I have a group of girl friends, foodies and restaurant people who I go out to dinner with a couple of times a month.  It is a great opportunity to try new restaurants.  As foodies we always order far too much food.  (Pete, my lucky husband, loves the leftovers.)  However one of us is a vegetarian and I have been really surprised by the lack of vegetarian offerings on a lot of the menus that I have seen.  Can’t Vegetarians be foodies too?  Do they have to go to restaurants that are exclusively ‘vegetarian’ to have any kind of choice?  Like a lot of people I flirted with vegetarianism in college, and I abstained from meat for several years.  Eating meat is not an ethical or moral choice for me.  I happen to find vegetables terribly interesting.  I really love the variety of vegetarian cuisine.  I think that vegetarian cooking at its best is exciting, flavorful and delicious.  It is a pity that more restaurants do not have interesting vegetarian foods offered on their menus. We have been eating Vegetarian a few times a week for a couple of months at this point.  It’s easier on the wallet and it is an easy way to reduce your carbon footprint.  Last night for dinner we had a simple dish inspired by Deborah Madison’s ‘Local Flavors’ Cookbook.  It was sautéed leeks that had been cooked down with a little bit of butter until they had a melted quality to them, then we added fresh oyster mushrooms from the market, a generous pinch of cumin, chopped cilantro and salt and pepper.  We devoured this on hearty country bread slices that had been toasted in olive oil.  Served with a green salad this was a lovely light meal.  You could easily top the mushroom toasts with cheese if you wanted to.  I would recommend a dry Monterey Jack or Aged Cheddar.

Oyster Mushrooms and Leeks on Toast

Adapted and Inspired by Local Flavors by Deborah Madison

1 large leek, cleaned, use only the white and light green parts, sliced into rings

½ pound oyster mushrooms

2 Tbsp. butter

1 tsp. cumin

2 Tbsp. chopped Cilantro

Salt and pepper to taste

2 slices of thick country bread

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
2. Add the leeks and cook the leeks for 10-15 minutes, until shiny, soft and translucent.
3. Add the oyster mushrooms and continue to cook until the mushrooms are soft.
4. Add the cumin, chopped cilantro, taste and season with salt and pepper.
5. Set aside
6. To toast the bread in olive oil, heat the olive oil in a sauté pan.  Once the oil is hot, place the bread in the pan and gently toast over medium heat until lightly browned.  Flip and toast on the second side. Set aside.
7. Place the bread on a plate and top the bread with the leek and mushroom mixture.

Enjoy!

San Francisco used to be a beat (nik) town.  Now, it is a beet town.  What do I mean by this, you ask?  Well, I think that a roasted beet and goat cheese salad is served at 7 out of 10 restaurants in the bay area.  The beet salad has taken over, and everyone loves roasted beets!    Beets come in several different varieties, and you can generally find two or three at the Farmer’s market.  The most common beet is the purple or red variety, followed by yellow beets and Chioggia beets—those are the pretty striped ones.   When you purchase beets at the market, they may have their greens attached.  It’s kind of like a two for one deal.  The greens are absolutely edible, and you can use them in soups (Watch out:  If you are using the greens from purple beets the color will bleed into the soup.) sauté, or stir fry them.  Tender, baby beet leaves are a great addition to salads.  If you are not going to use the beets for several days, separate the beets from the greens, leaving a couple inches of stem attached.  This will stop the greens from drawing out moisture from the beets. Leaving some of the stem attached to the beet root will keep it from bleeding. The greens will keep about 5 days or so in the fridge and beet root can last up to a couple of weeks in your fridge.   Beets are high in sugar, which is why we love them so.  Roasting concentrates these natural sugars.  However beets are also high in folic acid and are a good source of fiber and potassium.  So indulge away!

I picked up some lovely, tiny, baby purple beets at the Stonestown Farmer’s Market on Sunday.  They were slightly larger than a marble and perfect for roasting.  (Hint: all beets are perfect for roasting!)  I wrapped them in foil and popped them into the oven at 400F as soon as I got home.  It’s tough to over roast a beet, so don’t worry about overcooking them too much.  There is a far greater chance that you will undercook a large beet than over cook it. I frequently roast beets on Sunday afternoons and put them in the fridge to snack on or toss into salads during the week.   This week however, I was feeling peckish around 5 o’clock and there they were.  Cooked and sitting on my counter, calling my name.  I didn’t quite feel like eating them plain so I rummaged through the fridge and came up with some goat cheese.  Then I stepped outside to grab some arugula from the planter.  I split the beets in half, dabbed them with a smear of goat cheese and garnished them with a sprig of arugula.  Drizzled with a little bit of olive oil and garnished with fleur de sel, it was an easy, tasty and sophisticated hors d’ouerves.   *These beets were bite size.  To make them a little less messy I stabbed them with a toothpick so we didn’t wind up with purple fingers.

Mini Beet, Goat Cheese and Arugula Hors’ d’ouerves

Beets, any color, roasted and peeled

1 or 2 oz fresh goat cheese

A handful of spicy arugula sprigs

Olive Oil, salt and pepper for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Wrap the beets in foil or alternatively place in a baking dish with a little bit of water and cover.
3. Depending on the size of the beets, they will roast anywhere from 45 minutes to 1 ½ hours.   The small ones roasted for about 45 minutes.
4. Remove the beets from the oven and let cool.
5. Once they are cool remove the tough outer skin.  I generally peel baby beets using my hands under running water.  Split the beets in half and smear a dollop of goat cheese on the cut side. Top with a sprig of spicy arugula, sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
6. Place a toothpick in the beet for easy access with no mess.

Enjoy!

Yup, it feels like summer in San Francisco and by that I mean an actual summer and not the cold and foggy kind.  Last night was actually too hot for blankets!! Can you believe it?  So today, as I was flipping through cookbooks looking for inspiration I caught a glimpse of a salad with filet mignon. It looked so enticing I had to make it almost immediately.  Sweet cherry tomatoes, cold, crisp lettuce, chilled steak that has been cooked medium rare, intense ‘Roaring 40’s’ blue cheese and a pungent mustardy vinaigrette has almost done me in.  The most wonderful thing about salads is the versatility of ingredients.   If you wanted to you could easily add hard boiled eggs, avocado, pickled red onion, cucumber, bacon or crispy prosciutto.  You could subtract the meats and add grilled or marinated tofu and more vegetable too.

The perfect wine for a dinner salad with complex flavors would be a glass of chilled rose.  (Check with your local wine merchant for recommendations, but I like Cote du Rhone Roses, and domestic producers that I have enjoyed include Bonny Doon, V. Sattui, Lewis Cellars and Etude.) White wine simply can’t handle the flavors; particularly the blue cheese and most red wines are too heavy.

When it is hot out, what do you like to eat?  I have a tendency to run out of ideas in the summer and just repeat old favorites.

It’s the simple things that matter most.

I discovered the absolute joy of homemade croutons while I was in cooking school in France. Oh to take a slice of white bread, cut it into cubes or other shapes (hearts on Valentines Day) and fry it in butter with a generous sprinkling of salt and a twist of freshly ground black pepper.  So tasty, I still dream about it over 15 years later.  Croutons are easy to make at home—it just takes a few minutes and the results are so much more pleasing than the jawbreakers that pass for croutons at salad bars nationwide.  So what are the advantages to making croutons at home?  Well, this way you won’t be left with half a box of croutons that you will only throw away next spring.  Freshly made they are crunchy on the outside and give just a little in the middle with an enticing softness.  You can pierce them with your fork.  They are highly addictive so unless your will power is greater than mine you should only make as much as you need. You can control the seasonings and limit the sodium.  With homemade there will be no hydrolyzed this and high fructose that unless your kitchen is wildly different than mine. At the Cordon Bleu, we used pan de mie, or Pullman loaf in English.  Any fine grained sandwich bread will do.  I like to experiment and use whole wheat, pumpernickel or rye bread depending on the recipe and salad dressing.  Don’t limit your use crouton use to just salads though.  They add a really pleasing crunch to pureed and blended soups and are a classic accompaniment to gazpacho.

Croutons

1 slice of sandwich bread, crusts removed and cut into cubes or other shapes with a cookie cutter.

1 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Salt

Pepper

Melt the butter in a saute pan over medium heat.  Add the bread cubes to the pan and toss gently to coat.  Saute until golden brown.  Drain on paper towels and season with salt and pepper while still warm.

Enjoy with  or without your favorite salad!

It’s been a great week so far! I’ve discovered ‘Somersaults’  a delicious and healthy new snack, made with sunflower seeds.  Somersaults come in a few different flavors.  I like the sea salt and the black pepper varieties.  I didn’t care for the cocoa and haven’t tried the salsa.  Whole Foods has started carrying drinks sweetened with agave nectar—important for my family since my mom has blood sugar issues.  I really liked the Gingerade from Big Island Organics.  It was pleasantly piquant and definitely gingery with 1 oz of ginger juice in each  16 oz bottle. I found and purchased an almost new racy, red kitchen aid (with all of the attachments!) at a yard sale for $75 and Mollie Stones, the supermarket in my neighborhood has started carrying Labne.   Labne is a yogurt cheese—it’s simple to make—it’s just strained yogurt, but until recently it has been difficult to find in the grocery store.  I think it is a yummy alternative to cream cheese.  Spice, by Ana Sortun with Nicole Chaison has a great recipe for a winter salad using Labne.   It starts with a base of Labne, mixed with herbs and pecans, formed into a disc and topped with a marinated apple slaw and endive.     It was delicious, refreshing and different.

Have you found any new and exciting treats at the grocery store lately?  If so, please share!! I’m always interested in trying new foods and products.

Endive and Apple Salad with Grapes, Sumac and Pecan Labne

Adapted from Spice by Ana Sortun with Nicole Chaison

Serves 4

½ cup pecan pieces, toasted and chopped finely.  Reserve 1 Tbsp for garnish.

1 Granny Smith apple, julienned

2 tsp each chopped mint, dill and parsley

2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

3 Tbsp. Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

A handful of grapes, stemmed and washed

1 garlic clove, grated

¾ cup of labne

2 Tbsp. ground melba toast or very crisp, dry breadcrumbs

1 head of endive

Sumac for garnish (If you can’t find sumac sprinkle a few drops of lemon juice over the finished dish.)

1. Toss the julienned apple with the 1 Tbsp of olive oil, the herbs and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.  Cut the grapes in half and add them to the apple mixture.
2. Combine the labne, the remaining 2 Tbsp. of olive oil the melba crumbs, grated garlic and pecans.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Trim the bottom ends of the endive and remove the leaves, one by one.  When you reach the heart of the endive, set it aside.
4. Slice the endive hearts into thin rings and toss with the apple mixture.
5. Assemble the salad by placing a couple of tablespoons of labne on the bottom of each salad plate.
6. Using the back of a spoon, smooth the labne into a 2 inch circle.  Arrange the endive spears on each plate at a slight angle, sticking the bottom of the spears into the labne.
7. Spoon ½ tablespoon of the apple mixture over each endive spear. Sprinkle sumac and reserved pecan pieces over the salads and serve.

It’s amazing to me how much the locavore movement has taken root in just a few years.  This morning, in the crowded ‘oh my god, it’s two days before Thanksgiving’ grocery store panic I heard people repeatedly asking ‘Is this organic? Where does it come from?’  It’s great to see such interest in where our food is coming from.  I really believe that we are in the midst of a food revolution.  I see more of an emphasis on family meals, local products and cooking for oneself.  I think it is fantastic and hope that we continue with this trend for a long time.

At the Farmer’s Market, persimmons and pomegranates are both in season.  They work extraordinarily well together in the following salad recipe. I love the red of the pomegranate, the orange of the persimmon and the green of the lettuce on the plate.  There are two types of persimmons available in the marketplace right now:  Fuyu and Hachiyas.  Fuyus are firm, squat and round.  They are meant to be eaten out of hand, like an apple.  Hachiyas are only edible when they are very soft and are best used for puddings and baked goods.

Persimmon and Pomegranate salad with Butter Lettuce

From Joyce Goldstein’s Mediterranean Fresh

Serves 6

2 heads of butter lettuce, leaves separated

3 ripe Fuyu persimmon, peeled and cut into wedges

Seeds of 1 large pomegranate (about a cup)

1/2c pomegranate and nut oil dressing made with hazelnut oil (recipe follows)

¼ cup toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped for garnish

Combine the lettuce, persimmons and pomegranate seeds in a large bowl and toss with the dressing.  Serve immediately, topped with toasted nuts.

Pomegranate and nut oil dressing

Mediterranean Fresh by Joyce Goldstein

4 Tbsp. pomegranate molasses

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

2 Tbsp. Hazelnut oil

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

Salt to taste

Whisk the ingredients together and add salt to taste.

Enjoy!

I love roasting a chicken on Sunday night to have on hand for the rest of the week. Roast Chicken is a wonderful thing, you can make a stock with the carcass and any number of dished with the meat. One of my favorite easy dinners is a Roasted chicken salad. It has chopped chicken tossed with salad greens and then I add all the things that make salad fun to eat. I like toasted pine nuts, zante currants (the little dried raisins) and I generally toss in whatever vegetables are lying around the house—usually tomatoes, avocado, sometimes chopped celery, shredded carrots and halved grapes make the cut. I toss the salad mixture with a simple French vinaigrette and serve it with toasted baguette slices and a selection of cheeses to round out the meal.