aj12754's Reviews
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The Zuni Cafe Cookbook: A Compendium of Recipes and Cooking Lessons from San Francisco's Beloved Restaurant
By Judy Rodgers, Gerald Asher
W.W. Norton & Co. - 2002
Aïoli : page 289
Do NOT try to make this in a mini-chopper. Enough said.
:-(
Will try again and update review then.
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Generally, I am not wishy-washy in my response to a dish. I like it or I don't and it's pretty easy to determine what works for me and what doesn't. That's why I am puzzled by my reaction to this very simple salad. I know I was a big fan of the air-dried beef (a.k.a. bresaola) which was something I'd never had before. It was very nice with my good (not great but the best I could find) butter lettuce.
I think it might be the vinaigrette that's throwing me. Generally, I use a 1/3 ratio of vinegar to oil which is kind of standard although some recipes are 1/4. This vinaigrette is a 1/6 ratio. The oilier dressing worked well with the beef but seemed too heavy for the lettuce.
Also, I made a half recipe of the dressing (champagne vinegar, EVOO, salt, coriander seed), but used the full amount of toasted and crushed coriander seed whisked in. And my lunch guest/co-cook and I agreed -- we would have liked even more of the coriander. I'd also like to try this with other kinds of vinaigrette. Maybe a tomato vinaigrette.
Note: Rodgers says to toast the coriander a few seconds -- but I felt that this really had little to no effect and continued toasting (about a minute and a half to two minutes -- until I could smell the coriander but it didn't smell burnt). Next time I will toast the seeds even a bit longer.
The salad was handsome even though I didn't follow Rodgers' plating instructions.
And I am definitely an admirer of the simplicity of the concept behind this salad -- only three elements.
Tried this salad again for dinner with my husband -- made a tomato (rather than champagne) vinaigrette with coriander instead. It was better but not quite there. I think a bit of mustard to tang up the dressing?
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Zuni Cafe Cookbook is in my top five cookbooks to read. But I have not in fact cooked from it very often although I couldn't say why. But then...
Turns out I had bought too much asparagus for a Jaime Oliver asparagus soup and thus had an extra bunch on hand. I wasn't really looking to make another soup but I pulled the Zuni Cafe cookbook off the shelf just to read and opened the page to an asparagus, rice and pancetta soup.
This was a really nice change of pace as asparagus soups go ... not pureed but with a lovely mix of textures. First you sweat onions then add 1/4 c. arborio rice and chick broth and simmer for @ 20 min. Meanwhile cut asparagus on an angle in 1/8 in. rounds and saute with some minced pancetta. Then add to broth, boil one minute and serve. Don't forget to finish with a nice grind of pepper.
The flavor was light and delicious. But what we really liked was the contrast in the textures within the soup, the broth almost silky because of the rice, and the slight crunch of the asparagus. It was nice -- and pretty quick for a light weeknight meal. I made Goat Cheese, Chive and Lemon Turnovers from FC to go with -- they weren't so pretty to look at (my fault not the recipe) and I had a bit of a heavy hand with the lemon zest but still ... tasty.
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Boiled Kale with Eggs, Fried or Poached : page 163
This was "awesome" in my husband's words, and I thought it was very good myself. I also used the method of poaching the eggs on top of the simmering kale and the resulting egg was just perfectly cooked. I did drizzle the eggs with the olive oil but, like others, skipped the red wine vinegar.
I used a peasant bread purchased from Costco -- which I later realized, from reading the packaging, was from the great La Brea Bakery in LA. It appears that the dough is shipped to Costco and the loafs are cooked on site, bagged and sold. It was a delicious, hearty and healthy element of this dish.
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Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes : page 233
These were very good -- I like the slight tang that the buttermilk adds quite a bit. Made for a crowd of about 20 people and everyone enjoyed them.
To save on dishwashing chores for this dish, I heated the cream in the microwave in a Pyrex measuring cup and added this to the potatoes. Then I measured the buttermilk in the same cup and added to the potatoes, and then melted the butter in the same cup in the microwave-- and the cup then went in the dishwasher.
Even though we all enjoyed these, my favorite mashed potato remains a Tyler Florence recipe in which the potatoes are cooked in a milk-cream mixture to which some garlic cloves, thyme and a bay leaf have been added. Then potatoes are mashed with some of the hot milk-cream mixture.
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Chicken Bouillabaisse : page 348
Very easy -- basically a quick braise that skips the browning the meat step. The meat is very tender (like poached chicken) and the sauce is light but flavorful (some garlic, thyme, bay leaf, small dried chili, saffron, some wine and chopped tomatoes). Served over toasted bread that was supposed to be slathered with the Zuni garlic aoli -- but I completely screwed up that recipe so took the other suggested option and just rubbed the toast with a garlic clove.
My husband pronounced it "outstanding" but I thought it just OK -- hence the 4 rating splitting the difference. I think I missed the flavor that browning the meat would have added.
Served with an orange, fennel and romaine salad dressed with the honey vinaigrette from Ad Hoc at Home.
Dessert -- Honey-spiced Madeleines from Around my French Table.
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Citrus Risotto : page 196
I really wasn't sure what to expect with this risotto and the flavor was certainly kind of unusual ... but NOT in a bad way. I followed the recipe as written ... right up to the point where I forgot the mascarpone. We liked it just fine without it -- but I will probably make this again to see what difference the addition of mascarpone makes.
Because there is currently a citrus glut in my kitchen, I served this with a baked salmon with citrus vinaigrette from Fine Cooking and the two dishes meshed well.
Still had a bunch of clementines to use us, so made a salad with romaine, clementine sections, and sliced avocado. Used -- again -- the Honey Vinaigrette from Ad Hoc at Home. It could have been citrus overkill, but we polished off every bit.
I liked that this recipe is easily halved to serve two people.
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Cornmeal Biscotti : page 478
Although I found it a bit challenging to work with the dough (I've never been much of a baker), I ended up with a biscotti that I love -- both flavor and texture.
I used the almonds rather than the hazelnuts. Compared to my usual recipe for almond biscotti (from Fine Cooking), this has a finer texture and a more subtle flavor.
I didn't have any anisette, so I used about 1/4 tsp. of anise extract. I also had to bake the biscotti (first bake) quite a bit longer than the 15-20 minutes called for in the recipe.
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Very tasty and very easy to execute.
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Farro Soup : page 200
This is an excellent main dish soup -- and it has the added virtue of making use of any leftover farrotto (p. 199). This is a hearty and healthy soup -- porridge-like and very filling. Nice finish with EVOO and pepper.
Includes the trifecta of the flavors I crave in winter -- bitter greens, nutty whole grains and creamy white beans.
If I have any quibble at all, it is that the recipe calls for a cup rather than a can of white beans. For cookbook challenges, I do try to follow the recipe as written so that I can get a good approximation of the flavors and balance the recipe author is going for. As a result -- I have about a 1/4 can of white beans I need to find a use for. Well ... there are worse problems to have.
Served with Zuni's sage grilled cheese sandwich -- my husband loved the combo, but I thought the kale and sage competed with one another. Next time, I will make some kind of citrus salad to go with this soup.
Finished off the bottle of French red that went with last night's farrotto -- it was good with the latter, but I would have preferred an Italian white with this soup and sandwich.
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Farrotto with Dried Porcini : page 199
After the excesses of the holidays, I was looking through Zuni for something healthy to make and this really filled the bill for two reasons -- (1) I love farro and (2) I happened to have all the ingredients in the house so no need to dig the car out of the snowbank.
It was very simple to make (saute a small amount of onion, garlic, sage, and dried porcinis, then add farro and some chicken stock over about a 20-30 minute peiod -- basically a farro risotto but without the addition of any cheese). It is served with a drizzle of olive oil and a few grinds of the pepper mill (my husband said that the pepper really makes the dish and I think he is on to something there). The flavor is simple and rustic but we loved it --- perfect for a winter's eve.
I did find that it took closer to 40-45 minutes rather than the 20-30 minutes mentioned in the recipe.
The recipe can be made with either dried or fresh porcinis and if you have leftovers -- about two cups (we had a little less) -- p. 200 gives a recipe for turning those leftovers into soup.
Served with a light, dry French red and a small salad of peeled and sliced clementines, shaved fennel, a few candied pecans, and a sherry vinaigrette.
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I am a great lover of lentil soups and enjoy trying different versions. This soup did not disappoint. In spite of the fairly short prep time (about an hour start to finish), the flavors (red pepper, cumin and black pepper) came together very well and the resulting soup had real complexity and depth of flavor. I liked this soup better with every spoonful.
This is one of the few lentil soup recipes I have tried that doesn't call for a finish with some red wine vinegar -- and it was not missed.
The recipe as written made a fairly small amount of soup, enough for dinner-size portions for three. A salad and a loaf of crusty bread slathered with butter and it's pretty close to perfect for a weeknight meal. Really ... yummmm.
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Lentils Braised in Red Wine : page 267
I took me a while to warm up to these lentils -- the flavor is more subtle than my usual Barefoot Contessa lentil recipes. I did end up cooking them longer and using more stock than Rodgers calls for. The final product -- which I tasted on its own before topping with salmon -- was very nice.
Served as a base for a salmon dish braised in the same red wine (I used a wonderful pinot noir from Chateau de Costco) and it was fine -- although the sauce for the fish would probably have stood out a little more on a base of rice or mashed potatoes.
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Oranges and Rosemary Honey : page 456
Rodgers suggests this as a dessert after a rich winter meal and I think she is spot on there. I made braised short ribs tonight and this light dessert was the perfect counterpoint to the richness of the braise. I loved the hint of rosemary in the honey (I used wildflower honey) and it could not have been easier to make. Served with 1-2 of Zuni cornmeal biscotti and I thought the fruit and cookies went well together.
I have a bit of the rosemary honey leftover -- will keep it around to drizzle over some blue cheese.
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Pappa al Pomodoro : page 164
Even with less than perfectly ripe tomatoes, this was a delish (and completely vegetarian) main dish. Relative to some of the other recipes in this cookbook, the preparation is really straightforward and the end result is very satisfying and filling. This is one recipe where using your best olive oil to finish is really worthwhile.
I used a two day old rosemary bread and was not at all unhappy with the result.
I followed the Zuni recommendation and paired this with a pinot noir and it was so good. Side dish was the broccoli salad from Cookwise -- the green of the salad contrasted nicely with this dish and made for a very appealing presentation.
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Red Onion Pickles : page 270
Rodgers admits that process of making these pickled onions is "slightly tedious" (three batches cooked three times for 20 seconds at a time and cooled between). But she says the result is onions of a "charismatic fuschia pink" saturated in a fragrant brine without really being cooked. In other words, the onions are pretty and retain a nice crunch.
The process is just tedious enough that I was kind of hoping she was wrong -- but no -- the crunch is still there and, for me, that textural element adds a really nice touch to both the flavor and fragrance of the onions. And they are pretty too. So they are kind of a win for all five senses.
The brine is REALLY fragrant if you lean over the pan while adding/removing the onions -- brought tears to my eyes more than once.
4/6/11 -- I had almost forgotten that these pickles were on a shelf in the fridge until I went to Whole Foods and saw that the champagne mangoes were in. Which reminded me of a mango and red onion salad from Fine Cooking. So -- using that idea as my starting point --- I chopped up some romaine and frisee, added some of the pickles and diced mango,and then -- kind of on a whim -- added some smoked trout. For the dressing I whisked together some of the pickling liquid, some champagne vinegar, about 1/4 tsp. of sugar and some grapeseed oil. It was really delicious and healthy.
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This dish looked like the personification of autumn (I'd post a photo but every time I try, it doesn't work -- not sure why). The combo of white rice, golden chanterelles and squash, and brown wild rice makes for a lovely presentation. The texture was nice as well -- a little chewier than other risotto recipes thanks to the addition of the wild rice. In fact, the addition of the wild rice was probably my favorite aspect of this dish.
However, I did feel the flavor was a little lacking. The chanterelles and squash were sauteed in butter prior to adding to the risotto. The only seasoning was salt and pepper, and I think I might have liked this better with the addition of some chopped sage or rosemary -- or both -- to the sauteed squash and mushrooms.
I'd like to try this again, but next time I'll roast the squash and add some herbs. Or may do a pan of roasted mixed root veggies.
The recipe calls for about 5 cups of chicken broth -- I ended up using a bit more than 6 cups.
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Sage Grilled Cheese : page 115
We quite enjoyed this sandwich -- the sage, along with some cracked black pepper, is warmed in EVOO and then the cooled-down infused oil is brushed on the cheese sandwich prior to grilling.
I used Gruyere cheese. The flavors are definitely assertive but I tend to like that.
Served with the Zuni farro soup and I thought the flavors (sage vs. kale) competed with each other too much ... but my husband assures me I am wrong about that-- he enjoyed the combo.
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Spiced Zante Grapes : page 276
The brine for these grapes is so simple and unusual (new to me anyway) with the addition of a bay leaf and allspice berries to a sugar/vinegar/white wine mix. Probably 3 minutes to make -- plus a minute or two more to wash the grapes and cut into small clusters.
I tasted the brine -- not too sweet, not too tart and a very appealing aroma. The grapes will be in the brine for the next week and then I wall pull them out to serve -- as suggested -- in a salad or with a pate/cheese plate.
It will be interesting to compare these to the pickled grapes I made earlier this year -- that was a pretty assertive brine while this one strikes me as more subtle.
Update: While I do love the fragrance of the brine, I find I prefer the pickled grapes I made from A Homemade Life.
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