May 26th - Enoki Mushroom and Pea Risotto with Crispy Tofu

D was supposed to eat out for work tonight so I was going to experiment with an Asian inspired Risotto.  I got a text quite late in the day that he was coming home and offered to cook because of the late notice. Yay.  I insisted he try my planned experiment.  He was mostly on board but he would not go for the Miso broth nor would he take direction on what order I wanted stuff to go in the pan.  Worth a shot. Still, without cheese, this Asian inspired risotto which is a sort of tribute to what we used to call 'MulBap' as kids. Basically when we take the last bit of rice we have in our bowl and dumping into our soup.

Enoki Mushroom and Pea Risotto with Crispy Tofu

1 c Arborio Rice
2 Green Onion, chopped (keep the Green and White separated)
1-2 cloves Garlic
1/2 c frozen Peas, defrosted by rinsing under tap
200 g package of Enoki Mushrooms, roots cut off, separated
1 c dry White Wine or Rice Wine like Sake or Soju (not the vinegar)
1.5 l Vegetable Broth (or Miso Broth)
2-3 T Butter
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 additional Green Onion, for garnish

In a small saucepan, bring the broth to a boil briefly then reduce to low low.

In a large sautee pan, heat some Olive Oil or Canola Oil if you want to go all Asian on medium heat.  Add the Green Onion Whites only.  It will only take 1-2 minutes to soften.  Add the Rice.  Stir until all the rice is glistening.  Add 1 t more oil if you feel it is necessary.

Add the wine in a big circle.  When it is mostly absorbed. Add a ladel of the broth.  Stir with a wooden spoon constantly. Stir and Stir until it is mostly absorbed.  You will know when you can draw a line down the middle of the pan with the spoon and it does not immediately close in on itself. Add another ladel and continue.

When you are about 2-3 ladels away from the end or about 25 minutes in, test a bit of the rice.  It should be al dente but nearly there.  You can never tell because so much can vary with stove temperatures, humidity, fans.  So if it is still way hard, then add a bit more broth to the saucepan.  If it feels like just over al dente pasta, you're about there.  Add the Peas and Mushrooms.  If not wait another ladel or two before adding the veg.  I like my risotto on the slightly softer side but not mushy.

After the Veg goes in, add another ladel or two and stir as usual test.  Add the last ladel, mix in slightly. Dapple the top with the butter and cover and set aside for 10 minutes.

Garnish with with the extra Green Onion and a few drops of Sesame Seed oil (optional).

On the side in a non stick skillet heat a teaspoon of canola or peanut oil.  Slice 200 g of Extra Firm Tofu.  Add to the hot pan.  Let sit without moving for at least 2 minutes until slightly browned.  Turn and brown again on the other sides.  Serve on top of the risotto.  I had planned on cutting into cubes and mixing into the Risotto but D when another way.  It worked too.

YUMMO! and no cheese.

May 27th - Spot Prawn Feast at S and G's - First of the Season, Yay!

RAW BC Spot Prawn

I cannot believe we missed the kick off of the Spot Prawn season.  It is quite a thing here.  The local Spot Prawns are amazing, sweet and huge.  You can buy them directly from the Prawn Boats that come in daily.  They announce their arrival with a toot and people, like me are usually waiting. You can also by them in the Granville Market and we realised last year that they are about the same price for the Live Prawns.

S and G our friends from Montreal, invited us for a post vacation catch up.  S bought a heap of Spot Prawns at the Market that day. What a treat!  After S let us into the underground parking and we got upstairs, we found jittery G nervous about the still moving prawn.  A few particularly feisty ones were determined to pull a 'finding Nemo'. G and I jumped everytime they did. They cooked our dinner a la minute per course and it could not have been fresher.

We started with a nice fresh salad of Poached Spot Prawns on a bed of finely sliced Fennel, Basil, Greens and Grapfruit.  They dunked the live Prawn into the boiling water for all of 3-5 minutes.  I am not sure if they used a broth.  Knowing S, I can only assume it was and it was homemade.  We debated for a minute while they cooled as to whether or not we should serve the salads with or without the heads.  Normally, there is alot of goodness in the head similar to Crawfish.  S and G decided it would be neater for at least the salad course to remove the heads but not the shells.  The freshly cooked Prawns in shell lent a nice seafood broth as a sort of dressing. As well the heat of the Prawn slightly wilted the Fennel.  It was wonderful I really liked the thinly sliced Fennel so thin you can read a letter through it.  D won't like this but he likes to cook his Fennel thicker but I'm not sure if its because he likes the Fennel thicker or because he hates my Mandolin (Slicer). There's an edge you eliminate when you slice it that thin. MMMM

They paired their started and catching up with an Oyster Bay Chardonnay 2008.  Nice light, not too much 'wood' :^P

The main was more Fresh Live Spot Prawn lightly stir fried in some Butter and Garlic with a Steamed Coconut Dipping Sauce.  They were served with some lightly steamed Broccolini, Shredded Carrot and Rice perfumed with Kaffir Lime Leaves.  I am going to buy Kaffir Lime Leaves at my earliest opportunity.  I could smell that subtle sumthin sumthing when we walked in but I could not put my finger on it.  I have always thought there was something nutty and complimentary about Limes in Thai cooking but have never used Kaffir Lime leaves at home.  It gave the rice that wonderfully aromatic quality you smell and taste in restaurants. Yummo!  S heated his Coconut Milk dipping sauce with his Cappucino steamer. How clever!  It gave it a nice little froth.    A wonderful meal which they paired with a Chablis Dampt et Fils. It had a light, quirky personality, slight minerality.  Nice.

Just when we thought it could not get better for a 'school' night dinner party, there was dessert! G made a toasty, crunch fresh Apricot Crumble.  The tang of the fresh Apricot with the sweet crumble topping was great.  They treated us to a drop of S's Poire William. The famous Pear liquor is world renown for it's captive whole Pear in the bottle.  The bottles are placed around the buds on the trees.  I only found out last year from S that you can buy 'refill' liquor to continue to 'juice' the Pear.  Wonderful.

What was the best was that S and G know about my blog.  That meant that not only did they not mind that I was going to document our dinner and take photos but that S even let me use his top shelf macro lens to take a shot of the Spot Prawn. :^D

Cheers!

May 25th - P & V's Ratatouille with Cous Cous and Mitchell's Ice Cream

You cannot fully appreciate how shocking this was.  V, my sister, cooked dinner for us on Saturday (posted for Tuesday because of the food-action packed weekend we had! :^D and eating pizza after we landed home that day which I do not fancy posting.).  This is the sister that never cooks and spent years eating ready-made dinners and addicted to Frozen Naan bread from Trader Joe's. Her boyfriend P, on the other hand likes to cook 'from scratch'.  I had suspected something was amiss when she brought homemade sugar cookies home for Christmas.  My world started going all through-the-looking-glass after that.  :^P.

After wandering around downtown with my sisters all day, we thought it would be nicer to eat at O's rather than try to find a place to eat.  I was pretty close to suggesting taking away Burritos since I still had not had one but thought cooking would be more sociable.  O does not cook much either but will if prompted or has a recipe.  Rather, she cooks to sustain her insanely active lifestyle; lots of rice and meat.  V suggested the Ratatouille that P had made once.  It is a simple and classic dish and moreover, something someone else volunteered to make! Holla!

I made the cous cous which, in my fashion, I prefer to simply add boiling water to rather than the stove top method.  That's right! With all the chopping, sauteeing, stewing going on, all I had to do was boil water! Holla twice!

P and V's Ratatouille with Cous Cous
(Fed 6 people with no leftovers except Cous Cous)
2 small-medium (Papaya sized) Eggplants (Aubergines), cubed
2 medium Zucchini, sliced
2 Red Bell Peppers
1 medium Yellow Onion
2-3 cloves Garlic, minced
2-3 sprigs, Fresh Oregano
5-6 fresh Basil Leaves
1 Bay Leaf
1 Scotch Bonnet Pepper (Habanero), minced
2 tins (1 large 28oz) Diced or Whole Tomatoes, preferable Romano
Water (depending on consistency)
1/4 c Olive Oil, approximately
Salt and Pepper
Red Chili Flakes, optional

2.5 c Cous Cous
3 c Water, boiled
1 T Olive Oil
1 t Salt
2 sprigs, Fresh Oregano (optional)

This was based on observation so I will not question why my sister felt she needed to fry the onions in a separate pan.  I am sure she was just following direction.  I would want the fried onion goodness in the same pot and use 1 less dish.  Upto you.

In a fry pan, heat a T of Olive Oil. Fry the Onions until browned.

In a large Pot, heat another T of Olive Oil and fry the Egg Plant, Zucchini and Bell Pepper in that order about a minute apart.  When the Onions are ready add them to the pot.  Add the Garlic but do not add it too far in advance of the Tomatoes or you will burn it.  Add the Herbs.  And add the Tomatoes.  If you have bought whole tomatoes chop them up a bit. or smush them in the pot.  Swirl half a can of water in the Tomato can and ad that too.  You may need to adjust the water as it simmer.  Add the Scotch Bonnet when you are ready.  Remember heat develops with time so if you are fearful, add it towards the end.  1 Scotch Bonnet in such a big pot should be okay. 

Frankly, I was shocked P wanted the Pepper.  He's rather heat adverse but if the recipe calls for it I guess.  My sisters picked on me for years about my pinch here and there and experimenting.  Not for them really.

Anyhoo, cover and simmer on low simmer for 15 - 20 minutes until the Eggplant is cooked through and the flavours have married together.  Serve over Cous Cous or with a Crusty Baguette.

We had two wines that night only one that I seemed to have photographed.  Hmmm, the Las Rocas San Alejandro Garnacha.  Dark berries and spices.  90 Points from the Wine Advocate. Great bargain, well for us, this wine would have been double the price or more in Vancouver.  Decent body, easy to drink paired well with the veggie stew.

After snacking on Brie, Hummous and Olives followed by amazing Ratatouille, we needed some distraction.  Unfortunately, P and V did not bring their Settlers of Catan with them.  They're addicted to the game and it is one of the only board games V will play anymore.  Instead, we decided on a bit of a walk to a local Ice Cream parlour that D and O rave about.  I do not know what we were thinking.  It was flipping freezing outside.  I was more up for the walk than the ice cream but I was curious what place D was willing to compare to Vancouver's Casa Gelato.  It was after 10 pm on Saturday and it was less than 10 degrees Celcius out.  As we turned the corner, I was shocked to see a very large crowd outside.  Well, that was it for me, I thought we'd turn around.  We did not.  O went in to get us a ticket.  They use a butchshop type of ticketing system to serve the crowd.  It is a small store front on the first floor of a 3 storey apartment building.  They have and exterior bull horn to announce the numbers.  I can only assume that the residents are accustomed to the announcement or have double glazed windows :^). 

O grabbed us number 52.  They were on 35.  They were on 35.  The inside of the store is three icecream cases wide and 3 cozy people deep so it was full.  Up until we were placing our order I was not convinced.  I tasted the Pineapple and Coconut and the Toasted Almond.  I landed the Pineapple and Coconut.  They had much more unsual flavours many asian.  P got Avocado and White Pistacio. A got an enormous Chocolate Shake.  The flavour was nice and the texture smooth but it did have some ice crystals which tells me it was not churned enough or it was so cold outside it was refreezing after each bite :^P.  We decided to walk home and it took most of the walk home, shivering to get through my single cone.  My sisters and friends did not have the same issue.

Cost: $$
Location: Noe Valley
Staff: Friendly, quick

Mitchell's Ice Cream

Noe Valley
688 San Jose Ave
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 648-2300
http://www.mitchellsicecream.com/

I may have gone four maples in better Ice Cream temperatures but not stellar frozen treat weather.