The flavors and texture of black garlic are so unique. It did not taste like I had expected. It was like a garlic candy; sweet, and slightly savory, with subtle garlic notes and a jelly-candy texture. The deep color and flavor is the result of a month-long aging by a special high-heat fermentation process. It has umami flavors of molasses, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce and licorice. For more information and a recent culinary history about Black Garlic, go to blackgarlic.com.
Risotto Recipe
I started with this wonderful olive oil from the California Olive Ranch, 2009 Olio Nuovo, a gift from the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival. It was one of the oils we tasted at Michael Tuohy’s Olive Oil Tasting seminar. We learned from Michael to use this oil now, when it is young. Olio Nuovo: A “living liquid” bottled at time of milling, it has a thick texture and rich flavor.
Heat 1/2 c. olive oil in a heavy saucepan. Add a finely chopped onion. Sauté until light golden brown.
Add 1 1/2 c. arborio rice and stir until each grain is coated with oil. Add 1/2 c. white wine and cook until the wine has evaporated. Add about 5 c. hot chicken stock gradually as absorbed, stirring continuously until the rice is almost al dente.
Add sliced black garlic and continue stirring, adding the final stock, until the rice is al dente.
The black garlic gives the rice a deep caramel color.
Cook peas separately, then combine peas with risotto.
Black garlic imparts such interesting and complex flavors to this risotto.
Slice high-quality bacon, cook in a non-stick skillet until cooked through but not crispy. Drain on paper towels and set aside.
Meanwhile sauté finely chopped yellow onion with a small amount of bacon fat until soft and slightly browned. Set aside on paper towels to cool. Combine bacon and onion.
Spray a pie dish with baking spray (cooking spray with flour added). Form pie dough (homemade or store-bought) in the pie dish.
Add bacon onion mixture.
My ratio for quiche custard base is:
5 fresh whole large eggs
2 1/2 cups of warm light cream
1 T flour
salt and pepper
I beat these ingredients with an electric hand mixer.
Pour custard base over the bacon onion mixture. Bake at 350° for about an hour, maybe a little longer, until just cooked through.
Let quiche cool completely to room temperature.
Slice the quiche into wedges before topping with the salad. Top the bacon quiche with tomato wedges and mixed lettuces tossed with mayonnaise or ranch dressing, salt and pepper to taste. A pie server is perfect for serving. This is a great dish for a brunch buffet as it is served at room temperature, it’s colorful, whimsical and delicious!
To be where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars
The morning fog may chill the air, I don’t care
My love waits there in San Francisco
Above the blue and windy sea
When I come home to you, San Francisco
Your golden sun will shine for me
Tony Bennett with Judy Garland
The 1st annual Foodbuzz Blogger Festival was a huge success. Congratulations and thank you to the entire Foodbuzz team for hosting this wonderful weekend in San Francisco.
Day 1
Welcome Reception, Hotel Vitale
Taste of San Francisco Street Food Fare, Ferry Building
Day 2
Morning at the Market, Ferry Building
Olive Oil Tasting, Hotel Vitale
Taste Pavilion, at the Metreon
Merlot Tasting, at the Metreon
Foodbuzz Dinner and Awards Ceremony, at GreenLeaf Produce Warehouse by Outstanding in the Field
Day 3
Farewell Brunch, Restaurant LuLu
Day 1
Hotel Vitale Landmark Terrace
Welcome reception with a view of the Ferry Building
Street Food Fare
The Chicharrones Girl
“A one-way ticket to chicharrones heaven.”
Rotisserie Porchetta
Heritage’s free range pork loin rolled into the belly with Thomas’s original herb mix with lemon zest. Grilled on the rotisserie for four hours until crispy brown on the outside, succulent on the inside.
Crisscrossing North America, Outstanding in the Field’s long, linen-draped table beckons adventurous diners to celebrate food at the source. Bringing together local farmers and food artisans, chefs and winemakers, exploring the connection between the earth and the food on your plate. Their mission is to re-connect diners to the land and the origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivate it. More about Outstanding in the Field here.
GreenLeaf Produce Display
Cooking a Gourmet Dinner in a Warehouse
Kudos to the team from Namu Restaurant!
Foodies in a Warehouse
GreenLeaf Produce Warehouse
a terrific venue for a unique and enchanted evening…
Soup Line
Preparing to serve 250 bowls of soup.
The Soup: Mushroom Dashi, Maitake, Shimeji, Enoki
Salad Course Udon, grilled Monterey calamari in a browned butter ponzu reduction, cucumber, kaiware, frisée & yellow pear tomato with chojang & sesame vinaigrette
The festival ended with a delicious brunch and build-your-own Bloody Mary bar sponsored by Nature’s Pride and Skyy Spirits at Restaurant LuLu. The Farewell Brunch was the perfect ending to an amazing weekend. Besides hanging out with my dear dear friend Father Adam, and getting to meet many awesome bloggers, my next favorite part of the event, being a table setting aficionado myself, was that Outstanding Table! I haven’t stopped talking about it! A heartfelt thank you to the folks at Foodbuzz for all your planning and creativity and graciousness. The weekend rocked!
To all my foodie friends, it was an absolute pleasure to get to know you! Best wishes for continued success with your fabulous blogs. I left my heart in San Francisco, how about you? See you next year!
“We blog, we eat, we cook, we drink. So when Foodbuzz sat down to cook up our first weekend blogger event, we decided to host a festival of networking and collaborating the way foodies do things: over good meals and in good company! You’ll be hands on tasting, eating, drinking, networking and learning all weekend. Meet amazing foodie friends, and return home with awesome experiences to blog about.”
To those of you who will be in San Francisco this weekend, I am definitely looking forward to meeting you! We are going to have a blast. I am very excited that my dear friend and great cook, Father Adam will be there too! And to everyone else, I look forward to sharing our experiences when we return. Have a great weekend!
Cook pre-soaked Navy Beans in water with three or four smashed garlic cloves, a bay leaf and salt, until tender. Drain off any water and cool.
These roasted chiles came as a gift from my dear friend Peggy from Denver, where they roast chiles on the street corners in the Fall. I can just imagine the aromas! Peel, seed and stem the roasted chiles, then they are ready to add to the food processor.
Whip 1/2 c. whipping cream to stiff peaks in a food processor. Leave the whipped cream in the processor, change the blade from a whipping blade to a chopping blade, then add beans and garlic cloves (sans bay leaf) and roasted chiles. Puree then salt to taste. Navy beans, garlic, and roasted green chiles made an extraordinarily flavorful spread!
Toast (or grill) sliced baguette. Slice a garlic clove in half. Rub each slice of toasted baguette with a couple swipes of the raw garlic clove, then brush the toast with olive oil. Rubbing the toast with raw garlic gives it a real burst of flavor. Top with the spread. A little herb garnish is nice too.
I am submitting this Navy Bean Crostini to the My Legume Love Affair Event 17th Edition hosted by Sra of When My Soup Came Alive blog. This is a wonderful event that showcases legumes, started by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook in January 2008 and still going strong!
It was my pleasure to host the 11th Edition last May, the round-up can be found here. If you love beans, there is no better place to go than My Legume Love Affair for great recipes and inspiration.
Pea and Mint Crostini Recipe
The pea and mint crostini idea comes from Giada De Laurentis. Cook a bag of frozen peas with 1 t. red pepper flakes in water until tender. Drain and cool. Whip 1/2 c. whipping cream to stiff peaks in a food processor, change the blade, add the pea mixture with 1/4 c. fresh mint. Puree until smooth, salt to taste. Giada topped hers with diced prosciutto. We also topped some with diced pears tossed with pear balsamic vinegar. The color of the pea mixture is fabulous!
Shrimp with Blue Cheese Polenta, Chile Oil
Cook polenta, add crumbled blue cheese at the end of cooking. Salt and pepper to taste. Spread polenta mixture in a shallow dish. Chill, then cut out rounds with a cookie cutter.
Sauté peeled deveined shrimp in a little butter and olive oil, finish with salt and pepper to taste.
Dust polenta rounds with flour, sauté in butter until slightly crispy.
Char red chiles on a grill or under a broiler. Peel and seed. Put chiles in a food processor, stream in olive oil taking care not to over blend.
The roasted red chile oil gave a nice kick to the shrimp. Homemade chile oil was worth the effort. For extra cheesy bites, place a small slice of blue cheese on the polenta, then top with the shrimp and chile oil.
Date Wrapped Bacon Bundles
Two ingredients, lots of flavor! Roll bacon around a pitted date, secure with a toothpick and bake at 375° turning once, until the bacon is crispy. These were a big hit!
Sunken City Supper Club Appetizers
For our Sunken City Supper Club event a few weeks ago (posted here and here) we wanted to serve a nice variety of not-too-complicated appetizers as our guests arrived. We wanted a range of flavors, colors and textures. The Dates Wrapped in Bacon Bundles were sweet, smokey, and salty. The Crostini was colorful, crunchy and creamy. The Polenta with Shrimp was cheesy, spicy and crispy. We had vegetarian, seafood, and bacon appetizers. They were easy to pick up with the hands, we simply provided cocktail napkins, as the guests mingled before dinner. It worked.
Gail and Marlene plate the appetizers.
Barry Anthony of The Swing Of Things band getting ready to play at the Sunken City Supper Club.
Until the next get-together of the Sunken City Supper Club, I leave you with another one of the band’s light-hearted and breezy performances:
The Swing of Things performing Nat King Cole’s first hit record recorded in 1944, Straighten Up and Fly Right.
