More Burgers

Burgers.  Gotta love 'em.

Homemade fries.  Gotta love 'em, too.


Grilled Chicken, Pesto, and Apricots

My impulse purchase at the grocery store today was some apricots.

Once upon  time, apricots - along with plums - were my most favorite summer fruit.  That, of course, was in the days before huge agri-farming where everything became grown for mechanical harvesting and shipping and not for flavor.

I did produce-buying for a gourmet food distributor once upon a time.  I wandered the produce markets at 4am looking for new, fresh, and vibrant.  I still have a fairly good eye for some things even after all these years.  Seeing the apricots, I was slightly skeptical because I haven't gotten a good apricot at a grocery store since moving here.  The apricots I espied did look nice - and they were ripe.  They had a nice blush to them.  I went for it.

Sadly, they didn't taste quite as good as they looked.  They weren't totally bad, they just weren't really good.  Too dry and just not sweet enough.  They weren't for eating-out-of-hand, but I knew I could turn them into a savory dinner.

I had made pesto earlier in the day and wanted to incorporate the pesto - made with pistachios - into dinner, as well.

Grilled chicken breasts were born!  I sauteed red onion with a bit of olive oil and then added the sliced and unpeeled apricots.  I wanted to add a bit of sweetness, so I added about a tablespoon of honey.  Not just any honey, though... I used Mount Rainier Fireweed Honey that our friends Bonnie and Print gave us a while back.  It has a really unique honey flavor that worked perfectly with the onions and apricots.  And then, just for grins and giggles, I added one dried chile pepper that I crumbled into the skillet. It added just enough balance to the sweetness of the honey.

And the pesto...

It is pretty much a traditional pesto, but I used pistachios instead of pine nuts.  They added a fun and unique flavor while at the same time staying true to the pesto flavor.  You know it's different, but it's a subtle difference.

Pistachio Pesto

  • 1/4 cup pistachios
  • 1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 packed cup basil
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Place everything but olive oil into food processor and process until smooth.  With machine running, slowly drizzle in olive oil.

Refrigerate  or freeze.

So...

For dinner, I grilled the chicken breasts.  I brushed them earlier with olive oil and then salt and pepper.  I purposely didn't add any other seasonings because I knew the toppings were going to be quite powerful.

When the chicken was done, I spooned on the basil and then topped it with the apricots and onions.

The sweet potato was boiled and mashed with just butter, salt and pepper.  Again, I didn't want too add any more competing flavors.

And it all came together just as I hoped.  The garlicky nutty basil complimented the sweet and barely spicy apricots and onions.  The simplicity of the potatoes actually made them stand out on the plate.  And the grilled chicken was the vehicle to pull it all together.

Even being less than perfect, the apricots came through, although I probably won't be buying too many more unless they're local.

And in other news...

The Pasta Issue arrived today!

Victor will soon be back in the kitchen working his way through the entire magazine!

He decided to change the day from Monday to Sunday to allow himself more time to create.  Besides, we'll be able to get the family over a bit more often to share in the fun.

Look for this to start in September.


Coconut Rice Pudding

It's no secret that we're both huge dessert-junkies.  It is seldom that there is not something sweet for an after-dinner treat.  What can I say?  I like dessert.

However, neither of our waistlines are shrinking.  In fact, one could probably say the exact opposite is happening.

So... we've been trying to slow down on the desserts every night.  Eating dinner later.  A little handful of something as opposed to a huge slice of cake.

It's been working.  More or less...

But last night the sweet tooth roared.  Rice pudding came to mind and wouldn't leave.

In to the kitchen I went.

My mom made great rice pudding - she made a Baked Pudding that, even though I have her recipe, can never make quite as good.  Victor's Aunt Emma also made a great rice pudding.  It's another one that is not quite as good as the original.  Both are really, really good.  Our memories just see them as being better.

I'm sure it's because we didn't have to cook it.  In my case, all I had to do was wait impatiently for it to come out of the oven.  We never let it cool.  Hot rice pudding was the nectar of the rice-gods.

So...  faced with two recipes I knew I couldn't replicate, I decided to use up some of that coconut milk in the cabinet and the sweetened shredded coconut I bought for the Mother's Day Coconut Cake.

I went with a pretty basic concept - a coconut custard with rice.

Coconut Rice Pudding

  • 1 cup uncooked basmati rice
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 3 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 tbsp vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1 cup canned coconut milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup shredded coconut
  • heavy cream

Cook 1 cup rice in 2 1/2 cups water until done - about 20 minutes.  Set aside.

Meanwhile, mix sugar, eggs, egg yolks, and cornstarch in large bowl.

Bring milk, coconut milk, and salt to boil. Slowly add about 1/3 of milk to eggs to temper.  Add everything back to saucepan and cook until thickened.

Stir in cooked rice and coconut. Stir in vanilla.

Serve warm.

Refrigerate leftovers, pressing plastic wrap onto surface.

To serve cold, stir in heavy cream to bring it back to a pudding consistency.

Victor claimed it was the best rice pudding I have ever made.  And who am I to argue?!?

It really was good and there's enough left for a few days worth of dessert-cravings.

 


Macaroni Salad

While I was working, today, Victor was home cooking.   It's a great Saturday Tradition!

Today he created a pretty classic macaroni salad.  Not a pasta salad.  A macaroni salad.

There is a difference.

Pasta salad is made with anything other than elbow macaroni.  Macaroni salad is made with elbow macaroni. (There is a product out there called "salad macaroni" that is just little tiny tubes, but I never buy it.)

The salad was classic in that it had a mayonnaise dressing.  The rest was classic Victor.

Tomatoes and peppers from the garden, hard-cooked eggs, celery, onion, and a can of tuna!

It really was good.  Every flavor was there individually and collectively.  Sometimes the best things are the simplest.

I had brought home a couple of chicken breasts to grill but after tasting the salad decided to grill them and then top them with bacon, sliced tomatoes, and melted cheese.

It was the perfect accompaniment to the perfect salad.

And since I had so little to do with dinner I made coconut rice pudding for dessert.  Victor claimed it was the best rice pudding I have ever made.

More on that later...


Burgers

I love a good burger.

We had some great burger joints in San Francisco when I was growing up.  Beeps Burgers, Tic-Toc, Whiz Burgers... The Cable Car, The Hippo, Red's Java Shack.  Bill's... Hamburger Haven... and the French Burger at Original Joe's.

San Francisco was - and is - a Burger Town.  All but The Hippo and Hamburger Haven are still around - and many, may more have opened over the years.  Hamburger Mary's isn't exactly what it was 40 years ago - in fact it's a franchise, today - but there's also Barney's, Super Duper, and Hall of Flame to name but a (very) few.

We had Fat Boy two blocks away from us at 46th and Sloat before it was torn down to build a Doggie Diner in the mid-'60s, but even DD had a reasonably decent burger.

The great thing about burgers in San Francisco was that they were all local.  Zoning, unions, and better-than-average eating habits kept the chains out until (I think) the mid-70's when McDonald's finally won a lawsuit.  We had food that was fast.  We didn't have fast-food.  No golden arches, crowns, or girls in pinafores.  No KFC.  We had Chicken Delight.

I've mentioned a few times what a great place San Francisco was to grow up.  This is but one of the many, many reasons.  The food was superior because the people demanded superior food.  They still do.

Fast-forward a few years and move east a few thousand miles and thoughts of those burgers are clogging my arteries as I type.   Sitting outside on the patio at Bill's on one of the rare nice Summer days in the Outer Richmond.  Sitting in a drive-in in my 1957 Ford Fairlane (my first legal car) with a greasy burger wrapped in waxed paper.  A Swiss burger with bacon, avocado, tomato, and sprouts.  The Western Burger with BBQ sauce and cheddar. Pure heaven.

I didn't think about any of those places until I bit into tonight's burger.  Had I been thinking, I would have had hand-cut french fries along with the home made rolls instead of frozen cubed potatoes. Maybe even a milk shake.  No...  I wasn't thinking...

The first bite really did it for me.  A crunchy, crusty roll and everything just slipping and sliding around.  And I was a total minimalist!   I didn't put half the stuff I normally put on a burger!  Just cheese, sliced tomato, pickle, mayo, and catsup.  You know a burger is good when you have to get up after only eating half to wash your hands.  No amount of napkins was working.  Had I put any more on it I would have had to eat it standing over the sink.  It really was that good.

So do yourselves a favor.  Eschew the national chains for your next burger and hit up one of those greasy burger joints of your youth.  Wear old clothes and bring the kids.  Remember what a real hamburger tasted like and what it was like to need a half-dozen napkins to eat one!

And don't worry about making a mess.

It is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

 


Tomatoes and Peppers

Farmer Victor did another harvest today.

It really is fun having a couple of things growing outside our door. The peppers and tomatoes are doing great, as are the herbs.  Unfortunately, the critters are loving them, too.  A couple of absolutely perfectly red and ripe tomatoes had been attacked.  We're now at the point where we have to pick the big ones before they fully ripen if we want to eat them!  I actually don't mind the critters having a meal now and again, but it does irk me when they go for the absolutely-most-perfect-tomato and then don't even eat it all!

Oh well...

I knew at lunch that dinner was going to involve fresh-baked bread and tomatoes and peppers, but I wasn't really sure how it was all going to come together.  Victor started and I followed his lead.

Farmer Victor roasted the green peppers and then peeled and drizzled olive oil, minced fresh garlic, and salt and pepper on them.  I had the bread in the oven so I knew dinner was going to be picky-foods.  Stuff on top of bread.  How could that be wrong?!?

I had the bread dough in the 'fridge, so it was just a 30 minute rise outside (in Mother Nature's Proofing Box) and 30 minutes in the oven. Active work time was less than 5 minutes.

Roasted peppers meant sausage and onions.  And candied tomatoes.  I had some andouille sausage in the freezer, so that came out and was fried up with half a red onion. Candied tomatoes was another no-brainer.  I am infatuated with them!  They are just the most fun way to eat cherry tomatoes!  I'm loving them.

And since there was a hunk of brie in the 'fridge, the tomato jam from the other day came out along with some pecans.  Into the oven it went to ooze goodness...  The tomato jam is another serious keeper.  I see more of that in our future.

And, with slices of bread in hand, we dove in!

The fun part was making all of the different combinations... Peppers and candied tomatoes, sausage and peppers, sausage and cheese, onions and tomatoes, cheese, onions, and peppers, tomatoes and sausage, a little bit of everything...  There were just too many combinations but I tried as many as I could.

It really was a great dinner.  Lots of variety, lots of flavor, and lots of fun.

 

 

 


Lemon Pork Piccata

I pulled a couple of pork chops out of the freezer this morning before heading off to work.  I didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted to do with them, but I had been looking at an old Cooking Light magazine that had a few possible recipe ideas.  I often don't have a clear idea of what I'm going to cook for dinner.  Early in the week after grocery shopping, there are usually several options.  Whatever the final result would be, I knew I didn't need any groceries.

Getting home, I was leaning towards an Asian-inspired dish when I completely changed direction - a pork piccata.  The recipe was for a Meyer Lemon Chicken Piccata, but... I didn't have any Meyer lemons and I had pork.  No problem, of course.

I substituted the pork cutlets for the chicken, regular lemons for the Meyers, and prosecco for the white wine.

It came out pretty good and very easy to throw together.

Here's the Cooking Light recipe.  Play with it as you see fit!

Meyer Lemon Chicken Piccata

Ingredients

  • 2 (8-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
  • 1/3 cup sauvignon blanc or other crisp, tart white wine
  • 1/2 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
  • 1/3 cup fresh Meyer lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
  • 2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preparation

1. Split chicken breast halves in half horizontally to form 4 cutlets. Place each cutlet between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound each cutlet to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet. Sprinkle cutlets evenly with salt and pepper. Place flour in a shallow dish; dredge cutlets in flour.
2. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 cutlets to pan, and sauté 2 minutes. Turn cutlets over; sauté for 1 minute. Remove the cutlets from pan. Repeat the procedure with remaining 1 tablespoon butter and 2 cutlets.
3. Add wine to pan, and bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook for 1 minute or until liquid almost evaporates. Stir in chicken broth; bring to a boil. Cook until broth mixture is reduced to 2 tablespoons (about 4 minutes). Stir in juice and capers. Serve over chicken. Sprinkle with parsley.

 


Bread, Pasta, and Fun Dishware

One of the fun things about making dinner at our house is deciding what plates to use.  We do have a few options...

I actually don't know for sure how many different sets of dishes we have.  We have at least 4 sets of four, the 'every-day,' the 'good stuff,' quite a bit of my grandmothers and china from my great-aunt Dolores... And there are any number of special plates we have acquired or collected over the years.  Oh. And Christmas dishes for 36...

Lots of options when setting the table.

I love how food looks different on different plates.  I like the memories of the different china.  The Bayshore Diner Blue Plate Special dishes came from the Westin SFO when I opened it back in 1987.  They were a going-away gift when I transferred to Indianapolis to open the Westin there.  Almost 25 years ago.  The Bayshore Diner is gone - hotel restaurants need to continually reinvent themselves - but I can look at those plates and remember Opening Day with a hostess on roller skates and wearing a poodle skirt - and our fabulous Executive Chef who just couldn't make a meatloaf without it looking like  a pâté or terrine.

Memories...  the plates from Linda and David, the dishes we bought in Seattle with Bonnie and Print at Pike Place Market.  The plates from Cost Plus in San Francisco... The James Beard limited edition plates from the 1992 James Beard Annual Dinner that Susan gave us for Christmas one year.  A story behind all of them...

The fun plates used above are from Teatro Zinzanni in San Francisco.  Emblazoned on the rim is Love Chaos Dinner.  And what a wild dinner that was!  Almost 4 hours of non-stop Love, Chaos, and Dinner!  It's almost impossible to describe - it's a literal circus where the diners are part of the entertainment.  Just unbelievably fun.

And it is all about fun. I took a page from the Victor Martorano Pasta-Cooking Book and made way too much pasta for the two of us. No problem... Lunch for Victor tomorrow.

And just because it's a bazillion degrees outside doesn't mean I can't bake bread!  That humidity makes for the perfect proofing box!  Out to the back deck to rise...

The No-Knead Bread came out great.

The pasta sauce came out of the freezer.

And a good time was had by all...