joe's birthday dinner

What do get for someone that has everything? That was my dilemma this past weekend. It was Joe's birthday and I couldn't figure out what to give him. I guess I could give him some cuff links made by my favorite jeweler Massimo Melis in Rome. That might work! Or he loves the moisturizer from Villa D'Este on Lake Como where we got engaged. I could have a couple bottles sent from Italy. OK, those two things will work but what about cooking a wonderful dinner just for him!

So that's what I did! I called a few good friends and his daughters. Before I knew it, I had a party!

As we stood in the kitchen and toasted, we ate the most delicious pizza topped with sweet butternut squash, smoked bacon and scamorza with a glass of Louis Roderer champagne. The pizza had a pronounced smokiness that paired well with the toasty champagne. And my dough had just the right balance between crunch and chewiness!

To the table! For a first course, I made a roasted carrot and parsnip soup with spiced creme fraiche. The wine couldn't have been better, - a 2008 Navarro Gewurztraminer. I don't want to sound like a wine snob but the sweet spiciness of the wine matched the soup perfectly! Navarro makes great Gewurztraminer and the price is so reasonable! Remind me to get a case!

Get ready, the next course is Joe's absolute favorite... homemade fettuccine with wild mushrooms. OMG! I made this dish with my students in the Piedmont when I first met Joe and he was traveling with me in Italy. He might say this pasta hooked him! Savary Chablis 2005 had just the right of acidity to cut through the richness of the sauce. If you can, try to pick up a bottle at Kermit Lynch.

And now for the main course! I reverted to my days of studying cooking with Madeleine Kamman in France. I made a roulade of grass-fed beef tenderloin rolled with wilted greens and an essence of beef. I served it with a gratin of potatoes, caramelized leeks and fennel, inspired by my alma mater, Chez Panisse. Our friend Keith brought 3 bottles of Gaja 2001 Barbaresco as a birthday gift for Joe! (I guess he knew what to get Joe!) The wine had such finesse with red cherry, plum and licorice notes, very full bodied and the silkiest tannins and stood up well to the beef.

And finally for dessert, I made a rich almond cake with the creamiest homemade salted caramel ice cream and Moscato-poached Concorde pears. Alongside, we had a little sip of 2008 Oddero Moscato d'Asti.

By the end, we were all doing dishes a la Big Chill and dancing in the kitchen!

Happy birthday Joe!

PIZZA WITH WINTER SQUASH, BACON AND SMOKED MOZZARELLA

3 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 ounces smoked mozzarella
3 ounces fresh mozzarella
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/2 small butternut squash
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
salt and freshly ground pepper
4 ounces smoked bacon, diced
4 tablespoons fresh sage, chopped

Preheat an oven to 500 F. Place a pizza brick or unglazed quarry tiles on the bottom shelf of the oven.

Combine the garlic and 2 tablespoons olive oil and let stand 30 minutes. Grate the mozzarella and smoked mozzarella and combine.

Peel the butternut squash and cut in half. Remove the seeds and discard. Slice the squash into 1/4" slices. Blanch in salted water for 3 minutes. Remove and pat dry. Melt the butter and warm 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the squash and cook until just golden on the edges and cooked through. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Cool.

Cook the bacon over medium high heat until they just turns golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

PIZZA DOUGH

2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons lukewarm water (110°F/43°C)
2 cups unbleached bread flour (preferably Kind Arthur)
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a bowl, combine the yeast, 1/4 cup warm water, and 1/4 cup flour. Let it stand for 30 minutes. Add the remaining 13/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water, and salt. Mix the dough thoroughly and turn out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth, elastic, and a bit tacky to the touch, 7 to 8 minutes. Place in an oiled bowl and turn to cover with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place (about 75°f/24°c) until it doubles in volume, 1 to 11/2 hours. Or, let the dough rise in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, let it come to room temperature and proceed with the recipe.

Punch down the dough and form into two round balls. Place on a well-floured work surface and let rest 5 minutes. Roll one piece of the dough into a 9-inch circle, 1/4" thick. Transfer to a heavily floured pizza peel. Brush the dough to within 1/2-inch of the edge with the garlic oil. Sprinkle half of the combined cheese evenly over the top and then half of the sliced onions. Place slices of the squash on top of the onions, leaving space in between each slice. Sprinkle the bacon and sage on top. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle ½ tablespoon olive oil. Transfer the pizza onto a stone and bake until golden and crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Repeat with the remaining dough and topping ingredients.

Makes 2 pizzas, 9" each

FETTUCCINE WITH WILD MUSHROOMS

1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
1 ½ cups boiling water
1 ¼ cups heavy cream
3 cups homemade chicken stock
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 ½ pound button or cultivated mushrooms, thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1 recipe handmade fettuccine

Place the dried porcini mushrooms in a bowl. Pour the boiling water over the mushrooms and let them stand until the water is cool, 30 minutes.

In the meantime, place the heavy cream in a saucepan and simmer until reduced by half. Reserve. Place the chicken stock in another saucepan and simmer until reduced to ½ cup. Reserve.

When the mushrooms are cool, strain the mushrooms and reserve. Place the mushroom soaking liquid in a saucepan and simmer until reduced to ¼ cups. Reserve.

In a large frying pan, melt the butter over medium high heat. Add the sliced fresh mushroom and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms give off any liquid and the liquid evaporated 8 to 12 minutes. Add the revived dried wild mushroom and stir together. Add the reduced cream, chicken stock and reduced mushroom soaking liquid. Stir until mixed.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, 2 to 4 minutes. In the meantime, warm the mushroom sauce over medium high heat. Drain the pasta and add the mushroom sauce and half of the Parmigiano Reggiano. Toss together and serve garnished with the remaining Parmigiano Reggiano. Serve immediately.

Serves 6

ALMOND CAKE

1 1/4 cup sugar
8 ounces almond paste
1 1/4 cup softened butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 eggs, room temperature
1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Confectioner's sugar

Beat sugar with the almond paste until the almond paste is in fine pieces. Or better, pulverize it in a food processor. Beat in the butter and the vanilla, then cream the mixture until it is light and fluffy. Beat in the whole eggs, one at a time - the eggs should be at room temperature - beating well after each addition so the eggs are thoroughly mixed in. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt and beat in just until thoroughly blended.

Preheat an oven to 325F. Butter and flour a 9" springform pan and turn the batter into it, smoothing the top evenly. Bake the torte until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the center feels springy when you push it gently, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Cool on a rack for 20 minutes. Remove from the pan.

Slice the cake and serve with the Creamiest Salted Caramel Ice Cream.

Serves 8 to 10

CREAMIEST SALTED CARAMEL ICE CREAM

1 1/3 cups sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 vanilla bean split and scraped
½ teaspoon kosher salt
8 egg yolks

In a large heavy stainless steel frying pan over medium heat, melt the sugar by swirling the pan to melt the sugar uniformly. Cook until the sugar starts to turn golden brown or caramel color. Immediately remove from the heat and carefully add the heavy cream and milk. The caramel will seize and get hard. Place the pan over the heat and stirring constantly, heat the cream to melt the caramel.

When the caramel is melted, add the vanilla bean and salt over medium heat, heat the mixture until there are bubbles around the edges and a skin that forms on the top.

Place the egg yolks in a bowl. Temper the egg yolks by slowly adding the warm caramel cream mixture to the egg yolks, whisking constantly. When all of the warm caramel cream mixture has been added, pout the contents into a heavy saucepan. Using a rubber spatula or a flat bottom wooden spoon, stir the mixture constantly over medium heat until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon or spatula, about 2 to 4 minutes.

Immediately remove the pan from the heat and pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl. Immediately whisk the caramel mixture to cool it slightly. Cover the bowl with plastic and place in the refrigerator until cold.
Freeze the ice cream according to the directions with your particular ice cream machine.

Makes almost 1 quart

felicita's pesto recipe

I'm home in San Francisco and in the middle of a fall harvest cooking class in my kitchen and still I can't get the Cinque Terre out of my head. I'm supposed to be thinking clove zabaglione, roasted fall vegetables, braised beef in Cabernet and poached pears but I keep flashing back to basil, pine nuts and fruity Ligurian olive oil.

I remember hearing years ago that in Liguria, where pesto reigns supreme, they never pick basil over 6-inches tall. After being there, I now know that to be true but there's a whole lot more to the story.

The first class I had with my students in the Cinque Terre, I invited Felicita, the owner of the albergo, to come and show us how she makes pesto. After all her family has been in the Cinque Terre for generations, she'd have to be pretty good at it.

We all think we know how to make pesto. Throw all the ingredients into the food processor and pulse until you have a bright green puree. Nope, not here, think again!

You can't start with just any basil. It has to be Genovese basil and it's true, it can't be taller than 6-inches. The leaves have to be small and really tender. Pick the leaves from the stem meticulously making sure you don't get any stem whatsoever. Wash the basil and place it on towels to dry. There can't be any water on the basil at all.

Now you need a mortar and pestle. Felicita's mortar was passed to her from her mother who got it from her mother. She thinks it's about 100 years old.

What about the pestle? It has to be made of beech wood, she told us. (The next day after our lesson, I got so excited when I saw a man selling beech wood pestles in the market. I bought one but had to draw the line when it came to the 25 pound mortar! I've carried a lot of things home in my suitcase but not this time.)

You place the basil (two big handfuls for two people or about 80 leaves) in the mortar and with the pestle you grind the basil until there's shinny green liquid at the bottom mortar and the basil is pulverized. Next you add a clove of garlic and continue with the pestle until the garlic is also pulverized. Add about 2 tablespoons of Italian pine nuts (Felicita picks them herself from her trees) and mash them until the mixture is a paste.

She said some people like to add a combination of Pecorino and Parmigiano but it's all personal preference. She prefers a good handful of Parmigiano and again she grinds the mixture to make a paste. And finally don't forget a good splash of Liguriuan olive oil and mash until you have a creamy consistency.

I slathered as much as I could on a tiny wedge of bread. How was it? It had to be the sweetest, most delicate, bright emerald green pesto I've ever tasted. I thought about the pesto we make with strong, bitter, tough basil... How did I feel after that lesson with Felicita? Like I couldn't make pesto again anywhere outside Liguria.

How often does Felicita eat pesto? "At least 3 to 4 times a week!" she said.

I can see why!

cinque terre

I've been to the Cinque Terre twice before. I've hiked the trails from one fishing village to another, eaten pesto, fritto misto and tasted the white wine made here in Liguria. The other times I visited I remember thinking that I just didn't get what all the hype was about. It was supposed to be so romantic,- 5 fishing villages along the Mediterranean connected by a train, the Via d'Amore or ferry. But what I recall during those two visits was bumping into people on the trails, visiting tourist-ridden fishing villages, experiencing sweltering heat and suffering mediocre food. I knew there had to be more because every time someone talked about their trip to the Cinque Terre, they had a twinkle in their eye.

Why was it different for me this time? Why did the pesto taste so sweet? Why didn't I know about the Albarola, Bosco and Vermentino grapes and how good they tasted with the crispy, tender fritto misto? The hotel was far from luxurious so it couldn't be that. Was it the warmth that Felicita and Angelo Pasini, the owners of Albergo Pasquale, extended making me feel like their hotel was my home? Were the villages more quaint? Had the Cinque Terre changed or had I?

I arrived at the Albergo in the heart of Monterosso just two weeks ago, the first day of my weeklong cooking class. As soon as I walked in the door, I knew I'd made the right decision. I immediately revisited the kitchen I'd seen a year ago on a scouting trip and yes, it was well equipped and had enough space for my 12 students. I then went upstairs to my room and it was very basic at best, but when I opened the shutters, the Mediterranean Sea was right there before me.

In the first few minutes I knew that for me it was a magical place I couldn't wait to explore. And I had a whole week to do it! But would my students get it? I just had to hope. And I'd be finding out soon because I had just minutes until they'd arrive.

something about stella

When I was about ten years old, Stella Ginsberg's age, I wanted to make oatmeal cookies all by myself. I remember measuring out everything, the flour, oatmeal, butter, baking powder and salt. I even cracked the egg. I called my Mom who was in the other room, "Mom, we ran out of baking soda." "That's funny" she said, "I just bought box the other day."

As I scooped the last of the cookies onto a baking sheet, I got all excited. I popped them into the oven, switched on the oven light and grabbed a chair to sit in front of the oven and watch my cookies bake. For the next ten minutes, I watched as the cookies spread out covering the entire baking sheet, over the sides and onto the floor of the oven. Horrified I called my mother. We realized I'd added 1 cup of baking soda instead of 1 teaspoon.

As we scraped the cookies off the baking sheet and into the trash, my mother broke off a piece and tasted it. "They're still good!" she said, not ever wanting to hurt my feelings.

Last week when I was in LA, I visited my friend, Stella. I've known her Mom for several years. and since Stella loves everything food, she and I have become cooking buddies.

Last week she called me for an informational interview for a biography she was writing for her 5th grade class. This gave me an idea, I'll interview her! After all, she's a very interesting, smart, funny, inquisitive kid. And I love her dimples! (Seriously, if I had a daughter, I'd want her to be just like Stella!)

So how did Stella get interested in cooking? Her Mom loves to cook, so did her grandmother and great grandmother. What does cooking and food mean to her? She said, "That's simple, love!" What's her worst cooking disaster? Every year, Stella, her brother and her Dad make chocolate cupcakes for their Mom's birthday which happens to fall near Mother's Day. One year, by mistake, Stella put unsweetened cocoa in the cupcakes instead of sweetened cocoa powder. Stella and Jack tried them and couldn't even eat one they were so bitter. When their Mom tasted them, she loved them.

Stella's Mom reminds me of my Mom. Check out Stella's blog, it's pretty cool, just like her! And maybe she'll even share her recipe for chocolate cupcakes?!

rome and cinqueterre

My Dad always called me his "wandering gypsy!" I'm beginning to think he was right!

I leave for Rome this morning. I'll be in Rome for the weekend with my friend, Jill. Tuesday we head to the Italian Riviera and the Cinque Terre for my weeklong cooking course with twelve students. Should be amazing this time of year. I have good walking shoes, lots of aprons and my knives.

If you want to follow me, I'll be doing lots of tweets on twitter, so check it out! My address @joanneweir1

fall salad recipe

Love fall, love being home in San Francisco and love cooking again! Last night, I had John and Derek for dinner. I was dying for sauerkraut with braised pork and sausages but what should I serve for a first course...

There is an incredibly short window for this salad! This is the time when figs are just going out of season and Fuju persimmons and pomegranates are just coming to market. Perfect! I can make one of my favorite salads.

What about wine? Are you ever in a quandary as to what wine to serve with salad? The acid of the vinaigrette really makes you think.... I had a really nice bottle of Navarro Riesling which I thought could be wonderful with the salad if I did things right.

I opened the bottle and tasted it. Delicious! I poured about a cup of the wine into a saucepan and reduced it until about a tablespoon or so was left. I whisked that into the dressing and served the same wine along with the salad. An absolutely perfect match!

You have to try this salad. Be forewarned... Do it today! The fruits should all be there and available!

FALL HARVEST SALAD

1 cup dry Riesling or Gewurztraminer
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
3 to 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch escarole or frisee, torn into 2 to 3-inch pieces
1 Fuju persimmon, cut into thin slices
1 ripe pear, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
6 figs, halve
25 red and/or green grapes, halved
1 small pomegranate, seeds removed and separated

In a small saucepan over high heat, reduce the wine until 1 to 2 tablespoons remain. Let cool. In a small bowl, whisk together the reduced wine, vinegar and olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Place the escarole or frisee, persimmon slices, pear slices, figs and grapes in a bowl. Add the vinaigrette and gently toss together. Place on individual salad plates and garnish with pomegranate seeds. Serve immediately.

Serves 6

goodbye greece

On the ferry crossing the Saronic Gulf back to the port of Piraeus and Athens, I tried to read but I was anxious. You know that feeling when you're dreaming and you just don't want it to end? I had less than 24 hours left in Greece and the thought made me feel like my heart was in my throat.

When we stepped into the lobby at the Hotel Grande Bretagne, calm settled over me. I felt like I was back home. This is where we'd spent the first night of our honeymoon and here we were again spending the last. A lot had happened and yet so little had taken place.

What a hotel! It ranks right up there with my favorite hotels in the world like La Mamounia in Marrakech, Hotel Monasterio in Cuzco, Peru and The London in New York. We settled into our suite complete with fragrant red roses and an exquisite bottle of red, compliments of the hotel.

We still had a few hours left of the day so we made a mad dash for the Acropolis (last time I was in Athens it was closed) and the New Acropolis Museum. As soon as you enter the museum, you are drawn up towards the monumental glass staircase at the end of the glass floored ramp by really large architectural sculptures of the Hekatompedon, the first large temple of the Goddess Athena on the Acropolis. It took my breath away.

After the museum, we walked and walked through Athens late into the afternoon and early evening, through Plaka, Monastiraki (grabbing the most delicious juicy souvlaki along the way) and Kolonaki ending up back at our hotel in Syntagna Square.

We planned it so we'd have enough time for a late night drink at the GB Roof Garden on the very top of the Hotel Grande Bretagne. This is reason enough to stay here! (The restaurant is excellent too!) The bar is open to the out of doors so the warm breeze of Athens refreshes the evening and the Acropolis lights the night. I'll never forget that night!

The next morning we packed and hurried to the airport for our long flight. What did I bring home from such a fantastic trip? A big bag of Santorini split peas to make their famous dish called fava, a jar of brined caper leaves also from Santorini, some absolutely wonderful memories and lots of love. Thanks for being a part of the journey!