Yes, I know, things have been a little quiet around here. I hope to get back to it soon. In the mean time, check out the guest blog I wrote for Full Circle Farm: Top Ten Vegetables for Grilling
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Saturday, May 19th, 2012
Yes, I know, things have been a little quiet around here. I hope to get back to it soon. In the mean time, check out the guest blog I wrote for Full Circle Farm: Top Ten Vegetables for Grilling
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Sunday, February 12th, 2012
What do you do if you don’t have enough zucchini for zucchini bread and you don’t have enough bananas for banana bread? You create a completely new bread that contains both, zucchinana bread.
I started with the basic quick bread recipe found in Michael Ruhlman’s Ratio and adapted from there. The result is a moist, yummy bread that is wonderful slathered with butter, or even better, peanut butter. Here’s the ingredients.
In one bowl mash the banana. I think the easiest way to do this is just to use your fingers (put a glove on first if you don’t like messy hands).
Then add the rest of the wet ingredients. In a second bowl combine all of the dry ingredients.
Stir each of the bowls contents well.
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet. Then stir in the toasted nuts. Divide the batter between two loaf pans, a muffin pan, or a combination of the two.
Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted into the bread (or muffin) comes out clean. This will take about 40 minutes for muffins and 50 minutes for a loaf.
Let cool before slicing. Enjoy plain or topped with butter. Or, be like Elvis and combine the flavors of banana and peanut butter for a delicious breakfast treat.
| Zucchinana Bread |
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
I don’t watch a lot of football, baseball is really more my game of choice. However, I do make an exception for the Super Bowl.
Of course the Super Bowl is just barely about football. It’s about the ads, and the halftime show, and, of course, the food. I’ve got a few suggestions for what to serve at your party.
If you’re looking for a Super Bowl snack that is a little more upscale, try my take on classic Buffalo Wings with this Buffalo Wing Rillettes. It taste great and can be prepared in advance (in fact it will taste even better if it sits for a couple of days) freeing you up for more game-watching enjoyment.
I like to put several bowls of snack mix all around the party room so that tasty treats are never too far away. If you fill them up with my Sriacha Soy Chex Mix plan to refill bowls a couple of times because from my experience, this gets gobbled up pretty quickly.
Lastly, I’ve never been to a Super Bowl party where a cheese ball wasn’t welcomed and devoured. This one features sharp cheddar cheese, pancetta, smoked paprika and pumpkin seeds. Here’s the ingredients.
To start, saute the pancetta until it is good and crispy.
Remove the pancetta from the pan, leaving behind the rendered fat, and add the pumpkin seeds. Let them cook, stirring occasionally, until the are toasty brown and start to pop.
Remove them from the pan and sprinkle them with a little salt, then set them aside for the time being.
Next, in a medium-size bowl, combine the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, crispy pancetta and green onions.
Stir it well to combine.
Then turn it out onto a piece of plastic wrap.
Gather the edges of the wrap to force the cheese mixture into a ball. Put the ball into the fridge for at least one hour.
When you are ready to serve, chop up the pumpkin seeds then combine them with the remaining smoked paprika.
Remove the plastic from the cheese ball and roll the ball in the pumpkin seed/paprika mixture.
Arrange the finished cheese ball on a plate with some crackers and enjoy.
| Smoky Cheddar Cheese Ball |
Friday, January 20th, 2012
We’ve had snow here in Seattle. Some areas have been harder hit than our house, but in the Seattle area even a couple of inches of snow is enough to bring the city to a standstill.
Luckily, before the snow hit, I fortified our home with supplies to get us through the storm (though we are running tragically low on Rum) including plenty of options for soup. To me, nothing tastes better on a cold, snowy night than a steaming hot bowl of soup.
I wasn’t planning on writing a blog about this particular soup, but after I posted the photo above a friend asked for the recipe. Since it had turned out so tasty I thought why not share it. However, since I hadn’t planned a post, the iPhone photo above is the only photo I have, no process photos. The steps are fairly straightforward though.
I served the soup with foccacia bread that I had dotted with kalamata olives. The salty tang was nice with the soup but any bread will do in a snow storm.
| Butternut Squash Soup with Roasted Cauliflower and Tomatoes |
Monday, January 16th, 2012
Last week I was able to take part in Slow Food Seattle’s Tuna Canning Workshop. I had so wanted to go to the first one last year (especially after hearing all the raves about the tuna) but work got in the way. Pacific Northwest Tuna is exquisite (I especially love it raw) and I certainly love being able to support a local fisherman so I bought my ticket and reserved my flat of tuna as soon as it was possible.
We spent the day cutting and trimming the tuna, then stuffing it into jars. Each jar then gets a little salt, a little olive oil and a piece of carrot (Jeremy the fisherman’s secret ingredient). Finally the jars are sealed and then placed in a pressure canner for 90 minutes. The tuna comes out bubbling and hot so it has to cool for a few minutes before it get packed up to take home.
I wanted to cook something delicious with my first jar of tuna, but I’ve been a bit of a hermit lately so a trip to the store just didn’t sound like much fun. I decided to turn to a classic Italian dish, Pasta Puttanesca which requires no fresh ingredients.
Puttanesca has a bit of a tawdry history as it is said that it was invented by prostitutes. Some say that it’s aroma was used to lure new patrons while others say that they made it because it was quick and could be cooked entirely from the pantry (since many of them had no refrigeration available). Of course there are others that say it was simply invented by busy Italian women who wanted something quick to serve their family. Whichever version of history you believe, know that this is one of the most delicious pasta dishes around.
You might be tempted to leave the anchovy paste out of this dish but trust me, don’t. It adds a certain salty “what is that” flavor that is essential. I served mine over fresh pasta (just because I’ve been practicing my fresh pasta technique) but dry fettuccine or spaghetti will be just as delicious. Here’s the ingredients.
Start by covering the bottom of a frying pan with olive oil. Once it’s warm add the garlic and anchovy and let it fry for about 30 seconds.
Stir in the tomatoes, black olives, capers and red pepper flakes and let it simmer while the pasta cooks.
When the pasta is almost done, add the tuna to the pan just to warm through.
Finally, drain the pasta then add it to the sauce. Let it cook for another 30 seconds or so then serve.
We had a friend over to enjoy this dinner with us. She took one bite and her eyes got big. “Yum” was all she could say. Salty, spicy and tangy this is the perfect pasta for a cold winter’s night.
| Tuna Puttanesca |
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Thursday, January 5th, 2012
I seem to have lost my mojo. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve had way more fails than successes in the kitchen. A lot more.
I don’t know what’s going on. Usually I walk in to the kitchen, sometimes without even an inkling of what I’m going to make, and it just happens. Something tasty just comes out. But it’s just not happening.
I made a potato gratin. It turned out as potato soup.
I made fudge for friends. It turned out grainy.
I made fudge again. The chocolate didn’t melt completely and it was lumpy (I quickly added some nuts which made it at least passable) .
I made bean soup. Then burned it.
The only real bright spot has been some marshmallows that I made using a recipe from my friend Nazila. She told me they were fool proof and luckily she was right. I made the vanilla version and then dipped some in chocolate and some of those in some crushed candy canes.
I’m going to give it another go today. I’m planning to make a lasagna to have on hand in the freezer. And then I’m going to make Asado de Bodas from a recipe found in Saveur for dinner tonight. I’m crossing my fingers that some of my marshmallow mojo rubs off.
Saturday, December 17th, 2011
Sixty-three hours ago I started some beautiful short ribs cooking sous vide. I thought a little Saturday night fancy food would be great. Now, with nine hours of cooking left, all I want is comfort food. Fried chicken and macaroni and cheese to be exact.
Sixteen hours ago my husband and I made the decision to euthanize our dog Jones. His health had been declining. He’s suffered from hip dysplasia for years and years and in the last few weeks he had started falling. A lot. He’d be walking in from outside and his back legs would just collapse beneath him. Our hardwood floors didn’t help the situation. Over the last year we’d placed rugs throughout the house in all of his favorite spots so that he could get up and down, but we could tell it was getting to hard for him to get around.
Not that he would ever tell us though. Jones was best described as simple. As long as he had food and head scratches he was just happy to be. You know how towards the end of Marley and Me John Grogan asks Marley “you’ll let me know when it’s time, right?”, well, we knew Jones would never tell us when it was time. He would keep smiling and wagging his tail until it was too late.
So when we woke up yesterday and he couldn’t stand, much less walk we took that as a sign. For selfish reasons, we had been putting off the conversation until after Christmas. But we know that we couldn’t put it off anymore. We made the decision.
Jones had a good last day. While my husband had to go to work in the morning for a meeting, I sat with him in the living room doing my best to keep him calm and happy. When my husband came home Jones got to enjoy a rawhide, followed by a couple of ice cubes (one of his favorite treats that we had to stop giving him a few years ago because his teeth were breaking) and a few chocolate chip cookies while we waited for the vet to arrive. There were lots of scratches and many tears as we said goodbye. You can’t help but wonder if you are making the right decision, but ultimately we know this was the best thing for Jones.
So tonight, while Jones is reunited with his old pal Cuba for a game a chase at the Rainbow Bridge, we’ll set the fancy food aside. Sorrow calls for comfort and comfort calls for mac and cheese.
Saturday, December 10th, 2011
The other day I was walking through Costco (no story starts that way and doesn’t end without spending $100) and I saw this on the end cap.
“Make Chex Party Mix. What a good idea” (I am so easily influenced, sigh).
I haven’t made Chex Mix in years (and years and years) and, I was hosting a party where I knew snack mix would be a welcome addition. I like the traditional Chex Mix recipe well enough, but I’m not a huge fan of pretzels and I wanted something a little spicier. So, I decided to switch it up a little (or a lot as it turns out). The idea of using Sriracha as the heat in my mix popped into my head, which then led me to add some other Asian flavors. Although the mix takes a little while in the oven it comes together very quickly.
Here’s the ingredients:
First, melt the butter in the microwave (or on the stovetop) and then stir the seasoning ingredients into the melted butter. Give the butter a little taste at this point and add more sriracha if you like.
Put the cereals and the toasted almonds on a rimmed baking sheet, pour the seasoned butter over top …
… then use a spatula to stir and distribute the seasonings throughout the cereals.
Place the sheet in a 250 degree oven and bake for one hour, stirring the mix every 15 minutes. Let cool completely and then enjoy!
Salty and spicy (and mildly addictive), all my guests raved about my mix. Try it as an addition to your next party. You’ll be glad you did.
| Sriracha Soy Chex Mix |
Monday, December 5th, 2011
Here it is. My last Charcutepalooza post. The challenge for this, the final month in our year of challenges? Show off a little. Basically, have a party, invite a bunch of friends and feed them until they are ready to burst.
Of course there were a few more guidelines than “just feed people”. A list of items (using at least four) that our meal needed to include: something smoked, cured or brined, something made with pork belly, a pate or terrine, rillettes or confit and sausage of some kind.
I pulled out all of my trusty charcuterie books. For days I pored over them, considering my menu. A few items easily made the list (my buffalo chicken rillettes and pork belly confit) but some needed more consideration.
Finally, after days of adding something to my list only to replace it with something else two hours later, I settled on the following menu:
To start:
• Scotch Eggs
• Baguettes topped with Bacon Jam and Tomato Confit
• Buffalo Chicken Rillettes
• Baguettes topped with Goat Cheese and Lonzino
Dinner:
• Vegetable Terrine with Goat Cheese Inlay (based loosely on the version found in Charcuterie, recipe follows)
• Brined Pork Loin with Cured Lemons (from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home)
• Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Maple Syrup and Pecans
• Jim Drohman’s Pork Belly Confit with tender and bitter greens, mustard vinaigrette and sous vide eggs (pork belly recipe from Charcuterie)
• Polenta with Parmesan
And of course there was dessert (I served a nut tart I picked up at Will Bake for Food) and many plentiful cocktails (including a take on a lemon drop that included lavender and rosemary)
Ninety percent of my friends (and my husband) work at a the corporate office of a major corporation that does not allow anyone to take the day after Thanksgiving off work. So, that is the day I settled on for my gathering. Guests started arriving as they got off work and I started feeding them right away. And then I kept feeding them for the next four hours.
It was a glorious night of gluttony. Think about it, how often do you get to eat pork that has been prepared six different ways. The pork belly confit, which was cooked with cinnamon, cloves and allspice than deep fried was my favorite dish of the night, though the still-pink and meltingly tender pork loin was a close second. But then again, those brussels sprouts were pretty good too. Oh, and the veggie terrine…
I’m sad that my year of Charcutepalooza challenges has come to a close though I’m grateful for the new skills I’ve gained and the community of meat-enthusiasts that I have found. I plan to continue my learning and experimentation. Making my own bacon, grinding and stuffing my own sausage, whipping up a rillettes, just because. And now that I’ve got my curing chamber up and running, cured muscles and sausages are again within my grasp.
| Vegetable Terrine with Goat Cheese Inlay |
Thursday, December 1st, 2011
I never imagined that I would have as much trouble with a Charcutepalooza challenge as I have with this last one. I’ve cured meat successfully already this year and I figured with my fancy new curing chamber (otherwise known as an old fridge with a bunch of gadgets inside) it would be even easier.
Sigh. Not so much.
The charcuterie challenge this month was to cure a whole cut. I was awfully tempted to try my hand at bresaola (because it is hard to find and I love it so) but I knew there was a high chance of failure on this particular challenge. I decided that if I did happen to have a failure, I would rather fail with a cheaper cut of meat such a pork loin then a more expensive beef round. I settled on Lonzino (air dried pork loin) and found a recipe (complete with video) on Matt Wright’s lovely blog.
This is where Twitter came in. My first question was for Matt (@wrightfood onTwitter) “just how funky are the casings you use”. I am extremely smell averse and I knew if the casings were too stinky I was in big trouble. He assured me that with a good soaking and a little vinegar I should be just fine. So, I preceded along my merry way, starting the pork loin in the cure, ordering the casing that Matt suggested and getting my curing chamber up and running (based on Matt’s setup).
A few days later it was time to get the meat into the chamber. When I trimmed up my pork loin to for curing, one end of it was pretty darn thin, so I made the decision to cut it in half so that I could put the thicker end in the casing and leave the thin end naked.
Before I added the meat, my chamber was holding nicely at 55 degrees with 76% humidity. Just about perfect. As soon as I added the meat the humidity jumped to 93%. I turned to Twitter again, asking Matt, Michael Ruhlman (@ruhlman) and the whole of the #Charcutepalooza community, “is this going to be a problem?”
Matt was the first to respond.
We Tweeted back and forth a few more times and basically he told me because of the size of my chamber, I definitely needed to add a fan to the mix (which was confirmed later by Mrs. Wheelbarrow). Of course being told you need to add a fan to the mix does not necessarily mean you have time to add a fan to the mix. As Matt had suggested, I had propped the door opened and that had helped with the humidity, but I had a feeling I was going to be in for trouble.
Four days later, trouble showed up. The end of the loin that I had put into the casing developed a few spots of black mold. I’d been expecting mold of some kind. It’s a frequent issue with cured meats but I’d always heard that mold could simply be washed of with a vinegar solution so I was a bit surprised when, after tweeting this:
I got this reply:
Okay I wasn’t surprised about that one, but I was surprised by this one:
Trash it!? But… vinegar… won’t that work?
Kill me? Um, no thanks.
Sigh.
With a little more Twitter discussion, I determined that the uncased end could possibly be saved. but after a couple more days in the non-fanned curing chamber I realized that my meat was not happy in there. It had developed a few spots of white fuzzy mold (which can be washed off with vinegar) so I made the decision to move the meat to a new spot. While not the ideal conditions, my pantry/liquor cabinet/laundry room would have to do.
Almost immediately my meat just looked better and it finally started losing some weight. My lonzino started at 360 grams so my target weight was 252 grams. After a couple more days of anxious waiting (and white fuzzy mold washing) my lonzino was finally ready to try.
I cut a few slices and gave it a try. Hmm, a little bit salty and a little too junipery, but not bad. I tossed a few slices in with some pasta and called it lunch.
Next I decided to serve it as part of my charcutepalooza finale dinner. I spread a little Chevre (Yarmuth Farms Chevre from Darrington WA to be exact) on a cracker and then topped it with a thin slice of lonzino and a little scallion. Delicious. The goat cheese masked the overly juniper taste and added a nice creaminess to the mix. I could have eaten ten of them (of course I was serving seven other dishes so I refrained).
I’m grateful for all the help (and the dirty jokes about meat, casings and more) I’ve received from Matt and the rest of the Twitter community over the last few weeks. This whole thing wouldn’t be nearly as fun without you.
