Kimar
Kimar
spent the Summer of 1981 in Italy studying with Marcella Hazan,
managed the Buttercup for fifteen years, and was in food service
at the University of California, Berkeley for twelve years. More
here.
Foods
of Berkeley
the
Finds
The
Past
the
Recipes
the
Finds
6/4/04
Tomaso's
is my all time favorite Italian pizza restaurant, mostly because
it's oak-fired oven pizza is like the kind I have in Italy. A
few weeks ago I went to there with my old friends Velma, and Sylvia.
Now run by Augustino and Carmen, it's a family owned place I've
gone to since the '60s. Tomaso's is long and narrow with booths
along either wall and a long table between, and is real comfortable.
Velma, Sylvia and I got there early on a week night--Tomaso's
is always crowded--and sat in one of the booths. We looked forward
to an evening of talk and food. But before our pizza we had another
of my favorites, a plate of assorted vegetables--lightly blanched
broccoli, green beans, asparagus and roasted red and yellow bell
peppers marinated in lemon, garlic and olive oil--a delicious
and gorgeous dish. As we finished our pizza arrived. It was a
large, with roasted garlic and fresh clams on one half and Italian
sausage and mushrooms on the other, beautifully presented with
clams in their shells placed around the outer border. I had a
house Chablis--filled almost to the top of the glass for only
$4.50. Talking between bites and sips we had a fun evening. Finally,
full and caught up on current-events, we left. By then there was
a line out the door and up the steps--people waiting and talking,
often as not with a glass of wine in hand. Kimar
Oh,.
. . our pizza was $18.00 and Tomaso's is in San Francisco, down
Kearny from Broadway.
3/12/04
Appropriately,
Fellini has a interior out of a Fellini movie. Just a touch fifties-funky,
it's crisp and clean and done in pure-black and bright-red with
the dining space cut up into small areas in a wonderfully Byzantine
fashion. (I think this creative division also keeps the noise
down in a place with concrete floors.) But during our lunch, Fellini's
sound system did not deliver Nino Rota's soundtrack from Amarcord,
instead, it delivered tasteful post-bop jazz. More than background
music, this set a hip tone, complimenting the decor. The service
is good, friendly, and fairly fast. Fellini is basically a Pizza,
Pasta place with a few sandwiches. I ordered the Margherita pizza*,
usually just tomato and cheese, I added chicken sausage. It arrived
hot, with good quality mozzarella melted and stringy. Instead
of the usual tomato sauce it had pieces of small diced fresh tomatoes
and a sprinkling of fresh basil with a few thin slices of fresh
garlic scattered about. The crust was thin, and crisp on the bottom.
(But the sides were not puffy and bread-like the way I like).
Over all, it was a very good pizza and cost $8.50 with the added
sausage. (I use Tomassos as the measure for pizza in the States.)
Ron ordered a barbecue chicken sandwich which was served on an
Acme bakery bun. (Why he ordered barbecued chicken in an Italian
restaurant is beyond me.) The grilled chicken was shredded much
like a barbecue pork sandwich and was mixed with caramelized onions--very,
very sweet. The sauce was just too smoky, over powering any other
flavor. But it was nicely presented and of a generous portion.
The accompanying Caesar salad was good sized, crisp, with just
the right amount of dressing. The dressing itself was was lemony
and garlicky, with a lot of grated Parmesan and croutons on top.
Very nice. The sandwich and small Caesar salad cost $6.50. Over
all, Fellini is a good place for Italian lunch and we would return
to try other things. Kimar But I wouldn't order the sandwich
again. Ron
Fellini
is located at 1401 University Avenue and it's phone number is
510-841-5200. It's open from 11:00 AM until 10:00 PM all days
but Tuesday. Tuesday it's closed.
*The
Margherita is the classic tomato pizza with mozzarella and basil
and is a Neapolitan specialty.
Italians use seeded ripe tomatoes in the sauce and often add garlic,
olive oil-just a bit, and salt and pepper. In tomato season they
don't cook the sauce, it really is a topping rather than what
we think of as sauce. Kimar
2/3/04
We
hadn't had a proper lunch together for years, maybe decades, but
finding the Sante Fe Bistro was an accident. After roaming downtown
Berkeley for over an hour, we found ourselves next to Campus on
a block of Center Street lined with restaurants. We simply picked
the one filled with adults. The Sante Fe is just what it says
it is, a bistro--smallish setting, tiled floor, tiny bar along
the wall, small tables, and French food, the sophisticated menu
offering a good mix of meat, fish and vegetarian dishes. But,
you order at the counter--though once seated you are offered polite
service with refined touches like a good basket of country bread,
water in goblets, and white linen napkins. I had a salad of baby
Roquette with blood oranges, toasted hazelnuts, shaved Asiago
cheese, and house balsamic dressing--it was terrific. The salad
was lightly dressed and I could fully taste all its ingredients.
A nice European touch were the toasted hazelnuts. I also ordered
the seared scallops appetizer served with a drizzled balsamic
reduction. Seared to perfection, were these the sweetest, best
scallops ever? Ron had the whole rainbow trout, perfectly grilled,
served on a bed of saffron rice, and accompanied by a portion
of tasty oven-roasted root vegetables. Atop the trout was a dollop
of house-made, Meyer lemon Aioli--very nice! For the atmosphere,
quality, and sophistication of menu, the cost was a reasonable
$30.00 for two without wine. The Sante Fe Bistro is at 2147 Center
Street, Berkeley California, 94704. Their phone number is 510-841-4047.
Kimar
1/31/03
Although
not quite in Berkeley's Potter Creek, the cafeteria at IKEA is
still worth a visit. (It's a short bicycle ride or a long walk
from here.) The cafeteria itself is remarkably large but pleasantly
quiet and offers a panoramic view of the Bay and its bridges.
And all-in-all, it provides a clean, orderly setting for a meal.
I had the Swedish meatballs with potatoes and salad, and the dessert-pastry
sampler. My meatballs were baked and nicely browned, their sauce
creamy with a hint of spice. The small red potatoes took on a
quiet zip in the sour-cream gravy and the green salad was made
of tender, fresh baby greens. Of the three pastries in the sampler,
my favorite was a tiny green log, coated with dark chocolate at
the ends, and filled with rum-soaked chopped nuts. The cost for
the meatballs, potatoes, and salad was about $6.00. (A smaller
portion of meatballs and potatoes, without soup or salad is available
for $4.00. ) The pastry sampler was $2.00. Altogether a classy
cafeteria lunch.Ron
The
Past
The
Buttercup and The California Breakfast
And
just what is The California Breakfast that Richards and Mike Haley
invented? Well, it's most likely the eggs-breakfast that you now
have when you eat out. (But, as breakfast is the lowly meal, you
probably haven't even thought about that.)
Yet,
it's important to remember that Richards and Mike Haley not only
developed The California Breakfast but they made breakfast a proper
and respectable meal out.
Mike,
as long as I can remember, loved his morning meal best. When we
lived together on Carl Street in San Francisco in the '50s, Mike
would sometimes make breakfast for both of us, and I too came
to love this meal.
Years
later, when Mike and Richards lived together, Richards would make
Mike's favorite, adding her own Georgian touch. An excellent cook
from the South, Richards was well aware of the hearty country
breakfast.
So
in the '70s, when they bought the Buttercup Bakery and Coffee
Shop on College Avenue and made it into a bakery and restaurant,
it was only natural for them to make it into a breakfast-restaurant.
(Understand, at that time there were coffee-shops and diners but
not proper breakfast restaurants.) Simply, Richards knew about
the Southern country breakfast and Mike loved breakfast best.
This was the start.
If
there was an exact moment when The California Breakfast Out came
into being I suppose it was when Richard's started making Michael's
favorites for the restaurant: Fresh-eggs, quality meats, home-fries
with onions and sour cream, and a good toasted-bread were part
of Michael's morning meal at home. (Occasionally I was at their
house at breakfast time and it was always a treat.)
Then,
I suppose if you own a bakery-restaurant it's natural to offer
fresh baked-goods with the meal: And early-on you could substitute
a pastry for toast. Bagels and croissants were also offered, but
bagels and croissants were still popularly thought of as foreign
food and breakfast is a very American meal. Also, it is important
to remember that at this time breakfast out was pretty much a
meal you had--often rushed--before your day's work. It was not
so much a special meal--and social event--as it was just a way
to get food before working. Kruse Plumbing was then down the street,
and I remember some of the original customers were plumbers having
breakfast before going to a job. There were also truck drivers
who stopped before their run as well as milkmen taking their break.
(Perhaps
the fruit garnish was added when it became apparent to all that
breakfast was now social, even special.)
So
there you have it; The California Breakfast Out. Was this just
a variation of the country breakfast that, through good-timing,
people found pleasure in eating in a restaurant? Is California
Cuisine just fish and under-cooked vegetables?
Of
course not.
Many
people, other than Mike and Richards, were involved in making
the Buttercup. Moe Moskowitz lent money and support, Mary Guenther
provided heart and soul, Karl Mullis provided color and was a
hard worker, Suze Orman found-herself and brought loyal customers,
and Nancy Lawrence at Wells Fargo Elmwood was simply indispensable.
She was always there. (Oh, Nick Victor, with failing health and
eyesight, and preoccupied with his business and building two large
warehouses, took time to give sound, solid business advice. )
Me? It was a place to hang out.
Lüchow's
German
restaurant, on 14th St. in New York City was, in the late 1800s
and early 1900s, a gathering place for musicians, artists, writers
and not a few business men and politicians. They gathered for
a little good food, good talk and companionship. Here the likes
of Rachmaninoff, O. Henry, Helen Traubel, Toscanini, Mack Sennett,
Lillian Gish, Theodore Roosevelt and others exchanged ideas, socialized
and ate. William Steinway and his senior staff were regulars at
the noon lunch. Gus Kahn wrote "Yes Sir, That's My Baby"
there, on a table cloth, in 1912. There, in 1914, Victor Herbert
and some friends founded "The American Society of Composers,
Authors and Publishers," and J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie
held dinners at Lüchow's that made culinary history. Sigmund
Romberg, the composer of the light operas Desert Song and
The Student Prince was also a regular at Lüchow's
German Restaurant. Here is the recipe for his favorite dinner:
VENISON RAGOUT
A LA LUCHOW'S
REH RAGOUT
4
or 5 pounds venison shoulder
Vinegar and red wine to cover
2 onions, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
6 pepper corns
1 tablespoon salt
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons beef suet or lard
1 cup red wine
2 or 3 tablespoons flour
Wipe
venison with wet cloth. Cut in 1 1/2 in. cubes. Place in enameled
kettle or large crock; cover with a mixture of equal amounts of
red wine and vinegar. Add onions, carrots, peppercorns, salt and
bay leaves. Cover and let stand in refrigerator 1 week.
When ready to cook, drain meat. Melt suet or lard in very hot
heavy roasting pan. Place venison in pan and brown quickly in
very hot oven (475F to 500F) 20 to 30 minutes. Add onions and
carrots from the marinade (do not use marinade liquid). Add 1
cup red wine and sufficient water to cover venison. Lower oven
heat to moderate (350F), or just hot enough to simmer liquid in
pan. Cook 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Remove any excess fat.
Place venison on hot serving dish. Stir enough flour into pan
to make a smooth gravy; bring to a boil on top of range, stir,
then strain over venison. Serves 8.
Mr. Romberg liked Würzburger beer with his venison.
The recipe is from Lüchow's German Cookbook, Jan Mitchell
(Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Co., 1958).
the
recipes
7/29/04
Uncooked
Pasta Sauce
This
is best made at the peak of the season when the tomatoes are juicy
and ripe.
Ingredients
6 medium tomatoes(preferably heirloom)
2 cloves garlic crushed
10 or 12 basil leaves finely sliced or torn
10 T good quality olive oil (extra virgin) 1/4 C plus 2 T
Procedure
Place tomatoes in a bowl. Boil a few cups of water and pour
over. Let sit for 2 min or so. Pour off and fill bowl
with cold water. (This makes it easier to peel the
tomatoes.)
Peel tomatoes, slice in half horizontally and squeeze out the
seeds. Place tomatoes on a cutting board and dice.
Place diced tomatoes into a glass bowl.
Press garlic into bowl with tomatoes
Heat olive oil in microwave for 1 minute
Pour over tomatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Cover and let sit on counter for 1 or 2 hours.
Boil 1 pound of vermicelli pasta.
Drain and place in pasta bowls or 1 big bowl.
Put basil in sauce and pour sauce over vermicelli.
(For a spicy sauce as served in southern Italy and Sicily add
chili flakes.)
Another way to savor the tomato flavor out of season is to roast
and freeze them. Kimar
Roasted
Tomatoes
Makes
about 24 slices
These
tomatoes make wonderful additions to sandwiches and pasta sauces,
or can be
served on their own as a side dish with fsh or chicken.
8
large tomatoes 4 tablespoons coarse or sea salt 3 tablespoons
freshly ground black Pepper 1/4 cup sugar 2 tablespoons extra-virgin
olive oil
1
cup fresh herbs, such as thyme, rosemary, chervil, sage (optional)
1.
Heat oven to 250°. Slice tomatoes thickly, to yield about
three slices per tomato. Eat or discard the ends. Place silces
on a parchment-covered baking sheet.
2.
Mix together salt, pepper, and sugar. Brush tomatoes with olive
oil, and sprinkle a large pinch of salt mixture on each tomato.
Sprinkle on herbs, if using.
3.
Roast the tomatoes for 3 hours. Or roast for 2 hours, turn off
oven, and leave overnight.
From
Martha "Nelson Mandela went to jail too, you know" Stewart
Kimar
A
reader from Mexico City offers her
Isabel's
Strawberries
1
pound of fresh strawberries
1/2-cup of sugar
2-cups of white dry wine
1/4-cup of freshly chopped basil
After
washing the strawberries, put them on a large bowl and cover them
with the sugar, wine, and basil. Mix everything with your hands,
being
careful.
Cover them and leave them a couple of hours--mix them
from time to time.
(I'm
not very good at writing these kind of things in English, I
usually do it in Spanish.) Isabel
5/10/04
Chocolate
Crackle Cookies
Makes about 4 dozen
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted
1 1/4 C. all purpose flour
1/2 C. Dutch cocoa powder
2 t. bkg powder
1/4 t. salt
8 T. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp.
1 1/3 C. light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1/3 C. milk
1C. confectioners sugar, plus more for rolling
1. Heat oven to 350 Chop chocolate and melt in doubleboiler. Set
aside to cool. sift flour, cocoa, bkg powder and salt together.
2. In the bowl of a heavy duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment,
beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and
vanilla, and beat until well combined. Add melted chocolate. With
mixer on low speed, alternate adding dry ingredients and milk
until just combined. Divide dough into quarters, wrap with plastic
wrap and chill until firm, about 2 hrs.
3. On a clean countertop roll each portion of dough into a log
about 16"long and about 1" in diameter. Wrap logs in
plastic wrap and chill for 30 min. Cut each log into 1"pieces
and toss in confectioners sugar a few at a time. Shape into balls
in your hand and re-roll in conf. sugar. Place 2' apart on a parchment
lined baking pan. Bake until cookies have flattened and the sugar
splits on the top, 12 to 15 min.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool. These cookies will keep for a
week in an airtight tin, they also ship well.
This is a Martha Stewart recipe from her TV show. Kimar
3/5/04
Winter
Salad of Fig and Stilton with Port Wine Dressing
3/4 C. Ruby Port
1/4 C. dry red wine
1/4 C. oil can be olive or vegetable
3 T. balsamic vinegar
2T. walnut or hazelnut oil
3 T. sugar
1 T. red wine vinegar
1 9 oz. package dried black Mission figs stemmed and cut in half
lengthwise
1 5 oz. bag mixed baby greens or about 8 cups
4 oz. crumbled stilton cheese, about 1 1/4 C.
Whisk first 7 ingredients together in med bowl, to blend
pour in sauce pan with the figs and simmer until slightly syrupy,
stirring occasionally, about 8 min.
cool slightly, season with salt and freshly ground pepper
Divide greens among 6 plates
sprinkle cheese over greens. Ladle warm dressing and figs over
salads and serve
from Gourmet Magazine and prepared by Kimar
Beef Bourguignon
(This is not your Mom's beef stew, unless she was a gourmet.)
Recipe Summary
Prep
Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 2 hours
Yield:
6 servings
1 tablespoon good olive oil
8 ounces dry cured center cut applewood smoked bacon, diced
2 1/2 pounds chuck beef cut into 1-inch cubes
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pound carrots, sliced diagonally into 1-inch chunks
2 yellow onions, sliced
2 teaspoons chopped garlic (2 cloves)
1/2 cup Cognac
1 (750 ml.) bottle good dry red wine such as Cote du Rhone or Pinot Noir
1 can (2 cups) beef broth
1/2 can tomato paste
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (1/2 tablespoon dried)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, divided
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 pound frozen whole onions
1 pound fresh mushrooms stems discarded, caps thickly sliced
For
serving: Country bread or Sour Dough, toasted or grilled and rubbed
with garlic clove 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, optional
Preheat
the oven to 250 degrees F.
Heat
the olive oil in a large Dutch oven. Add the bacon and cook over
medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the bacon
is lightly browned. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a
large plate.
Dry
the beef cubes with paper towels and then sprikle them with salt
and pepper. In batches in single layers, sear the beef in the
hot oil for 3 to 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Remove
the seared cubes to the plate with the bacon and continue searing
until all the beef is browned. Set aside.
Toss
the carrots, and onions, 1 tablespoon of salt and 2 teaspoons
of pepper in the fat in the pan and cook for 10 to 15 minutes,
stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly browned. Add
the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the Cognac, stand back,
and ignite with a match to bum off the alcohol. Put the meat and
bacon back into the pot with the juices. Add the bottle of wine
plus enough beef broth to almost cover the meat. Add the tomato
paste and thyme. Bring to a simmer, cover the pot with a tight-fitting
lid and place it in the oven for about 1 1/4 hours or until the
meat and vegetables are very tender when pierced with a fork
Combine
2 tablespoons of butter and the flour with a fork and stir into
the stew. Add frozen onions. Saute the mushrooms in 2 tablespoons
of butter for 10 minutes until lightly browned and then add to
the stew. Bring the stew to a boil on top of the stove, then lower
the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Season to taste.
To
serve, toast the bread in the toaster or oven. Rub each slice
on 1 side with a cut clove of garlic. For each serving, spoon
the stew over a slice of bread and sprinkle with parsley.
Ina
Garten recipe prepared by Kimar
Cassata
Gelato
Ingredients
500ml-- vanilla ice cream slightly softened (2C equal 475ml)
125ml-- chocolate ice cream slightly softened (1/2 C equals 120ml)
250ml--double cream (1C equals 240ml)
3 tbs powdered sugar
0.25lb mixed crystallized fruits cut up very small
Method
Line a 1.5litre mould--with the vanilla ice cream. Freeze until
solid. (1 1/2 Qt is about 1.5 litre) Layer the chocolate ice cream
over the vanilla. Freeze until solid. Whip the cream until it
stands in soft peaks and stir in the crystallized fruits. Sweeten
to taste with powdered sugar folding it in carefully. Spoon this
mixture into the centre of the frozen chocolate ice cream. Cover
with foil and freeze for several hours until solid. To serve,
dip bowl into hot water and then turn the Cassata out onto a serving
plate.
To
celebrate early Summer, here's an Italian dessert via Susan Tjhi
of Taipei, changed slightly reflecting metric and language differences.
Susan
Tjhi
from
the kutchen of Richards baked by Kimar
Cream
Cheese Brownies
Brownie Layer
4 oz semi sweet chocolate (Scharffen Berger 62%)
1/4 C. butter
3/4 C. sugar
2 eggs
1t. vanilla
1/2 C. all purpose flour
1/2 C. chopped pecans (optional)
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Melt chocolate and butter together
either in a microwave or in a double boiler. Cool slightly
Stir sugar into melted chocolate mixture. Stir in eggs and vanilla
until completely mixed. Stir in flour until well blended and stir
in the nuts. Spread in a greased 8x8 inch pan.
Cream Cheese layer
4 oz cream cheese softened
1/4 C. sugar
1 egg
1T. flour
In a small bowl mix with an electric mixer, cream cheese, sugar,
egg, and flour until smooth.
Spoon over brownie mixture, swirl with a knife to marbelize.
Bake in the middle of preheated oven for 35 min. (DO NOT OVERBAKE)
Cool and cut into squares.
You can double this recipe and bake in a 9x13 pan.
from
Kimar's kitchen
Malt
Brownies
3/4 C. all purpose flour
1 C. Malted powder
1t. bkg powder
1t. salt
1/2 lb unsalted butter plus additional for the pan at room temp
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 C. sugar
3 large eggs
1t. vanilla
Preheat oven to 350.
Butter and flour a 9x13 pan.
In medium bowl combine flour, malt, bkg powder and salt, mix till
combined.
Place butter and both kinds of chocolate in double boiler and
stir until half melted, remove from heat and stir until completely
malted. Transfer ot large bowl and allow to cool for 5 min.
Beat sugar into choc mixture or with an electric mixer at med
speed continue beating until smooth and uniform. About 3 min with
a mixer. Beat in the eggs one at a time, incorporate before adding
the next egg. After beating in the 3rd egg for 1 minute add the
vanilla.
With a wooden spoon stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated.
Do Not Beat. Spoon into prepared pan
Bake 35 min or until tester comes out with a few moist crumbs.
Cool on wire rack cut into 24 squares.
Will stay fresh for 4 days if covered properly.
from the Ultimate Brownie book by Bruce Weinstein
(These
brownies have a fairly complicated taste with the malt accenting,
contrasting and mixing with the chocolate.)
4/6/04
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