San Francisco Food : Day 4

After the previous evening's Coriander Incident, The Hubs wanted to eat normal food with no danger of encountering the evil herb, so we decided to have something comforting & incredibly bad for us.  We went to Mo's for burgers.

The view from the top of Twin Peaks overlooking the City

I should point out that we didn't have any breakfast that morning, as we were waiting to hear from my friend Heidi about a meet-up time.  As usual, things happened at the last minute so we decided to grab a quick lunch before we met up.  I had heard from numerous sources that a fine diner called Mo's (1322 Grant St) was just down the street from our lovely little apartment in North Beach and so it came to pass that we found ourselves in a busy, bustling and friendly lunchtime room with the smell of burgers wafting from the griddle and bottomless lemonades to cool us down (it was in the 90's and we were rather warm!)

Mo's is well known in the area as a fabulous place for weekend brunch, with long lines out the door and food that's worth the wait.  Luckily it was relatively quiet on Wednesday lunchtime so we had no problem finding a table or placing an order for their juicy charcoal grilled burgers.

Stuffed full of burgers, it was time to waddle down the hills of North Beach to catch a MUNI train to West Portal to meet up with our friend Heidi & her sister Nancy.  Heidi used to be my next door neighbour but moved back home to SF 6 years ago where jobs were better.  I hadn't seen her in almost 3 years and it was like we had only met the day before.  I had brought her a goodybag full of stuff from home that she and the family missed, so she was like a child at Christmas delving through the crisps, chocolate and her own personal favourite, Battenburg Cake!  They threw us into the back of Nancy's car & drove us around the city - being SF natives, they knew the places we wouldn't have seen by ourselves.  It was one of the funniest road trips I've ever been on.  

Eventually we had to say our goodbyes in Union Square, so they drove home while we hopped on a cable car to bring us down to the Waterfront for a quick run around Ghirardelli Square to pick up some chocolate before heading back to the apartment to get ready for our final dinner in San Francisco.

Images courtesy of Frances

I had heard wonderful things about a restaurant over in the Castro district called Frances.  Headed by chef Melissa Perillo, this small but perfectly formed establishment has been winning every accolade & award going, including a Michelin star.  We were lucky to get a reservation by all accounts and I can confirm that it's definitely worth a visit.  The menu changes daily, depending on what's freshest and best, but some items remain a staple like the bacon beignets and panisse frites (more about these later).  The room is narrow and noisy, with the kitchen tucked away at the back but it's busy and buzzy with very friendly and efficient wait staff who clearly enjoy their job and ensure that every customer leaves Frances feeling happy.

Frances splits their menu into five sections : Bouchées, Appetisers, Entrées, Sides and Dessert.  This is a whole lot of food and 

I knew we wouldn't be able to eat something from every section.  

So we started with two bouchées - Applewood Smoked Bacon Beignets - little 

doughnuts studded with smoked bacon and served with a maple and chive creme 

fraiche dipping sauce, and Panisse Frites - crispy chickpea fritters with a lemon 

and black olive aioli.  Two words to describe these... fried yumminess.  They 

would make amazing standalone bar food as they'd give appropriate booze soakage.

I had a shot of the house cocktail - they basically juice whatever they find at the 

market, spike it with booze & it's $3 a shot.  Their wine policy is great for those 

who don't want to drink a full bottle like me (Hubs was drinking beer) - the house

wine is served in 12oz pitchers with markings along the bottle, each mark 

representing 1oz, and they charge $1 per ounce, so no pressure to finish it off.  

Perfect!

 

We skipped appetisers and moved straight to entrées and sides - I had the Five Dot 

Ranch Bavette Steak with Mission Fig, Chanterelles, Gnocchi & sauce Bordelaise.  

Hubs chose the Chicken with crisp Polenta, grilled Cippolini, Kale and La Quercia 

Guanciale.  My steak came out thinly sliced and beautifully rare on a bed of earthy

chanterelles, little nuggets of gnocchi and pancetta and some figs strewn through 

the plate.  Hubs' chicken was also sliced and served on polenta, onions, kale and 

salty, memorable guanciale.  We ordered a side of Shelling Bean Ragout but didn't

really eat it as it was so at odds with our mains, so left it in the bowl.

Despite being stuffed, we decided to have dessert anyway.  Chocolate Almond 

Clafoutis with caramelized banana, burnt caramel & salted caramel icecream, and

Cornmeal Brown Butter Friand with roasted peach, blackberries and creme fraiche

to be shared.  Yes, that's a birthday candle on my plate.  Yes, I was mortified. But

I soon overcame my embarrassment at people at all the other tables gapwing & 

pointing and ate my dessert.  Oh it was glorious.  I managed to eat at least half of 

the Hubs' Friand while only doling out miserly spoonfuls of my Clafoutis to him.

That takes years of practice...

We paid the bill - which was about $150 including tax and tip - and tottered into a

taxi back to our apartment.  It was our last night in San Francisco and we still had

to pack up and get ready for an early start the next day.  Las Vegas & NYC still

to come...

Happy Love Day To You

As you know already, today is (joint) Mammy's Birthday Day.  Presents were presented, cards were opened and lots of birthday wishes were given to the special ladies in our lives.  And that's where I thought it would end. Boy, was I wrong -  I got a lovely email from Emma at Glenisk yesterday asking me if I'd like to be the blog they like in their monthly newsletter.  You can sign up for it here by the way...

I didn't have to think once, let alone twice.  The answer was absolutely, positively, no hesitation YES PLEASE and so an email dropped into my inbox this morning and what did I see but a beautiful intro to the blog written by little old me.  Best Valentine's present ever.

Hope you're all having a lovely day.  Remember that you are all loved by many people and don't forget to return that love.

My Funny Valentine Biscuits

On February 14th in our house, the emphasis is never on romance as both of our mums were born on Valentine's Day, so it's usually all about them.  Eventually we'll exchange cards and even a little gift but it's never a huge palaver because mammies are far more important.

These biscuits are very special but also very easy to make.  I used a variation of the sour cream icing from Sarah's Celebration Cake but made it very romantic by using white chocolate and a mixed red berry puree so it's very pretty in pink.  The buttery biscuits are spiked with lemon and lime zest for an extra burst of citrus.  If you want, you can replace 50g of the flour with cocoa powder for a chocolate hit - the contrast of the deep brown biscuit against the pale pink icing would be really pretty.

Pristine Cuisine at La Cucina

On Friday last, myself & The Hubs set off down the M7 for a weekend break in Limerick.  The eating plan for the weekend was pretty much mapped out - so many places to eat, so little time!  Our Friday night dinner was to be at Bridgestone listed and Best Casual Restaurant winner, La Cucina in Castletroy.  Run by dream team Lorraine (@italianfoodie) and Bruno (@mritalianfoodie), this small but perfectly formed Italian restaurant draws customers from all over Limerick.  Our taxi driver told us that "the queues are out the door but the pizzas are fantastic". Now that's a recommendation!

The Bridgestone Guide loves La Cucina too

Greek Beef and Aubergine Bake

I saw this in a magazine a few months ago and loved the concept of it all, the only problem is that I'm not a big fan of lamb mince as I find that it's really fatty and oily.  So I decided to swap it for some lovely Pat Whelan mince which was crying out for a good home!  The original recipe had black olives which neither of us like, so I left them out (this means you can add them back in if you like them, the same with the lamb).  It's a lovely warming winter dish and the little salty cubes of feta scattered throughout the beef are fantastic little flavourbombs.  This also tastes even better the next day when it's had time to mellow a bit.  If you're feeling virtuous, serve this with a lovely Greek salad.  If not, just grab a spoon and dig in...

Sarah's Special Celebration Cake

I do love chocolate cake and I've made loads of variations of it over the years from a Creme Fraiche cake, to a Ricotta cake, to a squidgy marmalade infused one.  They've all been phenomenal and I was intrigued by a tweet from my friend (i.e. she tweeted me) Nigella Lawson with a picture of a cake she made for a school sale.  It looked so homemade and retro that I had to give it a go.  And then I discovered there was a birthday in work so it was the perfect excuse to make this cake.  Actually, we discovered on Monday morning that Sarah the birthday girl had also managed to get engaged at the weekend as well, so the cake did double duty!  For the record, her ring is a beautiful diamond and platinum vintage-style rock and it's utterly exquisite.

The secret of this cake is sour cream - both in the batter and the icing.  Yes I know it sounds a bit bizarre but it makes the cake really moist and stops the icing from becoming sickly sweet like buttercream.  The recipe wording was a little confusing and all over the place so I've taken the liberty of rearranging it in an easier to follow format.  It's an all-in-one cake mix and it's an absolute doddle to make, as is the icing (which looks very runny when it's first made but firms up beautifully in the fridge).  This poor cake never made it past 11am and kept the office silent as they all munched away...

Italian Hazelnut Brownies

Just down the street from my day job, there's a restaurant where the food is fabulous and the atmosphere is joyous.  It's called Caffe Formenti and their Italian coffee kickstarts my day.  Richie the chef/owner absolutely loves food and many a "try this and see what you think" moment has happened in the morning.  Last week, he gave me some of his straight from Italy hazelnut paste to use at home. The smell was intoxicating, like the purest Nutella or gianduja and it drove me mad all day beside my desk as I pondered what to do with it.  Naturally, I'd have to make something that could be easily shared with the work team (and Richie, to say thanks).  Apparently, the Chocolate Coconut Brownies I'd brought to work before were a massive hit, so I thought I'd stick to the brownie theme but use that heavenly paste instead.

Last week, the ever-funny English Mum was boasting that she had the most perfect brownie recipe ever, so I thought I'd put her to the test and try it for myself... be afraid Becky, be very afraid!

Salted Chocolate Cookies

A few days ago, two of my friends Edible Ireland and Like Mam Used To Bake were talking about a recipe for Salted Chocolate Cookies which was causing them some confusion.  It was from a blogger called Orangette and unusually for a cookie recipe, it added milk to the dough which turned it into a batter and first attempt reports weren't good.  I am a big fan of mixing salty and sweet together for the wonderful contrast of flavours so I was curious.

I changed the original recipe a bit because I'm comfortable enough making cookies at this stage to know what will work for my eating audience (our work colleagues) and I sliced my cookies much thinner so they were more biscuit-like rather than doughy - this also gave me more cookies to feed people with.  Some people were initially sceptical when they heard salt and chocolate together in the same sentence but just one bite and they were hooked.  So hooked in fact, that the big box that The Hubs brought to work, with the intention of giving some to his Mum, vanished without trace by lunchtime.  Savages!  This recipe is not a quick mix & bake - you do need to make it the day before and leave it in the fridge to set fully because of the melted chocolate it contains.  It's worth the extra effort though.  Oh, and they spread like wildfire when they cook, so leave at least 2 inches between each cookie...

Oat and Vanilla Shortbread Biscuits

This is originally a Rachel Allen recipe from her book Bake which I absolutely love. For some reason they never struck a chord with me until I tasted a version made by Tracey from Mammy's Kitchen at a Bord Bia Blogger's Day (where I brought my Chocolate Sable Biscuits as my contribution to the groaning tables of food).  I came home with a bag stuffed with baked goodies made by other food bloggers and myself and The Hubs sat down to an evening of gluttony.  These really stood out because they tasted almost popcorn-like and we fought like children over the crumbs, so I knew I had to make these at home.  They're really simple and the trick is to get the dough as cold as possible and slice it with a serrated knife so it doesn't crumble.

Rack of Lamb with a Herby Crust

I love lamb, me.  Luckily, so does The Hubs (otherwise he'd starve).  To be honest I like my lamb pink, juicy and very tender - my idea of hell is grey, stringy overcooked lamb and... I can't stand lamb shanks.  I know they're uber-fashionable and very hearty but I just can't take to them at all myself.    A rack of lamb is the perfect cut of meat for me - the bones add flavour to the rack as it roasts and you end up with perfect little pink chops with a crunchy herby crust quicker than a takeaway would arrive.

When you're buying your rack of lamb, make sure you ask your butcher to trim the bones really well - they should be completely clean of meat otherwise they'll catch and burn in the oven - not exactly what you're looking for!  This is very easy to make - make your herby crust & have it ready, sear the meat on the hob, smear it with mustard, sprinkle on the crust and throw it into the oven.  Simples.