|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
archives |
Friday 03.12.10
Friday Food Files With Molly Watson: Spicy Roasted Cauliflower.
As much as I’m looking forward to spring – spring vegetables (artichokes and fava beans are my favorites), spring fruits (tangy rhubarb gets me every time and the end of spring brings cherries to California), and an easing of the constant damp of San Francisco winters – I can’t help but keep looking back at the highlights of winter eating. Stews and braises and, of course, cauliflower. I love cauliflower. I only recently learned that many people do not think eating raw cauliflower is much of a treat – I was shocked! It’s so crunchy and biting and flavorful, who can resist? Well, for those for whom straight-up raw cauliflower florets are not the best of treats I worked on roasting them – to soften the flavor and the texture – and added a bit of sugar and spice to keep things interesting.
These roasted spicy cauliflower florets work as a side dish, sure, but also as a little appetizer (you can serve them passed, with toothpicks) along with drinks – they have just enough going to to stand up to the meanest of cocktails. I’ve tested them several times now – hey, it’s been a long winter!
***
Each week, the Friday Food Files are deliciously brought to you by Molly Watson. For more on Molly and her delicious recipes, you can visit her in one of many wonderful places:
Writer: mollywatsonwrites.com
Blogger: thedinnerfiles.com
Recipe Wizard: localfoods.about.com
Radio Girl: eatthatradio.wordpress.com
tweeter: twitter.com/mollywatson
teacher: mediabistro.com/courses/cache/instr404.as
[ Photos courtesy of Molly Watson and muffet. ]
Friday 03.05.10
friday food files with sfgirlbybay: beet sandwich.
So, usually y’all have got the fantastic Molly Watson serving up some fabulous recipes for you each Friday, but this week, poor Molly’s on Jury Duty, so chef sfgirlbybay is stepping in.
I made this sandwich last week, after having tried a similar one a piccino, in san francisco’s dogpatch neighborhood. i couldn’t get this beet sandwich with a lovely orange-infused dressing and ricotta cheese out of my head, so i had to try and re-create it, and i was pretty darn pleased with the results (enough to eat them three days in a row!). i hope you enjoy it!
Ingredients:
bunch of beets, unpeeled, cut in fourths
bit of arugula (or your favorite leafy green)
ricotta cheese
foccacia or herb bread
2 tbsp. olive oil
pinch of fresh thyme, oregano (italian herb mix)
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 fresh squeezed orange
1. boil cut beets for about 20 minutes, or until tender with a fork. place in bowl of cold water for a few minutes and peel; slice and cool.
2. mix olive oil, juices from fresh squeezed orange, salt & pepper and herbs in container and shake well (this is even better if made night before & chilled).
3. slice foccacia in half and spread with orange-infused olive oil; grill face down for a moment in hot pan. (grilling is optional if you’re in a hurry).
4. spread foccacia with ricotta cheese; add sliced beets and a dash of salt, add leafy greens.
5. eat and be happy.
***
Each week, the Friday Food Files are deliciously brought to you by Molly Watson. Check back next friday for more from Molly!
Friday 02.26.10
friday food files with molly watson: radicchio salad.
Regular readers know that I like to eat seasonally. This time of year it gets pretty tricky, though. The initial magic of root vegetables and hearty greens and simmering stews that sounded so perfect at the beginning of winter have lost a bit of their appeal several months in – especially as things turn a bit sunnier and brighter in San Francisco and a person starts thinking about spring.
Radicchio green olive salad to the rescue! So simple, so easy, so crunchy, so delicious. Radicchio is in season – at its best, really – and the rich green olive dressing and piles of shredded parmesan give this salad some heft. Serve it with toasted bread after or alongside dinner. Pile it on toasted bread, even, for a quick bruschetta-type item when company comes. Or just eat it, as I tend to, out of the giant bowl all by yourself.
***
Each week, the Friday Food Files are deliciously brought to you by Molly Watson. For more on Molly and her delicious recipes, you can visit her in one of many wonderful places:
Writer: mollywatsonwrites.com
Blogger: thedinnerfiles.com
Recipe Wizard: localfoods.about.com
Radio Girl: eatthatradio.wordpress.com
tweeter: twitter.com/mollywatson
teacher: mediabistro.com/courses/cache/instr404.as
[ Photos courtesy of Molly Watson and jfolkmann. ]
Friday 02.19.10
friday food files with molly watson: oeufs a la neige.
I made these oeufs a la neige as part ode to the Winter Olympics and as part apology to my husband for my inability to focus on anything non-Olympic during these two weeks. You can read all about my obsession over at The Dinner Files, but in the spirit of the awesome design that usually graces these posts, I would like to draw your attention to the bowl in which they are pictured.
Lovely, isn’t they? My brother and sister-in-law gave me a set of them a few years ago and I was majorly impressed. They are supposedly from the 30s and the set includes a large bowl and six smaller ones. I have used them to serve ice cream, puddings, sorbets, and cobblers, but always at dinner parties. I took them out to take these pictures; I vow here and now to use them more often, whether there are guests around to appreciate them or not. Something about that magically soft green cut glass made the custard and meringues taste better.
I once dropped a crystal dish that had belonged to my great-grandmother on the hard ceramic tile floor of my parents house at which point it shattered into irreparable shards. I was horrified, but my mom just said that to her mind it was better to have used it often and eventually broken it than it would have been to have it sitting in a cupboard, unused and unloved, in pristine condition.
It is a point of view I embrace. Of course, living in San Francisco where space is scarce and where I figure everything fragile will eventually be smashed in an earthquake, makes it easier to risk my favorite things to regular use. A few years ago I got rid of our “everyday” dishes and now we only have one set of china, the set that used to be our nicer set. How about you? Do you use your best things?
***
Each week, the Friday Food Files are deliciously brought to you by Molly Watson. For more on Molly and her delicious recipes, you can visit her in one of many wonderful places:
Writer: mollywatsonwrites.com
Blogger: thedinnerfiles.com
Recipe Wizard: localfoods.about.com
Radio Girl: eatthatradio.wordpress.com
tweeter: twitter.com/mollywatson
teacher: mediabistro.com/courses/cache/instr404.as
[ Photos courtesy of Molly Watson. ]
Friday 02.12.10
friday food files with molly watson: Celery Salads.
I love celery. I love the crunch and the crisp and all the water and even the strings you can pull off with your teeth. The slightly grassy, quite watery, herbal flavor pleases me greatly. I ate enough celery sticks when I was a kid to last me a lifetime, but I still cut them up whenever I serve crudités, even if I’m the only one who’s going to eat them.
If you’re stuck in celery-stick mode or tossing a bit of chopped celery into a salad, up the sophistication level a bit with straight-up celery salads. Salads that are almost entirely very thinly sliced celery with a bit of some kind of onion to highlight the delicate flavor of celery and a very light dressing not to overwhelm the delicate flavor of celery.
This celery mint salad is my latest celery creation, just celery and mint and green onion and a bit of champagne vinegar. It based on what we call red onion celery salad at my house, which is a bowl of thinly sliced celery with generous amounts of slivered red onion in it and dressed with ginger and rice wine, itself based entirely on the celery salad served at Eliza’s. If you have your own favorite combination or come up with a riff on one of these, be sure to let me know.
***
Each week, the Friday Food Files are deliciously brought to you by Molly Watson. For more on Molly and her delicious recipes, you can visit her in one of many wonderful places:
Writer: mollywatsonwrites.com
Blogger: thedinnerfiles.com
Recipe Wizard: localfoods.about.com
Radio Girl: eatthatradio.wordpress.com
tweeter: twitter.com/mollywatson
teacher: mediabistro.com/courses/cache/instr404.as
[ Photos courtesy of Molly Watson. ]
