Incanto, San Francisco

Incanto Blood Sausage, Egg and Oysters
Originally uploaded by Suzi Edwards

I’d been meaning to write about this place for a while, but the food didn’t blow me away and so I never got round to it. However, the other evening’s “At the Table With...” on the Food Network Canada, reminded me of the place.

I’m a massive fan of “nose to tail” eating and I’d had my eye on Chris Cosentino at Incanto for some time. I think the moral of my visit here is never take a group that’s 50% vegetarians to a restaurant that’s all about the offal, because they’re not going to have very much to choose from.

That said, as a firm fan of offal, there wasn’t much for me to choose on this Sunday night. I did my best though.

My starter augered well. Entitled “Chef’s Last Supper” it was perfect comfort food; for the viscerally inclined. Soft, wobbly oysters, a poached hen’s egg and some crumbly morcilla, napped with pangrattato for contrast. Best starter went to the sardines with pickled fennel and radish salad. The sardines were spankingly fresh and Chris looked all smug about his choice. I broke my personal rule of not ordering risotto (too many carbs, I make a mean risotto myself and I tend to get bored after about seven mouthfuls) because it was a chicken giblet risotto. It was delicious- well cooked and the muskiness of the giblets made it more interesting, but ultimately it was just risotto, and I can make that at home.

Having watched this show tonight, I am 100% sure that we didn’t see 50% of what the kitchen can do. Chris Cosentino is the most passionate chef I have watched for a long time. I love his commitment to sustainability. His passion for the animals that he prepares. His willingness to face up to the fact that animals have to die to provide us with meat and that he cried when talking about slaughtering his first goat. This is someone that really respects animals (and I love that he jokes his son will probably become a vegan aged 16 in an act of rebellion).

There are too many places that I want to eat in in San Francisco, but I think I am going to have to go back to Incanto.

Incanto is at 1550 Church Street, San Francisco. Call 415-641-4500 for reservations.

Risotto! Risotto!

So today's supper choice was a bit like Ready Steady Cook. I'd immed one of my colleagues (I'm now so bored I bother my colleagues at work for stimulation) for inspiration. A quick trawl through my fridge revealed that I had a butternut squash that I wanted to use up, and I had a vague recollection of a squash risotto on Celebrity Masterchef.

So, I made a basic white risotto with an onion, some thyme and vegetable stock. Chicken would have been preferable, but there was none around. While the risotto was cooking I roasted some little dice of butternut squash in olive oil, again with some thyme. They took about 15 minutes.

Once the risotto was ready I stirred in some roquefort, the squash dice and let it all sit for a couple of minutes. I finished everything off with a bit more cheese (that in truth it didn't need) and some toasted pine nuts.

It was pretty bloody delicious, although I'm keen to do a vertical risotto rice tasting soon. I'm not convinced by the carnaroli from Tescos that I have been using. It's not as creamy as I would like.

There was also quite a lot of squash that didn't want to be cut into dice, so I roasted that too, cooked up some onion in the left over risotto stock, added a bag of spinach, some cumin and, voila, I have a roasted squash and spinach soup for tomorrow.