by Heidi Trilling

Chef Jeffrey Rosen. Photo: Heidi Trilling.

Want to prepare an intimate, luscious meal for your valentine?

Try coconut tom yum, a Thai soup. “Not only is this recipe healthy and vegan,” says Chef Jeffrey Rosen, “the ingredients are exotic and will evoke a mystical, far-away escape.”

Rosen continues: “It’s brothy … but wonderfully rich and silky and sexy. And a little spicy. Perfect for sharing.”

And Rosen should know. He’s been sharing his fresh, inventive cuisine with a grateful public for over 25 years.

A native New Yorker of Russian and Eastern European heritage, Rosen was inspired by cooking as a child. “My family was very food-centric,” he says.

While working as a young chef in New York and Florida, Rosen was also inspired by Alice Waters. Her philosophy of supporting local, seasonal, organic produce became the mantra of her Berkeley restaurant, Chez Panisse — and a hallmark of California cuisine.  “I was among many young chefs who idolized her and considered Chez Panisse a culinary Mecca,” Rosen says.

So, he moved to San Francisco.

“California was where the produce was, where the wine was, where the creative thinking and progressive ideas were,” Rosen says. “The focus was on using pristine ingredients, in season. And it still is.”

Rosen worked as an executive chef alongside such culinary luminaries as Nancy Oakes of L’Avenue and Boulevard fame and Mark Franz of Stars and Farallon — both of whom share the commitment to fresh, local, organic, sustainable food. “It was an amazing privilege to work with them and learn from them,” Rosen says.

And he learned well.

Guest Chef Jeffrey Rosen hosting an underground dinner at Mission Street Foods in San Francisco. Photo: Heidi Trilling.

As chef-owner of Avenue 9 in San Francisco’s Inner Sunset district and, later, Succotash in the city’s former Multimedia Gulch, Rosen was named “an avatar of New American Cuisine” by Paul Reidinger of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and was given a 3-star review by the late Jim Wood of the San Francisco Examiner.

Rosen then became corporate executive chef at Stanford University, where a staggering 17,000 meals were served daily. He was an integral part of the team that won for Stanford the prestigious Ivy Award from Restaurants & Institutions Magazine, the Acterra Award for Sustainability, and a Santa Clara County Green Business Certification. Rosen himself won the Cardinal Toque, the university equivalent of “The Iron Chef.”

So, what’s it like, preparing hundreds of meals per sitting? “If you’re an adrenaline junky, which I was at the time,” says Rosen, “it’s a lot of fun.”

Chef Jeffrey Rosen preparing a warm spinach salad with ridgeback shrimp and pork belly. Photo: Heidi Trilling.

At Stanford, Rosen learned that high-volume university food doesn’t have to be institutional. “Fresh ingredients and thoughtful, organic menus respecting sustainability are possible on a grand scale, too,” Rosen says.

Now a culinary consultant, Rosen develops grand-scale green business practices, sustainability programs, and menus for corporate, educational and food-industry institutions. Private clients, too.

Rosen’s latest extracurricular culinary adventure is Club Avenue 9, an underground restaurant.

Hot and trendy, underground restaurants are like dinner parties — with paying guests — that take place in unexpected or makeshift locations. They are literal “moveable feasts.” Patrons stay in the know through online social networks.

Rosen says: “Underground meals are exciting because I’m free to create and improvise outside of the restaurant structure. It’s very intimate … very interactive … and very cool.”

Speaking of cool: A tattoo of Aztec eagles encircles Rosen’s right bicep, and a tattoo of an artichoke — radiating golden light, like the sun — is emblazoned on his left. “It’s my favorite vegetable,” Rosen says. “It deserved a place of honor there.”

Which brings us back to the soup. “It’s very honorable and very romantic and rewarding to offer someone a healthful meal you’ve made with your own hands,” Rosen says.

What about the sugar?

House favorite: succulent flat iron steaks with pearl onion, sultana, and whole grain mustard jus, mashed roots and gourds, and famous Avenue 9 onion rings. Photo: Heidi Trilling.

“Yeah, there’s some sugar in it,” Rosen says. “You can always substitute agave or stevia.” This will lower the glycemic index. “But once in a while, it’s a naughty treat to have the real thing, you know? Why not be a little naughty on Valentine’s Day?”

Coconut Tom Yum by Chef Jeffrey Rosen

Exotic ingredients can be found in most Asian food markets.

1 ½ cups coconut milk

2 tablespoons galangal (or ginger)

1 3-inch stalk lemongrass (chopped white part only)

2 fresh kaffir lime leaves, torn in half (or 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice)

4 ounces firm tofu, cubed

1 tablespoon palm sugar

1 cup Vietnamese cilantro leaves, chopped

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon olive oil

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

A bowl full of love: Coconut Tom Yum. Photo: Heidi Trilling.

1 ounce chanterelle mushrooms, pulled apart like string cheese

2 ounces button mushrooms, sliced

1 small green Thai chili pepper, crushed

¼ cup spinach, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons green onions (white part) chopped

1 teaspoon kosher salt

cheesecloth

Slice galangal into coins, place with chopped lemongrass in cheesecloth.

Pour sesame oil and olive oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add tofu, mushrooms, spinach, and cook 3-4 minutes, stirring a few times, until tofu is slightly browned, mushrooms are soft, spinach is wilted.

Add coconut milk, cheesecloth with galangal and lemongrass, and lime leaves. Bring to boil. Add sugar. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Add lime juice, Thai chili pepper, Kosher salt. Remove cheesecloth with galangal and lemongrass, and lime leaves. Garnish with cilantro leaves, chopped green onions. Serve in one pot, with two spoons.

Enjoy!