LUCKYRICE comes to San Francisco

I don't write about events very often, especially ones I haven't been to before, but I'm excited to tell you about LUCKYRICE, an Asian food and drink festival coming to San Francisco. 

LUCKYRICE was created by Danielle Chang a Bay Area native and has seen success in NY, LA, Miami and Las Vegas. I'm not sure what took so long for the festival to come to San Francisco, home of so many fantastic Asian cultures and cuisines! 

Chefs participating include some of my favorites like James Syhabout of Hawker Fare, Azalina Eusope of Azalina's, Alexander Ong most recently at Betelnut, Frances Ang, pastry chef at Fifth Floor, Greg Dunsmore of Nojo and Preeti Mistry of Juhu Beach Club. 

Other chefs include Masaharu Morimoto, Sharon Nahm of E&O Asian Kitchen, Kyle Itani  of Hopscotch Restaurant and Bar, Kathy Fang of House of Nanking and Fang, as well as chefs from Izakaya Yuzuki, Ichi Sushi, M.Y. China, Pabu, Roka Akor,  The Slanted Door, Spice Kit, Tacolicious and more. 

This event will create a one night only night market style event. Some of the top bartenders in town will be participating including some of my personal favorites, Kevin Diedrich of Jasper's Corner Tap, Martin Cate of Smuggler's Cove, and H of Elixir. 

I can't wait to try some of the slated dishes like beef tart ate, Mendocino uni with chiccharones and lime, beef tendon and squid salad and Taiwanese corn soup with poached quail egg. I hope you'll join me! 

The details:

LUCKYRICE

Friday, September 6 from 7-10 pm

Ferry Building

Tickets are $88 (a lucky number)

VIP tickets are already sold out so don't delay! 

Cherry Tomato Pizza Recipe

It's hard to say no to cheese. Since I never tasted Parrano cheese I was more than happy to accept a sample to try.  Apparently it has been around since the 1970's but I can't recall ever seeing it at the market. It's a semi-firm cheese created by a Dutch cheese maker who went to Italy and was inspired to create a Gouda that would be reminiscent of Northern Italian style cheese.  It's aged for at least 5 months and often described as tasting like a cross between Gouda and Parmesan. I'm not sure I agree with that assessment, but I can tell you it's buttery and has a caramel like flavor that complements tomatoes beautifully. 

I've been inundated with cherry tomatoes recently and decided I would use them on a pizza with Parrano cheese. I also happened to have some grilled marinated artichokes and that combination is really something. I added chives for a little color and oniony flavor, but really, just a plain cherry tomato pizza would be delicious too. The good thing about using cherry tomatoes instead of tomato slices and Parrano cheese instead of mozzarella is that neither will make your pizza soggy. That said, biting into a cherry tomato half can be a deliciously juicy experience. 

I love artichokes, but mostly the marinated ones available in jars are not very good. Recently I found Cucina & Amore  grilled marinated whole artichoke hearts in a local grocery store and decided to given them a try. They are now a staple in my pantry!  They are all natural and I think the grilling is what really makes them so outstanding. If you can find them, give them a try. 

Cherry Tomato Pizza 

Two 10 inch pizzas

Ingredients

1 lb pizza dough, at room temperature

Olive oil

2 cups parrano cheese

2 cusp cherry tomato halves

2/3 cup drained marinated artichoke hearts, preferably roasted (optional)

1 Tablespoon chopped chives

Instructions 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Divide the pizza dough in half. Lightly oil pizza pans and push the pizza dough into the pans, until it reaches the edge, if if shrinks, gently stretch it back into shape. Top each pizza with 1 cup of cheese and 1 cup of cherry tomato halves. Tuck 1/3 cup artichoke hearts between the tomatoes. Bake until the crust begins to turn brown around the edges and is crisp, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle chives on the pizza before serving.

Enjoy!

Breakfast Crostini with French Toast Style Broccoli Stalks, Gorgonzola, Maple Syrup, Tarragon and Quail Eggs

We appear to have a new addition(s) to the family.

Some kids tote around dolls or stuffed animals or blankets as companions through this big old world of ours. Max, having no concerns about portability, has this.  An owl-shaped suitcase (usually empty, but occasionally an elephant-shaped lunch box makes its way in there).  And we want to bring it EVERYWHERE.  Going to bed?  The owl suitcase needs to get tucked in as well!  Heading to mom and dad's room at 2 am for some early morning cuddles?  Be sure to bring along the suitcase! Going stargazing? God forbid the owl doesn't get to see the moon as well! Distress, inevitably, ensues when the little guy is told that he cannot bring along the suitcase.

And in addition to the owl, our family has also welcomed a new breakfast item into the fold - french-toast style broccoli stalks.  We, as a unit, were previously not super interested in french toast.  Good in theory, but soggy in practice.  Broccoli stalks, after a nice soak in some eggs and maple syrup, browned in some butter, then coated in a sprinkling of powdered sugar, mimic french toast, without the problems of the bread.

And after chowing down on a handful of these stalks, we decided their sweetness would combine perfectly with the strong Gorgonzola cheese and quail eggs we were looking to use in a breakfast crostini.  Add a little bit of maple syrup and a liberal amount of tarragon, and this is literally one of the best things we've ever tasted.  

New additions can be glorious things.  Though it remains to be seen what this owl suitcase is bringing to the table.


Ingredients
1 baguette, sliced
extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

2 large broccoli stalks (outside of the stalks removed), sliced, then halved to fit on a crostini
2 eggs
1 tablespoon maple syrup
pat of butter, for skillet
powdered sugar, for sprinkling

Gorgonzola cheese
french-toast style broccoli stalks
good quality maple syrup
quail eggs, fried in a skillet with butter
torn tarragon leaves

Instructions
Heat oven to 375. Place the baguette slices on a baking sheet (I used a Silpat to line mine). Pour olive oil in a bowl, and brush the oil on each slice. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper on each. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden-brown.

Beat the eggs with the syrup.  Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat; add butter.  Soak the slices of stalks in the egg and syrup mixture.  Place in skillet on high heat.  Brown one side, drizzling some egg mixture on top of the stalks with a chopstick before flipping over to brown the other side.  Flip to brown the other side. Sprinkle the french-toast style stalks with powdered sugar.

Assemble the breakfast crostini by adding a generous layer of Gorgonzola to each baked baguette slice.  Then add a french-toast style stalk to each one.  Using a chopstick, drizzle a bit of maple syrup on top of each stalk.

To fry the quail egg, heat a skillet to medium low.  Add some unsalted butter to the pan and let it melt.  Separate most of the white from the yolk of the quail egg by carefully cutting off the top half of the egg using a sharp knife.  Be careful not to puncture the yolk.  Pour out as much of the white into the pan as you can until you're left with a yolk and a bit of white.  Drop this onto the pan and cook just until the white stops being translucent.  Should only be 10-20 seconds.  Use a spatula to remove from the pan and place onto the crostini.

Finish with a sprinkling of torn tarragon leaves.

Watermelon Summer Smoothies Recipe

Recently Safeway invited me to visit a watermelon grower, Perry & Sons. Safeway has been working with Perry & Sons for 60 years and wanted to put a draw attention to their commitment to local growers. I learned a lot about watermelon, enjoyed some lovely watermelon cuisine but to be honest, I was a little disappointed. The watermelon I took home was a seedless variety and it lacked the depth of flavor and sweetness of a seeded watermelon. It was good, just not as sweet as I would have liked. 

I tend to shy away from buying watermelon because it's such a big fruit. So what do you do with lots of watermelon? In addition to making wonderful salads, I discovered it's terrific for smoothies. The trick is adding another fruit to complement it. I tried cantaloup, banana and blueberries and each were wonderful. It makes sense since watermelon is so good in agua fresca. I bet just about any other summer fruit would be great with watermelon such as peaches or raspberries. And no yogurt or milk needed. Just fruit! 

Interestingly enough my favorite bite of watermelon served on the tour was a chunk of watermelon marinated in balsamic vinegar, it intensified the flavor and balanced the sweetness. If you've got a lot of watermelon on your hands, try it in savory dishes such as salsa, wrapped in prosciutto, in gazpacho with shrimp or in a ceviche. And you can whittle a watermelon down to almost nothing if you blend it up in a smoothie...

Watermelon Summer Smoothies

1 serving

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup diced chilled watermelon 

1/2 or more frozen fruit such as banana, blueberries, strawberries, etc. 

Instructions

Place the fruit in the blender and blend until smooth. Ok that's it! Nothing more to it. 

Enjoy! 

Disclaimer: I was a guest of Safeway and received a watermelon, I was not paid to write this or any other post on Cooking with Amy. 

Steamed Asparagus and Radishes with an Espresso Rose Spice Mix

We weren't sure what to expect when introducing our pig cat to his little sister - the puff cat.  Maybe he would take her under his wing (or paws, I suppose), and show her the ropes.  Or maybe he would be offended by her presence, thinking we were trying to replace him with a fluffier, tinier version.  Or maybe he would be sort of a bully, defending his territory against this miniature intruder.

Rambo chose to go with the latter of these options. The defending against a super tiny puff thing that looked more like a cottonball that an actual cat.  That was, apparently, the logical option.  Though in his defense, we do think JiJi can be a bit of a drama queen, reacting to offences that were never even made in the first place.  But I digress.

Sometimes, introductions can be weird.  Or awful.

These seemed like very likely outcomes when I introduced instant espresso powder, ground dried porcini mushrooms, and ground dried rose petals to some steamed asparagus and radishes.

It wasn't weird, or bad, at least to me!  The flavors combined to give a floral, sultry note to the veggies.  A generous douse of melted butter gave them a luxurious feel.  The spicy edge of the radish is tamed in the steam, playing quite nicely with the earthy flavors of the asparagus spears.  All in all, I would say the introductions went quite well, indeed.

And though Rambo and JiJi had a rocky start to their relationship, they get along quite well now.  Rarely are they found more than a couple of feet apart.

Do you also have the problem of being completely incapable of resisting the allure of radishes?  And then you bring them home and are like, oh wow, I'm totally sick of eating these alone as a snack, what else can I do with them?  Fear not! Cooking Light has a slideshow of recipes using those adorable little root vegetables!

Ingredients
1 bunch asparagus, woody ends removed
1 bunch radishes, leafy tops removed, halved
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground dried porcini mushrooms
1/4 teaspoon ground dried rose petals
1/4 tesaspoon ground instant espresso
3/8 teaspoon vanilla salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
pinch ground clove

Instructions
Bring a medium pot of water to boil.  Add the asparagus spear on one side of a steam basket and the radishes on the other.  Place on top of the boiling water.  Remove the vegetables once they reach your desired tenderness (I did my asparagus for about 6 minutes and the radishes for about 8 minutes).

Whisk the melted butter and lemon juice, and pour desired amount over the steamed vegetables.  In a small bowl, stir together the ground mushrooms, ground rose, espresso, vanilla salt, black pepper, and clove. Sprinkle and toss with the veggies.

Ginger Peach Preserves Recipe

I am happy to be a "canbassador" for SweetPreservation.com, a community site of the Northwest cherry growers and soft fruit growers of Washington state. They sent me a big box of juicy, sweet, ripe Country Sweet peaches which I agreed to preserve, of course. A post from Dorie Greenspan on Facebook about ginger, peach vanilla jam inspired me to create preserves with the same flavor combination. 

The difference between preserves and jam is sugar. Jam uses a lot of it and preserves use less. I like the flexibility of preserves. You can use preserves in place of jam but you can also use preserves in recipes or as a dessert topping. It's particularly good mixed with plain yogurt. The ginger and vanilla complement the tangy sweet flavor of peaches. I used a combination of fresh ginger and candied ginger, something I found in a ginger peach jam recipe. The ginger is very subtle, you just get a hint of it towards the end of each bite. 

SweetPreservation is a good starting point for canning and preserving. It offers how-to and safety basics, downloadable labels, gift ideas, instructions for throwing an at-home canning party as well as the health benefits of canning. Just so you know, I don't have a canner, funnel or jar lifter. I used a big pot that holds 12 half pint jars, a small plastic scoop instead of a funnel and regular tongs instead of a jar lifter. So give canning a try! You don't need special equipment (or mad DIY skills).

More peach preserving ideas at Punk Domestics. 

Since we're on the subject of peaches, and how you should make the most of them while you can, I highly recommend, The Perfect Peach by Marcy Nikiko and David "Mas" Masumoto, a great book of recipes and stories. 

It's the book for peach lovers, since the Masumoto family lives and breathes peaches and has explored every way and shape of using them.  I've been inspired by the soups, salsas and salads already this season and I know you will be too. 

Ginger Peach Preserves with Vanilla

Makes 12 half pint jars, plus a little more, so fill another jar to keep in the fridge

Ingredients

12 cups peeled, pitted and chopped peaches

1/4 cup minced candied ginger

1 Tablespoon microplaned fresh ginger

2 large vanilla beans or more if small or skinny

2 1/2 cups sugar or more to taste

1/3 cup no/low sugar needed pectin

Instructions

Set up your space for canning. I put out towels and paper towels for cleaning and drying the lids and tops of the jars. Sterilize the jars and lids and put a spoon in the freezer.  Put the peaches and any juice in a large pot (at least 5 quarts) Slice open the vanilla beans, strip out the seeds and add the seeds and pods to the pot along with the ginger. Bring to a boil then simmer and stir for about 10 minutes until the peaches are soft. Remove the pods. 

Whisk the pectin into a cup of sugar. Add the sugar and pectin and bring the preserves back to a boil. Taste it for sweetness and add more sugar as needed. Dip your frozen spoon into the preserves. Run your finger through it, if the path stays clear the preserves are done.

Fill each jar to the first thread so that there is 1/4 - 1/2 inch head room. Clean and dry the rim, place a dry top on and secure with a ring. Process (boil) the jars for 10 minutes then remove them and let them sit undisturbed until completely cool, 12 hours minimum. Test to make sure they are properly sealed and you are good to go. 

Enjoy! 

Jordan Estate Tour & Tasting

If I ask you about your favorite wine, you will probably tell me where you enjoyed it and with whom. Perhaps it was at a picnic on a perfectly sunny day, or on a date with the love of your life. Maybe it was at the winery where the wine was made, but probably not. My point is this, wine, like food, is enjoyed in context. It can be very hard for a winery to create a truly memorable experience with wine, but one winery is giving it a shot. 

I'm lucky to have gotten to spend some time at the Jordan winery and to enjoy firsthand the food, wine and hospitality that they are about. I've stayed on their property, had lunch and a full tasting, attended one of their famous halloween parties and gotten to know their talented and creative chef and his wife who heads up hospitality and events. Those experiences have been limited to a privileged few, up till now. And while Jordan uses as many means possible to share the winery experience and lifestyle virtually including photography, videos and even a blog, nothing takes the place of being there. 

The soon-to-be-launched Jordan Winery Estate Tour & Tasting is best described as a fully immersive affair. You start at the winery for a little continental breakfast with fresh fruit grown on the property plus fresh baked goods. 

The first leg of the journey takes you to the garden where you get to see the fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers growing and perhaps enjoy a nibble of something you pick. Across from the garden are a couple of extremely friendly and adorable donkeys and a chicken coop with about a dozen or so chickens, 

Next you'll continue your ride around the estate which is mostly undeveloped and preserved. The estate is 1200 acres including 112 which are used for vineyards and 18 acres with olive trees, gardens, lakes pastures and woods. On the ride you'll likely see some cattle, a mix of Texas longhorn and black angus cross breeds. 

The next stop is at a pretty lake one of two on the property, with a view of  the olive orchard and vineyards. At this point you'll enjoy a selection of  Russian River Chardonnay and two dishes, a fresh escabeche of vegetables and some sushi rice with fruit. The dishes are light but complement the wine in a fresh unexpected way. Dip your bread into olive oil from the estate while feeling the breeze waft through the olive trees. 

And then it's on to a vineyard to see the progress of the vines and grapes. Ask questions, take pictures, pluck a grape and pop it in your mouth; this is where wines are born. 

Finally your journey takes you to a peak, with 360 degree views looking down into the valleys below surrounded by mountain ranges. Another few bites await, some beef likely from the ranch with seasonal vegetables and a selection of cheeses (including a delectable truffled brie from Marin French Cheese), crackers and bread and Jordan's Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. I kept imagining what a perfect spot this would be for a proposal or perhaps to celebrate a special anniversary. There is a little treat at the end of the experience, but I think it's best to keep at least one thing a surprise.

The Jordan Winery Estate Tour & Tasting takes several hours and is not cheap at $120 per person, but it has the potential to be quite memorable. Tours run from mid April through mid November, and begin at 10 am, reservations available online. My thanks to Jordan for allowing me a sneak peek!

Disclaimer: I was a guest of Jordan Winery and helped to organize a preview visit for food and wine bloggers, but I was not financially compensated.