Best Things I've Eaten in SF this month:

Get out there are try these amazing eats...

1.  Cougin Amman with TCHO chocolate from SF-based Starter Bakery
Photo: Courtesy NY Times

2. Short Rib Koja sandwich and Kamikaze fries from The Koja Kitchen food truck:
Photo:  Courtesy of SF Weekly

3.  Mushroom cigars with Porcini Aioli at Paragon:

Photo:  Courtesy of squidish via Flickr

4.  Grilled Cheese Sandwich at Hog Island Oyster Company (Ferry Building):
Photo: Courtesy of jonasapproved.com

5.  Manly Burger at Umami Burger:

Photo:  Courtesy of http://cookandbemerry.com

S'more's Pie Fest: Round 1

I have two recipes for this scrum-diddly-umptous-sounding pie, so this is the one I'm trying first, and it came from Disney's Family Fun website. Unfortunately, I only had 1 ready-made Graham Cracker crust in the cupboard, so Round 2 will have to wait until I can find some more Graham Crackers or pie crusts on my next visit to London.

Crust: (Or substitute one ready-made graham cracker crust)

1 1/3 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 1/4 cups sugar

4 tablespoons butter, softened

Filling:

2 tablespoons butter, softened

4 egg yolks

1/4 cup cornstarch

6 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 cups milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups miniature marshmallows

Instructions

1. If using a ready-made graham cracker crust, skip to step #2. Heat the oven to 375ºF/180C. In a mixing bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs and 1/4 cup of the sugar. Add 4 tablespoons of the butter, rubbing it in with a pinching motion until evenly distributed. Press the crumb mixture into a 9-inch pie pan and bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Allow the crust to cool.

2. Beat the egg yolks in a medium bowl and set them aside. Combine the remaining cup of sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and salt in a 2-quart saucepan. Set the pan over medium heat and gradually whisk in the milk, stirring until smooth. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring often. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly, then remove the pan from the heat.

3. Whisk 1/2 cup of the hot chocolate mixture into the egg yolks. Repeat with 1 cup of the chocolate mixture, then return the chocolate and egg mixture to the saucepan. Boil over medium heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

4. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and the vanilla extract. Pour the filling into the pie shell and allow it to cool at least 15 minutes, or chill it in the refrigerator overnight.

5. Just before serving, heat the oven to broil. Cover the pie with the mini marshmallows and broil it on the uppermost rack for about 30 seconds or until the marshmallows are lightly browned. (Watch carefully, or the marshmallows will burn.) Serve warm or chilled. Serves 8.

Festive Strudel from Jamie Oliver

I saw Jamie make this recipe on one of his TV shows over the holidays, so I saved a carton of Christmas Pudding to make it after the holidays were over, but never got around to posting the results. My effort did not turn out as pretty as Jaime's, but it was still totally tasty, and every little scrap was eaten. If you don't have any Christmas pudding left from the holidays, you can either make your own batch from a recipe I found here, or hold onto this recipe until next year....

Ingredients (Serves 8-10)

12 sheets of filo pastry (approx. 250g/8oz.)

125g butter (4 T.), melted

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

100g demerara sugar (brown cane sugar)

4 ginger biscuits (Ginger Snap cookies), crumbled

400g (12 oz.) leftover Christmas pudding

3 apples or pears or 2 quince, or a mixture of the three

50g (about 1 bar) good-quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken into squares

Icing sugar (confectioner’s sugar), for dusting

Ready-made vanilla custard, to serve

Method: How to make festive strudel

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Lay out 6 sheets of pastry on a clean tea towel, overlapping each by an inch or so, so they cover the tea towel. They should cover it completely, with just a little overhang at one of the shorter ends. Work quickly so your pastry doesn’t dry out and brush some melted butter all over it. Sprinkle over the cinnamon and 50g of the sugar then crumble over your ginger biscuits to add a nice bit of crunch. Carefully layer the rest of the pastry sheets on top and brush again with butter.

2. Use your hands to crumble the Christmas pudding into a bowl then grate in the fruit. You want to have about the same amount of grated fruit as you’ve got pudding. Add about 2 T. of sugar, and mix it all together to break up the pudding a bit more. Sprinkle this all over the pastry so it’s roughly covered, leaving the overhang clear. Place the chocolate in a row on top of the Xmas pud, down the short side nearest the overhang.

3. Fold the overhang over the chocolate and pinch it up, then lift up your tea towel, and use it to help you carefully roll up your strudel. Tuck the ends under to seal it and transfer to a large non-stick pan. Brush it all over with butter then sprinkle over a little more sugar. Bake in the hot oven for about 40 minutes until crisp, golden and gorgeous looking. It might split a bit and look slightly rustic, but Jaime likes it that way. You could wrap an extra layer of filo round it before cooking if you want it to look a bit neater. Once cooked, leave to cool then use a serrated knife to cut the strudel into 5cm slices. Dust these with icing sugar and serve with ready-made custard from the fridge. Yum!

Zuccato di Pannetone

I saw Jamie Oliver's pal, Italian chef Gennaro Contaldo, give out this recipe on a Christmas cooking program and it sounded divine, so I copied it down as notes (no specific recipe was given). He said that this translates to "Pumpkin of Pannetone" because it uses leftover Pannetone bread to make a pumpkin-shaped dessert. I winged it on the assembly, and it turned out great!

Ingredients (Serves 10 to 12)

1 loaf Italian Pannetone bread

1 small bag candied fruit

100g (1/2 c) dark chocolate chips

500g ricotta (2 tubs)

100g (1/2 c) whipping cream

small handful flaked/slivered almonds

small glass of rum mixed with some water or Vin Santo liquer

Sugar

Cocoa powder

1. Layer a few long sheets of clear plastic cling film inside a medium or large mixing bowl so that

the ends of the plastic extend outside the bowl by 6"-10" on either side.

2. Slice Pannetone into 1" slices and layer in bowl, starting with the bottom and overlapping, so that you have a solid layer of Pannetone around bowl edges. Drizzle rum & water mixture over dry bread.

3. In a medium bowl, mix together the ricotta, candied fruit, chocolate chips and flaked almonds. Add in some whipping cream and sugar (to taste) until the mixture is sweet and creamy, but not too liquidy. Remove 1/2 of ricotta mixture to a separate bowl. Add in some cocoa powder to reserved ricotta (start with 1 Tbsp) to give it a chocolatey taste and appearance.

4. Spoon white ricotta mixture into bottom of Pannetone 'bowl'. Add a 2nd layer of Pannetone over the ricotta and drizzle with rum mixture. Spoon cocoa ricotta mixture into bowl and add the final layer of Pannetone. Note: If your mixture doesn't go up to the top of Pannetone slices around the edge of the bowl, just peel off the extra Pannetone and add to the top layer over the ricotta cream. Sprinkle some rum mixture over the final layer of Pannetone.

5. Wrap hanging ends of plastic cling film over the top of the Pannetone until covered; press down. Top with a heavy plate or two and refrigerate overnight.

6. When ready to serve, unwrap bottom of Pannetone, then remove from bowl and turn out onto a plate, removing the remaining cling film. It should be bon-bon shaped. Sift cocoa powder over the top of the dessert and serve chilled. Alternate topping: melt 200g/6oz. dark chocolate with a knob of butter and pour over chilled Pannetone before serving.

Chocolate Chip Croissant Bread Pudding with Bourbon Ice Cream Sauce

I'm not sure where this recipe came from, but the author is Michael Chiarello, and it has been a big hit both times I served it, so I thought I would pass it along.

Serves 12

Ingredients:

1 stick/115g butter

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

5 large eggs, lightly beaten

2 1/2 cups whole milk

8-12 small croissants, or six large

1/2 cup raisins

3/4 cup bittersweet or milk chocolate chips

For sauce:

1/2 pint/500ml vanilla ice cream

1 fl. oz. (~2 T) bourbon

Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Combine butter and sugar (using a mixer if available) and beat until well blended. Add cinnamon and vanilla, and combine till blended. Add in eggs one at a time mixing continuously. Add milk and combine well.

Lightly butter a 9" x 13" baking dish (glass is best). Break up the croissants into 1" pieces and layer the pan. Scatter raisins and chocolate chips over the top and gently mix to incorporate (bread should reach almost to the top of dish). Pour the egg mixture over the croissants; soak for 8 to 10 minutes. You will need to push croissant pieces down during this time to ensure even coverage by the egg mixture. Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes to brown the top. The croissant bread pudding is done when the custard is set, but still soft. Allow to cool.

For sauce: Remove ice cream from freezer 1 day before serving and refrigerate. Mix through bourbon with ice cream and drizzle generously over the top and pool around the plate.