92 san francisco recipes

Basic apricot glaze simmers apricot preserves with sugar and water into a clear, golden lacquer for fruit tarts, danish pastries, and croissants. Essential pastry kitchen building block in 15 minutes.

French hazelnut meringue biscuit with finely ground filberts folded into whipped egg whites. Baked hot and fast for a light, nutty base layer that's a pastry chef's secret weapon.

A double-crust caramel walnut pie: walnuts simmered into a reduced-cream caramel and sealed in a tender shortcrust, served a la mode with from-scratch vanilla bean ice cream. A restaurant-worthy dessert.

Spit-roasted suckling pig rubbed with lime, herbs, and whole garlic, basted with marjoram-thyme olive oil for 6 hours, served with grilled and blanched seasonal vegetables.

Pan-seared salmon over a vibrant asparagus cream sauce, made by pureeing tender asparagus tips with butter and infusing the stalks into cream. An elegant, restaurant-style spring plate.

Braised rabbit with dried apricots and a cabernet-mounted sauce, marinated 12 hours and slow-simmered until tender. A French masterchef-style dish for a special-occasion table.

An elegant French mousseline of frog legs and sole, piped into molds with a tender frog-leg center, baked gently in a water bath, and served over buttered fresh pasta with a silky frog-leg cream sauce.

Marinated eggplant, an Italian antipasto of golden-fried eggplant slices layered with garlic, bay leaf, rosemary, and red wine vinegar. Keeps up to two weeks in the fridge.

Fresh peach tart with a buttery cinnamon shortcrust and glossy apricot glaze. Hand-creamed dough baked blind, then filled with ripe peach slices for an elegant French-style dessert.

Romaine salad with tomatillos, ripe tomatoes, avocado, lime juice, olive oil, and fresh cilantro. A California-Mexican inspired composed salad with no-toss presentation.

Hippennasse cookie baskets made from a thin batter of egg whites, cream, and confectioners sugar, shaped while warm and filled with fresh berries.

Classic French Nantua sauce built from live crayfish, cognac, mirepoix, and cream. A double-reduced, deeply pink shellfish sauce for quenelles, fish, or seafood pasta.

Duck liver mousse with port and cognac, set in a flavored aspic jelly base. A classic French masterchef pate, sliced and served on toasts as a refined first course.

Pork and ginger dumplings shaped into open-topped cups, topped with diced carrot for color, and steamed for 20 minutes. A classic Chinese shao mai dim sum recipe you can make at home in 30 minutes.

Warm mixed berry compote with fresh strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries in a butter-sugar syrup. Spoon over ice cream for an elegant, quick dessert.

Crostini with chicken livers sauteed in butter and white wine, finished with cream and brown gravy, spread on thin toasted French bread. A rich Tuscan-style appetizer ready in 35 minutes.