fidzu : cooking

Do you love pie?

I do. I love to make pie. I love to eat pie. I especially love a good homemade pie crust. In fact, I've spent years encouraging people to make their own pie crust from scratch (and even have the world's most fool-proof pie crust recipe with video right here on the site).

That said, I've learned over the years that most home cooks will use a store-bought frozen or refrigerated crust to make their pies. I get it. We are busy people. We want pie. We would rather make a pie in one hour than in two.

With that in mind, I set out to review several packaged pie crusts I could find locally, to see if there were any I would personally use and recommend, and if there were any that people should simply avoid.

Continue reading "The Best (And Worst) Store-Bought Pie Crusts" »

19 Oct 2017 4:00pm GMT

You have to love a recipe that looks like you worked hard when actually you didn't do much at all.

Stromboli, a cousin of calzone, fits into that category, and when you're finished, you can feed the neighborhood.

Continue reading "Easy Stromboli" »

18 Oct 2017 4:00pm GMT

Ah, meatloaf…the American classic supper!

Despite her desperate five o'clock scramble, my mom - an artist and mother of four - always managed to pull off a mean meatloaf.

I remember her frantically pulling apart a slice or two of bread to make crumbs, and then throwing them into a bowl with an egg, some ketchup, grated onion, and ground beef. And then there was the grated carrot, which qualified as a vegetable (along with the ketchup).

She shaped it into a mound, threw it in the pan, drizzled the top with more ketchup and tossed it into the oven. Phew! Let's just say her motto was "I'd rather be painting."

Continue reading "Turkey Meatloaf" »

16 Oct 2017 4:30pm GMT

Kaz Tsutsumi showing off ramen noodles

Part of the annual San Francisco celebration of all things Japanese, the J-Pop Summit is the Ramen Summit. There are five different ramen shops offering a different style of ramen. This year I tried each of the bowls. And so can you! Tickets are still available for Sunday September 10, 2017 for the J-Pop Summit and the Ramen Summit is located outside the entrance. Each bowl is $8, and definitely large enough to share. Here's my take on each bowl featured this year.

Yoroshiku is a ramen shop in Seattle, Washington and serves 150-200 customers a day. The ramen they served is Sapporo style, from the North of Japan.

It's made with a blend of red and white miso. It's sweet and spicy, not too salty and comes with fresh corn, scallions and bamboo shoots. I liked it very much. Their noodles are custom made by Yamachan.

10 Sep 2017 4:17am GMT

The number eight is considered lucky in Chinese culture, and the more eights the luckier. This year represents the 8th anniversary of LUCKYRICE, an Asian food festival and it's being held on September 8, 2017, general admission tickets are $88. That's a whole lot of luck!

While this may be the 8th year, it's also in one way the first. It's the first year of a plant based edition feast. This is noteworthy because if you go to chef gala events you see a lot of the same kinds of dishes and they aren't plant based. Tuna tartare is popular, a seared scallop, perhaps something with pork belly or foie gras will make an appearance. But as dining evolves so too do these events. In San Francisco some of the finest restaurants are focusing more on vegetables than ever before. I spoke with LUCKYRICE founder, Danielle Chang to learn more about the event and the second season of her PBS show, Lucky Chow.

How many galas and "feasts" have you produced?
In the eight lucky years that I've been at the helm of LUCKYRICE, we've produced over 100 curated events that spotlight Asian culture through the lens of food and drink.

Why did you decide to do a plant based theme and why in San Francisco?
I think when people think "Asian food" they're still thinking mystery brown sauce, rice and packaged ramen noodles. I wanted to really spotlight Asian cuisine in an entirely unique way with this plant-based menu so people could really experience and taste the evolution of Asian cuisine in America and embrace its green potential, it's come a long way! No General Tso's chicken here.

What dishes and ingredients are you particularly excited to see showcased at the event?
With a fabulous line-up like this one, I think it's hard to pick just one but I've definitely got my eye on the Pinakbet Onigiri with Stuffed Garlic Fried Rice Ball with Kabocha Squash, Green beans, Eggplant, Okra, Vegan Bagoong, Nori seaweed from Buffalo Theory in collaboration with Alchemy

How did this season of Lucky Chow and your visits to farms in particular influence you and your future plans?
Since so much of the Asian-American immigrant experience is rooted in the soil of Bay Area farms, it makes sense to pay homage to that history while celebrating the new culinary expressions being created by the younger generation. And, while filming season 2 of my PBS show Lucky Chow, I was so inspired by the featured local farmers, like Kristyn Leach of Namu and Ross Koda of Koda Farms. They, like so many other Bay Area residents, are committed to seasonality, locality, and innovation in sustainability.

Does Asian food fit into the "vegetable centric" trend in dining?
From mizuna to bok choy, people will walk into an Asian grocery store and run the other way when they're confronted with the different varieties of Asian greens and vegetables because they're intimidated, begging the questions, "what do I do with this?" or "how do I cook that?" There's still a lot of unharnessed potential when it comes to Asian cooking fitting into a "veggie centric" motif. I think we can only expect to see more and more chefs and restaurateurs seeking out Asian vegetables as they're expanding their flavor palates and looking for something "new."

Thanks Danielle!

Here's the full line up of tantalizing dishes from some really outstanding restaurants:

06 Sep 2017 2:19pm GMT

There are certain dishes that no matter how many times I make them, I'm always looking for a better recipe. Macaroni and cheese is one of them. You know a good macaroni and cheese when you taste it. For me, it's rich but not oily, gooey with melted cheese and with no graininess to the sauce. It's also got a little sharp edge to it. I usually start with a bechamel, but I've never been convinced that it's the perfect sauce base.

29 Aug 2017 2:46pm GMT