"sf gate" news and stories

The Working Cook makes Roasted Chicken with Salsa & Poblano-Corn Hash and Salmon with Grilled Romaine & Romas, while the Roving Feast goes to Sacramento and makes Pasta with Salsa Cruda.

It's too hot for the oven, and you don't necessarily want to grill everything all the time, so Georgeanne Brennan shares a few stove-top recipes, just for summer: Pan-Fried Cube Steak with Gravy, Sauteed Corn, Zucchini & Hungarian Wax Peppers, Chilled Melon Soup with Lavender, Chicken & Celery Salad, Chicken with Heirloom Tomatoes & Olives, Duck Breast Glazed with Lavender Honey, Sauteed Plums for Ice Cream or Pound Cake, Turkey Cutlets with Green Peppercorn Pan Sauce, and Lentil & Smoked Duck Breast Salad.

Out on the dining scene, Joy Luck in San Mateo receives two stars (**).

This week, the feature story is not on wine, but cocktails. Rather than relying on the standard, vodka, Bay Area bartenders are turning to artisan tequilas, locally brewed and Mexican beers, rum and other exotic spirits. There are recipes for Neptune's Garden, Leilani Volcano, China Clipper, Coconut Batido, Basil Gimlet. Watermelmon Margarita, and Sidewinder's Fang.

The Chronicle's Wine Selection of the Week is Pinot Noir, about half of which are from the Santa Cruz Mountains, the other half from the Central Coast.The opt of their favorites is 2004 Carmel Road Monterey Pinot Noir. The Bargain selections are light, summery whites, including a sparkling wine, NV Lorikeet South Eastern Australia Brut.

Black Bean Spareribs pair well with the Pinot Noir selection, and the Cheese Course of the Week is a buffalo-milk mozzarella, Bubalus Bubalis.

When is a tomato not a tomato? When it's an heirloom and goes by its own name, like "Brandywine" and Marvel "Stripe." Recipes are for: Cavatelli with Cranberry Beans, Warm Spinach Salad with Bacon & Potatoes, Bruschetta With Fresh Ricotta & Cherry Tomatoes, and Sliced Heirloom Tomatoes with Buttermilk Dressing.

The Grande Dame of Mexican cuisine, Diana Kennedy, shares recipes for Tamales Cernidos con Rajas y Queso (Tamales filled with Poblanos & Cheese) as well as an accompanying Salsa Verde.

Edna Lewis' classic The Taste of Country Cooking has been reissued, Scala's Bistro in Union Square has re-opened with a new look and a new menu, Etoile, Domaine Chandon's restaurant has reopened, and Bistro 1689 in a new French-California place in Noe Valley.

Chef Ann Cooper has been commissioned by the Chez Panisse Foundation to transform the Berkeley Public Schools' school lunches.

In the kitchen, frozen puf pastry serves as a suitable shortcut to an Apple, Rhubarb,and Raspberry Galette. A look at some of the new cookbooks offer some recipes. From chef Joyce Goldstein's Antipasti, there is a Meat-filled Omelet Roll, Glazed Lemon-Sour Cream Cake comes from The New California Cook, Chocolate-Soy Milk Frozen Pops from a Passion for Ice Cream, Country-style Onion and Potato Pie from Big Sky Cooking, and Toblerone Milk Chocolate Mousse from Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts.

Sugo, a trattoria in Petaluma, receives two stars (**).

Bret Lopez names his Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon "Scarecrow" in honor of his grandfather Joseph Judson Cohn, who oversaw production of "The Wizard of Oz" as an executive at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. Cohn planted the original vineyard that supplies the grape for the wine.

The weekly selections are summery rosé in wines, with a recipe for a Lightly Curried Pasta Salad to pair, six-months-aged Laura Chenel's Goat Tomme in cheese, and Golden Rye Fizz in cocktails.