Cooking San Francisco

Pigs in Blankets

   

We always serve these American classics on Halloween before heading out into the cold, dark mayhem that is trick-or-treating. It will come as no surprise that they are loved by kids and adults alike. We used Let's Be Frank uncured beef hot dogs that we bought from their new store on Steiner street. These dogs are meaty, succulent and just a little bit spicy.  And about as healthy as hot dogs get. The PIBs can be made earlier in the day, stored in the fridge and popped in the oven just before you want to serve them. Our crispy carrot fries make a great accompaniment!

2 puff pastry sheets from a 17oz box, thawed
6 all-beef hot dogs
1 egg yolk
1 tsp milk
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 Tbsp red pepper flakes

Special equipment: pastry brush

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Cut the pastry into 6 equal strips and cut each strip into 2 pieces. Cut the hot dogs into 4 equal pieces. Place 1 hot dog piece onto a piece of the pastry and roll until the pastry meets itself. Press gently to seal. Place on a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining hot dogs and pastry.

3. Mix egg yolk and milk in a small bowl to make an egg wash. Brush the pastry tops with the egg wash. Sprinkle 8 with the sesame seeds and 8 with the poppy seeds and 8 with the red pepper flakes.

4. Bake in the top half of the oven until the pastry is puffed and golden, about 15 to 18 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Serve with ketchup and mustard.

Serves 6

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 30 mins

 

 

 

   

 

   

Crispy Carrot Fries

The carrot, while available all year round, is a quintessential October vegetable with its vivid orange color and earthy taste. In our case, it's an ideal vegetable to push on family members before the full force of Halloween snacks and candies descend upon us. We love this dish because it couldn't be more simple to prepare, and the roasting transforms this ordinary snack vegetable into a sweet and smoky side dish. Even though the roasted carrots are quite sweet by themselves, a small drizzle of honey adds a nice depth of flavor.

1 1/2 pounds carrots (10 medium)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2  tsp salt
pinch of ground pepper
honey

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Cut away the tips and ends of each carrot and peel.
Cut each carrot in half and then cut in quarters,
place on a rimmed baking sheet.

3. In a mixing bowl, combine the carrot sticks, olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Coat the carrots evenly.

4. Roast for 15 minutes and toss once. Continue cooking until the carrots are tender and well browned, about 5 minutes more.  Remove carrots from oven and drizzle with honey, if desired. Serve the carrot fries hot or at room temperature.

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

Spaghetti and Meatballs

 

We were inspired to whip out our meatball recipes recently after a trip to A16 for "Meatball Monday," a weekly event at one of our favorite restaurants. While we also love to make our own meatballs (is there anything better on a cold October night?), we're not as excited about standing over a hot, greasy frying pan for what seems like hours. We've taken this light, yet flavorful recipe from Gourmet Magazine, with a surprise addition of lemon zest, and added the more user-friendly and expedient meatball cooking method of broiling. Even with the faster broiling, this is definitely a weekend recipe and it's worth the extra effort to make your own tomato sauce. It's an added benefit that this recipe makes a lot of meatballs and sauce and both can be frozen for up to 3 months.

For tomato sauce:

6 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes in juice (preferably San Marzano)
2 medium onions, chopped
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

For meatballs:

2 medium onions, finely chopped
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
10 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 cups torn day-old Italian bread
3 cups whole milk
6 large eggs
2 cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1/4 pound)
1/3 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup finely chopped oregano or 1 teaspoon dried, crumbled
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1 1/2 pounds ground veal
1 1/2 pounds ground pork
1 1/2 pounds ground beef (not lean)
1 cup olive or vegetable oil

2 pounds dried spaghetti 
 

Make the tomato sauce:

1. Drain tomatoes, reserving juice in a large bowl. Crush tomatoes with your hands and add to juice.

2. Cook onions in oil in pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes with their juice, 4 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Simmer sauce, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Season with salt.
 
Make meatballs while sauce simmers:

1. Cook onions in extra-virgin olive oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl to cool.

2. Soak bread in milk in another bowl until soft, about 5 minutes. Firmly squeeze bread to remove excess milk, discarding milk.

 

3. Stir together cooled onion mixture, bread, eggs, parmesan, parsley, oregano, lemon zest, 5 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoon pepper until combined. Add meats to bread mixture, gently mixing with your hands until just combined (do not over-mix).

 

4. Form meat mixture into about 70 (1 1/2-inch) balls with dampened hands, arranging meatballs on 2 large baking sheets or in shallow baking pans.

5. Move oven rack to upper position in oven (about 5-6 inches from the top). Heat broiler. Place baking sheet of meatballs on top rack and broil for 12 minutes. Repeat with remaining sheets and meatballs.

 

6. Add meatballs to sauce to combine flavors and simmer for 5 minutes. (If pot is not large enough, divide meatballs and sauce between 2 pots.)

Prepare pasta:

1. Cook spaghetti in 2 batches in pasta insert in boiling salted water (3 tablespoon salt for 6 qt water) until just al dente, draining and tossing each batch with some of sauce in a large serving dish.

2. Serve with meatballs, remaining sauce, and grated cheese.

•Meatballs can be made and simmered in sauce 5 days ahead and chilled (covered once cool).
•Meatballs with sauce can be frozen in an airtight container or heavy-duty sealable bags up to 3 months.

Warm Almond Cakes with Grapes

It seems only fitting that our post this week is a recipe from Gourmet Magazine, which shuttered it's doors this week. The editors (hopefully they will all start blogs now) of the October 2003 issue may have felt, as we do, that the grape is woefully under-utilized in baked goods. We started thinking about grape recipes this summer while in the Sonoma wine country. True, seedless grapes appear to be available all year round, but the actual season is July through December, and Fall is a perfect time to take these jewel-toned beauties beyond the lunch box or cheese platter. When we tested this recipe, we loved how the sharp, clean juiciness of the grapes offered a fruity contrast to the sticky, moist almond cake. Another Fall favorite, pears, would also be wonderful in this recipe. We used almond flour, which is really just finely ground almonds, from Bob's Red Mill. We happen to own individual gratin dishes, but the batter can also be baked in a 9-inch glass pie plate for 30 to 35 minutes.

 

1 1/2 tablespoons Cognac
1 cup seedless red grapes, halved
3/4 cup almond flour or 3 3/4 ounces cup whole blanched almonds
1/2 cup sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt

Special equipment: 6 shallow 1/3-cup gratin dishes (1/2 inch deep)

1. Put oven rack in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Toss grapes with Cognac in a small bowl.
3. If using almond flour proceed to step 4. If using whole almonds: pulse half of almonds with 1 tablespoon sugar in a blender until finely ground. Transfer to a small bowl and repeat with remaining almonds and 1 more tablespoon sugar.
4. Beat together butter and sugar (or remaining 6 tablespoons sugar, if you ground your own almonds) in a bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce speed to low and beat in ground almonds, flour, and salt until just combined.
5. Divide batter among gratin dishes and press grapes lightly into batter (discard Cognac). Bake in dishes on a baking sheet until cake is firm and pale golden with slightly darker edges, about 20 minutes.
6. Transfer cakes to a rack and cool slightly in dishes before serving.

Serves: 6

Prep Time: 20
Cook Time: 20
Total Time: 40

   

 

Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon Salt

This recipe comes from renowned Napa Valley chef, Michael Chiarello and his book Casual Cooking.  We wanted to adjust something about the recipe, but we couldn't. It's just too good the way it is. The skin is crisp and flavorful and the chicken meat is tender and juicy. Because we can actually grow rosemary and lemons in our foggy backyards, we have the fragrant, amazing salt mixture in our fridge at all times. It's important to use chunky sea salt in this recipe because using the same amount of table salt or kosher salt will make the rub too salty. If you only have kosher salt, decrease the amount of salt to 1 tablespoon.

1 chicken, about 4 lbs.
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 fresh rosemary sprigs
4 lemons, zested, then cut into chunks
Lemon Rosemary Salt (see below)

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees, or to 425 degrees if you have a convection oven.

2. Rinse the chicken inside and out and dry well with paper towels.

3. Make the salt mixture (see recipe below). Rub the chicken all over with the olive oil, then rub with 3 Tbsp of the seasoned salt.  (Reserve the remaining salt for another use.)  Tuck the rosemary sprigs and lemon chunks into the chicken cavity.

 

4. Place the bird on a rack in a roasting pan and roast for 15 minutes.  Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees (or 350 with convection) and continue roasting until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees, 50 to 55 minutes longer.  Transfer the chicken to a platter and let rest for at least 15 minutes before carving.

Lemon Rosemary Salt:
The recipe makes extra seasoned salt, which you can use on pork chops, leg of lamb, or roasted potatoes.  It will keep in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for a month.  If you prefer not to have leftover seasoning, cut the salt recipe in half.

2 Tbsp very finely minced lemon zest
2 Tbsp minced fresh rosemary
2 Tbsp sea salt, preferably gray salt
Freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl, combine the lemon zest, rosemary, salt, and pepper and mix well.

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 70 minutes
Total Time: 80 minutes