Last week’s blog got a nice response from people excited to bring in their citrus in exchange for dessert or oysters at Waterbar. We are ready for lots of squeezing and zesting.

I also heard from Dr. Isabel Wade of Urban Resources Systems. URS and Dr. Wade have been pioneers in promoting the concept of urban self-reliance in San Francisco since 1981. They have been promoting sustainability way before it was the hip thing to do.

Some of the projects initiated or incubated at URS include:  CityFood, San Francisco ZooDoo, California ReLeaf, the AIDS Memorial Grove, and the Neighborhood Parks Council.  Dr. Wade is also the founding President of Friends of the Urban Forest, and has served as a member of the San Francisco Commission on the Environment and as Chair of the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Committee.  She also received the Mayor’s Office first Lifetime Achievement Award (Neighborhood Empowerment Network) in 2009. 

URS is taking the lead on an initiative called Just One Tree. The first step is to register all the lemon trees in the city on The Urban Forest Map. No one really knows for sure how many trees are in the city but it has been estimated to be at least 3,000.

Once all the present trees are recorded, Just One Tree wants to plant 12,000 lemon trees in the city’s 150,000 back yards, public parks, and other public lands by the end of 2013.

Just One Tree will illustrate that even a dense city such as San Francisco, with little arable space, can be a striking model and inspiration for other Bay Area and California cities with far more land.  Its success will also hopefully have global resonance and provide a global model that any city can work toward great self-reliance in food production, even if the best result is Just One Crop.

Soon they will have the Just One Tree website up and you will be able to register your lemon tree(s). In the meantime for more information on Just One Tree and to contact them about donating your time and/or money to this great project, go to urbanresourcesystems.org.

The first California citrus trees were planted in The Missions in the mid 1830’s. Soon thereafter they were introduced throughout the state. Once the transcontinental railroad was built in the late 1870’s, our citrus was shipped to the east coast and by the 1890’s California’s bounty was being enjoyed in Europe.

For many in the Bay Area this yearly bonanza is also recognized by simply looking out their front or back window. Countless homes have a citrus tree decorating their yards. These trees produce an abundance of fruit and it can be difficult to use it all. There’s only so much juice you can squeeze, marmalade you can preserve, or rind you can zest. Your neighbors, although appreciative, will only take so much. I speak from experience as I now have thirty five pounds of Meyer Lemons in my fridge impatiently waiting to be turned into something.

Waterbar would like to help you unload your personal harvest. For each 10 pounds of Meyer lemons, Kumquats, limes, oranges or any other variety of citrus you have an abundance of, we will trade you a half dozen of Chef’s choice oysters or a dessert of your choice. Haul 30 pounds to us and we will name the dish we use your fruit in after you for a day and send you a copy of the menu. Also please email us a picture of you and your tree so we can verify you didn’t pick the fruit up at Whole Foods or the Farmer’s Market.  Email me at emily@emilyluchetti.com or our purchasing agent, Eric Hyman, at eric@waterbarsf.com.

Note: For an exceptionally informative book about citrus and its considerable number of varieties, check out Allen Susser’s The Great Citrus Book (Ten Speed Press).

Like me, Suzanne LaFleur, pastry chef at Perbacco and Barbacco, began her kitchen career on the savory side. Raised in San Jose, she graduated from The California Culinary Academy and her work resume includes The Grand Café, Waterfront, Silks and Yoshi’s. Her first pastry chef job was at Silks.

Looking back over her restaurant experiences she feels that savory work taught her many skills she uses on a daily basis in pastry. Among them, how to not crowd a pan for better results and working the grill for speed and efficiency. Bruce Hill at Waterfront was influential as she learned from his impressive palate.

Most recently her go to dessert cookbooks are Frozen Desserts by Francisco J. Migoya and anything by David Lebovitz and Gina DePalma.

Earlier this week we sat down at Waterbar and chatted about desserts.

EL: What flavors/ingredients do you like best?

SL: A couple of different things. Anything with malt. I just got back from Fiji and I found an Australian malt called Milo. I can’t wait to use it.

(Another thing Suzanne and I have in common is going to grocery stores when we travel internationally. It’s fun to see different things on the shelves.)

Cardamom- the green pods, not the ground up black kind.

Caramelized White Chocolate- I put it in a big hotel pan, bake it at 200 degrees and constantly stir it. Anything with crunch- cocoa nibs and feuillentine (crushed cookies that taste like sugar cones.

What flavors/ingredients do you like least?

Licorice and Guava

What dessert first comes to mind when I mention the following ingredients:

Rhubarb – Jam Filled Zeppole

Passion fruit – Pate de fruit

 Chocolate –Devil’s Food Cake

Berries – Summer Pudding (I like to add a splash of Cointreau)

Coconut Coconut Milk Caramels

Apples – Coffee Cake

What dessert has someone else created that you loved?

Christina Tosi’s (Momofuku Milk Bar) Candy Bar Pie. It’s modeled after a Take 5 Candy Bar with a chocolate crust, layers of peanut butter, chocolate, and caramel pretzels.

What ingredient would you like to see used more in the pastry kitchen or appreciated by diners?

Quince. Before it went out of season I served it poached with gingerbread cake and squash seed brittle.

What kitchen tool would you be lost without?

A Chinois. If you can strain it you probably should.

What’s your least favorite pastry trend?

French macarons. I appreciate them and recognize they take skill to make but they are overdone.

What do people not know about you that you wish they did?

I recently got into scuba diving.

Where do you like to eat out in the city?

Sushizone on Market near Destino and Broken Record on Geneva. The latter is primarily a bar but they have a window in the back where you can order really good comfort food.

What was the last thing you made outside of work?

My girlfriend and I made peppercorn crusted New York Steaks with a potato gratin.

What’s your go to breakfast?

Polenta and coffee.

It’s a fun event for a couple of reasons. Yosemite is a magnificent national park but going in the summer can be a bit chaotic. The crowds are loving the place to death. In winter it is more peaceful without the masses. I also look forward to the park in the snow. Nothing beats looking out the windows of The Ahwahnee Hotel at breakfast and seeing the huge pine trees covered in white. But even though they haven’t gotten a single flake of snow yet this year there is an upside. You can still hike in areas that in a normal weather conditions would be off limits.

The other reason I like going is the people who attend the classes. They love food and wine and are very friendly. Many are repeats. They come as couples or in groups. I met a group of 14 this year who are having a reunion here. Many come from the Western States but some travel from Texas and even the east coast.

Three chefs participate in each session. This time I was fortunate to be paired up with two San Francisco Bay Area Chefs whose food I had not yet had the opportunity to try. Peter Chastain from Prima (ww.primawine.com) in Walnut Creek and Sean Baker from Gather (www.gatherrestaurant.com) in Berkeley.

Sean demonstrated two recipes he has served on his restaurant menu. Miso Grapefruit Cured Black Cod with Fried Egg, Compressed Celery, Smoked Oyster and Lovage and Citron Ramen with Dungeness Crab “Fish Balls”, Citron Leaf Confit Pork Shoulder, Trotter Bacon Dashi and Garnishes. I got to taste the Ramen and it was delicious. A perfect balance of flavors. Sean uses sous vide to produce most of his food and he is a master of that machine. I can’t wait to go to Gather and try more if his food.

The demonstrations were moderated by Andrew Friedman, a talented writer who has co-authored cookbooks with many chefs including, Alfred Portale of Gotham Bar and Grill in New York and former White House Chef Walter Scheib. He wrote the book Knives at Dawn: America’s Quest for Culinary Glory at the Legendary Bocuse d’Or Competition.  His newly relaunched website, www.toqueland.com is a wealth of chef and food information.

Peter Chastain is a 10 year veteran of Yosemite Chefs’ Holidays. This year he and his sous chef, Jose Luis Laragazza, prepared the Gala dinner. Here’s the menu.

Fried Ascolani Olives Stuffed with Meat Ragu & Pecorino

Crostini of Cauliflower, Sweet Onion & Marjoram

Marinated Peppers Stuffed with Tuna Conservato

NV Villa Sandi Extra Dry, Proseco Valdobbiandene

Misto of Lobster, Monkfish, Clams, Mussels & Calamari

Salsa Verde- Micro Greens

2010 Poggio Al Tesoro Vermentino

 Baked “Little Scarves” Filled with Porcini Mushrooms

Besciamella & Leek Passato

2006 Castello di Bossi Chianti Classico Riserva

 Long Simmered Niman Ranch Stuffed Pork Spareribs

Valley Rabbit “In Porchetta”, Corona Beans & Tuscan Kale

2009 Tenuta Sette Ponti Crognolo

 Chocolate-Hazelnut Semifredddo

Shattered Candy & Espresso Inglese

Check out the website  and consider going. There are a few tickets left for some of this year’s remaining sessions or plan it for 2013. You’ll enjoy it.

It’s called a Dawa and means medicine in Swahili. Its roots are Brazilian but if a country has a national drink this would be it. It’s quite simple and is made up of vodka, limes, honey and ice. The stick is like a muddler and although cool to twirl in the glass it actually has a purpose. Dipped into honey before adding it to the glass, you also use it to mix the ingredients together and to bring out the flavor while you are drinking it.  I brought some sticks home with me but if you don’t have them you can use the end of a wooden spoon or make your own by cutting a dowel into 5 inch sections. In a pinch a muddler would work but it’s a little large.

At different spots in Kenya I had it prepared various ways. This version is the best. Additions like soda water made it more like a honey vodka tonic; sugar made it too sweet; large pieces of ice, rather than crushed, didn’t allow for proper mixing; and straight lime juice without lime pieces made it less attractive and didn’t allow the lime flavor to develop. Cheers!

Dawa

Serves 1

2 ounces vodka

3/4- 1 cup crushed ice

1/2 lime cut lengthwise into quarters and sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 tablespoon honey

Pour the vodka in the rocks glass. Fill it about 1/2 full of crushed ice. Add the lime. Dip the stick in the honey jar or add 1 tablespoon with a spoon to the glass. Stir to blend. While sipping crush the lime with the stick and stir to make sure the honey is evenly incorporated.

Born in Bellflower in Southern California she grew up in 6 different cities before moving to Portland when she was 19. On a whim she moved to North Carolina. To pay the rent she started washing dishes at a local restaurant. As she explained “it was not as glamorous as one thinks it is” so she quickly proved herself and became a cook.

To get to the employee bathroom you had to walk through the pastry department. She would see the cooks working quietly peeling apples and melting chocolate and envied that environment to the crazy savory side of the kitchen. She finally got her entrance into this as she describes it “secret society” when a pastry cook was too drunk to work.  They called her to fill in. She said she would come in on her day off and help but they had to give her an additional shift in the pastry department. She never went back to the hot line. Her first pastry chef job was at Elaine’s in Chapel Hill.

In 2002 she and her husband (who she met in the first week she moved to North Carolina) moved to San Francisco. Here she has worked at Bacar, Lulu and Delfina. She also was an associate professor at The California Culinary Academy for a short time.

Michelle doesn’t have formal pastry training. She learned from books. Betty Crocker, Chez Panisse Desserts, Baking with Julia, and Stars Desserts were among her favorites.

Earlier this week we sat down at Blue Bottle Coffee in the Ferry Building and talked pastry.

EL: What flavors/ingredients do you like best?

MP: Fruits of all kinds. They’re one of the reasons I moved to San Francisco. The variety and availability is amazing. I love all berries, dates, pomegranates and stone fruit. Grapes and persimmons are wonderful to eat but there aren’t that many different ways to incorporate them into desserts.

What flavors/ingredients do you like least?

Nothing really, sometimes combinations can be wrong but individually they are all good.

What dessert or flavor first comes to mind when I mention the following ingredients?

Rhubarb- Tart

Passion fruit- Ginger cake with passion fruit caramel and coconut cream- It’s on my dessert men now.

Chocolate-Mast Brothers from Brooklyn

Berries- Seascape Strawberries from Lucero or Dirty Girl

Coffee- cold brewed coffee granita

Almonds-croquante

What dessert has someone else created that you loved?

Nicole Krasinski’s financier with plums or tangerines (whichever is in season) and olive oil gelato. Nicole makes smart desserts.

Who has influenced your dessert style?

Delfina, Claudia Fleming, Chez Panisse and Emily Luchetti (sorry but she really said me)

What ingredient would you like to see used more in the pastry kitchen or appreciated by diners?

Figs, dates and prunes.

What kitchen tool would you be lost without?

My hands

What’s your least favorite pastry trend?

Pastry trends

What do people not know about you that you wish they did?

I am pretty transparent. People see all of me.

Where do you like to eat out in the city?

I like the tacos at La Taqueria. Even without my employee discount I would like eating at Range.

What was the last thing you made outside of work?

Strudel for a friend’s birthday

Rolled Fondant is also frequently used on wedding cakes. Most pastry chefs buy it and dye it the desired color but some make it from scratch out of sugar, corn syrup, glycerine and gelatin. I did it a couple of times but it wasn’t worth the time. I wish someone would figure out how to make it taste good.  Some brands are definitely better than others but for me it always tastes like wet cardboard. A talented pastry chef can make impressively beautiful and creative cakes with fondant. A pastry chef’s technical skills is important as there should be a thin layer covering the cake and it should lie flat over the cake without any wrinkles. As much as I am in awe of these cakes, give me frosting over fondant any day.

EL-What flavors/ingredients do you like best?
LC- Acidic fruits. They have a lot of punch and hold up well to being manipulated in a dessert. Balance is crucial too. I prefer yellow peaches over white as the latter are too sweet. Passion fruit and pineapple in season.

What flavors/ingredients do you like least?
Not many things but- licorice and anise. Too much sugar in a dessert.
What dessert first comes to mind when I mention the following ingredients:
Rhubarb- vanilla, rhubarb soda
Passion fruit- panna cotta
Chocolate-brownies
Berries-whipped cream
Coconut- sponge cake
Almonds- Almond Joy
What dessert has someone else created that you loved?
Stephen Durfee’s (Pastry chef instructor at the CIA at Greystone) Deconstructed Cocoa Cola. Coke has many ingredients and Stephen was able to pull them out and create a dessert. It was amazing.
What ingredient would you like to see used more in the pastry kitchen or appreciated by diners?
Bitter flavors like coffee and chicory. They need to be used with restraint but they balance sugar. Rose and orange blossom waters.; floral notes
What kitchen tool would you be lost without?
A Vita Prep
What’s your least favorite pastry trend?
The misuse of modern techniques and ingredients. You need to understand the basics of fundamental pastry techniques before trying new things. You can’t experiment on guests.
Where do you like to eat out in the city?
After spending so much time in a kitchen I like straightforward food. Boot and Shoe Service and Namu.
What was the last thing you cooked at home?
A bone in rib eye with pardon peppers.
What did you have for breakfast this morning?
Grapefruit Juice
What do people not know about you that you wish they did?
I know that I can come off as imposing in the kitchen, and I suppose I am at times, but mostly I’m a pretty nice guy…and I love to ride fast motorcycles.

As someone who strives to make great tasting desserts on a daily basis, what bothers me is part logistics and part pleasure. Ground cookie-style pie crusts work fine but all the ones I’ve tasted that featured a traditional pie crust were under-baked and soggy. Glass jars serve one person and in a small container the fruit cooks faster than the crust can brown. If you get the crust brown the filling will be overcooked.

Also when you dig in all you get is filling, and you have to go to the edge to get the crust. I know some may think I’m no fun and being picky. Yes, they might be a cute hostess present, but when I am making desserts cute is not what I strive for.

I was willing to let pies in a jar go unmentioned, but I recently saw cupcakes in a jar. This is just plain dumb. The one I sampled had the cake part with a paper liner in the bottom of a one pint jar and frosting piped on top. To fill the jar required about 2 1/2 inches of frosting. The frosting stuck to the sides of the jar making it practically impossible to eat the cupcake; you had to dig through all the frosting to get to the cake. Then you have to avoid mistakenly eating the paper liner. I have seen them without paper liners, a definite improvement, but the proportions of frosting to cake are still off and they still require a spoon. This negates one of the best things about eating a cupcake— using your fingers.

So please no ice cream sandwiches, napoleons, muffins, or Rice Krispies Treats in jars

Guittard Chocolate located in Burlingame invited a bunch of pastry chefs for a blind tasting of some of their chocolates to get feedback of the styles and characteristics we like or don’t like in chocolate.

Founded in 1868 Guittard Chocolate has always been a family run company.  Etienne, Gary’s great grandfather, was first at the helm followed by his grandfather Horace, and then his father, Horace A. Under Gary’s stewardship and vision the company developed its E. Guittard line that is used by pastry chefs and home cooks worldwide.

We sampled chocolate made with 60, 70 and 100 percent cacao. For each percentage we tasted three different types. For the 60 and 70 percentages we tried the chocolate as is and also made into a chocolate mousse with a chocolate center. For the 100 percent we tried it plain and in a brownie like cake with a ganache. When tasting chocolate it is important to taste it in something as well as on its own. The characteristics change once you add other ingredients.

The 100 % which is unsweetened was tricky to taste solo as it is so strong. Most of us, myself included, were a little overwhelmed by the straight-up 100%.  You have to be a veteran taster like Gary Guittard, current president and CEO of Guittard Chocolate, or Michael Recchiuti of Recchiuti Chocolates, to pick up nuances through the bitterness.

While we all picked up on similar flavors in the different chocolates- red fruit, coconut, coffee, cocoa, even peanut butter and agreed on whether they were acidic or creamy, the preferences for these were all over the map. Some preferred the chocolates with a deep cocoa taste while others liked softer more subtle ones. There were no wrong or right answers and that’s what makes tasting other pastry chef’s desserts interesting and important. You get to look at things in a whole new light.

Some chocolates have a consistent flavor profile throughout. Others have a first hit of one flavor and then morph into something else entirely. When I get a new chocolate I make it in one of my tried and true recipes. That way I can discern differences. Interestingly, Michele Polzine, pastry chef at Range, tries the chocolate and lets it tell her what to do with it. I am going to try that approach next time.