Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Chocolate-Cinnamon Babka

May 27, 2012 by Simran S. & Stacie D.

how do you make gifs
how do you make gifs

From what I can tell, Jewish delicatessens are the new “fancy ice cream”. Hipsters may not be throwing out their olive oil and sea salt sundaes just yet, but they are making room for pastrami, smoked trout and bialys. Simran and I have tried to eat at SF hot spot Wise Sons Delicatessen, on a couple of occasions only to have been foiled at every turn. Hipsters be damned!

Naturally as my mouth was watering and my mind was contemplating Wise Son’s house-cured pastrami on double baked rye bread it also meandered over to chocolate babka. Decadent, chocolatey, cinnamony babka…. And somehow it was easier to imagine baking up a loaf of that sweet, swirly bread than curing our own pastrami, so before your know it we had a dozen babka recipes tagged, and my favorite 4 year old chocoholic urging me on from the sidelines.

It was tough to chose among the contenders, but ultimately we settled in with this Peter Reinhart recipe via the Purple Foodie website. (I just could not bring myself dive with in the 3.5 sticks of butter called for in Martha Stewart’s version. OK it does make 3 loaves, but still….). The Reinhart recipe seems a little complicated at first with its 2 rises, but after making it, I assure you that none of it is hard to do and nearly all of it is suitable for little helpers. Dough projects might be messy, but they are fabulous tactile fun for youngsters and working with yeast offers a chance to do a little kitchen science. I wouldn’t be able to stop Luca from getting into the act even if I wanted to — you’ll find him pulling up a chair next to the counter anytime he sees me getting out tubs of flour or pulling out the stand mixer. Gooey gobs of chocolate don’t hurt either.

Sometimes you wonder if your final product will look as good as the beautifully styled, professional-looking photo that inspired it. This babka was one of the most impressive looking things to come out of our oven in quite sometime. And luckily for us it tasted as good as it looked.

I’ll let the Purple Foodie give you the full details on Peter Reinhart’s recipe and instead I’ll share this little pictorial to give you a sense of how this recipe comes together. I’ll also mention that we liked slightly more chocolate filling than called for in the recipe. We also painted the babka with a little egg wash and sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar before baking. The full recipe makes two large loaves and as much as we love Babka, it’s pretty decadent so I think a half recipe (1 loaf) is sufficient to satisfy the craving. If you’re feeling nice you may consider making the full recipe and sharing a loaf with a friend, or you could portion your dough and make mini babkas to share with lots of friends if you’re feeling really, really nice.

Posted in Cooking with Kids, Recipes, Stacie's Posts, Sweet Stuff | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

We Love Wings @ Hot Sauce and Panko

May 24, 2012 by Simran S. & Stacie D.

Thanks to SF Weekly for deciding that Hot Sauce and Panko in the Richmond serves the best wings in the city, otherwise we may have never discovered this fantastic hole in the wall.  As soon I read about this place, we had to check it out right away.  With a menu (which changes regularly) like the one below, how can one resist?

ten-spice – we use 10 spices instead of 5 + garlic + ginger, coated + triple-fried resulting in a “pomme souffle effect” (triple fried?? – wow!)

bulgogi – korean marinated bbq sweet soyu sauce + coated and triple-fried

hiromi’s katsu – this is our “go-to” fried chicken + panko breaded + double-fried + tonkatsu sauce

fiery hot fried wings – this is kick your butt HOT! special mix of ground chili paste + turmeric + garlic + ginger + black pepper + fried and baked

herb crusted panko – our herb blend intergrated into the panko breading + double-fried + spicy soy sauce

buffalo – based loosely on the buffalo wing from buffalo, new york. Served – hot medium mild or hot sweet + not coated

kfc – korean fried chicken – garlic + ginger + soy s. + gojujang + vinegar + sesame oil + blue agave + coated and triple-fried

green – cilantro + jalapeno + ginger + sesame oil + house spice mix

megumi’s garlic parmesan – butter + garlic + onion salt + blk pepper + parmesan cheese + not coated

portuguese wings – tomato ketchup + ketjap manis + red wine vinegar + honey mustard + tabasco + curry powder + cumin + lemon

Sides: shoestring fries, sweet potato fries, whole house pickle, potato salad, breaded clam strips, onion rings and macaroni salad

We bought far too many wings and all of us (munchkin included) way over-ate.  The hubby passed out right after lunch and even blamed me for discovering this place and making him over-eat!!??!  Be warned, eating too many of these wings will make you a bit silly and induce immediate sleepiness.

We converted our wings into semi-home-made Hawaiian plate lunches with rice, pickles, potato salad, macaroni salad and some greens.  They also serve sandwiches at Hot Sauce and Panko on the weekdays and I am looking forward to trying them out.  The have an amazing number of hot sauces for sale and a good 20-30 for you to try out.  Another reason that this place is at the top of my list right now. Our home-made panko crusted chicken made in the oven are pretty tasty, but this place wins by a wide margin.

While we were eating, we decided that this was our Volcano Curry replacement, which we are getting just a little bit tired of.  This is more a take-out window with limited seating, so the way to go is to bring the wings home.  That way you can roll right into bed after your meal.  We are planning entire parties around these wings and are already plotting to return to try other varieties real soon.  I am supposed to be eating vegan meals this week and I do not know why I am torturing myself by writing about this place. :)

Posted in Food Ventures, Simran's Posts | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments »

Fresh & Healthy: Mango & Pineapple “Dessert”

May 22, 2012 by Simran S. & Stacie D.

As hard as I try, I cannot seem to break my “bad” habit of wanting a little something sweet after every meal.   I usually find myself reaching for some chocolate (often something more) after most meals.  My little one seems to be following in my footsteps and is usually found begging for a sweet treat after dinner.

This simple concoction – totally stolen from my friend Suzanne – satisfies our worst post-meal sugar cravings.  Diced mango and pineapple topped with toasted coconut and slivered almonds – where have you been all my life?  Bordering on genius and totally satisfying, post a “heavy” curry meal (which is a regular occurrence at our house).  A taste of the tropics and if you “pretend” hard enough, it transports you to a vacation somewhere warm and beach-y.  A riff on our Coconut Mango Pancakes, but so much better for you.

I am sort of annoyed at myself for not “inventing” this myself, in spite of being an un-enthusiastic fruit eater.  This, however, is fruit that I can get excited about.

Thanks Suzanne for bringing this “dessert” to our “little lunch porch party”, even though you weren’t supposed to bring anything. :)


Posted in Recipes, Simran's Posts | Tagged , , | 1 Comment »

Indonesian Kolak Pisang: Bananas with Coconut Milk, Pandan and Palm Sugar

May 19, 2012 by Simran S. & Stacie D.

Truly the best part of this blog has been finding a kindred spirit in Simran, a foodie friend who loves to eat and tinker in the kitchen as much as I do. I have a lot of friends who appreciate a great meal, who love to cook, but never a friendship so firmly rooted in all things culinary. Our adventures have led us to recreate beloved childhood flavors (Hainanese Chicken Rice), excursions to out of the way farmstands with our kids in tow, Indian pickle making sessions and treks to far flung corners to sample everything from Shanghai dumplings to southern fried chicken, artisan donuts and taiyaki.

I’m very confident that without Simran, I would never have found myself digging through my pantry to find that forgotten nugget of palm sugar to try my hand at making Kolak, a simple Indonesian dessert of bananas or other tropical fruits gently poached in mixture of coconut milk, pandan leaves, palm sugar, sea salt and vanilla. Simran had given me and a friend a lesson in Indonesian curry pastes and the next thing you know I was knotting pandan leaves and chopping palm sugar and getting over my lifelong dislike of soupy, sweet Asian desserts.

And so another culinary detour begins….

Kolak Pisang

If you are new or not a big fan of Asian desserts, Kolak is a good place to start given that it tastes sort of like bananas foster with an exotic edge (and is a little less guilt inducing because it contains no butter). It’s also quick to make and easy enough for the kids to help with. You can substitute brown sugar for the palm sugar if needed, but don’t skip the pandan leaves. You should be able to find both palm sugar and pandan leaves at a well stocked Asian market. There’s a good overview on pandan leaves on the Burnt Lumpia blog and a write up on palm sugar on Chez Pim.

  • 4 ounces of palm sugar roughly chopped
  • 1.5 cups water
  • 2 pandan leaves, tied in a knot
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 bananas, peeled, halved and sliced into 1″ pieces
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 Tablespoon tapioca flour or cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoons water to form a slurry
  1. Combine palm sugar, water, vanilla extract, pandan leaves and sea salt in a pot large enough to hold all of the bananas. Simmer for 20 minutes until sugar is dissolved and ingredients are reduced to a syrup.
  2. Add bananas and poach until soft but not mushy (2-3 minutes). Remove the bananas with a slotted spoon while you finish the sauce.
  3. Add the coconut milk and simmer for 5 minutes, then drizzle in half of the tapioca or cornstarch slurry whisking while it thickens. Add remainder of slurry until you reach the thickness of your preference. Remove the pandan leaves and discard.
  4. To serve warm, return bananas to the sauce to just heat through. Bananas and sauce can also be made ahead and served room temperature or cold. Serve alongside vanilla or coconut ice cream.

Posted in Recipes, Stacie's Posts, Sweet Stuff | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment »

A Keeper: “Crunchy-Crunchy” Sesame & Panko-crusted Chicken

May 16, 2012 by Simran S. & Stacie D.

This recipe is from my friend Fern’s blog (To Food with Love) and as soon I saw it, I had to try it right away.  Panko in the oven is the closest thing to fried chicken without all the mess and extra calories.  The calories of fried chicken might be worth it but the clean up from frying anything is a pain.  Plus, I have deep-frying phobia, so I settle for oven baking that results in a crispy, crunchy outside.  We have a similar recipe we make regularly – Deviled Chicken Drumsticks but this one appeals to me a little more because it has an Asian twist.  Besides, any recipe that makes Ria’s face light the way this chicken does, is a keeper.

I tried this recipe with both drumsticks and deboned chicken thighs (both with skin on but the skin can be removed) and we much preferred the thighs.  Fern suggests turning these into chicken nuggets for the kids by using chicken tenders or cut up chicken breast fillets.  The sweet chilli glaze is optional for the kiddos, but perhaps a little bit for the kids is worth a try, since it is sweeter than it is hot.  We love sweet chilli sauce and I probably slathered too much on.  In addition to being delicious, this is probably one of the easiest recipes in the world – minimal ingredients, hardly any clean up and the oven does all the work (while you fold laundry and clean the house) :) !  You may have to ditch the store bought frozen nuggets after you try this recipe out.

We ate our “crunchy-crunchy” chicken, as Ria calls it, as part of a rice bowl.  Brown or white rice with the Mission Street Food vinaigrette (1/4 cup soy, 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar and 3 tbsp sesame oil), sesame-crusted chicken with sweet chilli glaze, wok-charred garlicky mustard greens, tempeh & tofu, simplest snap peas & some Indonesian chilli sambal.  Overkill but GOOD!

Baked Sesame & Panko Crusted Chicken
Ingredients
  • 1 kg (2 pounds) chicken wings or drumsticks
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 1 cup fresh or panko breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 cup sesame seeds
Optional:
Thai sweet chilli sauce
Cajun seasoning
Method
  1. Preheat oven to 400F.
  2. Wash chicken and pat dry. Rub all over with a little salt.
  3. Place the beaten egg in a shallow dish. On another plate, mix the breadcrumbs with the sesame seeds and some salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Dip each piece of chicken into the egg, drain off excess, and coat it well with the breadcrumb mixture. Press the breadcrumbs firmly onto chicken so that they adhere properly. Repeat with the rest of the chicken.
  5. Arrange the chicken on the baking tray and bake in the oven for 45 minutes, turning halfway while cooking, until chicken is golden brown and cooked. Transfer to a serving plate and enjoy while hot and crunchy!
Optional:
  1. When the chicken is cooked, brush some sweet chilli sauce all over the chicken and bake again for 2-3 minutes until caramelized.
  2. For a spicy twist, omit the salt in the breadcrumb mixture and substitute with 1 tbsp cajun seasoning instead, and a pinch of cayenne pepper for extra heat.

Try this with some soy sauce and rice!  Yum!

Posted in Recipes, Simran's Posts | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments »

Recipe Collection: Care Packages and TLC Meals to Deliver to Friends

May 13, 2012 by Simran S. & Stacie D.

This week we contributed to an article in San Jose Mercury News about homemade meals to bring to new parents.  The article, “Taco boxes and dinner delivery ideas for new moms” includes some great suggestions including the how-to on a fun taco box from Apartment Therapy’s “The Kitchn” blog.  (We’re stealing this idea for sure!)

Speaking from personal experience, the gift of a fuss free meal made with love is one of the most welcome things you can receive when you’re stressed out and sleep deprived. For that matter it’s a wonderful gift for anyone you know who could use a little TLC.

Here are a few meal delivery basics and a collection of some of our favorite resources and recipes to make and take.

  1. Venture beyond the expected. Lasagna always comes to mind in these situations, and that’s why Simran suggests going for something like curries, spiced lentils or tandoori chicken.
  2.  Call in advance to find out a good time to drop your meal off and if you’re unsure, to find about any food restrictions.
  3.  Minimum effort for the recipients is the key. Choose things that can be eaten straight from the refrigerator, at room temperature or with just a quick reheating. Think about portioning and packing food into servings that can be eaten right away or stashed in the freezer. Include information about the dish as well as reheating  or cooking directions on each package.
  4.  Dinner is great but breakfast, lunch and snack care packages are fantastic too.
  5.  Delivering food in containers that don’t need to be returned is a big “yes” and if you have leftover party plates, napkins and utensils, consider throwing some in to make things really quick and easy.
  6.  Make it fun and festive by tucking in flowers, music, a magazine, or a little special something for an older sibling. And you can never go wrong going the extra mile with cookies or an interesting beverage including beer or wine if appropriate.
  7. Invite the kids to help assemble, decorate and deliver the care package to let them share in the experience of giving.
  8.  If you don’t have time to go homemade…. semi-homemade or store bought is just as thoughtful.

 Ideas for Complete Meals

Breakfast, Lunch, Anytime Snacks and Treats

Posted in Lunchbox/Snack, Recipes, Stacie's Posts, Vegetarian or can be | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Harley Farms: A Romp with the Goats

May 10, 2012 by Simran S. & Stacie D.

I have been meaning to check out Harley Farms Goat Dairy in Pescadero for years and when Ria’s class was scheduled for a field trip to the farm, I cleared my calendar and immediately signed up to be a chaperone.  I am a little bit of “farm visiting nut” and am often dragging friends and family (some whining and kicking) to some farm or the other.  For me (and Ria), this field trip was a dream come true.  Totally worth the long drive with three “crazy” kids in the car.  I did manage to keep them relatively “subdued” by playing a book on tape for both legs of the trip.

We learned a lot about goats and the process of how goat cheese is made, start to finish.  It was also “baby goat season” and we got to feed and pet newly born (one day old) goats (cute!) as part of out tour.  We even saw a little goat stand up for the first time!  I am not sure if the kids learned this, but I realized what hard work making cheese is and how much love goes into it.  Harley Farms takes great care of their animals and is committed to making a superior product.  If any of the goats get sick and have to be on antibiotics, they don’t use that goat’s milk for a month!  Pretty impressive, in my book.  In a world where a lot of what we eat is artificial, hyper-processed and pesticide and antibiotic laden, the farm’s commitment to creating sometime pure is remarkable.  Plus, it comes through in the taste – their end-product is impeccable.

The goat cheeses that they make at Harley Farms are not available at too many retail locations, but you can order them online or better still visit them and purchase the cheese at possibly the best farm shop in the world.  As expected of me, I went a little crazy with my cheese purchases.  Handcrafted, beautiful, creamy, super fresh and organic, these goat cheeses are like no other goat cheese I have tasted before.  The Harley Farms chevre, fromage blanc, ricotta and feta cheeses are consistent winners at the American Cheese Society awards, and hold two international World Cheese Show medals.  Ria and I were both enamored by what they call the “Monet Rounds” decorated with edible flowers grown right at the farm.

It was a laughter filled, exciting (and educational) day and the children loved being nibbled on by the goats.  No one was safe from being “attacked” by a goat trying to eat your jacket.  In spite of the lingering goat smell and all the goat poop on our shoes, much fun was had by all.  Ria and I cannot wait to go back and drag some of our unsuspecting friends with us.

The Harley Farms website is full of information about the farm and their cheeses. Check it out for more information on farm tours and farm dinners.  If you are in Pescadero to visit Harley Farms, you must stop by Duarte’s Tavern for some of their famous crab cioppino, seafood, artichoke soup and olallieberry pie.  Erratic coastal weather permitting, hit the beach before or after.  The perfect food adventure and day trip all rolled into one.

This coming weekend for Mother’s Day – because this is what I want to do – we are off to Redwood Hill Farm in Sebastopol for their Spring farm tour.  It promises goat milking, play time with baby goats and samples of goat cheese and their other products.  You can also pack a picnic and eat lunch there.  I am also plan on taking along a cooler to bring home some of their award-winning goat milk cheeses, yogurts and kefirs home.  In my book, that is the perfect Mother’s Day. :)

Posted in Food Ventures, Simran's Posts | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments »

Older Posts »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 388 other followers