This plantain and coconut crusted fish recipe was inspired by something similar devised by another cook on my team during last month's Top Chef competition. But I wasn't remotely involved in helping prepare the fish that night, so I scraped together this similar recipe based mostly on memory. The resulting fish is very moist, slightly coconutty, and has a flavorful crisp crust.

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Fast forward a few years to a couple savory - and much tastier - plantain preparations, and suddenly I find myself pulling a Heidi Klum: declaring plantains in and potatoes out; then double cheek-kissing my dear old potato pal as I bid him auf wiedersehen.

In a baked chip form, plantains become a fun snack food. For the easiest, most consistent preparation (and even crispiness), use a mandolin or, for the less gadgety among us (me included!), a regular vegetable peeler to thinly slice the plantains. (Trust me; I tried to very thinly slice some of the plantain by hand, and the results weren't quite as uniform; plus they took longer to crisp up on the oven.)

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Upon return, kitchen chaos ensues. Each team scrambles to grab the kitchen tools they require or, as often is the case, improvising when those tools - or stove burners or even counter space - are already in use.

Most recently, the teams tackled coconut. Although plantain and coconut crusted fish wowed its way to the top of the judges' list, I walked away obsessed with marinated grilled asparagus (Bill's genius) dipped in a lime-coconut hollandaise (I made it, but have no idea who on my team came up with the idea).

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But Jay's more of a one-and-done eater: not particularly keen on leftovers or repeats. So his desire to have this pork be a repeat player in multiple meals every single week says a lot, to me ... as does the fact that, allegedly, my friend Joe's first words the morning after a recent pork-featuring barbecue were, "That pork was delicious; I need the recipe."

Besides being addictively delicious and abundantly flavorful, this pork is super easy to make.

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Not being a huge fan of rum, I was a bit skeptical at first, but the ginger and lime components won me over.

I love the refreshing tang of lime and the spicy zing of ginger - perfect for either a warm summer's day or a frigidly windy but confusingly sunny spring afternoon, and we get plenty of the latter in San Francisco.

But now that I've thought to swap out the rum for my much more beloved gin, I don't think I'll be returning to the original. Nor to my other warm weather go-to, a standard gin and tonic.

... Read the rest of bright 'n' windy (gin, ginger ale and lime cocktail) on BatterLicker.com!

I have two thoughts on that:

(1) These people clearly haven't been to Moishe's Pippic in Hayes Valley, which has been serving phenomenal corned beef, pastrami and (on Fridays and Saturdays only) brisket for quite awhile now; and

(2) The rye bread at Wise Sons is transformative, at least as far as this longtime Rye-Hater is concerned.

Wise Sons' rye bread is absolutely worth the annoyance of trying to find a parking spot in the Mission on a weekend afternoon. Hypothetically, I think it's even worth waiting in the horrendously long line that wraps around the corner starting at 11 a.m. on weekends, when Wise Sons starts serving their infamous Reuben sandwiches. And I say "hypothetically" because of this very-exciting-to-me-now-that-I-know-it fact:

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It's the one piece of Fall and Winter produce that I keep a tight grip on for as long as possible, reluctant to let it go and dismayed to go without it for another six months, even if that same time period brings delightful indulgence in strawberries and, eventually, nectarines.

I love butternut squash. Its sunny, bright orange flesh ushers me through months of bleak greyness. I live for butternut squash. When strawberries turn sour and nectarines disappear from the market and all produce stands point to cabbage and kale,** the appearance of butternut squash brings a smile to my face and puts the spring back into my steps. I have a serious butternut squash addiction.

... Read the rest of twice-baked butternut squash halves on BatterLicker.com!

I recently started setting up a sort of brown banana renewal system. I'll buy a few super green ones and a few yellow ones each week, and then find myself with a consistent supply of brown, spotted mushiness that is sufficient for my peanut butter shake and green smoothie purposes.

It was all working out swimmingly until I got tempted by the very cheap, very large bunch of jet-sized bananas at Costco. Suddenly, I had a serious overflow problem.

The first resolution that came to mind was banana bread, which would also conveniently free up some precious space in my overstuffed pantry. Okay, maybe it was actually equal parts resolution and excuse to fill my apartment with the fragrant aroma of freshly baked banana bread.

Either way, I wanted to make a more portable, healthful, whole grain, breakfast-appropriate version.

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Clearly, I'm my Great Depression era grandmother's granddaughter; I'm a sucker for reducing, if not eliminating, waste. I get an intense thrill out of embracing resourcefulness and the creativity that inevitably plays a role in finding uses for less popular animal parts, apple peels, and vegetable scraps.

Perhaps it's needless to say in this context, but once the Butchers and Beers silent auction benefiting The Food Pantry came to a close, we walked home with the bones and offal - and a large hunk of pork known as a cowboy steak.

Hilarious-and-ironic-to-me story from the auction: while waiting patiently to increase our bids, I overheard two guys in front of me whine "ewwwwwwww" when they came across the offal bid card; they were much more enamored with the super popular and trendy pork belly, which in my opinion has an equal "ewwwwwwww" factor.

... Read the rest of chinese barbecue (char siu) pork cowboy steak on BatterLicker.com!