Cook Here and Now

Cook Here and Now wins Best of the Bay!

 

Grazie mille to all the participants!
Cook Here and Now just won the Editor's Pick: Best of the Bay award in the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

BEST COOKING CLUB FOR COOL KIDS

Cook Here and Now is not just a statement, it's a newfangled take on the old-fashioned potluck. This underground cooking and tasting club gathers for periodic food-a-thons in a donated kitchen space, often the Zocalo furniture store in Bayview. And while the movement has gained national attention — last year CHN appeared in Travel + Leisure and Food & Wine magazines, and it has inspired similar cooking clubs as far away as Melbourne, Australia — locally the group has remained under the radar.(Which is just as well, because attendees are ferociously loyal, and each event tends to fill the 40-or-so seats mere minutes after being announced.) Attendees must sign up in advance and agree to prepare part of the community meal based on a theme or ingredient. Then they shop for ingredients, bring kitchen tools to the meet-up, and spend nine hours cooking, chatting, drinking, eating, and cleaning — all in the pursuit of one-upping each other with well-sourced ingredients, cooking technique, and culinary wow.

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I'm inclined to agree - we've had great meals in terrific company over these past three years. Thanks to all who've participated, and passed on the word.
Here's to many more!
Marco Flavio

Farmers Market Watch: July 16th

Buongiorno. We're three days away from our group dinner, and the ingredients we'll be using are peaking. Two Dogs Farm brought to market some delicately scented edible flowers you can buy separately or mixed with their organic spring salad (flowers $1/bag, 1/2 lb. organic salad mix $2). I can't wait for Two Dogs farm's Early Girl tomatoes to ripen: I look forward to their peppery, grassy flavor all year.

Don't forget: you can follow my latest finds on Twitter. Come and say hi.

Here's what else I liked this week at the San Francisco Heart of the City farmers market:

Corn, sweet corn ... I think this year these golden ears fooled even San Francisco weather into thinking it's summer: it's actually warm and sunny on July 16th.  Here's a selection of recipes from Allrecipe; $1 for 2 ears.

Sweet purple basil from The Herb Guy. This one's just right for a tangy, herbal pesto with fresh spring garlic and roasted red walnuts. I brought it home and handmade some semolina orecchiette (little ears) pasta to go with it: because of their spoon-like shape, orecchiette can hold sauce to deliver bursts of flavor with every bite.
The Herb Guy also carries thyme, marjoram, three kinds of basil, dill, cilantro, an impressive range of mints, lemongrass, pennyworth, sorrel and shiso; $3 for your choice of 4 herbs.

Such a variety of summer squash, from Ronde de Nice, perfect for stuffing, to romanesco zucchini, which I stir fry and add to my frittatas. The cost: $1-2/lb of organic squash.
For more of an occasion, try my Summer squash risotto cooked in spumante with zucchini and basil. I use Gloria Ferrer's Blanc de Noirs and drink the rest with it.
I also wrote a primer on risotto, so you can invent your own.
More summer squash recipes from Allrecipe.

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Delta blueberries are here, and they're already pretty good. These vary a lot in flavor, so try before you buy at $6/pint, $10/quart.

The brief,glorious peaches and nectarines season is in full swing - don't let it pass you by. I'm a big fan of Frog Hollow Farms and Bella Viva. Don't miss out on the Bella Viva sale August 15th at the Ferry Building if you're planning to can or make jam from these beauties: $10/flat.

Enjoy, and see you Sunday!
Marco Flavio

Let's cook and eat together: Sunday July 19thALL 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 July 19th

Buongiorno. We're ready for our July dinner and the main theme will be sustainable seafood. For a complete list of sustainable seafood choices in California, go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch. Take your pick from the Best Choices or Good Alternatives columns.

Featured seasonal vegetables will be edible flowers (nasturtiums are everywhere!), fresh herbs, corn and zucchini (including their flowers). Featured seasonal fruits will be peaches, apricots and plums.

The plan
45 of us will cook and eat together on July 19th, 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 read 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.

15 participants will make main courses for 3-4 people each
7 participants will make appetizers for 8 participants each ALL SLOTS TAKEN
5 participants will make salads for 8 people each  ALL SLOTS TAKEN
7 participants will make dessert for 8-10 people each ALL SLOTS TAKEN
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 TAKEN
1 participant will bring non-alcoholic beverages for 20 (sparkling water and juices, locally produced when possible) 
1 participant will bring us a bottle of wine and do the final mopping of the floors and wipe 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.  

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 slot you'll be taking (appetizer, main course, etc.) Each person coming must sign up for a slot.
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