Baked Flour Tortilla Chips, Crisp and Flaky

Remember those chips in the background of this post?  We loved them so much, we thought we'd give them their very own shiny post.  These chips are all about simplicity.  Wedges of flour tortillas are coated in canola oil and sprinkled with salt, then tossed on a pan to get all crisped up in the oven.  That is all it takes to get some crispy, flaky baked chips.  It's a great, healthy alternative to fried tortilla chips, and we honestly think they taste better too, with the right tortillas.  You just don't get that flakiness with deep frying.  Oh, and a word to the wise... do not use gluten free spinach tortillas you find at Whole Foods just because they sound cool.  They do not taste good.  At all.  Just use Mission flour tortillas...

Ingredients
4 flour tortillas (I like using Mission brand tortillas)
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions
Heat oven to 350.  Cut each tortilla into 8 wedges, like a pie.  Place in large bowl.  Drizzle with oil and salt.  Using tongs, coat each wedge with the oil and salt.  Place the wedges carefully on two baking sheets (you don't want them stacked on top of each other), and place them in the over for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy.

On Julia Child's 100 Birthday

Today marks what would have been Julia Child's 100th birthday. She's a bit like America's culinary mother, the woman who encouraged and cajoled us into the kitchen to be become better cooks, with her humor and her can do attitude. I wish I had a great personal Julia Child story, but alas, I don't.  I can only share that like so many others, I have collected her cookbooks, cooked many of her recipes and thoroughly enjoyed watching her on TV.

Right now I am in the midst of reading Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child, the most comprehensive biography of Julia Child, written by Bob Spitz, someone who not only knew her, but admits to having had a crush on her. It's over 500 pages long and includes lots of anecdotes but it's really her character that shines through in the book and makes it such a good read. You can read an excerpt online.  

Also on my nightstand is a children's book that features Julia Child. Minette's Feast has illustrations that are somewhat reminiscent of Maurice Sendak. The book is short, perfect for bedtime reading. It incorporates tidbits and quotes from Julia Child, but it's really just the backdrop for a fictional story about her cat. It's light and fluffy (kind of like the cat!), and it will definitely please very young children more than adults, unlike Bon Appetit: The Delicious Life of Julia Child, a children's book for slightly older kids, that I believe all Julia Child fans will relish. 


Julia Child has been the focus of many of my blog posts over the years, both before her death and afterwards. Feel free to peruse them: 

Julia Child's Ratatouille recipe  and a review of Bon Appetit: The Delicious Life of Julia Child Julia 

Child Panel Discussion with great personal stories from those who knew her 

Julie & Julia, the movie an inside look at the making of the movie and the food scenes

Happy Birthday Julia!  includes her crepe recipe

Julia Child's Clafouti recipe

Thank you, Julia Child my personal tribute to Julia Child, a day after she passed away

and don't miss Jacques Pepin's charming recollection of Julia Child, it was published in the New York Times, yesterday.

Smoky Strawberry and Corn Salsa

Jerry Seinfeld once argued that cinnamon should have a rightful spot in the pantheon of tabletop spices, standing right next to salt and pepper.  Yes, once again, I am referencing an episode of Seinfeld.  I am that topical with my pop culture references - Seinfeld, MASH, Alanis Morissette.  This, among other things, I take as evidence that we are old at heart.  

But I am in complete agreement with Jerry about cinnamon.  It definitely deserves to stand proudly next to the salt and pepper on tables everywhere.  Lately, however, I feel like I would add something else to that mix, and it may be a bit surprising... strawberries.  Apparently I've become quite smitten with them, adding them to everything from pate to breakfast sandwiches to black bean wraps to muffins - and now salsa.  This salsa omits tomatoes entirely in favor of strawberries, and when I say salsa, yes, I mean for chip dipping.  Sweet, spicy, smoky, and sour, it's a surprisingly great match, and the fact that it looks a bit like regular salsa is a fun play on the senses.  Just one more example to convince me that strawberries can be used almost anywhere to make something better.

Ingredients  
1 cup corn kernels, either thawed if frozen or fresh
1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons crumbled cotija cheese

Instructions  
This is super easy.  Just toss the corn, strawberries, and jalapeno in a bowl.  In a small bowl, stir together the liquid smoke, lemon juice, and lemon zest.  Toss with the corn and berries, then stir in the cotija cheese.  Serve with chips.

Brown Butter Macaroni and Cheese

I'm such a sucker for fall. Pumpkins, maple syrup, nuts, pumpkins, vanilla, nutmeg, apples, pears, cinnamon...did i mention the pumpkins?  Then there are the changing colors of the leaves and those crisp sunny days with a slight chill filling the air.  I totally pine for all those romantic fall activities - pumpkin patches and apple orchards, hay rides and corn mazes.  So, it is ironic.  Hmm, I don't think ironic is right, unless we are talking about the Alanis Morissette definition of ironic.  But it is a wonderful cosmic life coincidence that I now live in Southern California... where there is no autumn.  Don't get me wrong, I really do love and appreciate the weather here, but every now and then, I long for fall, especially on hot, humid, summer days like today.  So I bring fall home to me, imagining that there are deciduous trees outside my window - with leaves changing color and full of those brilliant shades of gold and red and orange instead of palm trees, and i surround myself with pumpkins and squashes and scents of cinnamon.  I eat food that makes me think of fall.  I recently had one of those days.  My very own fall day created inside my head... and I ate this mac and cheese.  It has an earthy, nutty taste with flecks of crisp orange carrots that just says fall to me.

Ingredients 
10 ounces whole wheat elbow macaroni, just slightly undercooked
1 cup finely chopped carrots
1 cup finely chopped cauliflower
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and ground
1/2 cup panko
2 tablespoons flax seeds, ground
1 stick of butter, chopped into small, even-size pieces
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 cups whole milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 pound good quality cheddar (I actually used Beecher’s Flagship cheese), grated
2 tablespoons grated parmesan
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley

Instructions 
In a bowl, mix together the carrots and cauliflower and set aside.  In another bowl, mix together the panko, flax seeds, and walnuts, and set aside.  In a sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Keep and eye on the butter, it will become foamy and brown specks will be at the bottom of the pan, and it will have a wonderful nutty fragrance. Be sure not to blacken the butter.  Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the flour.  Return the pan to medium heat.  Once a roux has formed, stir in the milk, stirring frequently.  Once that has thickened (about 8 minutes), stir in salt, mustard, and cheeses.  Add in the macaroni and the vegetables.  Heat oven to 350.  Grease an 8x8 pan. Pour in the macaroni mixture.  Top with the panko mixture.  Bake for about 30 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the inside is bubbly.  Serve with fresh parsley sprinkled on top.

Duck and Mango Soba Salad

Duck and Mango Soba Salad is a big bowl of deliciousness--slithery noodles, succulent roast duck, juicy mango slices and vibrant green herbs. The dressing relies on just a few pantry staples. Asian pantry staples that is. I recommend you keep on hand six basic items--Chinese chili garlic sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, miso and coconut milk. You can expand that list as you see fit. I always have various types of soy sauce and Chinese vinegars, oyster sauce, fish sauce, hoisin sauce, Mirin, Chinese sesame paste, shelf stable packages of tofu, Asian noodles and some Thai curry pastes. A few pantry staples, a stop to pick up a duck at a Chinese deli and a swing through a produce market and you're on your way to making Duck and Mango Soba Salad!

I shop on Clement Street frequently because there are lots of produce markets with a variety of fruit and vegetables I can't find elsewhere (such as Chinese greens and fresh lychees) shops where I can find dim sum to-go and Chinese delis. I know some people like rotisserie chickens, but I prefer Chinese roast duck. Where I live in San Francisco they cost about $12 for a whole and $7 for a half duck. Roast duck is about as versatile as rotisserie chicken but so much tastier and not expensive.

This week I bought some firm green mangoes for a dollar a piece. You don't have to wait until a mango is soft to use it. In fact, some dishes are better if you use a firmer, less ripe mango. This is one of those recipes. If your mango gets very soft, scoop the flesh from the skin and pit, and freeze the pulp. It's great in smoothies, ice cream and baked goods.

Note: Test the noodles before the package instructions indicate they are done.

Duck and Mango Soba Salad 
Serves 4 as a main dish

Ingredients

6 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons brown sugar
4 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon Chinese chili garlic sauce (please tell me you have this, if not, you need it)
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 7 - 8 oz package buckwheat or cha green tea soba noodles
1 cup Chinese roast duck sliced
1 large firm mango, sliced into matchsticks
4 green onions, slivered
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped or more to taste

Instructions

Whisk the first five ingredients together until sugar is dissolved.

Cook the soba noodles al dente according to package directions. Do not overcook! Once cooked, drain, rinse, and place in a large mixing or serving bowl.

To the soba noodles add the duck, mango, green onions, and cilantro. Add dressing and toss again before serving.

Enjoy!

Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

Coffee is a social drink, whether you are ordering an expresso from a crowded bar in Naples or sipping coffee from a saucer in Sweden, as Marcus Samuelsson's grandfather did. But the coffee ceremony from Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee is something very moving. I got to experience it over the weekend, at an event hosted by Ethiopian born Chef Marcus Samuelsson and illy that was held at Espressamente, the illy cafe in San Francisco.

The coffee ritual occurs when you entertain guests at home in Ethiopia. Marcus Samuelsson explained it's a way of getting together, of celebrating. What I experienced was a form of hospitality that truly envelops all your senses. The coffee is prepared by a woman, sitting on the ground, but fresh flowers and greenery are used to beautify the space. Green coffee beans are roasted, and at first there is only the scent of incense used to begin the ceremony but slowly as the beans toast in a pan over the course of 40 minutes to an hour, the aroma becomes stronger and stronger. The scent is intoxicating!  It fills the space and if coffee is invigorating, the aroma is somehow relaxing and soothing. 

After just 8 minutes the beans begin to pop. When roasted, the beans are transferred to a basket and allowed to cool. Deciding when the beans are ready to grind is crucial. The basket is ingenious, it folds up and forms a funnel to slip the beans into a mortar and pestle where the beans are ground by hand. The grinds are boiled with water in a a jebena, a type of burnished clay pot. The coffee is served in small cups and we drink it black, in some parts of Ethiopia they might add salt or butter. The coffee is fragrant with floral and citrus notes and Samuelsson tells me later that Ethiopian coffee such as illly's MonoArabica blend from Ethiopia is best served this way without anything to detract from it's delicacy. The hints of jasmine and lavender are heady. Served with the coffee is a mixture of toasted grains and seeds, in this case crunchy barley and sunflower seeds that accent the toasty, nutty flavors of the coffee. It's an ancient ritual but everyone in the room is enchanted by it and the gracious East Bay based Ethiopian women who guide us through it. 

To experience some Ethiopian hospitality, please visit Brundo for coffee and spices and Cafe Colucci for a wide variety of Ethiopian food.

 Another post on the Ethiopian coffee ceremony:

Bay Area Bites

My thanks to illy for inviting me to experience the Ethiopian coffee ceremony. Please note, while I worked with illy during SF Chefs, this is not a sponsored post. 

Crispy Buttermilk Sage Chicken Drumsticks

This is the chicken you imagine bringing on a picnic.  You know the picnic... the one where you gather all the appropriate utensils and and a blanket (preferably a red plaid one), and you place them ever so lovingly in an oversize wicker basket.  Then you gather a couple other food items, maybe a crisp green salad, a rustic looking stone fruit tart, and a bottle of wine, a chilled rosé if possible.  You head to a ridiculously scenic location with an ocean view and wildflower blossoms surrounding you, of course.

But... you never actually go on that picnic.  It isn't because you don't like picnics in theory.  You just don't like picnics in practice.  You realize that the chicken will probably be cold and the salad wilted.  That scenic location is actually a public park, so you can't bring that bottle of wine.  I mean, i guess you could bring a flask, but that is a bit less romantic.  And you remember the ants and other assorted bugs creeping around the food and blanket.  So instead, you eat the chicken in the comfort of your own home, warm and crispy, fresh out of the oven, on clean plates with your glass of rosé, and imagine the original, umblemished version of that picnic at the beach.

Ingredients
6 chicken drumsticks
1-2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/3 cup chopped sage leaves
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
pie pan or 8x8 baking dish

Instructions
Place the chicken in a ziplock bag and pour enough buttermilk over the pieces so that they are coated.  Let the chicken marinate in the buttermilk overnight.  Heat oven to 450.  Pour melted butter in the baking dish.  In a shallow bowl, mix together the flour, salt, pepper, and sage leaves.  Take each chicken drumstick and coat generously in the flour mixture.  Place in the baking dish and repeat for each drumstick.  Bake for 25 minutes, or until the bottom side is nice and crispy.  Flip and continue cooking for 10-15 minutes, until the other side is browned as well.