bean salad

This summer I've been eating a lot of variations on the classic three-bean salad. I make a one-bean (green beans), two-bean (green beans and cannellini beans), three-bean (green, cannellini, garbanzo), four bean (green, cannellini, garbanzo, and kidneys). Basically, a bean salad can have whatever bean you want in just about any variation you prefer.

I like to cook my own beans because it's cheaper and tastes better, but if you used canned beans, just rinse them of all the goopy stuff you find in a can. When I cook my own beans I soak them overnight, and then in the morning I cook them while I'm getting ready, and them let them soak in the cooking water until I get home that evening when I finish off the cooking.

To make a bean salad really tasty, you just need to add a few extras. Here are some suggestions-- you can add any variation of these ingredients:
chopped tomatoes
garlic
olives
red onion, finely chopped
shaved parmesan
chopped salami
sauteed fennel bulb

I like to have a slightly sweet dressing on my beans:
equal measure of olive oil and vinegar (rice or apple cider)
a dollop of dijon mustard
a measure of brown sugar or honey
salt
pepper

Let the beans marinate as long as possible before you eat, but if you can't wait to eat I don't blame you. If you want to pump up this salad even more, serve it on quinoa or israeli couscous.

poached egg

A good poached egg is truly and unappreciated food item that is mangled in many restaurants. I just have one question. Why is it so fucking hard to make sure my poached egg doesn't have a hard yolk? So disappointing.

There are "egg poachers" out there in the world, but all they really are is egg steamers, which is different from a poached egg. You don't need no stinkin' egg poacher anyway, all you need is:

a pan
water
egg
spatula

Fill the pan with about 1 inch of water. The pan needs to have a tight lid, I forgot to mention that. Put the lid on and bring the water to a hard boil. Crack your egg into the water, and cover. Now, you have to stand there, do not walk away. This is why restaurants always fuck up poached eggs, they walk away. Not only do you have to get that egg off pretty quick, the water will boil over in your pan. When it does that, lift the lid. When the boiling calms down, put it back on. Repeat. About 3 times. At some point you will look at your egg and realize that it's white all over. Now is the time to rescue your little egg from the pan.

Now this is where it gets tricky and why most people would prefer a fried egg. Very gently ease your spatula under the egg. Wedge it under there, making sure the yolk is supported. Pull it out of the pan, letting the water drain off for a few seconds. Gently ease it off the spatula onto your english muffin, into your soup, or on top of your sauteed spinach. Hmmmmm, sauteed spinach and poached egg...

No matter how careful you are, it's possible you will still break the yolk. At this point, it's an emergency extraction so you can save as much yolk as possible. It's very sad when this happens, but you just have to move on and eat what you get. I usually serve this one to Andrew, because I'm very selfish about yolk, and he does not notice as much.

You will notice that there seems to be a lot of egg white left behind. It's true, there is a lot of egg white left behind. I suppose if you like egg whites and order "egg beaters" in a restaurant then you will be sad that you are missing a significant portion o the egg whites. But trust me, you're missing nothin'.

a soup for all seasons

You know when you have a busy day ahead and the very idea of busting out an edible dinner in 10 hours seems totally out of the question? Back away from the take-out menu! This is my simple, easy, basic soup. You can add all kinds of stuff to it, or you can take it as it is. It's great for every season, because soup is always good.

Here are the basics:
Onion
Garlic
Carrot
Celery
Tomatoes (canned or fresh. no fresh tomatoes in february!)
French Lentils (the small black-green ones)
Chicken stock or water
Bay Leaf
Basil
Oregano
Parsley
Salt Pepper

Depending on the season and supplies on hand, you can add:
Fresh corn (Leaving out the lentils and potatoes. Why? Too much starch)
Avocado as a garnish. So good.
Greens (Kale, Chard, etc. Add when you have about 10-15 more cooking time)
Spinach (save till almost the end or it will overcook)
Green beans
Broccoli or better yet, broccolini
Artichokes (canned or fresh)
Mushrooms (saute in the beginning with onion, etc.)
Parsnips
Poached egg
Potatoes
Canellini beans (fresh, canned, or dried. If dry, soak all day)

I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out, but that's my basic list of options.

I favor French Lentils because they stay firm and do not fall apart. I like that. However, you can also use any other lentil type or even a split pea. These have the advantage of being quick-cooking. If you are going to use French Lentils or dry cannellini beans, rinse them well, pop them into a pot in the morning and cover with water and a teaspoon of salt so they will cook up quickly that evening.

Okay, evening is here, time to whip this soup out. First, chop up that onion and get it sauteing with some olive oil and salt. If you are feeling indulgent, add butter too, or cut the olive oil and just do butter. I'm just saying, butter is good, but fatty. While the onion sautes over medium heat, chop up the celery and add to the onion. If you are doing a potato, chop it up into 1-inch cubes and add that too. Cut the carrots in half and chop into half moons, add to pot. Oh, throw in that bay leaf too. Garlic goes in last.

When everything starts getting soft and smelling good, you will start adding your other ingredients. If you soaked your lentils or beans, pour the water and the beans into the pot. Add chicken stock or water so everything is floating in a nice broth. Cover, bring to a boil, and then turn down to med-low heat. Cook for about 30 minutes or until beans are done.

Whatever you decide to add, make sure you add it at the right time. You don't want to overcook anything. Part of the charm of this soup is the good-tasting vegetables. Generally, 5 minutes is enough time, with the exception of heartier vegetables.

Now I know you want to know about the poached egg. I learned this from Olga's Restaurant on Orcas Island. In fact, I came up with this recipe from a soup I had there. The poached egg is so fucking good. It adds some protein, and if you are an egg hound like me, then you will be really happy. I had this soup for breakfast, which is probably why they threw the egg on. But I think it's perfectly appropriate for dinner too.

The finishing touch with this soup is crusty bread. But regular old sliced bread is great too. Or skip the bread, you don't need it!

pine nuts

There are certain things that I think of as "food of the gods". These are simple items that are easy to make and totally delicious. Toasted pine nuts fall into this category.

What is so good about toasted pine nuts? Pine nuts are super fatty, (good fats, of course) and when you toast them, they have this amazing flavor akin to bacon bits. Obviously there is nothing that is as good as bacon bits, but this can be a great substitute for you vegetarian types. The rest of us will eat real bacon bits.

Toasting pines nuts is touchy affair, because pine nuts are delicate and burn fast. A toaster oven is the ideal place to toast them, or on the stove top in a pan. Just keep your eyeball on them!

A simple way to use toasted pine nuts is to sprinkle them on salad, sauteed vegetables, or grind them up with basil and parmesan for pesto.

I invented this recipe for pine nuts, it's a paste that can be used on fish, in pasta with vegetables, on vegetables without pasta, spread on bread with butter-- oh yeah-- or whatever else that sounds good.

You need:
some toasted pines nuts, let's say a half cup.
some lemon zest, like a tablespoon or more if you think it needs it.
3 cloves garlic
fresh basil and/or parsley, about 1/4 cup
salt, the chunky kind if possible, only because I love the texture

Chop everything up super fine, and paste it on!

omelet

The omelet is one of the world's perfect foods. The best thing about it is that once you know what you are doing with the omelet, you can be a Master Omelet Maker. Let's be clear: most people do not know what to fuck they are doing when it comes to making and omelet. But you are about to.

Back to the perfection of the omelet: It's fast, it's easy, it's nutritious and tasty. You can also throw just about anything into it and it will taste good. Know why? Because an omelet contains melty cheese, and melty cheese is good with everything. Name one thing that is not good with melty cheese. ... ... ... Can't do it, can you? Now, this is the meal you make when you forgot to plan any kind of dinner. Or lunch or breakfast. The omelet is one of those rare things you can eat for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner.

For an omelet you need:
a non-stick omelet pan, or a wide and shallow pan
a rubber spatula
butter
eggs
salt
milk
cheese
whatever you are going to throw in there. You can throw pasta into an omelet and it will taste good. If you are using vegetables, give them a saute or a steam first.


Now the key to a good omelet is lots of butter. Coat the pan with it, I want to see some froth on that pan when the butter melts. You want your temperature to be medium-- not too hot, not too cool, but if you must err on any side, too cool is better than too hot. If you cook an omelet too quickly it will not be right. Crack your eggs into a bowl and stir them just enough to break up the yolks and integrate the salt (big pinch) and the milk (a splash). Also, have your cheese ready if it needs to be grated or sliced. I hope you know enough to know you can put any kind of cheese into an omelet.

When the pan has some nice heat on it, pour your eggs in. Let's talk pan-to-egg ratio a minute: you don't want to load up the pan with to many eggs. If you pour too much in there, it will take forever to cook. You want no more than a half inch of eggs in the pan. When you pour in the eggs, just let them sit. Don't fuck with them, these are delicate chicken fetuses we are dealing with. What you are waiting for is for the edges to set a bit. When they do, whip out your rubber spatula, gently lift up the edge of the omelet, as much of it as you can, and tilt the pan so the runny stuff flows off the top of the omelet and onto the pan where you just lifted the omelet. Shimmy your way all around the pan with this method. Keep doing this until no more runny stuff is left. When this happens, turn the heat down a notch and clap a lid on the pan. This will finish the cooking of the egg, and any runny stuff you couldn't tuck underneath the cooked egg.

Go get your filling supplies, take the lid off the pan, and cover half of the omelet with it. Which half you ask? The left half if you are right-handed, and the right half of you are left-handed. The reason for this will become clear in a moment. Clap the lid back on, and turn the heat off so your cheese can get melty, and any cooking that still needs to get done can finish up.

Assemble your plates. Now, if this is one person-one omelet, then shimmy (I love that word) the omelet onto your plate, filling side first. When the first half of the omelet hits the plate, lift the pan so that the unfilled side can flip over and land on the filling, making the perfectly folded omelet. If this is a two-or-more omelet, then cut it in the pan, and manually fold it over and lift each individual piece. Now, why do you cut the omelet while it is still open? Because it is easier to cut the filling without a layer of egg coming between you and your knife, therefore making you look even more masterful as you present this perfectly cooked and perfectly presented omelet. Viola!

let's roast a chicken

There is nothing easier than roasting a chicken, and the best thing about it is that you have a chicken carcass to pick off, to boil down into stock, and to enjoy for a day, maybe two, after the roasting goes down in your oven.

The key to an excellent roast chicken is to keep it basic and easy. No olive oil baths, no spice rubs, no stuffing it with fresh Meyer lemons or whatever. Okay, I lied. I actually really like to brine the chicken for at least 3 hours before roasting. The salt brine locks in all the juiciness and gives the bird amazing flavor. You will never go back. So if you have the time, here is the brine recipe:
1 quart water
1/2 cup kosher salt OR 1/4 table salt
1/2 sugar

Put it all into a stock pot, pop the bird in, and the refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes and up to 8 hours. Generally, you want to use a quart of water for every pound of bird, and the recipe above is proportional, so you have to increase the salt and sugar for every quart. Now, I have to say that I hate using up that much sugar on a chicken, so I usually cut it off at 1/2 cup or so. Maybe I would get a much better bird if I used more sugar, but it's so damn good anyway that I'm not concerned about it.

Now, if you choose to skip the brine, that's okay. Either way, you want to rinse Mrs. Chicken off. When you are done, you want to dry her off. Yes, take a towel and dry her down. Why? Because dry skin makes crispy skin, and that's what we want. One time, I went a little crazy and put the bird in front of a high speed fan for 20 minutes, and that was one crispy bird. I think I ate the whole skin in one fell swoop and then told Andrew that the bird came... skinless. Yeah yeah, skinless, that's the ticket!

Put her in or on your roasting pan, breast side up, and rain salt down on that bird. Even if you brined it, get salt all over Birdy. I like to put some fresh thyme on there too. Pop Birdy into a 450 degree oven and let 'er cook for 50-60 minutes. Don't baste her, don't butter her, just leave her alone. If you have a meat thermometer you can pull her out at 165 degrees. If not, yank her at 50 minutes, 60 minutes if she's extra-big (and she shouldn't be since I hope you are eating an organic, free-range, no hormone chicken.) Let her sit for 10 minutes before you tear her apart and eat her like the animal you are.

farmer's market salad

This is an amazing salad, and it can be served as a main with a side of pasta or israeli couscous. Or, by itself. The first time I had this was at Rustic Canyon Restaurant in Santa Monica. My sister and I wrote down the ingredients in the restaurant and went to the Farmer's Market the next day and bought the ingredients. I call this salad Farmer's Market Salad because you can make this salad at any time of year, you just use seasonal vegetables.

I always start with a base of cauliflower, carrots, and fennel, three things that are almost always available. Then you add something green like asparagus, or green beans, or peas, or broccoli. It depends on the time of year. No asparagus in December!

Chop all of the vegetables into bite-sized pieces. I like to cut the carrots on a severe diagonal, nice and thin. The fennel you will saute in olive oil with garlic until it is soft. The rest you will par boil.

Start by getting a pot of water boiling. Have at the ready a bowl full of ice to stop the cooking when you pull the vegetables from the water. You want to vegetables to be tender, not soft, with just a bit of crispness. I like to boil everything separately to make sure nothing gets overcooked or undercooked (re-using the same water) but you can do it all at once, putting the heartier vegetables in first, following up with more delicate vegetables. You don't want to boil anything longer than 3 minutes. Pop them straight into the ice water.

Next, toss the vegetables and fennel together, along with a basic olive oil and vinegar dressing, or any salad dressing. Cheese is a great thing to add, like parmesan or feta. Chopped olives are also delicious, and so are toasted nuts, especially pine nuts.

lamb stew

This is my favorite lamb stew in the world. It's hearty, easy, and delicious. The recipe calls for lamb shoulder, but I use whatever boneless cuts of lamb I have. You could also substitute beef. I think you could also substitute chicken, but then I would also use chicken broth instead of beef, and white wine instead of red.

LAMB STEW
2 pounds boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes and trimmed of fat
2 Tbs flour
2 Tbs canola oil
1 large onion, chopped fine
6 garlic cloves, chopped fine
4 carrots, cut into 1/2 pieces
2 Tbs brown sugar (I skip or substitute with whatever sugar I have)
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp ground cumin (I like to buy seeds and then grind them with a pestle and mortar)
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground clove
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 1/2 cups dry red wine
3 cups beef broth

In a bowl toss lamb with seasoned flour until well coated. In a 4- to 6-quart heavy saucepan heat 1 tablespoon oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and brown lamb in 2 batches, transferring to another bowl. In pan cook onion and garlic in remaining tablespoon oil over moderate heat, stirring, until softened. Add carrots, celery, brown sugar, thyme, spices, and salt and pepper to taste and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add wine, broth, and lamb. Simmer stew over low heat, partially covered, stirring occasionally, 2 1/2 hours, until thickened and lamb is very tender.

Serve stew over couscous or noodles or eat it by itself like I do.

salad dressing

It makes me insane when people waste their money buying salad dressing. Store-bought salad dressing is expensive, full of ingredients that do not belong in dressing, and basically just sucks. I've been making my own dressing since I was a kid, because that's what my dad did, and he taught me.

Salad dressing requires four things:
olive oil
vinegar
salt
pepper

Mix that up in a bottle, shake it good, and taste it. Too tart? Too oily? Add vinegar or oil to balance it out. Now you can put this on a salad and be good to go. If you want to get tastier, add these things:

dijon mustard
sugar or honey
chopped garlic

want to get all fancy? throw in this:
dried basil
lemon zest
fresh orange juice

unlike school, in the salad dressing world, substitutes are welcome:
walnut oil for olive
rice vinegar for whatever other vinegar you are using

oh, you think you're crazy? try this:
ketchup
poppyseeds... so good

Basically, you can add or sub anything to make a great dressing, just remember your foundation: oil, vinegar, salt, pepper!

spicy eggplant stir-fry

This recipe is one of my standbys, I found it in a Sunset magazine at my physical therapist's office. You can make it without the pork, and substitute or add any vegetable you may have on hand. The really yummy part of this recipe is the sauce, and the eggplant is delicious too. I will typically substitute green beans, or broccoli, or greens like chard or kale in the recipe.
1 pound eggplant
1 Tbs peanut or canola oil
1 Tbs sesame oil
1 Tbs minced ginger
1 tbs minced garlic
1/2 pound ground pork
1/4 soy sauce
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs rice or white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tsp red chili paste (totally worth buying for this recipe because you will make it all he time)
2 tsp cornstarch
1/2 pound extra-firm tofu, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
Rinse eggplant and cut crosswise into 1-inch thick rounds. Cut rounds into 1-inch-wide strips.

Pour vegetable and sesame oils into a 12-inch nonstick frying pan or a 14-inch wok over medium-high heat. When hot, add eggplant and stir frequently until soft when pierced and lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Transfer eggplant to paper towels to drain.
Add ginger and garlic to pan and stir frequently until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add pork and stir until crumbled and brown, about 5 minutes.

In a bowl, mix soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, chili paste, cornstarch, and 1/4 cup water. Pour into pan and stir until mixture is simmering and thickened, about 1 minute.

Gently stir in tofu, eggplant, and green onions until heated through.

essential ingredients

This is my list of basics that we keep in the house and keep a running grocery list for. Whenever we run out, we immediately mark it on our grocery list. These are things we consider essential, but you may not, so edit it to your own tastes. So you don't get panicked when you see how long the list is, take a moment to mark your own essentials with a *.
For better prices, buy in bulk at Rainbow in SF, Berkeley Bowl, or Whole Foods

DRY GOODS
Flour
Sugar
Salt
Yeast
Rolled Oats
9-Grain (for hot breakfast)
Raisins
Polenta
Corn Meal
Brown Rice
Jasmine Rice
Arborio Rice (for risotto)
Pinto Beans
Black Beans
Cannellini (White) Beans
Chickpeas
French Lentils
Orange Lentils
Couscous and/or Israeli coucous
Pasta

Cornstarch
Baking Powder
Baking Soda

Almonds
Pecans
Pine Nuts
(do not overstock nuts, they go rancid if you have them for too long)

CANNED/JARRED GOODS
Peanut Butter
Jam
Tomatoes
Coconut Milk
Curry Paste
Fish Sauce (for thai cooking)
Soy Sauce
Chicken Stock
Mayonaise
Mustard (regular and dijon)
Ketchup
Maple Syrup
Pickles
Lemon Juice


OILS
Extra-virgin olive
Canola (refrigerate)
Peanut (refrigerate)
Toasted Sesame
Walnut (refrigerate)

VINEGARS
Balsamic
White
Apple Cider
Red/White Wine
Rice

PERISHABLES
Eggs
Milk
Cheese (hard and soft)
Bacon
Potatoes
Onions
Carrots
Garlic
Celery
Butter
Ginger

SPICES
Allspice
Basil
Bay Leaf
Cardamom
Cinnamon
Cumin
Coriander
Curry Powder
Dill
Marjoram
Nutmeg
Oregano
Paprika
Parsley
Peppercorns
Rosemary
Sage
Thyme
Tumeric