Gastronomie

Party Potatoes Make a Nifty Shepherd's Pie

When I first wrote about Colin's grandmother's "Party Potatoes" a few years ago, it was without much expectation. It's true that they really are the most amazing mashed potatoes I've ever eaten, but how many times has someone said that? Potatoes, dairy, more dairy and butter (What?! Butter is its own food group, you know.)  -- "There must be a dozen similar recipes," I thought. 

Evidently not. Na's potatoes have developed a nearly cult-like following amongst my friends and family since I've made them for every Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, whether we were hosting or not. This year, in fact, there were no fewer than half a dozen Tweets and emails exchanged about them. Don't believe me? Check it out:

See? Legendary. 

The only problem with them, really, is the leftovers. By the time we've polished off the other leftovers, we usually have at least a serving or two of Party Potatoes left. This year, I finally figured out the best way to use them, and I'd be a jerk not to share my new Shepherd's Pie recipe with you.

Nannie's Shepherd's Pie

• 1 large onion (or 2 medium onions), chopped
• 1 c. carrot, chopped
• 2 T dark beer 
• 1.5 lbs lamb sirloin or lamb chuck, minced fine*
• 5 ounces beef chuck, minced fine*
• 2.5 T Worcestershire sauce (or more to taste)
• 1.5 T tomato paste
• 1 c. peas (frozen is fine)
• 1 t garlic powder
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1.5 - 2 c. Nannie's Party Potatoes

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large pan, brown half the onions and all the carrots in a bit of vegetable oil. Allow them to char a bit. Remove to a bowl.
3. Sweat the remaining onions lightly in the beer, allowing the alcohol to cook off. Remove to the bowl.
4. Brown the lamb and beef in the same pan, seasoning with the Worcestershire, salt & pepper. Make sure the meat doesn't "steam" by browning everything in small batches. Remove each batch to the bowl with the onions & carrots.
5. In the same bowl, mix in the tomato paste, any leftover Worcestershire, and the frozen peas.
6. In a casserole or baking dish, layer the meat-vegetable mixture, sprinkle with garlic powder, a bit more pepper, and finally the potatoes.
7. Bake, covered, for 25-30 minutes. Serve.

* I used my Cuisinart to mince the meat after trimming it of most of the fat. I prefer this method to buying ground lamb as I think it cuts down on the gaminess, which is why I also add a bit of beef to round out the flavor.

Epic Burger, at a not-so-Epic price

So, yea, this whole "recession" thing is quite the bummer. Instead of meeting somewhere for a cocktail en route home, we've been practicing our bartending skills at home. Dinners out have been scaled back a bit, and I've become an aficionado of the myriad happy hour and lunch deals around town instead.

When I heard that Epic Roasthouse was selling their incredible burger for $20 INCLUDING a beer and a brownie, it seemed like an excellent excuse to take the work team out for lunch. Now, here's the thing -- the burger is normally $20 on its own, but with good reason. First off, it's half a pound of amazingly delicious beef, ground fresh daily from cuts of Epic's steaks. Second, it's accompanied by more trimmings than any burger I've ever ordered, and crispy waffle-cut crisps. And, did I mention? HALF A POUND OF FRESH BEEF ON A BRIOCHE BUN?

"Accoutrements" include little ramikins of bacon, aioli, mustard, corn salad, sauteed mushrooms, house made ketchup, three kinds of pickles, lettuce and tomato. We had one each rare, medium rare, and medium burgers at our table, and they were PERFECTLY cooked. My medium rare burger was warm all the way through but still very, very pink in the center, reminding me of our dinner at Bern's Steakhouse.

Beers on offer are either of their tap brews -- on this day, Trumer Pils or Anchor Steam. (If you ask very, very nicely, the bartender just might let you have something off the bottle list for the appropriate upcharge.)

The brownie? Well, I'll admit that it's pretty "meh". The crumbly, nutty topping is all I ate of mine, but I have a feeling that that same nice bartender just MIGHT let you have another beer instead of the dessert, but I haven't tried it.

Epic is running this deal only during the week, and only in the upstairs bar from 11am - 3pm. Personally, I think it's a nice treat mid-week, and is a little gentler on the bank account than dinner out.

369 The Embarcadero (near Folsom)
San Francisco
415.369.9955

Cocktail Inspiration, Found

Like most people, I find inspiration in random places. But my current cocktail passions have taken a very unique path, as these things go.

It won't surprise you to hear that Alembic and NOPA laid the groundwork for this little "problem" -- it was their cocktails, after all, that started me looking at what goes into a drink as an "ingredient" in the gastronomical sense of the word. Soon after, I met Cam and Anita of Married With Dinner, two "civilians" who are as passionate about cocktails as Obama is about Change. They, along with Jen and a few other folks, organized a "Summer of Cocktails", wherein a group of us tasted our way through the Bay Area represented drinks in Food & Wine's  Cocktails 2008. It was this experience that really introduced me to the nuances in cocktail culture:  the differences between gins, when to use rye over bourbon, why gommes behave differently than simple syrups.

Finally, I got serious enough about the cocktails I was making at home that I invested (heavily) in a really well-stocked bar -- how many people do you know who have four types of bitters? -- and some small-batch ingredients. One of my (oft visited) stops is Cask, where I've procured goodies from  Small Hand Foods (Orgeat, Grenadine and Pineapple Gomme), along with hard-to-find spirits, liqueurs and hardware.

From there, as with cooking, it became a question of experimentation, and understanding. Learning, for example, that I prefer keeping two kinds of ice in the freezer -- standard cubes and smaller chunks -- because I like to shake Manhattans with smaller ice to break down and incorporate the rye (and yes, I do prefer a Manhattan made with rye) with the other aromatics, while I prefer my martinis watered down as little as possible.

I'm lucky, I suppose, in that cooking by nose and eye comes naturally to me; using those skills for cocktail creation is incredibly satisfying. And there's no doubt that having a champion (and critic) in C is important -- his palate helps to temper my preference for overtly tart beverages. So, over the several weeks, I've added a couple recipes to my notebook that I thought some of you might enjoy. Without further ado...

Velvet Fuji

• Half a Fuji apple (most crisp-tart apples will do), peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 oz Woodford Reserve Bourbon
• .5 oz Orgeat
• .5 oz + 1 tsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• 1 dash bitters
• 1 tsp dark maple syrup

1. Muddle the apple in a shaker, then add remaining ingredients.
2. Shake vigorously, and double strain into a chilled cocktail glass
3. Garnish with a lemon twist, or orange blossom

Saturday Superlative

• 1.5 oz vodka
• .5 oz Aqua Perfecta Basil Eau de Vie
• 1 tsp Absinthe (I prefer St. George Spirits)
• 1 oz fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice
• 1 tsp agave nectar
• Club soda

1. Stir first five ingredients in a mixing glass with ice cubes until well-chilled
2. Strain into a DOF glass containing three ice cubes
3. Top with soda and garnish with a basil leaf or grapefruit twist

Discovering Tasmania, right here in San Francisco

I'm really (no, REALLY) not in the habit of pimping local "foodie" events that roll into my inbox, but this one caught my eye, and since I'm going to attend it myself, I figured it was worth sharing with you all as well.

As some of you know, I spent two weeks in Australia this past November (Flickr set here), and four of those days were spent in the most magical place I've ever been -- Tasmania. The natural beauty is epic, and can we talk about the wildlife? Fairy penguins, Wombats, Tasmanian Devils -- these are species most of us would be lucky to see in captivity, let alone in their natural habitats, where we saw them.

But here's the other thing -- of all the places we visited, Linda and I thought the food in Tasmania was some of the best. They take "local" very seriously here even when it's not meant to be trend-conscious, which makes sense given their geography. Tasmanian oysters are plump, creamy, flavorful wonders -- far more delicious than their Sydney counterparts. Trevalla (aka blue nose bass or butterfish) is a wonderfully sweet, meaty fish. Sheep's milk cheeses abound here, and Roaring Forties (my favorite blue cheese) also hails from this corner of the world.

From a produce perspective, wild berries are as plentiful as they are in the Pacific Northwest, and Tasmanian stone fruits (in season) are supposed to be incredible. All manner of heady, fragrant fungi abound, and the peas... oh, the peas.  We had purees so sweet and green they'd make you weep.

The icing on the cake, of course, are the wines. Before our trip, I don't think I'd ever had a Tasmanian wine. Now, I can't get the taste of Tassie riesling out of my head -- crisp, acidic and fragrant, they are a far cry from my favorite Mosel rieslings, but they serve a different purpose, too. Frankly, I would challenge any riesling-hater to try these wines, and recognize them!

We were less impressed by the red side of the viticultural spectrum, though a few Pinot Noirs certainly made an impression. Frankly, the climate of Tasmania is rather cool for most red grapes to concentrate and ripen well, which is why we stuck mostly to local whites.

So, what does any of this have to do with San Francisco? Well fortuitously, Macy's Cellar is bringing in Laura McIntosh and Chuck Hayward (of Jug Shop fame) for Taste Tasmania on Saturday January 17th at 4pm. The event is free, and I am definitely planning to be there. Hope you'll consider it as well.