Where I’ve Been Getting Takeout of Late, Part 37

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Butter & Crumble's lavishly layered Cinnamon Brown Sugar Almond cake.
Butter & Crumble’s lavishly layered Cinnamon Brown Sugar Almond cake.

Butter & Crumble, San Francisco

After being furloughed during the early days of shelter-in-place, Chef Sophie Smith thought she would pass the time by baking cakes for fun.

Little did she know that it would turn into a sweet new business that set her on an entirely new career path.

As she started baking cakes for her nascent Butter & Crumble, she wondered if anyone in the world would want an entire cake while stuck at home.

Turns out loads of people did.

She now runs her baking business out of bar in the Marina District of San Francisco that has a full-fledged kitchen. That’s where customers can pick up their pre-ordered cakes, too.

On an outing to San Francisco recently, I decided to to try one, myself.

The lofty, 4-inch-tall, 6-inch-diameter, three-layer cakes can serve 8 easily. They are priced at $45 on up, depending upon the flavor. There are usually at least nine different ones available, including Lemon Ricotta Pistachio, Chocolate Ganache Toffee, and Chai Creme Brulee.

I went with the Cinnamon Brown Butter Almond ($48). Styled after the “naked cakes” made famous by Milk Bar, Smith’s creations also sport unfrosted sides that reveal every layer clearly.

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A “Spam” Musubi That’s Vegan

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A musubi that's not quite what you think it is.
A musubi that’s not quite what you think it is.

It looks exactly like everyone’s guilty-pleasure Hawaiian snack food.

Only this musubi is vegan.

Indeed, this one spotlights a new plant-based version of Spam.

To the growing list of faux “beef,” “chicken,” and other proteins now comes OmniPork.

Designed to mimic pork, it’s made from a blend of non-GMO soy, peas, shiitake mushrooms, and rice. It was developed in Canada by food scientists for Hong Kong-based food innovation company, Green Monday, which owns OmniFoods.

It’s available in three forms — OmniPork Ground, Strips, and Luncheon, each for $5.99 per package. All three can be found in the freezer cases of Sprouts; while the Strips and Ground are carried by select Whole Foods.

When I received samples of all three, I went straight for the Luncheon first, curious to see how it would compare to the familiar stuff in a can. The verdict? Quite impressively.

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Get Your Fun On With Toad-In-A-Hole Sheet-Pan Kimchi Hash Browns

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A novel version of toad-in-a-hole.
A novel version of toad-in-a-hole.

In the United States, it’s the childhood favorite of an egg cooked inside the cut-out-center of a bread slice. In the United Kingdom, it’s the homey dish of stubby sausages baked in airy Yorkshire pudding batter.

Now comes the creative minds of America’s Test Kitchen re-imagining toad-in-a-hole as a big ol’ pan of sunny side-up eggs nestled in a raft of hash browns and kimchi.

How marvelous does that sound!

Best yet, it’s from the new cookbook entitled, Five-Ingredient Dinners: 100+ Fast, Flavorful Meals” (America’s Test Kitchen), of which I received a review copy, meaning it takes few ingredients and little time to actually put together.

The cookbook includes more than 100 recipes for complete meals that are sure to spark the appetite, such as “Steak with Shichimi Togarashi Charred Cabbage Salad,” “Chipotle Shrimp Risotto,” “Grilled Garam Masala Chicken, Tomatoes, and Naan with Chutney” and “Chili-Crisp Steak with Rice Noodles.”

Like most five-ingredient cookbooks, this one does take some liberties, most notably not counting staple ingredients, which would then put the count over. That’s why with each recipe, you’ll see a box labeled “Staple Ingredients” that you’ll also need, including salt, pepper, extra-virgin olive oil or unsalted butter.

“Toad-in-a-Hole Sheet-Pan Kimchi Hash Browns” was simply too much fun to pass up making.

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One Of The Best Butters In The World Just Got Even Better

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French butter flavored with loads of raspberries -- a taste sensation to make you sit up and take notice from the first taste.
French butter flavored with loads of raspberries — a taste sensation to make you sit up and take notice from the first taste.

Let’s be clear: I have not tried every single butter in the world.

I just know that the latest products from France’s Le Beurre Bordier completely floored me.

I had already been captivated by its regular salted butter. But its seasonal Framboise (raspberry) and Bear’s Garlic & Kampot Pepper butters made me fairly gasp as they melted languidly on my palate.

Mass-produced butter can be made in a day. Founder Jean Yves Bordier needs 72 hours to turn milk from local farmers in Brittany into his high-fat, small-batch butter. He only makes the butter on demand, too, so it’s as fresh as it gets.

Campbell’s The Frenchery, a French online marketplace of gourmet food products, is the only retailer in the world to carry the entire line of Le Beurre Bordier butters (aside from Le Beurre Bordier, itself). The Frenchery pre-orders the butter ahead of time, and takes possession of it once arrives at Los Angeles International Airport. All in all, it’s about two weeks time from when the butter is made to when it gets on your table.

Thanks to The Frenchery, I had a chance to taste samples of these special seasonal butters. Like any Le Beurre Bordier, these two butters are softer than conventional ones. So much so that if you leave the bricks of butter out on the counter, they will soften to perfect spreadable consistency in only about 15 minutes.

You can’t miss the raspberry butter ($12), not with its vivid raspberry salt-water-taffy color through and through.

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Tasty For Kids, But Sure To Please Adults, Too!

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Would you believe there's butternut squash in this ready-to-drink smoothie?
Would you believe there’s butternut squash in this ready-to-drink smoothie?

With their cheery, colorful designs featuring a cute, overall-clad cow on the bottles, Clover The Rainbow smoothies are clearly intended for kids.

But the worst kept secret is they are so delicious and satisfying that adults will surely be clamoring for them, too.

The new product by family-owned Clover Sonoma is all organic. It’s full of fruit. And psst, it also contains vegetables.

Just get a load of the three flavors: Blueberry Beet; Strawberry Carrot; and Strawberry Banana Butternut.

I had a chance to try samples recently of all three, which come in single-serve resealable bottles. Just keep refrigerated, and give it a good shake before enjoying.

Keep refrigerated until you're ready to refresh with one.
Keep refrigerated until you’re ready to refresh with one.

All three flavors are creamy, thick, and not overly sweet. Honestly, if you didn’t see the veggies listed predominantly on the front, you might not know they are there, as these smoothies are definitely fruit-forward tasting.

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