Swan Oyster Depot SF
Chicken kebabs
THE SWEETROSE AND MILO & OLIVE COMBO SPECIAL
Sweet Rose Creamery in the Brentwood Country Mart. Milo & Olive 2723 Wilshire Blvd.
I ended up at Milo & Olive twice during a short trip down to Santa Monica. Both times we had a glass of the Aglianico, a super dark and intense red, and a smooth Nebbiolo d’Alba from Piedmont along with our delicious dinner.The branzino ceviche is refreshing, limey and has a kick, the salads and veggie dishes are deliciously understated, letting the ingredients speak for themselves. The garlic knot, the chef/co-owner Zoe Nathan’s creation, starts out as a ball of dough that is stuffed with a garlic head’s worth of cloves, twisted and tied up top with a string you untie once your little ball of treasure is baked and ready to be eaten. Pizzas are baked in a gas-free wood-burning oven, and you can add toppings to it like arugula and prosciutto.
Sweet Rose creamery is another part of husband-wife team Josh Loeb and Zoe Nathan’s empire of Santa Monica restaurants. Their creation is executed by a fellow baking lover and ice cream-maker Shiho Yoshikawa, whom she met along the way when they were both at San Francisco’s Tartine Bakery in the Mission.
Everything at Sweet Rose Creamery is homemade with the freshest and most clever flavors. Some of their amazing homemade desserts include ice cream, waffle cones, toppings, sauces, popsicles, chocolate-dipped bananas, sundaes. Their fresh mint ice cream with shaved in homemade chocolate chips is easily the best mint ice cream I’ve ever tasted — it tastes like mint leaves have just been extracted and magically turned into the perfect ice cream.
GO TO HUCKLEBERRY, RUSTIC CANYON, SWEET ROSE CREAMERY AND MILO & OLIVE EVERY CHANCE YOU GET.
PLANT HERBS!
Thanks to Forni Farms in Calistoga (900 Foothill Boulevard) I was able to plant some herbs, lemon cucumber, gold rush squash, arugula, and fennel, among other things, like jalapenos — I’m most excited to see how they sprout up, not to play favorites.
You might recognize the name Forni Farms because their salad greens are used in many Bay Area restaurants — I learned this past time going that a lot of the chefs collaborate with the farmers at Forni to make custom blends for their restaurants. Visit their farm for their May plant sale, but give them a call for their mixed greens and pickled peppers year-round.
THE FREMONT DINER
2698 Fremont Drive, Sonoma, CA.
I feel like I tell everyone who is going back to California to make their way to the Fremont Diner. It’s in Sonoma, conveniently en route to Napa Valley and it’s easily a destination spot. I sometimes refer to it as my favorite place ever, probably because they have that old-school country diner vibe mixed with incredibly tasty, seasonal, real food, down to a tee. It’s American-style fare, which is usually pretty unhealthy, but they use such quality ingredients and so much love goes into their dishes you can taste it — they cure and smoke all their meats in-house.
Their ricotta pancakes can be ordered as a main as well as a side to whatever other breakfast goodness you may choose, like their Minty Mashed Pea Breakfast Toast, with a poached egg and chile flakes. Chicken and Waffles is an essential Americana dish, which they do quite well, but I have to say their Chilaquiles blew me away — the tomatillo-guajilo they use is a dark salsa that’s sweet, smoky with a bit of spice and goes ontop of the chips. The beans are slow-cooked and barbecue-y and of course you gotta have that fresh, creamy, colorful avocado — I stepped up and added the smoked pork, which flaked off the fork perfectly.
Speaking of pork, their whole hog sandwich, served for lunch, is made with their own BBQ sauce, and has a side of pickled fennel with coriander seeds — mmmmm. Their burger is excellent, especially with a Scrimshaw beer or an Arnold Palmer. You can get either of these with their side of potato salad, which has sliced cornichons and grain mustard, cole slaw, or baked beans. If you’re feeling something a bit lighter and less meaty, go for their grilled cheese which they refreshingly make with goat cheese, asparagus, a spinach salad, and pickled red onions.
I think I’ve covered most of my favorites — their Reuben sandwich is also not to be missed. The cookie above is a peanut butter piglet, which goes really nicely with one of their milkshakes. Oh, they also always have homebaked pecan pie and bread puddings baked with whichever fruit is in season. Coffee is on the house.
This week in food…
Bagel spread from the Standard Grill with sturgeon and smoked salmon.
Pumpkin and goat cheese fritters with lentils from Café Cluny.
Kimchi, Soft-shell crab with ponzu, ramps and avocado foam, Fingerling potatoes with bonito flakes, miso and ramps from Momofuku Noodle Bar.
Squid ink pasta with rock shrimp, chile flakes and bread crumbs from L’artusi.
BANANA DATE TEA CAKE LOAF
Adapted from Tartine Bakery, San Francisco.
This rather dense, moist and sweet cake goes well with tea and even some yogurt — it can be breakfast for up to about a week after baking it. If you’re feeling really rowdy, you can add a cup or two of chocolate chips to the batter.
Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup + 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
3 medium bananas, very ripe
2 large eggs
1½ teaspoons of vanilla extract
½ teaspoon of salt
6 tablesppons. (¾ stick) unsalted butter
¾ cup + 2 tablespoons of sugar
1 cup nuts (walnuts or almonds) coarsely chopped
1¾ cups (about 8 ounces) of dates, pitted and coarsely chopped
TOPPING:
1 medium banana
2 tablespoons of sugar
Using a mixer on medium-speed or by hand, mix all of the dry ingredients: flour, cornstarch, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside. Peel the bananas and place in a second bowl — mash with a fork until you have a chunky purée. Add the eggs, vanilla, and salt to the bananas and stir to mix well. Set aside.
In a third mixing bowl, beat the butter until light and creamy for about 2 minutes. Slowly add the sugar and beat until light in color and fluffy, about 2 minutes – make sure to occasionally scrape down the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Slowly add the banana mixture and beat until incorporated. Again scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again until all of the ingredients are incorporated.
Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the banana mixture. Then fold in the nuts and dates.
Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan and smooth the surface with the spatula. To top the cake, peel the banana and cut in half lengthwise to yield 4 long slices — lay the slices on top of the batter and sprinkle with a bit of sugar.
Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 20 minutes, and then invert onto rack, turn right side up, and let cool completely. Serve the cake at room temperature. It will keep, well wrapped, at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for about 1 week.
GRACE’S QUASI-PASSOVER DINNER
Grace, who is an amazing chef and has her own food blog, www.gracefood.tumblr.com, got some stomachs really happy tonight. She cooked her COQ AU VIN for a few hours in a heavy pot using: chicken legs, bacon slices, carrots, celery and a lot of love — the chicken and bacon juices, along with the spices, vegetables and wine created a sauce that was super tasty, hearty and mouth-watering. The chicken was accompanied by BRAISED PEAS AND LETTUCE, adding bright color and a sweet, fresh taste to the plate, as well as POTATOES WITH SOUR CREAM AND HERBS, which smelled and tasted like spring. To keep things in the family, Grace shared one of her grandmother’s recipe’s of SAVORY MATZO MUFFINS with zucchini and peppers — a perfect way to round out all the flavors.
Check out Grace’s blog, http://gracefood.tumblr.com/
RAW TUSCAN KALE SALAD WITH LEMONY CAESAR-STYLE DRESSING
Serves 4 as a side salad
While you might think that kale is meant to be cooked, it makes a pretty delicious fresh salad. I’ve always loved that classic 1960s Caesar salad, but without the anchovies, and this dressing I created seems to satisfy that taste — it turns out a bit sweet, lemony, thick and cheesy.
Note: If you don’t have a food processor of sorts for the dressing, you can whisk together the ingredients, mash the raw garlic until paste-like, and grate the cheese in.
INGREDIENTS:
2 bunches of Tuscan kale, washed, stems removed and sliced thinly
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
2 heaping teaspoons of Greek yogurt
Juice from 1 lemon
½ teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of honey
½ of a clove of garlic
¼ cup of chunks of super aged cheddar
Salt & pepper
To prepare the kale, wash it and pat it dry or put it through a salad spinner. After you cut off and discard the main part of the kale stalk, chop up the rest into ribbon slices and add to a large bowl.
For the dressing, you’ll need a small food processor to best incorporate the ingredients. Add the mustard, yogurt, lemon juice, honey, cumin, garlic, cheese all at once, and grind up for a minute or two. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Add the dressing to the raw kale and toss and let marinate for atleast 30 minutes before serving.
PENNE PASTA AND MUSHROOM RAGOUT WITH LOTS OF WINE
This pasta hits your palate in just the right way — the richness of the mushrooms with the acidity of the wine balance each other out and create something that’s absolutely delicious. I served this with the kale salad (recipe above) and some Nero D’Avola from Sicily. Eat it up!
Serves 4-6.
INGREDIENTS:
500 grams of penne pasta, 1 pound of cremini mushroom (cleaned and quartered), 1 shallot or 1 small yellow onion (sliced and diced), 1/3 of a cup of tomato paste, extra-virgin olive oil for the pan, zest from 1 lemon, 1 cup of red wine, 1/2 cup of heavy cream (optional), Parmesan (grated), salt & pepper to taste.
Bring large pot of water to a boil, and add a generous amount of salt. After 10-12 minutes the penne will be cooked, but during the boiling and cooking time, you can prepare the ragout.
Using a food processor, chop up the mushrooms in batches at a time until they are almost puréed and set aside.
On a medium-high flame, add some olive oil to a Dutch oven or a heavy pot. Once it’s begun to sizzle a bit, add shallots or onions, and once they’ve browned a bit, add the tomato paste, chile flakes, and a generous grab of salt – stir these contents together constantly for about 10 minutes (the paste should be slightly caramelized but not burnt). Now add the super-chopped mushrooms, lemon zest, some pepper and more salt if you think it needs — cook for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add wine to deglaze the bottom of the pot, stirring constantly, and cook until the wine has basically evaporated. Once the mixture is looking dryer, add the cream and simmer for about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. After you’ve drained the cooked pasta, slowly incorporate it into the ragout in a few separate batches. After you’ve plated the pasta, feel free to grate some parmesan over it.
