Parmesan Eggs In A Basket

Ingredients:

12 thin slices of Honey Ham

12 Eggs

Salt & Pepper

1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder

6 ounces shredded Parmesan Cheese

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray nonstick muffin pan with vegetable oil spray. Place a ham slice in each muffin cup to form basket. Crack an egg into each ham basket, sprinkle with seasonings. Sprinkle heaping tablespoon of cheese on top of each basket. Bake 15 minutes or until eggs are set.

Notes:

Nice served on plate with buttered croissant or muffin and fresh fruit arrangement.

Cradle of Chocolate: Back to San Francisco

Just a couple of week's ago, chocolate's illuminating powers seemed to have dimmed. I worried over my mediocre ingredients, mediocre baking skills, and mediocre photos. But things look different in 2010, in large part due to a much-needed (if temporary) change in my (culinary) landscape. I am a reader, writer, and eater who responds particularly to landscape: the volcanoes and histrionics of Guatemala, the desert expanses of Australia. And in this country, though I'm a New Yorker by pedigree, I seem to thrive among the the hilly neighborhoods, burritos, and carefully-selected wine bottles of San Francisco. I not only took enough photos to fill an album (which I've posted on Facebook) but I uncovered enough quirks and romantic details to return to in blog post after article after MFA manuscript chapter for an entire year.

Here's a summary, to be expanded upon in various forms and genres:

Recchiuti Confections: Michael Recchiuti is perhaps both the classiest and the most low key of American chocolatiers. It had been a couple of years since I visited his factory in San Francisco's Dog Patch (the neighborhood which, according to my own cartography, is behind Potrero Hill, which, in turn, is behind the Mission). He's expanded the place since I was last there to include an extra room with an espresso machine for Blue Bottle Coffee and enough space to host regular tasting events. His newest project is an expansion of the dragée line, which already included chocolate-drenched almonds and hazelnuts, into two-kinds of chocolate-coated cherries. On his own blog, he outlines the recipe for the cherries and the process of running them through his new panning machines.

Bittersweet: No one I know can more graciously carry out a calm, intelligent conversation about chocolate than Seneca Klassen, co-owner of the chocolate boutique and cafe Bittersweet. We met at the Fillmore Street branch (just hours before I had an elegantly indulgent dinner down the block at SPQR with my friend Barbara and a couple of her friends) where we discussed Seneca's pragmatic approach to chocolate retailing: sell people the novelties they want whether or not they're any good, but invest time and energy in new stuff that you'd like to see go somewhere (like Askinosie's new white chocolate bar made with goat milk). Seneca's opinion is that no one makes a better chocolate from Madagascar beans than Patric's Alan McClure (who Bittersweet will likely host in an in-store event this month), but I think the most recent batch from Seneca's own Bittersweet Origins is a fierce competitor.

Tcho: If Brad Kintzer (the botanist-bean sourcer-chocolate maker who joined Tcho when Scharffen Berger decamped for Ohio) is telling you how to make chocolate, you're chocolate's going to be good sometime soon. Customers and critics (myself included) have been hard on the four-year-old company for its aggressive techno-marketing before the product is really ready to go public, but Brad introduced me to co-founder Louis Rossetto (who curiously sampled some beans I'd brought back from Guatemala) and a host of other buyers, fondeurs, and rain makers who seem to be doing in earnest exactly what they announce themselves to be doing: taking advantage of technology to communicate with growers and customers as part of a process to reevaluate and improve the whole chocolate-making system. It turns out I'd barged in at the transitional moment when another Tcho founder, Timothy Childs, was taking his leave of the company (as Louis Rossetto, who looks remarkably like his personified icon, just announced on the Tcho blog), but the most interesting thing to me was the Tcho professional line--a couple of wonderfully savory and chocolatey blends that the likes of Michael Recchiuti have taken to using.

Yumtastic
"Awesomeness" is the word an 11 year old chocolate nerd used to describe the taste of Qbel's selection of all natural chocolate treats created by a husband and wife team with the kiddies in mind. The entire selection from the Belgian milk chocolate crispy rice bars made in the Netherlands to the crunchy, crispy peanut butter wafer rolls taste pretty good. Best of all, you can pack your kids lunch with a treat they'll enjoy sans artificial anything. As a new mom, I can totally dig that.

Cranberry Orange Loaf

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup orange juice

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in orange zest, cranberries, and pecans. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together margarine, sugar, and egg until smooth. Stir in orange juice. Beat in flour mixture until just moistened. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until the bread springs back when lightly touched. Let stand 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Wrap in plastic when completely cool.

Xmas, San Francisco, and Beyond

Well cocoa-babies... the holidays have come and gone and though it's my fifth season with Eclipse, I am time and time again surprised by the lingering excitement of it all! I believe it was sometime mid-month, while I was half-covered in couverture in the kitchen with chocolates comin' outta my ears, I said to myself: "This has GOT TO BE the last batch to truffles before the holiday". If only! My staff found me in the same scenario four more times before December 24th. No complaints here, though.... Ray, Dan, Autumn, August, Susan, Nicole, Jess, and I all had a lovely holiday season filled with lots and lots of excitement... thanks to you all!

So today is January 6th and I am finally catching my breath. But only just long enough to prepare for my national launch of the Eclipse brand! That's right kids, we're leaving on a jet plane in a week bound for SFO and the International Fancy Food Show! Hooray! And if you're reading this, you can rest assured that you got in on the ground floor, baby. Get ready with all those "I knew him when"s. And as exciting as our lives may become, we promise there will always be a place in our chocolate-covered hearts for you all. You always remember your first:)

But just in case international fame isn't knocking on my door before my retirement age, we're conducting business as usual. And I am sure you're wondering why I have yet to post pics from the last dinner or tell anyone what's comin' up next. Well, historically January is my month off from dinners and I have just enough time to pull out all the stops for the next dinner on February 13th and 14th! That's right, next up is our annual Valentine's Sweetheart Dinner. Take a look at the details... because there are many:

Exclusively Saturday February 13th (at 4, 6, & 8pm) and Sunday February 14th (at 11, 1, 4, 6, & 8pm join us for a romantic dinner for two with all the flair. For $95 per couple, our guests will enjoy Four Courses of Surf & Turf accompanied by a Live Violinist! What a deal, eh? All you need do it place your reservation, show up, and we will do the rest.

Menu includes (full vegetarian options available):

Salade Frisee with Roasted Beet Trio, Garlic Croutons, and Candied Cocoa Nibs

Charred Tomato Bisque with White Chocolate-Poached Lobster

Beef Wellington or Brie Wellington Baked En Croute with Cocoa-Mushroom Pate

served with

Rosemary Fingerling Potatoes and Cocoa-Balsamic Jus

and for the finale, a first ever exclusive (!), a tasting flight of

Four Limited Edition Truffles

each infused with an artisan cheese including:

Chevre, Camembert, Gjetost, & Gorganzola Dolce.

We will also be featuring an optional starter plate for $12 of:

 Artisan Cheeses and Dried Fruits with Violet Blossom Confit

or

Baked Parmesan and Crab Dip with Roasted Garlic Flatbreads

AND! Am optional tasting flight of three wines for $15 paired specifically with the dinner!

Now while your eyes are rolling to the back of your head and your open maw is dripping with salivation, now is the time to get yourself together and call us before its too late. Last year our Valentine's Sweetheart Dinner sold out a full two weeks in advance. Don't wait! Call us now at 619.578.2984 and reserve your table with a credit card. We will do the rest! 

And if you haven't heard of our dinners before... well get out from your cave and join the rest of the world! Here's what we enjoyed last time:

Starter: Sawmill Sausage-Peppercorn Gravy over Buttermilk Chive Biscuits.

First Course: Wilted Greens with Lavender Sea Salt and Candied Cocoa Nibs.

Entree: Fried Green Tomatoes or Coconut Fried Shrimp with Cocoa Butter Grits and Chile Burnt Caramel Peanut Sauce.

Dessert: Baked Cranberry Cobbler with White Chocolate Biscuit Topping and Whipping Creme Fraiche.