Cook Here and Now

Farmers Market Watch: March 26th

Buongiorno. Strawberry season is back! I know we had a few decent batches on the stands over the winter, but they rarely delivered that sweet, succulent burst of flavor we expect from this marvelous fruit. Finally, the first flavorful Albion strawberries can be found on the Miramonte Farms and Tomatero Farms stands: they're a confirmation winter is finally ending.

What I liked this week at the San Francisco farmers markets:

Artichokes are getting to be just right: plump leaves and meaty stems. When you're at the market, check for freshness by holding the artichoke in your hand — it should feel heavy for its size and should squeak when squeezed. If it just feels spongy, it's probably old: try a different one. Sometimes the leaves will be streaked brown or white from frostbite or windburn. Though unattractive, this won't affect taste.



Baby red onions are here. You can use the bulbs in salads and the stalks in soups or (my favorite) as topping for Japanese soba noodles with bonito flakes.



For that zing in your Thai or Mexican dishes, cilantro withits roots intact is here. Store it by putting it in a glass of water when you get home: It will stay fresh much longer and will release its fragrant scent in your kitchen.

Baby Rainbow chard can be found on the Tomatero Farms stand. Try it in this savory tart with Vella Cheese Romanello.

Purple asparagus is available from Couture Farms from Kettleman City. This cultivar from Albenga, Italy is sweeter than the green variety and perfect in spring salads. To keep its color, steam it or quickly stir fry it: prolonged cooking or boiling will turn it back green.

Fresh mint can be found on many stands, as pungent as you need it to be.

Champagne mangoes are here. A particularly hard-to-find, sweet, tropical fruitbrought to us by Andrea Tran's farm, in Palmdale. The Champagne variety has a very soft, delectable, juicy flesh: it's great served with grilled chicken or in salsas on a sunny spring day. If you keep them in the fridge, let them come back to room temperature before serving to revive their full flavor.

Andrea Tran also brought us the first Golden Finger bananas. This is a cultivar first developed in Honduras for use in salads: it's tangy and won't brown when cut!

Fresh nopales are here. Here's a selection of recipes from one of the growers.

Enjoy!
Marco Flavio

We're going international! Cook Here and Now: Melbourne, Australia.

Buongiorno, I'm very proud to announce that Kelly Donati of Slow Food, Melbourne is heading up the new Melbourne chapter of Cook Here & Now, and she'll be posting on the Melbourne blog about the latest and greatest in Victoria produce. She's officially in charge of organizing Cook Here & Now's Melbourne feasts, which are free and open to all on a first-come, first-served basis. If you're in the area, say hi and join her!
Ciao,
Marco Flavio

Follow Cook Here and Now on Twitter

Buongiorno. You can now follow regular updates from me and call-for-participation from Cook Here and Now on Twitter. I'll be covering local food and wine events, news from the group and local producers.
Follow me here.
Ciao!
Marco Flavio

Farmers Market Watch: March 13th

Buongiorno -- my favorite farmers' market discovery this week had to be the aromatic (think shiso leaf) and overly spicy red mustard greens from Miramonte Farms. One side of each leaf is a deep maroon color, as you can see here against those screaming orange clementines. These could hold their own in a meat dish without fading into the background. The rest of the market is still ripe with winter citrus and dark, leafy vegetables -- enjoy them while they're this good.

What I liked this week at the San Francisco farmers markets:

Organic red and orange beets, just sweet enough to offset those dark-leaf vegetables. Try them roasted them in the oven, dabbed with pungent goat cheese, drizzled with balsamic vinegar syrup and sprinkled with chunky Pacific sea salt on top. Here are some other recipe ideas from Allrecipes or Epicurious.

Pasture-raised fresh eggs from Tomatero Farms for $6/dozen. These beauties are sustainably raised and collected one to three days before market, for a freshness you can actually taste in omelettes, soufflés or dishes where eggs are prominently featured. For bakers like me, the egg white has the proper viscous consistency to leaven dough properly and the yolk is a deep orange hue, adding a lovely gold tone to your crumb.

Fresh pecans have been available since last week. Think beyond desserts with these, because they're excellent in meat recipes such as this Pecan crusted chicken recipe.

The first guavas of the season are here, with a delicate, slightly sweet lemony flavor ideal in desserts or cool sauces for fiery meat dishes. Here are some recipes from Cooks.com.

California avocados are at their best right now. I enjoy them most in dishes with salty, tangy cheeses that cut through their buttery flavor -- try this recipe for a salsa with feta cheese.

Now's the time to enjoy citrus at its best: Lisbon lemons, clementines, tangerines, pomelos, valencia and blood oranges. Just look at them!

 

 

And don't forget flowers for your dinner table: Ranunculus are in full bloom.

Enjoy!
Marco Flavio

Let's cook and eat together: Sunday March 22nd ALL SLOTS FULL

Buongiorno,
Thank you for your enthusiasm: All our slots are full.
If your name is not listed in the comments section of the previous post, please stay tuned -- we'd love to have you next time. If you wish to be on the waiting list, please leave your email address and name as a comment to this post. I'll contact you if anyone cancels.

Ciao e grazie mille,
Marco Flavio

Let's cook and eat together: Sunday March 22nd

Buongiorno.
We're ready for our March dinner! We'll be featuring all poultry except chicken (we're including rabbit as well, the other other white meat) and pasture-raised eggs. Please cook responsibly and choose local, organic and free-range meat: You can get it at Whole Foods, at the Prather Meat Company or Golden Gate Meat in the Ferry Building, for starters.

Featured seasonal vegetables will be asparagus, cauliflower and seasonal mushrooms: black trumpet, shitake and morels.
Featured seasonal fruit will be avocados, kiwis and guavas.

A presto,
Marco Flavio

The plan
45 of us will cook and eat together on March 22nd, starting at around 2:30 (we finish at around 7.30).

The dinner will be in San Francisco. Jeremy has kindly offered his company's very large, multiple-range kitchen for our gathering at the last event. There will be enough space for us to use the stoves and ovens in a couple of shifts.

I'm letting only 45 people register for this event, so act quickly, but please reed what's already been taken. Every person coming (including any guest you bring, or your other half in a couple) will have to sign up for a slot and either cook something or provide local wine and beer (if beverages slots are available, see below).

Since participation is limited, please let us know at least four days before the dinner if you're not going to be able to make it, so we can invite someone else to join us. If you cancel closer to 4 days to the event, you can't join us for the following 2 events. If you didn't show at all, you can't join us for the next 3. Canceling on short notice (or not at all) is unfair to everyone, especially the people who wanted to participate and couldn't because all the slots were taken.

16 participants will make main courses for 3-4 people each  ALL SLOTS FULL
7 participants will make appetizers for 8 participants each ALL SLOTS FULL
5 participants will make salads for 8 people each ALL SLOTS FULL
7 participants will make dessert for 8-10 people each ALL SLOTS FULL
8 participants will bring at least 2 bottles of good *Northern California* wine per person (not per couple) and some *locally-brewed* beer. Consider that most cooks spend $25-50 (and up!) just on their ingredients. If you're not cooking, you should be prepared to spend at least this much on beverages, out of respect for your chefs.ALL SLOTS FULL
1 participants will bring non-alcoholic beverages for 20 (sparkling water and juices, locally produced when possible) ALL SLOTS FULL
1 participant will eat and drink on us, in exchange for mopping all the floors and wiping clean all tables and counters. We will still do the group cleanup, but after that this person will finish the job and make sure the space is as we found it. ALL SLOTS FULL

Please let me know who is coming by name. Once we reach 45 people confirmed, I will close the event and start another post for the waiting list. If the slots are full for what you'd like to bring, please choose something else instead. (Don't worry: There will always be another event to showcase your skills.)

So post a comment on the blog (do NOT email me directly) under the call-for-participation post letting me know the following:
First and last name
Email address
What you'll be bringing (appetizer, main course, etc.) 
If you brought wine last time, you should now cook something (unless you cooked as part of a couple and made a large entree).

If too many people pick the same course, I'll have to assign a different course to the last entrant.

This is going to be great! So sign up before the spaces are gone.

A presto,
Marco Flavio

San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition 2009: NorCal report

Buongiorno. This past Saturday I joined some very happy sold-out crowds at Fort Mason sampling the winners of the prestigious San Francisco Chronicle wine competition. I wanted to see how my favorite NorCal winemakers fared among the stiff competition: 4,235 wine entries from 1,500 US wineries judged blind by 55 industry experts. New releases and first-time discoveries made for a truly memorable event - you just can't find this level of quality across the board under one roof elsewhere. I have to tell you, if you enjoy wine, make sure to get your tickets at least two weeks early next year.

First of all, I want to thank the winemakers who master a tricky craft to create these wines, and a special thanks to the NorCal producers: you make my choice to drink only local vintages very easy. There are some excellent California and Italian varietals growing in Sonoma these days, so I don't mind waiting to drink Italian until my annual trips home. To my 9 favorite award-winning local vintages I say: Salute!

Enjoy!
Marco Flavio

Muscardini Cellars Sangiovese, Dry Creek Valley, 2006. This wine begs for food: cinnamon and raspberries, with a whiff of tobacco and very soft tannins that can stand up to a robust Italian first course without flinching. Plus, Michael is always so excited to talk about wine, he wins me over every time. We discovered this small-production Sangiovese visiting his new Kenwood tasting room a couple months ago and stocked up before the big win: nick of time! Grazie for this one, Michael.

Caliza Winery Syrah, Russell Family vineyards, 2006. A full-bodied, aromatic red that's like a roadside blackberry bush on an hot August day: ripe and ready. Only 200 cases were produced, and you can only get it from the winery. This one accompanies well-caramelized roasts or braises with wild mushrooms: a carnivore's favorite winter wine.

Canihan Family Cellars Exuberance Syrah, Sonoma Valley, 2006. Organically farmed and robust yet very silky, with raspberries and white pepper rounding out the aromas. A long finish reminds you who's in charge: hint hint, it's not the food.

Claudia Springs Zinfandel, Mendocino Ridge, Valenti Ranch, 2006 and signature Zinfandel, 2006. I have to say, I tried at least three different Zins from Claudia Springs, and each was completely different but highly worthwhile. They're produced in small batches and priced to sell out: : the 2006 Zin is $22. Buy directly from the winery while you can...

Quivira Vineyards Syrah, Dry Creek Valley, Wine Creek ranch, 2006. Only 244 cases of this inky, intense Demeter-certified biodynamic beauty were produced. This cedar- and violet-scented new release is available directly from the winery at $28 a bottle: such a steal.

Ottimino Vineyards Zinfandel, Von Weidlich Vineyard, 2005. A versatile Zin from Russian River, with a deep black cherry flavor perked up with a zing of white pepper. In Italian translation, the name has a double meaning: "the eighth," but also "the little exceptional one." I'll second that.

Claiborne & Churchill Pinot Gris, Central Coast. At the event, people were going for the reds and overlooking some exceptional whites. This well-structured, very dry Alsatian-style Pinot Gris is a welcome exception to the industrial-standard sweet white Zin. This would be ideal paired with the last Dungeness crab of the season, or a rich egg dish with Hollandaise sauce for Sunday brunch. The prices are better for whites too: this one goes for $12-18 a bottle, depending on where you buy it.

Amazon Ranch Viognier, Damiano Vineyard, 2008. Viognier is the perfect go-to white for weeknight dinners, and this one delivers strong mineral notes followed by orange and lemon zest. Enjoy it with a risotto, and use it in the recipe as well to balance the creaminess of risotto. Score it for $10.80 a bottle when you buy a case from the winery.

Dulcis in fundo (the sweetest comes last): Geyser Peak Winery Barrel Aged Tawny Port was a Sweepstakes winner: no small feat, since this honor is given to only six wines. Wellington Vineyards white port is still my favorite Port, but this balanced blast of butterscotch, vanilla and yes, bananas holds its own with salted caramels or chocolate or as dessert. Good for Geyser Peak: they're a major producer, but they're still trying daring new small-production wines. Try this port with dark chocolate gelato, and thank me later.

Oh, one last thing: for you pâté lovers, Marcel et Henri's South San Francisco offerings are a must-try. People were swarming around the pork with truffles, but I was just as impressed with the country-style pork with burgundy wine and the coarse-textured venison pâté with burgundy wine and juniper berries. My favorite? Coarse duck with cognac.

Enjoy and cin-cin!
Marco Flavio