Chocolate Holidays Unforgettable Desserts for Every Season published by Artisan is the latest cookbook by the chocolate expert Alice Medrich. The book has over fifty recipes that feature chocolate in one form or another. The recipes are organized seasonally proving once and for all that chocolate is always in style.

The recipes are easy to make for the most part, and often very innovative. You can start the year with Chocolate Blini with Berry Caviar, make twiggy pretzel Chocolate Easter Baskets in the spring and Hot Waffle Ice Cream Sandwiches in the summer. But the recipes can really be used for any occasion or no occasion at all. While all the recipes use chocolate, some of them only use it as an accent, white chocolate glazed Apricot Orange Wedding Cakes are an example of this.

Chocolate Holidays is a revised edition of A Year in Chocolate, but includes an extended section on ingredients, equipment, decorative touches and a guide to choosing which chocolate to use, especially helpful now that we have more brands and higher percentage cocoa to work with.

Medrich suggests this decadent bread pudding for Thanksgiving but it is a perfect comfort food for winter nights. I had this at a friends house recently and it was a huge hit.

Chocolate Cranberry Bread Pudding
Serves 12-14

1 loaf (16 ounces) challah or brioche
8 tablespoons (1 stick) melted unsalted butter
2 cups fresh or dried cranberries
1 2/3 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
Scant cup sugar
14 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
7 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Lightly sweetened whipped cream or creme fraiche (optional)

You can use any domestic bittersweet or semisweet chocolate without a percentage on the label, or any boutique or imported brand marked 50 to 62 percent. Or, substitute 10 ounces chocolate marked 66 to 72 percent and increase sugar by 2 tablespoons.

Position the rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Tear the loaf into large shreds, about 2 x 3/4 inches. To do this, pinch a piece of the bread at the top of the loaf and start pulling. If the loaf is sliced, tear the slices. Spread the shreds on a large baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, about 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately drizzle the melted butter over the bread. Toss lightly to distribute the butter. Cover the bottom of a buttered 13 x 9 inch glass or earthenware baking dish or two buttered 9-inch glass pie pans with half the bread. Sprinkle all the cranberries over the bread. Top with the remaining bread. Set aside.

In a heavy saucepan, heat the milk, cream, and sugar to a simmer. Off heat, add the chocolate and stir until melted and smooth. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and vanilla. Add the chocolate mixture to the eggs and stir until well blended. Pour the mixture over the bread, making sure the top layer of bread is completely moistened. Cove the pan loosely with a piece of foil.

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 15 minutes more, or until the pudding bubbles vigorously around the edges although the center is still very liquid if the pan is jiggled. Remove the pudding from the oven (it will continue to thicken) and cool on a rack. Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold, plain, or with a dab of whipped cream or creme fraiche.

We are just coming up on the end of fresh cranberry season. But if you’re like me, you probably have a bag or two stashed away in your freezer. On the other hand, if you’re the type who thinks cranberries are just for Thanksgiving, think again.

Very Cranberry is a slim volume dedicated to broadening your cranberry horizons. Sure there are the traditional cranberry recipe like Classic Cranberry Muffins and Cranberry Nut Bread but how about Crabcakes with Cranberry Lemon Aioli? Or Goat Cheese Tart with Cranberry-Onion Confit?

This book has a little bit of everything, salads and starters, side dishes, entrees, holiday relishes and gifts, breads and other baked goods and of course, desserts. The recipes are well-written, fairly easy and use widely available ingredients.

Author Jennifer Trainer Thompson has written the perfect book for cranberry lovers. The introduction shares the history of cranberries in the US and how cranberries were used by Native Americans. Criticisms? The book will whet your appetite with only 40 recipes and there could have been a bit more about the health properties. But for $5.95, it’s a bargain and would make a terrific gift with perhaps a batch of Chocolate Cranberry Biscotti?

Braised Lamb Shanks with Sweet Garlic and Cranberry Jus
These lamb shanks are complemented by roasted Yukon Gold potatoes

1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar
2 (1 pound) lamb shanks
3 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup port
2 cups beef stock
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a small saucepan, combine he cranberries, water, and sugar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, or until the cranberries have popped and the mixture has thickened.
Remove from the heat and set aside.

Pat the lamb shanks dry with paper towels. Season with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over high heat. Add the lamb and sear on all sides browning well, about 8 minutes. Remove the shanks and reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion and cook for 3 minutes, stirring. Stir in the port, stock, garlic, rosemary and cranberry mixture. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the lamb shanks, cover and braise in the oven for 1 hour. Turn the shanks over and continue cooking for 1 hour longer. Remove the lamb shanks from the oven. Transfer to a platter and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. Transfer the Dutch oven to the stove top. Bring the braising liquid to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk in the butter. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, or until the liquid is slightly reduced. Serve the lamb shanks topped with jus. Serves 2.

Title: General Manager, Scott Howard
Hometown: Phoenix, AZ

1. How did you get started in the restaurant business?
It’s all I know, what I’ve been doing all my life. I started washing dishes when I was 13. The beginning parts of my career were focusing on the kitchen and the back of the house in some kind of line cook capacity. I just always had a passion for food and wine. I like the instant gratification of making people happy. I have an understanding and respect for every position in a restaurant.

And yet it’s different every night. There’s always a new challenge. There are so many layers of complexity when you’re dealing with people. This business relies on people to get things done. You have to know how to manage egos and personalities to channel their passion.

2. What’s been your greatest accomplishment in the business?
All of the things at the Ritz, getting 4 stars from Michael Bauer, and being top rated for service from Zagat. I was the maitre’d at the Ritz at 29 years old. After that, this opportunity is one of my bigger accomplishments. It’s a totally different gig for me.

3. What attracted you to Scott Howard, the restaurant and the chef?
Scott Howard is a very open-minded chef with an amazing palate. He allows the people around him to be creative. I took this job because he allowed me to be as creative as a I want to be versus the Ritz-Carlton where you are hired to execute standards and the Ritz-Carlton vision. I get to really impact everything from the way the stations are organized to how we get orders into the kitchen. I take the credit for everything good and bad. We’re very different, Scott and I, but we complement each other well. Half of working a restaurant is chemistry. There has to be soul and dynamic. It’s what makes good restaurants great.

4. How would you describe Scott Howard, the restaurant?
Scott Howard is humble and approachable and his food is too. There are only three things max on a dish but prepared meticulously. We have a raw charcuterie bar the focuses on sashimi style fish and salumi and pâté. The charcuterie/raw station is open to the dining room. Our signature dish is the carrot soup which kind of tells you who we are.

5. Where do you like to eat in the Bay Area when you’re not working?
If I go into a fine dining place I want to get something out of it and it’s almost like working! I like very simple places, like Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack. They have good food and they change their menus every couple weeks, It can be inconsistent, but I like the spot; the people are nice. I also like the Nepalese place, Little Nepal on Cortland in Bernal Heights.

Title: Chutney chef, McQuade’s Celtic Chutneys
Hometown: Glasgow, Scotland

1. How did you get started selling chutney?
One year I made chutney to give away as Christmas presents. It was my grandmother’s recipe and I went online to make labels and get jars. I gave some to my hairdresser and she asked me to bring some more over for one of her customers–I thought that was a wee bit cheeky! This was a gift after all. But it turned out she had a tasting going on and her customer was one of the owners of Cowgirl Creamery. My first paying customer, she said she wanted 60 of each flavor.

2. What inspires you in creating chutney?
Cocktails. I was having a Mandarin apricot drink and I thought–that would make a good chutney. Salsas inspire me too.

3.What’s the difference between salsa and chutney?
Fresh Indian chutneys are very similar to salsa, but in general it’s the vinegar and the maturing that make them chutney. My chutneys are cooked, and I use chunky flavorful fruit. I don’t cook them down too much because I want to keep them fresh tasting.

I also like my chutneys to have a bit of bite whether it’s jalapeno, habanero, or plain old cayenne. Some have malt vinegar, others have apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar. I experiment, I even used fish sauce in a chutney once and people liked it.

4. Where do you make your chutney?
In a catering kitchen. I tried working out of an Irish pub and I had to pretend I was Irish. “The Belfast and the Glasgow accent are very similar,” that’s what I kept telling them anyway! Needless to say I didn’t last long there.

5. What are your newest and most popular flavors?
Cranberry Mandarin and a Persimmon one for Christmas. But Fig and Ginger is still most popular, although the Warming Hut out in the Presidio buys tons of the Spiced Apple. My favorite is the Habanero. I like it with scrambled eggs.

Mark Bittman is my kind of cookbook writer. He manages to take complicated recipes and make them simple. The other thing I appreciate about Bittman is that he is not a chef. While I love what restaurant chefs do, it does not always translate successfully to the home. Or the home cook.

Recently I was interviewed about a certain publication that refers to it’s recipes as the best. I slammed them. How can there really be a “best”? I’m still not sure there is a best–but there are “best loved” recipes and the latest cookbook by Bittman, The Best Recipes in the World (more than 1000 recipes, $29.95) manages to capture a lot of them. This book is a great introduction to many wonderful cuisines around the world. Is it the definitive Italian cookbook, Mexican cookbook, Chinese cookbook? No. But it is an awfully good start.

Unlike some of his other books this one does assume a certain level of basic cooking knowledge. But for the advanced beginner none of the recipes should be too challenging. Some great features of this book include a guide to which recipes are “make ahead”, can be served at room temperature or cold, or can be cooked in thirty minutes or less. There is also an index of recipes by cuisine in addition to the standard alphabetic one.

Criticisms? Not all the recipes get the names in the original language. I’m not sure why. A lack of photographs makes it hard to know what dishes should look like when completed, and very few illustrations demonstrate techniques. Other than that, this one’s a keeper!

Here’s a braised gingery peanut chicken recipe from the book for you to try:

Nketia Fla (Ghana)
Groundnut (Peanut) Stew with Chicken
Makes 4 servings
Time about 1 1/2 hours largely unattended

2 tablespoons corn, grapeseed or other neutral oil
8 chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 medium onion, chopped
One 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1/2 teaspoon cayenne, or more to taste
1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes (canned are fine)
1 quart chicken stock, preferably homemade
3/4 cup natural peanut butter, preferably chunky

1. Put the oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat. When it shimmers, put chicken in the skillet, skin side down. Season with salt and pepper and brown well, rotating and turning them as necessary, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer the meat to a plate and drain all but two tablespoons of the fat.

2. Add the onion and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Stir in the cayenne and tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes have softened, about 5 minutes.

3. Return the chicken pieces to the casserole and add 3 1/2 cups of chicken stock. Bring to a boil then lower the heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and tender, 20 to 30 minutes.

4. Whisk or blend together the remaining chicken stock and the peanut butter; stir the mixture into the stew. Cook for another 20 minutes or so, then taste, adjust seasoning, and serve.

Title: Line cook, Bocadillos
Home town: Sacramento, CA

1. How did you get into cooking?
I was working at Starbucks when I was 17. One night I took home a cookbook and I cooked dinner for my roommates. I made potato salad, blueberry cornbread, and some kind of barbecued chicken. I remember the look on peoples faces and how it made me feel and that was how I realized I really enjoyed cooking.

After that I bought a lot of books and watched a lot of cooking shows, ate out a lot. Three years ago I graduated from culinary school.

2. What do you enjoy about being a line cook at Bocadillos?
I like the hours. The work changes quite a bit on a daily basis. I’ve been here about nine months and it’s very fast paced. In the kitchen you build a strong bond working with people again and again in a stressful environment. It’s very rewarding.

The Executive Chef and I have the same ideas, we both worked in fine dining. I like making great simple food. I want to make food that other chefs want to eat.

3. What misconceptions do people have about what you do?
People have no idea. People think we kind of sit back, just like cooking at home. We’re some of the hardest working people in a restaurant. On a busy Saturday night I run from 2:30 until 11:30 at night, and I take home half of what the front of the house staff does.

4. Why are small plates so popular right now?
I look at a menu and I always want to try at least four or five things. Then no matter what I order, I always find myself wishing I ordered something else. With small plates you have the ability to try a few different things.

Small plate dining creates a less formal environment where you can share dishes. When you eat at a place like Bocadillos there’s a lot more flexibility. If you want to have a bottle of wine and a snack before a movie you could do that or if you want to have five or six plates and stay for a couple hours you can do that too.

5. Where do you like to eat out?
The places I like to eat at and where I can afford to eat are two different things! If money was no object I would particularly like to eat at Manresa and the French Laundry of course. On an everyday basis I like House of Nanking, cheap Vietnamese places such as Tu Lan. In North Beach I like Giordano Bros where they put coleslaw and fries on the sandwiches. In the lower Haight on Tuesdays Rosamunde sells a burger. I swear it’s one of the best hamburgers I’ve had ever. People line up for it.

Title: Bar manager, Myth
Home town: Anaheim, CA

1. What makes someone good at working the bar?
You have to be a people person. You have to be able to listen. You have to be something of a chameleon and an actor. You never know what’s going to come up or what people will want to talk about. I came to San Francisco on a theater scholarship at San Francisco State. But I’ve always bar-tended nights. Everyday is a character study.

People who come to the bar are looking for interaction and I really like that part of it. I pretty much always want to keep one night a week working the bar for as long as I can possibly stand up. It’s good stories, good interaction you just get to meet so many people.

Experimenting is important. To be able to recreate a memory, something sensory.

2. How did you learn to work the bar?
I used to be a cocktail server. An old school bar man took me under his wing and taught me all the classics. When I turned 21 I could get behind the bar legally and I fell into it naturally.

3. What’s your favorite fresh ingredient available right now?
I’m really liking peaches. I muddle them up and make an Old Fashioned with them instead of cherries. You get all the sweetness but it’s different.

Over the Summer I also used cilantro. I especially like savory flavors, like tomatoes.

4. What’s your favorite drink on the menu right now?
Well it’s not on the menu but it will be soon. Green Tea Ice Cream–we used the Charbay green tea infused vodka, with a little bit of Vermeer, vanilla, rum and it tastes just like green tea ice cream.

5. If you could take one drink off every bar menu, what would it be?
The Mojito, by far! It’s so labor intensive and they are never right, everyone wants theirs slightly different.

Title: Chef de Cuisine, PlumpJack Cafe

Home town: Lexington KY been in the Bay Area for about a year and half

1. What were meals like for you growing up?
Awful! My mom wasn’t a very good cook. We ate well-done burgers and well-done meatloaf. But we had a farm so we had plenty of vegetables and my dad cooked good breakfasts. My favorite foods were monkey bread and cereal.

2. What’s your favorite item on the menu right now?
My signature dish, Applewood Smoked French Foie Gras. I love it. It’s smoky which reflects my Southern background. We cold smoke it and then sear it.

In New York at the restaurant Blue Smoke where I used to work we hot smoked it, but I got the idea to cold smoke it instead and it’s much better this way. No one else is doing it out here and people love it. Right now it has peaches on it but next month we’ll probably add fire roasted plums and hazelnuts.

3. What music do you listen to in the kitchen?
Everything from Madonna to Hall & Oates, late 80’s songs. I love to sing along and bug everyone! We only play music from 3 until 5. No music is on during dinner service. I want people to be able to focus in the kitchen.

4. Where do you like to go out to eat?
I love Chinese restaurants. I like China First on Clement. My wife is Chinese so she orders (in Chinese) and tells me about everything on the menu. We order the eight course menu. I like simple Italian food too like at A16 and Delfina.

5. What’s the best thing about living in the Bay Area?
The weather! It’s beautiful here. The sun is so bright, the water, the produce, the vegetables. There aren’t crowds here like in New York City.

I like going to the farmer’s markets both the one at the Ferry Building and on the weekend I go with my family to the one in Mountain View which has about 70 vendors and is less crowded. I shop for the restaurant and buy fruit for my son.

Welcome to Blog Day 2005. The idea behind blog day is to choose 5 new blogs and share them with your readers. If you’re wondering why August 31st was chosen, look at how the date looks like the very word “blog”. Here are my picks of newish food blogs both in our own backyard and far, far away:

1. In Praise of Sardines
Born in June, this local blog is a tasty melange of recipes, opinions, reports on produce, restaurants and more. I fell in love with the Barcelona posts and have frequented it ever since.

2. Bunnyfoot
Consider yourself lucky when you visit this local blog, you never know what treats are awaiting you–cookies, jams, infused vinegars, so much good stuff! Up and running since April this is a “mostly vegan” blog.

3. Delicious Days
This blog is based in Munich and is so beautiful–the design, the photographs, and the writing style is warm and conversational. Begun in March this is what food blogs aspire to be like when they grow up.

4. Beauty Joy Food
Another “Amy” blogger this one from Florida and her blog is Southern, fresh and juicy. Amy has been blogging since May and is one to keep your eyes on.

5. David Lebovitz
Ok, I admit it, I’m crazy about David. He’s a pastry chef who shares Paris, shopping, cooking and dessert, all with his characteristic sense of humor and intelligence. My swoon started in April when the blog launched and both are going strong.

I hope you’ll celebrate by visiting each one. If you’d like to see a round up of other new blogs, visit the technorati page, here.

I’m a girly-girl. Ask anyone who knows me. I don’t like sports. I can easily spend $20 on a lipstick and my wardrobe is heavy on the pink. I mean a whole lotta pink. So perhaps it should come as no surprise that I like pink wine. I’m not talking about “white zinfandel”, but rosé.

The reason I like ros&eacute really has less to do with the color than the the fact that it pairs well with food and is often quite reasonably priced. Like hip hugger jeans ros&eacute has been out of fashion for so long that it’s finally cool again. Even more so in the Summer when it is wonderful served chilled.

While my knowledge of wine fits fairly neatly into a wine glass, I will nonetheless share what I know about pairing food with ros&eacute. The reason it works so well with food is that there is not just one style of ros&eacute. There are sparkling, dry, fruity, light, medium and full-bodied ros&eacute. A sparkling ros&eacute makes for a wonderful aperitif, a dry ros&eacute is great with seafood, especially shellfish and a full-bodied ros&eacute can work with meat, even steak.

Jeff Morgan’s new book Ros&eacute A Guide to the World’s Most Versatile Wine is a great book to familiarize yourself with the different types of ros&eacute and the regions where it is produced. The book has a tasting guide that includes 200 wines and as an added bonus there is a whole section of a dozen or so recipes designed to pair well with ros&eacute. The recipes lean towards the more hearty than delicate with offerings inspired by the cuisines of France, India and Mexico. I’m planning to try the Fish Soup with Aioli next week and I will make a mental note to pair pasta and pesto with ros&eacute as Morgan suggests. Proving once and for all, you don’t have to be a girly-girl to drink pink.

Title: Wine Director and Sommelier for PlumpJack Group
Hometown: Tulsa, Oklahoma, now San Francisco

1. Was it a challenge to put together a wine list for Jack Falstaff that featured biodynamic and organic wines?
Some of the wines in my career that have moved me the most have been biodynamic for 10 years or so. I did a lot of research. We’re still not 100% and that’s ok. We don’t want to cut out the usual suspects that people are looking for, the big Napa Valley Cabernets, etc. But you can have a well-balanced list with organic and biodynamic wines.

2. What are biodynamic wines?
Biodynamic viticulture is a process that is “back to the land” using an astrologic calendar to plow, winter prune–taking into consideration gravity flow, waxing and waning of the moon to create an approach that is more at one with nature. It was a science developed for farming and was adopted by vintners. Nurturing the soil. It’s a more organic approach. It’s similar to organic but can be even more labor intensive.

3. How did you come to wine as a profession?
I was a fine arts major, dancing in a modern dance company. My first job was at the Rainbow Room and the wine sommelier there took me to wine tastings. One of the first was Grand Cru Burgundy with Patrick Séré the burgundy expert for Joseph Drouhin. Then I took classes. Wine made my job so much more fun then just asking people how they wanted their steak cooked.

4. What’s your philosophy on the pairing of food and wine?
I wish people would think outside the box a little bit more, but that’s really what we’re here for. I start with the basic premise of thinking like for like. Never trying to have a dish outweigh a wine or vice versa. Then I factor in preparations and sauces to determine what works best. But ultimately you should drink what you want to drink. Unless you’re having shellfish with Cabernet!

5. How do wine drinkers in the Bay Area differ from those in Santa Barbara or NYC where you’ve also worked?
Bay Area drinkers are more like New Yorkers. Odd funky wines are much more popular here. There are a lot of California centric drinkers and in general more sophistication in ordering of wine.

On this side of town we sell more Syrah than at PlumpJack Cafe in the Marina. Here the area is saturated with 30-somethings that aren’t married and don’t have kids but that have good income that travel and like to eat and drink well. I find much more adventurous diners South of Market than in the Marina. PlumpJack is Chardonay and Cabernet and here it is Pinot, Syrah and everything else.

Memoirs with recipes must be my favorite book genre. It all started just a few years back when I fell in love with a long ago time and place in Egypt. I was captivated by Colette Rossant’s Apricots on the Nile (in the US it was called Memories of a Lost Egypt). Rossant writes about growing up in a boisterous Sephardic household in Egypt. Everything is described so vividly–her extended family, her school experiences, the trouble she gets into, and especially the food she eats.

The book is filled with wonderful memories and equally wonderful recipes. Rossant spends time with her French relatives in France and includes the recipes from there as well. Somehow reading the recipes makes the rest of the book all the more real. Recipes aside, how can you not love a book with a chapter called “Student Life, Saucisson Sec, and Swimming Pools”?

More recently I’ve been enjoying Diana Abu-Jaber’s memoir The Language of Baklava. Abu-Jaber’s book also includes an extended Middle Eastern family, this time Jordanian, but living in the US. Like Rossant, she grows up in two cultures and her memories are also tied to food. But with trips back and forth to Jordan you get a taste of both places. And of course, recipes. Much of the food has magical powers or so it seems, which will make you even more eager to try the recipes.

And now…a contest! Thanks to publisher Pantheon we have a copy of The Language of Baklava to give away to the first three people who correctly answer the trivia question below. Choose the correct answer and post it in the comment section (note: you must register your email address when you respond so we can contact you, your mailing address must be in the US)

In Egypt, which of the following typical dishes do you serve if you really want to show someone you love them?

a) Mahshi bel Loz (stuffed pigeon)

b) Konafa (Egyptian baklava)

c) Ful (Brown Fava beans)

d) Mehlokheya (peasant soup)

Remember Webvan? I do. Actually, I feel wistful. For those who don’t remember, Webvan was one of those overly ambitious dot com start-ups, it’s financial picture was a mess. Analysts said it was years ahead of its time.

My experience was of a grocery delivery service that really delivered. Short delivery windows made it easy to schedule. The quality of products, especially produce was amazing, the friendliness and courtesy of the drivers was unparalleled. They actually unpacked the groceries for you!

In my dreams I am still being delivered those huge baking potatoes and that wasabi tobiko and not schlepping heavy sacks of flour and sugar up the stairs to my apartment. Ah, those were the days! Truth is, as much as I love shopping for groceries and I do, sometimes home delivery just makes more sense.

Since the demise of Webvan in 2001 I have been a loyal customer of Capay Farm’s home delivery program called “Farm Fresh to You”. Once a month I get a carton of 9-10 seasonal organic fruits and vegetables delivered to my doorstep. The produce comes from small, sustainable family farms and helps me feel like I am doing something to support the good guys. It also ensures that I will get a variety of produce I might or might not try if I was the one doing the shopping.

There are several companies that deliver fresh produce directly to homes and offices in the Bay Area, prices and delivery areas vary–here are a few to consider:

Capay Farms/Farm Fresh To You

Eatwell Farms

Planet Organics

Organic Express (the Box)

WestSide Organics