Portland for the Weekend

I had an impromptu trip to Portland this past weekend to visit my mama, John and little Stelly Bean.

 

It was a much needed chill-out. Lots of cooking, walking, coffee drinking and chatting over glasses of wine. And maybe a little shopping…including but not limited to an iPad mini <3 Gotta love the no-sales-tax thing. So far, my favorite perk of the iPad is the camera. It kicks my Cannon’s butt. Below are some of the meals we had over the weekends with links to the recipes:

Fig old fashioned with balsamic, orange and maple from The Kitchn.

The salad of the month from Food & Wine.

Shredded chicken tacos with black bean, corn, avocado and tomato salsa.

Slow-cooked pulled pork sandwiches with eastern North Carolina barbecue sauce and simple slaw and a side of Southern caviar.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

1 tablespoon butter
2.5 lbs. boneless pork shoulder
1 TBS Cajun seasoning
1 medium onion chopped
4 cloves garlic crushed
2 cups water (or 1 cup beef/chicken stock + 1 cup water)
2 cups chicken or beef broth
1 TBS liquid smoke

brioche buns
barbecue sauce
simple slaw (cabbage, plain yogurt, lemon juice, salt and pepper)

Cut the pork into large chunks, season and brown on all sides in the melted butter. Transfer to slow cooker. Add onion and garlic to pan, cook for a few minutes till tender. Stir the liquid into pan, scrape bottom. Pour everything into slow cooker and add liquid smoke. Cover and cook till tender, 9-10 hours on low. Remove from cooker--shred pork serve on brioche buns with slaw and whatever barbecue sauce you like best. *My fav is an eastern North Carolina vinegar based bbq sauce.

Heavenly banana cake, a China's Plate oldie.

Anecdote: I had an authentic Portlandia experience when ordering a cup of coffee on Saturday morning. While waiting in line at the corner coffee shop, two men were debating the best, most New Jersey-style (apparently the home of the original bagel) bagel shops in town, which led to the best/most creative donut shop debate shortly after. I ordered my medium cup of regular coffee, and was told the entire life story of not only the coffee beans, but the story of ownership of forest where the coffee bean trees grow and the dates of the 2-3 day long harvest when beans are picked at their prime – completely unsolicited. I responded with: wow. no room for cream, thanks.

Keep Portland weird xo

Healthy Weekend Lunch & Tilapia Meunière with Caper, Tomato & Olive Sauce

I love the idea of brunch as much as the next guy. But in practice, it really throws my day off. Bottomless mimosas and hollandaise do serious damage to my energy level and willpower.

Weekends are my healthiest days of the week – walking all over the city, shopping at the farmer’s market, taking time to prepare each meal and no time for boredom snacking. My adventure this Sunday was a walk up to Coit Tower. My inspiration for Sunday’s lunch was this roasted red pepper and eggplant sauce from Trader Joe’s. At 15 little calories a tablespoon, you can kinda go crazy.

White Bean, Red Pepper & Arugula Salad
Serves 2

1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 ear fresh corn, cut off the cob
1 small tomato, chopped
1/2 cup pea shoots
1 handful of arugula
2-3 tablespoons red pepper and eggplant sauce
juice of 1/2 lemon
dash balsamic vinegar
salt, pepper and red pepper flakes
fresh parsley, chopped

Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl and season to taste. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Arguably, this is not really fish meunière at all. The recipe calls for white wine and all I had was cabernet sauvignon. Though very different tasting than the original, it was still delicious and briny.

The original recipe by Giada can be found here. I only substituted the white wine for red, and obviously used fish rather than chicken. The fish was served over multicolored quinoa with chopped bell pepper.

Tilapia Fish Tacos with Mango Avocado Salsa

This weekend is what people are calling “San Francisco’s Spring Break.” The weather was incredible. A group of us spent the entire day in Fort Mason park lounging on blankets, sipping white wine out of solo cups and nibbling on grapes and pretzel crisps. I forgot one little thing…sunblock. *Except for my face, thank God.

That’s a lot of exposed skin Ugh.

Alanna (brunette in the stripes) invited me to her client’s family/friends appreciation party at House of Shields for an open bar and Aztec dance performance. Keeping on theme, I made us fish tacos for dinner inspired from this recipe. The mango avocado salsa was a homerun, and would be great served with tortilla chips.

The Aztec dancers were very impressive, and apparently have free Aztec dance classes free to the public twice a week…

The trendy new workout?

Tilapia Fish Tacos with Mango Avocado Salsa

2 tilapia filets
1 + 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
dash oregano
salt and pepper
lemon or lime juice

1/2 avocado, diced
1 cup frozen mango, thawed and diced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
handful cilantro, diced
1 green onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper
4 corn tortillas
Greek yogurt (optional)

Pat filets dry and rub with olive oil. Toss together the spices on a plate and coat fish in spice rub. Heat pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat and add in fish. Sautee 3-4 minutes per side, or until cooked through. Break filets into chunks.

Mix salsa ingredients together in a medium size bowl, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Heat corn tortillas in pan until warm, and pile with fish, salsa and Greek yogurt (if desired).

Off the Grid ~ Fort Mason

Picture a large parking lot with all of SF’s food trucks parked in a circle, beer, wine and spirits stations sprinkled in, some chairs and live music. Every Friday night, only blocks from my house.

Sarah and I went for the first time yesterday. We faced the paradox of choice. So many options, too little room in our stomachs. In the end, we made our decisions based on the length of the lines. The longer the line, the better the food. We started off with Chinese steam buns. Tender Pork Belly with Turmeric Pickled Daikon & Green Shiso, and Coca-Cola Braised Pork with Savoy Cabbage & Preserved Yellow Mustard Seeds. Those were a few heavenly bites…

Next, Cuban nachos: Cuban style chopped porchetta, tortilla chips, housemade white cheese sauce, Rancho Gordo black beans, crema, green onions.

Before we moved to dessert, we shared some freshly fried chicken spring rolls in a sweet chili sauce. Dessert really stood out for us. We stood in Rocko’s Ice Cream Taco line for a solid 20 minutes, so we should have known it was going to be amazing. You had the choice of (4) of their homemade ice creams to fill the taco, and (4) homemade sauces for the candy shell. I went with coffee Kahlua ice cream with dark chocolate shell. Sarah went Madagascar vanilla ice cream with milk chocolate shell.

Me, double fisting with a Magnolia IPA and choco-taco. Happy girl. (Like my new shorts?!)

New Friday tradition.

Wild Rice Soup with Vegetables & Chicken Sausage

I saw this meal as a benchmark in my culinary career, took the extra step. I made homemade vegetable stock for my soup! It’s a lot quicker and easier than I thought.

Toss a ton of vegetables in a pot, sauté for a bit, then dump some water in and cover for 30.

Then for the soup. There were a lot of vegetables harmed in the process of making this soup. And maybe a chicken. But their sacrifice was not in vain as it has resulted in a ton of leftovers, making my life really easy for the next few days.

Wild Rice with Vegetables & Chicken Sausage

1 cup wild rice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 shallot, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 spicy chicken sausage, diced
1 cup cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 head broccoli, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1 zucchini, sliced
1 cup rainbow chard, diced
3 carrots, diced
1 can crushed tomatoes
3 cups vegetable stock (ideally homemade)
1/2 cup red wine
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
handful fresh parsley, diced
red pepper flakes
salt and pepper

garnish: Greek yogurt, parmesan, green onion

Cook wild rice per instructions. In a large pot, heat olive oil and sauté shallot, garlic and chickens sausage for a minute until aromatic. Add in mushrooms, broccoli, bell pepper, zucchini, chard and carrots. Sautee while stirring for 6-8 minutes or until vegetables begin to soften. Pour in crushed tomatoes and wine, stir 2 more minutes. Lastly, add in broth and seasonings. Simmer for 15-20 more minutes. Serve with desired toppings.

Veggie Wrap with Cucumber Mint Raita Sauce

My high school, and later college, friend Tonya popped up from Venice Beach to visit me this weekend. It was a blast, as it always is when friends come to town. Lots of eating out, wine tasting, bar hopping and long-walking. After an indulgent weekend, I always hit the vegetables hard to get my engines back to neutral.

I’ve made tzatziki sauce before, but never raita. Since my neighbors conveniently started an herb garden on the back stairs, that featured mint but no dill, I opted for the Indian over the Mediterranean yogurt sauce.

It kicked tzatziki’s butt. It also made for a delicious sauce in my lunch wrap.

Vegetable Wrap with Cucumber Mint Raita
(makes 2 servings)

1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
1/4 cup chopped cucumber
handful fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 green onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
dash cayenne pepper
pinch cumin
salt and pepper

2 wheat tortillas
1 tomato, sliced
1/2 bell pepper, sliced
feta, crumbled
pea shoots

Combine raita sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Spread sauce on tortilla and top with remaining vegetables and cheese.

Scribe Winery ~ Sylvaner Release Dinner

Image from Refinery 29

I’m still coming down from the high of last night’s dinner. I had the incredible fortune of being invited to the Sylvaner release dinner prepared by chef David Bazirgan from Fifth Floor Restaurant, part of Scribe Winery’s Spring Release Dinner Series. I didn’t know what to expect, but when invited to a winery for dinner, you say yes. We arrived at 7 for a half hour of rosé and passed hors d’oeuvres on the lawn, while dinner was being cooked in front of us in an outdoor tent. I could tell this dinner was going to be a religious experience based on the wow-factor of the appetizers. On a silver spoon, halibut ceviche over mashed avocado, topped with shaved Anaheim chile and kumquat. Grass-fed beef tartare on thin crostini. Puff pastry topped with goat cheese cream, wild mushrooms and marigold petal.

At 7:30 we went to find our assigned seats in the wine cellar. We had great neighbors: a walnut farmer and an ex-commercial furniture industry colleague. Interesting new friends.

As expected, dinner was ridiculous. Every bite was incredible.

Grilled, shaved asparagus salad with English peas, olive oil fried bread and thinly shaved pork neck (I think) with a mustard beurre blanc sauce. This course was paired with the 2012 Sylvaner.

*Second course not pictured was poached black cod with grilled baby leaks over sea urchin butter paired with the 2011 Chardonnay – Carneros. Yes… sea urchin butter.

The main course was local lamb (the lamb farmer was at dinner with us – who, 5 days prior, had proposed to the sous chef cooking the meal.) The entire lamb was prepared, including pulled shoulder, sliced leg, sweetbreads and a chorizo style sausage. The meat was served with fingerling potatoes and fava beans in an herb jus paired with the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon.

We stepped outside to watch chef David assemble dessert. It was all very Top Chef-like, to which David responded “f*ck Top Chef.”

Dessert was a brioche bread pudding, rhubarb compote, ground almonds and clementine curd with torn lemon basil. A true highlight to this dinner was the hot tea served with dessert, simply mint leaves steeped in hot water.

I promptly signed up for the wine club membership: 4 bottles per quarter with invitations to “pick up” parties, free wine tasting, and members only events. I’m thrilled about this knee jerk decision and can’t wait to go back to pick up my May shipment! As I left, I was given a little containers of homemade marshmallows, and a hug from one of the sexy Mariani brothers who own the winery… I’d say it was a perfect evening.

Happy Easter from San Francisco xoxo