Author Archives: Renate Valencia

Earth Day 2010

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vinegar & funnel 4-10

Earth Day is a big deal in the SF Bay Area, but I’ll leave the public displays and überpreaching to others who get into those kinds of things.

I do my part by being frugal.  I’m not making any particular effort, it’s the way I was raised.

My parents had very little as children, to say the least, and these immigrant families had to struggle just to survive.  My Mom and Dad were always cognizant of their use of anything, so it was part of my world not to be wasteful, which results in kindness to your pocketbook and the environment.

Here are a few “green” things I do:

I’m big into funnels.  Funnels that funnel from large containers into small ones.  I do this with vinegar, soy sauce, cooking oil – whatever I can buy in large containers at places like Smart & Final and Costco.

I also have a large set of professional, food-grade plastic storage bins that I use for flour, sugar, rice, cornmeal, and about 25 other dry products.  Not only do they make access to these things easier, particularly flours, but they save the world from all that packaging.

I buy enviornmentally-friendy cleaning and laundry products from Costco – their own line.  There is a multi-use cleaner (great for the black surface that lives under the grates on my KitchenAid range, by the way – no streaks), dish detergent and laundry soap.

I use spray cleaner and bacteria-resistant cloth towels for clean-up rather than disposibles.

I make sun (or counter) iced tea in a one-gallon jug and do not buy bottled drinks.

You’d be amazed how little things like this add up.

Costco in Richmond has whole smoked whitefish again

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smoked whitefish 2010

Yes, you heard that right – these bad boys are back.

I was experiencing agita because I had not seen any whole smoked whitefish at Costco for about 6 weeks.  I mean, they did not have them at Passover.  Why get rid of smoked whitefish at Passover?

Happily, I saw some the other day, so I’d shake a tail feather if you want to make some whitefish salad to go with your bagels this weekend.

To remind you, this product comes direct from The Acme Smoked Fish Company in Brooklyn.  Average size is about 2 pounds and average price about $16.  Worth every dime, and the price is fabulous.

Easter eggs now all gone

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easter egg 2010

I ate the last Easter egg in the house yesterday.

My Mom always colors a batch, purchasing a PAAS egg color kit and rejecting my large Ateco set of gel food coloring, and we eat them for breakfast on Easter morning and then over the next 4 or 5 days.  She makes them so that the yellow is slightly soft – perfect for an egg sandwich or atop a frisee salad.

She used cage-free eggs because she could not find white organic eggs, but we read something in Sunset about brown eggs coming out in jewel tones when steeped in color for a goodly amount of time, so she’ll go that route next year.

A really high-quality leftover Easter egg on toast with a slice of ripe tomato and a bit of good mayo is a simple pleasure not to be missed.

Red Hawk cheese

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Cowgirl Creamery's Red Hawk cheese

Cowgirl Creamery’s Red Hawk cheese

Not too long ago I parted company with $17 at Berkeley Bowl West for a 10-inch round of Cowgirl Creamery’s funky, pinkish Red Hawk.  I buy this every once in awhile because it’s not only pricey, but incredibly rich.  It’s a triple-cream cheese with a brine-washed rind that’s aged 4 weeks.  It’s a bit soft when young, but becomes very soft and then runny when ripe.  When very ripe, it’s got some serious stank going on – and I mean that in the best way possible.  Spread on a crusty Acme sourdough roll with some raspberry preserves – you’re home.

Cowgirl Creamery has been putting out some excellent cheeses since 1997.  They’re local (Point Reyes Station & Petaluma), and use local organic milk, so I like to give them business when my wallet allows me to.

Their most popular cheese may be Mt. Tam, a firm, buttery and earthy triple-cream, and it is good, but I can’t stay away from the lush and plush Red Hawk.

All their cheeses are award-winning.  Have a look at their website before you pick some up so you know what you’re getting, but there’s no way you can go seriously wrong.

There’s a Cowgirl Creamery in the SF Ferry Building (One Embarcadero, San Francisco), which will allow you to purchase bread at The Acme Bread Company down the hall at the same time.  Certain Bay Area markets, like Whole Foods and Berkeley Bowl, usually have a decent selection, but Red Hawk can sometimes be hard to come by.

The Cheeseboard Collective (1504 Shattuck, Berkeley) is a place I’ve seen Cowgirl Creamery products, but I usually go there to be educated about some cheese I’ve never heard of.  This is not only a great cheese shop, but it’s connected to the birth of California cuisine (think Alice Waters and Chez Panisse, which is across the street.)  If you go to the Cheeseboard you can pick up some fabulous bread and olives, too, as well as a spectacular cheese roll, which you can eat on the way home.

Thai steak salad

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Thai steak salad - a great way to use leftover steak!

Thai steak salad – a great way to use leftover steak!

I had a large piece of leftover tri-tip (end of the bottom sirloin) on my hands the other day and wanted to use it as-is, since it was nice and rare.  One of the best ways to use leftover steak is in a salad with Thai flavors.

The inspiration for this dish is nam tok, the Issan/Laotian* grilled beef salad containing herbs, fresh veggies, rice powder and a fish sauce/lime juice dressing.  Anyone who knows me knows I love the food of Issan, the Northeastern region of Thailand, which is famous for its hom mali (Jasmine) rice production and, sadly, the poverty of its farmers.  Many of these farmers have been spending time in Bangkok in recent years selling street food, which has made Issan goodies quite popular there, particularly gai yang, a pungent version of grilled chicken.  I’ll post more about Issan in the future, but the one thing you should know about its food is how clean tasting and bright it is, being highly dependent upon fresh produce.  *Note that Issan and Laos share a border, and that the people of Issan are of Laotian heritage, because there wasn’t always a border between them.

The one thing that may throw you here is the rice powder.  Rice powder is toasted rice that has been ground to something between coarse and fine, and it gives Issan warm salads a nice crunch.  It is best to make it yourself, and I’ll tell you how to do that.  In a pinch, though, you can use rice cereal (Cream of Rice).  Just toast it slowly and carefully in a pan over a flame and then allow it to cool.  This will not be half as good as real rice powder, but sometimes you have to make do.  Make sure that whatever you use is not so hard that people will damage their teeth.  Check your work – make sure it’s toasted enough.

If you want to make this a meal, serve it with sticky (sweet) rice.  This would be authentically Issan/Lao.

Renate’s Thai-stye Steak Salad
   Serves 4 or 5

3/4 – 1 pound leftover steak, sliced in thin strips (nothing with destinctive seasoning)
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon sugar
1 red chili pepper, seeded & deveined, finely minced
2 green onions, sliced into small rounds
1 English cucumber (if a huge one, use half), sliced
1/4 cup Thai basil, thick chiffonade (roll and cut)
1/4 cup cilantro, rough chop (don’t make tiny pieces)
1/4 cup mint, thick chiffonade
1 tomato, cut into large cubes
1 small red onion, sliced medium
6 cups lettuce
2 tablespoons rice powder (recipe below)

1)  Combine the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and chili pepper well and set aside
2)  Place the sliced steak into a bowl and toss with a couple of tablespoon of the dressing; set aside for 10 minutes
3)  In a large bowl, toss everything (including the marinated beef and dressing) except the rice powder
4)  Check seasoning.  If too mild for your liking, mix up a little more dressing.  If not sour enough, a little lime juice.  And so on
5)  Toss in the rice powder at the last minute and serve

Rice Powder

1/4 cup sweet rice (it’s not really sweet )
Heavy saute pan
Mortar & pestle or clean coffee grinder* or stand blender or bullet blender (blenders have to be very dry!)

1)  Toast rice over low-ish flame until golden brown.  Keep it moving.  Don’t burn it.
2)  Remove rice to a small bowl and allow to cool completely
3)  Grind until you have a coarse powder
4)  Store what you do not use in an airtight container, but don’t keep it more than a month or so

*If you use a coffee grinder that you use for spices, make sure it is absolutely clean.  You can grind a batch of rice to clean it completely.  Don’t use a coffee grinder that you also use for coffee.