Author Archives: Renate Valencia

4th of July 2008

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grilled ribeye steaks on a plate

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!  We grilled ribeyes today.  Ribeyes be fatty and flavorful and good.  Since it’s a holiday, we went for the gusto.  I purchased a prime rib and cut the steaks myself.  Stupidly, I waited too long and was not able to find a bone-in cut, which I prefer for steaks.  Coarse salt and pepper and the Weber. 

roast caulifower in a blue speckled dish

We wanted something kind of light for the side dish, so I consulted The Best of America’s Test Kitchen 2008, which arrived the other day, and latched onto the roasted cauliflower recipe (p. 12).  One piece of advice:  if you have convection, use if for the last two legs of the roasting process.  The cauliflower turned out great – nice and brown and not bitter.  The yogurt sauce accompaniment was a hit, and would work for many other things – even scrambled eggs, I think.  Just so you know, Cook’s Illustrated is a great bimonthly publication.  It’s part of the America’s Test Kitchen megalopoly, and focuses on perfecting and reinventing classics and popular current dishes.  This is the one food magazine I pay for. 

dip for roast cauliflower

At the end of the year they send you said “best of,” which keeps you from having to clip so many recipes.  I have never been steered wrong by these people.  Matter of fact, yesterday I made the fudge (p. 59) for a party Matt was going to today, since I had on hand several cans of sweetened condensed milk, a couple of pounds of chocolate from my 2007 Christmas candy making, as well as many, many walnuts.  I never much liked fudge, finding it grainy and unpleasant, but I trusted ATK enough to give it a go.  Honestly, this was the best fudge I ever ate.  It was like a lighter ganache – and not so sweet.  The fact that I used a fancy Valrhona varietal helped.  I will be making this again.

the best of america's test kitchen 2008 cover

Roasted tri-color peppers

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Digital watercolor of red, yellow and orange peppers

I’m still in a roasted pepper state of mind.  I want to be sure to have my fill while the yellow, red and orange are available in those megabags at Costco.  Remember to roast the hell out of them on a grill or in a convection oven or over an open flame, plop into a Ziploc bag for an hour, skin and seed ’em (the skin will have steamed loose rendering the peppers easy to peel.  Wipe the seeds off with a paper towel if they’re stubborn.  Tear into large strips and arrange nicely.  Use the juices in the plastic bag to make a dressing with olive oil, salt and pepper and a small quantity of fresh lemon juice.  Pour over peppers and shower on some shaved Parmigiano Reggiano.  (Remember one of the cardinal rules of cooking:  when there are few ingredients they need to be of quality).  Serve at room temperature and then store the rest in the fridge for later use on sandwiches.  Man, so good.

Food in Chi-town

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Tuna tartare at Devon in Chicago in 2008

Tuna tartare at Devon in Chicago in 2008

Matt and Steve came back from Chicago the other day, so I have photos ready to post here.  Matt was visiting his ess oh and Steve was there as chaperone-at-a-distance.  Steve mainly went to diners and hot dog joints and Matt was treated in grand style to fancy places, like Devon (39 E. Chicago Avenue).  Steve was a tag-along at three meals, though, where he was able to eat off of real plates.  They went Gino’s, the famed deep-dish pizza emporium, where he sampled some tomatoey casserole masquerading as pizza.  I think Gino’s in Chicago is like Ray’s in New York City, with numerous places using “Gino’s” as some part of its name, with only the locals knowing where the real Gino’s is.  Even Matt can’t tell me which Gino’s he went to at the moment, and said he’ll “look at a map” tomorrow.  Food highlights included the tuna tartare and fried shrimp at Devon, cheap breakfasts at the Golden Nugget (various locations), and numerous Chicago hot dogs.  Matt was thrilled to be staying very close to Wrigley Field and an elevated subway line – capturing two of his obsessions, baseball and rail-based transportation systems.  He toured River North, taking photos of the kinds of buildings we don’t have in the Bay Area.  Oh, those wonderful, sturdy and warm brick apartment buildings!

Small brick apartment building in Chicago in 2008

Two meals for two in El Cerrito

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popovers 2008

My mom and I are on our own, the boys are in Chicago, and we are having a fancified breakfast for two.  I am in the process of roasting chicken sausages, and the popovers just came out of the oven.  Popovers were always around when I was a kid — something my parents made and enjoyed.  They are like Yorkshire pudding in that they are made from a thin egg batter and puff up over the sides of their baking receptacles, resulting in hollow eats.  In fact, they are small, Americanized Yorkshire puddings, originally baked in hot beef fat, but evolved into the sweeter buttery breakfast food we know and love.  This American creation first appeared in the mid-19th century.  Looking in older cookbooks is an easy way to find a good recipe.  Don’t be discouraged if they don’t work out at first – just keep plugging away until you get the hang of it.  Something you may want to have on hand is baking pan spray that has flour in it – in addition to plenty of eggs.

Turkey wings in crock pot

Turkey wings in a slow cooker

Dinner was an American food through and through – braised fresh turkey wings.  If you like chicken wings, you should like these.  Take whole, fresh turkey wings and put them in a Crock-Pot.  Add:  a whole onion, sliced; a few garlic cloves; a little soy sauce; a few scallions; a knob of ginger; salt and pepper.  Pour chicken stock over all of it until the wings are just covered. Crank ‘er up to low.  The wings should be soft after about 5 hours.  I eat this like a soup, adding rice or noodles about 45 minutes before the wings are done.  If you have leftovers, you’ll find the wings suspended in gelatin in the fridge.  I like gelatin, so I pry some of the contents out and eat them cold with a hard roll.  If you have people in your family who would be outraged by turkey wing bones (there is no such person in this house) then you can debone the wings before you serve, but I say to heck with that.  This is a good, honest, casual dish, and anyone who is above making like Fred Flintstone every now and then needs a swift kick in the rear end.

Dudes, please

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Please, someone, spare me from this California nonsense.  While I’m sure it’s a good thing and I’m just being East Coast, take a gander at the June 2008 issue of Sunset, page 20.  Yoga restaurants.  Pu-leeze.  This is not something the world needs.  What about that snappy style that makes you want to, you know?  “…blissed out yogis practice sun salutations in the upstairs studio….”  What?  Don’t get me wrong – I really like Sunset.  My friend Wendy has given me a years-long subscription because she knows I like the recipes.  Plus, if you are in the food game in this area you need to keep up with trends.  That said, you have to have a fairly strong BS filter when reading these kinds of periodicals.  For example, they’ll write about a tiny neighborhood and photograph it as if there’s a real scene there.  I’ve also had my fill of suggestions for transforming my backyard into a bedroom or living room by the use of yards and yards of fabric.  The result always looks great in the photo shoot, but I’d like to see that same festooned yard once it’s gone through a couple of foggy nights in the SF Bay Area – and a bit of actual use.