Easter: Not for Sissys

 This year, since I had to work on Easter Sunday, I asked my family if they would be willing to come over to our house and celebrate on Saturday instead. In the end this was a fantastic turn of events because Saturday was sunny, warm (hot at times!) and beautiful from morning until  night. Sunday was a cold and rainy day! We win! Everyone who came brought the most amazing dishes: spring salads (even a rabbit cobb salad prepared with one of Nic's own rabbits), scalloped potatoes with anchovies, asparagus bread pudding, brown bread and tomato gratin (Brown Tom), yogurt cornmeal cake with rhubarb, nutella cups, lemon bars and banana whoopie pies!
Kevin and I prepared all day on Friday (which was also our 4 year anniversary! Yowzas!). I braised a 3 pound lamb shoulder in my tagine for 6 hours with onions, prunes, garlic and meat stock. It was the most tender, succulent meat I have ever tasted. 6 hours in a tagine will do that I guess. We roasted an 18 pound ham with a maple syrup, bourbon, mustard glaze that I don't think we will ever be able to finish. I sauteed tiny new carrots with a similar glaze, adding curry for flair.  For a healthy option I made a bulgar salad with spring peas, plum tomatoes, shallots, and a shiitake mushroom vinaigrette. On Saturday I took the lamb I had braised off and layered it between to two layers of scalloped potato slices, creating a lamb pie called Champvallon. I also tried Smitten Kitchen's recipe for her "Lighter than Air Chocolate Cake" which is a flourless bittersweet take that requires a dozen eggs all separated and whipped forever. Instead of making a plain whipped cream frosting, I followed her directions for a white chocolate mint whipped cream instead. Deeeelightful. It really had a light texture with a deeply dark and barely sweet flavor. The mint was an excellent addition.
Lynne made Smitten's lemon bars- we love Deb so. They are sooo good. I highly recommend trying that recipe if you are in the mood for a lemon bar that is dynamic and lemony, not so sweet it burns the back of your throat.

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. Thanks for all the sweet messages about Hiro. Ouch we miss him so much!

Grains

I just bought the beautiful cook book Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce and I am in love with it. First I just admired the photography, and then I began reading each of the recipes and falling for not just the recipes but the language too. The way she describes each recipe brings personal warmth and respect to food and the art of cooking. I am a bit of a voyeur, and something about reading about another persons' kitchen always sets me right off the deep end. 

I am obsessively learning about wine these days because I am suddenly in charge of the list at the restaurant I work at- a big undertaking. I have so much to learn! One of my favorite parts of the process is learning how to describe what I am tasting. This requires me to slow down and actually think while drinking- a challenge. I am not usually a slow-down kind of girl. But in learning to taste wine, I am learning to taste everything. It's obvious, but each ingredient in a dish is there for a reason. Being a speed-eater, I am guilty of not even tasting half of what I eat. This is sad and must stop. In Good to the Grain, Kim Boyce describes the flavors of each grain and what they can do for a dish. She uses words like "nutty", "milky" and "grassy". I love these words. I want to taste them. Maybe if I slow down, I will.

On Sunday, I decided to try one of her recipes. I used a different fruit filling than she did, but I am mostly interested in how she's using all these nutty grains anyhow. I made corn flour galettes filled with blueberries and raspberries from the yard. The corn flour added a wonderfully gritty (in a good way) texture and a sweet, earthy flavor. I was so happy with the result. Had it been my usual a.p. flour crust, I might have skipped thinking about what it actually tasted like until I got to the fruit, but with the corn crust I stopped to consider what I was tasting. Today I made waffles and threw in some spelt flour, just to see what would happen. They were golden brown in color, still crisp and light, but also had a malty, honey flavor. Grains! They don't have to make food heavy and taste like cardboard.
I'm hooked. Next I will be trying her quinoa porridge, perfect for freezing Portland summer mornings.

Rhubarb is Happening

When Kevin and I were invited over to our friends house last week, I was glad to have a reason to try out a recipe that has been stuck in my mind since rhubarb season ended last year. 

Not that I really need a reason to bake. This recipe is from Orangette, and it its a rhubarb meringue tart. 

First you cook the rhubarb without any sugar. It's pink and beautiful. Then you make a creamy egg yolk custard, and finally you make a soft white meringue. 

It was tart, sweet, and buttery.

We ate it slightly warm after dinner, and then room temperature for breakfast. I can't wait to make it again. 

Rhubarb Meringue Tart
from Orangette
½ recipe Martha Stewart’s pâte brisée
2 lbs rhubarb, trimmed and chopped into roughly ½-inch chunks
Juice of an orange
2 eggs, separated
2/3 cup plus ½ cup granulated sugar
2 Tbs unbleached all-purpose flour
2 Tbs unsalted butter, melted
¼ tsp cream of tartar


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Roll out dough and line a 9 inch removable bottom tart pan with it. Line with parchment paper and fill with pie weights (I use dried beans). Pre-bake for 20 minutes, then remove lining and weights and let shell cool. Meanwhile, cook the rhubarb with the orange juice just until the rhubarb starts to soften and fall apart. The desire to add sugar will be strong, but trust me. It's going to work out. Remove from heat. Separate egg whites and yolks into two bowls and whisk yolks with a fork. In a medium bowl, whisk sugar, flour and melted butter together, then add the yolks. Put a sieve over this bowl and pour rhubarb into the sieve, letting it drip its juices into the yolks. Stir together. 
Next pour the rhubarb into the tart shell and spread evenly. Then pour the egg yolk mixture over the top of that and bake for 20 minutes until set. 
In another bowl, beat egg whites until foamy and then add cream of tartar. Beat until soft peaks form, then add in remaining sugar. Continue to beat until the whites are shiny ribbons. Spoon the meringue over the tart and form some pretty, soft swirls, then bake for 15 minutes or until the meringue is toasty. Allow to cool a bit and enjoy!

Black Pepper Spice Cookies with Glaze

I wanted to make Tartine's glazed gingerbread when I woke up last Sunday morning. It was cold and rainy (shockingly) and I knew I needed to make a treat for teatime at a friends. The problem was that I didn't have ginger or cloves- two of the most important ingredients! So instead of gingerbread, I made black pepper spice cookies with plenty of salt and a light glaze. They were amazingly soft and satisfyingly spicy, salty and sweet. I burned the hell out of one batch and we are still can't stop ourselves from eating them. But then, we are pigs.

Make the dough one day in advance for best results, or bake it right away and it's still great.

Black Pepper Spice Cookies with Glaze

3 3/4 cups AP flour
1 T cocoa powder
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
4 tsp cardamom
1 1/2 tsp Jamaican allspice
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup blackstrap molasses
2 T honey

Glaze
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 T water

Beat butter until creamy, and then add sugar and mix until smooth. Scrape bowl with a spatula and then add the egg. Next in, molasses and honey. Mix until blended, and scrape down the bowl again. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, spices, cocoa and baking soda. Slowly add this into the wet mix. Beat on low until a ball forms. At this point, you can either refrigerate the dough overnight or chill it for 20 minutes like I did. I'm sure its better if you let it sit overnight (it makes a world of difference with chocolate chip cookies).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Flour your work surface and roll out dough to about 1/3 inch thick in the shape of a rectangle. You may now cut out cookies as I did, or gently roll over the whole thing with a patterned rolling pin. And if you have a patterned rolling pin, send it to me immediately and never expect to see it again! Cut the pattered dough into tiles that are 3" by 4", or whatever size you prefer. I made both teardrop cookies and circle cookies, and then I rolled over them with a fake ear of corn for texture. You can roll whatever textured items you may have laying around the house over the dough! This comes into play when you glaze the cookies and the glaze nestles into the pattern quite beautifully.
Place a sheet of parchment paper over your cookie sheet, and bake the cookies for about 7 minutes. I did one batch for 10 minutes and the bottoms were burned. The next batch I baked for a mere 7 minutes and they were slightly underdone. When they cooled down, they were perfect.
While the cookies bake, whisk together confectioners sugar and water for the glaze. After you take the cookies out of the oven, let cool for a few minutes and then brush the glaze over the cookies. Do not freeze these, though I don't know why you would even try.

Serve with coffee, or on the rim of a Guiness float with vanilla ice cream!

I can't wait to make them again.

Pudding River

Last night Kevin and I went to a dinner party where we did not really know anyone. I knew one of hostesses, but otherwise it was all very new to us. I wanted to bring a dessert, and I guessed correctly that other people would probably be bringing pie-like things. I decided to make tapioca pudding. I had never made real pudding before, let alone the tapioca variety. But it was a cold and windy night and pudding sounded cozy.

It was fun to make and everyone loved it, unless they were just being polite 'cause we were strangers.

Anyway, I changed the recipe I was following it quite a bit. Here is my version.

Hot Toddy Tapioca Pudding

3/4 cup small tapioca pearls (not instant)
5 cups whole milk
1 cup cream
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean
1/4 cup brandy
zest of one lemon
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Put tapioca and cream in heavy bottomed pot. I used a dutch oven. Bring up heat until the milk starts steaming a bit, and then cut the heat and cover the pot. Let sit for an hour as a quick soak. After an hour, turn the stove back on at medium heat and whisk in the yolks, salt, sugar, cinnamon and milk.Split the vanilla pod along the seam and scrape the beans into the pot. You can throw the whole pod while the pudding cooks for extra flavor. Slowly bring up to a boil, stirring constantly. This should take about 15 minutes. You do not want to scorch the milk, so take your time. The moment it reaches a boil, lower the heat down to a simmer. At this point add the brandy and the lemon zest. Continue stirring and let simmer for 20 minutes or until tapioca pearls are nearly translucent and the custard has thickened.The pudding thickens more and more as it cools.

Serves 10-12 easily. Recipe can be halved.

Hot Dog Bar

Saturday night we had a bar themed meal! Hot dog bar! Jon's homemade fermented pickles, aoli, yellow mustard, apple and cabbage slaw, and toasted buns. We also had apples and honey to celebrate Rosh Hashanah. We were running a dessert special at the restaurant that night and when it was all said and done I made sure to remind them that they had "promised me a dessert". This was just not true. But, blame it on my attractive waitress clogs, I got what I wanted! Vanilla bean yogurt panna cotta with fresh berries and whipped cream SERVED IN A WINE GLASS! I often feel that foods served in fancy glass wear is a little tacky, but this was anything but. It was like I was a fairy princess eating out of a dew drop. I shared with Holly despite my strong urges to eat it in the mop closet, alone and frantic, and in the end it was better that way. It was a big dessert.

Brain Burn

We Oregonians spent this week frying our asses off. It has been in the 100's, including a special afternoon yesterday where it got up to 107 degrees. It's weird that this was the week that my friend from NYC was here for a visit. We spent the whole week underwater... in matching straw hats from the drug store...

What do you eat when it's stupid hot? We decided that wine was good. Also hot peppers, watermelon and pickles. One of the best moments of this week was when we were floating down the river on our backs with a bottle of wine, not a reasonable thought in our heads. We ate a whole box of popsicles in one sitting that afternoon... I miss that day-even if it was too hot for chips.

I am sure by now you are realizing that I am brain dead. Heat damaged. Forgot english and how the computer works. Please forgive me. Also forgive me for the fact that zucchini is visible in this photo of the purple bush beans that I finally got around to picking.

A Summer Party

As a special hostess with the mostess move, I baked my guests' initials on their slice of pie.
For dinner, steak and rainbow veggie kabobs, bacon wrapped scallops and fillet. For dessert, blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream. For drinks, Pimms Cups and many bottles of rose. A success!

Music and Pork

On Friday night, the stars aligned, and yet again Kevin and I were invited to a meat filled dinner by our friend Ian. He works at Simpatica Dining Hall and this weekend he got to write the menu and cook dinner for everyone. His muse was the pig, and we ate a lot of it. It started with headcheese with spicy pickled beets and mustard. Headcheese is delicious but kind of creepy (you know I don't mind eating face, it's just the gelatin part that gets me) but I found Ian's to be very pleasant. The next course, my most favorite of all, was risotto with sugar snap peas, sharp cheese of some kind, and a big slice of caramely pork belly. If only I could have a big bowl of that right now for breakfast... The main dish was double thick pork chops that he roast on a spit in front of the restaurant (we got to stand next to it and sniff on it for a few minutes before we went inside to sit down) with sweet smokey grits. And of course, dessert was great too- caramel ice cream with pralines and candied ham chips. Ian explained that he made the ham chips by boiling them in a thyme simple syrup- then he reduced the hammy simple syrup and made an incredible caramel sauce with it. This was a perfect evening because it started with going to Lille and tasting some of Dave's chocolates, then the pork dinner, and ended meeting up with Dave again for some vermouth! I've said it before and I'll say it again, I just can't wait until I'm an old lady and can be a vermouth alcoholic.

Last night, another fateful evening of delight. We managed to scrape together some tickets to the sold out Neko Case show on craigslist! I started listening to her this winter after years of claiming to hate her, and fell in love. By now my love has grown so much, it's stupid. Her voice is SO BEAUTIFUL, and live it is unreal. She had a pedal steel player. My heart belongs to the pedal steel, especially one being played under a tasseled lamp such as this one was. She also had a large owl painting/cutout that her tour artist made for the stage, and it looks just like Jacky Scrapple.

One great moment was when Neko said "this next song is about waking up and not knowing where you are, only to realize you're in prison and have to clean toilets for the rest of your life" and her backup singer said "That's better than working in a restaurant." And the crowd when crazy. It was a service industry kind of night, I suppose.

I also liked her hair and clothes. I could not see her shoes which was a sad thing. She did not play my two real favorite songs but I was still able to squeal and say "my favorite!" a lot of times anyway (I have a lot of favorites).

And she has a running video in the background of pretty things like cartoons of little girls combing tigers fur and killer whales swimming through the sky.

I'll stop.

Adult Spaghetti O's

As expected, Saturday was a long and strenuous night of waiting tables. And still I followed through (which, for some reason was greeted with surprise) and made us a staff meal. When I was creating the menu in my mind for this night I really thought about the things I want out of staff meal- something warm and fun, and dessert, and I went from there.

Actually, the preparation started on Friday with the creation of 36 hour cookie dough. The key to perfect chocolate chip cookies is letting the dough rest in the fridge for a while-24 to 36 hours. Saturday (perhaps the sunniest and nicest day of the year so far) I worked in my kitchen lovingly preparing tiny meatballs, fresh cherry tomato red sauce and homemade blue cheese and buttermilk dressing. My idea was to have adult spaghetti O night, but I could only find alphabet pasta so that was the downside. I made the wonderful sauce and then pureed the shit out of it, so it was thin and saucy like the canned kind. Then I added in the tiny meatballs, and finished the whole deal with shakey-can cheese. I really know how to party.
I still had 4 tables when I started pulling the meal together at work. The kitchen, I guess pretending to mimic me, started asking about dinner at like 9:15 so I knew I had to hustle. It was very stressful, but if they were trying to teach me a lesson it did not work. I got right back there, bossed people around and got the meal going. I had already made the cookie dough and the pasta sauce with balls at home- at work I needed to boil the pasta, cut the iceburg lettuce into wedges and artfully drizzle with blue cheese dressing, and bake the cookies off. Meanwhile, I also had to dazzle my customers and keep everyone happy. Somehow it all came together perfectly. All of our customers left, we pulled the tables together, and sat down as a family. It started out so nicely, with lots of gratitude and sweetness. Things turned less sweet when bodily fluids and 7-11 became the focus of conversation, but everyone shut up again once the cookies hit the table. Warm, chewy and crispy cookies with a sprinkle of sea salt on top. Try this recipe- it can actually make boys stop talking about their penises for 2 minutes.