lane

A couple friends at work and i made plan to try out different restaurants monthly. March is my month to pick a restaurant and i picked Two on Hawthorne Lane. i dined here a few times in the past, back when the restaurant was Hawthorne, named after the short little street that it was on. Recently, it's been remodeled with a new name, new chefs and of course, new menu.
i love the exterior space with the giant iron gate leading up to the private parking court yard with overgrown bourgainvillia. it was too early in the year for the bourgainvillia to bloom but comes summer time, it'd be really pretty. the interior now has been walled with varigated color wood, dimly lit with antler chandeliers and hanging pendants with shades. there's a seperate section in the back for private party i guessed.
the bathroom has the art nouveau wallpaper with rectanglular tile wall, hex tile floor and marble counter. i have to admit i prefer the old layout with the exposed kitchen. there's quite a bit going on with the decor which gave me mix feelings. it was not crowded on this tuesday night and the crowd was much more mixed and casual than the old Hawthorne.
on with the food, i had the royal hound cocktail which has vodka, grape fruit juice and champagne. my friends had a riesling and a champagne to start. the royal hound was good, very light in taste but not so light afterward. then came the bread plate which includes flat bread crackers and savory mini scones. i didn't try the scones but was told that they were a bit on the dry side. i like the crackers and i had that with my first course - beef carpaccio with mustard aioli and spinach salad. that was excellent!
for the main dish, i had the seared scallop with trumpet mushrooms, parsnip and arugula. the scallops were a hair over seared as i personally prefer mine still translucent on the inside. it was good and i washed that down with a glass of chenin blanc from the Loire valley. my 2 friends shared a pizza that looked like it was topped with procciutto, squash and pesto. that pizza looked really good but i did not have room to try. along with the pizza, they shared 2 sides, the mac and cheese and the french fries. the mac and cheese got 2 thumbs up and i like the fries with salt and pepper.
for deserts (no we weren't done yet), two of us shared the mini ice cream sandwiches with 3 flavors - oatmeal cookies with vanilla cinnamon ice cream, chocolate cookies with espresso ice cream and butterscotch cookies with peanut butter ice cream. our favorite was the espresso ice cream. my other friend has the vanilla semifreddo with tangerine granita. i had a bite of the granita, it was so light, refreshing and fragrant, delish! it was a very good dinner and a nostalgic one for me.

http://www.two-sf.com/

Nectarine up side down chiffon cake

i was going to make the cardinal slice this week but i messed up the buttercream last night, so i started to look for something easier to bake and voila - the nectarine up side down chiffon cake. this cake was adapted from "baking with Julia" book.
i got some white nectarines from japan town, they were so fragant - almost like a nectarine jolly rancher if there's such a thing.

on with the cake - the recipe called for 10" srping form round, 3" high. preheat oven at 350F

for the streusel:
75gr sliced almond - spread out on a jelly roll pan bake for 5-10 minutes until golden brown. let cool completely.
50gr dark brown sugar
50gr flour
60gr butter, cut in 1/4' cubes, chilled.
1 teaspoon ginger powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

In the food proccessor bowl, add sugar, flour, cinnamon, ginger, pulse for 5 seconds to mix. add butter pulse for about 5-10 seconds to get crumbly texture. on a parchement line pan, spread out the crumbs and bake for about 15 minutes. set baked crumbs on cooling rack, add toasted almond immediately, toss well and spread out to let the streusel cool down completely, set aside.

for the fruit:
3-4 nectarines, i used 3 since the nectarines were large. cut into 8 slices per fruit vertically.
60 gr butter, slice into 4-5 slices
200 gr dark brown sugar

wrap bottom of spring form pan with foil to catch any dripping later. add butter to spring form pan, place spring form in oven until the butter just melt. add sugar, pack it down evenly. add nectarine slices, arrange in concentric circles, set aside.

for the cake:
4 yolks - about 65 gr
85gr safflower oil
85gr lemon juice

155gr flour
180gr sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon extract optional, i used peach flavor.

6 eggwhites - about 200gr
90gr sugar
pinch cream of tartar
pinch of salt

whisk yolks, oil, lemon juice together until blend.
mix flour, 180gr sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt well.
sift the flour mixture over yolk mixture in 2 portions, whisk to mix well. set aside.

beat eggwhites on low for 30 seconds, add salt beat until frothy. increase to medium speed, add cream of tartar beat until soft peaks, about 1 minutes.
add 90gr sugar in a small steady stream beat until all sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes. increase to high speed, beat to stiff peaks, about 2 minutes.
fold 1/3 of meringue into yolk batter, fold gently with a flexible spatula until everything is incorporated. add batter back to the remaining meringue and fold gently until homogenous. the batter should not be deflated in volume.
pour 1/2 batter into fruit line pan, spread out evenly. sprinkle evenly with streusel, pour in the rest of the batter, smooth the top evenly. set spring form on a jelly roll pan and bake for about 50 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. set the whole thing on cooling rack and let it cool down for about 30 minutes before invert the cake on to a serving plate.

my note after tasting this cake. i really like the texture of this cake. personally, i would cut back on the sugar since i like things not too sweet. and second, if i make this again, i would caramelized the fruit seperately and bake the cake with streusel in a regular round pan instead of spring form. the fruit makes the bottom of the cake a bit soggy. and caramelized the fruit seperately is the only way to control the texture of the fruit, not over or under cooked. if so, it wouldn't be up side down cake but i imagine it would taste better.

Gummy Choco snack

a friend at work introduced me to this japanese gummy choco candy. it's a flavored jelly/gummy ball covered in chocolate. tasty! so today, along with my grocery at the japanese market, i picked up a couple tubes of gummy choco. the market carries 4 flavors - strawberry, muscat grape, apple and peach. i got the muscat and the peach, that will be my sugar for the week.

Saturday lunch at Osaka

i have not been back to Osaka sushi in the Castro for a while and i was kind of craving my favorite roll at Osaka - the "Osaka fantasy" roll. so off to the Castro i went.

i ordered the miso (of course) to start. my next dish was the agedashi - soft tofu tempura with agedashi sauce. it was yummy... hot soft tofu with a delicate crunchy skin, mmm...

my next dish was, of course, the Osaka fantasy roll. it has scallop, mango, shrimp, tobiko, shiso and rice all rolled up in a delicate egg crepe and drizzled with special sauce - i think it's some kind of mango mayonaise??? it was so good! i always have the Osaka fantasy everytime i come here. it had been ok (not as perfect) a few times since they had different sushi chefs but the one i had today was delish, just as i remembered it. the presentation got fancy with a strand of chive balancing across the roll, that was new to me!

and finally, the last dish was the ichiban roll - a white tuna roll with avocado and unagi (bbq eel) drapping on top, drizzled with unagi sauce. yummy! that's it, i got my fill of sushi for the day.

http://www.osakacastro.com/