Jun 15, 2013 | From the kitchen of Rose
in Epicurious
The San Francisco conference provided the perfect opportunity to extend the trip and visit some of my many friends and close family.
My dear friend, Dianne Boate, asked me to give a short talk to her fellow artists who meet once a month to paint and draw along with their gifted art teacher Mary L. Harden. I also fielded questions and spoke to two upcoming local bakers.
Dianne's finale to my talk was a presentation of three cakes from "Rose's Heavenly Cakes." We were delighted with her artistic pastry-plaid touch for the top of her Gâteau Breton, a cake that she originally inspired me to make! The Marble Velvet Cake and Spice Cake with Peanut Buttercream were also very much appreciated.
Friends Caitlin and James Freeman accompanied us to rendezvous with Daniel Patterson and his wife Alexandra at his Oakland restaurant Plum.
We enjoyed his interpretations of California cuisine in a neighborhood restaurant setting, including Fried Oysters and Braised lamb shoulder.
Daniel is in the process of opening a third restaurant and has just submitted the manuscript for his next cookbook that promises to be a unique reflection of his cuisine.
Due to a killer cold (which lasted 3 weeks) that had reached its fevered peak, I slept for 12 hours and missed our much-anticipated rendezvous with Mandy Aftel of Aftelier--coauthor of Aroma with Daniel Patterson, and perfumer par excellence (more about her in a future posting). We did, however, manage to return to Oakland for lunch at Caesar's with my dear cousin Joan. Despite my plugged nose I could still enjoy the Spanish tapas of romaine salad with avocado vinaigrette and hazelnuts, and duck livers.
After lunch, a stop at Joan's to see her garden in full bloom and cats, followed by a walk and a trip to the Berkeley's Farmers Market.
Returning to San Francisco by BART, which has a station a mere 10 minutes away from Delfina's Pizzaria, provided a perfect excuse to have the pizza dinner we had been anticipating. Would our expectations be met from what we had observed a few evenings prior? Seated on bar stools at their counter where we could watch our pizza being created, we munched on pencil thin bead sticks. Our Salsiccia pizza with fennel sausage, tomato, red bell peppers, and red onion will guarantee a return in the future.
The next day, we continued our traditional Aries bakers' lunch with dearest friends Flo Braker and Marlene Sorosky, at the Park Tavern.
Continue reading "Post IACP San Francisco--Return to Friends and Family" »
Jun 08, 2013 | From the kitchen of Rose
in Eggs
This is the original photo by Ben Fink, from Rose's Heavenly Cakes. filled and frosted with whipped cream and adorned with ValRhona chocolate pearls or mini chocolate chips.
My dad had a major sweet tooth. He would pile three heaping tablespoons of sugar into his tea and when I expressed shocked indignation, after all his wife, my mother, was a dentist, he would out an out lie that he didn't stir the sugar into the tea!
I thought he would adore angel food cake because it is so unremittingly sweet but, in fact, he complained that it was too sweet so I came up with this version that he loved. I fold grated bitter chocolate into the batter. The very lightest and most tender texture comes from using Wondra flour as it blends easily into the batter without deflating it significantly. This recipe is adapted from Rose's Heavenly Cakes.
Note: Egg whites from Safest Choice Pasteurized Eggs offer the most stable meringue foam. Be sure to double the cream of tartar for the best results.
The Chocolate Tweed Angel Food Cake
Equipment: a 5 quart or larger stand mixer, an uncoated 10-inch two-piece metal tube pan (16 cup capacity). A long necked soda or wine bottle, or a large inverted metal funnel that will fit into the opening at the top of the pan (have this ready before baking and weight it by filling it with water or marbles to keep it from tipping).

| INGREDIENTS | VOLUME | WEIGHT |

| superfine sugar | 1-1/2 cups, divided | 10.5 ounces | 300 grams |

| Wondra flour OR
cake flour | 3/4 cup (lightly spooned and leveled off) OR 1 cup (if cake flour sifted into the cup and leveled off)
| 3.5 ounces | 100 grams |
| salt | 1/4 teaspoon | . | . |
| 16 large egg whites, preferably from Safest Choice Pasteurized eggs | 2 cups (473 ml) | 17 ounces | 480 grams |

| cream of tartar | 2 teaspoons (4 teaspoons if using Safest Choice Pasteurized eggs) | . | . |
| pure vanilla extract | 4 teaspoons | . | . |


| fine quality unsweetened or 99% cacao chocolate, grated | . | 2 ounces | 56 grams |
Continue reading "Chocolate Tweed Angel Food Cake for Father's Day" »
Jun 04, 2013 | From the kitchen of Rose
in Epicurious
Wow! If you're curious to know to whom the title is referring, click here.
Jun 01, 2013 | From the kitchen of Rose
in Epicurious
Bruce Aidell, the sausage maker extraordinaire of Aidell Sausage Company, and his wife, Nancy Oakes, hosted eleven of us for a dim sum lunch at Yank Sing, my favorite Chinese restaurant. We had an extraordinary array of dim sum. Bruce imperiously vetoed one after the other of the serving carts and chose instead to have the manager fill our table with various dim sum of his selection off the menu. They were too numerous to remember and we were far to busy grabbing with our chopsticks and eating to list them all. Favorites were the Peking Duck, Pork and Shrimp Siu Mye, Seafood Basil Dumplings, and Pork Buns. The one that intrigued me the most was a super flaky lard pastry turnover filled with chicken curry.
Our food fest continued with dinner, interrupted only by another cappuccino at Blue Bottle in the late afternoon. Nathan "Mr. Vancouver" Fong took over the annual intimate friends' dinner from me 18 conferences ago, and it's grown so much it's become a conference within the conference. This year's dinner was at the Perbacco Ristorante. We were happy to be seated next to our friends Hayley and Michael Matson Mathes from Hawaii. Hayley had arranged our baking demonstration and accommodations this past December.
Tuesday's breakfast at Boulettes Larder in the Ferry Building, with fellow bakers Caitlin Williams Freeman and Liz Prueitt, was another "old home week." We ran into several friends including beloved photographer Ben Fink and dear friend Corby Kummer, who writes for the Atlantic Monthly, and whose two page feature on the Cake Bible almost 25 years ago launched 18,500 copies in one day!
Caitlin's new book, Modern Art Desserts, featuring renditions of iconic works of art, was coming out the following week.(I posted my foreword and also the spectacular book signing on the pub date titled: A Very Special Baking Book.)
Liz, pastry chef/co-owner of Tartine Bakery & Café in the Mission district has contributed a wonderful lemon curd to our next book, using an unusual technique.
Boulette's is a deliciously informal meeting place with its main community table situated right next to the open kitchen.
I ordered the Poached Eggs served over Middle Eastern greens and chickpeas, in browned butter.
Liz had a delightfully impromptu first meeting with Corby who is a dedicated dessert fan.
We bakers three then strolled to the other end of the Ferry Building for some of Caitlin's Blue Bottle Coffee.
Our afternoon seminar was Techniques from TV Pros for Producing Top Quality Food Videos. Ben Fink was one of the presenters and his video of me, "A Moment with Rose," his very first video was part of the presentation.
We were delighted to run into Rachelino, one of my favorite bloggers and member of the Beta Bakers Team for the upcoming "Baking Bible." She was a volunteer on the San Francisco host committee, for this seminar.
This was the first time that Woody and I had seen my eating a delicious bite of my "Deep Passion Cake" on the big screen. (You can view this video by clicking on "A Moment with Rose" in the upper left hand corner of this blog).
Seeing my eating the cake prompted a return to Blue Bottle Coffee for a dish of their Affogato - with Humphry Slocombe Brown Butter ice cream and espresso.
The evening was the event most anticipated by authors and publishers alike--the Awards. The award categories keep increasing yearly. There are now over forty-three, with digital technology and the web having become a major resource for foodies to writers to restaurant owners. The Best Baking Book Award went to "Flour Salt Water Yeast " by Ken Forkish. The Cookbook of the Year went to "Jerusalem: a Cookbook" by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. (Although, I was nominated to the Culinary Classics Award, I still have a few years to wait as this year's inductees were published at least ten years before "The Cake Bible.")
Natalie Chapman, GM of cookbooks at Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt, invited us and several associates and writers to a late evening of conversation and treats at the new Prospect Restaurant. Bruce Aidell was again our host. Chef owner Nancy Oakes, arranged for her staff to serve us wonderful appetizers and this divine banana, chocolate, and caramel Ice Cream Sundae.
I was happy to learn from Nathan Fong, long time executive member of IACP, that our organization is growing stronger every year. There will be hundreds of new connections, new authors, and new winners taking their walk to the podium in the upcoming years.
Stay tuned for more on the S.F. adventure with friends and family in two weeks!
May 25, 2013 | From the kitchen of Rose
in Epicurious
San Francisco-Part One: IACP Annual Conference 2013
I always look forward to attending the annual conference of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, as it is a time to meet long time dear acquaintances and make new friends. Upon landing, Woody (my assistant) and my first stop was the Ferry Building to have our first cups of my favorite cappuccino at Blue Bottle Coffee, owned by James Freeman and Caitlin Williams.
Our first San Franciscan dinner, was at Delfina's, in the Mission district. I had loved it several years ago and was delighted that it was as wonderful as I had remembered.
We enjoyed sharing several dishes including house made Pappardelle with Liberty duck ragu and Wolfe Ranch Quail with spring onion panzanella. The bread had absorbed the quail juices and vinaigrette and was incredibly savory. We were seated by the window and had a perfect view of the outdoor tables where people who ordered pizzas from the sister restaurant next door could enjoy them. We couldn't help but notice the delicious thin crust pizzas with puffy rims, looking very similar to Punch's Pizza in Minneapolis that is one of my favorites so I resolved to try the pizza at our next opportunity and it was indeed as good as it looked--the crust tender but with just the right amount of bite.
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The next day we attended the Culinary Expo and Book Signing, my favorite part of the conference. I love being a participant, as I have in past years, but enjoy even more walking around, seeing all the new products, and visiting with friends.
I was delighted to see Pamela Williams's (of Ecole Chocolat in Vancouver) impressive-looking, new, self-published book, "Raising the Bar: The Future of Fine Chocolate" Amazon link to the book: http://ow.ly/epPTQ
For an overview of the book check out Pam's website.
And it was great visiting with ex IACP president from New Zealand, Lauraine Jacob's beautiful new book "Everlasting Feast."
The much esteemed bread baker Peter Reinhart was showing off his timely new book, "The Joy of Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking" offering recipes for the increasing demand for gluten free baking.
The renowned cheese-maker and ex IACP president Paula Lambert was offering samples of her exquisite line of cheeses from her Mozzarella Company in Dallas, Texas. Knowing how much she loves the Italian culture, I was pleased to learn that she is now leading culinary tours to Italy.
I had a great visit with master bread baker Jeff Hamelman, who was manning the King Arthur booth. When I asked him if I could offer one of his recipes in my upcoming book, with credit to him, he said "No! When you make the recipe it will no longer be mine it will be yours!" (Have I not mentioned that bread bakers are the most generous of people?!)
I also ran into one of my long-time friends, Jonathan Zearfoss. We first met when he was a chef at Marcel Desaulniers restaurant "The Trellis," in Williamsburg, Va. He went on to work at The CIA in New Hyde Park (check his card for title)
There were many delectables to sample during the information fair but that didn't keep us from having a terrific dinner at Dosa, with my longtime friend, Lesley Harlib and her scientist friend Michael. We enjoyed a sampling menu of Indian fusion dishes including Day Boat Scallops with Lotus Stems, Paneer and Pea Dosa, and Tamil Lamb.
We all shared one Mango Pudding for dessert.
It was funny to observe that we weren't the only one's photographing!
May 21, 2013 | From the kitchen of Rose
in APPEARANCES
It had been many years since I last visited my favorite kitchenware shop in Philly and what a joyful homecoming it was! Fante's is located right in the middle of the vast Italian market. Bob Trinque and I drove down together and after finding a rare parking place were tempted by all the produce, sausages, and homemade cheese. But more exciting still was the incredible display of cookware at the store.
It couldn't have been lovelier visiting with old friends, meeting new ones young and older, and showing off the new Roseâ„¢ line. And after the demo, Mariella Esposito treated us to the biggest and best Philadelphia cheese steak ever. I can't wait to go back for a longer visit!
May 18, 2013 | From the kitchen of Rose
in Epicurious
I've been enjoying 'blackened' string beans since Paul Prudhomme was a little boy and blackened redfish wasn't yet a gleam in his eye! That's because my grandmother once burned the string beans and I found it to be so delicious I always threatened not to eat the string beans unless she burned them.
Some years ago, my dear friend Elizabeth Karmel, renowned grilling author and chef, taught me how to make grilled string beans. She is such a skilled griller only one or two beans ever slipped between the grates but when I tried, I mourned each of several beans that slipped through. I tried a grill pan with holes but had to be very careful as the ones available were all very shallow and didn't have large enough holes to expose enough of the string beans to the flame. This is no longer a problem as Elizabeth has created the ideal grill basket, Elizabeth Karmel's Grill Friends Sizzlin' Skillet Grill Basket. Its curved sides enable you to toss the beans without risk of a single one leaping out. The wire mesh is strong but fine, leaving the maximum open space for 'blackening.'
The grill basket is easy to clean and even dishwasher safe. And it comes with a great-sounding recipe for "firecracker shrimp," which gives new definition to "shrimp in the basket."
I posted the recipe for grilled string beans about three years ago. Here it is again but this time in the basket!
For beans with a little bite, simply toss the washed and trimmed string beans with salt and olive oil and then to toss them in the grill basket and continue tossing them with tongs until they are deliciously browned, partially blackened, and beginning to shrivel.
For a softer texture, par boil the beans in salted water for 3 minutes, drain them, and toss them in the olive oil and salt, though sometimes I use melted bacon fat. Then into the grill basket they go to be browned and blackened as above.
Either way, season with lots of freshly ground pepper.
Note: The handle is easy to remove for grilling and to replace when removing the basket from the grill, but it is not designed for emptying the beans into a serving bowl as the basket will flip over. Use tongs to lift the beans into the bowl.
May 11, 2013 | From the kitchen of Rose
in Epicurious
Thomas Keller is one of my top favorite chefs. I've had amazing experiences both at The French Laundry in Nappa, and at Per Se in New York City so it seemed like the perfect place to celebrate my partnership with Gary Fallowes of NewMetro Design and my new Roseâ„¢ product line. And it was indeed a glorious dining experience. It was also a celebration of my imminent move from New York to Hope, New Jersey where eating like this will be happening much less frequently.
Per Se is located in the Time Warner building from which we had an excellent view of Central Park, where I grew up.
February does not provide the most vibrant scenery but the floral arrangement offered a promise of spring to come.
We were offered a glass of Jose Dhon blanc de blanc champagne tasting delightfully of apple and accompanied by the classic Per Se tartar of salmon cone, and gougères.
We then proceeded to order the five course tasting menu but what arrived was more like double the number. And each one was superlative blend of balance and finesse. The menu descriptions speak for themselves:
BUTTERNUT SQUASH "VELOUTE" Hearts of Palm, Ginger, and Pine Nuts
Continue reading "Ode to Exquisite Dining Chez Per Se" »
May 08, 2013 | From the kitchen of Rose
in Epicurious
I've just been invited to participate on a panel with four of my favorite friends: esteemed authors Madhur Jaffrey and Marion Nestle; director of the Fales Library and Special Collections at NYU, Marvin J. Taylor; and moderator par excellence, host of the Critical Topics in Food Series, Clark Wolf.
The event features the recently published 101 Classic Cookbooks. It will be held at the 92Y Tribeca at 7:30 on Wednesday, May 29. Entrance fee is $15 and books will be available for sale.
Trust me: this is an experience not to be missed!
May 04, 2013 | From the kitchen of Rose
in Eggs
French toast is the perfect indulgence for mom for breakfast in bed. It is easy to make and is best made the day or night ahead. It can be made with many different types of bread from soft white to challah, brioche or even croissants. French toast is at its best when the bread is sliced 1 inch thick but as slices from most commercial loaves are only 1/2 inch here's the way I've worked it out to simulate a 1 inch thick regal slice of french toast. To make it extra special, if your mom likes raisins, use cinnamon raisin bread.
French Toast for One Perfect Mom
1 large egg
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons milk
1/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
a grating of nutmeg
2 slices of soft white bread, sliced 1/2-inch thick
1 teaspoon butter, preferably unsalted, frozen
Optional: powdered sugar, cinnamon and or maple syrup
Equipment: a griddle or large heavy frying pan
Place a heatproof dinner plate in the oven and turn the heat to low.
In a medium bowl, combine the egg, cream, milk vanilla and nutmeg and whisk lightly just to blend.
Place the mixture in a pan large enough to hold the 2 slices of bread side-by-side and add the bread. Allow the bread to sit for a minute or so to soak up the mixture and then turn each slice over to absorb all of the remaining mixture on the second side. Move the bread slices around to be sure they pick up all of the egg mixture. (When turning the bread over in the egg mixture, it helps to use two pancake turners.)
Alternatively, dip or brush one slice at a time, using a scant 1/4 cup per slice.
Heat the griddle or frying pan on medium high heat until hot enough to sizzle a drop of water. Impale the frozen butter on a fork or hold it carefully on either side and run it quickly along the surface of the hot griddle or pan to film it lightly with butter.
Set one piece of bread on top of the other. Fry the bread, 2 to 3 minutes a side or until golden brown.
Cut the french toast diagonally in half if desired and arrange on the heated plate. Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar and cinnamon and drizzle with maple syrup if desired.
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