The new cafe at work.

Today I had:

**Cauliflower Salad with Nicoise Olives and Crispy Croutons
cauliflower, red onions, red wine vinegar, nicoise olives, olive oil, parsley, bread crumb 

**Lemon, Leek, Parsnip and Pistachio Risotto
arborio, lemon, garlic, onions, vegetable stock, herbs, spices, olive oil, parsnips, leeks

**Spanish Chick Pea Soup
spanish smoked paprika, piquillo peppers, garbanzo beans, garlic, onion, coriander seed, vegetable stock, herbs, spices, tomato

And a side of brussel sprouts and broccoli for a little more ruffage.

All for the low, low price of free.

One of the teams responsible for opening a cafe in Mountain View that just knocked everyone's socks off has come up here. I have been eating like even more of a king than I usually do.

Oh, and they have a heat lamp for the cookies. Why, you ask? So they'll always be warm when you put them on your plate to eat them. It's the little things.

Photo Credit: Scott Giambiastiani, Google Executive Chef

Orson: Restaurant Review

Elizabeth faulkner is my hero. She has an amazing taste and precision in food. I recently found out that she opened a new restaurant where she is the head chef. Being a huge fan of Citizen Cake, I had to go.

Their website: http://www.orsonsf.com/

I had the flank steak. It is on my list of top five steak dishes of all time. 

The 5 Senses of Food

It started with salmonella. Well, more specifically, how to know you are avoiding getting it. You see, I had been cooking chicken for this chicken tortilla soup recipe:

Chicken Tortilla Soup (from evilchefmom)

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes (use about 2/3 of the can)

6 cups chicken broth

1/2 to 1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped. Start off with a little and adjust to your taste

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

about 4 corn tortillas cut into one inch squares (this will help thicken up the soup)

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

3 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces

salt and pepper to taste

Options:

crushed tortilla chips

sliced avocado

sour cream

shredded cheese (monterey jack, cheddar jack, mexican blend, cheddar, whatever)

chopped green onions

lime wedges to squeeze into soup

In a medium stock pot, heat oil over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic in oil until soft. Stir in chili powder, oregano, tomatoes and broth. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in corn tortillas, jalapeno, beans, cilantro, and chicken. Simmer for 10 minutes. Ladle soup into individual serving bowls, and top with the above options.

So. As I was saying. The boyfriend was asking me how I know when the chicken is done (and salmonellaless. Is that a word?) without cutting it open. Immediately unsure of myself, I responded with, "I just know." 

"But how do you know?"

"You just know. It's one of those things you just know."

He headed off to the bathroom to relieve some of the Negro Modelo we had been drinking. I thought about it as I started cutting the chicken into bite-sized pieces. As I was cutting, it came to me. The chicken *feels* different. It feels a certain way when it's raw, it feels a certain way when it's cooking, and it feels a certain way when it's done. 

Later:

"Is it Soup yet?"

"No."

"How do you know when it's Soup?"

"I just know. It's not Soup yet."

"But how do you know?"

"It smells like Soup."

"You know, you should write a blog entry about this."

Yes, I should. When the flavors have combined and the spices have bloomed and everything is married (merried if you're my mom) it *smells* different. It smells...complete. It smells balanced and pungent and flavorful. It smells like it will be enhanced by the garnish but will stand on its own. 

Are there other senses for food? Yes. Haven't you ever had that moment loooking down at your plate and thought, "this lunch is too brown." Or, alternatively, "this could really use something green." I know I have. 

The sound of bacon sizzling. Or of steamed milk getting close to the boiling point. Every morning when I make a latte, I hear the sound of...it's...just...about...to...boil... I stop it right before and it creates a wonderfully hot but not scalding espresso drink that fills my mouth with milky goodness. Yes, I said milky goodness.

Of course, there's taste. We can all taste when something isn't right. We can all taste when a dish explodes with spices. In fact, the more we eat, the more nuance of flavor we begin to understand. And I think being a cook gives you more insight into the other senses of food beyond that.

Breffix & Supper

Breakfast: I made cream scones with apricot ginger sausage and Niman Ranch bacon. We drank coffee and Pellegrino. We ate like kings, in other words. These scones are amazing.

This is another recipe I owe to smittenkitchen. 

Cream Scones (from smittenkitchen)

2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour, preferably a low-protein brand such as Gold Medal or Pillsbury

1 tablespoon baking powder

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons chilled, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes

1/2 cup currants (I used dried cranberries, and chopped them into smaller bits)

1 cup heavy cream

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Place flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in large bowl or work bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade. Whisk together or pulse six times.

3. If making by hand, use two knives, a pastry blender or your fingertips and quickly cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few slightly larger butter lumps. Stir in currants. If using food processor,remove cover and distribute butter evenly over dry ingredients. Cover and pulse 12 times, each pulse lasting 1 second. Add currants and pulse one more time. Transfer dough to large bowl.

4. Stir in heavy cream with a rubber spatula or fork until dough begins to form, about 30 seconds.

5. Transfer dough and all dry, floury bits to countertop and knead dough by hand just until it comes together into a rough, sticky ball, 5 to 10 seconds. Form scones by either a) pressing the dough into an 8-inch cake pan, then turning the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, cutting the dough into 8 wedges with either a knife or bench scraper (the book’s suggestion) or b) patting the dough onto a lightly floured work surface into a 3/4-inch thick circle, cutting pieces with a biscuit cutter, and pressing remaining scraps back into another piece (what I did) and cutting until dough has been used up. (Be warned if you use this latter method, the scones that are made from the remaining scraps will be much lumpier and less pretty, but taste fine. As in, I understand why they suggested the first method.)

6. Place rounds or wedges on ungreased baking sheet and bake until scone tops are light brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

For lunch, I had another scone.

Supper:

LAT (Lettuce, Avocado, Turkey) Sandwich with "Country" Greens

Toasted Sourdough bread spread with mayo with 1/4 tsp. chile powder mixed in

Red Leaf Lettuce

Avocado

Smoked Turkey Breast

I got a package of greens from the store when shopping for the above ingredients and loosely following about a dozen different recipes in my head from making greens about a dozen times I did the following:

I sauteed an onion with 6 cloves of garlic (yes, I said 6. I love garlic.) in about 3 tablespoons of olive oil until the onion was translucent and it all looked happy in my skillet. Then I poured in enough chicken broth to cover the onions and garlic, and then in batches mixed in the greens until they were all wilted. I continued cooking for another 10 or 20 minutes, added salt and pepper and a light drizzling of white vinegar after I had taken it off the heat. I ate them while reading the New York Times magazine:

Sometimes I'd Rather

Make food than go out. I know it sounds crazy, it's hard to believe myself, but I actually opted for making dinner for the boyfriend and I the other night than going to Town Hall for dinner. There's something about the meditative feeling of stirring a bowl of chocolate just off the double boiler until it's cool or placing slices of bread in a pan for french toast that just...soothes. I think other people before me have talked about this (in fact I know they have) but still, it surprises me. It is a wonderful thing to provide food for someone else. It is a wonderful thing to put that much love into something that will nourish a person. It is also a brain stimulus - cooking is a little puzzle that starts out on a piece of paper or in your head and ends up in your mouth. You have to have a sense for it, too. You have to smell when the brownies are overbaking or when the proportions on a recipe look suspicious. You have to know. 

It is a skill and an art and I love it.

Cookie!

These here are some amazing cookies. I sent my boyfriend a text message telling him I loved him and that would be indicated to him by the fact that there would be some of these left for him when he got back into town from his vacation. I could have eaten them all. I really could have.

Crispy Salted White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (from smittenkitchen)

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon table salt

14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

6 ounces good-quality white chocolate bar, chopped (not “white chocolate” chips; they’re almost always artificial. I am adamant about this.)

1/2 teapoon flaky sea salt (like Maldon or fleur de sel) (for sprinkling on top)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and table salt in a medium bowl.

2. Beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Scrape down bowl with rubber spatula, then add egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Scrape down bowl again. Add flour mixture gradually and mix until just incorporated and smooth. Gradually add oats and white chocolate and mix until well incorporated.

3. Divide dough into 24 equal portions, each about 2 tablespoons. Roll between palms into balls, then place on lined baking sheets about 2 1/2 inches apart. Using fingertips, gently press down each ball to about 1 3/4-inch thickness.

4. Sprinkle a flake or two of sea salt on each cookie

5. Bake until cookies are deep golden brown, about 13 to 16 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack to cool.

Cook's Illustrated Would be Proud

I made Cream of Tomato soup and Grilled Cheese sandwiches from Cook's Illustrated before my boyfriend left town for a week. I was hoping it might give him a reason to come back home to me. I think I was successful. This recipe I actually stole from another food blogger who adapted it from Cook's Illustrated. I couldn't get brandy from her recipe to go in my soup, so I actually ended up with a version closer to their original recipe that I intended, but really? Who cares? It was amazing soup. I added mustard to the sandwiches at the boyfriend's urging, and I can't thank him enough for that.

Cream of Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (from smittenkitchen)

Cream of Tomato Soup

2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes packed in juice, drained, 3 cups juice reserved

1 1/2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 large shallots, minced (about 1/2 cup)

1 tablespoon tomato paste

Pinch ground allspice

2 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups chicken stock, homemade or canned low-sodium

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons brandy or dry sherry

Salt and cayenne pepper

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Lines rimmed baking sheet with foil. With fingers, carefully open whole tomatoes over strainer set in bowl and push out seeds, allowing juices to fall through strainer into bowl. Spread seeded tomatoes in single layer on foil. Sprinkle evenly with brown sugar. Bake until all liquid has evaporated and tomatoes begin to color, about 30 minutes. Let tomatoes cool slightly, then peel them off foil; transfer to small bowl and set aside.

2. Heat butter over medium heat in large saucepan until foaming. Add shallots, tomato paste and allspice. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until shallots are softened, 7 to 10 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, until thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds. Gradually add chicken stock, whisking constantly to combine; stir in reserved tomato juice and roasted tomatoes. Cover, increase heat to medium, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, to blend flavors, about 10 minutes.

3. Pour mixture through strainer and into medium bowl; rinse out saucepan. Transfer tomatoes and solids in strainer to blender; add 1 cup strained liquid and puree until smooth. Place pureed mixture and remaining strained liquid in saucepan. Add cream and warm over low heat until hot, about 3 minutes. Off heat, stir in brandy and season with salt and cayenne. Serve immediately. (Soup can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Warm over low heat until hot; do not boil.)

Classic Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

3 ounces cheese (preferably mild cheddar) or combination of cheese, grated on large holes of box grater (about 3/4 cup)

4 slices (1/2 inch-thick) from white sandwich bread, such as Pepperidge Farm Toasting White

2 tablespoons butter (preferably salted), melted

1. Heat heavy 12-inch skillet over low to medium-low heat. Meanwhile, sprinkle a portion of cheese over two bread slices. Top each with a remaining bread slice, pressing down gently to set.

2. Brush sandwich tops completely with half of melted butter; place each sandwich, buttered-size down, in skillet. Brush remaining side of each sandwich completely with remaining butter. Cook until crisp and deep golden brown, 5 to 10 minutes per side, flipping sandwiches back to first side to reheat and crisp, about 15 seconds. Serve immediately.