Category Archives: Chefs

Indulge In Scandinavian Brunsviger (Brown Sugar “Focaccia” Cake)

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A sweet version of focaccia that's a specialty of Denmark.
A sweet version of focaccia that’s a specialty of Denmark.

Is it focaccia?

Or is it cake?

It’s kind of both. And boy, is it dang delicious.

It looks exactly like focaccia with its dimpled top, which creates perfect crevices to hold the buttery, sweet syrup that gets poured over its entire surface before baking.

Take a taste, and it’s as if pancakes drenched in butter and syrup were transformed into focaccia instead.

“Brown Sugar ‘Focaccia’ Cake,” otherwise known as brunsviger, hails from Funen, the third largest island in Denmark and the birthplace of Hans Christian Anderson.

It’s a featured recipe in the new “Scandinavian from Scratch” (Ten Speed Press, 2023), of which I received a review copy.

Described as a “love letter to the baking of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden,” it was written by Nichole Accettola, an American chef and graduate of the Culinary Institute of America who lived in Denmark for 15 years and now runs Kantine, a Scandinavian bakery in San Francisco.

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Dining At the New Che Fico Parco Menlo

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Impeccable seared octopus at Che Fico Parco Menlo.
Impeccable seared octopus at Che Fico Parco Menlo.

For those of us who live on the Peninsula and South Bay, we couldn’t be happier that it’s been a boom time of late for new restaurants opening in this region, including outposts by celebrated San Francisco chefs.

Among the latest is Chef David Nayfeld of San Francisco’s wildly popular Che Fico who opened a sister-restaurant, Che Fico Parco Menlo, in November in Menlo Park.

It debuted at Springline, the splashy new residential-restaurant mixed-use development off El Camino Real.

Last Thursday night, when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant, the place was buzzing. Nearly every table was filled in the well-appointed, covered and heated outdoor patio that sports tufted banquettes and cozy pillows.

Gingham napkins.
Gingham napkins.

Same with the main dining room, where it was standing-room-only at the bar as patrons waited for tables to open up. A retro soundtrack of Earth, Wind & Fire, Al Green, and the Clash played in the background.

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Biscuits With A Little Something-Something

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Magnificent biscuits with a novel ingredient.
Magnificent biscuits with a novel ingredient.

These crispy-all-over, supremely decadent tasting biscuits are unlike others.

Because they have a novel ingredient that you might just guess from my cheeky photo.

Yes, duck — as in fat.

There’s no butter or shortening in these babies. Just a generous amount of lavish duck fat along with buttermilk.

This fabulous biscuit recipe is from “Still We Rise” (Clarkson Potter, 2023), of which I received a review copy.

It’s by Erika Council, creator of the Southern Souffle blog and chef-owner of Bomb Biscuit Co. in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward historic district where Martin Luther King Jr. was born.

As she writes, this book embodies the “gospel of biscuits,” the heritage and heart these rounds of little more than flour, fat, and dairy have carried over generations, especially among Black home-cooks who proudly perfected them for their families.

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Warming Up with Korean Braised Tofu

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Slices of firm tofu get cooked in a sweet soy sauce with onions and mushrooms for comfort in a bowl.
Slices of firm tofu get cooked in a sweet soy sauce with onions and mushrooms for comfort in a bowl.

Over the holidays, with my husband and I both slogging through our first bouts of Covid ever (we escaped it for nearly four years, so I guess it was only a matter of time), and then with him experiencing a rebound case right after, I half-joked that I needed a hazmat team to come to my house to rid the premises once and for all of every germ in sight.

Or maybe we just needed some spicy tofu.

Homey, comforting, and with enough Korean chili pepper and fresh slices of jalapeno to rev and warm the immune system and every other part of the body, it sure hit the spot.

But you don’t have to be ailing to thoroughly enjoy “Braised Tofu (Dooboo Jorim).” Because this easy dish will leave you contented no matter what.

It’s from “Sohn-Mat” (Hardie Grant, 2023) of which I received a review copy.

This collection of Korean home-cooking recipes is by Monica Lee, owner of Beverly Soon Tofu, and co-author Tien Nguyen, who has written several cookbooks, including the “The Red Boat Fish Sauce Cookbook.”

When Beverly Soon Tofu opened in 1986, Lee says it was the only one of its kind in Los Angeles serving soon tofu stew in Koreatown. So, this is a woman who definitely knows her tofu dishes.

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Michael Symon’s Throwback American Goulash

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Michael Symon's homemade version of Hamburger Helper.
Michael Symon’s homemade version of Hamburger Helper.

One taste of this one-pot dish sends me back to my elementary school days.

When my best friend and I would feel so grown-up whenever we had the rare chance to cook dinner for ourselves when our parents were out.

We’d grab wooden spoons like microphones and pretend we were stars in our own cooking show.

As we hungrily and proudly dug into the comforting dish we had put together with our own wit,

Granted, Hamburger Helper wasn’t the most ambitious dinner to make. But we didn’t care. We loved the taste and the sense of freedom it gave us.

“American Goulash” is a fresher, homemade version of that nostalgic store-bought product that is just about as fast and easy to make, too.

Only this version is by Michael Symon, the James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurateur, and Emmy-winning television personality known his Food Network shows and co-hosting ABC’s “The Chew.” I also had the distinct pleasure of helping judge a cookie baking contest in San Francisco with him many years ago, and he is a hoot to be around.

This recipe is featured in his latest cookbook, “Simply Symon Suppers” (Clarkson Potter, 2023), of which I received a review copy. This is his eighth cookbook.

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