Don’t put any oil on the vegetables before you grill them. That’s it. Despite what every single thing ever written about grilling vegetables says (except, of course, by me), do not “lightly brush,” “gently toss,” or in other euphemistic way put any extra virgin olive oil on any vegetable before you cook it over a
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The Olive Oil Garage Sale returns! Come down to my Activspace “warehouse” Friday & Saturday, December 7 & 8, 1-6 pm for hot soup, a warm fire, a glass of wine, and your Real Good Food holiday shopping. I’ve reduced the prices for all of the 2011 harvest Italian extra virgin olive oils by $2
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Robert Reynolds is a Francophile of the best kind. He studied the cooking of France with a pair of opinionated Frenchwomen, Josephine Araldo & Madeleine Kamman (he coauthored From a Breton Garden with Araldo; for more about Kamman read this SF Chronicle story), owned a “little restaurant” called Le Trou in San Francisco for 15
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Our neighbor Jess built some very cool steel raised beds on her parking strip last year, and I’ve been nibbling on the overwintered cavalo nero (aka Tuscan or lacinato kale) for months. When we got home from our trip to the south this week and I saw that the flowers had blossomed, my first thought
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I had braised red cabbage at my friend Marco’s restaurant (Bastas Trattoria) a few days ago; I’d forgotten how good it tastes. Maybe my love of green cabbage has been getting in the way. Marco uses bacon and caraway, so I did, too.
Among the many amazing things we did during our month in Italy was meeting Laura and Deanna, the two women who operate Profumi Estensi, my balsamic vinegar supplier (and a special thanks Leslie and Manual from Viridian Farms for connecting us). While we’d emailed for a few years, this was our first face-to-face, and both
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My annual December sale takes place Friday, December 2, and Saturday, December 3, from noon to 6 pm at my Activspace “warehouse.” Prices for most of the extra virgin olive oils have been reduced, and I’ve got a few extra things for giving or eating over the holidays. I’ll have hot soup and wine for
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My approach to the Thanksgiving turkey evolved from roasting chickens originally inspired by Judy Rodgers’ presalting and refined by my friend Marco Frattaroli’s (chef/owner Bastas) use of Chinese air drying technique. Rodgers’ Zuni Cafe cookbook came out in 2001 and her presalted roast chicken got a lot of ink, so I started cooking birds the
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While winter squash will be around most of the winter, natch, the markets are full of freshly picked local varieties. While the smaller delicatas and acorns are a bit easier to cut up and cook, the bigger squash are different enough to make the extra effort worthwhile every so often. I’ve found the more pumpkin-like
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This last glimmer of summer doesn’t really make up for the rain, but I’m liking it. It gets dark earlier, and the cool of the evening makes it clear that fall is coming. But the markets are full of incredible produce, sweetened by the sun and not needing too much to be delicious. A lot
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