Ahh, summer...

Yes indeed, summertime is upon us.  Ice cream cones in flip flops, steaks on the grill, buttery corn, kiddie pools, fresh juicy peaches, the Fourth of July (our awesome new island town, Alameda, has a big old fashioned 4th of July Parade!  I'm over-the-top excited.)

But nothing spells SUMMER like Insalata Caprese.  Big tie-dyed heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella chunks, aromatic sliced basil, olive oil, salt, pepper, red wine...

We ventured to SF two weekends ago via Ferry and landed at, well, the Ferry Building, where my dear mother-in-law was keen enough to spot a mountain of heirloom tomatoes at the Farm Fresh to You counter.  We snagged a couple loafs of Acme Bread and went on our merry way to the 4th annual chili cook-off between Alembic, Bar Tartine, Magnolia, Maverick, Slow Club, Romolo and The Pizza Place on Noriega in Golden Gate Park.  Chef Matt Kerley, dear comrade and husband to Bee Sting Cake's very own Amy Kerley, took first place, representing Magnolia!  Way to go Matty!

Anyway, we made it home with our tomato and bread booty and I have been OBSESSED ever since.  I can think of no other thing to satisfy me come about 3 pm.  I. MUST. HAVE. MY. CAPRESE. NOW.

And I do.  And so will you once you get out to your local farmer's market and pick up about a dozen heirloom tomatoes and some fresh bread.  Join me.

I even had to supplement with the mini heirloom tomatoes pictured here and it is still delicious.

I love the Italians.  Wine and deliciousness in the afternoon.  MMM.

Beans, beans the magical fruit...

My Dad said something recently that made me think differently about how I cook. We were talking about beans, though the concept can be used kitchen-wide. It was simple really, what he said about when going to the trouble of cooking beans you may as well cook up a huge pot. The soaking time and cooking time can be daunting, and a put-off if you are looking for a quick dinner. Hence the old can or two of beans that sits in all of our pantries. In the last few years I have come to be quite a purist and frugal shopper, shunning as many canned and prepared products as possible. I would much rather make my own. In a pinch of course, I will grab a can of beans, or diced tomatoes. But if I can save money, packaging, processing, etc, by doing it myself I will. And let me tell you that there is nothing that compares to a hot pot of beans or fresh tomato sauce. Nothing.
So my Dad's philosophy was to minimize the time spent cooking beans overall by cooking a lot at once. What do you do with so many beans you ask, there is no way we could choke down that many in a week. I agree. One or two meals is enough for me too. So what I do is freeze them. Pack cooled beans into freezer safe containers of various sizes. Glass jars such as clean peanut butter, pickle, mayo jars work well or you can use plastic yogurt containers or ziploc bags. When I freeze beans I make sure there is no extra liquid in the container, and fill the container about 3/4 full. When you want some beans pull a jar out of the freezer and thaw. For a quick thaw, pour warm water over the beans to loosen and then dump into a pan to heat. Try to use them up within a month or two or they will lose freshness.
Beans are delicious in tacos, chili, hummus, soups, sprinkled on salads, or as a side.
Though different varieties of beans have different cooking times, I usually follow the same process for all of them. And lately have been making fun bean medleys such as black, pinto, and kidney beans, shown above.

Basic Beans

Rinse beans and pick through. Cover with lots of water in a pot. Soak for 6 to 24 hours. I read recently that you should cook beans in their soaking liquid so you don't lose flavor, but if you want you can dump the soaking water and cover again with fresh water. I like to add onion and a bay leaf to the pot. Adding a few pieces of seaweed is supposed to reduce gas. Up to you. Don't add salt until beans are cooked. Bring to a boil and then simmer until beans are soft, anywhere from half an hour to an hour and a half, depending on the bean and soaking time.
Once beans are done, salt to taste. Storing them in their cooking liquid in the fridge is good for keeping them moist, though I like to drain it off when freezing.

Bienenstichkuchen (Bee Sting Cake)

Oh the mysterious Bee Sting Cake. Sweet German honey cake, topped with sweet sliced almonds, and a layer of creamy pudding in the middle. Jenny and I had the cake one night at Suppenkuche in San Francisco's Hayes Valley. It was a friend's birthday and we celebrated with Bangers 'n Mash, sauerkraut, huge steins of beer, and lastly Bee Sting Cake. Maybe the beer helped, but the cake put a spell on us. We were drooling and giggling over every bite. A few times we asked for it again when eating there but it wasn't on the menu. I asked where they got it and it was from a Russian Bakery in the Richmond. I never found the bakery, but must have had the name or address wrong, for now we have a new lead.

Because this cake was so damn good, it lingered in our minds and would come up now and again, and ultimately inspired the name of our blog. We decided that we would make one as a tribute to the publishing of Bee Sting Cake (we have been talking about doing this for years.) Easy right? Not so much. It is a fairly long and complex recipe. But we figured with the three of us, and the master egg cracker Alabama, age 4, we could manage. I chose a recipe that seemed authentic and easy enough to follow. Make the cake, make the filling, put it all together and viola!

Well, it wasn't that difficult to make, but the recipe we used called for way too much yeast, and the cake ended up way too heavy and musty. The pudding filling was pretty good, but could have been lighter. Gelatin smells like hooves.

So ultimately we called our first attempt a failure, and despite how good the picture looks, I won't share the recipe with you because it should never be attempted again.

The mission: Find the perfect Bee Sting Cake recipe. There are quite a few online, with all kinds of variations. I may scour the library for a German cookbook, see if I can find an authentic one. So darling reader, stay tuned for our next Bienenstich Bake Off. We will keep trying until we have mastered the elusive and lovely Bee Sting Cake.

22nd & Irving Market

So, recently we packed up all our stuff and moved from the very awesome,  super hip Mission District of San Francisco to what some folks call "the suburbs". It is also known as The Sunset. Now don't worry, it isn't REALLY the suburbs, it's still very much in the city, and there is plenty of graffiti, concrete, and sirens wailing off in the distance to make a girl feel right at home. We moved for lots of reasons, cheaper rent, more space, less noise, less crackheads, easier parking, and the list goes on & on. But we did not move because we don't absolutely love & adore the mission. In fact, both Matty & and I are still very homesick for our old hood & hoping that we made the right decision. Our new pad is fantastic though, and the kitchen is maybe my most favorite part. I had a list of criteria when we were looking at potential new homes,  one of them was a good kitchen, another was a market that I liked, or at least could tolerate, within walking distance. Well, I lucked out and got a market that I actually LOVE. Now, as I said before, the sunset AIN'T the mission. In the mission you have markets, deli's, coffee shops, restaurants, bakeries, and ice cream stores that specialize in organic, local, free range, fair trade & artisan. All of these things within mere blocks of your apartment. But out here in the suburbs that isn't the case. There ARE actually quite a few grocery stores, markets, and delis near my house, and they are as diverse as San Francisco itself, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Mexican, Russian, Indian, Jewish, and Italian. But the best one, in my opinion, is the 22nd & Irving Market, located at, you guessed it, 22nd & Irving. 

This spot kinda feels like a mini international farmer's market. They don't have any frozen foods or meats, and you won't find a jar of mayo (I know because one day I went running out in a panic, needing tuna salad as if my life depended on it, and they couldn't deliver on the mayonnaise). But that's ok. What they do have is tons of fresh produce, and the largest selection of organic produce in these parts. Bulk nuts, beans, grains, and dried fruits. They have a good bread selection, jars upon jars of Italian speciality items (I get the feeling this joint might be owned by someone who either is Italian, or is just really into Italian stuff), a strangely huge selection of fancy preserves, jams & jellies, organic milk, organic butter,  lots of cheese, delicious Italian cookies, soymilk, and even organic peanut butter. 

I am kind of obsessed with grocery stores, small city markets, and farmer's markets, and this one is super cute and has all kinds of delicious and unique items. So the next time you are trying to figure out what to do on a Saturday afternoon, consider this...take the N Judah train to 22nd Avenue, walk down one block to the 22nd & Irving Market,  fill your picnic basket up with bread, cheese, fig preserves, Italian chocolate wafer cookies, heirloom tomatoes, and sparkling lemonade, then set out towards the Golden Gate Park, spread out your blanket in the sun, and smile...

Creamy Brussel Sprouts

My kid is weird.  She loves brussel sprouts.  Aren't they supposed to be the one vegetable kids loathe more than any other?  My other kid doesn't exactly love them, but she'll eat them. What's my secret to getting my kids to eat almost ANY vegetable?  Butter and salt.  Not heart-attack levels of salt, but a little sprinkling over broccoli that's been kissed with melted butter and it's the first thing to disappear from the plate.  "But they'll never eat 'em plain if you always use butter and salt."  Not true.  And if it were, so what?  The point is: THE KID IS EATING VEGETABLES.

So, creamy, lemon-finished brussel sprouts.  I'm pretty sure I found this recipe at 101cookbooks.com, an awesome vegetarian blog by SF gal Heidi Swanson.  Anyhoo, this recipe turns a dinnertime vegetable protest into, well, a dinnertime fork-banging circus.

You will need:


Brussel Sprouts
1/2 cup or so of cream
butter
1/2 of a lemon
salt
pepper

Wash your brussel sprouts and trim the ends off.  I peel off the outer layer of skin if there's any discoloration or funk present.  Quarter lengthwise.

Heat a big chunk of organic butter in a skillet on medium-high until it's nice and warm.  Add brussel sprouts.  Let them cook until they have browned sides.  Approximately 7 minutes.  Lower heat to medium-low. Sprinkle with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Pour 1/2 cup of cream over sprouts.  Cover.  Cook 3 minutes. Now test them out.  I like them soft but still a bit firm. (The carmelized sides are key to their deliciousness so make sure you start out on a high enough heat).

Lastly, squeeze half a lemon over entire pan.  Stir.  Serve.

Here's what the whole dinner looked like:

Turkey meatloaf, creamy polenta with feta, and brussel sprouts.  Spilled milk not pictured.

Quinoa, Feta, and Walnut Salad

I often find myself turning to my jar of Quinoa when I need a quick and healthy side dish. It takes only 10 to 20 minutes to make.
Quinoa is the most complete protein of any grain, and is a great source of iron, magnesium, vitamin E, fiber, potassium, and amino acids.
But a boring heap of quinoa is no fun, and the leftovers will often sit lonely in the fridge until I put them out of their misery. So the other day I decided to spruce up my Quinoa with feta, parsley and walnuts for a tasty grain salad that almost beat the grilled sea bass that was served atop it. Leftovers were excellent straight outta the fridge the next day. Once again, the best part about this recipe is that it could be easily customized to use up whatever you have on hand. Couscous, rice, barley, any kind of nut or dried fruits, cheese, herbs, or veggies such as aparagus or peas would be good.

This recipe serves two to four. Double if you want lots of leftovers.

First cook the Quinoa:

1 cups Quinoa
1.5 cups Water
Pinch of salt

Rinse Quinoa well and add water and salt. Bring to a boil, and then simmer lightly until Quinoa has absorbed all water and fluffs with a fork (10-20 min). I like to leave the lid on for ten minutes once I turn off the heat in order to steam and loosen the grains, same with rice.

Pour cooked Quinoa into a bowl, let cool for a few minutes, and add:

1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup chopped parsley
heavy drizzle of olive oil
big splash of apple cider vinegar
squeeze of fresh lemon juice
salt, pepper, red chili flakes to taste

bon appetit!

Butter Cake with Lemon Glaze

Cake!! I think it's about time somebody posted a cake recipe here at Bee Sting CAKE!! This one is refreshing, "springy" (as in spring time, the season), and super lemony. I love lemon desserts, lemon bars, lemon sorbet, lemon pie, and lemon cake. I made this on easter sunday to follow up our super awesome dinner of ham, scalloped potatoes, rolls, and salad. It's easy and really good.

You will need:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

rounded 1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon whole milk

2 tablespoons grated lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3 large eggs at room temperature

1 cup confectioners sugar

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

garnish: confectioners sugar for dusting & a lemon slice

Preheat your oven to 350. Butter and flour an 8 x 2 inch round cake pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir together milk, zest, and vanilla.

Beat together butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with milk mixture. Mix well after each addition. Pour batter into cake pan and smooth top. Bake until golden and a fork inserted into the center comes out clean, 35-40 minutes. Cool in the pan 10 minutes.

To make the glaze...

Whisk together confectioners sugar and lemon juice.

Turn out the cake onto a rack then reinvert. Brush top and side of cake with all of the icing and then cool completely. Garnish with a dusting of confectioners sugar and lemon slices.