Caramel fleur de sel Sables

there'll always be leftover. this time it's the caramel fleur de sel. so i decided to make sable sandwiches with the caramel, dip in chocolate.
for the sables, i used the exact same recipe as last time only switched out the extract. i used vanilla this time.
for the caramel (leftover), same recipe from chubby hubby that i always use.
chocolate for dipping, about 300gr of dark/55% cocoa chocolate. i used callebaut brand. chop and melt over simmering water.
i used 1-7/8" round cutter this time. and i rolled the dough a bit thinner than 1/8".
let the sables cool down completely after baking. spread about 1/2 teaspoon of caramel on half of the sables, put the other half on top to make sandwiches. dip in chocolate and rest them on parchment lined pan until the chocolate is solid.

Sunday brunch at Suzu

my little japanese friend called me up sunday morning to go grocery shopping in Japan town, i suggested Suzu for brunch before shopping since i got up late and didn't have time to eat anything.
i was introduced to Suzu a while ago by an old friend from work. it's a little restaurant in the Japan town mall and they serve only the freshest noodles among other things. my friend was not too hungry so she got the agedashi (fried tofu) and i ordered the tempura for starter and the pork ramen for entree. The tofu looked yummy, i'll try that next time. the tempura was perfect, all vegetable and shrimps were fresh, crunchy tempura batter outside and the inside was cooked just enough. the ramen was ummm... good as always! the pork was tender, the dried bamboo shoot adds a very mild pungent flavor to the broth and the bamboo shoot texture has a lot of bite to it. the noodles were fresh and perfectly cooked, aldente! umm... more please!


Suzu opens for lunch (11:30 - 3) and dinner (5-10)everyday, closed tuesday. And there's always a line outside of the restaurant...

Suzu in the Kinokuniya building
1581 Webster st. #105
san francisco, ca 94115
tel: 415-346-5083

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.