A day in the mandarin orchards

Wintertime in our region means bountiful citrus in the form of a delicious little superfruit called the mandarin orange. I'll eat three in a row without hesitation every day in December. No joke. Last year, Andrew and I checked out the Mountain Mandarin Festival for the first time, and this weekend, we toured a few farms during Orchard Days. Mandarin farmers in five towns open up their storefronts, barns, homes and fields to the public, to offer fresh fruit by the pound and other mandarin goodies like mandarin-enhanced honey, chocolate sauce, barbecue sauce, olive oil, you name it...

View the grower map HERE, and read on to see our adventure...

Secret banana "ice cream"

Fall is here!!! Kinda...I'm dying to slip on my boots again, and the forecast still shows temps in the 70s. So, with warm California weather still hanging on, I thought I'd share my new favorite frozen dessert recipe. And listen up! It's the easiest recipe in the world. No, really. It has two ingredients and results are the consistency of Wendy's frosty. Ok, now you're listening...

Summer fruit tart

I probably should be blogging about my wedding and showing you honeymoon photos, but FIRST, a recipe. Summer is one of my favorite times to experiment with cooking. Blackberries and peaches and everything yummy is in season, and the days are longer so the oven can come on when it cools off at night. This galette recipe comes from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook (a Bible of baking tips and drool-worthy photography - shout out to Erin for gifting me this as a wedding present!). 

The actual recipe uses apricots and blackberries, but I substituted for what I had (peaches from the Natomas farmers market and plums from a neighbor's tree. I also used Martha's regular pie crust recipe, because I didn't have cornmeal for the pâte brisée recipe. So, it's a total adaptation - I can never really truly exactly follow a recipe to its exact specifications. I blame my mother for this trait. :)

Ingredients

For the pie filling, mix the following:

- Ripe or overripe summer fruit (peaches, blackberries, apricots, plums, etc.), sliced 

- A handful of sugar

- A few tablespoons of flour (or more depending on how wet your fruit is)

For the crust:

- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

- 1 tsp. salt

- 1/2 tsp. sugar

- 1 1/4 stick butter 

- 1/2 cup ice water (very cold - this is the secret!)

Mix the flour, salt and sugar. Cut in the butter until the mix is crumbly and not lumpy. Pour in the ice water to form a dough.

Roll out the dough in a large circle and place in a pie plate. Pour in the fruit mix and bring in the edges of the dough in overlapping folds. Brush the edges with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar (optional but a really good idea). Bake about one hour or until the crust is golden brown. Let set at least 10 mins before serving. Serve with vanilla ice cream (also optional and also a really good idea). 

This tart is also really good the next day after spending a night in the refrigerator. 

Yum, yum, yum. I want to make another one...

Fall Recipes: Pumpkin bread

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, so it's only fitting that all of my posts have been about food this week, right? :)

I like to think of certain foods as a bit magical. Some are more magical than others. Why? Because they can disappear quickly, into thin air, leaving only tiny crumbs strewn across the kitchen counter. This pumpkin bread is one of those magical foods. Plus, it employs a "two-bowl method" as I like to call it (meaning, the recipe only requires two mixing bowls  -- one for dry ingredients and one for wet ingredients). Done and done.

Pumpkin bread

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the wet ingredients, you'll need:
- One 28 oz can of pure pumpkin
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 4 eggs

For the dry ingredients, you'll need:
- 3 1/3 cup of flour (or 3 cups white flour plus 1/3 wheat)
- 2 cups of sugar (I used 1 cup brown sugar, one cup white)
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. nutmeg
- 2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix both in their respective bowls, then add the dry ingredients to the wet. Stir until smooth, and spread evenly into 2 loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour or until knife comes out clean from loaf.

You can totally leave the recipe at that. But I got a little fancy and put on my baker's thinking cap. I chopped and caramelized some walnuts by sautéing them with smidgen of butter and a generous handful of brown sugar (Paula Deen would be so proud) until they were coated in sweetness. Walnuts never tasted so good!

Then, I mixed up some frosting with a cup of confectioners sugar, combined with a splash of milk and another splash of vanilla extract, and drizzled the icing on each loaf after they cooled from the oven. On top, I sprinkled the candied walnuts. 

And there you have it! I brought one of the loaves to work with me last week, and it was happily devoured. Thanks to my mom for this original recipe. :)

Mad for mandarins

Yesterday afternoon, Andrew and I drove out to the Gold Country Fairgrounds to get our daily dose of Vitamin C (plus some!) at the 19th annual Mountain Mandarin Festival in Auburn. 

I had the chance to speak with Joanne Neft, the festival's founder, back when we did a profile on her for Sactown's April/May issue, and since then, I've been wanting to attend the festival -- especially since it's practically in my backyard of Grass Valley and I've never gone! The fairgrounds were filled with vendors selling everything from handmade crafts to homemade toffee and from mandarin milkshakes to hefty 10 lb. bags of mandarin oranges grown in the area. Fun farming fact: warm days and cool nights in the Sierra foothills make it a prime growing climate for mandarins, hence the yearly festival. :)

We wandered and snacked on free samples and then dug into a delicious pizza from the portable wood-fired oven of Bella Familia Pizza topped with bacon and, yes, mandarin slices. Delicious...

Placer County was glowing with fall colors and we couldn't help get a bit carried away before we headed home toting our own 10 lb. bag of yummy, bright little citrus orbs...

Fall Recipes: Butternut squash soup

Last weekend, I went a little crazy in the kitchen. Something about that crisp chill of fall and that early hint of winter in the air makes me want to bustle around from mixing bowl to oven all day. So that's just what I did. I took out my old handwritten recipe book and whipped up some creamy butternut squash soup and some dense pumpkin bread. Our apartment sure smelled like fall all day! Because it's our first full rainy weekend in the area, I'm sharing my soup recipe to start. Get ready to chow down and warm up...

Butternut Squash Soup

This soup recipe is good for three reasons. It's cheap, it's simple and it's soul-warming. What more could you ask for? Well, maybe that the soup had magical powers. But who's to say it doesn't? First, you'll want to gather some veggies and a plump butternut squash (which happens to be one of the cheapest items at the grocery store/farmers market this time of year).

- Slice the squash into four sections, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and place face-up in a roasting pan. Turn the oven to broil and let it heat up.

- In the meantime, finely chop up the following: half of an onion, 2 ribs of celery, 1 large carrot, and 1 pear (or apple, depending on your preference or what happens to be in your fridge at the time). Sauté these with 1 tbsp. of butter in a large saucepan until the onions are clear and the veggies are soft.

- Stick the squash in the oven to broil until it's roasted on the edges and until you can easily poke a fork through it (about 10-15 minutes). Ah, look how lovely it looks...

- Set the squash aside to let it cool slightly. In the meantime, add 3 cups of chicken broth to the sautéed veggie mix (I used 3 chicken bouillon cubes, dissolved into 2 cups of water + 1 cup of milk to make the soup a tad more creamy) and bring everything to a boil.

- While the squash is still warm, take a paring knife and peel off its skin. Cut the squash into chunks and add it to soup mix. Boil until soft. 

- Then (here comes the messy part), purée the soup using a blender, hand blender or food processor until smooth--but not too smooth. Add salt, pepper and a dash of nutmeg to taste. Serve immediately, and enjoy!

More coffee, please.

At the little on-campus café called Charlie Brown's at Sonoma State University, there was a sign hanging near the cash register that said “Instant human, just add coffee.” I can still picture it. Maybe it's still there.

Life is a little hectic lately, and I've fully realized my caffeine addiction as a result...so this artwork above made me chuckle. :)

I inherited a deep and unwavering appreciation for good, strong coffee. One of the best cups I’ve ever tasted is pictured to the left, from Zatori café in Nelson, New Zealand. And I’m sure there’s much more great coffee to be tasted out there in the world. Have you ever been coffee tasting? Think wine tasting but with sips of fine espresso and roasted brews. I just discovered they do tastings at Sacramento's Temple Coffee and classes on making latte art with foam and milk (which has become an intense competitive sport these days). Sounds like an energy boost!

And this concludes a very jumpy post. Happy sipping, and happy Friday, everyone.

P.s. Some insider information: Peet's Coffee locations have been giving away free cups of coffee every Wednesday in October. Halloween is the last chance to pick up a cup. 

The first beer I ever liked

I’ll be the first to admit, I’m a wine girl. Anything bitter and hoppy usually makes me pucker after one sip. BUT...that was before I went beer tasting (for the first time ever!) with Jeanne and Kim at Mammoth Brewing Company over Labor Day weekend and tried their Double Nut Brown ale. The brown porter ale has subtle yet sweet hints of dark chocolate and coffee, with a crisp roast finish. 

It won me over at the mention of coffee and dark chocolate. Plus, the beer won a gold medal at the World Beer Cup this past May. So it's officially a winner in my book. 

Their tasting room is in this big warehouse-type building right across from the Mammoth village with its string of high-end shops and eateries. Happily, tastings here are just $1 each!

Next time I'm down in the Mammoth area visiting Kim, we'll have to go back and pick up some more! (And try their celebrated root beer, which ran out that day.)

All in all, the discovery gave me some hope for my beer taste buds. Cheers!

Foodspotting

Have you tried the new iPhone Foodspotting app? It allows you to browse through people’s photos of dishes at nearby restaurants and recommends actual menu items. You don’t just read the restaurant’s name and random reviews; you actually SEE the meals people have tried and loved. I just downloaded it, but it's already insanely addictive…and is making me hungry right now.

Taking photos of your food is a popular trend these days…and has been for a while now. Remember Tucker Shaw, the guy who photographed every bite, snack and meal he ate each day in 2004? His book Everything I Ate: A Year in the Life of My Mouth, was a fascinating meal memoir before the days of iPhones and Instagram.

As a side note, my best friend Jeanne just returned from a grand tour of Europe and when she came back, she posted an entire food photo album on Facebook solely of some meals she ate. I was drooling over the Italian dried figs, Belgium waffles and Greek baklava (that lucky girl)! At the top is her plate of calamari and French fries in Greece, where she says the "food defeated us. That was the fullest I'd ever been." :) 

*Photos by Jeanne McAteer

Sacramento date day: Zoo + pizza

I work full-time in downtown Sac now, but I’ve barely scratched the surface of exploring the City of Trees. So, the weekend before last Andrew and I went on a little adventure.

We wandered through the Sacramento Zoo (where I hadn’t been since I was a kid) and checked out the lions and tigers and pythons, oh my! I also discovered my new favorite animal is a red panda. They were lazily hanging in the trees for hours on end.

For lunch, we stopped by Hot Italian and tried their pizza for the first time. Andrew tried one with prosciutto and I had the Murino, with sliced pears, gorgonzola and honey. But my favorite part of the meal was dessert—their carmel saluto (salted caramel) gelato with its burnt caramel flavor was to-die-for! We took a small bowl of it to go and ate it sitting in the grass just across the street at Freemont Park. :)

What are your favorite date spots in your home city? Hmmm?

New York pizza

I love the West Coast, but the East Coast makes much better pizza...

I heard about Di Fara (this teensy pizza parlor on a corner in Brooklyn) a while ago, and now I’m determined to try it next time I’m in New York.

Di Fara owner Domenico DeMarco immigrated to New York from Italy in 1959 and has been tossing pies into the oven for about 50 years. His pizza’s bubbly thin crust, minimalistic toppings and $5-per-slice price tag epitomize good-old-fashioned pizza the way it was meant to be.

Shockingly, last year, the Health Department shut down Di Fara’s for multiple health code violations, but after pushback from devout fans and a major cleaning spree, the kitchen reopened for business. Waits can extend up to two hours out their door each day!

Aspiring videographer Margaret Emily MacKenzie created this insightful documentary called "The Best Thing I Ever Done" about DeMarco and his methodical pizza-making last year. It’s worth a watch.

Farmers market dinner

On Friday night after work I drove to Heather's house, and we made dinner using a modge-podge of ingredients from her fridge. She chopped up kale, rhubarb, zucchini and bok choy from the farmers market into a stir fry and I made a cream sauce with ginger, garlic and tomatoes to top our butternut squash ravioli. 

For dessert, we whipped up a fruit crisp using over-ripe plums and apricots. We sipped vino, chatted about life and laughed at how much has changed (and hasn't!) since high school. It was the kind of wonderful summer evening and non-recipe meal that can't be replicated. 

Even Marco was smiling!

Red velvet birthday cake

Red velvet is my all-time favorite cupcake flavor and I’ve always wanted to make the bigger, badder cake version, especially since I turned a bigger, badder 24 on Monday.

So, my mom and I whipped up our own version based on this recipe with cream cheese frosting (mmmm....). It called for TWO 1-ounce bottles of red food coloring! We only used one and the batter turned out very red (as in, will-stain-your-tongue-and-fingers-and-counter-top red), even after completely baking. We agreed that next time we attempt this cake, we’re going to go the anti-dye route and use beets, which can naturally give the cake a red color. This no-red-dye recipe by Sophistimom looks delectable.

As family and friends devoured the dessert around the table that evening, we got to discussing why in the world a red cake became popular. It turns out, the history of red velvet involved food coloring way back in the late 1800s. John A. Adams, whose family founded The Adams Extract Company marketed his dye products on posters with illustrations of a thick crimson, velvet (which meant fine-crumbed back then) layer cake. With every purchase, those Southern and Midwestern mamas received two free bottles of Adams red dye. Clever, clever, Mr. Adams. 

No matter how you slice it, cake is cake...and I'll eat it!

Continue reading for the complete recipe...

Tartine Bakery

On our last stop in the city (before heading home to tell my parents the exciting news!), Andrew and I stopped by Tartine Bakery in the Mission District. My friend Lindsay recommended the place months ago, and afterward I spent a good hour reading online about their bubbly bread and fascinating story.

The place was crammed with locals, travelers and people like us who wanted to taste for themselves why Tartine has developed a cult following. We ate standing by the window and shared a tangy lemon cream tart and the scrumptious Pecorino & Almond hot-pressed sandwich with chopped almonds and sharp, melted sheep cheese. Yes, sheep cheese (who knew?!).

I couldn’t resist taking this photo of the ring...

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Food: a life-long love affair

I took these pictures of my Nonna making a big batch of gnocchi back in 2008, but looking through them takes me right back to her kitchen in Pennyslvania. I can smell the sauce simmering, feel the dough on my fingertips...

Creating food with your own two hands really does give you magical powers. :)

The best chocolate chip cookie recipe OF ALL TIME

They really do look as good as in this picture

Since I made a batch of these last night, I thought I'd share the not-so-secret recipe with everyone. These chocolate chip cookies are super easy to make...and always turn out practically perfect. Always dense and chewy--never crispy or greasy--the way a cookie should be.  

I discovered the recipe in college when my roommate Jessica brought the book How to Boil Water to our apartment one weekend. I laughed at the title, because we were both always cooking and baking; anyone who came over to our place expected something yummy set out on the table or inside the refrigerator. But if not for a late-night cookie craving, I may have never stumbled upon this recipe. In fact, I think it was the only one I ever used from the book. 

You can find the recipe on The Food Network or follow it below by clicking "Read More." I'm sure Santa will appreciate these on Christmas Eve!