Have a Foodie Holiday!!!

I came across this visual merchandising masterpiece as I was working on one of my creative ads assignments. I can see many people finding it somewhat offensive (Mario Batali stuffed as a Thanksgiving turkey part) but that is definitely more points to Barneys for drawing your "boring uptight" attention in the first place! I find it to be genius - from the outrageous Last Supper-ish metaphor to the extensive list of famous names (Daniel Boulud and Anthony Bourdain to name a few) in a papier-mâché form! Love it!!!!!

Reference: Barneys New York "Have a Foodie Holiday" Holiday Windows 2010                 

Charlotte Apple Pie

It is Friday morning and Sunday Brunch is fast approaching. Brunch is my favorite meal as it is an occasion all by itself and puts me in a cheery mood. If you go out with a family, it always creates a festive atmosphere with lots of laughter and food sharing…with an occasional glass of champagne ; )

I want to introduce a simple dish that my grandma and, probably, my great grandma used to make – it can count as a brunch dessert or a cozy winter breakfast that can be enjoyed with a cup of hot tea or cold milk. I will call it “Childhood morning awakening”…just kidding – I will call it Charlotte Pie, as it was originally a French recipe that worked its way firmly into my family's cooking heritage.

Charlotte Pie

 Ingredients:

     ·      4 large apple (I like Granny Smith)

·      3 large eggs

·      1 cup flour

·      1 cup sugar

·      2 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the apples into small square pieces. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, sugar and melted butter.  Gradually mix in flour to avoid separation and clumping from forming. Once you have an even mixture of almost-dough substance but thin enough to flow, take your cooking dish. It can be a regular pie baking dish or, as in my case, silicone muffin tins for miniature Charlottes. Make sure to butter the surface up to prevent the dough from sticking to it when ready. Place all the apples on the bottom of the dish and pour the dough mixture over until fully covered with only a few apple pieces sticking out. Put into the oven and bake for 40 minutes or until an even golden tan crust is formed. 

Enjoy your sweet morning awakening!

P.S. I have heard that you can replace the apples with any other kind of fruit or berries but I am yet to try that. Until I do, I am sticking with the way of tradition!  

BBQ&Gratin

Given the main picture of the blog, I could not help myself but offer the recipe for the beef short ribs. I like to call them “5-Spices Ribs. ” The recipe is rather simple and the best thing about it is that once you make the spice rub you can keep the leftovers for future use, since besides the actual time in the oven, getting the ingredients for the rub and mixing them in the right proportions takes up most of the time. As a side dish, I cook the traditional French Dauphinoise potatoes, better known as potato gratin. Since these two dishes are hearty and heavy, I accompany them with some raw veggies like tomatoes and cucumbers and call it a day.

5-Spices Ribs:

Ingredients:

·      1 roll of tin foil

·      Beef short ribs (about 4lb / serves 6 people)

·      1 (16 fl oz / 473 ml) bottle of BBQ sauce of your choice (not outrageously spicy though since the rub has a kick to it)

·      5 tablespoons brown sugar

·      3 tablespoons paprika

·      2 tablespoons salt

·      2 tablespoons ground black pepper

·      2 tablespoons chilly powder

·      1 tablespoon ground cumin

·      2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

Directions:

As you can see, I listed the ingredients of the rub from the largest to the smallest quantities – 2 TEAspoons of cayenne pepper! I did not pay attention once and put 2 tablespoons and that was hotter than hot…and not in a sexy way… aside from some burnt tongues, my family still loved me…thanks to some killer garlic mashed potatoes but let’s leave that for another post!

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Rub each beef rib with the spice mix on both sides. Let the meat sit in spices for 15 minutes while preheating the oven to 350 degrees and putting a few layers of tin foil onto the cooking dish. After 15 minutes, place the meat onto the foil in the cooking dish and pour the entire contents of BBQ bottle over the ribs. Smear the ribs with the sauce to ensure every rib is covered. Close the foil over the ribs and add a few more layers to ensure the leak-free “tin pocket.” Place the cooking dish into the oven and cook at 350 degrees for 2 hours. Sometimes after the two hours are up and I still have time on my hands, I cook for additional 30 minutes at 300 degrees. Cooking longer does not really hurt here since the ribs are supposed to be braised and fall off the bone. 

 Now that the beef is in the oven, we can start preparing the potatoes that will go into the oven an hour later.

Dauphinoise Potatoes (Gratin):

 Ingredients:

·      3 lb russet potatoes (or similar baking kind)

·      3 oz Gruyere cheese

·      1 ¼ cups whole milk

·      1 ¼ cups heavy cream

·      1 clove garlic (I also add a small pinch of garlic powder to ensure the right intensity of the aroma)

·      ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

·      1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

Peel the potatoes, slice them into thin circles (less than ¼ inch thick) and set them aside. Put the milk and cream into a medium pan and add crushed (or chopped very small) garlic clove. Bring to the boil and take of the heat as soon as the small bubbles start appearing on the circumference of the pan. Add ground nutmeg and set aside to infuse for about 15 minutes.

Take a large baking dish – I personally use a lasagna baking dish because I like the look and the size. If you end up using a ceramic dish like I do, make sure to put it in the oven just as it starts preheating – putting it after it is already at 350 degrees, will make it crack. After you have chosen your dish, spread the butter around the bottom and sides of the dish. Arrange a layer of potatoes on the bottom of the dish evenly and season with pepper and salt. Repeat until you run out of potatoes seasoning each layer. Pour the garlic cream over the potatoes making sure that only the very top of the potatoes sticks out. If there is not enough of the garlic cream mixture, you can add a bit more of the heavy cream. Grate the cheese and generously sprinkle on top of potatoes. Voila! Put it in the oven and keep there for 1 hour or until the top is a beautiful golden-brown tint.

Since the beef is in the oven for 2 hours and potatoes are there for an hour, everything will get ready at the same time! Set the table, invite some friends and enjoy the compliments! ; )  

sweet beginnings...

Welcome! I hope my manly man here and the unjustly abused toddler did not scare everyone away and we will still get a chance to share many entertaining stories, recipes and delicious addresses.  I wanted to create SavorBox as both a cooking tutorial and a culinary tour guide to epicurean delicacies of San Francisco. I am not claiming to be an expert chef or a tasting virtuoso – only a 20-something girl who is a recent transplant to the West Coast, learning how to cook and where to indulge.  Living in NYC for the past five years, I rarely had a chance to cook (flashback to Sex and the City episode on storing sweaters in the oven) but often had the privilege to taste the many savors of the world from both the big-name masterpieces of the restaurants to the hole-in-the-wall mom-and-pop corners. After wallowing in pain for having lost my favorite city while unpacking boxes, I decided that a new dwelling called for a change! With farmer’s markets everywhere and kitchens more spacious than their Big Apple counterparts, I had to start making my grandma proud and turn into a “real” lady, i.e. the baker and the kitchen shaker. The main posts here will be a kaleidoscope of simple recipes performed step-by-step and accompanied by pictures. Every now and then I will also post some recommendations on a new café or restaurant I happen to visit. Enjoy! Make the little boy in the picture smile!!!