Nermo

Street food is a big deal all over the world, but right now it is especially a big deal in San Francisco. Last weekend was Eugeapalooza: the Streetcart Wars, this weekend is La Cocina’s Street Food Festival and next weekend is Eat Real Fest, not to mention Off the Grid which happens every Friday at Fort Mason and may be spreading to other neighborhoods soon.

I’ve been threatening to quit my day job and sell food on the streets of San Francisco for a while now, and I need your guidance.

            

I want to post a quick piece on what a great time I had before and during the Lamb Takedown last weekend. This was my first public cooking competition, and although I didn’t win, the experience of planning, cooking, serving and socializing was spectacular!

Matt Timms, was the ideal organizer and deserves public recognition.  He put together the event, secured a perfect space at Thirsty Bear (with free drinks for the cooks!), got 300 pounds of lamb donated by American Lamb, which cut the costs to competitors greatly, as well as fabulous prizes, and he emceed the event in a way that kept everything running smoothly.  I never heard a single complaint, which is rare in a room with 250 foodies.

My plan was to play to the versatility of lamb as a protein.  I tend to think of it, as many do, as a meat found primarily in Greek and Indian food, but really it works in so many ways. I crafted a very straightforward lamb meatball (well, 300 straightforward lamb meatballs) seasoned with shallots, garlic, cumin, coriander, cinnamon and allspice that is really tasty on its own, but works with a broad spectrum of flavors.  To compliment, I produced a diverse array of sauces and slaw in every color of the rainbow (literally), plus beige and encouraged the eaters to customize them as they saw fit.

I ultimately went with a red marinara, orange sweet and sour, roasted yellow pepper coulis, green mint yogurt, blueberry chili sauce, spicy purple slaw and a beige mushroom gravy. People would ask which was my favorite as they stepped up to the overwhelming selection of squeeze bottles, but I couldn’t pick just one, so I described the applications of each.  I told people that blueberry chili was only for the brave, which goaded a few into putting down the yogurt and giving it a try, and several came back to tell me that the blueberry was their surprise favorite.  I pushed the sweet and sour sauce, because I made a gallon by mistake, and encouraged the mint yogurt as a good balance to the heat of the slaw.

I was fortunate enough to bring along two amazing and lovely assistants, Lizz and Sara who were a blast to hang out with and saved me from unforeseen disaster time and time again, and who rooted for me relentlessly when I wasn’t willing to do enough self-promotion. The highest praise I got was at the end of the day when a woman I believe to be the mother of the overall winner asked for a to-go cup of slaw to put on her son’s pulled pork sandwich later.  She told me not to tell him, because he makes his own slaw, but she would rather use mine.  A couple of professional chef competitors were complimentary as well, including one guy who said I must have cooked to meatballs sous vide to make them so moist, and I had to burst his bubble and tell him that I simply baked them.

As things were wrapping up, several people stopped by on their way out to tell me that I got their vote, or that I was robbed, which totally made my day. I was utterly exhausted, but overwhelmingly delighted by the whole day and am looking forward to the next competitive culinary challenge.

            

I got great feedback on these meatballs yesterday, even from professional chefs who asked me about technique and seemed impressed, and one gal told me she loved them because they reminded her of her mother’s home cooking in India. I thought I would share the recipe.  It makes a big batch, but they freeze well.

Lamb Meatballs

makes 96 golf ball size meatballs

• 5 large shallots, cut into pieces
• 5 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons bacon fat
• 2 tablespoons cumin
• 1 tablespoon allspice
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons coriander
• 3 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons pepper
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 4 large eggs
• 1 2/3 cups breadcrumbs
• 5 pounds ground lamb

Blend shallots and garlic in food processor until nearly a paste but still chunky.  Saute shallots and garlic in bacon fat for five minutes, until soft, but don’t allow to brown.  Add spices and stir for a couple minutes to make a paste.  Allow to cool for a few minutes so it doesn’t cook the eggs, then stir in syrup and eggs and then bread crumbs.  Incorporate thoroughly into the lamb and refrigerate one hour.

Preheat oven to 375 and split the meat into 6 equal pieces, split each of those into 4 equal parts and then quarter those quarters and pack each into a sphere (Note, after the first few, you will get a sense for how the proper size feels in your hands and you can add from bigger ones to bolster the smaller ones). Arrange on two sheet pans and bake 12 minutes, flipping once half way through.

            

As posted last time, I’ll be competing in tomorrow’s Lamb Takedown.

To emphasize the versatility of lamb, I’m making a straightforward meatball with a wide array of homemade sauce choices.

So far, I’ve confirmed the following:

• Red – Marinara
  
• Orange – Sweet and Sour Sauce
  
• Yellow- Roasted Pepper Coulis
  
• Green – Yogurt Cucumber Mint Sauce
  
• Blue – Blueberry Chili Sauce
  
• Beige – Cream Gravy

Possible additions include

• White – Cheddar Cheese Sauce
• Purple – Cabbage Slaw
  
• Black – something berbere- or harissa-based

            

I’ve been toying with the idea of leaving the desk job to sell meatballs from a cart.  I’ve never made a meatball in my life, but it seems totally reasonable.  I have also never cooked lamb before, so of course, rather than making a couple of dinners at home from tried and tested recipes that only I will taste, I decided to enter a contest instead.

The Lamb Takedown will be happening Sunday August 8th at Thirsty Bear in San Francisco.  Tickets are only $15 and get you samples from the 20 different contestants, including my lamb meatballs with a rainbow array of sauce options.  Hope I see you there!  I’ve also started a new Twitter account @MobileMeatball

            

Shakshouka is the Israeli equivalent of Huevos Rancheros or the Turkish dish Menemen. Here’s my take on the theme, which makes an amazing, complete breakfast that will impress.

If you are expecting a date to end after breakfast, or you are having someone over for brunch and would rather hang out over coffee than over the stove, you can make this dish the night before, then just reheat it, crack in some eggs and toss it in the oven for a few minutes.

This dish is also great because you can make with just one pan, one knife or a mandolin and one spoon.

Huevos Kibbutz

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
1 roasted green pepper, thinly sliced
1 roasted red pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 small bay leaf
1 1/2 cups canned diced tomatoes
Salt and pepper
3 large eggs
1/4 cup grated parmesan or any other cheese
1/4 cup chopped scallions
Crusty bread

1. Add the oil to an ovenproof skillet and cook the onion and garlic over medium heat until the onion becomes soft and translucent. Add peppers and cook for 2 minutes. Add the paprika, red pepper flakes, cumin, sugar and bay leaf and cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

2. Add the tomatoes to the skillet and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes break down, about 20 minutes. Discard the bay leaf and season with salt and pepper to taste.

— This is where you can let the pan cool, cover it and toss it in the fridge overnight.—

3. Preheat oven to 400. Bring the sauce back to a simmer on the stove (this would also be a great time to toss in some chopped up, cooked bacon, if you’re into that sort of thing), then crack the eggs over the sauce and transfer the pan into to the oven and bake until the egg whites are set but the yolks are still soft and runny, about 7 minutes. Garnish with cheese and scallions and serve immediately with crusty bread for dipping.

Note: To roast peppers, hold them with tongs over the flame on a gas stove until black and blistered on all sides, then rub off the skin under cool tap water.

            

A colleague asked me sheepishly for recipes the other day because, she admitted, she doesn’t know how to cook meat. I was shocked, because she is an amazing baker, and I have had many tasty delights created by her hand. I am starting off with a foolproof steak procedure. It’s hardly a recipe; there just isn’t that much to it.

Simple Steak

1 1-pound New York steak, about an inch thick, room temperature

Sprinkle both sides with salt (twice the amount you would expect) and fresh cracked pepper.
(I also use the generic spice blend from Trader Joe’s that comes in a grinder, but it isn’t crucial.)
Get a skillet flaming hot while you olive oil both sides of your steak.
Put the steak in the pan, prettiest side down and sear for 4 minutes to get a great crust.
Flip the steak, sear another 4 minutes and remove to a plate to rest for 10 minutes.

That’s it.

            

I just stumbled into (by way of extensive trial-and-error) the best roasted chicken I have ever made, and dare I say, one of the best chickens I have ever eaten, and I didn’t even have to deep fry it!

The Penultimate Chicken

(I might try to make one better after this)

1 young/roaster chicken (4 to 4.5-pounds)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small shallot, minced
2 tablespoons Chinese (or dijon) mustard
2 tablespoons Magic Hat #9 (or an IPA… both are light color ales, and you get to drink the rest while you cook!)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon Sriracha
1/2 teaspoon Chinese 5-spice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1. Preheat the oven to 425. Spatchcock (or butterfly, a technique explained below) and rinse the chicken.

2. Combine all other ingredients in a small container with a tight-fitting lid and shake to emulsify.  Turn the bird breast-side down and spread about a third of the mixture inside the bird.

3, Heat a large, oven-safe skillet over high heat (Let it get really hot. I promise it’ll be OK) and put in the bird, spread open, breast side up.  Let it cook 5 minutes in the pan while you rub the remaining mixture on the exposed side of the bird. After 5 minutes, put the whole pan in the oven for 30. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes before carving.

Below is a great instructional video on spatchcocking a chicken, but for this recipe, stop watching at 2:12 or so.  You shouldn’t cut the bird in half.

            

I just got a package via USPS that takes full advantage of the priority mail boxes that ship at a flat rate regardless of weight. It was a remarkably heavy Æbleskiver pan from Aunt Else. Normally, heavy things are irritating, but with a cast iron pan, it’s fantastic. I know I’m usually one to rail against single-use kitchen gadgets, but this is a keeper.  It’s a high quality product that will last forever. Plus, it does more than just make Danish pancake balls… it makes Japanese pancake balls too! Takoyaki are essentially the same as aebleskiver, but made with octopus instead of apples or other fruit filling common to the Danish variety.

Along with the pan, they included a bag of aebleskiver mix, and an insulated cover for the pan handle, which I’ve been using on my oven-safe skillet as well.

Alright, I won’t leave you hanging, it was love at first (tongue-scalding) bite.  I made a few batches for friends with cocktails this weekend, choosing filling to compliment each drink, and it was a hit.

The technique is not intuitive, but there is an instructional video (below)

            

I buy kitchen tools I don’t need, and being a gadget-obsessed guy and culinary daredevil, my urban kitchen is getting crowded. I can’t seem to put myself on a diet, but I’m going to slim down my kitchen.

The plan: I’m emptying all of my cooking tools into a bucket.  Once a tool has been used, it goes into a designated drawer. When a tool from the drawer gets used, it goes into the canister on my counter.

Rules:
1. When cooking, draw first from the canister, then the drawer, and finally the bucket, if no suitable tools are in the drawer.

2. After a month, I can pick ten things in the bucket to stay and the rest go to Salvation Army. Tools in the drawer go back into the bucket, canister tools stay put and the cycle starts again.

3. If the drawer becomes full before the month ends, it triggers the purge that would happen at the end of the month.

4. Knives and appliances are exempt. No way in hell am I getting rid of of my Shuns, Cuisinart, slow cooker or immersion blender.