September Food Magazine Round-up

I read food magazines. Or I should say, I read a lot of food magazines. Here's a round up of what's on my stack and what's worth checking out.

For Reading and Reflecting
Sept 3 & 10, 2007
New Yorker--The Food Issue

The food issue is always a treat and this one is no exception. There are no recipes, but plenty of "good reads". There is a funny little piece from David Sedaris, Adam Gopnik writes about eating food grown only from the five boroughs of New York. Calvin Trillin writes about the food in Singapore and Jane Kramer writes about one of my favorite cookbook authors, Claudia Roden. As you might expect there are plenty of cartoons with food themes.

For Eating Healthy
September 2007
Cooking Light--20th Anniversary Issue

Even if you never read Cooking Light, you owe it to yourself to check out this edition. The editors chose their favorite recipes from the past 20 years such as Beef Daube Provencal, Creamed Corn with Bacon and Leeks, Baked Potato Soup and Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze. There are readers best recipes like Ginger Cookies, Angel Biscuits and Cambodian Summer Rolls.

Also three of the vegetarian columnists pick their best recipes including Deborah Madison's Pancake Souffle with Caramelized Apples, Steven Petuvesky's Pasta with White Beans, Greens and Lemon and Peter Berley's Spinach and Shiitake Mushroom Phyllo Turnovers. The recipe I know I'll try is the Walnut Fennel Dip!

For Learning the Basics
September 2007
Everyday Food No--Fuss Family Fare

This issue is perfect for someone who wants to learn how to cook. It's filled with really solid staples like Macaroni and Three Cheeses, Lamb Chops with Garlic-Parsley Crust, Rice Pilaf with Vermicelli, Peas and Carrot Ribbons, Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce, Pasta with Turkey Meatballs and Bocconcini, Cream of Broccoli Soup, and fun stuff like Blondies with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts, Cupcakes Three Ways, Apple-Cinnamon Upside-Down Cake and even Healthy Oatmeal Cookies. There are also articles about non-dairy milks, high fructose corn syrup and Omega-3 Fatty Acids. Buy it for yourself or give it to that friend who always says "I wish I knew how to cook".

For La Dolce Vita
September 2007
Food & Wine--Italy's Best Recipes

This issue doesn't just focus on Italian recipes, it has features on Italian cooking schools, a primer on Italian ingredients, an A-Z guide to Italian wines, guides to Italy, Italian restaurants and more. Mamma mia!

For Todos Deliciosos
September 2007
Gourmet Magazine--Latino America

This is really cool and I agree, it is a collectors item. This issue focuses on Latino food, in the United States. There's a guide to Mexican places in Chicago, stories on Salvadorans, Cubans, Dominicans and more. There's even a special on taco trucks, though I'm seriously bummed they included Seattle, Portland and New York, but skipped the Bay Area....maybe next year?

FOOD

Easy & Impressive--Leg of Lamb

Looking at the recipe index on this site, I realize I have only written one lamb recipe. That's a shame. I like lamb a lot. I think it's a well-kept secret that lamb is actually very easy to cook. I used to have a friend who made leg of lamb every time she threw a dinner party. People thought she was a fabulous cook, but really, leg of lamb was ALL she knew how to cook!

When the American Lamb Board offered to send me some local lamb I was more than happy to accept. When it arrived I was a bit overwhelmed. It was boneless leg of lamb, but over seven pounds. Fortunately I had a good friend to help guide me, master of all things meaty, Biggles over at Meathenge. His suggestion was as follows:

Why don't you try a meat puzzle? Take a look and see if you can get 2 little roasts and some kebob action out of it? 2-2 pound roasts and the rest for kebobs?

This turned out to be great advice. Indeed, it was easy to trim the fat, find the membranes and natural points at which to divide up the meat. Small roasts take a bit longer to cook than kebabs, but the marinade or spice rub you use can be exactly the same. The expert's suggestion:

Something Mediterranean. Cilantro, toasted coriander seeds, garlic, onion, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Maybe something with some heat to it? Curry? If you did that on Friday, Saturday cooking would be divine. Wine poured over as a baste? We're set.

The lamb roast of just under two pounds was marinated, then grilled slowly until the internal temperature reached just under 140 degrees. 145 degrees is rare, but if you take it off the heat before that, the carryover heat brings it up to temperature. It was a great addition to the party this past weekend

Last night, I used some of the trimmings to make lamb kebabs which cook under the broiler in minutes flat. I used a rub of dried herbs--mint, rosemary, oregano, some garlic and mustard seeds. A little oil helps the meat to brown nicely. Delicious and easy peasy. Best of all, local lamb is likely to be fresher, and fresher is tastier. Ok, I like it fresher, some like it aged and gamey. No recipes are really necessary, use a marinade or rub you like and use a thermometer to check the temperature. You can marinate overnight or just sprinkle on the herbs or spices right before cooking. Lamb is good rare, medium and well-done. It's also less common than pork or beef which makes it something special to savor at a party or for a weeknight dinner at home.

FOOD

Potato Chip Cookies: Recipe

At an "early 60's tacky tiki" theme party this weekend, it occured to me how sometimes the most retro recipes can also be very of-the-moment. At this particular party there were modern takes on all sorts of things. In each case very high quality ingredients were used and, you know the saying, "quality in, quality out." There was a cucumber gelatin mold salad, only the cucumbers were fresh from the farm, agar-agar was used to gel it and fresh dill and citrus flavors punctuated the dish. It was so good I took some home!

Another dish that hasn't been popular in a while was the cheese ball, though at this party there were three of them. When made with the best cheeses, fresh roasted red peppers and rolled in nuts, it was positively delicious. The dish I had the hardest keeping my paws out of was nothing more than a premium "seven layer dip". Seven layer dip is made from refried beans, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, cheese, olives and green onions or some similar combination. But imagine a version where each layer was made from scratch or with the best products available. It was a far cry from the versions I've had that were made mostly from mundane canned ingredients.

I admit, I only made potato chip cookies out a sense of nostalgia. Potato chip cookies are one of the few 60's foods I can remember eating, but for all I know it might have even been the 70's. Though my contribution was only intended as a novelty item, after the second person asked me for the recipe, I figured I'd share it here. While the ingredients are nothing spectacular, the combination of salty and sweet in dessert is very common these days, especially on restaurant menus. The recipe is very similar to the one from Frito-Lay, but I use more nuts and less sugar.

Potato Chip Cookies
3 dozen cookies

2 1/2 cups crushed potato chips* (measure after crushing)
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup chopped pecans or roasted peanuts

Combine the sugars, egg, milk and vanilla and whisk together to combine in a medium mixing bowl. In a small bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder to combine. Add dry ingredients to batter then mix in the potato chips and nuts. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet (or parchment lined sheet) allowing space for the cookies to spread. Bake at 375° for 10 to 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.

* I use Lay's potato chips because they are thin, crispy and very salty. Other chips may work well too, but I've always used Lay's. You can now get Lay's with no trans-fat and while I couldn't work out exactly how much fat and calories are in 2 1/2 cups of potato chip crumbles, there is no addition added fat in the recipe (other than what is in the egg and milk).

Enjoy!

Looking for more party posts? Here they are:
Anita's dip recipe
Sam's party round up
Biggles' meaty report from the grill

FOOD

Using Japanese Ingredients Anew

While I love going out for Japanese food, I would never make it at home. And neither would Eric Gower, the "Breakaway Cook". At a recent dinner and cooking demonstration the cookbook author and private chef explained that when he lived in Japan he could get all the great Japanese food he wanted eating out, but Japanese ingredients intrigued him just the same. So he experimented and came up with a new style of cooking.

The Breakaway Cook is a cookbook that uses lots of ingredients that might be considered exotic, including many Japanese ingredients but uses them in simple, accessible ways. Before taking on the recipes you'll want to hunt down ingredients like maccha (green tea powder), umeboshi (pickled plum) miso (fermented soy bean paste) and yuzu juice (citron). Gower also uses other "flavor blast" ingredients that aren't Japanese like one of my favorites, pomegranate molasses.

You can check out recipes for Five Flavored Salts, Crispy Tangy Tofu, Maccha Poached Eggs, and more here. His non-Japanese ingredient recipes are terrific too, I tried his tip for folding yogurt into scrambled eggs and loved it.

On the other end of the spectrum is Iron Chef Morimoto. The only holdover from the original and truly wacky Japanese version of the Iron Chef show who also stars in the American version. If you've ever seen him in action you've had to wonder, how did he make some of those challenge-winning recipes? In the new book Morimoto The New Art of Japanese Cooking, you can find out. His recipes also use Japanese ingredients but often in very unusual ways.

Sadly many of the ingredients such as kinki fish, Japanese soy lecithin sheets and live abalone, and techniques like cold smoking and using co2 canisters are likely to be inaccessible to the home cook. But the book is inspiring nonetheless and many of the recipes aren't nearly as daunting. Recipes like Sushi Rice Risotto, Morimoto Bouillabaisse, and Bagna Cauda with Crab Naan and Eggplant Shigiyaki (a kind of eggplant parmesan with mozzarella and red miso sauce) all merge Japanese ingredients with Italian, French and even Indian classics. In addition to the restaurant style of many of the recipes, the book also features several recipes made on Iron Chef, which were originally accomplished in under one hour.

FOOD

A Day at the Farm

Say you live in a big city. You love eating fresh-from-the-farm produce. You frequent the farmers' market, maybe you even subscribe to a CSA. But every once in a while you long to feel the soil, dig a little, pluck some weeds, pick some fruit and vegetables and get back in touch with mother nature.

Here in San Francisco we are lucky to have a four and a half acre farm, and it's just a stone's throw from the Alemany farmers' market. Long neglected after the demise of the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners, it is now coming back to life under the nurturing care of the Alemany farm managers. Best of all, it's completely open to the public.

This past weekend a whole bunch of Bay Area food bloggers helped out at the farm, including four Bay Area Bites bloggers. One of the farm managers, Jason, showed us around and put us to work and gave us a tour. We climbed up the hill to see the remains of an orchard, viewed the beds of chard, tomatoes, strawberries, swung by the herb garden and meandered over to the swampy pond surrounded by cattails. It was dirty and gritty and everyone worked up a sweat, but the farm is positively gorgeous and the experience (despite my allergies) was gratifying.

You may have read about the recent campaign to bring back victory gardens in San Francisco. But if you don't have the space, you can easily volunteer at the Alemany farm just check the calendar for available dates. As an added bonus you might get to take home some fruits of your labor as a thank you. The rest of the produce is sold to residents of Bayview Hunters Point to support larger food security efforts. You don't need to be an experienced gardener, and even children are welcome.

READ MORE Over at Bay Area Bites is my review of a terrific new book The Santa Monica Farmers' Market Cookbook

FOOD

The New Epicurious Guest Blogger

I've been sitting on some very exciting news for a long time now. But today is the launch day for the new version of Epicurious and I am one of the daily guest contributors! I am in the very best of company with people I greatly admire and respect including Chef Rick Bayless, food writer (and frequent New York Times contributor) Melissa Clark and wine expert Natalie MacLean in addition to the Epicurious staff contributors.

I will keep posting here, and once a week over at KQED, but for a daily fix, you can now read my posts over at the Epi Log. Primarily I expect to be writing about what's going on in the food blogosphere. I hope you enjoy the new blog and as always, do let me know what you think.

BLOGGING

Honeyaholic

My name is Amy and I am a honeyaholic. Sure, I have a lot of jam and mustard in my fridge but I think it's honey that takes the cake. I currently have 13 different containers of honey. Actually it's 14 because I also have a big can of honey that I use when I make granola but I didn't include that in the photo. I personally pledge not to buy anymore honey until I get down to a more reasonable number. What number is that? I really couldn't say...

So let me introduce you to some stars in the honey bunch. On the left we have Italian chestnut honey and backup chestnut honey. I greatly fear running out of chestnut honey. It has an almost bitter pollen flavor that perfectly complements roasted pork or gorgonzola. Piled on top is some precious truffle honey I found at a local discount store, the Bargain Bank. It's terrific with cheese like parmesan.

I'm skipping the little sample jars, but let me tell you about the honey I bought in Florida at the International Mango Festival from vendor Bees-N-The-Keys. I bought mango honey, key lime honey and tupelo honey. The mango and especially the key lime honey are wonderfully fragrant. Tupelo honey comes from the tupelo gum tree which grows along river swamps in Florida. The bees are placed on elevated platforms over the water and their resulting honey is light in color with a delicate flavor and will not granulate.

The black sage honey was a gift from a reader and it never crystallizes either. It has a fruity scent with vanilla notes. It is very rare and very delicious. The sourwood honey I bought in Asheville after tasting the unbelievably good prize-winning sweet potato salad made with it at Laurey's Catering. You'll find the recipe in her charming book, Elsie's Biscuits. I have New Zealand manuka honey which I bought on impulse at a sale after the Fancy Food Show last year. It is supposed to have healthful properties, it purportedly can help with everything from colds to skin infections, but I have yet to try it. Finally I have macadamia blossom honey, a gift from my parents. it is dark and very rich tasting.

I've already posted my all about honey post, so I don't have any more suggestions for how to use it at the moment. How about you? Is there a secret collection lurking in your pantry?

FOOD + HONEY

Smoke Gets in Your Food: Recipe

They, asked me how I knew,
My true love was true,
I of course replied, something here inside,
Can not be denied.

They, said some day you'll find,
All who love are blind,
When you heart's on fire, you must realize,
Smoke gets in your eyes.

So I chaffed them, and I gaily laughed,
To think they would doubt our love,
And yet today, my love has gone away,
I am without my love.

Now laughing friends deride,
Tears I cannot hide,
So I smile and say, when a lovely flame dies,
Smoke gets in your eyes,
Smoke gets in your eyes.

Written by Jerome Kern (music) and Otto Harbach (lyrics) for the musical "Roberta" in 1933

"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is supposed to be romantic, but it just makes me hungry. It's completely primal. With all due respect to raw food adherents, smoke has been appealing every since we discovered that the combination of fire plus food equals delicious. The smell of smoky bacon or barbecue has been known on occasion to make even committed vegetarians weak.

Sadly, I have nowhere to put a grill let alone a smoker. I use my cast iron grill pan, and make-shift smokers in the oven and stove top and char my eggplants and peppers under the broiler. But it's not the same. Smoky flavors are elusive. So far my favorite smoke-enhancers are chipotle pepper, cumin and smoked paprika. But now I have a new weapon in my arsenal.

I got this idea from Sally Schneider. Her books, A New Way to Cook and The Improvisational Cook are filled with cool and unexpected ideas. One of her ideas is to make what she calls "smoky tea essence" by grinding up Lapsang Souchong tea. Lapsang Souchong is tea that is withered over cypress, pine or cedar fires, pan-fried, rolled and oxidized before being fully dried in bamboo baskets over burning pine where it absorbs the smoke. I tried Schneider's version, and found that adding just a bit of salt and sugar really took it to another level. The tea is primarily smoky but also adds a slightly earthy flavor too.

So how to use this new smoky seasoning? I tried it first on some leftover bland Chinese food. Then I added it to scrambled eggs. I also added a pinch to some baba ghanoush. It would be great in a spice rub for any kind of fish, poultry or meat, or in soups, stews, chili, anywhere you want a touch of smoke without the burn. You could also make your own smoky blend by adding a bit of cumin and smoked paprika or chipotle. Note: I made this with teaspoons to start, but you can use tablespoons, cups, whatever amount suits you.

Smoke Seasoning

2 teaspoons Lapsang Souchong tea or roughly 2 tea bags
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar

Grind together with a mortar and pestle, spice mill or blender until powdery and well combined. Add to soups, stews, rubs, anywhere you want smoky flavor.

Enjoy!

FOOD

Everyday Cookware

Having used saucepans and saute pans from Bourgeat, Calphalon, Reverware and more, there's no brand to date that has completely won my loyalty. Recently I received a saute pan and saucepan from Biro Cookware and so far I'm very pleased with them. They are made of two layers of stainless steel and an aluminum core.

The first thing that impressed me about the cookware was that it has great weight to it, so pans and lids stay put. I seem to have a problem with pots boiling over and lids flying off and that clearly won't happen with a lid that weighs just under one pound. Also the heat conduction is impressive. I think the combination of aluminum and stainless steel is a good one as far as strength and heat and I like the brushed stainless steel look. I particularly like the fact that you can really crank up the heat and yet so far the pans have been pretty easy to clean. But I'm a strong believer that it's not until your first cooking disaster that cookware shows its true colors, so I am going to reserve final judgement for now.

I asked Marcel Biro, Master Chef de Cuisine, restaurateur and cooking instructor what makes his line of "celebrity cookware" different, and here's what he told me:

"I worked closely with the Regal Ware Worldwide engineers, and with the voice of the customers--my students. I am most proud of the quality of this cookware. Quality cookware and ingredients yield quality food. This is the cornerstone of everything I do.

What I most like about the cookware are the long handles and the great wide helper handles that stay nice and cool to the touch. The weight of the pan guarantees stable cooking, and the aluminum core throughout is not just on the bottom like so many pans on the market today. This ensures even cooking throughout the pan, not just on the bottom. Also my cookware can be used on electric, gas and induction, making it very versatile.

We throw it in the oven at the restaurants and culinary schools all the time, and we're talking about equipment with 50,000 - 100,000 BTU's which is double or triple that of a home oven. Consumers never have to worry about replacing these pots and pans."

Biro Cookware was only introduced earlier this year, so if you have any experience with it, please feel free to share your feedback in the comments section. If some other cookware meets your performance and practical requirements feel free to share your recommendations as well.

COOKWARE

Amy's Favorite Cookware

Lately I've been getting a number of emails asking me about cookware. I'm no expert, but I'm happy to tell you what I like and why.

Cast iron
I received a cast iron pan as a "cast off" from someone who didn't want it any longer. I can't imagine why not! Cast iron holds the heat wonderfully and moves easily from stovetop to oven. It's particularly great for frying and searing, but you can also bake in it and if you cook certain acidic foods like tomatoes in it you'll get the added benefit of iron that leaches out in small amounts. It does take a long time to heat up and needs to be cleaned with care. Don't use soap on it! Scrub it with salt if you have to and rinse it with hot water but don't remove the "seasoning", it's what give it an almost non-stick finish. You can buy a new pre-seasoned skillet but there is no way it's going to perform like mine.

Porcelain enamel
I love my Le Creuset! I am fortunate to have acquired just about all the pieces I need and then some. It's great for long simmered stews and soups and for serving. But it is heavy and you have to gently care for it or the surface can chip and crack. In particular I love my Le Creuset tagine. Having cooked tagine style dishes in a dutch oven for years, I couldn't believe the difference when I used an actual tagine instead. The shape means you use less liquid and the result is very rich, concentrated flavors and tender meat and vegetables.

Pressure cooker
I am a big fan of pressure cookers, mine happens to be a Fagor. The key is knowing how to use them properly. After being disappointed with several cookbooks, I have settled on one as my bible. It answers every question I have about how to cook beans, stocks, soups, grains and sauces and also has delicious recipes, it's called Pressure Cooking for Everyone. A pressure cooker is the best time saver in the kitchen and I truly believe everyone who loves long-simmered flavors should have one. Juicy artichokes in 15 minutes? Osso Bucco in 25 minutes? You betcha.

Non-stick
I still use non-stick pans for eggs and crepes, but I try not to use it for anything else. I know the jury may be out on the safety of these pans, but I just don't like ingesting bits of teflon that flake off and I prefer cookware that can really take the heat.

Come back on Monday when I'll share my pick for everyday saucepans and saute pans.

COOKWARE

August Newsletter

Just a quick note to say the monthly email newsletter is going out today. If you'd like to receive it, feel free to sign up. It is a double opt-in system, so after you sign up you'll be asked to confirm your subscription. In other words, if you don't confirm, you are not subscribed.

The newsletter provides links to some posts from the prior month, a sneak peek at what's coming up as well as some links to sites I think you'll like. This month I share my thoughts about tomato season and links to Italian recipes, food oral histories and to the site of an amazing artist who creates food out of paper. Thanks again for visiting and staying in touch! I promise to have a new post soon...

Cobb Sandwich: Recipe

I don't know if Mae West ever ate a Cobb Salad, but I bet she would have loved it. After all, she was the one who said "too much of a good thing is wonderful". A Cobb Salad begins with a bed of Romaine lettuce, think of it as your basic crunchy blank canvas. Resting on the greens are strips of toppings--luscious chunks of avocado, juicy fresh tomato, crumbles of rich blue cheese, hard boiled eggs and chunks of chicken breast. Frankly I've always found the chicken to be superfluous, but maybe that's just me.

Forget about the hot dog or the hamburger, for my money, the Cobb Salad is one of the best examples of "American cuisine". It was invented in America, it combines American ingredients with American excessiveness and good old American seat-of-the-pants ingenuity. It also has a little bit of Hollywood flair. The story goes that after the chef had gone home, Bob Cobb, the owner of The Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles created a late night snack for Chinese Theater owner Sid Grauman by pulling out a bit of this and that from the refrigerator and the popular salad was born. Or so the legend goes.

Faced with many of the ingredients I love in the Cobb, I decided to make myself a sandwich. It's really just a version of a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich, but since I've swapped out peppery arugula for the Romaine and added smears of avocado and gorgonzola on the bread, I'm calling it the Cobb Sandwich. Don't make this sandwich with anything less than fabulously ripe and flavorful tomatoes.

Cobb Sandwich
serves 1

2 slices sourdough bread
1 Tablespoon gorgonzola dolce
1 Tablespoon avocado
2 strips of bacon cooked to your liking
2 slices tomato (the best tastiest one you can get your hands on)
1 handful arugula

Spread one slice of bread with gorgonzola. Top the bread with bacon, tomato and arugula. Top the sandwich with a second slice of bread spread with avocado. Press together gently and slice in half.

Enjoy!

FOOD

Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Book review

If you are looking for a book to take on vacation, to the beach, or on a plane, you couldn't ask for a better one than Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone. It's a compilation of essays and stories by a wide range of writers. The title references a piece written by Laurie Colwin, one of my all-time favorite food writers. Other writers include Ben Karlin, Nora Ephron, Steve Almond, M.F.K. Fisher, Marcella Hazan, Paula Wolfert and many more.

A reporter recently asked me why food plays such a central role in a couple's dating life. My response was that we are naturally social animals and eating is one of the most social experiences we share with others. It's a chance to relax, talk and connect. But at sometime or another we all end up eating alone. It might be by choice or necessity. We might love the experience or we might hate it. Because eating alone is a private affair, we might just give in to secret obsessions or desires.

All of this secrecy makes for something akin to peeking in your neighbors medicine cabinet. It's voyeuristic to be sure. But in this case, a lot less unethical! I particularly liked discovering some voices that were new-to-me such as Erin Ergenbright who writes about a demanding customer who eats at an upscale restaurant in Portland, always by herself. Phoebe Nobles essay on eating nothing but asparagus is masterful. Laura Calder's essay is so laugh-out-loud funny that I was surprised I hadn't heard of her before. I can't wait to read more of her stuff.

This is the perfect book for someone newly single, but really, it's a book for everyone who enjoys reading about people and food and where the two intersect. Kudos to editor Jenni Ferrari-Adler for choosing such terrific writers and memorable stories. This is an anthology to savor.

READ MORE Over at Bay Area Bites is my review of Fish Forever which includes a recipe reprint.

FOOD