Kevin Hoskins Eats Out

Kevin Hoskins Eats Out.

Kevin Hoskins at Moby Dick

Kevin is one of my friends that agrees with me when I say – “Tripe sounds good today”. How many people can you say that about in your life? He’s a great cook. He likes things simple. One of my favorite things Kevin has ever made for me are his Black Olive Cookies. I probably get them about once a year – which isn’t nearly enough. They are rich from oil-cured black olives and have a great balance of sugar and salt. He confesses his love for Lemon Cake here – and this past year for his birthday I got to make him one. I don’t know if it matched up to his Aunts – but I think it satisfied his craving. Kevin is currently part of the team that brings you the weekly party Some Thing (the art, drag dance party) at The Stud.

What is your favorite dessert?

Hmmmm… My aunt always made a lemon bundt cake with lemon juice and powdered sugar frosting for my birthday. It was simple and refreshing. I love semi-sweets. When I do bake its usually olive cookies. And when the first strawberries come in around February when they have flavor but it hasn’t gotten warm enough for them to be sweet, I love dipping them in sour cream and brown sugar.

What restaurant would you call your home?

I just ate at Zuni Cafe and realized how much it is like my home. I’m friends with like half of the staff. Unfortunately its not exactly like my home since I don’t have a wood oven to roast my broccoli and cauliflower with my pork chop. It always inspires me to cook simply and a little out of my comfort zone.

What is the strangest thing you’ve eaten?

When I was fifteen I went on a student exchange to Kazakhstan. A Kazakh version of a toast is centered around a roasted goat head. The host hands a piece of the head to you with choice words and you eat it. My last night there – my host father gave me and my host brother each an eyeball saying he hoped “we would be such great friends that we always see in the same direction.” Eyeballs aside, I am always looking for Central Asian food, and I’d love to not have to go to Coney Island or Beijing to find it.

What was your favorite breakfast cereal as a kid?

My sister ate Golden Grahams, and the smell really grossed me out. So I liked Corn Bran, or when I was on vacation, Cap’n Crunch Berries. My sister and I were allergic to milk, so we used Mocha Mix which also may explain why I didn’t need sweet cereal. It was sweet enough.

What is your favorite food to pig-out on after the club?

If my neighbor is up, I like to go to his house and make baked eggs. I don’t mind cooking them, but I like him to clean the ramekins.

Kevin and I at an art opening in NYC, 2004

Italian Plum Cake

I love stone fruits – especially peaches, nectarines and plums. When I was a little kid we had a peach tree in the backyard and my mother said I would stand under the tree waiting for a peach to drop into my hands. Even now as an adult I am never prepared for the sweet juices that run down my face.

The Italian plum is sometimes called prune or Stanley. They ripen at the end of summer.

This recipe for Italian Plum Cake is from David Tanis’ cookbook “A platter of figs, and other recipes”. It’s pretty simple to make with very few ingredients.

Italian Plum Cake

1 cup unblanched almonds

1/2 cup sugar, plus about 1/4 cup for topping

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1/2 cup whole milk

4 tablespoons sweet butter, melted

2 pounds Italian plums, pitted and sliced thickly

Preheat the oven to 350*F. Butter a 10-inch tart pan or springform pan. Put the almonds and 1/2 cup sugar in a blender or food processor and pulse until the nuts are finely ground. Add the flour and salt and pulse once more.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Beat the eggs with the milk and stir in the melted butter. Add the egg mixture to the almond mixture and whisk for a minute or two until the batter is smooth.

Pour the batter into the pan and smooth with a spatula. Arrange the plum slices on top in a circular pattern. Sprinkle sugar generously over the plums. Bake for 40 – 45 minutes. until the top is golden and a paring knife inserted into the center comes clean.

This cake is best served within a few hours of baking.

Dinners with Grandpa by Nilda Brooklyn

My friend Nilda shares a wonderful story about having dinners with her grandfather. A great recipe follows but do listen to the Podcast here…GP.

Nilda’s voice is beautiful to listen to as she cooks and talks to her grandfather.

My grandfather, Carl German, has lived an incredible life as a professor, sailor, wrestler and engineer. He always shared with me that the biggest influence on his life and on how he viewed food was growing up during the Depression. He savored every meal because food was not to be taken for granted. His favorite food story is the first time he tried sashimi. He was sailing to England and a Bluefin tuna jumped on the boat. He said it was one of the best meals of his life.

Fettuccine with Clams

1 pound fettuccine
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 strips of bacon, cut into small pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
Zest of 1 lemon plus the juice
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Oregano or thyme or both (small pinch)
¼ cup clam juice
1pound clams
1Tablespoon butter
Handful of chopped parsley
Salt & pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta (make sure water is very salty). Heat olive oil and render bacon. Remove and drain on paper towel. Reserve bacon bits for finishing the pasta dish.

Add shallots to bacon fat and olive oil and cook until translucent, then add the garlic and cook until garlic is fragrant. Add ½ lemon zest, red pepper flakes, oregano and thyme. Cook until herbs become fragrant. Keep heat on low-medium so the garlic and herbs do not burn. Add the lemon juice and clam juice and simmer to let it reduce and the broth becomes rich. Add clams and cover the pot cooking until all the clams have opened (discard clams that do not open). Add one ladle of pasta water.

Drain pasta and add 1tablespoon butter and half of the parsley. Salt and pepper the dish to taste.

Top with clams and clam broth, parsley, bacon bits and grated Parmesan cheese.

Serves 4

Dan Pelosi Eats Out

Dan Pelosi Eats Out

Dan Pelosi

Dan and I both consider ourselves big eaters as well as feeders. We’ll both spend hours in our kitchens creating food so that we can feed or give it away to our hungry friends. It’s an illness. And one I think both of us will never get over. We once went on a date to the Ferry Buildings Farmers Market and I got to watch Dan smell fresh summer tomatoes. It looked like he was getting high. I knew at that moment that we would be friends forever. We’ve shared a lot of meals around town – but its been the meals at my table that have proven most memorable. Dan is a great conversationalist with a whip smart sense of humor. After dinner he always offers to do the dishes – but is really in the kitchen scrapping up the bottom of the pot and eating it with a spoon.

Dan & I on a date.

Dan answers my foodie questionnaire here:

What is your favorite dessert?

Lillian’s Cherry Nut Cake. My grandmother’s best friend Lillian used to make it all the time when i was little. It’s incredible- not too sweet and the perfect texture . My mom got her hands on the recipe and would always make it for me for my birthday. I would spend the whole week following my birthday sitting in front of the fridge with a fork (or 2) eating away at it. It only got better with time. The recipe has now been passed into my hands, and when i am making a cherry nut cake, it’s always for someone special. If you ask nicely, i will share the recipe with you.

Dan’s kitchen

What restaurant would you call your home?

Anyone who knows me at all knows the answer to this question is Bar Jules. I live in Hayes Valley, and from the moment Bar Jules opened, I have been obsessed. Jessica (the owner) and her staff treat me like family. I have spent so many special occasions there. Jessica has taken all the things that make Northern California cuisine so wonderful and has simplified them into a tiny delicious menu that changes daily. Many nights i am eating dinner alone at the bar chatting with a stranger, and many mornings i wake up dreaming of their burger.

Dan & Grandpa Pelosi – the meatball maker!

What is the strangest or most inspiring thing you’ve ever eaten?

On my parents’ 30th wedding anniversary, my grandparents made my parents 30 pounds of homemade cavatelli to celebrate  (they are known to make meatballs in batches of 100, so this feat was something they were ready for.) The cavatelli lasted (frozen) for a while. On the christmas after my Grandmother died, we gathered as a family and ate the last few pounds of cavatelli that she had ever made as a tribute to her. Everyone was crying and laughing as we all told stories about her and shared one of her greatest gifts, food. Before she died, my grandmother taught me how to make her cavatelli, and now i get to pass her recipe on to the next generation.

What was your favorite breakfast cereal as a kid?

I don’t think i knew other cereals besides Lucky Charms even existed when i was a kid. The way that the marshmallows got really weird in the milk was fascinating to me. The milk would turn all kinds of cuckoo colors. And it only got better once it was all in my mouth. Also, any leftover milk was transformed into a sip-able sugary form of crystal meth.

Dan and his mom.

What is your favorite food to pig-out on after the club?

Well as of late there have been no clubs, and i am pretty much a full-time stay-at-home lesbian. So that means lots of crumbs in the sheets from Goldfish Crackers or my homemade chocolate chip cookies. In my glory days as a Booty Call Wednesday regular, though, if i wasn’t eating my own tears after the club, i was definitely eating some form of pizza from that place on 18th or chicken fingers at one of those 24 hour diner places that somehow exist despite strict health codes.

Dan Pelosi

After leaving his job in July as a designer for GAP after 5 years, he has been working as Creative Director for an experiential retail design firm. The job has had him very busy traveling, and eating, all over the country. I know the minute he lands in  San Francisco – he smells the croissants baking at Tartine – and heads straight there.

Brunch at Boulette’s Larder

Spending Sundays brunching has never been my thing. I like to eat breakfast first thing in the morning. And, when lunchtime rolls around I enjoy sitting down to a substantial meal – minus the champagne mimosa’s. Boulette’s Larder at San Francisco’s Ferry Building has changed all of that for me. Thankfully there are no mimosa’s or Bloody Mary’s on the menu. When the weather is great – sitting outside with the view of the bay can be the perfect start any Sunday. When its a bit cool – I prefer to sit at the over-sized communal table indoors. There always seems to be someone seated with some sort of “six degrees of separation” friend at one end or the other. And, the romantic floral arrangements on the table are always somehow perfectly in bloom.

Today my friend and I shared two simple plates cooked with local ingredients. She had scrambled eggs with truffle butter and fresh asparagus. The eggs were so soft and buttery. I had the chopped chicken liver salad – which was served with some delicious red beets and a perfectly cooked soft-boiled. Both plates were so satisfying. The meal was complimented by the loving attention of the owners Laurie, Amaryll and staff. They make you feel like you could spend the entire day sitting at their table.

There are other great reasons to stop into Boulette’s Larder besides brunch, lunch or a special private dinner. There is an amazing array of dry pantry items and there is a case packed with deliciously  prepared local food, ready for you to take-away, which makes planning dinner for your busy city life super easy.

The lovely man Cole to your left was our host! The perfect smile to greet us.