Sunday Morning

There is nothing better than waking up to a luxurious breakfast, the kind of breakfast that you need time for - time for making, time for eating, and time for slowly but happily digesting. This Sunday Morning breakfast has a layer of spiced and sauteed potatoes, topped with melted cheese, topped with strips of bacon, and topped again with fried eggs.  Just cutting into and serving this meal is a delight.

Ingredients
4 slices of bacon
1 1/2 lbs potatoes, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 shallot, diced
2 scallions, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup fresh parsley
½ teaspoon fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon sage
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 cups of cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese
salt
pepper
paprika
3 eggs

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fry up the bacon and then set aside. Heat olive oil over medium high heat and sauté the potatoes with the onions, shallot, scallions, and garlic. Mix in parsley, thyme, oregano, sage, and bay leaves, and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes become crispy. Place potatoes in an oven-proof pan and sprinkle cheese over the potatoes. Bake the potatoes until cheese is nice and melted, about ten minutes. Meanwhile, fry the eggs and season with pepper, salt, and paprika. Place strips of bacon side by side on top of the potatoes, and then set the fried eggs on top of the bacon. Then, of course, dig in!

Garlic Parmesan Tortellini Soup

Growing up, I would bug my mom constantly to make her tortellini soup. Cheesy stuffed pasta in a garlicky broth of cream and herbs - what could be better? This is my take on her household classic...

Ingredients
3 stalks celery, diced
1/2 cup onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons butter
32 oz chicken broth
8 ounces cheese-filled tortellini pasta
salt
pepper
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
3 tablespoons chopped basil
3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions
Sauté celery, onion, and garlic in melted butter over medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Toss in the chopped herbs, salt, pepper, and tortellini, and cook for 3 minutes or until pasta is tender. Add heavy cream and heat through. Take off heat and stir in parmesan cheese.

Banana Matcha Muffins

Banana muffins are super easy to make. I just love the way the banana combines with the green tea to form this soft and luscious green delight.

Ingredients
4 bananas, mashed
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1/8 cup matcha (powdered green tea)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tins or line with muffin liners. Mix together mashed bananas, brown sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in flour, matcha, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Chai Latte

The weather has been rainy and chilly the past few days here in Southern California. This weather makes me want to curl up on the couch with a book, a blanket, and a mug filled with a warm drink. But what type of warm drink? Nothing sounded good enough, until I thought about chai. This chai latte recipe, with its smooth almond undertone and spicy and fragrant tea, is the perfect antidote to the cold-weather blues.

Ingredients
1 quart whole milk
1 teaspoon of toasted and ground almonds
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/8 teaspoon cardamom, divided
3 cinnamon sticks, divided
1 cup water
8 whole cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3 peppercorns
1/2 of the peel of an orange
1/4 cup sugar
4 teabags

Instructions
Gently simmer milk, almonds, vanilla extract, 1/8 teaspoon cardamom, and a cinnamon stick in a saucepan for an hour. In another saucepan, bring the water, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, peppercorn, orange peel, and teabags to a boil. Let it boil for 5 minutes. Add sugar and the spiced milk and return to a boil. Serve in mugs and garnish with more cinnamon sticks.

Brigadeiros

These chocolatey, almost caramel-like candies rolled in sprinkles are a fun and playful snack. They are also super easy to make, so they are great treats when you are short on time!

Ingredients
3 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons margarine
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
chocolate sprinkles

Instructions
Combine cocoa powder, butter, salt and condensed milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring continuously, until mixture has thickened and pulls away from the sides of the pan, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest until cool enough to handle. Spray some cooking spray on hands and form into small balls. Coat with chocolate sprinkles.

Apple Pie

Apple pie is the All-American dessert. Everyone loves it (except my husband!). With its sugary, cinnamony apples encased by a golden brown flaky crust, it is the ultimate sweet finale to a meal. One of my favorite apple pie recipes is in the September 2009 edition of Gourmet magazine. That recipe is incredibly simple but so innovative in its use of cheddar cheese in the crust. I was in the mood recently, however, for an apple pie that was a bit richer and had more of a molasses taste to it. Here is my attempt at capturing that taste.

Ingredients

Crust:

2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick (4 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening
6-8 tbsp ice cold water

Filling:

7 cooking apples - I like to use 5 Granny Smith and 2 Golden Delicious
lemon juice from 2 lemons
2/3 c Demerara sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 tsp brandy
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1 tablespoon butter, cut into pieces

Whipped cream topping:

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon confectioners sugar

Instructions

for crust:

Mix flour, salt and sugar in bowl and add the cold butter and cold shortening. Mix together with your hands until the mixture has pea-size lumps. Drizzle 6 tablespoons of ice cold water on the mixture. Mix until the dough holds together. If it doesn't hold together, add more water. Once dough holds together into a ball, separate into halves and refrigerate for at least an hour. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

for filling:

As I peel and cut the apples, I squirt lemon juice on the pieces and toss to prevent discoloration. After all the cutting is done, add the remaining lemon juice, brandy, vanilla, flour, salt and spices. Roll out the dough into a 13-inch disc and an 11-inch disc. Place the larger disc on the bottom of 9-inch pie pan. Pour the filling and dot the with pieces of butter. Place the smaller disc over the filling. Cut five 1-inch vents into the crust. Lightly coat the top with milk or cream.

for whipped cream:

I like to serve this with whipped cream infused with a bit of sugar and maple syrup. Beat the heavy cream with the sugar and maple syrup until soft peaks form. Sprinkle some nutmeg and cinnamon on top, and you are good to go!

Tres Leches Cake

Tres Leches Cake is a wonderfully creamy white cake soaked in a glaze of milky, alcoholic goodness and topped with fluffy white cream. Indulging in this three (in this case 4!) milk cake can make all your troubles go away.  Each bite is like a sweet piece of nirvana.

Ingredients

Cake:

1 1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup sugar, divided
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
5 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Glaze:

1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon rum or brandy

Topping:

1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. Beat in egg yolks and sugar. In another bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Add 1/4 cup sugar, and beat until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour into the greased pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean. When cake is cool, prepare the glaze. Combine sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream, and rum and pour the glaze over the cake. Refrigerate for at least an hour. To make the topping, beat the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla until thick.

Mafe with Green Plantain Chips and Rice

On a chilly winter night, there is nothing better than a big bowl of stew to warm you up. This Senegalese classic stew is a great addition to your repertoire. The earthiness of the peanut butter and the tangy sweetness of the tomato come together so wonderfully.

Ingredients

Mafe:

3 tablespoons peanut oil, divided
1 1/2 lbs lamb or beef stew meat
2 carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 turnip, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 sweet potato, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1/4 inch fresh ginger, sliced
1 cup beef stock
1/2 cup peanut butter
28 ounces crushed tomatoes
6 ounces tomato paste
zest and juice from 2 lemons
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon mace
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
salt and pepper

Green Plantain Chips:
peanut oil, for deep frying
green plantains, sliced thinly with a mandoline
salt
pepper
ginger powder
cayenne pepper
lemon zest

Instructions
Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a dutch oven over high heat. Brown the meat on all sides/ Remove the meat with a slotted spoon and set aside. In the dutch oven, brown the cut vegetables and sprinkle salt and pepper on them. Remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add a tablespoon of oil and saute the onion, garlic, and ginger until the onion is translucent. Place meat and vegetables back in the pot. Reduce heat to medium. Stir in stock and peanut butter. Add the crushed tomatoes and tomato paste. Add more stock if mixture is too thick. Bring mixture to a boil. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, sprigs of thyme, and bay leaves. Place in oven and cook for three hours. When stew is cooked, adjust salt and pepper to taste, and add a tablespoon of butter. Serve with white rice.

Heat oil to 375 degrees and fry the plantain slices for 1-2 minutes, or until golden brown. After frying, sprinkle salt, pepper, ginger powder, cayenne, and lemon zest on top.

Pancit and Lumpia

This Filipino meal of stir-fried noodles and spring rolls is the perfect ending to a stressful day. The stir-fry looks so festive with the brightly colored vegetables and the tender meat and shrimp. Stir fries only take a few minutes to come together, which makes them perfect for week-day meals. Crispy golden-brown rolls with a succulent filling are one of my favorite foods of all time.

Ingredients

Pancit Guisado:

4 tablespoons sesame oil, divided
1 cup boiled pork, shredded
1 cup boiled chicken, diced
1/3 cup medium boiled shrimp
1 onion, sliced
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, shaved
4 celery stalks, shaved
3 scallions, chopped
1/4 head of cabbage, shredded
1 tablespoon parsley
1/2 cup chicken stock, divided
3/8 cup soy sauce, divided
teaspoon oyster sauce
1/2 lb rice stick noodles
2 teaspoons lemon juice
salt and pepper

Garnish:
chopped scallions
hardboiled egg
lemon wedges

Lumpia:

3 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 of a yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
1/2 pound ground pork
handful of medium shrimp, chopped
3 dried shitake mushrooms, reconstituted and chopped
1 carrot, shaved
2 scallions, minced
salt
pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons chicken stock
1 tablespoon soy sauce
wonton wrappers
oil for deep-frying

Instructions
for pansit:
Note: When using store-bought chicken stock, I like to add some flavors to it before use. In this case, I combined chicken stock with some roughly chopped scallions and celery. I also cut up a bit of fresh ginger and added a splash of rice wine. Bring to a boil and simmer on low for an hour.

Cook noodles according to package direction. In a wok, saute onion and garlic in 3 tablespoons of sesame oil for three minutes. Add the remaining vegetables, scallions, and parsley. Stir in 1/8 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup chicken stock, oyster sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. When vegetables are soft, add the noodles and the remaining 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 chicken stock, a tablespoon of sesame oil, and lemon juice. Adjust seasoning to taste. Garnish noodles with chopped scallions, hardboiled egg, and lemon wedges for serving.

for lumpia:
Note: I used packaged wonton wrappers, but these would be even better with homemade wrappers or even packaged lumpia wrappers

Heat canola oil in a large skillet, and saute onion, garlic, and scallions until the onion is translucent. Add the pork and shrimp, and cook for about 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and carrot. Season the mixture with salt, pepper, sugar, chicken stock and soy sauce. Continue cooking until the meat is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. Set the mixture aside to cool.

When mixture is cool, fill and roll the wonton wrappers. Deep fry in oil at 350 degrees for about 6 minutes, or until the wrapper is golden brown.

These rolls taste particularly good with a garlicky soy and vinegar dipping sauce. Combine some vinegar (white wine or apple cider work well) with soy sauce and stir, and add garlic powder or minced garlic. Finish the sauce with red pepper flakes or chili powder if you like spicy food.

Fancy Food Show Winter 2010 Cool Stuff

There were a number of things I saw at the Winter Fancy Food Show that really intrigued me this year. But tasting something is not the same as cooking with, or trying something in my own home kitchen, so I decided I would put some of the most provocative products into a separate post from my favorites. Hopefully this makes sense. Next up will be the trends from the show and beyond...


If you love cheese, how can you not fall head over heels for this wedding cake? It's made entirely of Cypress Grove chevre and lovely fresh flowers. For someone who prefers cheese over sweets, it would be a fantastic way to celebrate in style. In fact, master cheesemaker and Cypress Grove founder Mary Keehn served one at her own wedding.


I've been hearing about black garlic for quite some time, but I'm not sure I'd ever tried it before the show. It was offered up in various forms from whole heads, to cloves to liquid. It is fermented and all the natural sugars come out creating a very sweet molasses like flavor and a texture somewhat chewier than a raisin. It has no bite and is actually used in various desserts, believe it or not. I think it would be great with caramelized onions, on pizza, or even in bread. I snagged a sample and look forward to experimenting with it. Hopefully it will be more widely available soon.


Let me tell you, the show floor was simply buzzing about smoked olive oil. Everyone I met asked if I had tried it. Yes, I did. And I liked it, but will need to see how it works on various dishes. It seems like it would have good potential on soups and drizzled over vegetables or to boost flavor on grilled foods. It's supposedly a top seller in Tyler Florence's kitchen shop in Mill Valley.


When I was in Japan I discovered yuzukosho, a paste made from the yuzu citrus and kosho, a Japanese green chili pepper. It's got loads of tangy citrus flavor not just pure heat. I was so crazy about it I bought tubes to bring home, afraid that I might not find it here (fortunately it is available in my local Japanese grocery store). This new product is yuzusco, like Tabasco, and it is yuzu and kosho but in a thin vinegar sauce. It has all the complexity and mild heat of yuzukosho but is much easier to use. I would use it in place of Tabasco, which I find to be fairly simple and one note. I hope the company producing it is able to get distribution soon.


I only tried a packaged mole sauce once, and it was dreadful (actually Trader Joe's discontinued it not long after I bought it)l. I tried both the black and red mole sauces from award-winning San Angel as well as the red cascabel sauce and was very impressed. The red was a bit spicier, the black a bit sweet but each tasted homemade and contains high quality natural ingredients. They were layered with flavors and I could see keeping them on hand to use with leftover chicken and turkey. I'd use the cascabel to make enchiladas.


My friend Vanessa of Italy in SF introduced me to these fantastic Etruria Gourmet vinegars from Italy and their producer, Giuseppe Cagnoni. I had never had honey vinegar before and fell for it, hard. I plan to pick up a bottle and see how many ways I can use it. I bet it would be great on fruit salad as well as bitter green salads. Vanessa suggested using the mild honey vinegar with sparkling water for an aperitif, which sounds great. The raspberry vinegar was also amazingly fragrant and floral. Giuseppe explained how the ancient honey vinegar was probably first invented by accident. All his vinegars are living, contain "mother" and are not filtered.


Another vinegar I liked was this Sparrow Lane pear vinegar. Again, I tried it plain, so I don't have a good idea how it will perform in recipes, but I did like it very much.


One of the oddest things I tried, also all the buzz at the show, were savory filled macaroons from Fabrique Delices. Supposedly these are popular in France. I liked the goat cheese one, but the other flavors such as porcini and sun-dried tomato were problematic for me, as the cookies were too sweet. Since they are made from egg whites and sugar, I'm not sure how the baker will get the balance of sweet and savory right, but I think it's an interesting idea and look forward to trying them again, perhaps with a glass of wine?


The Fancy Food Show has very few gadgets and gizmos, but there was an interesting invention, Bread Armor a special plastic zip top bag designed specifically to keep artisanal bread fresh. It wasn't an ordinary plastic bag, but one made of 7 layers and supposedly it keeps baguettes fresh for up to 20 days. Obviously I need to put this to the test! But as someone who routinely makes bread crumbs or tosses out petrified baguette remnants, I am very excited at the prospect of this product. It can also be reused many times.

Fancy Food Show Winter 2010 My Favorite Things

Here's the thing about the Fancy Food Show, you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you meet the prince. There are thousands of products to sample and not nearly enough time to try them all, so I let my intuition guide me and keep my eyes peeled for what could be something delicious (plus I ask everyone I can about their best discoveries).

Today I'm excited to show you the things I loved the most. Next I will show you some cool new discoveries that I think have a lot of potential...

So without further ado I give you my top 10 picks!

Please don't be offended but I affectionately call this salted butter caramel sauce, sex in a jar. It is hands down the most delicious caramel I have ever tasted. It comes from Isigny in Normandy featuring one of the only AOC's for butter. This jar of caramel contains salted butter, sugar and creme fraiche. That's all. It has depth, balance, texture, and the flavor lingers lusciously on your tongue. I discovered it in the French section of the show floor and so far it is unavailable in the US, but I did my best to convince someone at Zingerman's to import it. Fingers crossed!


Mother-in-law's Kimchi was the only kimchi I saw or tasted at the show. I liked both varieties, but was most impressed with the fresh and crunchy cubed daikon kimchi, it had a wonderful bright quality. I think I could have eaten a whole jar. It wasn't too spicy, and was bursting with freshness.


I'm already a big fan of Rogue Creamery blue cheeses but there were two new ones I fell for at the show, Cave Man, which is aged in a limestone cave and has some earthy notes, and Brutal a limited edition cheese which is intensely flavored and super creamy aged for 3-4 years. Good stuff! Keep your eyes open for it.


Do you ever use creme fraiche? Then you must seek out Kendall Farm's creme fraiche. It is the most delicate and scrumptious creme fraiche on the market. It also works great in recipes, you can whip it and you can add a dollop to pan drippings and it won't just melt into nothingness, it will thicken your sauce. It's tangy and silky and very decadent.


I found Zix ravioli cookies in a section of products searching for a home "on the shelf." They are flaky and rich, filled with a raspberry almond filling. I liked both the regular and gluten-free versions. These are pretty cookies that taste as good as they look. Locavores take note! They are from Sonoma county.


Sometimes you give something a chance that you're not quite sure about. So it was with J. Burger Seasoning from August Kitchen. It is kind of like a mirepoix, that mixture of onions, celery and carrot but in this case it has onions, Worcestershire sauce, tomatoes, bread crumbs and spices, cooked down to a flavorful melange that can season and add texture to meatballs, burgers, sauces, soups, stews, you-name-it. Available at Foodzie. Makes me wonder if I should make something like this to keep on hand in my own kitchen?


I liked all the Ramar ice cream flavors I tried, but the More Than Coconut was my favorite. It was green and included the flavoring of pandan leaves which lent herbal vanilla notes. Very memorable. I look forward to finding this ice cream from the Philippines in Asian grocery stores in the Spring of this year.


I recently went out to a much lauded Italian restaurant in San Francisco. The pizza was ok, and the pasta wasn't anything special. I knew exactly what was wrong. The dough of the stuffed pasta lacked that silky smoothness with just a bit of give. Bertagni pasta from Bologna is way better. It's available fresh in the refrigerator section of markets and delis. The thickness of the pasta varies depending upon the filling, for fillings that take longer to cook the pasta is thicker. I tried the tortellini and am looking forward to trying some of the ravioli next.


I have mixed feelings about goat milk products. Some cheeses and yogurts made with goat milk are good, others are stinky, with too much barnyard for me. The goat milk caramels from Happy Goat made in old fashioned copper pots are pure genius, mild, soft but not too soft, smooth and tremendously satisfying. Very impressive! A local product too.


The final product is something I was sent a sample of not too long ago. It's the pancake and waffle mix from Kodiak Cakes. I generally make pancakes and waffles from scratch, because no mix ever lives up to my expectations. Kodiak not only makes light and crisp waffles, and fluffy, tender pancakes, it is lowfat and filled with whole grains! The ingredients are 100% whole grain wheat flour, 100% whole grain oat flour, non-fat dry milk, dry honey (honey, wheat starch), leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate), egg whites and salt. Amazing! Available at my local supermarket and a new staple in my pantry.

Other Fancy Food Show round ups:
Oyster Food & Culture
Foodhoe
Wasabimon
Lettuce Eat Kale
Yum Sugar
Food Channel
SFoodie
Lick My Spoon
Local Food About.com
Eat Something Sexy
The Baking Bird
Go Dutch Baby
Cake Grrls Cakery
Bay Area Bites
What's Cooking?
A date with flavor
Eat. Drink. Better.
Food Bat
The Second Lunch
3 posts on the show from Is it EDible(!)
The Well-Tempered Chocolatier
Italy in SF note: Vanessa and I went to the show together, so seeing her post will give you a sneak peek at some of the products I will be writing about next...

Macaroni & Cheese with Spanish Peppers: Recipe

I love quick and easy recipes. So I must confess, when I make macaroni and cheese I generally cook it on the stove top and subsequently eat it as fast as I can get it onto my plate. But if I had my choice, I like a bubbly casserole of macaroni and cheese, moist, oozing with cheese, spiked with a little hot mustard and paprika. The perfect macaroni and cheese for me would also have some chewy cheese around the edges and a crisp topping for contrast. I wondered, does everyone prefer this style? So I asked on Twitter and fifty nine people told me they prefer baked macaroni and cheese and about four said they are happy with stove top versions. Baked it is!


Macaroni and cheese is a very versatile dish, some recipes use a white sauce, others a custard sauce and some have no sauce at all. Many variations include the addition of ham, bacon, tomatoes or peas. When it comes to cheese, I've seen recipes using American cheese, gruyere, cheddar, Colby, Monterey jack, and even goat cheese. Most recipes I've seen rely on a combination of cheeses, which adds more depth of flavor.


In preparing to create a baked version I read an article in the New York Times that said most times recipes don't use enough cheese, they recommended twice as much cheese as macaroni. It took several tries to get this recipe right, and along the way I discovered a few more keys to a great macaroni and cheese casserole. If you cook the macaroni all the way through, it will be overcooked after you bake it. For baked versions, you need to undercook the macaroni, and make sure the sauce is fairly soupy so the macaroni has something to absorb. I like layering some cheese to ensure some gooey cheesiness along with a cheesy sauce. Finally a topping of butter, parmesan and panko yields a crunchy and flavorful crust. Panko is crunchy even before being baked, but if you want a dark brown crust, you may need to broil it for a few minutes.


For this recipe I used a combination of sharp cheddar and a fairly new cheese, Bellavitano made by Sartori in Wisconsin. In some ways it's a bit similar to parmesan cheese, it has a dry texture and little crunchy crystals, but it's also a bit like an aged cheddar in terms of flavor and how it melts. Because it's so intensely flavored you don't need quite as much of it when you cook with it. My personal touches to this recipe were the addition of sweet sauteed onions, smoked paprika and piquillo peppers. I wanted to spice it up, but gently. The smoked paprika also lends an orange color to the casserole which is nice if you are using a white cheddar, as I did.


Macaroni & Cheese with Spanish PeppersServes 6-8

Ingredients
3/4 lb elbow macaroni
1/4 cup butter
1 medium onion, diced
1 Tablespoon Spanish smoked sweet or hot paprika "pimenton de la vera"
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 cup all purpose flour
4 cups whole milk
1/2 lb Bellavitano cheese, shredded
1/2 lb sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
10 ounces about 1 1/4 cups piquillo peppers drained and diced

Topping
1 cup panko bread crumbs
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup parmesan cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add pasta to the water, cook until almost al dente (half as long as directed) drain and reserve.

Heat a large pot over medium heat and add butter. When butter melts, add the onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes, stir in paprika and dry mustard, cook over low for about a minute. Add the flour and cook a minute more, stirring. Whisk in milk slowly, and bring up to a simmer, thicken over medium low heat for a couple of minutes.

Turn off the heat and allow to cool for about 5 minutes, then stir in the drained macaroni, Bellavitano cheese and piquillo peppers. Layer the pasta and cheddar cheese in a broiler safe 13 x 9 inch pan, in 3 layers, starting with the macaroni and ending with the cheese. In a small bowl combine the panko, butter. and parmesan. Sprinkle topping evenly over macaroni and bake for 30 minutes. Broil for 2-3 minutes if you want a browner crust.

Enjoy!

For more macaroni and cheese recipes check out http://www.30days30waysmacandcheese.com/

All about Olio Nuovo

Olio nuovo means "new oil" in Italian. Extra virgin olive oil is the first pressing of olives, and olio nuovo is fresh extra virgin olive oil, the very first pressing of the season. It's typically pressed beginning in late October or early November and is available only for a short time. It's not filtered or even allowed to settle the way most oil is, so it may be somewhat cloudy due to particulate matter and moisture. What makes it so prized? Olio nuovo has a creamy, bright, pungent and peppery flavor. It's also rumored to have a greater amount of polyphenols, which may reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer.

When I lived in Tuscany, my host family had a fattoria or family farm in the country outside Florence. The arrival of olivo nuovo pressed from olives grown on the property was a big deal. We enjoyed it by making fettunta, which is bread toasted over an open flame, then scraped with a raw clove of garlic, drizzled generously with olio nuovo and finally sprinkled with salt. It's greasy and messy but the best garlic bread you will ever eat!

While I loved the Tuscan olio nuovo, if you live in the US, I recommend you buy olio nuovo from a California producer, because it's going to be much fresher, and because the ones I've tasted have been very high quality. They range in price from about $10 a bottle up to $40, depending upon the producer. If you're interested in learning more about olive oil produced in California check out The New American Olive Oil which includes profiles of artisan producers and 75 recipes, each using extra virgin olive oil. There are also many California olive oil producers that offer public tours so you can taste, purchase and maybe even see the oil being pressed. Since most olio nuovo can be expensive, even if you don't go visit a producer, I'd recommend going to a store where you can try before you buy such as Pasta Shop/Market Hall Foods in Oakland or Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco. To enjoy it at its best, use it within a few months after purchase.

How to use it
In my opinion, olio nuovo is best for finishing a dish, not for cooking. In addition to using it to make fettunta, I recommend drizzling it on:

Cannellini beans
Fennel salad (raw, shaved thin and tossed with lemon juice, salt and pepper)
Fish, grilled or seared
Goat cheese
Greens that are steamed, such as chard, spinach or Tuscan kale
Lentil salad or soup
Pinzimonio (Italian vegetable antipasto)
Polenta
Potatoes, either red or gold boiling potatoes
Salad, but a delicate one, such as Spring mix or herb
Scallops, raw or seared
Spaghetti
Wild nettle and green garlic soup

If you have a special way of using olio nuovo, please feel free to share it in the comments section.

Why do YOU cook, Mary Ladd?

Photo credit: Mary Ladd

I first discovered Mary Ladd's writing on her blog Jalapeno Girl a few years ago. She was a cooking school graduate who wrote about spicy food and more. At that time she was doing some catering and shared the good, the bad, and the downright ugly about creating and serving meals on a large scale. I enjoyed reading her insider stories about parties of all kinds and her accounts of dining on offal with the likes of Anthony Bourdain. While not a category, I was struck by how often nudity factored into her catering gigs whether at a nightclub or the famous Bay to Breakers race.

Now Mary writes frequently for the SF Weekly food blog, SFoodie and always manages to stay on top of tasty local food and happenings.

"Many of my best memories are food related, so I guess I am trying to recreate that. I cook because it is a way to continue learning about food and culture. Many of the foods I favor today are not ones I grew up with. My folks are great cooks but it is Americana type cuisine, heavy on the (BBQ) meat and potatoes or other starch.

One friend showed me how to roll my scrambled eggs in seaweed, and I was hooked. I first ate kimchee with her. Another explained how many types of matzo balls there are and the ways her own Mother used to make them. Even if people aren't the greatest cooks, they can share the dishes they love with me, and I will usually think about these stories --and by extension, them--when I recreate the dishes in the kitchen. Because I tend to always be thinking about food and cooking, learning new dishes keeps things interesting. "