Bruscetta With Ricotta and Escarole

This is the kind of thing I could happily eat every day. During the cooler months I constantly crave braised greens. I often braise them with beans or chickpeas and serve with a poached egg for dinner. They are great smeared on a pizza or just on top of some grilled bread for a quite tasty and satisfying lunch. I was fortunate to have some homemade ricotta on hand, but fresh mozzarella would be just as fine. I will often forgo the cheese and top with a poached egg.

This dish has quite a lot going on for being so simple. The braised escarole is slightly bitter (like most chicories), there is brininess from the olives and capers, a tingle on the back of the tongue from the vinegar, spice from the chili flakes, and it sits on a fluffy base of sweet, creamy ricotta. It really doesn't get much better.

Braised Escarole

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves (minced) + 1 for rubbing bread
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 head escarole chopped
2 tablespoons olives coarsely chopped (I prefer nicoise)
1 tablespoon capers
up to 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Salt to taste
1/2 cup ricotta
4 slices of good bread (Italian or Sourdough)

Heat a saute pan over medium flame. Add the olive oil, garlic and chili flakes. Cook for about a minute until the garlic just starts to color. Add the olives and capers and cook for a few seconds. Add the escarole and turn the heat up to high. The escarole will give off quite a bit of water as it wilts. Let it braise, stirring occasionally, until most of the water has evaporated. This should take about 10 minutes. Taste and correct for salt. The olives and capers add a bit of salt so I usually wait until the moisture has reduced before I add extra salt. Add some red wine vinegar to taste. I probably added a tablespoon. Just add a teaspoon at a time and taste after each addition. You may need to adjust for salt again because adding vinegar counters the taste of salt. Set aside.

Lightly coat the bread slices with some olive oil. Place in the toaster or grill. Rub the grilled bread with a clove of garlic. This adds some bite, as in spicy garlicky heat, to the bread and makes it irresistible. Top the bread with a smear of ricotta. Sprinkle the ricotta with some fleur de sel (kosher salt would also be fine). Top with the escarole mixture.

makes about 4 slices of bruscetta.

Ribollita: A Lovely Use For Stale Bread

It finally feels like winter again! The weather has been so strange. It has felt like Spring or Summer for weeks, but a few days ago it started raining again. I love lazy Sundays when it is cold and rainy outside. It's a perfect excuse to stay in pajamas all day and make soup or other things that need hours on the stove. It is so comforting when the aroma of something simmering on the stove permeates the house.

Speaking of comforting, I think that bread could arguably be considered one of the greatest comfort foods of all time. And ever since I read Molly's "Sog Story", I have been enamored of soggy bread. I love panades, but something equally as comforting and less labor intensive is Tuscan Bread and Bean Soup, aka Ribollita. I actually find myself buying extra bread just to keep stale bread on hand. The cubes of bread take on a silken texture when soaked with broth. They become like dumplings in the soup. Completely satisfying. Those Tuscans and their peasant food, a lazy Sunday would not be the same without them.


Ribollita-Today's Version
This is just stuff that I had on hand today. Any number of other vegetables and leafy greens can also be used. This is also a great use for Parmesan rinds. I keep leftover Parmesan rinds in a bag in the refrigerator to flavor soups and stocks for making risotto.

1 pound of dried cannellini beans
1 large onion chopped
3 large carrots chopped
3 celery stalks chopped
6 garlic cloves diced
6 sprigs thyme
2 bay leaves, preferably fresh (the perfume that fresh bay leaves impart is rather intoxicating)
about 1 quart of broth (I like this one)
Parmesan rind (optional)
14 ounce can of san marzano tomatoes crushed
about 8 cups of chopped kale (cavolo nero or dinosaur kale is traditional and my favorite)
about 1 pound of stale Italian or sourdough bread, crust removed and cut into 1 inch cubes
Salt and pepper to taste

Place the dried beans in a large pot and cover with about 3 inches of water. Leave to soak overnight or bring to a boil, cover, turn the heat off and leave to soak for 1 hour.

In a saute pan over medium heat, add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, and bay leaves. Saute for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables give off their water and the onions become translucent.

Bring the beans to a boil and add the sauteed vegetables and quart of broth. Add the canned tomatoes by crushing them through your fingers into the pot. Add the Parmesan rinds if using. Simmer partially covered for 1-1 1/2 hours, until the beans are soft.

Remove the Parmesan rinds, bay leaves and thyme branches. Using a hand held immersion blender, blend for about 5 seconds to partially puree the beans and vegetables. This makes the broth creamy while leaving most of the vegetables and beans intact. It is not necessary to blend the soup but it does give the broth some nice body. Add some salt to taste. Don't add salt until the beans are soft. Adding salt too soon can toughen the skin of the beans and prevent them from softening completely.

Add the kale, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes. Taste and correct for salt. Add the bread, cover and simmer another 10 minutes.

Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and more Parmesan

Anson Mills Buckwheat Flour: A Cake

Nearly 2 and a half years ago I had my first introduction to the world of food blogs. I was volunteering for CUESA's Sunday Supper. CUESA is the organization that runs the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building in San Francisco, and the Sunday Supper is their annual fundraiser. It is quite the event if you are into food and the restaurant scene in the Bay Area. I would say that there is somewhere in the area of 30-50 local chefs that are involved. I was a bit star struck that night because to me, these people are celebrities.

I was fortunate enough to be in the room where first courses and desserts were being plated up. It also meant that I was able to taste most of them. One of the desserts that has remained in my mind was a Buckwheat Gateau with Brown Butter Creme Anglaise and Poached Fall Fruit prepared by Shuna Fish Lydon. It was simple, seasonal, and outstanding. It had a dense and chewy texture that I found completely addictive. I even stole a piece to bring home for later. I don't think she minded (I hope not, wink).

Keri had met Shuna before and told me about her blog. So I checked it out and quickly realized that a whole world of food blogs existed. I suddenly had quite a bit of surfing to do on the web. I mean really, I had a lot of catching up to do.


After browsing Shuna's Blog, I realized that she had posted a recipe for her Buckwheat Gateau Breton. Of course I had to recreate it! Ahem, unfortunately mine did not come out like the one I had had at the Sunday Supper. It did have the same dense and chewy texture, but it was much thinner, like less than half the height. Maybe I did not beat the butter mixture long enough to incorporate enough air bubbles? I assume that is an important step since there is no other leavening agent like baking soda or powder added. Shuna's post also talks about the use of Anson Mills Buckwheat Flour which I did not use. I used the organic bulk buckwheat flour from Berkeley Bowl which I thought would be good but maybe there really was something intrinsically special about the Anson Mills Buckwheat Flour?


Finally, 2 years later I decided to give it another go. I even mail ordered some Buckwheat Flour (among others) from Anson Mills. I can't say that my attention to the details of the recipe made much of a difference. The recipe states that the batter should be split between 2 pans, but I added it all to one pan. It still resulted in a cake that was just 1 1/2 inches high. The cake that I remember was definitely over 2 inches high.

Despite the height, I think the cake is delicious. Louis said that he thinks the cake needs to be served with "something". I guess if I were to serve it to guests, I would adorn it with some fruit and perhaps that Brown Butter Creme Anglaise. But it did go really well with my coffee this morning. It is only slightly sweet and a bit earthy. This cake is quite moist and would keep well for about a week (as stated in the original recipe). I can imagine that it will serve me well throughout the week as a lovely afternoon treat when I get home from work.


Buckwheat Gateau Breton
(Adapted from Shuna Fish Lydon)

12 ounces unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 egg yolks at room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoons orange flower water
3/4 teaspoon sea salt (I used Maldon)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 egg white, room temperature

Preheat oven to 325F.

Butter and flour a 9 inch cake pan (or 2 flouted tart pans, perhaps a better presentation). Beat butter until smooth and light in color in a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Scrape down bowl. Add egg yolks one at a time and incorporate fully after each addition. Add orange flower water and sea salt, scrape down bowl and beat for at least 2 more minutes.

Sift both flours and turn mixer down to lowest setting. Add flours gently in thirds just until batter is uniform. Divide batter equally between 2 tart pans or one cake pan. Press batter into pans with a small offset spatula. The batter is quite thick.

Whisk the egg white vigorously until very frothy. spoon on top and spread evenly. Sprinkle a bit of turbinado/raw sugar on top. This creates a lovely crackly top and provides a bit of contrasting texture to the cake.

A Get Well Package: Chocolate Chip Cookies

A family member living hundreds of miles away was recently in a very bad car accident. She is lucky to be alive. Unfortunately there is not much I can do for her except send my love and support, and some chocolate chip cookies. Really, what's more soothing and comforting than a chocolate chip cookie? Well I suppose there is chicken noodle soup, roast chicken with mashed potatoes, soft cheesy polenta with greens and a poached egg, or a chard, onion and gruyere panade (my personal favorite, what's yours??), but none of those travel well.

I came across a recipe last summer for the ultimate chocolate chip cookie. It boasted that one of the secrets to a great chocolate chip cookie is letting the dough rest. Not rest for an hour, like pastry dough or other cookie doughs. Rest for 36 hours! That's nearly 2 days from the time that you make the dough! Usually when you make chocolate chip cookie dough, it's because you want a warm and gooey cookie within the next hour. Was it really worth it to plan that far ahead?

I must say I was a bit skeptical, so being scientific by nature (and profession), I set up a simple experiment. I put the dough together on day 1. I baked a batch of cookies on day 1. I baked a second batch on day 2, and a 3rd batch on day 3. And guess what? The cookies that were baked on day 3 were definitely the best. They got more caramelized and crisp outside while remaining soft and chewy inside. I think it is the combination of crisp and chewy that makes these highly addictive. And the fact that I sprinkled maldon salt on the dough before it went into the oven.

I have found that anything with caramel or chocolate benefits from a bit of salt. Most things need salt to heighten their flavor, but with caramel and chocolate, I like to taste the salt. Please don't use table salt for this. It's too harsh. There are particular salts that are meant to be used as condiments, not for all purpose seasoning.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

The ingredients are given in weights and measures. If you have a scale, it is much easier to weigh out the ingredients than to measure which I find sort of tedious, especially when packing brown sugar or the 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons nonsense below.

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate chips, at least 60% cacao (I just used 1 10 ounce package)

Sea salt

Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Using a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low, add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and mix briefly to incorporate. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24-36 hours. Dough may be used in batches and stored in the refrigerator up to 72 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

Use an ice cream scooper to scoop mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto the baking sheet. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 15-20 minutes depending on you oven and the size of your cookies. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day.

Yield:18-24 cookies (depending on size)

A Gift Exchange: Lavender Honey Caramels

Keri turned 30! We celebrated by spending the weekend in a beautiful house with a lovely view in Tahoe. We also decided to do a White Elephant gift exchange . I suppose I could have wrapped up some of the old candles that I have in a box under the bed, but I really couldn't pass up an opportunity to make some homemade candy.


There are so many recipes that I want to try out of Alice Medrich's Pure Dessert. It is such a beautiful book. It celebrates and highlights the purity of ingredients. It's chapters focus on the flavors of Milk, Grains, Nuts and Seeds, Fruit, Chocolate, Honey and Sugar, Spices, Flowers and Herbs, Wine, Beer and Spirits. As the title suggests, the recipes are all a result of Medrich reexamining old standbys and reinventing them into something simple, pure and unmistakably original. When I first picked up this book to just have a browse, I could not put it down. I have so many cookbooks that I am generally hesitant to purchase more, but Pure Dessert had to come home with me. I will probably post about many of the recipes in the book, like the Heavenly Honey Ice Cream or the Sesame Brittle Ice Cream (ice cream is my absolute favorite dessert). But today is all about the Honey Caramels.

I originally wanted to make the Fleur De Sel Caramels, but that recipe calls for Golden Syrup, and I didn't have any. But I did have an old jar of Marshall's Farm Lavender Honey. This jar has to be at least 2 years old. I have a habit of buying special ingredients and saving them for ridiculous amounts of time. I really need to get over that, but I was happy to have such a lovely use for that honey.

These caramels were pretty fantastic. I made them on the softer side, and the addition of walnuts added some great texture. I don't think they would be the same without them.

Lavender Honey Caramels
Adapted from Pure Dessert

3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup honey
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoon unsalted butter cut into chunks, softened
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups walnuts lightly toasted and coarsely chopped (optional)

Line the bottom and sides of a 9x9 inch baking pan with aluminum foil and grease the foil well, especially the corners. If using the walnuts, spread them in the prepared pan. Set aside.

Combine the corn syrup, honey, sugar and salt in a heavy 3 quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the mixture simmers around the edges. Wash the sugar and syrup from the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush. Cover and cook for 3 minutes. Uncover the pan and wash down the sides once more. Attach a candy thermometer to the saucepan, without letting it touch the bottom of the pan, and cook, uncovered, without stirring until the mixture reaches 305F.

Meanwhile, heat the cream in a small saucepan until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Turn off the heat and cover the pan to keep the cream hot.

When the sugar mixture is at 305F, turn off the heat and stir in the butter chunks. Gradually stir in the hot cream; it will bubble up and steam dramatically. Turn the burner back on and adjust it so that the mixture boils energetically but not violently. Stir until smooth. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, to about 245F. Then cook, stirring constantly, to 248F for soft chewy caramels or 250F for firmer chewy caramels.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour the caramel into the lined pan. Let set for 4 to 5 hours, or overnight, until firm.

Lift the pan liner from the pan and invert the sheet of caramel onto a sheet of parchment paper. Peel off the liner and turn the caramel right side up. Cut the caramels with an oiled knife into 1 inch spares, skinny bars or any desired shape. Wrap each caramel individually in wax paper, cellophane or parchment paper.

makes about 65 1 inch caramels.

Kale Chips: You Can't Eat Just One

I love kale. Actually, I love all leafy greens, so I don't need to dress them up into something else in order to enjoy them. Even Ella, the discriminating almost 3 year old, loves greens. She'll eat spinach over mashed potatoes any day which I think is odd, but whatever, I guess I should just be glad that she eats her greens.

So when I saw a new way to use kale, I decided to try it. It really couldn't be easier. You just toss some kale with a bit of olive oil and salt, and maybe a bit of cheese and roast in a low oven for 30-45 minutes. Voila, kale chips. And they are just about as addictive as potato chips.

I tried one batch with cavolo nero, aka dinosaur kale which is my absolute favorite. It was good, but somehow reminded me of nori, not necessarily a bad thing. And they display beautifully in a glass. I think these would be great to serve with cocktails or to put out for guests to nibble on while you finish preparing dinner. They're also really great after work while you're thinking about what to cook for dinner.

I tried another batch with some beautiful curly red kale. I actually think that I prefer these. The curly leaves provide for some interesting texture and crevices for cheese to stick in.


Kale Chips
(adapted from Dan Barber at Epicurious. com)

One bunch of kale
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan (optional)

Preheat oven to 300F

Remove the large ribs from the kale. In a large bowl, toss the kale with the olive oil and salt. Spread the kale out on a baking sheet in one layer. You may need to use 2 sheets. Roast in the oven for about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the cheese on if using. Continue to roast until crisp, another 20-30 minutes.

Potato and Ricotta Gnocchi

After spontaneously deciding to make fresh ricotta cheese, I needed to find something substantial to do with it. I thought about making ricotta gnocchi, but I really enjoy the process of working with potato gnocchi dough, and I thought that Ella would too. I think that a lot of people are intimidated by the prospect of making potato gnocchi. They have the reputation of turning into dense and chewy rubber balls instead of the light little pillows of goodness they should be. One of the tricks to making light gnocchi is keeping the dough dry enough so that only the minimum amount of flour is necessary. This is achieved by baking the potatoes, not boiling. Another trick is to use a potato ricer to mash the potatoes. This keeps gluten from forming in the potatoes and incidentally is the trick to making the best mashed potatoes as well.

So I decided to make a combination of potato and ricotta for the gnocchi which I served with a simple tomato sauce and some sauteed swiss chard. The tomato sauce is one that I was reminded of here. It comes from "The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" by Marcella Hazan. This was the first cookbook that I bought for myself after graduating from college in 1995. My parents took me and some of my friends to Chez Panisse for dinner after graduation, and my boyfriend bought me Chez Panisse Cooking.

I quickly realized that my kitchen skills were not quite good enough to follow the recipes in Chez Panisse Cooking. I have found that many of the recipes coming from Chez Panisse cookbooks assume that you already know how to execute most techniques and are proficient in the kitchen. I was not. For instance, I did not understand braising. The first osso bucco I made was horribly tough. I knew that it was cooked, but I did not understand that it needed to cook for hours in order for the toughness to melt away and transform the meat into something that you could eat with a spoon. I also needed to learn time management in the kitchen. I needed to understand the order in which things should be prepped and the timing of different dishes so that everything was done at the same time.

Someone recommended that I look to The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. I did, and I credit this book for giving me a solid foundation and confidence in the kitchen. It taught me so much about technique, ingredients and kitchen tools. But I had moved on and forgotten about this beloved book. Until Molly reminded me.

And now the simple tomato sauce with butter and onion is one that I turn to often. It's one of the simplest dinners for me to make while also keeping a 2 year old entertained. It takes almost no effort at all, and the aroma of butter and onion simmering away is intoxicating.

Tomato Sauce With Butter and Onion
(Adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking)

1 28 ounce can of San Marzano Tomatoes (These make a big difference so try to search them out)
5 tablespoons Butter
1 onion, peeled and cut in half
Salt to taste
Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

Put the tomatoes, butter, onion and salt in a pan large enough to hold the pasta or gnocchi. I usually buy whole tomatoes that I carefully squish between my fingers while adding to the pan. Cook uncovered at a very low simmer for about 45 minutes. Stir from time to time. Taste and correct for salt. Discard the onion before tossing with the pasta or gnocchi.

Potato and Ricotta Gnocchi

2 pounds large russet potatoes
1 egg
1 to 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup ricotta cheese (drained)
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
about 1 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 400F and roast the potatoes until soft, about 1 hour. Peel the potatoes while still hot and pass through a ricer into a bowl. Add the egg, 1 cup of flour, Parmesan, ricotta cheese, nutmeg and salt and mix well. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 1 minute. Add just enough flour to keep it from being sticky. This part takes a bit of practice because it is all about feel. I used to be afraid to knead the dough too much, but then I would end up with the gnocchi falling apart in the water. So I think there is a bit of a fine line between not kneading enough and over kneading.

Cut the dough into 4 pieces and roll each piece into a 3/4 inch thick rope. Cut each rope into 1 inch long pieces. Roll the pieces off the back of a fork to create a dent in one side and ridges on the other. Drop the pieces onto a lightly floured baking sheet. These can be covered and stored in the refrigerator up to a day. They can also be placed into the freezer and once frozen, stored in Ziploc bags. If they are frozen they do not need to be thawed before boiling, just place straight into the boiling water.Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt liberally. Add the gnocchi and cook for about 2 minutes, or until they are all floating on the surface. You may need to do this in batches. I usually only add an amount that would cover the bottom of the pot. Use a strainer to transfer the gnocchi to the sauce and toss gently to coat. Transfer to a bowl and grate Parmesan over the top.