Serves 4
This is variation on pork and beans that can be served at a dinner party. However, it is "slow food", meaning it takes a bit of prep time and cooking time. It also is a great recipe to do when you have some left over ham from easter.
This is falls into the class of comfort foods as the pork chops is very tender and doesn't require a knife to eat, and the butter beans just make you feel oh so happy.
Ingredients:
3/4 pound of dry butter beans (lima beans)
1 cut of chopped ham (I prefer honey baked ham that i run through the food processor for a few pulses. I like the ham to be pea sized pieces)
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1/4 cup of ketchup
1 tablespoon of butter
1 small onion (chopped)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
4 pork chops (I prefer boneless loin, that are cut about an inch thick)
salt and pepper
Cilantro or Parsley or Green Onions for Garnish
Equipment:
1. A large oven safe cast iron pot or skillet with a lid that can fit four pork chops and butter beans around it.
2. A separate pot to cook the beans in.
The Night Before:
1. The night before, soak the butter beans in a bowl, making sure to have the water covering the dry beans a good 1-2 inches.
Instructions:
1. Put the soaked beans and the water they have been soaking in large pot.
2. Put in the tablespoon of butter
3. Cook the butter beans over medium heat for about an hour and a half uncovered. Make sure that the mixture very lightly simmers but does not rapidly boil.
4. During this process, the liquid that you are cooking the butter beans in will slightly thicken and should become a soupy consistenty, bare in mind that you don't want to drain out any liquid as all of this will be used in a later step, so add water if the pot starts drying out, but don't put too much as to weaken the stock
5. Once the butter beans are cooked, turn off the stove and set aside.
6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
7. In the large skillet/pot with the lid, sautee the onions and olive oil over med/high heat.
8. Season both sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper
9. Put the pork chops in the large skillet and sear both sides of the pork chops. About 30 seconds to a minute on each side.
10. Add the chopped ham and sautee the chopped ham (by pushing them around the pork chops for about a minute.
11. Turn off the burner so that the pork chops stop cooking. The pork chops should still be raw in the middle (just the two sides seared a little.
12. Drizzle the tomato paste into the skillet over the pork chops, and then add the ketchup. I use the squeeze top ketchup bottle and make a hashed pattern on top of the pork chop mixture.
13. Pour the butter bean mixture (with the liquid) over the pork chops.
14. Cover the skillet and pot and bake for another hour and a half.
To serve plop a pork chop in the center of a large dish, cover with the butter bean concoction, and garnish with your favorite garnish. Yum Yum!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Recipe - Fiddlehead Fern Pasta
Serves 2
If you are not used to fiddlehead ferns, then they can be somewhat odd. Fiddlefern heads are the young fronds of ferns of many varieties that are eaten around the world. In the united stated, the fiddlehead fern season is early spring.
This pasta recipe is an adaptation of something I found in a cook book and is a great recipe for a luncheon or a early spring dinner.
Ingredients:
2 large handfuls of fiddlehead ferns
2 servings of your favorite pasta
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
1 small onion (chopped)
3 cloves of garlic (chopped)
two tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup chicken (or any other type) stock
1/4 cup of cream
salt
pepper
1 cup of shaved and crumbled parmesian cheese
truffle oil
Instructions:
Notes: Before you start, you may want to experiment of the consistency you like your vegetables. Generally I like my fiddlehead ferns lightly cooked so that they have a fresh crisp texture. If you do not like that, then you may need to adjust your cooking times accordingly.
1. Wash the fiddlehead ferns thoroughly and remove any of the brown casings and extra bits
2. Get some water bowling in a pot large. (Be sure the pot is large enough to cook your pasta).
3. Put the fiddlehead ferns into the bowling water and blanch for about 3 minutes
4. Remove the fiddlehead ferns from the bowling water and put aside.
5. Start cooking the pasta for the time required by the pasta recipe or package
6. In a frying pan, heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat
7. Add the onions and garlic and sautee for 5 or 20 minutes. The length is up to taste, if you like caramelized onions, sautee them for longer to get them caramelized. If you like them less cooked, then do that instead.
8. Once the onions are to the desired consistency, add the mushrooms, fiddlehead ferns, stock, and cream. Season with salt and pepper.
9. Let the mixture sautee for another 3-5 minutes until the mushrooms are cooked to the consistency you want.
10. To serve, arrange the pasta on a dish, and scoop the fiddlehead fern sauce over the pasta. Then sprinkle a half cup of the parmesian chunks on top of the pasta and finally drizzle about a teaspoon of truffle oil on top of all that.
This dish works best when everything is still hot or warm so that the parmesian partially melts, further forming the sauce.
If you are not used to fiddlehead ferns, then they can be somewhat odd. Fiddlefern heads are the young fronds of ferns of many varieties that are eaten around the world. In the united stated, the fiddlehead fern season is early spring.
This pasta recipe is an adaptation of something I found in a cook book and is a great recipe for a luncheon or a early spring dinner.
Ingredients:
2 large handfuls of fiddlehead ferns
2 servings of your favorite pasta
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
1 small onion (chopped)
3 cloves of garlic (chopped)
two tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup chicken (or any other type) stock
1/4 cup of cream
salt
pepper
1 cup of shaved and crumbled parmesian cheese
truffle oil
Instructions:
Notes: Before you start, you may want to experiment of the consistency you like your vegetables. Generally I like my fiddlehead ferns lightly cooked so that they have a fresh crisp texture. If you do not like that, then you may need to adjust your cooking times accordingly.
1. Wash the fiddlehead ferns thoroughly and remove any of the brown casings and extra bits
2. Get some water bowling in a pot large. (Be sure the pot is large enough to cook your pasta).
3. Put the fiddlehead ferns into the bowling water and blanch for about 3 minutes
4. Remove the fiddlehead ferns from the bowling water and put aside.
5. Start cooking the pasta for the time required by the pasta recipe or package
6. In a frying pan, heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat
7. Add the onions and garlic and sautee for 5 or 20 minutes. The length is up to taste, if you like caramelized onions, sautee them for longer to get them caramelized. If you like them less cooked, then do that instead.
8. Once the onions are to the desired consistency, add the mushrooms, fiddlehead ferns, stock, and cream. Season with salt and pepper.
9. Let the mixture sautee for another 3-5 minutes until the mushrooms are cooked to the consistency you want.
10. To serve, arrange the pasta on a dish, and scoop the fiddlehead fern sauce over the pasta. Then sprinkle a half cup of the parmesian chunks on top of the pasta and finally drizzle about a teaspoon of truffle oil on top of all that.
This dish works best when everything is still hot or warm so that the parmesian partially melts, further forming the sauce.
Recipe - Vanilla Pudding
Makes 2 Large servings or 4 small servings
I love vanilla pudding, but am not always in the mood for the egg-custard style instant stuff you can get at the store. For this vanilla pudding recipe, the consistency is closer to yogurt because it doesn't have eggs in it. Try it for yourself.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup of sugar (I prefer baking sugar)
3 tablespoons of Corn Starch
1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 cups of cold whole milk (I prefer non-homogenized)
1 tablespoon of butter
Instructions:
1. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, corn starch, salt and the cold milk with a whisk until all the dry ingredients have dissolved. Note: The important thing with working with cornstarch is to mix it into a cold liquid because corn starch does not dissolve well in warm liquids.
2. Pour the mixture into a medium sauce pan and add the butter.
3. Heat the mixture over medium heat while constantly stirring. The mixture should heat up but not boil over. Once you get bubbles forming on the sides of the pan, you have enough heat, and you may need to adjust according to your stove.
4. Continue stirring until the mixture thickens enough that it leaves a coat of sauce on the spoon.
5. Divide mixture between small serving bowls or cups and refrigerate before serving.
I like to serve this dish topped with fresh berries, jams, preserves, or even canned fruit (like peaches).
2.
I love vanilla pudding, but am not always in the mood for the egg-custard style instant stuff you can get at the store. For this vanilla pudding recipe, the consistency is closer to yogurt because it doesn't have eggs in it. Try it for yourself.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup of sugar (I prefer baking sugar)
3 tablespoons of Corn Starch
1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 cups of cold whole milk (I prefer non-homogenized)
1 tablespoon of butter
Instructions:
1. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, corn starch, salt and the cold milk with a whisk until all the dry ingredients have dissolved. Note: The important thing with working with cornstarch is to mix it into a cold liquid because corn starch does not dissolve well in warm liquids.
2. Pour the mixture into a medium sauce pan and add the butter.
3. Heat the mixture over medium heat while constantly stirring. The mixture should heat up but not boil over. Once you get bubbles forming on the sides of the pan, you have enough heat, and you may need to adjust according to your stove.
4. Continue stirring until the mixture thickens enough that it leaves a coat of sauce on the spoon.
5. Divide mixture between small serving bowls or cups and refrigerate before serving.
I like to serve this dish topped with fresh berries, jams, preserves, or even canned fruit (like peaches).
2.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Restaurants - Seasons
Seasons
757 Market St
(between Grant Ave & Ofarrell St)
San Francisco, CA 94103
Price: 4 prix-fixed sized appetizers, 2 meat entrees, dessert, 1 bottle of French wine (2 adults - Dinner - $600 including 15% tip)
http://www.fourseasons.com/sanfrancisco/dining/seasons.html
We wanted steak, so we decided to try out Seasons, at the Four Season Hotel. The host sat us at a nice table over looking market street. The view was not what I would call spectacular, it is the view of market street and corner where the Armani Store was, however it was a nice to see the hustle and bustle of down town san francisco none the less.
The pirx-fixed menu had some two interesting appetizers, but the entree was not what we had come for, so we asked to order them separately.
The first appentizer (prix-fixed size, which is smaller than a regular appetizer) was a named "Chicken & Waffle", which was a Chicken Fried Foie Gras, Coriander Waffle, Strawberry and Rhubarb. It was a small piece of fois gras that had its outside slightly crispy fried, but internally it was rare (the way fois gras should be). It was served with a nice crispy waffle in a creamy sauce. This was a well balanced fois gras and very interesting play on the chicken and waffle phenomenon. Since our bottle of red wine didn't really go with this dish, the waiter gave us a glass of veuve cliquot in order to compliment the appetizer.
The second appetizer we had was the "Yellowtail Hamachi Tartre", which was yellow tail hamachi with Enoki Mushroom Salad, Avocado, Yuzu Vinaigrette. This had a very subtle flavor. The balance of the tartness of the vinagrette and the buttery avocado went well with the smooth silkiness of the hamachi sashimi. Neither of the flavors over powered the other, making this dish our favorite of the night.
For the entree, my partner had the Grilled Prime Filet Steak Frites – Crisp Fries, Frisée and Young Cress, Fried Quail Egg, Shallot and Thyme Butter. The filet was cooked as requested. The meat was tender and juicy and the frisee and crest went well with the sweet and creamy flavor of the fried qual egg. What was slightly disappointing was that the quail egg was cooked all the way through. A bit of raw yolk from the egg may have made the salad better.
My entree was the Aged Prime New York Strip, Swiss Chard, Smoked Potato Purée, Cured Tomato, Beef Jus. This was heavenly cut of beef cooked as I had requested. The interesting part was the chard. The cured tomato cut the typical earthy bitterness of the chard, so that only the earthiness of the chard remained. It had the consistency of a spinach however, the flavors of almost a mushroom. It went very well with the cut of steak and the puree of potato (which was close to liquified, but still held it's shape)
We ended the meal with the Warm Chocolate "Candy Bar" – Chocolate, Peanuts, Caramel
and the Apple Cider Donuts, Warm Bourbon Caramel Sauce, Bacon Ice Cream. The chocolate candy bar reminded my of a crunch bar that had been melted. However, it was very flavorful and the chocolate was of good quality. The apple cider donuts, seemed like typical doughnut holes. They were a little doughy, so they did not have the consistency of a beignet, which I was hoping for, and was generally lack luster for my taste.
757 Market St
(between Grant Ave & Ofarrell St)
San Francisco, CA 94103
Price: 4 prix-fixed sized appetizers, 2 meat entrees, dessert, 1 bottle of French wine (2 adults - Dinner - $600 including 15% tip)
http://www.fourseasons.com/sanfrancisco/dining/seasons.html
We wanted steak, so we decided to try out Seasons, at the Four Season Hotel. The host sat us at a nice table over looking market street. The view was not what I would call spectacular, it is the view of market street and corner where the Armani Store was, however it was a nice to see the hustle and bustle of down town san francisco none the less.
The pirx-fixed menu had some two interesting appetizers, but the entree was not what we had come for, so we asked to order them separately.
The first appentizer (prix-fixed size, which is smaller than a regular appetizer) was a named "Chicken & Waffle", which was a Chicken Fried Foie Gras, Coriander Waffle, Strawberry and Rhubarb. It was a small piece of fois gras that had its outside slightly crispy fried, but internally it was rare (the way fois gras should be). It was served with a nice crispy waffle in a creamy sauce. This was a well balanced fois gras and very interesting play on the chicken and waffle phenomenon. Since our bottle of red wine didn't really go with this dish, the waiter gave us a glass of veuve cliquot in order to compliment the appetizer.
The second appetizer we had was the "Yellowtail Hamachi Tartre", which was yellow tail hamachi with Enoki Mushroom Salad, Avocado, Yuzu Vinaigrette. This had a very subtle flavor. The balance of the tartness of the vinagrette and the buttery avocado went well with the smooth silkiness of the hamachi sashimi. Neither of the flavors over powered the other, making this dish our favorite of the night.
For the entree, my partner had the Grilled Prime Filet Steak Frites – Crisp Fries, Frisée and Young Cress, Fried Quail Egg, Shallot and Thyme Butter. The filet was cooked as requested. The meat was tender and juicy and the frisee and crest went well with the sweet and creamy flavor of the fried qual egg. What was slightly disappointing was that the quail egg was cooked all the way through. A bit of raw yolk from the egg may have made the salad better.
My entree was the Aged Prime New York Strip, Swiss Chard, Smoked Potato Purée, Cured Tomato, Beef Jus. This was heavenly cut of beef cooked as I had requested. The interesting part was the chard. The cured tomato cut the typical earthy bitterness of the chard, so that only the earthiness of the chard remained. It had the consistency of a spinach however, the flavors of almost a mushroom. It went very well with the cut of steak and the puree of potato (which was close to liquified, but still held it's shape)
We ended the meal with the Warm Chocolate "Candy Bar" – Chocolate, Peanuts, Caramel
and the Apple Cider Donuts, Warm Bourbon Caramel Sauce, Bacon Ice Cream. The chocolate candy bar reminded my of a crunch bar that had been melted. However, it was very flavorful and the chocolate was of good quality. The apple cider donuts, seemed like typical doughnut holes. They were a little doughy, so they did not have the consistency of a beignet, which I was hoping for, and was generally lack luster for my taste.
Restaurants - Korea House
Korea House
1640 Post Street
(between Buchanan St & Laguna St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
http://www.koreahousesf.com/
Price: 2 Adults - 1 meat dish and 1 soup, tea ($48 including 15% tip)
After watching an episode of Bizarre Food with Andrew Zimmern themed on the bizarre food of "South Korea". My partner and I decided to go get Korean food for dinner. It was a typical rainy evening in San Francisco and we thought that a good helping of comfort Korean comfort food would do the trick.
We ordered the Kal Bi (cooked by the kitchen, not table-side) and a Beef and Vegetable Soup (#13). The Kal Bi was typical Korean Kal Bi (BBQ ribs) and the broth really hit the spot, with it's not to spicy broth, winter vegetables, sprouts, and beef chunks.
As with all korean restaurants, I judge the quality not only by the main dishes, but by the little dishes of pickled goodies that comes with the meal. I did not particularly like the kim chee they served as it was a little two chewy and did not have the vinegary pickled taste that I like. However it did have a good spice to it, so if you like that type of kim chee then you won't be disappointed.
The little dish of steamed bean sprouts tasted like most korean places I have gone too. However, we did enjoy the pickled bounty, as I think food was left only two of the ten little dishes that they served.
What was bizarre to me was that greens, seaweed, and the fermented soybean paste was not served to us with our meal. I am not sure if it was a fluke, or if it was because we did not order the 2 meat minimum to BBQ table-side, however it made us just a bit confused as the fermented soy bean paste seems to me standard for most Korean BBQ places.
However, once we asked, the greens and the soy bean paste came to the table. They did make us pay an additional charge for the seaweed which at first was alraming. However, it was pretty decent quality seaweed and after inspecting the menu again, it did state that seaweed was an extra charge.
Korea House has a good selection of korean beers, so ju, and other spirits. The tea did not have the strong barely flavor that I am used to with korean restaurants in San Francisco.
As I am not korean, I can't testify to their authenticity. But all in all, the meal was very good and the wait staff was courteous and helpful.
looking forward to visiting here again.
1640 Post Street
(between Buchanan St & Laguna St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
http://www.koreahousesf.com/
Price: 2 Adults - 1 meat dish and 1 soup, tea ($48 including 15% tip)
After watching an episode of Bizarre Food with Andrew Zimmern themed on the bizarre food of "South Korea". My partner and I decided to go get Korean food for dinner. It was a typical rainy evening in San Francisco and we thought that a good helping of comfort Korean comfort food would do the trick.
We ordered the Kal Bi (cooked by the kitchen, not table-side) and a Beef and Vegetable Soup (#13). The Kal Bi was typical Korean Kal Bi (BBQ ribs) and the broth really hit the spot, with it's not to spicy broth, winter vegetables, sprouts, and beef chunks.
As with all korean restaurants, I judge the quality not only by the main dishes, but by the little dishes of pickled goodies that comes with the meal. I did not particularly like the kim chee they served as it was a little two chewy and did not have the vinegary pickled taste that I like. However it did have a good spice to it, so if you like that type of kim chee then you won't be disappointed.
The little dish of steamed bean sprouts tasted like most korean places I have gone too. However, we did enjoy the pickled bounty, as I think food was left only two of the ten little dishes that they served.
What was bizarre to me was that greens, seaweed, and the fermented soybean paste was not served to us with our meal. I am not sure if it was a fluke, or if it was because we did not order the 2 meat minimum to BBQ table-side, however it made us just a bit confused as the fermented soy bean paste seems to me standard for most Korean BBQ places.
However, once we asked, the greens and the soy bean paste came to the table. They did make us pay an additional charge for the seaweed which at first was alraming. However, it was pretty decent quality seaweed and after inspecting the menu again, it did state that seaweed was an extra charge.
Korea House has a good selection of korean beers, so ju, and other spirits. The tea did not have the strong barely flavor that I am used to with korean restaurants in San Francisco.
As I am not korean, I can't testify to their authenticity. But all in all, the meal was very good and the wait staff was courteous and helpful.
looking forward to visiting here again.
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