One small excuse for not sharing our culinary adventures in some time: half of our esteemed enterprise, Joni, decided to pull a full Eat Pray Love on us and travel the globe for 5 months. She left us with another delightful blog during this time, which provided some comfort, but I still found myself with an empty hole/crippling inability to post anything. But all’s well that ends well y’all – SHE’S BACK. And within a week she was in San Francisco visiting me, and within about an hour of that, we were baking.

Being reunited with your best bud of 25+ years is an extremely chill experience that only decades of “we cool” can cultivate. Joni showed up in my city, brought me chocolate, I ate it, said I was tired, and she sent me to my room for a nap. When I got up though, I was really stoked and we ate pie. Chocolate bourbon pecan pie, to be more specific.

This pie was originally just another vehicle on which to put whipped cream, because I’m on a serious home-made whipped cream kick these days (more on that later). But this ended up being a lot more than that because chocolate, bourbon, buttery dough…you get the picture.

As many of you know, I have struggled over the years with a serious case of culinary F.O.D. (fear of dough), but I’m working through it with the help of good friends, a pastry blender, and a bottle that I use as a rolling pin (Hey, I may be visiting the world of baking, but I haven’t moved in). But you know what? I’ve realized that even when you make the seemingly unspeakable mistakes they warn you about in all the Super Uptight Baking Recipes, what you get is still pretty damn good. All this “careful not to let the butter melt or your crust won’t be flaky!” – I mean, it is true, but not-as-flakey-as-it-could-be pie dough is still pie dough, knowwhatImsayin?

This recipe is a bit time consuming, but overall straightforward if you go by the book. I paired it with maple whipped cream, but you could easily do vanilla ice cream, cool whip, silly string…hey, I don’t judge. Just add best friend and serve.

Chocolate bourbon pecan pie
Adapted from Food&Wine

Crust

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (4 ounces) cold unsalted butter, in pieces
• 1/4 cup ice water

Filling

• 2 cups (about 7 ounces) pecans
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 2/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3 tablespoons bourbon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup chocolate chip

Whipped cream

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup maple syrup

Directions

1. In a food processor or by hand with a pastry blender, blend the flour with the sugar and salt. Add the butter and combine until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the ice water. Knead the dough 2 or 3 times on a lightly floured surface and pat into a disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a 12-inch round. Fit the dough into a 9-inch glass pie plate. Trim the overhang to 1/2 inch, fold the edge under itself and crimp to decorate. Refrigerate until firm (maybe 20 minutes).
3. Preheat the oven to 375°. On a rimmed baking sheet, toast the pecans for about 8 minutes, until just toasted, and coarsely chop. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the brown sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, melted butter, bourbon and salt until blended. Stir in the pecans and chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
4. Pour the filling into the pie shell. Bake on the bottom shelf of the oven for about 55 minutes, or until the center of the pie is set. Tent the crust with foil if the edge is browning too quickly (it didn’t for me). Transfer the pie to a rack and let cool before serving.
5. To make whipped cream: combine cream and maple syrup and beat until firm peaks form, about 8-10 minutes. It’s easier with a small amount of cream, a big bowl, and a healthy level of confidence.

It’s been so fucking hot in LA, so to cope I’ve jumped on the popsicle bandwagon HARD. Like, my freezer is rollin’ DEEP with pops. It’s fucking fantastic.

You guys, this shit is a total crowd pleaser. And SO easy. I mean, talk about ultimate lazy-mom snack! Minimal work, HUGE payoff. Good serving size, too. I brought a few to a bachelorette party in Palm Springs last weekend, and they were a total hit. What can I say, BETCHES LOVE POPS!

It literally it couldn’t be easier. Here’s the basic play-by-play:

1. Create sweet liquid aphrodisiac concoction
2. Pour in molds
3. Shank with a stick
4. Put that shit on ice

Cue slow clap, you’re just 6 hours away from paleta nirvana. (Patience, grasshopper.)

Of course, there are bougie options abound: perhaps a dash of homemade mint simple syrup, dollop o’ espresso, booze of any kind, or ginger-basil-prosecco-rosé-peach-sangria-white-privilege. Go forth and paleta as you see fit.

It’s time dust off those Pinterest boards y’all because these are the pins you’ll actually succeed in creating.

Stay cool my friends and get poppin’!

Popsicle Recipe Starter Pack:

Honeydew Cucumber Margarita

Coconut Blueberry

Espresso + Brownie

Watermelon Mint Mojito

You know how some people say that the best way to test for a good chef is to have them make you an omelette? Well, I think the best way to test for a good person is to talk to them about breakfast sandwiches. I fundamentally do not trust anyone who isn’t at least a little bit passionate about a good breakfast sandwich.

A breakfast sandwich is just one of those things where when it’s good, it’s good, so part of being even a little excited about breakfast sandwiches means you are probably on The Quest For the Best One. I’m not so egotistical as to say I’ve found The Best One and that it’s in fact my own creation, but I am here to tell you that on this quest, a major milestone has been achieved.

I recently bought a smoker and have spent a fair amount of time testing it out with a friend – and if you know anything about cooking meat at 200 degrees, you know it takes a long time. It involves eight solid hours at home, divided into 30 minute increments where you check in to dote on your smoker, check the temperature of your fire, and add charcoal as needed. It’s kind of like having a baby – probably.

Having this much downtime with a fellow food enthusiast has inevitably yielded extra cooking projects (“Hey, let’s make french toast and then make a PB&J out of it.”) And typically, after first getting the meat into the smoker around 8am, making a kickass breakfast sandwich. That’s how this beauty came to be.

There are no big surprises that make this sandwich awesome: english muffins. bacon. avocados. sriracha…wait for it…mayo. But there is one thing that moved this to the next level, and that is the patented technology we call SFP (Same F***ing Pan). That is when you cook your bacon, pour out the oil, assemble your sandwich, and ultimately return your sandwich to grill for a few delightful moments in, you guessed it, the same f***ing pan. You end up with a gorgeously crusted outside with a still soft inside. Like many famous inventions, this happened by necessity when the toaster was broken. Hey, the path to breakfast nirvana is winding. Good people of the world, rejoice.

The Best Friggin’ Breakfast Sandwich
english muffins (I actually used whole wheat)
bacon
avocado, sliced
cheddar cheese, sliced
mayo
sriracha

Cook bacon in a skillet. Pour out the oil and wipe the pan to remove most of it. Add some butter, melt it, and fry up an egg. Transfer the egg out. In a small bowl, mix mayonnaise and sriracha, until light pink (or however spicy you like it). Take lightly toasted english muffins and assemble your sandwich with mayo, bacon, eggs, sliced avocado, and cheddar. Butter both sides of the sandwich, then return your sandwich to the SFP for a final grill, until the cheese is melted and the bread is nicely browned on the outside. Cut the sandwich in half, but be decisive and show no fear – that’s how you keep it from falling apart.

I am obsessed with this recipe. My food-neurosis typically associates muffins with guilt, the necessity to run 40 miles and eat solely kale for the next 4 weeks (that’s normal, right??), but no more! These guys are so yummy: made with whole-grain flour, have a healthy dose of flax, and aren’t super sweet since they’re sweetened up with just maple syrup and a banana. They are basically a blueberry pancake in muffin form. Not to mention the recipe is SUPER easy and CRAZY quick. Naturally, they have become my Sunday morning go-to and subsequent grab-and-go breakfast throughout the week. I may or may not fantasize about feeding them to my future children as the granola / tiger mom hybrid that inevitably awaits me in my life arc. Let’s just say I have big plans.

I mean, come on – isn’t this how you’d like to start your mornings:

Ok, we admit it. When it comes to cooking and baking, we can both get a little carried away. So when duty called to throw a dinner party for our best friends on New Year’s Eve (ok, maybe it was our idea), we knew things would get just a little out of hand. Actually, really out of hand. This event was the perfect storm of neurotic culinary adventures – a special occasion, a group of 12, a theme, hosted by us. The result was inevitable.

It started innocently enough, with a casual text message chain the whole week tossing around ideas like “should we make gnocchi?… I think I have a ravioli stamp…wait, what about flatbread?” Then came The Pitcher – a giant mason jar with a spout that came into Joni’s possession through divine intervention (thank you, dear cousin). Over the course of the week it whispered ever so softly (in that way pitchers do) “Sangria, Sangria, Sangria.” And that’s where the idea came from: Spanish food.

And so began the culinary spiral. Obviously, a Spanish theme necessitated paella – a hearty filler was going to be necessary for a night like New Year’s eve.  We went with chicken, chorizo, and shrimp, but the best way to tailor your paella is by the best proteins you can get your hands on. This was our first paella-making experience, but we knew where to go. Anytime there’s a precise or dicey new recipe to tackle, one must turn to Mark Bittman, and he didn’t let us down. His master Paella recipe is a great starter. Then came the albondigas, spanish meatballs that make for a killer tapa. We used a traditional gravy-like recipe with blended sauteed leeks and broth, and added in a tomato and red pepper sauce to give it a some more color.

We tacked on a tried and true Spanish tortilla recipe I used to live off of, but spiffed it up with some slow-roasted cherry tomatoes and caramelized onions.

We threw in a kale salad and grilled veggies for some much-needed presence of greenery.

Things got a little out of hand with the appetizers. Joni went on a spree the day before and felt the need to make multi-seeded crackers with dried figs and nuts in them. From there, some jamon and good cheese were in order. Then we threw in a slow-roasted nut recipe that makes for a great table appetizer, with a Spanish kick of red pepper and herbs.

No event menu would be complete without an explosion of Jo&Jo’s beautiful flowers and baked goodness, which is how we ended up with some seriously gorgeous centerpiees, a pear custard tart, caramelized apple tart, alfrajores (Argentine, we know but roll with us here) and some brownies tacked on for good measure. Yeah, 4 desserts for 12 people. That’s not overkill, is it?

As with any overblown cooking adventure, it was a an emotional roller coaster. I woke up at 8:15am on New Year’s to Joni’s minor meltdown of “We don’t have enough chairs, and I’m way behind on baking…but I went crazy and made these crackers and haven’t left the house in a while. We need to get to the farmer’s market, I’m picking you up now.” But I have to say, starting bright and early and pacing out the dishes made for a really smooth cooking process. The meatballs can be made a head of time, and the tortilla can easily get reheated in the oven. Paella doesn’t take long and can be made an hour before everyone shows up. And that’s how you pull off a Food is Bomb New Year’s.

In reflection, was this a lesson in scaling back and keeping it simple? Probably not.

Until next time,
Sam & Joni

Spanish Tapas Extravaganza
Base recipes are below – but the fun part is to customize the add-ins

Mark Bittman’s master Paella recipe
Basic Spanish Tortilla recipe
Spanish albondigas
Rosemary nuts
Kale salad
Pear Custard Tart

Fall has a funny way of showing up in San Francisco. Famous for truly frigid summers and then spontaneous heat waves in September and October, it can leave us San Franciscans feeling a little confused. It’s hard to say when fall actually starts here, except to say that one day it just hits you over the head. This week it seemed like the city was still trying to decide where it stood,  hitting 75 every day but with mornings cold enough to make me bust out the space heater again. After spending a particularly hot Saturday north of the city and heading back for an early dinner where pesto was still on the menu, I went outside to find thick swirling fog and a gusty breeze. I drove through the haze as my window fogged up for the first time and went past a pumpkin patch – and that was it. It’s suddenly but definitely fall.

This prompted me to think of all things pumpkin of course, but first thing’s first: wrapping up those end of summer produce recipes. We’re still getting summer squash in the farmers’ markets, after all, and there will be plenty of time for doing anything and everything with their heartier gourd-like cousins. Finding myself with lots of squash that needed cooking and a half block of Gruyere leftover from the week before, I went to the person I knew could whip up something wholesome and easy with this – Heidi. Heidi Swanson’s 101cookbooks is my go-to for farm-to-table cooking that isn’t afraid of using butter. And of course, she had a Summer Squash Gratin recipe that was exactly what I was looking for.

This recipe is liberal with breadcrumbs, cheese, and oils – but hey, it’s a pan-full of zucchini and it’s almost hearty enough to be its own meal (I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a big plate of this for lunch on its own). Heidi’s recipe included potatoes but I had enough squash that I didn’t need it, and besides, the squash cooks so much faster than potatoes anyways. I also was too lazy to make my own whole wheat breadcrumbs (sorry Heidi), but Panko breadcrumbs from the store worked great. This recipe freezes and reheats in the oven a lot better than you’d expect, so make a whole pan!

Summer Squash Gratin
From 101cookbooks.com

zest of one lemon
1 1/2 pounds summer squash or zucchini, cut into 1/6th-inch slices
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1/4 cup fresh oregano leaves
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley
1 large garlic clove, chopped
1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 cups panko breadcrums
3/4 cup freshly grated Gruyere cheese

Place the zucchini slices into a colander placed over a sink, toss with the sea salt and set aside for at least 10-15 minutes (to drain a bit). Gently squeeze and pat dry.

Preheat oven to 400F degrees and place a rack in the middle. Rub a 9×9 gratin pan (or equivalent baking dish) with a bit of olive oil, sprinkle with lemon zest, and set aside.

Make the sauce by pureeing the oregano, parsley, garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, red pepper flakes, and olive oil in a food processor or using a hand blender. Set aside.

Prep the breadcrumbs by melting the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook for a few minutes until the butter is wonderfully fragrant, and has turned brown. Wait two minutes, then stir the breadcrumbs into the browned butter.

Transfer the squash to a large mixing bowl. Add the oregano sauce and toss until everything is well coated. Add the cheese and half of the bread crumbs and toss again.

Transfer the squash to the lemon-zested pan, top with the remaining crumbs, and bake for somewhere between 30-45 minutes, watching the breadcrumbs. Let cool a little and serve.

Beyond the obvious reason that they’re good for you, salads are the most convenient way I have found to bring lunch to work and actually stick to eating what I bring. They usually require no cooking, and they don’t require tupperware that you have to take to work and take home to wash. You can just bring a big bag of lettuce, your fixin’s, a bottle of salad dressing that you guard against coworkers mice that somehow devour it before you – and you’re set for the week.

But just any old salad can be, well, depressing, and this is Food is Bomb after all. For just a little extra effort – say, maybe cooking one thing in your salad and sticking to some coherent theme –  you can make a Bomb Salad. A Bomb Salad has a few key characteristics –  a) filling, b) it has a ton of stuff in it to keep you interested, and c) delicious. Related to c, it has to be really fresh – so use heartier lettuce like romaine, spinach, or arugula that keeps for a week. It has to be as easy as possible – so opt for grape tomatoes to avoid cutting up and storing a tomato and yes, spring for pre-washed lettuce.  I’m sharing  a salad medley of a few of my favorite ideas – southwestern, nicoise-light, sesame chicken, and beet & walnut.

Southwestern Salad | Old faithful
Fixin’s ideas (there are so many – just pick a few):
romaine (non-negotiable in my opinion, but of course, do what you want)
black beans
avocado
broken up pieces of tortilla chips (little crispy things make life worth living)
corn (this makes it sweeter – highly recommended. I made an extra grilling one night and threw it in – life-changing)
grape tomatoes (easier than cutting tomatoes)
parsley or cilantro
dressing: ranch or a red wide vinaigrette

Nicoise-Light | Flavor punch
Fixin ideas:
mixed green lettuce
boiled baby potatoes (I use a mix of white, red, and purple they sell at Whole Foods)
blanched green beans
grape tomatoes
olives
tuna salad (instead of adding tuna, I buy tuna salad from the store and and scoop a little onto the side of each salad)
dressing: balsamic

Sesame Chicken | Lean with protein
spinach
shredded carrots
chopped green onion
chicken (I marinate it in a ginger soy sauce and broil it)
sesame seeds
fried wonton strips (see above re: crispy things making life worth living)
thai spicy cashews (sounds specific but most grocery stores have cashews that are in some way awesomely spiced)
dressing: sesame oil, rice vinegar, and a little sugar/agave

Beet & Walnut Salad | sweet but substantial
mixed greens or arugula
chopped, boiled beets
walnuts – raw is fine but I’m sure toasted or candied is way more awesome
grape tomatoes
crumbled goat cheese
dressing: balsamic