Cioppino

Souper Bowl
The 49ers are in the Super Bowl this weekend and most of the Bay Area is excited. (There are a number of Raiders fans who just can’t bring themselves to watch, despite the departure of the team.) Around The Bay, there will be the usual parties with the usual nosh required to keep the energy up to support the team. Burgers? Sure. Brats? Of course. Guac? Wouldn’t be a party without it. If you want to go with something truly San Francisco for your Super Bowl party, I have a suggestion that is a bit outside of the box.

The recent opening of the local crab season has me thinking about cioppino, which couldn’t be any more authentically San Francisco, since it was invented in the late 1800s by Italian immigrant fishermen in North Beach. Legend has it that when a fisherman returned from fishing off the wharf empty-handed, he would walk around with a pot asking the other fishermen if they could chip in anything they could spare. The combination of fish and shellfish that made it to his pot became his cioppino and it was expected that, should the fisherman be successful on another day, he would then chip in some of his catch for another who was not as fortunate.

I love a good cioppino. In my mind you can never go wrong with mixed seafood in broth be it tomato-based or white wine and stock. It’s also pretty easy to feed a crowd. I will point out that this is not finger food. It requires a seat at a table with napkins and a place to put the shells. Perfect for Halftime.

Since cioppino was created to use whatever was available, there is no right or wrong mix of seafood for you to use. My daughter can’t have shrimp, which is a pretty standard component, so I will leave them out and use more mussels and clams. And, when it’s crab season, I will get a cleaned and cracked crab or two to throw in the pot. The legs go in whole, but I get the other meat out of the shell and top the stew with it before serving.

Cioppino Recipe
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis and The Food Network
Yields 6 servings Read more…

Chicken Marsala

Chicken Marsala Two Ways
I have a new favorite pasta. Normally, I swing back and forth between tomato-based pasta dishes and olive oil or garlicky ones. Last night I took one of my favorite recipes for chicken marsala and turned it into a really good mushroomy bowl of pasta.

There is some magic that occurs when you mix mushrooms, butter, and wine. The flavor just can’t be beat. This is why chicken marsala, (or veal if you want to go traditional) is such a good dish. It seems so fancy—but really, it is simply good comfort food.

The recipe below is the marsala recipe I use when I want to do it straight. (I did add garlic to it). Last night, instead of pounding the chicken breasts into cutlets, I cut them into chunks and browned them before moving on to the rest of the instructions as written. I still added my garlic to the pan with the prosciutto and I may or may not have added just a bit more butter than was asked for.

When everything was all done, I spooned the marsala, sauce and all, over some lightly buttered pasta. It was a flavor bomb of umami awesomeness and a perfect start to the new month. Next time I make this I might try to double the amount of liquid and toss everything together.

Definitely try to get a decent bottle of Marsala wine. It will make all the difference.

Chicken Marsala Recipe
Adapted from Tyler Florence and the Food Network
Yields 4 servings

Here is our adapted version of the original recipe (with garlic!). You can also try it over pasta with the variation at the bottom of the recipe. Read more…

Classic Tiramisu

Stimulating Dessert Conversations
When deciding what dessert to serve for Valentine’s Day, it should come as no surprise that the predominant choice is something chocolatey. Valentine’s Day is, among other things, a chocolate gifting day.

The options for beautiful boxes of chocolates are as plentiful and varied as the thousands of bouquets that will no doubt accompany them. Personally, I look forward to the Sees heart from Dad with great anticipation every year. (As does my husband…sigh) There is such a thing as too much chocolate, though. (Blasphemy!!) For that reason, I am here to offer an equally special and, dare I say sexier, alternative.

Maybe it’s the flavors or maybe it’s the perceived decadence. But, I consider a classic tiramisu a sexy dessert. (And that was before I did some research.) This is the kind of dessert that you share with your favorite someone over coffee and great conversation after an amazing dinner for two.

When doing research on the origins of one of my favorite desserts, I was amused to find out that Tiramisu was created in 1800 by the Maitresse of a house of pleasure in Treviso, Italy—as an aphrodisiac dessert to offer her clients at the end of the night as a means to reinvigorate them before heading home. (I’m not kidding…)

As an unapologetic reader of romance novels, I found this information hilariously believable—and absolutely wonderful. Thankfully, Classic Tiramisu is also one of my husband’s favorites. Now, please excuse me while I go find the ingredients…

Classic Tiramisu Recipe
Yields 6 to 8 servings
Adapted from Allison Roman and NY Times Cooking Read more…

Go-To Pizza Dough

Go-To Pizza Dough coming out of a brick oven Pizza Pizza
Tonight is make your own pizza night, a family favorite. There’s a twist, though. Normally I will heat up a pizza stone in my oven or sometimes on my grill to cook the pizzas. Tonight, we are doing it at my sister’s house because she’s the one with a pizza oven.

All of the dudes in our lives are either on business trips or off at school. So, my daughter, sister, and I are having a girls’ night. We are making our own pizza because I want to see if I need a backyard pizza oven like my sister has.

For years my husband and I have dreamed that it would be great if we had a wood-fired oven in our backyard. We could make bread, roast meats, and, yes, make fantastic pizzas. My husband would love to build it, as he is always up for a project.

But, here’s the thing. Making pizza, or anything else in a wood-fired oven is a process. As awesome and beautiful as a brick oven would be, you have to be the kind of person who will really use it. You must have an hours-long plan not only for getting it hot but also for when the pizza making is over and you let the oven cool.

It would be a waste of time, energy, and resources not to throw other things in there like some gorgeous sourdough bread or some succulent roasted chicken and potatoes. It’s potentially a two-day process at least. Which, if you have the time, is a great way to spend your days. But, it’s just not practical for most of us. And now that my household is rapidly shrinking, I don’t have the mouths required to consume all the oven-roasted bounty.

My sister has a gas-fired tabletop pizza oven that I am thinking is the better solution. So, tonight I’m going to test drive it. Below is the recipe for my Go-To Pizza Dough. (Can’t go wrong with Bobby Flay!) I am curious to see how the pizzas turn out and what the flavor is like without the smoke of the wood. Though, you can get ovens that will use both.

Go-To Pizza Dough Recipe
Adapted from Bobby Flay and the Food Network
Yields 2 14-inch pizza crusts Read more…