Swapper Profile: Sole Anatrone + Recipes for Handmade Orecchiette Pasta and Broccoli Rabe Pesto

Sole teaching a pasta-making class

Name: Sole Anatrone

Home (+ hometown swap): I live and swap in San Francisco!

Profession: I am an adjunct professor of Italian cinema, literature and Women and Gender Studies at UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University.

How did you first get involved in food swapping? How long ago? I think the first swap I attended was about 4 years ago, here in San Francisco. I think I read about it in a local food newsletter and thought, “That sounds so fun!” – because for me fun = food + people.

What did you make for the last food swap and what inspired your choice?

The last thing I made for a swap was focaccia with three jars of topping: pesto, pickled eggplant, and roasted red pepper. I try to make something different for each swap. In the weeks leading up to the last swap I had been making a lot of focaccia and had been loving the summer eggplant harvest so I thought I would put something together with those items.

What’s your favorite thing about swapping? I love seeing recipes other people are testing out and being inspired by their choices. I often go home and try to recreate or transform some of the creations I tasted at the swap. The nice thing about the swap is that it is one of the few spaces left where you can talk about and eat food without being caught up in the world of commerce. I often use the swap as a testing ground, trying out new recipes and looking for feedback (pop tarts was a fun one!).

Sole and her co-chef, Chris

Who or what most influences your cooking? My cooking is very much a product of my biography. I grew up in Santa Cruz and in Italy, in my cooking that means an Italian palate with a California-hippie attention to nutrition, balance and seasonal produce. This is particularly clear in my pasta-making classes. Every couple months I lead a series of classes with my friend and co-chef Chris. Under the name “Delizia SF” we teach students how to make a variety of traditional Italian pastas and then we put a little California spin on the sauces, side dishes and antipasti. These classes bring me so much joy, we always have a wonderful time in the kitchen and the class ends with a great big group meal. We started with orecchiette, a semolina pasta my grandmother often made; most recently we made squash tortelloni in a hazelnut and sage-butter sauce. For more info contact: deliziasf@gmail.com or find us on Facebook.

What’s your favorite kitchen tool? My black wooden spoon. It is wide and round almost flat, the wood feels good in my hand and doesn’t burn my tongue or get stained if I leave it in tomato sauce. I love it!

Your current flavor or ingredient obsession? Carrots have been particularly delicious this year. I am currently roasting a batch for a carrot-pepper soup and have been tossing them in just about everything from chile verde and ragù. Usually we think of roasted carrots as being a fall food but these late summer carrots are so sweet; a nice summer dish is to take roasted carrots and toss them with olive oil and my herbed salt (rosemary, thyme, oregano and garlic) and add them to a salad of charred corn and ricotta salata.

Biggest food surprise? Jellyfish salad. I had no idea what to expect when I tried it for the first time many years ago at little Japanese restaurant in the outer Richmond. I was blown away but how delicious and textured the dish was, not too salty and not slimy at all, just a little crunchy and deeply refreshing. I love coming across ingredients that are new to me, that is a big part of why I love to travel; last fall in Portugal my adventurous palate led me to discover amazingly delicious warm cod and chic pea salad, and a deeply disappointing candied egg yolks! Jellyfish salad was a wonderful surprise but definitely a special-occasion dish!

If the Rapture came tomorrow, what would your last meal on earth be? My impulse is to list the richer, saltier items that I save for special occasions: prosciutto, raw oysters, Spanish-style clams in garlic and white wine, grilled tri-tip, tortellini in brood… But if I'm honest I would probably want something comforting (it is the end of the world after all!) so I might have a carbonara (with lots of garlic, pancetta, pecorino and peas).  

When I'm not in the kitchen I'm _________.

Teaching, reading, and thinking about food in other parts of the city.

Favorite local food experience: Chile verde from Puerto Alegre; walnut bread with burrata and mushroom-truffle honey from Beretta; and the Alemany Farmer’s Market.

Recipe by Sole:

Handmade Orcchiette with Broccoli Rabe Pesto

Download Sole's recipe here.

Swapper Profile: Diana Dinh + Quince Tarte Tatin Recipe

Home (+ hometown swap): San Francisco, CA

Profession: Connecting people and processes within the tech start-up world.

How did you first get involved in food swapping? How long ago?

I can't even remember how I initially found out about the SF Food Swap, but seeing that I obsessively trawl the internet for food-related things, it was only a matter of time before I got reeled in. My first swap was in 2012. I made balsamic roasted strawberries and baked biscuits for samples. I remember being so awed by the thoughtful creations: vanilla kumquat compote, candy cap mushroom cookies, sugar-frosted flowers...

What did you make for the last food swap and what inspired your choice?

I made two things: a savory eggplant spread and miso caramel. I've had a long-time love affair with eggplant and had recently made baba ghanoush without tahini simply because I hadn't any handy. To make up for it, I amped up the paprika. The result was so delicious that I wanted to make more of it and share. As for the miso caramel, I'm a baker at heart, so my mind tends to sway towards the sweet for food swaps. However, I wanted to make something slightly off the beaten trail, and miso pairs so well with the savory smokiness of a dark caramel. 

Savory eggplant at the March 2015 swap

What’s your favorite thing about swapping?

I really love the creative inspiration I get from going to a food swap. It's a great opportunity to use ingredients (cara cara orange mostarda, chocolate adobo...) that I wouldn't have made myself. 

Who or what most influences your cooking?

I read about food voraciously, devouring cookbooks, food history books, food politics books. But I think my cooking has been most strongly shaped by three people: my mother; my butchery/charcuterie guru, Kate; and my friend and food soul mate, Jon. Growing up, I was my mother's unknowing sous chef, washing and prepping all manner of Asian greens and cleaning cuts of meat as she turned out amazing Vietnamese dishes. I spent a month learning to butcher and make charcuterie with Kate in Gascony. In addition to getting me technically attuned to pig anatomy and my boning knife, she's taught me volumes about what it means to cook good food. Lastly, it was Jon who pulled me into the culinary milieux of San Francisco, convincing me at the tender age of twenty-one that I must invest in a KitchenAid stand mixer and food processor (of course, he was right). 

Balsamic Roasted Strawberries with Baked Biscuits

What’s your favorite kitchen tool?

My stand mixer should be a given, seeing that I bake as much as I do. I also love my chef's knife (a Global) and bench scraper (it makes even the untidiest surfaces tidy!).  

Your current flavor or ingredient obsession?

After years of riding the Californian-Italian-New American high, I'm finding my passion newly renewed in South East Asian flavors. The brightness, the pungency one finds in food from that corner of the world is unlike any other flavor profile. 

Biggest food surprise?

Spanish tapas. Without a firm foothold in the US and with an unfortunate run of uninformed eating choices as a college student in Barcelona, tapas fell vertiginously low in my eyes. In my then-quite limited experience, tapas were overly heavy: a mess of potatoes, cheese, and grease. They remained decried for nearly a decade, until I returned to Barcelona with a tapas treasure map drawn out by Jon. The ah-ha moment was reached, and not long after cemented in the celebrated pintxos bars of San Sebastian. I was so incredibly wrong about tapas. 

If the Rapture came tomorrow, what would your last meal on earth be?

I would begin with a Lebanese mezze spread: hummus topped with lamb and pine nuts, roasted eggplants in warmed yogurt, muhammara, kibbeh, and pomegranate roasted starlings. I would want this with nargile. Then, I would move on to a main course of Vietnamese caramel-braised pork shoulder on the tenderest white rice, with a bowl of simple greens soup on the side. For dessert, I would have quince tarte tatin with a scoop of the velvetiest vanilla ice-cream. There would be a loaf of challah throughout the whole meal.  

When I'm not in the kitchen I'm _________.

Reading at Thoroughbread and Pastry or The Mill, hiking at Mt. Tam, or perhaps biking to Ocean Beach with my husband. 

Favorite local food experience:

Two things make me indescribably happy about living and eating in San Francisco: ice-cream from Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous and the Noe Street evening farmer's market. 

Recipe by Diana: 

Quince Tarte Tatin

For the crust:

Ingredients:

·         236 grams flour

·         3/4 T. sugar

·         3/4 t. salt

·         168 grams butter (also, 3/4 c.)

·         Ice water

Method:

1.       In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, and salt and pulse to mix evenly

2.       Cut butter into 1/2 inch cubes and add to flour mixture. Pulse until coarse, pebbly texture is achieved (~5-7 times)

3.       Add 3 tablespoons ice water to flour butter mixture and pulse (~10 times). Add additional ice water tablespoon by tablespoon, pulsing a few times between each addition. The dough should just come together; be careful not to add too much water or else the texture of the crust will be gluey and sticky rather than flaky and delicious. 

4.       Dump dough out onto sheet of plastic wrap, molding into an inch thick disc. Try to handle the dough as little as possible; you want to keep it nice and cold for texture. 

5.       Refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes

For the tart:

Ingredients:

·         6 medium-sized apples (I like Granny Smiths or Pink Lady’s)

·         1 1/2 sticks butter

·         1 1/2 cups sugar

Method:

·         Preheat your oven to 375F

·         Peel, core, and quarter your apples and set aside

·         In a cast-iron or other heat-proof skillet (mine is 12 inches wide), melt butter over medium-low heat

·         Take off heat and add sugar, stirring (a wooden spoon is good here) to incorporate

·         Bring the skillet back over medium heat, letting the sugar and butter melt together into a light golden brown caramel. Timing is everything here; watch for the color to turn. Wait a minute too long and you will have burnt caramel. This should take about 7-10 minutes 

·         Add the apple quarters core side up, packing the skillet as densely as you can. I like to make two concentric circles

·         Let the apples and caramel meld together, about 5-7 minutes. You should notice a slight shrinking of the apples. Now would be a good time to add any extra slices if you find yourself with more room in the skillet

·         While the apples and caramel marry, take out your pie dough and roll it out to the size of your skillet. You want it to be somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick

·         Carefully drape the pie dough over the apples, using a fork to seal any gaps between the dough and the edge of the skillet

·         Place the skillet in the center rack of the oven and bake until the crust is a lovely golden color, about 25-30 minutes

·         Immediately flip the tart out onto a dish or another appropriate serving platter, taking extra care with the hot skillet and caramel 

Boozy Swap Recap x2: January & April presented in pictures (and glasses)

We had a packed house for our January swap, and a big crowd for our 2 year anniversary swap in April too. The most noticeable theme? Booze! Yup, at the January swap we had bourbon cocktails being made to order as samples the awesome Earl Grey Soda Syrup shown below, plus a couple homemade wines on another table, and the April swap had not one but THREE kinds of alcoholic beverages on offer for the potluck, plus cordials and other spirited elixirs on the swapping block. There were even flavored sugars for cocktail glass rims. Now you know how SF swappers roll...

Along with the alcohol there was a lot of garden fresh produce, so it really felt like spring up at our April swap.

There was so much other good stuff too! But, I'm off to Mexico in a couple days, and am trying to cram a lot in before I leave, so am keeping this post short. I did just finish my taxes though, so cheers to that! Since this snapshot view has no doubt left you wanting more, go peruse the full photo galleries from both swaps here and here. Then mark your calendar tentatively for the first weekend in June.

Sweet Treats Galore: October Swap Recap

Since we're gearing up for the next swap a week from today, it's high time to have a recap of the last swap!

Falling about a week before Halloween definitely influenced people's choices, and we ended up with lots of chocolately treats and seasonally selected ingredients.

From sprinkles to brownies, and pizza sauce to pesto, it didn't all fall on the sweet end of the flavor spectrum...here's the full list of goodies we had on hand:

Sour Cherry and Pistachio Granola, Za'atar, Sprinkles, Tortillas, Meyer Lemons, Herbs, Honey, Apple Pudding with Cashew Creme, Vanilla Bean Pot de Crème, Flavored Brownie Trio, Plum Sauce, Plum Sauce with Chipotle, Brandy Apple Butter, Apple Chutney, Salted White Chocolate Brownies, Bacon Caramel Corn, Olallieberry Syrup, Blackberry Jam, Carrot Bread with Almonds, Dilly Beans, Orange Bitters, Grape Ketchup, Pecan Pralines, Merengue Cookies, Spicy Pickled Carrots, Garlic Confit, No Knead Pizza Dough with Roasted Tomato Pizza Sauce, Green Sauce/Kelp Salad, Persinnamon Chips, Arugula Pesto, Roasted Red Pepper Puree, Sunflower Seed Ranch Dressing, Chocolate Covered Marshmallows, Mellowcreme Pumpkins, San Marazano Tomatoes, Brandied Cherries, Salt-Preserved Meyer Lemons, Pear Cinnamon Jam, Cherry Jam, Dark Chocolate Toffee with Cashews, Drunked Pepita Butter, Rosemary Raisin Pecan Crisps, Fig Jam with Fennel and Vanilla, Lemon, Fig and Thyme Preserves, Vanilla Quince Preserves, Fig Jam with Candied Bergamot, Persimmon Thyme Jam.

As usual the potluck table also overflowed with an incredible array of dishes like lamb tagine with wild rice and chicken tacos, plus homemade snacks, desserts and agua frescas too. 

In addition to a full house of swappers, film student Haley was there capturing all the action.

Here's her excellent video:



Shout outs to our event venue hosts, Sports Basement, who not only provide us the space to meet for free, but throw in some beer, wine and other libations too; to Haley for her interest and capturing of the swap fun; and to Vanessa for sharing her superior photos (most, but not all of above).

Hope to see you at a swap soon!

A few good things

Today was an excellent day for food swaps!

First, fellow swap cohorts (Kate Payne of ATXswappers & Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking, Bethany Rydmark of PDX Swappers, Emily Ho of LAX Swappers, Meg Paska of BK Swappers, and Kim Christensen of MPLS Swappers) launched a fantastic swap resource, Food Swap Network, a worldwide place for swappers – and swappers to-be – to connect and share ideas, information, resources, news and inspiration. The site design is attractive, clean and easy to navigate, but individual swap groups are still uploading their information, so expect to see this community grow, and grow, and grow.

Especially with the help of great features like this showing up in places like the December issue of Martha Stewart's Whole Living Magazine!

How awesome is this?

And since SF Swappers is linked to from the website listed in the magazine, as my co-host Stephanie said, "so that means we're one degree of being in Martha?". Yes, that is exactly what it means!

So now you're all super pumped for the December Holiday Food Swap, right? Tuesday, December 13th from 6:30-8:30 pm. Stay tuned for full details and the registration link on Tuesday, November 29th.

Until then, Happy Turkey Day. I hope you have much to be thankful for and are spending the holiday with those you love, enjoying delicious homemade food!