Old Sacramento may be meant primarily for tourists and school excursions, but there are still reasons for us locals to stop by once in a while. Evangeline's is good throughout the year and not just at Halloween. Strolling down the waterfront is nice exercise on a sunny day. People that work in the vicinity can find some good lunch deals as well. 

Bordering the east side of the railroad tracks are the old railroad storage sheds that have been converted into shops and eateries. Over the years many of the businesses have closed, not being able to survive on tourists alone, especially during the off season. One eatery that has survived over the years is the Indo Cafe, located at the south end of the sheds.

I tend to make the trek to Old Sac for lunch on the occasional sunny day and if it's been a long time, I often wonder if it's still going to be there. Thankfully it is.

They say the wheels of government turn slowly. Or, to use another analogy, sometimes your issue gets put on the back burner while the City Council deals with the boil-over pot on the front burner with the mess of the Kings and the arena deal.

Next Saturday is SactoMoFo 4, which is almost exactly a year after the first one. When my ex-partners and I created SactoMoFo, it was to bring awareness to the restrictive food truck ordinances in Sacramento. To do that, we held the first Sacramento Mobile Food (SactoMoFo) Festival at Fremont Park. 

We knew that the best way to get the City's attention was to bring the new gourmet trucks together in one location. Next bring the citizens and the City Council and let them see the quality of the trucks and the food they provide as well as the popularity and the demand.

Coca-cola is a great ingredient for all sorts of dishes where you want the caramel flavoring and sugar. I've used it in BBQ sauce, pot roast, cakes, and more. Recently I was watching a food show where the chef was using it while caramelizing onions and it struck me that it would be great in French onion soup. 

The secret to a great French onion soup is to cook the onions long and low. The onions need to sweat out moisture and their sugars, thus caramelizing. You should use sweet yellow onions, but often times I only have red onions in my frig and they work just as well. The Coke just adds more caramel.

The bread is meant as a thickener. Europeans use bread to thicken many soups such as Italian ribollita or German schwarzbrotsuppe.

My cheese of preference is Fontina, but use your favorite. Some people will also add a bit of cooking sherry or wine.

Overall impression? Does the Coke add much? It adds a bit more sweetness, but doesn't really change it that much. It's more just the novelty of it.

I'm going to miss Sunh Fish - their old location that is. Currently at the Asian Market at Broadway and 11th for only a few more days, their new location is a giant space at 19th and V. It was only a block from my house, which made it easy to pick up some last minute shrimp or other seafood for dinner. Now it's a bike ride away. Good exercise, I suppose.

Sunh Fish has always been known by sushi lovers in the know as the purveyors of much of the seafood being eaten in the sushi restaurants in Sacramento. Many restaurants come here to purchase fish and shellfish that winds up on your dinner plate.

It's not often that one gets to have a burger or a sandwich named after them. But if your reputation is one of eating a burger or two every day and your Twitter handle is @Burgerjunkies, it's inevitable that you will get a burger (or more) named after you. Such was the case this week when over 20 of Rodney Blackwell's friends and followers joined him to taste the Junky Burger at The Eatery. 

The Eatery has been getting a lot of favorable press of late and so I was happy to have the opportunity to check it out with a large group. The restaurant is tucked into a corner of the Target/Nugget shopping complex (Town Center Plaza) in West Sacramento. Luckily I was riding with someone who had been before otherwise I would have been hunting around looking for it. As we approached the door we saw the sign proclaiming the special of the day : The Junky Burger.

A large bank of tables along one wall was reserved for our large party. Being a new complex, the whole place has a new, contemporary feel to it. I decided that I'd slide into the long booth seating so I prepped by visiting the restroom first. Now I know it's a bit odd to immediately comment on a restaurant's bathroom, but I just had to mention a nice feature I noticed that I wish more restaurants would do - there was a rack of hooks at chair rail height next to the sinks so you could hang your purse while washing your hands! Bravo! So often we women are holding our purses between our legs to keep them dry and out of the way when we wash our hands and then have to waddle over to the towel dispenser. Thank you, Eatery, for the rack!

Sash Gardner is busy dumping ingredients into large buckets to whip up another batch of his Gardner Gourmet salsa. He's making around ninety pounds of it today, the same as he does each week. After a couple of hours he'll be finished with making his four versions of salsa, packaging and labeling them, and then he'll be off to deliver them to Corti Bros, Taylor's Market, and Compton's Market. He's able to sell his salsa in grocery stores because he has prepared them with proper permits in a fully licensed commercial kitchen - Steel Magnolia Commercial Kitchen.

I often have business ideas that I never act upon out of fear and lack of funds. About five years ago I thought about the idea of opening a commercial kitchen in Sacramento only to find out someone had already done so. I read an article in the Sacramento Bee when Steel Magnolia opened in November of 2009.  The person who was brave enough to go through with her dream was Gail von Huene.

Even though I was aware of Steel Magnolia I had no idea where it was. It turns out I've driven by it hundreds of times since it sits on the corner of 16th and G streets in a rather nondescript building. 

Gail was waiting for me while Sash was busy making his salsa in Kitchen 2. She lets me in the front door which has a combination lock. Steel Magnolia is available for rent 24/7 and so the combination allows access to clients without having sets of keys floating around town or getting lost. Off to the left are the kitchens and to my right I see the dining/event room.

Gail gives me a short tour before we sit down to talk. We start with the kitchens themselves. One large room is split in two to create Kitchens 1 and 2. Both have matching 6-burner gas ranges, plenty of workspace, and lots of pots, pans, and a mixer each. At one end stands a rack of shared tools and a shared 20 quart mixer.  There are walk-in and standing refrigerators and large convection ovens as well.

The kitchens can be rented separately or together if the event or need is large enough. Often smaller caterers with large events will need the extra space that Steel Magnolia provides. Rarely are both kitchens rented by different people at the same time, but it's often fun when they are. Cooking classes are also offered here, most via The Learning Exchange and some offered by Gail herself. Maybe you want to host a party or event that you can't accommodate in your own home. You can rent out Steel Magnolia for weddings, dinners, etc.

One type of even that is often done here and always peaks my interest are the pop-up restaurants. Pop-ups are basically temporary restaurants. Pop-ups happen when a chef is without a restaurant and wants to put together a special menu featured at a temporary location for a few nights. Before Pajo Bruich took over the kitchen at Lounge on 20, he was doing pop-ups and classes at Steel Magnolia. (Gail tells me that there is going to be a pop-up dinner in May featuring game meats. I'll be checking that one out!)

We walk around the back and Gail points out the proper sanitation/washing areas for doing all the dishes. There's a laundry room to wash all the towels and dishrags and a dry storage area for people to leave some items if they are regular customers. We finally reach the dining/event space to sit down and chat. 

dining room

It turns out Gail and I have a lot in common. Gail prefers to bake versus cook and we both admit to not having the best tasting tongues - able to discern flavors and spices in dishes or the ability to think of flavor combinations that will work well. Gail admits that she's learned so much from the chefs that use her facility. She'll often try a flavor combination or dish that she would never have thought of or made herself.

dry storage area

Gail's culinary journey began a decade ago when she was inspired by a friend's pastries to look into formal culinary training. She took classes at Cosumnes River and American River Colleges and ended up with a baking certificate in 2007. She soon realized that she needed access to a commercial kitchen if she was to cater properly and legally. If she was having trouble finding a clean, quality kitchen space, others must be too. 

Steel Magnolia's timing was both good and bad. There was a definite need for her facility but there was also the start of the decline of the economy. Through the downturn Steel Magnolia survived while other facilities have either closed or are up for sale. Gail admits that the experience was not what she had expected. She had definite ideas and plans on how the business would run and soon learned that she needed to be more adaptive and let days come one at a time.

Owning any business can be stressful, but Gail admits that she does love the benefits: being a resource and giving back to the community in a facility that is much needed in the area. She enjoys the camaraderie of  the Sacramento food community and learning from all the wonderful chefs and foodies in the area. She feels blessed for the rewards of the business and loves that it is hers alone - no partners.

Before I leave we go back into Kitchen 2 to see Sash as he packs up his salsa and prepares to make his deliveries. Gail has brought a bag of chips so that I can taste them. Sash has the typical flavors: mild, medium, hot, and chipotle. We taste the medium and the chipotle and I like the textures very much - not too chunky and yet not pureed. The chipotle has a nice smokey flavor without being hot and the medium is nice and fresh. I happily take some home with me for later.


As Gail walks me out we chat about the plan to have a food bloggers potluck at the facility so that others can see what Steel Magnolia has to offer. With so few facilities like it available, it's good that Steel Magnolia keeps on cooking.

Yes, I have pulled the crockpot out of the closet and blown off the dust in order to bring you a crockpot recipe in time for Easter brunch.  Other sites call this a crockpot brunch casserole. I call it a crustless quiche or a fritata done in a slow cooker. 

My particular slow cooker runs hot on the Low setting, especially when I use the smallest sized crock (I have three crocks that work on it). The first time I made this I woke up in the middle of the night and could smell it and just knew that it was done. I crawled out of bed, stumbled half asleep into the kitchen and turned it to Warm - or so I thought. Turns out I turned it to High and ended up with a charcoal briquette in the crock. Not good odor-wise or money-wise. My second attempt was much better when I used a technique I've seen mentioned in many other crockpot recipes - I folded aluminum foil several times to create a buffer between the bottom of my crock and the heating element. Much better results this time. But I will say that after trying this way versus baking a quiche in the oven, I prefer the oven.

You will definitely be better off if you have a slow cooker with a timer and varying temperatures.  This calls for cooking for about 8 hours and so I needed to wait until at least 10 p.m. before I put it on. That's my one complaint on my cooker - no timer.

See the paper bag in the picture below versus the size of the tree? BFF's kumquat tree is enormous! I remember back when it was a about eight feet high and now look. Her boys would use them for ammo in their sling shots. Her sister would occasionally use them in recipes or to make centerpieces. I've used them to make kumquat chicken and citrus marmalade.

When you have access to an entire tree of kumquats (or any fruit for that matter) you try as many recipes as you can to make use of them. For some time I had been wanting to use kumquats in a pie, I just wasn't sure how. Then I decided that if I made my vanilla ginger candied kumquats, I could use them as a garnish and element to the pie and use the syrup to get the kumquat flavoring into the pie filling.

For the passion fruit flavoring I've used the puree concentrate sold by Perfect Puree. It can be found at the larger Whole Foods stores in Roseville and Folsom. The smaller Arden store doesn't have it. The concentrate is $10 a container, but it will last you through several recipes. If you like the flavor of passion fruit, I highly recommend it.





Crust 

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup ground almonds (or other nut)

2 tablespoons sugar

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling

1/4 cup water

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

1/3 cup passion fruit puree

1 cup syrup from candied kumquats*

4 large egg yolks

1 cup candied kumquats, drained*

1 1/4 cups chilled whipping cream

If my BFF were to harvest and sell the kumquats from her tree, she would easily make a few hundred dollars. After all, a small basket of kumquats can sell in the store for $4-5. Her tree almost reaches her second story roof line of her house.  She doesn't use them at all. In fact, I think I'm the only one who ever picks and uses them.


This year I've made candied kumquats because I have been really interested in using them in a pie somehow. Tune in later this week for the great pie I created. But first, I had to make the first component- the candied kumquats. I wanted to do something different from others out there and so I tossed in some vanilla and ginger.


Use the candied kumquats for desserts, over breakfast goods like waffles or French toast, and as a side item for cheese platters and other dishes.

I never knew that different ducks would taste differently until I met Hank Shaw. Apparently ducks that eat only seeds and greens will taste entirely different from those that eat bugs and fish. It was a conversation I remember as I was immediately taken and impressed by this local treasure. Yes, I feel we Sacramentans are lucky to have Hank Shaw in our midst as a valuable resource and champion for eating back to our paleolithic roots - hunting and gathering.

Unfortunately I've only ever met Hank three times. We're both busy people, but Hank is especially hard to catch because he's out and about the landscape and the country doing what he does. Last year he was traveling around the country on his book tour for Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast. This successful and well reviewed book covered - you guessed it - hunting, foraging, fishing, and cooking. He was able to publish the book after years of success and two James Beard nominations for his blog, Hunter Angler Gardener Cook.