Shiva's Indian Restaurant, Mountain View

I had dinner at Shiva's a couple of times this month.   I hadn't been there in a couple of years, partially because they seemed to have a problem with the spiciness of their food.   Sometimes, a dish was blazing hot and at other times the same dish was almost bland.   I didn't have this problem in my recent visits, and all the food was quite good.   I especially liked the tandoori prawns.  Service is pleasant but uneven; we were surprised rice wasn't served with our food at the first visit (it was never mentioned and we had ordered plenty of naan, so didn't ask for it).   The second visit we were asked if we wanted rice and said "yes" but it came well after the rest of our food.   Portion sizes are also variable; the tandoor dishes are quite large but some of the other dishes are quite small.   Prices are higher than other Indian restaurants on Castro, but I think the food quality, and ambiance, is better.   It's also a good choice for vegetarians.

Plums, and more plums

My plum trees are very productive this year. So far, I have canned spiced plums, plums with orange liqueur, and plum butter. I have also made a plum candy (a kind of pâtes de fruits, aka fruit jellies) and lemon verbena plum ice cream. The former is just mixture of plums and sugar, about 1 cup of sugar for each pound of plums. I pit the plums, puree them in a food processor, and combine with the sugar in a big microwave-safe bowl. The mixture is microwaved until very thick, spread in a sheet pan, cooled, cut in squares and dipped in sugar processed with orange rind. You could cook this on top of the stove, but would have to stir like crazy to keep it from scorching. The microwave is similarly a boon when making fruit butters.

I loved the lemon verbena prune ice cream, which was a beautiful deep pink color:

About 1 cup fresh lemon verbena (leaves and/or soft stems) 

2 cups half and half 

1/2 lb plums, halved and pitted

2 tablespoons sugar 

4 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar

Combine the lemon verbena and half and half in saucepan and bring to simmer. Remove from heat and let steep 30-60 minutes. Meanwhile, puree the plums and 2 Tbsp. sugar in a blender or food processor; refrigerate.

Pick big pieces of lemon verbena out of half and half and bring the half and half back to a simmer. Beat the egg yolks and remaining sugar together in a medium bowl. Slowly, beating constantly, add the hot half and half to the egg yolk mixture. Return the mixture to the saucepan and heat only until the mixture thickens slightly. It should reach about 170 degrees and coat the back of a spoon; do not let it boil. Strain it into the pureed plum mixture and refrigerate until thoroughly cold. Freeze according to your ice cream maker's directions. Bon appetit!

Big and delicious tomatoes!

The August issue of Gourmet Magazine featured a tomato corn pie with a biscuit crust. It is almost identical to a Savory Tomato Pie recipe I have made for years from Lee Bailey's Tomatoes, except that recipe doesn't include corn. I wouldn't bother including the corn again, as I couldn't really taste it. What was fun about making it, is that the recipe calls for 1 3/4 lbs tomatoes and I needed to use only ONE tomato, which weighed in just under two pounds (and that isn't the largest one on the vine!) It was a "Kellogg's Breakfast Tomato," a very meaty orange beefsteak tomato I have grown in my garden for several years. I care a lot more about the taste of my tomatoes than the size and these Kellogg's tomatoes are among the best tasting and most prolific of the many kinds of tomatoes I grow. To assure I get the varieties I want, I have been buying my tomato plants online from Laurel's Heirloom Tomatoes.

I have to remember to take photographs of my creations before they are "destroyed." Just not in the habit. You can look at the pie photo at the Gourmet magazine link above!

Zucchini Salad with Caraway and Feta

One of my favorite winter salad recipes is Tunisian and comes from Paula Wolfert’s Mediterranean Cooking. It is called “houriya “ and is made with partially cooked carrots and ground caraway seeds. I adapted the recipe to zucchini, abundant in my garden all summer. It is currently my favorite way to prepare zucchini. I prefer cooking the zucchini in the microwave, so no extra water is absorbed, but you could also steam the zucchini and garlic together on the stovetop.

2 lbs. small to medium zucchini, scrubbed but not peeled (save huge ones for another use)

3 large unpeeled garlic cloves

salt to taste

2 tsp. caraway seeds

harissa or cayenne pepper to taste

2 Tbsp. cider vinegar

2 or 3 Tbsp. olive oil

about 2 dozen pitted kalamata olives

4 oz. feta, crumbled

Cut the zucchini into about ½” chunks. Combine with garlic cloves and a pinch of salt in a covered microwave-safe dish and cook, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini are crisp-tender. Drain off and reserve any accumulated liquid. Coarsely crush the zucchini with a potato masher or fork. Grind the caraway seeds on high speed in a clean, dry blender container. Slip the garlic cloves out of their skins and place in the blender with the ground caraway seeds, cider vinegar and 2 Tbsp. olive oil, Purée, (Blenders all work differently; if yours does not sufficiently purée such a small amount, add up to 1 Tbsp. of the reserved zucchini cooking liquid. You could also add a small amount of the crushed zucchini if needed.)

Stir the blender mixture into the crushed zucchini. Reserve a few whole olives and about 2 Tbsp. of feta for garnish. Coarsely chop or slice the remaining olives and stir them and the remaining feta into the zucchini mixture. Add salt to taste if needed (depends on the saltiness of the feta you use). If the salad is too tart or dry, add a little more olive oil. Transfer to serving dish and garnish with reserved whole olives and feta.

Increasing spectators; decreasing cooks

Sunday's New York Times Magazine had an article about the decline of home cooking. It brings up something I have been curious about a long time: Why are there seemingly so many watchers of cooking programs and so few people who actually cook? According to the article, watching these shows doesn't get people up off the couch to cook. Because of my interest in cooking, people often assume I am an avid watcher of cooking shows, but there is no entertainment value for me in watching others cook. I only watch if I feel I can learn something substantial, like Julia Child when she demonstrated techniques, for example how to debone (de-cartilage?) a skate wing. Watching someone just prepare a recipe is boring. And watching someone prepare food under the stress of time and competition is plain joyless for me. Why turn art into competition when it isn't required? I am for collaboration!

Arikato Sushi

I always enjoy Arikato sushi in the Costco shopping center at Rengstorff and Charleston in Mountain View, CA. It is decently priced and the servers are always nice and accommodating. While it is not my favorite place for nigiri sushi and sashimi (Sushitomi is the place for those), the sushi rolls, many named after Silicon Valley companies, are fun and interesting. When the Besssss roll is freshly made, the contrast of warm tempura shrimp to the otherwise cool ingredients makes it one of my favorite sushi experiences. Other favorites are the Spider Roll and the Rainbow Roll.

Basil Ice Cream

I was wandering around my garden yesterday trying to decide upon an herbal ice cream that would go with a chocolate zucchini cake. Thought lemon verbena or lavender would be too delicate and mint was too ordinary. I finally settled on purple basil. The ice cream turned out to be delicious, was strong enough in flavor to stand up to the chocolate, and was an attractive pale green. The basic recipe can be found on epicurious.com. However, I made the recipe entirely in the blender (no need to dirty a mixer bowl), plus used a combination of low fat milk, heavy cream and nonfat half and half, because that's what I had on hand. The chocolate zucchini cake recipe, an old standby for using up baseball bat-sized zucchini, can also be found on epicurious.com. This time I substituted 1/2 cup of applesauce for the 1/2 cup vegetable oil, and noticed no detriment in quality.  I do try to reduce calories when there isn't an impact on quality.  Otherwise, I am with Julia Child who wrote "I, for one, would much rather swoon over a few thin slices of prime beefsteak, or one small serving of chocolate mousse or a sliver of foie gras than indulge to the full on such nonentities as fat-free gelatin puddings."

Dinner at Shokolaat/Gateau Basque

Thursday night before TheatreWorks I had dinner at Shokolaat on University Avenue in Palo Alto. Shokolaat is a combination restaurant/patisserie/chocolatier. My main course was delicious; scallops with gnocchi in a lemony butter sauce. My companion's rack of lamb was also very good and cooked as ordered. I didn't get a chance to try their gorgeous chocolates, but hope to do so in the near future. According to the restaurant website, the dessert I ordered, Gateau Basque, is one of the chef's favorites. I did not enjoy the chef's interpretation made with brown sugar as the internal custard was not particularly distinct from the cake-like crust. I guess I prefer a more traditional gateau basque, which I have tried not only in Basque country but at the Basque Boulangerie Cafe in Sonoma and from the recipe in Paula Wolfert's Cooking of Southwest France. These may be less innovative, but part of the charm of the gateau is the smooth pastry cream inside contrasting with the crusty pastry outside. A version filled with cherry preserves is also very good and I especially like what Wolfert terms as Bayonne-style, with both custard and cherry preserves.

Wedding Cake!

I made the cake for my daughter's wedding in January. The bride and groom requested chocolate, but I thought a more traditional ivory-colored cake would look best for the event. The final cake incorporated both. It was a chocolate genoise with an amaretto soaking syrup, filled with whipped dark chocolate ganache and each tier covered with a thin layer of rolled marzipan. It was frosted with white chocolate Italian buttercream, surrounded with white chocolate bands (design made with chocolate transfer sheets.) The garnish was white chocolate "plastique" roses and white chocolate leaves. The cake topper was a family heirloom originally from the 1930's.

Nduja

Made a wonderful pizza with a gift from my cousins, nduja, a Calabrian sausage that can be described as a spicy, spreadable salame. The name "nduja" (pronounced: “en-doo-ya”) is derived from the French "andouille. " Besides the nduja, the pizza featured golden zucchini from my garden, roasted together with Vidalia onion. The nduja was also great simply spread on a slice of sourdough bread and broiled. My gift was purchased at the Boccalone Salumeria in the Ferry Building, San Francisco. I want to go there and try their muffaleta, a sandwich I have only eaten if I made it myself or at New Orleans' Central Grocery, arguably where it originated. It is made of Italian meats, sausages and cheese with olive salad on a split, hollowed round loaf which is cut and served in wedges.