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Summer Afternoons Well Spent at Sam's Chowder House

YumSugar — Wed, 20 May 2009 05:50:53 -0700

I've admitted a number of times that the Summer sun has brought on an intense craving for shore-style seafood. So when I was invited to enjoy a meal at Sam's Chowder House, I couldn't turn it down: nestled on a quiet corner of the California coast in Half Moon Bay, Sam's has long been one of my favorite seafood restaurants - not only for the view, but also for the fresh fish. Can't make it there just yet? Get a glimpse of the mouthwatering dishes and the jawdropping ocean views when you read on.

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Sunday Slow Cooker: Cioppino

YumSugar — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:00:27 -0800

Quality slow cooker recipes for seafood can be hard to come by, so this version of cioppino, a tomato-based seafood stew that was invented in San Francisco, is a real gem. With a loaf of sourdough bread and a glass of white wine, this stew makes an effortless meal. To add this seafood staple to your slow cooker repertoire, read more.

Cioppino
From Betty Crocker

Ingredients

2 large onions, chopped (2 cups)
2 medium stalks celery, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped (about 2 1/2 teaspoons)
1 can (28 oz) Progresso® diced tomatoes, undrained
1 bottle (8 oz) clam juice
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1/2 cup dry white wine or water
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
2 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 dried bay leaf
1 lb firm-textured white fish, cut into 1-inch pieces
3/4 lb uncooked medium shrimp, peeled, deveined
1 can (6 1/2 oz) chopped clams with juice, undrained
1 can (6 oz) crabmeat, drained
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions

In 5- to 6-quart slow cooker, mix all ingredients except fish, shrimp, clams, crabmeat and parsley.
Cover; cook on High heat setting 3 to 4 hours.
Stir in fish, shrimp, clams and crabmeat. Reduce heat setting to Low. Cover; cook 30 to 45 minutes longer or until fish flakes easily with fork. Remove bay leaf. Stir in parsley.

Serves 8.

Nutritional Information per serving: Calories 210 (Calories from Fat 35); Total Fat 3 1/2g (Saturated Fat 1/2g, Trans Fat 0g); Cholesterol 120mg; Sodium 570mg; Total Carbohydrate 14g (Dietary Fiber 3g, Sugars 7g); Protein 28g

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Today's Special: Spicy Crab Stew

partysugar — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 08:58:11 -0800

Cioppino is a slow cooked fish stew with a tomato based broth. Although the name sounds Italian, the stew actually was born here on the piers of San Francisco. At the end of a smelly day selling fish, the men (many of whom were of Italian descent) would throw the unsold fish into a big pot to make a hearty and hot stew. A quick stew is a food oxy moron (stew is usually considered to be left over the stove for several hours), but this dish can be prepared in 45 minutes. The key to making this version so rapidly is to use a really good fish stock that will flavor the fish while it is poached in the liquid. To take a peek at the recipe, read more

Spicy Crab Stew
From The Working Cook: Fast and Fresh Meals for Busy People by Tara Duggan

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon chile flakes + more to taste
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crumbled
1 cup diced onion
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
3/4 cup white wine
3 cups fish stock, (a good choice is Perfect Additions fish stock, which is in the freezer section of specialty supermarkets)
1 14-ounce can tomato sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
8 to 12 mussels, scrubbed
3/4 pound firm white fish, such as halibut, bones and skin removed and cut into 2-inch chunks
4 large shrimp, shell on
1 cleaned and cracked crab, legs separated and body cut into 4 pieces
2 tablespoons lemon juice, plus more to taste
Sliced Italian bread, to serve

Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven. Add the chile flakes, oregano, onion and celery and saute until tender, about 7 minutes.
Add the white wine and stir to remove the brown bits on the bottom.
Briefly bring to a boil, then add the stock, tomato sauce and 1 cup of water, and return it to a boil. As the broth warms, season to taste with salt and pepper. (The broth needs to be seasoned well so it can season the fish as it cooks.)
Add the mussels, fish, shrimp and crab, and cook on medium heat. The fish, mussels and shrimp should be cooked through at about the same time, 2-3 minutes, just long enough to gently heat the crab.
Add the lemon juice and adjust the seasoning with more chile flakes, salt and pepper, if needed.
Place in bowls, distributing the seafood evenly, and serve immediately with the bread, crab crackers and tons of napkins.

Serves 4.

Per serving: 330 calories, 35 g protein, 15 g carbohydrate, 11 g fat (2 g saturated), 72 mg cholesterol, 868 mg sodium, 3 g fiber.

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Monday's Leftovers: Quick Cioppino

YumSugar — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:00:01 -0700

The beginning of the workweek is always on the strenuous side, so keep Monday nights as effortless as possible by selecting a swift dinner recipe that calls for ingredients you've already got on hand.

By doubling up on the amount of halibut and clams that you needed for last night's meal, you won't have to worry about hitting up the supermarket again.

Take a stab at a stress-free riff on cioppino, the classic San Francisco stew. With a mere 30 minutes, you can make a savory soup that's sure to allay any of your weekday stresses. See the recipe when you read more.

Food Section Sampler - June 3, 2009

YumSugar — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:50:39 -0700

Five chefs make over San Francisco staples like cioppino, Hangtown Fry, and turkey Tetrazzini. - San Francisco Chronicle
New site Veggie Trader is a sort of Craigslist for home gardeners. - Washington Post
America's been seduced by the ever-elusive Prohibition era, speakeasy-style bar. - New York Times
How food stylists, editors, and photographers work together to make dishes look droolworthy. - Boston Globe
Why cupcakes just won't go away. - Los Angeles Times
An American rosé tasting turns up some disappointingly passionless pink wines. - Wall Street Journal
Outdoor grilled-cheese can be as much a pleasure to make as burgers and barbecued chicken. - Chicago Tribune

Going Inside the Food Network: Guy Fieri's Live Taping

partysugar — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:00:33 -0700

Last Sunday afternoon, I went to the Chelsea market, home of the Food Network Studios in New York City, to watch a live taping of a new Guy Fieri show. The one-hour long special, Guy's Family Feast, focuses on Guy's family and will air sometime in December or January. To find out what it was like to view the taping, read more.

Upon arrival in the studio the atmosphere is intense. The seating director looked me up and down and decided where I would sit in the audience.
Before the show started, a comedian named Q trained the audience how to clap, when to cheer, and told us not to look directly into the cameras.
Everything is incredibly scripted. Several TV monitors list instructions so Guy knows when to "chop bell peppers" or "place the meat in marinade."
There are some fun videos including the intro to the special: Guy, clad in a black leather jacket, runs through the streets on New York, sliding over taxi cabs, jumping over mailboxes, before he bursts into the studio to cook.

His entire family participated in the shoot. His son chopped onions, his wife and father cracked crab, his mother went to the market to purchase shrimp, and his sister helped make granola.
Although Guy made four dishes (pork with bok choy pasta, cioppino, granola, and a banana malt shake), there was minimal cooking involved in the taping. He probably only spent about 10 minutes actually cooking.
The shoot was broken into six segments with five commercial breaks in between the segments. During each break a team of five to six Food Network chefs would totally change the kitchen. The raw pork Guy placed in the oven was replaced with a perfectly cooked piece of pork. The trash was emptied, the counters were whipped clean, the floor was swept, etc.
The audience was given a mini pork sandwich at the third commercial break and a bag of cookies at the fourth.
After the show was finished filming, the audience had to stay seated for extra camera shots.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed the experience. The show sort of felt like a test of Guy Fieri's skills. The network is obviously looking for someone to fill Emeril Lagasse's live-cooking-show shoes. Still, I'm excited to see the finished product. What do you think of my observations? Will you tune into Guy's Family Feast?

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PartySugar Behind The Bash: Taste 2007

partysugar — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 08:57:32 -0700

Last Thursday night I was invited to a hip local arts event that expertly mixed art, auction and food. Hosted by Root Division - an organization that promotes creative expression and boosts the community by providing studio space to working artists in exchange for their services as art teachers - Taste 2007 was a fundraiser, exhibition, and tasting all rolled into one event. Tastes, bite sized tapas from eight acclaimed young San Francisco chefs, featured delicious, innovative nibbles along side the artwork.

To learn about the amazing food I tasted and check out some of my favorite paintings (including this really cool one of a crab), read more

When I rushed in from the pouring rain, I was delighted to see a gift bag (filled with tons of fabulous goodies, including a super long glass tube and a free manicure at Cinta) was waiting for me. I made my way over to the wine station and got a glass of red from the artist behind the makeshift bar before heading over to the Pescheria table. Their taste was a cold octopus and pea salad that was super fresh without being overly fishy. However, balancing my glass of wine, my Marc Jacobs handbag, and goodie bag while trying to stab individual peas with a two pronged toothpick was too challenging and I ended up tossing the taste without having finished the salad.

Next I sampled the food/art by Michael Yakura of Ozumo (on my list of places to eat) that was on display in an adjoining room. His exhibit proved to be an ingenious combination of food and art - a three course meal, in liquid form, was stuck into tiny suck-able syringes and placed into small pegs and arranged on a wall. Guests were invited to take a syringe and enjoy the meal. The third course, a teeny sip of a creme brulee was the most popular and the fishy cioppino the least popular with its overpowering briny-ness.

When I tasted Scott from Maverick's bbq-ed pulled pork delicately placed on a crisp homemade potato chip, I was in heaven. The meat was moist, not chewy, and the sauce spicy, not commercialized. I quickly devoured several more chip bites before moving on to the mind blowing Noah of Brick Restaurant (also on my list of places to dine). Noah, a student of culinary gastronomy, had created the perfect taste that was layered, complex, and undeniably complete. A paper thin slice of lamb was topped with a creamy, melt in your mouth celery mousse. The bite was to be followed with a celery gin shot that delicately cleansed the palate. This was amazing and by far my favorite part of the night.

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Yummy Links!

YumSugar — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 11:58:14 -0800

Watch Curb Your Enthusiasm's Susie Essman and Vogue food critic Jeffery Steingarten have an interesting lunch together in 'We Can Always Order More' - Serious Eats
Delicious looking cioppino (fish stew) - Simply Recipes
Just in time for New Year's Eve, The Cheap Drunk's Guide to Inexpensive Bubbly - Eat Drink One Woman

Intricate Watermelon Carving Artwork - haha.nu
Bacon Brittle, not Peanut Brittle. Bacon. - Chow
If you didn't get enough cookies for Christmas, try these Cranberry-Cherry Icebox Ribbons - Slashfood