This week I received {through the magic of the Internet} my March 2013 issue of Food & Wine magazine.  I poured over it’s pages {on my iPad…oh my, every dish looked like it could have been eaten with a fork right from the page}.  Upon my first pass of the issue, I knew this Asian dinner was a must-try…so here it is, on our Sunday Dinner menu.  But before we get to dinner, please join Michael & me on our Sunday morning jaunt to the San Francisco Ferry Building {& suffer through a family milestone}…

Rewind a bit…to 5am this Sunday morning.  Our 14 year -old son, Max, left for his 8th-grade adventure to the East Coast {Washington DC & NYC}.  He was SO excited and I could not believe that the second of our three children was embarking on this adventure.  He was so excited!  {No pictures…I just could not do that to my teenage son!}  Michael and I were, obviously, up early this morning & we decided to take our minds off of Max’s coast-to-coast travel by heading into San Francisco via the Ferry.  Madison & Mallory were taking both dogs up to the barn in Petaluma to play with horses, so we were on our own for the morning!!!  We had several market items to acquire for our menu this week, so off we headed to the SF Ferry Building to hunt…

Where to begin?  Well, where everyone should begin on a Sunday morning…with a cup of coffee {the best coffee} at Blue Bottle…

Tonight’s dinner {as well as Tuesday evenings’s Cream of Mushroom Soup} required massive amounts of mushrooms so we headed to Far West Funghi….these guys are FANTASTIC! And they now want to hire me for a mushroom commercial because of the amount of mushrooms I purchased!!!

Next on our list, brioche for our dinner tomorrow night.  Of course, we headed to Acme Bread Company.  Their brioche was a citrus & almond variety and I was looking for something a bit more simple & buttery for our egg dinner tomorrow night. So we decided on a beautiful challah bread…just out of the oven & still very warm in the bag!

As we left Acme Bread Company, these Italian doughnuts were waiting in the wings…

Michael & I used up all of our will-power to forge on beyond those doughnuts {I promise you that their appearance was no match for their scent!}.

Next up…the prosciutto for tomorrow evening’s  Brioche with Prosciutto, Gruyère & Egg so, naturally, a stop at Boccalone, for prosciutto crudo...

Followed by the apples, lemons, limes, grapefruit & lettuces called for in this week’s menu…

With our market cart full, we headed home to begin Sunday dinner preparations…

Glossy Mushroom Rice {adapted from Food & Wine, March 2013}

• 8 ounces {1 cup} Jasmine rice
• 1 ounce dried Shiitake mushrooms
• ½ ounce dried porcini mushrooms
• ¼ ounce dried matsutake mushrooms
• salt to taste
• ¾ pound fresh tree oyster mushrooms, thinly sliced lengthwise
• 6 ounces fresh maitake mushrooms
• 4 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, 3 tablespoons melted
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• ½ cup sake
• 1 small white onion, finely chopped
• freshly ground pepper
• ¼ cup snipped chives

1. In a large glass mixing bowl, place the dried mushrooms and cover with 3 quarts of boiling water.  Allow to steep for 1-2 hours.
2. Transfer steeping mushrooms to a saucepan, bringing to a boil, and then let simmer until reduced to 4 cups, about 1 hour.  Strain the stock and discard the mushrooms.  Season lightly with salt.
3. Preheat oven to 450°F.  On a rimmed baking sheet, toss all of the fresh mushrooms with the 3 tablespoons of melted butter and the soy sauce.  Roast for approximately 20 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the mushrooms are tender and browned in spots.  Let cool slightly, then coarsely chop the mushrooms.
4. Cook the jasmine rice according to package instructions.
5. In a large saucepan, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter.  Add the onion and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes.  Add the chopped mushrooms and cook for two minutes, until sizzling.
6. Stir in the cooked rice.  Add the ½ cup of sake, season with salt & pepper and cook until the sake is absorbed, 2-3 minutes.  Add ½ cup of the mushroom stock and cook, stirring constantly, until absorbed.  Add another ½ cup of the stock and cook, stirring, until the rice is tender but not mushy, about 10 minutes ~ there will be stock left-over for another use.  Stir in the chives and serve right away.

Followed by Chicken Thighs Yakitori… {note:  I adapted this recipe using bone-in chicken thighs, skins removed, because that is what I had on hand.  No skewers were made, the skinless chicken thighs were grilled whole & they turned out AMAZING!

Chicken Thighs Yakitori (adapted from Food & Wine, March 2013}

• 2/3 cup tare sauce
• 6 tablespoons Tamari
• 3 tablespoons prepared Wasabi paste
• 8-9 bone-in, skinless chicken thighs
• 6 scallions, cut into 1-inch lengths
• extra-virgin olive-oil
• salt

1. In a small bowl, whisk the tare sauce with the Tamari and wasabi.
2. Place chicken thighs in a large roasting pan and cover with tare mixture and cut scallions.  Let marinate for 30-40 minutes.
3. Light a charcoal grill.   Grill marinated chicken thighs for about 5 minutes or until lightly browned.  Brush the thighs generously with the glaze and grill, turning and brushing, until mahogany-colored.  Serve right away.

The Garlicky Greens are so easy…we used lacinato kale tonight.  And so the finished plate looks like this…

And with that, I leave you with these flowers for your dinner table…

Have a Beautiful Week!