I didn’t grow up knowing how to cook. Both of my parents worked and my mom specialized in making “minutas”, meals that can be thrown together in minutes: steaks, milanesas, gnocchi, soups from bullion cubes. Once I lived on my own, I didn’t even think about cooking beyond these very basic things but once I got married I found myself with lots of free time while I looked for a job and a desire to “feed” my husband. I didn’t know how to cook much, so I hit the library for cookbooks.
One of the first cooks I discovered was The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors: Recipes You Should Have Gotten from Your Grandmother
And so we did and in the process discovered many wonderful recipes. I haven’t actually cooked from this book in many years, but it came to mind today while writing about Cuban food (I got the best recipe for ropa vieja from this book) and I thought I’d share the book with whoever reads my blog.
Now, one of the reasons why I really recommend this book is that the recipes are easy. These are home recipes, made by home cooks with no training over generations and passed from parents to children. Immigrants were usually poor, so the recipes don’t usually require expensive ingredients or cooking equipment. They are ideal recipes for beginners and anyone looking for a simple intro into a new cuisine.
Author: admin (Page 15 of 51)
I have re-started my international food project, a project to cook food from different cuisines alphabetically. I started this a decade ago, and I’m still on the “C”s. Part of the problem has been that originally I was making complete menus for each cuisine and serving them at dinner parties – with two kids, a constantly messy house and limited time, “dinner parties” have not been happening for us for years. So, I’m now going to be cooking a sample of dishes from each cuisine over a number of nights. That means that I’m less likely to make appetizers (which is not necessarily a bad thing, as appetizers are not as common in many cuisines) and even desserts.
In the last few weeks I’ve made Czech, Cuban and Creole food. I’m still working on the latter, but here are the recipes for the two former:
– Marga’s Cuba Culinary Adventure
– Marga’s Czech Culinary Adventure
Enjoy!
Just made Chicken Curry with Sweet Potatoes from an epicurious.com recipe, for dinner. I thought it was pretty good but not great, but Mika loved it so I’m blogging about it to remember it. It was easy enough to do. Next time I’d add 5 minutes to the cooking time for the sweet potatoes to be really tender. I skipped the chili paste to make it non-spicy.
I’ve lived in San Leandro for over ten years, but I first heard about Bakery Street today, when Mike mentioned he’d seen it mentioned online and had ridden by a sign saying “bakery sale”. He wanted to give it a try and I wasn’t going to say “no”. I might have as well, I’m not in the least impressed by any of the baked goods we sampled.
Bakery Street seems to be mainly a wholesaler of baked goods (cookies, bars, cakes, scones) and a maker of speciality/wedding cakes. The pictures of some of their whimsical cakes in their websites look very cute. They have a tiny store attached to their factory, apparently open only Fridays and Saturdays, where they sell packaged baked goods to the public. Some prices seem good, some not so good. For example, their Red Velvet cakes get very good reviews in Yelp.com and were available at Costco, but at either $8 or $12 for a very small cake, I wasn’t that eager to get one. Instead, we got a 9oz package of madelines and a 14oz package of chocolate chip cookies, for $2 each. We also got a couple of plain croissants and 2 custard croissants, each individually packaged in plastic, for $1 each.
The croissants were OK. The custard ones reminded me of cheese danishes, but with a very generous amount of custard. The croissant part wasn’t particularly flaky or tasty, but it wasn’t too bad. Not bad for $1, but not great either.
I’m used to getting Donsuemor madelines at Zocalo for 75-cents each, so I relished the prospect of getting almost a dozen for just $2 – but I guess you get what you pay for, as Bakery Street madelines just aren’t that great. They seem a bit lighter than the Donsuemor ones, perhaps less sweet, but whatever it is, there is no boom of flavor in your mouth as you get from a really great madeline. I wouldn’t bother buying them again (well, for $2, perhaps I would, but still….)
The chocolate chip cookies were worse still. They were dense and flavorless, the chocolate chips were clearly low quality (you could barely taste any chocolate) and the various hydrogenated vegetable oils in the cookies did not help the crumbly texture. But the problem was the flavor, it was just not there. I would not buy them again.
In all, I’m not impressed.
Bakery Street Inc
1465 Factor Avenue
San Leandro, CA
(510) 357-8880
http://www.bakerystreet.com/
San Leandro Restaurant Reviews
Bay Area Restaurant Reviews
I am sad to inform that Marita’s Sweet Potato Pie Co. has closed its San Leandro location @ Bancroft and Dutton. According to their website, they still have a location in Richmond’s Hilltop Mall. This happened just months after they expanded into the old Cornerstone Cafe location in the corner. While I wasn’t a regular customer @ Marita’s, I really did enjoy their cakes and I had the red velvet cake for my birthday often. I hope The Golden Tea Garden in Hayward will still serve their red velvet cake, I’ll report next time I visit.
A new bakery, Angelina’s Pastries will be opening in the original Marita’s space on Bancroft. I’m told that it’s a venture by the people who own the building, but I know nothing else about it. Stay tuned.
I am also told that Mae’s Southern Comfort will move from its Victoria circle location to the Cornerstone location in the corner. I haven’t seen anything to indicate that, and I have my doubts as to whether Mae’s is actually a functioning restaurant as it never seems to be open (I think they open at 1 PM and close at 7 PM, I guess they cater to afternoon eaters exclusively), but they have a bunch of reviews in Yelp, so apparently some people do manage to get food here. If they do open, I will give them a try.
I love sauteed mushrooms, but fresh mushrooms can be pretty expensive when they’re not on sale (and even when they are), which is why I was happy to find an 8oz package of sliced mushrooms at Grocery Outlet for around $1.50. Unfortunately, these Green Giant sliced mushrooms are just not very good. I’ve bought them twice now, a couple of weeks apart, so I know it’s not just one bad batch.
There are three main problems with them: taste, thickness and consistency. Flavorwise, they are just not there. They are not very flavorful, even when sauteed on butter and seasoned with copious amounts of salt and the flavor they do have is slightly off. The mushrooms are pretty big and the slices are quite thick, which makes them take longer to cook but also just overall less appealing. The texture is also a little bit strange, more rubbery than for most mushrooms. We just did not enjoy them – none of us. I think it’s worth the ones at the supermarket are probably worth the extra buck or two.
Now, on other Grocery Outlet news
– GO is now selling 7oz jars of assorted dried herbs and spices for $3, which is an unbelievable price (though who really needs that much spices?). They are packaged by Gel Spice Company. I don’t know much about them other that they had a serious repeat problem with rat infestation in the 70’s and 80’s (I can only hope they’ve cured it by now). The thyme leaves I bought seem fine, but really, I wouldn’t know how to judge dry thyme leaves. I don’t see why they would be worse than the stuff at the supermarket, though. Expire in 2014.
-Got a box of Near East Tabouleh Mix for 34 cents. It expired on 2/10/11 but it’s a dry product so I think it should be fine for a while. I cooked it and didn’t find any problems.
I got this recipe for Farfalle with Sausage, Tomatoes, and Cream from epicurious.com (where else?) and quite enjoyed it. This is comfort food at its best, nothing out of this world or fancy but it can really hit the spot.
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 lb sweet Italian sausage, loose
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- salt & pepper
Heat oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ausage and saute until it’s no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and saute until the onion is soft and the sausage has browned, about 3 more minutes. Mix in the tomato and cream, reduce heat to low and simmer for 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper if needed.
Serve on pasta with Parmesan cheese.
I made this recipe a few days ago to go with some leftover top sirloin I had. While I’m usually the type of person who does not like sauces with my red meat – I’d never dream of using anything besides salt with a NY steak or a ribeye – I don’t find top sirloin to be that tasty by itself. This sauce was quick to make and delicious. As usual, I got the recipe at epicurious.com
My main adaptation was using “Better than Bouillon” bases and reducing the amount of water. You can use broth cubes/granules in the same proportions. This sauce is enough for two steaks plus whatever starch you are serving with them.
-
-2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
-2 shallots, chopped
-1 tsp. brown sugar
-3/4 cup water
-1 tsp. Chicken broth base
-1/2 tsp. Beef broth base
-1/2 cup Cognac or Brandy
-1/4 cup whipping cream
-2 steaks
-salt & pepper
Sauté shallots until tender on 1 Tbsp of butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in sugar and cook for 1 minute. Add the broths, the broth bases and the cognac. Mix well and cook until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 10 minutes. Mix in the whipping cream and set aside.
Sprinkle steaks with salt. Melt 1 Tbsp. of butter on a heavy skillet or frying pan. Add the steaks and cook over medium-heat, about 4 minutes per side. Remove. Add the sauce to the skillet and warm up, scrapping any browned bits. Season with salt and pepper.
Update: This restaurant is closed
Sunday before Valentine’s Day a few girlfriends and I got together at this latest reincarnation of Viva Portofino for a “Galentine’s” day brunch (apparently still owned by Francisco). I had heard from others than Viva Portofino (the name it finally settled on) had improved so I wanted to give it a try. The verdict is mixed, at least for breakfast, while none of the dishes stood out, none of them were particularly bad either. Overall it’s an improvement over other local breakfast joints, but only because the competition on that front is so poor. I wouldn’t be raising there for breakfast again.
There were six of us and two (including me) had the strawberry crepes (~$6.50). The thin crepes were “stuffed” with a very thin layer of sweet cream cheese and were topped with sliced fresh strawberries and cream. It was good but nothing too exciting. I probably would have preferred a little bit more cream cheese.
Elektra had the eggs benedict ($8) and while she enjoyed the flavor, she was unhappy that they were served lukewarm. I can understand their difficulties getting 6 dishes out at the same time, but other restaurants manage to send warm food to the tables and Viva Portofino should as well. Katrina was also disappointed with her vegetarian crepe. She felt it was the sort of thing that she could have tossed together very quickly, and the vegetables weren’t tasty enough to make up for the simplicity of the dish. She wouldn’t order it again. Both Parker and Eloise had omelets, and they were much happier with their choices. They thought they were tasty and well made.
One other “minus” for Viva Portofino is that they don’t have much on the way of coffee drinks to go with breakfast (they do have plain tea & coffee and lackluster mimosas, $6). This is not necessarily a problem if you remember to stop by Zocalo on the way, as Katrina wisely did, and getting your caffeine of choice.
On the plus side, service was good and professional and prices weren’t unreasonable – we ended up paying $14 each after tax & tip. Still, I’m left hoping someone else will open a better place for brunch.
Viva Portofino
599 Dutton Ave.
San Leandro, CA
(510) 553-1343
http://www.vivaportofino.com
UPDATE: THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED
February 2011 Review
La Bella Italia, the restaurant that took over the old Prings’ space, is back under a new name: Tuscany. After years of trying to make a go at it, including multiple renovations and the addition of an Indian food menu, the Indian-American Italian-food loving family who owns the place had finally said “enough” and leased out the facilities to a couple of wanna-be restauranteurs who opened up an Italian restaurant they called Bardelli’s in the location. Apparently Bardelli’s didn’t do so well – I never tried it, so the food might have been a problem, though I suspect highish prices and a lack of promotion figured into the equation – so they closed and returned the restaurant to the Bella Italia owners, who have apparently decided to have a new go at it under a new name. Unfortunately, that’s all they seem to have changed from their previous incarnation.
My friend Aamani, Camila and I decided to go there for lunch yesterday. We got there around noon and we were one of two parties. Their lunch menu consists of a handful of cold sandwiches, pizzas, pastas and soup/salad (the same stuff they had before). If I well remember they are mostly in the $7-9 range. Lunch is served with a nice warm dinner bun and butter and a small bowl of soup. Yesterday it was some bean and pasta soup, tasty but not too interesting.
We had about an hour for lunch, not enough time to order the pizzas, so Aamani went for the Prosciutto sandwich (fresh mozzarella, parma prosciutto roasted peppers and artichokes). She thought it was pretty good. She liked the bread and was happy with the ingredients, though she wished the prosciutto had been warmed. Still, she wasn’t doing handstands over it. I had their lasagna bolognese and was disappointed by the lack of seasoning. The whole dish was very bland, some salt would have surely helped, perhaps a cheese beyond ricotta.
On the plus side, lunch was pretty cheap and the waiter was gorgeous (albeit very young). Still, I don’t imagine I’ll be back anytime soon.
La Bella Italian Inn
15015 E. 14th St.
San Leandro, CA
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