Andele! Andele! Aziza! Aziza!

In the interest of full disclosure; I spent three years totally unable to eat Moroccan food. Nary a date passed my lips since my spring break trip to Morocco, when what seemed like a delicious dinner Marrakesh's famous open air market had me curled up in ball swearing to myself I would never eat food again for two days.

So it was with some hesitation that I tried Aziza the first time, a year ago, after a die hard "foodie" recommended it during San Francisco's restaurant week. It was the only restaurant we went to that week that had more that the standard chicken, veggie, and less-expensive fish offering. Which I relieved to see after a week of looking at sub-standard restaurant week menus.

The details of this dinner is a little foggy. I remember watermelon radishes, because it was the first time I had ever seen them - they look exactly like mini-watermelons. I remember the beet, walnut, and goat cheese salad because Adam ate the goat cheese and liked it, but only because he didn't know he was eating goat cheese. I also had the beef tangine, which was cooked to perfection. And dessert, which we devoured, but I don't recall what it was.

Flash forward to last Friday: my folks were in town and I wanted to take them to a fabulous restaurant they hadn't heard about in Gourmet, Bon Appetit, of Food & Wine. Of course, right before she arrived, my mom excitedly told me she read about Aziza in Food & Wine's "Where to Go Next" list. But what can you do?

When we finally arrived, starving, we were immediately seated. The restaurant looks like something from Disney's Aladdin, all burgundies and golds, velvet booths, and dark wood tables. The service was a bit slow to start but they eventually put fresh Moroccan bread and olive oil on the table. We finally got a hold of the waiter, and by this time we were ready to order drinks and appetizers. We ordered the spreads, eggplant, piquillo-almond, yogurt dill, served with flatbread. The yogurt dill was delicious - it was thicker than a typical yogurt suace, tangy - it tasted healthy! The eggplant sauce was sweeter, with a hint of spice at the end. The picquilo almond was my least favorite, but I chalk that up my dislike of peppers. Everyone at the table had a different favorite. We also ordered the arugula with parsimmon, pomegranate, almonds, and burmuda triangle cheese, the canelli beans, ras el hanout (a blend of spices used in the Middle East and North Africa), sheep's milk feta, bread crumbs, and oregano. Finally, we ordered the basteeya - which is a puff pastry filled with almonds, beef, and cinnamon, and topped with powdered sugar. OMG it tasted like a meat doughnut, which, trust me, is delicious! We were literally fighting over the crumbs of this dish.

Some time after we were licking the suaces the drinks arrived. (Except for my mom's, who stuck to wine - her's came almost immediately.) My guess would be because they were all muddled, they took a couple of extra minutes, but they took ages to get to the table. Thank goodness they were good. My dad had the strawberry with rose papaya and teguila, I had the meyer lemon, with basil and vodka. Tasted like a lemon drop! Adam had the watermelon, with tequila, and jalepeno. My dad and I hated it (I thought it tasted like salsa), my mom and Adam loved it.

For dinner we split three dishes - although we probably should have stopped at the appetizers. First we had the cod with saffron broth, fennel, carrot, and potato. The fish was perfectly cooked and the sauce was so heady with saffron I could have drank it. We had the couscous with beef, prawns, and chicken. It was really good, but the dish didn't really shine. Finally we had the rabbit with paprika, carrot, parsnip, and dried cherries. I don't think there was anything but bones left.

We ended up walking the 45 blocks back.

http://www.aziza-sf.com/

"Lay Off Me, I'm Starving!"

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/CHICKEN-AND-PARSNIP-FRIES-WITH-SPICY-VINEGAR-241485

Between cocktail hour and Greek, dinner was looking bleak. It was 8:30 p.m. when Adam got home, grumpy dinner was not waiting for him.

"So," he grumbled, "Are we not eating dinner at home tonight?"

"No, no," I apologized, "Give me thirty minutes." I felt bad because I had promised to make dinner, so I rushed to the kitchen. Glad, when I picked up the knife, that I had declined that third raspberry champagne dream.

Seriously, this one was a winner. "Chicken and Parsnip "Fries" with Spicy Vinegar," courtesy of epicurious.com, and the fact that our CSA (community supported agriculture) box delivered parsnips. I didn't get home until late - I was dying to hear about Katie's date with someone from my office (fyi - he was a dud) - and of course when Adam came home twenty minutes later he was starving. So thank goodness this recipe is quick and easy .

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

The hardest part is cutting up the parsnips. To peel and quarter long-wise is no easy feat. (Once again, my knife skills are not so good.) But I did it with no major issues or bleeding. I think the hardest part was the first cut on some of the bigger ones. I ended up holding the skinny end to the cutting board, then I put my knife into the skinny end and dragged it toward me. I had to move my hand to the fat end to keep the cut straight, and tried to keep a steady hand. I am sure there is a better way to do it, but it was beyond me. ( I am still smarting from the butternut squash gash from the night before.) It is important that the parsnips are cut pretty thin; the crunchy ones are definitely the best. Toss those little guys into a baking pan with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and put them in the oven while you prep the chicken.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a pan. Sprinkle salt and pepper on chicken thighs - chicken breasts seemed really big and the thighs were a much more manageable size. When the oil starts to smoke, lay the chicken, skin-side down, in the pan. (No cutting!) The skin will start to get super crispy and look like fried chicken...mmm, fried chicken. When it looks crispy and delicious skin-side, take it from the pan and put the chicken skin side up on top of the parsnips. Put it back in the oven for twenty minutes. (It's about this time that I hear, "hey, babe! Is dinner ready yet?!" come from the living room. It has been ten minutes.)

Using the pan that cooked the chicken - complete with rendered chicken fat and oil remnants. (I actually put too much oil in when I made it, so the sauce didn't come out totally perfect. I share so you do not make the same mistakes I did.) Add vinegar and red pepper flakes to pan. Bring to a boil and stir for thirty seconds. This sauce is my new favorite things - the acidity of the vinegar burns off and the heat of the red pepper flakes sneaks up on you.

When chicken and parsnips are done, pour vinegar sauce on top. Nothing but compliments from Complain-y McGee. Delish!

Thomas Kellerman's Gnocci with Mushrooms and Butternut Squash

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/GNOCCHI-WITH-MUSHROOMS-AND-BUTTERNUT-SQUASH-231343


Bouchon it was not, but for a vegetarian Wednesday night it fit the bill. I pulled this recipe from epicurious.com without looking at it too closely. Basically, it fit the criterion: it needed to have butternut squash in it and it was vegetarian. Except it turned out that the CSA delivered acorn squash (which Adam was kind enough to remind me I specifically ordered) and Lucky's grocery store does not sell gnocci. But whats making dinner without a couple of setbacks? I figured the acorn squash would be fine and, miracle of all miracles, the market around the corner sold whole wheat gnocci (sorry, Tom, I am not making fresh pasta when ANTM is on).
A glance at the recipe, and I thought I could have it ready before Tyra started parading her crazy all over the CW. The truth of the matter is I grossly underestimated the strength and stamina it takes to hack an acorn squash into 1/2 inch cubes. Seriously, between manuvering the peeler around all of the clefts in the gourd and trying to get a knife through it, I might as well have been felling a redwood. Still, my love of squashes perserved and slowly I has formed a pile of mostly 1/2 inch cuberectangle. My knife skills were found lacking in this particular exercize but it wasn't until the second time I cut my hand did I give up. I definatly did not come up with the three cups the recipe recommended.
After heating up the canola oil, then adding the butternut squash, then butter, then sage (I used 6 big leaves instead to the recommended 12 small). I kept an eye on it to make sure it all cooked without getting too brown while I sliced the shallot. Once the squash mixture turned golden and smelled good, I put it on a plate lined with paper towels next to the stove. I wiped out the pan, put another coat of canola oil on, and added the sliced portobello mushroom until it soaked up all of the oil in the pan. Then I added the butter, sliced shallots, sprinkled some dried thyme, and salt and pepper. Once that was all cooked - I left the shallots a little underdone for texture - I put it on the plate with the squash.
Tom says the gnocci should be cooked in two pans, but because I don't have a dishwasher I only use one and, as Tim Gunn says, make it work. The gnocci, which I cooked for a couple of minutes, is added to the skillet with browned butter in it. After the gnocci is browned, I added the acorn squash and the mushroom mixture to the pan until warmed then I put it in two bowls.
Finally, I cleaned out the pan again, melted some butter until it browned and put the sage leaves back in until they were crispy. I purposely left out the chives and parseley, and I totally missed when to add the lemon.
Not French Laundry, but darn good. (however, after dinner we realized that the gnocci we bought at the corner store had expired in 01/2008, so I hope I am okay in the morning.)

buen provecho!

Worlds Collide

"Let's have gooey duck." I look over at the tank overflowing with what looks like donkey schlongs, "Eh, I don't think I know how to cook that," I reply. "You promised you'd make it for me," he pouts. I counter,"It's so phallic; maybe if you get it and cut it up I will be able to make it." This, for some reason brings on a fit of giggles from my boyfriend Adam (I am guessing because I used the word "phallic"), "ok, ok - What do you want for dinner?"

Right then I might as well have slapped myself in the face with a penis-shaped mollusk, "Fettuccine with Clam Sauce?" There is a huge tank of clams in front of me, which is probably where I got the idea. The problem, however, is that we are in a crowded Chinese grocery store - and all of a sudden my heart is set on the Italian dish my mom makes. The fish-section stench of the grocery store hits me, and I realize that is not what we are going to have. Adam insists we use "fresh" clams which, despite their label, are freezing cold and hard as rocks but I acquiesce because I have been promising him for years that I would make gooey duck, and have yet to do so. So I decide to do an Oriental fettuccine with clam sauce - ramen noodles instead of fettuccine, add in some bok choy, and seafood broth instead of clam juice (which I couldn't find in the store). I am pretty sure that the white wine I am planning to use has turned to vinegar by now, but I'll make due. We'll see how it turns out...

Never ever, ever, ever use quasi-frozen clams - even if they do say fresh on them - they had a milky, kind of snotty taste to them. On the flip side, if I picked all of those out, the rest was pretty taste. The fresh pasta was a hit, and the straw mushrooms really balanced out the strong flavor of the clams. I also added red chile pepper flakes that gave it a nice kick. Served it with garlic stir-fried baby bok choy. Adam was happy - hopefully, he forgot about the gooey duck.

Ramen with Clam Sauce
- 1 package fresh ramen (available at Chinese grocery stores)
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- Fresh clams (let's just say a bunch), rinsed and scrubbed to get the sand and other dubious things off
- four garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
- two cans of clams
- 1 can straw mushrooms (optional)
- 2-3 cups clam juice or seafood broth
- 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes (less or more, to taste)
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- Water for pasta
- salt

- Put salt and water in pot to boil
- Heat oil in large sauce pan
- Add garlic and red pepper flakes to oil, cook until it softens
- Add both cans of clams, do not drain.
- Add straw mushrooms (drain juice from can)
- Add clam juice or broth. Bring to boil.
- Once clam sauce is boiling add fresh clams. Clams are fully cooked when they are all opened. (Do not force open those that do not open after five minutes or so - those are food poisoning in a shell)
-Add fresh pasta to boiling salt water, cook according to package instructions.
- Add drained pasta to clam sauce, or mix together in a big bowl
- Enjoy!

xoxo, Hil