San Francisco – Our Wild Savory Kitchen

Mussels Linguine with ‘Nduja Cream Sauce

The flavor combo of spicy pork with steamed mussels is a marriage made in umami heaven. ’Nduja is a spreadable pork sausage originally from southern Italy, and is a fantastic flavoring for just about any seafood pasta. You can easily find ‘Nduja online (like Amazon) or at an Italian market. It keeps for a long time in the refrigerator and very little is needed for each dish. When the family gathers for holidays and special events, we often harvest our own wild mussels along the Pacific coast, and the hunt becomes a joyful raucous adventure for everyone, including our little ones. When timed properly with low tides, it’s great fun… we just always keep one eye out for the occasional big wave.

Red Bell Peppers Stuffed with Smoked Sausage, Garlic Seared Spinach, Feta and Rice

These crunchy juicy sweet red bell peppers were stuffed with lots of savory stuff like spinach seared in tons of garlic and Italian olive oil, smoked sausages, lots of feta cheese along with two other cheeses like Pecorino Romano grated inside with smoked Provolone or Gruyere on top, which got all melty and aromatic, held together with our own spiced Jasmine rice… all made really creamy with roasted red pepper and tomato sauce. They are crazy tasty awesome wonderful.

Cioppino

Beginning in the late 1800s, the commercial fishing fleet out of San Francisco’s North Beach and Fisherman’s Wharf was dominated by Italian fisherman, usually from the port city of Genoa. But some boats were manned by a mix of fisherman from many other nations. Working side by side with the Italians were Portuguese from Lisbon, Mexicans from Baja, Spaniards from Barcelona, Frenchmen from Marseille, Chinese fisherman who had been in the city for many years fishing for shrimp, and there were even some highly skilled long range seafarers from Basque. Cioppino became so popular among the families in the bay area that it began to be served as street food for laborers along the wharf and by 1906, after the devastating earthquake, it was served in several restaurants in town. It is a classic San Francisco feast and always eaten with the wildly popular local crusty sourdough bread.