Slow Food Nation: Civic Center

Slow Food Nation is a an indoor and outdoor affair with high ticket fundraisers and plenty of free events and activities. If you want to enjoy it on the cheap, head over to Civic Center and take a walk through the inspiring Victory Garden. In the garden swing by the "Soapbox", where a series of speakers and artists get to have their say. The garden is ringed by booths called "the Marketplace" which is kind of like a national farmer's market with growers and producers from all over and plenty of free samples and tastes of fresh fruit, cheeses, nuts, milk and more.

Even if you're on a budget, stay for a snack or a meal. There are all kinds of offerings from Slow on the Go, including local favorites and regional specialities. My pick? A scrumptious muffaletta made from Heritage Foods company Salumi of Seattle! And if you can't make it to San Francisco, I hope you'll enjoy the slide show.

Slow Food Nation: Re-Localizing Food

How do you enjoy Slow Food? There isn't one sanctioned way. What began as a protest against fast food has become the symbol of a new consciousness about food. While the organization is somewhat controversial, the goals are admirable--to promote a return to the way people used to eat. What that looks like these days is up for debate. That very discussion was part of the Re-Localizing Food panel discussion today at Slow Food Nation, the community event organized by Slow Food USA, part of the international Slow Food movement.

The panel featured author and journalist Michael Pollan, chef Dan Barber, Gary Nabhan, founder of Renewing America's Food Traditions Alliance, RAFT and Winona LaDuke, a Native American activist. It was moderated by James Oseland, editor of Saveur.

Michael Pollan explained that the current state of our food systems was a product of interstate highways, supermarket chains, refrigerator trucks and cheap fossil fuel. But the days of cheap fossil fuel may be over. Shipping broccoli from the Central Valley in California to New York used to cost $3 a box, now it costs $10. That kind of change is making communities rethink long distance shipping of food that can be grown locally. He also told the sold out crowd that even $5-10 a week spent on local food makes a difference and said you shouldn't feel like you have to go to extremes to make change happen.

I was most impressed with Dan Barber who talked about his experiences growing native grains. A customer sent him Otto File, a special variety of native corn. He later found out that it had been traded with the Italians who recognized its quality and grew it for polenta. You can buy the polenta at Zingerman's or eat it at Dan Barber's restaurant.

Barber stressed that a blend of old world wisdom and newfangled technology could be combined to great result. He then told of a visit to a goose farm in France where birds naturally gorge themselves instead of being forced, and even wild birds choose the farm, flying in from all over, because of the high quality living conditions. Electrified fences keep animals from entering the property but not from leaving. Though the animals are free to leave, it sounds as if they never choose to.

Barber actually made a plug for the foodservice provider Sysco, a company you would expect to be part of the problem, but he says, the CEO is reacting to chef's requests for local food and changing profitable and conventionally "efficient" ways of doing business to plan for a less commodity oriented future. All in all the panelists were optimistic about the future and the way we as a country are returning to more local food and less dependence on cheap fossil fuel.

Meet the Cardens

Matthew and Jennifer Carden are smart, fun and just amazingly talented. I've gotten to know both of them through the San Francisco Professional Food Society.

Jennifer is a cook and wrote the book The Toddler Cafe which has inventive recipes that even toddler-less me wants to make! There is a great version of salsa made with fruit and balsamic vinegar, panko and parmesan crusted chicken strips and mint and pea popsicles. Of course Matthew did all the photography, and all the recipes have way cool names. For you moms, be sure to check out Jennifer's blog in addition to the book.



Matthew has helped out quite a bit doing event photography for the Food Society and does wonderful food photography as well as homes and gardens. But it's his "we are what we eat" series that puts a smile on my face. He's created a world that seems like The Borrowers have infiltrated the garden...



the cheese shop....




the bakery...



and the kitchen...
Head to his site to see more, and enjoy!

Mini Rhubarb Strawberry Galettes: Recipe

I like food in miniature. I like dim sum, mezze, tapas and appetizers of all sorts. Working on the latest recipe development project has been an exploration of many things in miniature. One recipe that sadly will not work for my client was a terrific success when it came to ease and taste. It does not work particularly well for vacuum sealing but that's ok. It means I can share it with you here and now.

Rhubarb makes one of my favorite pies and now, my favorite galette, which is pretty much a pie for lazy people. Rhubarb requires some tender loving care to coax out the perfect balance of sweetness and especially texture. While mushy rhubarb isn't terrible, firm, sweet yet tangy rhubarb is fabulous! I like the method of macerating it with sugar. The trick to this recipe is to not let the rhubarb macerate too long. I think you could make it with just rhubarb but a little bit of strawberry really complements it. I also don't cook the filling! You don't need to, it cooks perfectly in miniature.

I'm no genius when it comes to pie crust. I wish I was but it's just not in the cards for me. I have ridiculously hot hands and I don't work with pie crust often enough to get really fast at making it. I do my best, but sometimes resort to premade pastry. I'm ok with that. If you have a favorite pie crust recipe that works for you, by all means, use it. If not, you might try the Perfect Pie Crust recipe from Simply Recipes. The beauty of this recipe is that the result is rustic, which is great for a non-perfectionist baker.

Mini Rhubarb Strawberry Galettes
Makes 8 single servings

1 1/2 cups rhubarb, sliced in 1/4 inch pieces

1/2 cup strawberries, sliced 

1/2 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

Dough for 2 9-inch pie crusts
1 Tablespoon milk
Raw or turbinado sugar for sprinkling on the crust

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and cornstarch. Let sit for 15 minutes, no longer. Meanwhile break dough into 8 pieces and roll each one into roughly a 6 inch round. Place 1/4 cup filling into the center of the dough rounds and fold the edges over, pinching to seal, place galettes on a baking sheet. Brush the crusts with milk using a pastry brush then sprinkle with raw sugar.

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool slightly and serve.

Note these mini galettes freeze exceedingly well. Let them cool, wrap well. When ready to serve gently reheat in a 300 degree oven, about 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Looking for more rhubarb recipes? My other favorite rhubarb strawberry recipe is this ginger-flavored cobbler from Sara Moulton.

A few other particularly inventive rhubarb recipes:

Rhubarb soda from Coconut & Lime

Tofu with Hot and Sour Rhubarb from Mostly Eating

Rhubarb and Raspberry Yogurt Ice Pops from La Tartine Gourmande

Red Wine Poached Rhubarb from David Lebovitz

Persian Lamb and Rhubarb Stew from Nami Nami

Urban Tavern Opening Party

I've been to a fair number of parties, and in my experience restaurant parties beat all others, hands down. One of the best I've ever been to was the joint fete for Epic and Waterbar. A lot of the same industry folks were at the opening at Urban Tavern last night. It was a great chance to get a sneak peek, toast to the new restaurant, listen to the Backburner Blues Band, catch up on chef gossip and grab a bite to eat.

So first off, the restaurant is attached to the Hilton on O'Farrell St. I'd call the decor rustic contemporary. The large Doug Owen horse sculpture is a focal point and sets the color palette. The menu features grilled meats with most items in the $15-20 range, casserole dishes for 1, 2 or 4 people such as beef daube, sides of vegetables, potatoes, beans and lentils, salads including duck prosciutto and grilled calamari versions ($9-13) mussels and starters ($9-11) that range from charcuterie to piadini to cold tomato and crab soup. Having only nibbles of party food, I'll be back for more of the fries and aioli, my weakness for the evening.

As far as chef spotting goes, it was quite an evening. The restaurant was packed so I'm sure I missed a few luminaries, but I did see local chefs James Ormsby, Gordon Drysdale, William Werner, Donna Scala, Scott Warner, Chad Newton, Joey Altman, Gerald Hirigoyen, and Laurent Manrique.

On to the gossip, did I hear that a certain chef is opening a patisserie in the City? Or that a much loved chef may be returning to the restaurant scene? Or that another seasoned chef who is recently back in the kitchen is rediscovering his gruffer alter ego? I will neither confirm nor deny. But I will share my favorite overheard line of the evening--"I want to go in the kitchen and see Manrique yell at somebody!"

More Urban Tavern reports:
Yum Diary by Tracie Broom, my editor at SF Station
SF Eater
Yelpers

Note: Because I've been posting less these days, I've added an option for you to subscribe by email.

Favorite things: Putumayo Presents: Acoustic France

The only time I ever got a speeding ticket I was listening to music on the radio. Not long after I switched to NPR and have stayed out of trouble ever since. While driving and music are subjects that have been explored in detail, lately I've been thinking about food and music, specifically music in the kitchen and music in the dining room.

On my mother's birthday last month my family and I ate at Ad Hoc in Yountville. Dinner was delicious, though nothing earth shattering. But the music was way too loud and like that day I got pulled over, it distracted me. In the dining room I like background music. If I notice it, that's a good sign it's too loud. Meals are a precious time for me to catch up and connect with my dining companions, not to rock out. If you are a chef and want the music loud, that's fine, just please, keep it in the kitchen.

Speaking of kitchen music, I just love the new Putumayo Presents:Acoustic France CD. It's filled with jazzy, catchy, happy French songs with lush and tasty vocals and influences from as far away as Latin America. But here's the catch, because the lyrics are in French, I find it less distracting than most music. I can't promise listening to it will help you to cook as brilliantly as Jacques, but during this period of intense recipe development it's helping me to pay strict attention to detail and keep my wits about me! Of course it also doesn't hurt that in the liner notes there is a recipe for Banana and Lime Sole from famed French chef Michel Troisgros. That actually might help your cooking.

So what about you? Any preferences for music, in the kitchen and the dining room? I'd love to hear what you like or conversely, what you don't.

All about Peaches

I have no children, not even a dog or a cat. But I'm considering adopting. Adopting a peach tree that is. Near Fresno, farmer Mas Masumoto and his family grow lovely heirloom varieties of peaches including Sun Crest and Elberta. Their peaches are organic, fragile, absolutely delicious and only available by adoption.

Now I have to admit, I am totally and completely biased towards peaches. They are high in dietary fiber, Vitamin A, Niacin and Potassium, and a very good source of Vitamin C but that's not why I love them so much. Soft, juicy, fuzzy, fragrant and ever so pretty to look at, peaches are the sexiest fruit around.

Because the Elberta variety is so delicate, Mas Masumoto sells his peaches in a most unusual way, he allows people to adopt a tree and harvest all the peaches for personal use. That means a commitment to go to the farm and pick peaches the moment they are ready. A single tree produces 400 to 500 pounds of peaches and the cost to adopt a tree? $500. Each year there are more applications than there are peach trees and so only the most deserving get the dribble-down-your-chin experience.

This year I lucked out, a new friend and colleague gave me eight precious peaches from her adopted tree. What will I do with them? Probably just eat them out of hand. But here are some of my favorite things to do with peaches:

* Fill peach halves with goat cheese and sprinkle with some chopped candied pecans

* Grill or roast peach halves, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and serve with pork chops

* Make a salad of peaches and arugula

* Combine peaches with raspberries in a cobbler or crisp

* Slide a few slices into sparkling wine

* Cool off with peach melba

* Combine peaches with green onions, cilantro and jalapenos to make a salsa

* Wrap peaches, grilled or raw in prosciutto

If you don't have access to these peaches, you may want to check out a book written by the farmer, Epitaph for a Peach Four Seasons on My Family Farm.

Cabaret Brewed Chocolate

I remember first smelling the scent of coffee roasting in North Beach. I was a teenager and it was exotic and intoxicating like the City itself. Even though I didn't drink coffee, I loved that smell. Over the years whenever I've smelled fresh coffee, especially during roasting, it's been a combination of soothing and exciting to me, like the promise of something wonderful and dangerous. Sadly drinking coffee has never held the romance that smelling it does.

If you take the Scharffen Berger factory tour, and I highly recommend that you do, you will more than likely be enveloped by the scent of roasting cocoa beans. It is such a warm and happy scent it reportedly makes those who work there giddy. Even a few minutes will give you a profound sense of well-being. Having taken the tour twice, I've often wondered, would it be possible to make a drink out of the roasted beans? Not the cocoa powder or chocolate, but the roasted beans themselves, like coffee?

I'm happy to say, I'm not the only one with this quirky idea. After some experimentation Rob Polevoi created what he calls "brewed chocolate." Unlike hot chocolate it is low in calories and fat and high in antioxidants and theobromine, a gentle stimulant 10 times weaker than caffeine, that is rumored to be one of the compounds contributing to chocolate's role as an aphrodisiac. Oddly enough, Polevoi claims some people who drink the beverage, which comes in slightly sweetened concentrated syrup, find it relaxing, while others find it uplifting. Either way, it's a very light and delicious chocolatey beverage, unlike any other.

Try it as a nightcap or instead of coffee or tea if you are sensitive to caffeine like I am. You can drink it black, with milk or cream, hot, cold, with a shot of booze, any which way you like. If you like chocolate, I think you'll enjoy it. It's currently available online, from Cabaret Foods, $14.95 for a jar containing enough syrup for 24 servings.