The weather has been a bit gray and indecisive as we’ve moved to spring from winter. I got a bit of a respite on a flying visit to San Francisco and the Bay Area.
I don’t love repeating dishes, and have a perhaps unfounded fear of becoming a Taco Tuesday person. But sometimes you want a nice bold ragù with some pasta. I’m still not convinced it’s possible to make it look good in a photo. As ever, though, it was pretty tasty.
On the pasta front, I did more of one of my favorites, orecchiette with sausage and broccoli. It’s a really easy way to toss dinner together in about 15 minutes from a cold start. Sadly, I couldn’t get my hands on broccoli rabe when the need struck — my preferred vegetable for the dish — but tenderstem broccoli did the trick.
I did a red lentil dal in an effort to be more virtuous. It’s also a wonderfully simple dish — at least my weeknight version — that comes together in about 20 or 30 minutes with very little effort.
On the pastry side, I sacrificed a bit of my stash of crème de marrons to finally do the FRG chestnut-chocolate cake I’ve been meaning to try for a couple months. I love the flavor of chestnuts, and the cake is good. I do slightly wish the chocolate wasn’t quite as dominant a flavor, and you could taste the chestnut-ness a bit more.
The current US government’s tariff regime notwithstanding, it really irritates me that it’s so hard to get chestnut cream in the US. It’s so good, and in France a small can only costs a few Euros. It’s not that expensive. Yet, it’s virtually impossible to find here at any price.
I tried a recipe for butter cookies from the team at Honey & Co in London. Like a few other cookie recipes I’ve come across lately, I really like their almost modular approach. I followed one of their suggestions, using flaked almonds and vanilla. Though with my own twist: I picked my own size and shape. It’s a good recipe. I’d recommend it.
I had a chance to spend a few days in San Francisco this month, and did probably more than my fair share of eating.
While there are many reasons I don’t live in San Francisco, it’s hard to deny that the food culture is great. It’s so much easier to find interesting, innovative food.
I got a chance to make a trip to SPQR, the great Roman-Italian restaurant. My favorite dish of the meal was unquestionably the sunchoke starter. Everything else was great. This starter was a cut above even that high standard. It’s hard to go wrong with what I suspect were deep-fried Brussels sprouts bathed in a light and earthy sauce.
Nari was also a treat. Everything was great. I could have used a bit more dessert at the end. But it must also be said that it’s the kind of place where everything is so complicated, it’s a bit ridiculous to imagine recreating anything at home. I do think
Looking forward to the month ahead, I got an interesting bit of inspiration at a Scandinavian bakery-café in San Francisco.
When I’m visiting another city, I indulge a bit, and decided to get a bit of a sweet treat with my lunch one afternoon. I also love everything and anything ginger. This bakery does a ginger cookie “slice” by making (if I were making a guess) a very large diameter cookie, and then cutting it into wedges like a pie. It was an interesting twist on a ginger snap. By baking one giant cookie, you get a really nice gradient of texture with every bite.
Unlike so many of the things I discover when I travel (or simply eat at fun restaurants), recreating this feels doable.
It almost goes without saying that, with Good Friday approaching, I’ll be making a batch of hot cross buns. As I say every year, I may not be super religious, but I like the ceremony and rituals. Especially those that involve delicious food.
What I’m Reading and Watching
A review of alcohol-free wine from Eric Asimov at The New York Times
Tips for dining peacefully at home, a riff on the recent FT column about restaurant behavior
Latte art for beginners from James Hoffman
The difficult task of reworking the food options served up by the US military
Exploring the apparent dearth of walk-in tables at popular restaurants
Yotam Ottolenghi on the problems with modern diet culture
A mysterious decline in the popularity of the proverbial doggie bag
Considering the “middle-class” restaurant
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