bluebottle coffee

I know this is an obvious fact for the hipster coffee-drinking residents of San Francisco, but I just wanted to confirm that Bluebottle Coffee is really, really good.

They do the whole organic microroaster thing and make cool designs in your foam, and you know what? It really is better. Mmmmm...

chocolate chip banana bread

I was never a fan of bananas until my discovery of banana streusel muffins. Banana bread was a complete revelation. How could some dry, sandy "fruit" turn into something so moist and decadent?

Now banana bread is my backup recipe when I need something fast and delicious. Despite my infrequent blogging habits, I've written about 3 variations already. It's a bread! It's a cake! It's a muffin! Check it out:

Your Mom's Banana Bread
Candied Walnut Banana Cake
Blackberry Banana Bread

Not convinced? Maybe you need chocolate to make it better. Throw in some chocolate. Maybe some pumpkin seeds. Bake for awhile. Now you have chocolate chip banana bread. Yeahhh.

Monarch

Housed in the funky, kitschy boutique Hotel ZaZa in the Houston museum district, Monarch seemed liked a promising choice for some bachelorette/girls' night dining.

When the food was on, it was addictively fantastic. Let's go over the highlight reel:

Deconstructed ahi roll: A tower of Ahi tuna tartare, crab ceviche, avocado, sushi rice, and peppery dressing. What's not to love? Perfectly balanced proportions and flavors. Easily my favorite dish of the night.

Scallops with fancy garlic mashed potatoes, corn pudding, and red pepper beurre blanc. Would all my food taste this luscious and velvety if I cooked with pools of butter? You bet there was nothing left on the plate.
We also tried the salmon with honey chipotle polenta which was just oddly sweet like plums, and an awful creme brulee that was served cold and more akin to curdled cheesecake. HOWEVER, a complaint yielded possibly the best chocolate cake I've ever had.

Decadent chocolate cake tends to result in this super-rich indistinguishable chocolate-in-chocolate-on-chocolate-over chocolate monstrosity. But not this one - fudgy cake layered with smooth, creamy, oh so lickable dark chocolate fondant. And that's it. We found ourselves inadvertently grazing on fork after forkful even though we were delightfully stuffed.

Overall, what Monarch gets right, it really rocks. See and be seen with the ahi, scallops, and chocolate cake. The cocktails were nice, too.

red velvet black and white cookies

Black and white cookies? Plus red velvet cake? In cookie form? You know it's gotta be your birthday. If you drew a Punnett square for these two fine pastries, this would be a prime example of co-dominance. This recipe makes exactly what you think it does - if you are a purveyor of red velvet or black & white cookies, you need to get on this. RIGHT NOW.

After a bowl of botched frosting and red food dye everywhere, I mailed off a stack of these to my old roommate. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope I put enough bubble wrap in the box.
Here is approximately what I did, adapted from Joy the Baker and good ol' Rachel Ray.

Red Velvet Black & White Cookies
Makes 10 big ol' cookies

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 T cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda (I used baking powder and it was fine)

5 T butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 T red food coloring
1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk

Vanilla Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 T milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp butter, melted

Chocolate Glaze
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
3 T butter
1 T honey

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

In separate bowl, mix butter with sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, food coloring and 1 tsp vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk until smooth.

Place 1/4-cup scoops of batter 2 inches apart of the prepared baking sheet, spread the batter out with a butter knife, about 1/4-inch thick. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, 12 to 15 minutes. Let the cookies sit for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool.

Make the glazes:
Whisk together the powdered sugar, melted butter, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 1 to 2 T milk. Add milk slowly till glaze reaches smooth, easily spreadable consistency of your liking.

For the chocolate, melt butter and chocolate in a microwave for about 1 minute. Add honey and stir until smooth. If it's a bit too liquidy and you're ready to get decorating, pop it in the fridge for a little while.

Once the cookies are cooled, spread half of the cookie with vanilla glaze and the other half with chocolate glaze. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to set.

sambussas with peach chutney

Way back in August, at the end of watermelon season, I decided I needed a birthday biking supper safari watermelon research victory dance party. If you're gonna party, go big. Let's focus on the supper safari bit: with a handful of loving friends, you roam the town, going from house to house for a different course. If you're really lucky and have the best cohorts you could ask for, it will end with a dessert course chocolate fountain dance party.

But I digress! For the appetizer stop I made a variant of sambussas, Ethiopian lentil turnovers usually deep fried. The lentils are cooked with fragrant spices, and offer a texture and flavor you'd almost swear was meat. I know the photo is unflattering, but it's hard to photo-document when you're busy stuffing your face.

Deep frying sends my epidermis into hiding, so I wrapped the filling in sheets of phyllo and baked them instead, giving the sambussas an incredibly light, crunchy texture. I served these up with an Indian inspired peach chutney, aka mashing peaches in a pot, that complimented the heat and savoriness of the filling far better than I could have anticipated. It's a light and hardy, sweet and savory experience all in one. Bake them ahead of time, then crisp up in the oven for a few minutes before dishing.

The recipe has a couple steps, but be not afraid! Deliciousness can be yours!

Supper Safari Sambussas

Inspired by Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant and dinner at Queen Sheba

1 cup brown lentils

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

1 tsp ground coriander

salt and pepper

1 package phyllo dough (whole wheat, even!)

olive oil

4 yellow peaches

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

Juice and zest of one lime

½ c dried cranberries

Make the filling:

Rinse lentils and bring to a boil in 3 cups water. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 45 minutes, or when lentils are tender. Meanwhile, saute onions, garlic, and bell pepper in olive oil until the onions are translucent. Add the spices and cook for 3 minutes more. Add the cooked lentils and season with salt and pepper. The longer this sits, the better it tastes!

Make the sambussas:

Take one sheet phyllo dough and brush with olive oil. Place 2^nd sheet of phyllo on top and brush with oil. Cut into squares big enough to make a turnover. Honestly, I couldn’t figure out an efficient shape and wrapping method, and just went free style here with all sorts of odd shapes. I think it makes them look rustic.

Fill with some filling and attempt to wrap. Transfer to a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and brush with oil. Repeat a whole bunch, then pop in the oven at 350F till they’re toasty and pale brown, maybe 20-30 minutes. The insides are cooked, so there’s a big window of doneness!

Make the chutney:

While the goods are in the oven, peel and chop up some peaches, then throw them in a pot. Over medium heat, mash them up with a potato masher or some forks, add the ginger, lime juice and zest, and cranberries. Stir around till it reaches the consistency of your choosing. When it’s safely cool, serve it all up!

my anti-watermelon

This is your free time:This is your free time on watermelons:
Gastronomic adventures of the microbiological, safari dance party, Tuscan, and Houston kind coming soon.

buttermilk biscuits

Scene 1
I make people eat watermelon in the name of science as part of my research. To ensure my trained watermelon eating machines keep coming back for more, we like to create a little positive feedback by giving them treats at the end of every session.

If you may have noticed, my baking skills excel in the sweet area. But who wants to eat a cookie (or anything, really), after I just stuffed you full of 10 watermelon slices? My usual dulcet approach was failing.
Exuent.

Scene 2
Oh, snap! I forgot I have to run a sensory panel tomorrow! What can I feed the buggers? Also, I haven't been grocery shopping in 2 weeks.

Scene 3
When you have 'nothing' left in your house, you probably still have milk, vinegar, flour, and butter (just barely).

Enter biscuits.

Nothing you have not, but buttermilk biscuits you do!

Queue trumpet fanfare. Disaster averted.
---

And so the drop biscuits were born, meaning no rolling out and cutting dough, and exactly one bowl got dirty. Mine came out a touch more crumbly than I'd prefer, but I should have known better and added a touch more milk when I thought the dough looked dry. Either way, still pretty good heated up with honey!


Buttermilk Biscuits
From Bon Appetit | Oct 2002

3 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup (1 1/2sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven 425°F.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in large bowl to blend. Using fingertips, rub 3/4 cup chilled butter into dry ingredients until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk and stir until evenly moistened.

Using 1/4 cup dough for each biscuit, drop biscuits onto baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until biscuits are golden brown on top, about 15 minutes. Cool slightly. Serve warm.