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eG Foodblog: melkor - Insert Clever Subtitle Here


melkor

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So today, like all days when I'm not traveling starts with an espresso drink of some sort - latte today with a slice of meyer lemon tart (from the French Laundry cookbook). My has changed a little since my last foodblog, MsMelkor and I got married and moved to San Francisco about six months ago. Much has stayed the same - nearly everything we eat at home we make from scratch (both of us work from home). Later today I need to roast coffee for the week and do something with the leftovers in the fridge for lunch. We spent thanksgiving in Mendocino in a cabin with no electricity 45 minutes from the nearest paved road. Our trip in theory was to forage for mushrooms but the hour and a half road trip to the highway left us with only one half day to forage - we came home with a couple of pounds of porcini and chanterelles, enough for us to feed ourselves and 7 guests last night. The mushrooms are gone, but there's some leftover braised shortribs that will likely end up as much lunch. MsMelkor is off today through Wednesday night traveling for work so I'm fending for myself the next several meals.

Monday after a long weekend is always hectic at work, so I'm off for now. I'll post again around lunch time.

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heads up:

there's a little cafe near chez panisse that's called hotel de paris or something like that. they make a really good espresso.

Ritual is my favorite for espresso in the city, though some of the shots the Blue Bottle guys make at the Farmers market on the lever machines can be pretty incredible. If I'm over in the east bay this week I'll stop by the cheese board and see about espresso nearby.

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Lunch it is. Leftover braised shortribs, reduced braising liquid mixed in with the shredded meat and mixed with some demiglace for a sauce. A quick batch of pasta (65 grams white flour, 35 grams semolina, an egg, and some salt). And I'm not starving anymore.

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I like making ravioli with sauce inside, the only real hassle with having the sauce inside is that you need to toss the ravioli with something to keep it from sticking or drying out. My default choice would be browned butter, but it ends up looking like an oil slick on the plate once some of the sauce from the pasta gets out. Next time I make this dish I need to either reduce the liquid I'm tossing the ravioli in more or do a better job of draining the pasta - it ended up having more sauce on the pasta than in it. Some acme ciabatta bread soaked up all the extra sauce :cool:

I roasted a batch of coffee this morning also, I need to grab the pictures off my camera - I'll post them soon.

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We spent thanksgiving in Mendocino in a cabin with no electricity 45 minutes from the nearest paved road.  Our trip in theory was to forage for mushrooms but the hour and a half road trip to the highway left us with only one half day to forage - we came home with a couple of pounds of porcini and chanterelles, enough for us to feed ourselves and 7 guests last night. 

I regularly (at least during late spring, summer and early fall) get away to a cabin that also has no electricity, and is 45 minutes from a paved road. Heaven on earth! We forage for grouse and blueberries. (Oh, and our place also has no running water.)

Do tell about your favorite local bread, please! (edited to add: my sister lives in Berkeley just a stone's throw from Acme, which is my personal Bay Area favorite.)

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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We spent thanksgiving in Mendocino in a cabin with no electricity 45 minutes from the nearest paved road.  Our trip in theory was to forage for mushrooms but the hour and a half road trip to the highway left us with only one half day to forage - we came home with a couple of pounds of porcini and chanterelles, enough for us to feed ourselves and 7 guests last night. 

I regularly (at least during late spring, summer and early fall) get away to a cabin that also has no electricity, and is 45 minutes from a paved road. Heaven on earth! We forage for grouse and blueberries. (Oh, and our place also has no running water.)

Do tell about your favorite local bread, please!

This cabin had running water and a propane tank to run the gas range and lanterns. We were thinking about camping for thanksgiving but most of our gear is light weight backpacking stuff - it'd be hard to roast a turkey on an msr whisperlight stove.

I've got several favorite local breads. La farrine in rockridge makes my favorite baguette. Acme walnut bread is my favorite with cheese, their ciabatta is also excellent. Della Fattoria in Petaluma makes great round loaves, their campagne and rosemary meyer lemon bread are my favorites. The breads at Model Bakery in St Helena and at the Bouchon bakery in Yountville are also great, but I only get them when I'm in the north bay.

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I've been home roasting for years, I started with a counter top hot air roaster from sweet marias but I drink way too much coffee to roast 1/4 cup at a time so I built this roaster that does 1 pound batches. It's a pair of pencil cups, a clasp from a fence, and a cabinet hinge. Fill it with coffee, throw it on the rotisserie and set the grill on high, 20 minutes later in theory you've got a pound of roasted coffee.

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We've got a fuji apple tree in the yard so I had an apple as a snack while the coffee was roasting.

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Half way through, the grill ran out of gas. It's raining, I'm busy with work and so the coffee gets to finish roasting in the oven - the smoke alarm didn't seem too thrilled with this plan, but the coffee turned out fine. This is a batch of Sweet Maria's liquid amber.

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You got my attention with your ravioli. Your presentation is beautiful in its simplicity. You live in a beautiful part of the states. Are you originally from the area? If not, how did you end up there?

You mention the French Laundry. Do you eat there often? If so, what has been your experience being there as a local?

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You got my attention with your ravioli.  Your presentation is beautiful in its simplicity.  You live in a beautiful part of the states.  Are you originally from the area?  If not, how did you end up there?

You mention the French Laundry.  Do you eat there often?  If so, what has been your experience being there as a local?

I'm originally from upstate NY, in the Hudson Valley. I moved to California after getting sick of shoveling snow.

I haven't been back to the French Laundry in about a year. I used to go two or three times a year when I lived in Napa. My experience there has always been positive - I've had some incredible meals there and I proposed to my wife in the garden there before dinner one night.

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Snack time.

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Leftover sweet potato pie and a double (triple) espresso.

I've got no real plan for the week. We seem to be at one grocery store or another every day. I seem to be incapable of shopping for groceries with a list or shopping for the week in one shot. Tomorrow I need to run over to Oakland for work, hopefully I'll have time to make a stop in Rockridge and see what looks good at Ver Brugge and La Farrine. Dairy comes from Trader Joes. Cheese from 24th st cheese or the cheese board. Produce from either the Alameny farmers market or the Ferry Plaza farmers market. Meat from Drewes Bros, Bryans, Ver Brugge, or Tower Market. Bread comes from Tower, La Farrine, Acme, and Della Fattoria at the Farmers Market. We go down to Daly City once a month or so to safeway or albertsons for paper goods, bandaids, etc. I still haven't found a fish source I like, so I've been going fishing instead. We've got a small garden in the back yard, we grow all our herbs, apples, plums, and some of our veg. The winter garden is just getting going. Having read over where my ingredients come from it's no wonder I spend so much time shopping for groceries.

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These photos are gorgeous - can I ask what kind of camera you use?

Thanks! I'm using a Canon Rebel XT. I've been using the EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens for all the pictures today, it's nice and small and works well in low light. All the indoor pictures are at 800 ISO. I'm not sure how well it'll go over if I bring this brick of a camera to dinner - we'll find out tonight :biggrin:

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Melkor, can you share your ravioli recipe pls? I think I am craving for them now.

I can try - I don't really cook from recipes and it'd be tough to argue that I'm much of a teacher, but here goes. Brown a bunch of short ribs on all sides in batches in a dutch oven (le creuset or whatever), deglaze with stock between batches and pour off the stock/fond somewhere safe. Chop a leek, carrot, and some onion - throw them in the pot to brown. Put the browned veg in a cheese cloth pouch (I use a jelly bag) with some fresh thyme, parsley, a few peppercorns, and some dried mushrooms if you've got them then tie the top of the bag. In the now empty pot empty a bottle of wine (I used a california pinot), bring it to a simmer and set it on fire. Once the flame goes out add a few cups of chicken stock, the deglazing liquid and then load the cheese cloth bag and meat back into the pot, stick a lid on it and stick it in a 250*F oven for about 3 hours or until it's done.

Once the meat is done remove the cheese cloth bag, cool the meat in the braising liquid. Once it's all cold, strain out the meat, then reduce the braising liquid until about 1/4 of it is left. Shred the meat and strain the reduced braising liquid over it. Pour the filling into a shallow dish and let it cool until you've got horrible looking shredded meat jello. Make the pasta (100 grams of flour per egg - at least half white flour), stuff the ravioli with lumps of meat jello and cook them. While the ravioli is cooking heat some demi-glace (I use duck demi, because that's what I've got in the freezer) and some stock reducing it to a glaze. Toss the cooked ravioli into the glazed pan - the water on the pasta will turn the glaze into a sauce, toss the ravioli once or twice and plate.

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Welcome back to blogland Dave. :biggrin: Based on posts elsewhere, Ms. Melkor is a pretty good cook in her own right. Do you share cooking duties, or do you do most of it? Do you each have a dish you would consider your "signature" dish?

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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Have you been to Monterey Fish on Hopkins in Berkeley? 

If not, it is not that far from the Cheese Board.  It is also a half block away from Monterey Market, which is great for produce.

Christine

I haven't. I've been to the Monterey Market and like it better than Berkeley bowl, but it's a hike from the city. I just need to find someone with a wholesale account at IMP in San Mateo and order through them :smile:

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Welcome back to blogland Dave. :biggrin:  Based on posts elsewhere, Ms. Melkor is a pretty good cook in her own right.  Do you share cooking duties, or do you do most of it?  Do you each have a dish you would consider your "signature" dish?

She is indeed a good cook - we both cook most of the time, splitting dishes somewhat at random. She's a much better baker than I am and for the most part I cook meat when it's being done stove top. I don't think either of us really have signature dishes, though I love making pasta and risotto. I need to call around and see if I can get my hands on some white truffles now that they're getting good. That would be a good excuse for some fettuccine alla chitarra.

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[...]I still haven't found a fish source I like, so I've been going fishing instead.

[...]

Oh, boy! More local excitement.

What neighborhood are you in, sir?

There's a fish market on Bayshore Avenue I've been meaning to try. "J" something or other. It's next to the Domino's pizza on the West Side of the street. Never seems to be open when I drive by, though.

Fishing, my that is adventurous! One of my co-workers fishes off Half Moon Bay, and sometimes he gets lucky enough to give us lingcod fillets or whole rock cod. I keep hoping for some salmon.

---

Erik Ellestad

If the ocean was whiskey and I was a duck...

Bernal Heights, SF, CA

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