Laughing Burro Vineyard

A wonderful early morning was recently spent at Laughing Burro Vineyard, a small hobby vineyard belonging to a friend's mother, Sandi Lucchesi of A Sense of Wine. The morning was crisp, the food delicious, the alcohol flowing, all the makings of a beautiful day.

Only in her second year of wine production, Sandi was picking her grapes and beginning the fermentation process for her zinfandel vintage 2009. Sandi has been in the wine industry for years before starting her own business as a consultant, leading seminars and wine training and education.

Family and friends had gathered that morning to pick grapes, work the fancy machinery to de-stem them, and overall enjoy each other's company. Aside from seeing the fascinating process of the early steps in wine making, I tasted home made pickled peppers (delicious mixed with my bloody mary), meet two lovely burros, Sancho and Burrito, and sample a terrific tomato pie (recipe to come later I promise). It could not have been a better Sunday in Sonoma County! Thank you Sandi for your wonderful hospitality, can't wait for the olives to be ready for pickin'!

Click on the collage for a close up of the pictures!

Making Bread

I'll admit it, I'm obsessed with cookbooks. Without a doubt it's the one thing I'll be guaranteed to receive every Christmas. One of my prized possessions is the first edition of Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". I love to have my cookbooks lined along my bookshelves, diverse, interesting, worn, covered with food bits, and well loved.

I can't help but feel a little guilty though to own a book or two that have simply gathered dust, beautiful in it's artwork and instruction, but nil in its use. Until a few weeks ago, this was the case with this book.

I'll admit, making bread seems a daunting task. Reasons against it are valid: time consuming, need of new kitchen appliances such as a bread maker, kneading, and the list goes on. My desire to begin bread making is simple. Bread is one of the oldest prepared foods, something that has sustained humans for generations and has so many variations throughout different cultures. It is warm and delicious and the term "breaking bread" has such a positive connotation. Like canning, bread making can potentially go by the wayside. Delicious bread is so easy to purchase, why would one be tempted to spend hours making it? However I feel part of this SlowFood movement to me is learning how to make things from scratch, not absolutely needing to buy food pre-made. And it is a way to hold on to our heritage, no matter what heritage it may be.

Platitudes aside, making bread can be a difficult process but like anything else, it just requires a little practice. It's not much different from baking things like cakes and cookies which to me is a precise science involving chemistry. What is really helpful is a good book, one that is thorough and can explain techniques adequately. Clayton's book was extremely helpful in it's hints and pointers. He explains ways to make bread either with a mixer, stand mixer, or by hand. He also includes brief history on each type of bread and chapters are broken out by bread type and a list of bread recipes that fall into that category.

Blue Ribbon French Bread

• 1 package yeast
• 2 tbspn nonfat dry milk
• 1 tbspn sugar
• 1 tbspn salt
• 4-5 cups all-purpose flour, approximately
• 2 cups hot water (120-130 fahrenheit )
• 1 tbspn butter, room temperature
• 1 tbspn cold water
• 1 tbspn coarse salt

1. By hand of stand/manual mixer, mix together the yeast, dry milk, sugar, salt, and 2 cups flour. If using a stand mixer, use the flat beater.

- We did not have dry milk so we substituted 2 cups of whole milk for the 2 cups of hot water and tbspn of dry milk.

2. Pour in hot water and add butter, blend for about 2 minutes but if blending by hand about 100 strokes.

3. Add remaining amount of flour until the dough is elastic, but not sticky. When mixing, it should come off the sides of the bowl easily.

- If you are unsure what the dough should look like, just think that the dough can't be too sticky because you need to take this dough and work with it in the kneading stage. Take a look at the youtube video below to see the right consistency.

4. Take the dough and put it on a slightly floured work surface. Let it rest for 10 minutes.

5. Knead the bread for 10 minutes. Now this can be the scary step. You can either knead by hand as shown here, or use the attachment that comes with the stand mixer that looks like a curvy hook.

6. Place dough in a greased bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Keep it at room temperature. The dough will rise to be double it's original size. Leave it for and 1 hour and 15 minutes.

7. Punch the dough in the bowl, this will bring it down in size a bit. Take it out of the bowl and place on a floured work surface. Cut the dough in half. Form it to whatever size you prefer, either a round loaf or a rectangular loaf, about 10"x 16", on a greased baking sheet.

8. Place baking sheet in a warm place and cover with wax paper. This is the second rising of the bread. Leave the bread for about 50 minutes.

9. Prepare the oven. Turn the oven to 400 degrees and place a small roasting pan at the bottom of the oven. Fill it with 1 pint hot water. This will create a steam effect during the bread's baking process.

10. Before putting your bread in the oven, cut it with a razor blade of sharp knife to create slashes or a grid like design. Brush with cold water and sprinkle with salt.

11. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Flip the pan half-way through the baking time to ensure the bread is baking evenly. You can tell bread is ready if you turn it over and knock on the bread. If it has a hard hollow sound, it's ready!

Enjoy! Job well done!

Canning Home Made Marinara Sauce

My father and mother in law have been canning since, from what I can tell and they claim, God was a child. Aside from the growing trend in eating seasonally, I wanted to learn this family tradition that was so important during their childhood and even today.

It was actually an easy process which I enjoyed. I will definitely experiment in the future with other methods and techniques as well as more interesting recipes. For now though, in the midst of tomato season, I felt it appropriate to make and can some tomato sauce to keep me warm throughout the long winter.

Some basics in canning

1. Sterilize jars. There are three methods to sterilization:

- Dishwasher with a high temperature wash and dry cycle.

- Place jars in a hot pot of water water at a rolling boil for 20 mins.

- Or place jars in oven 200 fahrenheit for 45 mins.

2. Sterilize lids by placing them in a pot with boiling water for about 15 minutes.

3. Place warmed sauce (or whatever it is you are preserving) in hot jar. Leave about 1 inch between the sauce and the top of the jar. The sauce needs room to boil and steam.

4. Wipe the rims of the jars clean or it won't seal. No food should touch any part of the lid.

5. Place hot lid on the jars. Do not tighten all the way. A way to make sure is to tighten all the way then un-tighten by an inch.

4. Place jars in the appropriate container depending on your canning method. Canning methods are:

- Water bath

- Pressure cooker

- Steam canner

5. Follow the directions on your preferred method.

In this circumstance, we used a steam canner. The steam canner looks like an upside down pot where the shallow lid is actually the bottom and the large container is actually a lid. We will keep the jars in the steam canner for 45 minutes. The timing begins when we see the steam come out of the opening in a stream of about 8 inches.

After 45 mins, take the jars out and put in a warm place. The lids should not make a "pop" sound when you push down on it. If it does, then either go through the canning process again or use immediately as the food is not properly preserved and will not be safe for later consumption.

Please note, non acidic vegetables and meats need to be canned by a pressure cooker.

Sauce

I quadrupled this recipe to make at least 4 large mason jars of sauce.

8 pounds of tomatoes - blanched so the skin is easy to peel. Once the skin is off, chop the tomatoes and add to a large pot on medium heat along with any juices from the tomatoes.

Make a mirepoix

2 2/3 cups finely chopped carrots

2 2/3 cups finely chopped onions

2 2/3 cups finely chopped celery

Add mirepoix to the large pot. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Add additional spices to your liking. Possible additions:

- Chopped garlic

- Fresh or dry herbs: basil, sage, oregano, rosemary, bay leaf, parsley, italian seasonings, etc

- Balsamic vinegar

- Crushed red pepper

- An anchovy (Mainly used for the saltiness of the fish. Take out the anchovy when finished)

When the tomatoes have cooked down, add 1 cup of olive oil. Stir and taste again. This may be a good time to add fresh herbs if you like your herbs to be very fresh and not cooked into the sauce. Cook for another 10 minutes. If you prefer a creamier sauce, put the sauce through a food processor to the consistency of your liking.

* Note: The carrots will add a sweetness to the sauce and an orange color to it. Omit the carrots if you prefer neither.

I cart street food

The benefits of being in an urban city are many: vast variety of cultural amusements, cutting edge cuisine from the the four corners of the earth, liberal and progressive discussions, and most of all being on the threshold of ever changing trends and fashions.

The newest trend in San Francisco is the spawn of the many different values San Franciscans hold dear. Taking the locavore movement along with the need to support small and independent businesses, (especially in this economy), and the always important desire to fuel the entrepreneurial spirit, San Franciscans have fallen in love with street food.

Partnering with social media, street carts in San Francisco have become something of urban lore. It might begin with a conversation with a friend, "There's this one guy who just sells creme brulee and it's the best creme brulee you've ever had but I have no idea where you can get it.". One part treasure hunt and one part your desire to be in the know, you'll go to great lengths to seek out these carts. They make it easy sometimes and let you know their location via Twitter feed but still they must be stealthy because many street cart vendors often do not have permits to peddle their wares. Supply is limited to what can be carried in a simple cart and a bit of leg work needs to take place in order to seek out these carts.

Could it be that Americans are slowly getting over their need for instant gratification? Are we truly beginning to understand that delicious food cannot be made via factory assembly line but by a small group of people with care and love? Perhaps, or maybe we're just looking for an inexpensive meal that taste like something we've had and hold dear in a distant memory. Whatever the case may be, street food is rising in popularity and I for one hope it's here to stay.

A list of some of the many:

Street Carts

Creme Brulee - Delicious and unique Creme Brulee $3. Try the lavender creme brulee.

Who's Your Daddy - Bacon Potato Chips $3 in the Mission

The Chai Cart - Chocolate Chai? Yum.

SweetCart - Cheesecake

Gumbo Cart - Andouille goodness

Adobo Hobo - 2 chicken adobo drumsticks with rice

Sexy Soup Lady - need I say more?

Lumpia Cart - Filipino eggrolls

Magic Curry Cart - get curryed away

Left Coast Smoke - pulled pork sandwiches

Food Trucks

Banh Mi SF - This guy bought a DPT cart and now sells the Vietnamese sandwiches out of them all over the financial district. Genius!

Crêperie Saint Germain - Nutella and a crepe, can't go wrong.

Kung Fu Taco - Asian inspired taco truck.

Homebrewing - German Hefeweizen

Homebrewing is in my blood. During the early days of the Great Depression and the late days of prohibition my grandfather helped his father make and run bathtub gin through the lake country of Minnesota. While technically spirits are quite different from beer, the idea is the same.

So on to the brewing. Any brewing session first requires a stop at SF Brewcraft - a wonderfully quaint store that could have been plucked from any Main Street of the 1950s. The proprietor lounges on a chair in the corner, donning his worn-in overalls and often enjoying some sort of food (most recently, a beignet and jambalaya). This isn't the sort of place that you can just walk into, pull the needed items off the shelf and pay at the cash register. First things first, let the proprietor know what type of beer you want to make. Anything from a pilsner to a stout to the more exotic "Absinthe Ale." He'll scribble out the recipe, another employee will grab you the needed ingredients and you'll likely engage in a discussion over the best brewing practices or more specific information needed for your current recipe.

Before embarking on my second attempt at making beer I consulted with my wife regarding what type of beer to make. This is an important decision because after the initial brewing process the beer won't be ready for at least 5 weeks and some beers can take months to finish. At first we discussed the possiibility of a Belgian Cherry Beer, but it takes 4-6 months to mature. We decided on a German Hefewiezen - a classic beer with a lighter flavor than my previous homebrewed IPA.

The complete instructions for brewing can be read about from start to finish here. What follows is the my experience with the process.

The process includes:

1. Make wort

2. Boil wort for 60 minutes; add hops and malt

3. Place in Primary fermenter and pitch yeast

4. Transfer to secondary fermenter

5. Bottle

6. Hurry up and wait!

Making the Wort

Wort is essentially the liquid that will ferment into beer. Making the wort involves boiling water and placing in a mix of grains. The grains are kept in a cheesecloth bag so that they can be easily removed. The instructions have you place the bag in before the water starts boiling, but during my first brewing expreience this resulted in a hole being burned in the bottom of the bag. This was not good. I spent significant amounts of time trying to get all the grain out of the wort - it was messy, very very messy. I digress. Put in the bag after the water heats up - this means bringing the water to roughly 165 degrees because the grains will suck out about 10 degrees of heat.

Boil for 60 Minutes with Malt and Hops

After removing the grains, it's just about time to add the malt. Malt comes in different forms. This one came as a powder, but for an IPA it was more like maple syrup. Because the powdered malt was so susceptible to combining with moisture and becoming extremely sticky, I had to put it into a pitcher before pouring into the boiling wort. Otherwise it would have stuck to the plastic bag. Once I did pour it in, it looked like the wort just puked up chunks of taffy. I stirred and stirred and worked out all the taffy-esque chunks.

A rigorous boil commenced for 60 minutes. At the start of the boil and at the 30 minute interval I added two doses of hops. No "whirlfloc" clearing agent was needed because hefs are meant to be cloudy. It's important to cool down the beer quickly, so after the boil I placed the pot in a bathtub full of ice water. I lacked a sufficient supply of ice, so the cooling down process was slow, but it worked.

Place in Primary Fermenter and Pitch Yeast

I dumped about 1/3 of the wort into the primary fermenter, then put in yeast, followed by dumping in the rest of the wort. Placing the wort and yeast in this order mixes up the yeast without any extra effort. One of the many pieces of information that I was given at SF Brewcraft was about the fermentation process. Usually, the air produced from fermenting pushes out through an "airlock," which is essentially a plastic piece that holds a small amount of water. The air can release, but contaniments are kept out by the water. However, hefs ferment so vigorously that a normal airlock would clog up and the entire fermentor top would blow off, splattering nastiness all over the walls. To prevent this, a "blow-off" tube is required. Essentially this is a plastic tube that extends from the fermentor to a bucket of water. True as told, the bucket of water was constantly bubbling. The first fermentation process takes 6 days.

Secondary Fermentation

After the primary fermentation is complete the wort is transferred to a second fermentor (a glass carboy) - actually a misnomer because little fermentation takes place at this point. This process helps to clear the beer as all the sediment moves to the bottom. After 14 days in the secondary fermentor it's time for bottling. A messy and time consuming process that is best done with two people. One to hold the auto-siphon mid-way down the carboy and the other to actually place the beer in the bottles.

Collecting Beer Bottles

First things first - collect and clean the beer bottles. Beer bottles can be purchased at Brewcraft for about 50 cents each, but I have some friends who indulge in more than a little bit of alcohol. When I know bottle are in need I start collecting at the end of parties - any non-screw off top bottles will work, but brown bottles are the best because keeping out the sunlight gives the beer a longer shelf life. Half-gallon sized growlers are also a possibility, but cost about $4 each. They are a good idea because it prevents having to fill up 50+ bottles. I think a mix is good - growlers for dinner parties and bigger events with more people, but single bottles for the occasional brew.

Sanitizing

Having sanitary beer bottles is essential - otherwise you risk growing sickness-causing bateria while the beer is conditioning in the bottle. I couldn't think of anything worse then to spend five+ weeks working and waiting only to toss out a whole batch of "poisoned" beer. To sanitize the bottles I do three things: (1) soak the bottles in soapy water for a couple days - this provides an initial cleaning and helps remove the labels; (2) wash each bottle individually in the sink and scrub the insides with a bottle brush; and (3) cook the bottles in the oven at 250 degrees for 30 minutes - this should effectively kill any bacteria. After removing the bottles I usually cover the tops with tinfoil until it's time to fill; I assume this will keep any bacteria from entering.

It should be noted that EVERYTHING, from your fermenters to your siphon to your bottles should properly cleaned and sanitized.

Filling and Capping

Fill up all the beer bottles before any capping. Fill to the top because one you remove the siphon from the bottle it leaves the perfect amount of liquid. Once you're done, start capping. This requires a light touch and there shouldn't be any need to force on the cap. Voila! You're pretty much done. Put the bottles somewhere cool and dark and wait for another 2-3 weeks. Before you know it you'll be enjoying beer of your own creation.