Monthly Archives: July 2012

Cantaloupe in Cake? You Bet!

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Yes, you can bake with cantaloupe. Who knew!

I’ve enjoyed berries, peaches, plums and all manner of other fruit in baked treats.

But cantaloupe?

Not until now.

Don’t get me wrong. I love that beautiful netted fruit with its sunny orange flesh. But cantaloupe in a cake seemed as farfetched to me as watermelon or honeydew in one.

That is until I spied a recipe for “Cantaloupe Cake (Torta di Melone)” in “Dolci: Italy’s Sweets” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang), of which I received a review copy. The book is by Francine Segan, a food historian and New York City cookbook author. The cookbook boasts more than 125 recipes for Italian specialties such as sweet ricotta crepes, rosemary semifreddo, angel hair pasta pie, and even an unlikely chocolate eggplant dish.

Because the melon chunks are soaked in Asti Spumante, a glass of the Italian sparkler makes a nice accompaniment to the cake.

I couldn’t let a chance to bake with cantaloupe pass by, so I gave it a whirl.

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New Premium Licorice, Giant See’s Lollypop To Be Unveiled & Food Gal Contest Winner Plus Bonus

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New licorice products by the makers of Red Vines. (Photo by Carolyn Jung)

Premium Licorice and How To Get A Free Bag

Union City’s American Licorice Company — makers of everyone’s favorite Red Vines — has brought out a new licorice product: Natural Vines.

Made without artificial colors, flavors or preservatives, the Natural Vines are sweetened with only cane syrup and molasses. They contain real licorice extract, too.

Natural Vines come in two varieties: Strawberry and Black. The strawberry has an actual vivid berry flavor, while the black licorice tastes of anise and almost black coffee. Both types come not in your traditional long strands of licorice, but fat nubbins, about an inch long. They’re softer to chew than Red Vines, too. Each piece has 17 calories.

Eight-ounce bags are $3.49 each in select grocery stores.

They come in handy, resealable bags. (Photo by Carolyn Jung)

If you’re a film buff, you’ll get a chance to try the licorice. The American Licorice Company will be giving out thousands of full-sized bags of both the Strawberry and Black Natural Vines throughout the summer at San Francisco’s Film Night in the Park, Movies on the Square in Redwood City, and the Starlight Cinema Series in San Jose.

The licorice will be given out at the Aug. 4 and Sept. 29 showings in San Francisco; the July 19, Aug. 2, Aug. 6, Aug. 23 and Aug 30 showings in Redwood City; and at the July 19, July 26, Aug. 16, Aug. 23, and Aug. 31 showings in San Jose.

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A Very Rewarding Redd Wood

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A magnificent lardo-draped pizza at Redd Wood.

Redd Wood is one of those restaurants that could easily qualify as your favorite neighborhood joint.

With a cosmopolitan, masculine-chic vibe, plus affordable pizzas and pastas done superbly, it’s the kind of place you can comfortably return to again and again.

Now, if only I could afford to live in Yountville — well, then I’d be all set.

Barring that, at least I was fortunate enough to be invited recently to dine as a guest for lunch at Chef Richard Reddington’s newest restaurant. His first, of course, is the Michelin-starred Redd, a much tonier establishment just a stroll away in downtown Yountville.

The entrance.

So many Napa Valley restaurants sport a Mediterranean look. Redd Wood has none of that. Instead, it looks like a trendy New York restaurant, with its black leather tufted booths, train station clock, marble general’s desk turned service station, and striking ship’s buoy that’s been dipped in bronze and refashioned as a light fixture.

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A Sharp Find: The Perfect Edge

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Sean Maffitt at work on sharpening my knives.

Walk inside San Mateo’s Perfect Edge to be mesmerized by walls and counters covered in knives.

More than 25 brands in all: American, German, Swiss, Chinese and supposedly the largest selection of Japanese knives around.

Cleavers, chef’s knives, mezzalunas, and everything in between — some worth thousands of dollars.

Owner Mike Solaegui opened his first store in the 1990s in Burlingame. Now, his knife sharpening services can be found in locations around the Bay Area, including at various farmers markets and his flagship San Mateo store, which opened in 2001. His fleet of trucks make the rounds to many of the Bay Area’s top restaurants to care for the prized knives of chefs.

It’s also been the go-to place to take my own knives for the past couple of years whenever they get a little dull around the edges.

Knives, knives, everywhere.

The largest selection of Japanese knives around.

At the San Mateo store, you can often drop your knives off to be sharpened, then wait for them to be done.

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Ingenious English Muffin Bread — Made In a Microwave

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Yes, I made this bread in a microwave. How cool is that?

Sometimes the best things in life happen by complete accident.

Take my discovery of this amazing recipe for “English Muffin Bread” that’s “baked” in your microwave in mere minutes. I kid you not.

A month ago, Rebecca from New Hampshire, emailed me out of the blue, frantically searching for this recipe by cookbook author Lora Brody. She’d made it before, loved it, but couldn’t for the life of her lay her hands on it again. So, she did what we all do: She Google’d it. The search engine returned a link to where she could find it: FoodGal.com. Trouble is I not only didn’t have that recipe on my blog, but I’d never even heard of it. Go figure.

After she and I exchanged perplexed emails, Rebecca eventually found the recipe again in Brody’s cookbook, “The New England Table” (Chronicle Books), and sent me a copy. It’s adapted from a James Beard recipe.

And it’s a marvel.

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