Dinner: Sunday, May 30, 2010

We were fortunate enough to be invited to our friends for a Memorial Day's eve BBQ. Fortunate because they are wonderful hosts and wonderful cooks, but especially fortunate because Jeff is a native of Kansas City and holy smoker, Batman! Can the man cook some ribs. Two kinds of ribs (baby back and St. Louis), Jeff's signature rub, cooked low and slow with lotsa smoke. Gates BBQ Sauce on the side. They were at least the equal of the best ribs I've ever eaten, and that may not be giving them enough credit. Perfect heat in the crusty outside, moist and smoky pink inside.

Deviled eggs (did I really eat three halves?), delicious guacamole, blue cheese potato salad, two kinds of beans, Boston Baked (Jim's recipe), and Jeff's mom's KC recipe (prepared by his charming brother), green salad...then fresh strawberry pie...and strawberries with mint and balsamic vinegar over ice cream.

O.K., just describing this I feel stuffed all over again. But it was just so DAMN good. Kudos, man!

Dinner: Saturday, May 29, 2010

• Grilled goat kibbe with yogurt sauce and lavosh
• Toasted bulgar pilaf
• Carrot salad with Honey, Cumin and Cilantro

Have I mentioned how much we like goat? When I phoned Deck Family farm to arrange picking up the second half of our CSA meat box a few weeks ago, I was asked if there was something I would be willing to substitute for lamb, since they were very low. No problem! Gimme some goat! It's generally leaner than lamb and surprisingly I find it less gamey rather than more, which is what I would have expected. We've even discussed buying an entire goat side.

So when I saw this menu in Mix magazine this month, I knew it was in our future, especially since on my last Uwajamiya run I picked up a bottle of pomegranate molasses. I had to make an adjustment, though, because the "goat stew" wasn't skewerable cubes, but rather small gobbets of fatty meat. I don't know how in the hell one would make stew from such a thing. Nevermind...I decided to just marinate the gobbets and then I would grind them up and form them into little sausages. Mario felt I should have gotten the meat a little finer, and after several bites, I concurred. The sauce is goat milk yogurt with mint and parsley, salt and cayenne. All in all, tasty, although I have to say I think this recipe is superior:

Skewered Kefta

From Weight Watchers New International Cookbook, ©1985

• 10 oz. ground lamb (try goat!)
• 2 Tbs minced onion
• 1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley
• 1Tbs chopped fresh mint or 1-1/2 tsp dried (I usually used dried)
• 1/4 tsp each ground cumin, ground marjoram, salt and pepper
• 2 tsps olive oil
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 tsp paprika

Combine first seven ingredients (through salt and pepper); mix well. Divide mixture into four equal portions. Form each portion into a sausage shape, pressing each onto a metal or bamboo skewer. In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients; using a pastry brush, brush mixture over keftas, coating all sides. Grill or broil, turning so that all sides are browned, about 8 minutes total.

The carrot salad was ok. A little sweet for my taste. Here's a better one.

The pilaf was a revelation. I would never have thought to roast the bulgur in a dry skillet before cooking. I let it get nicely browned. It added a whole new dimension. The rest of the recipe is pretty standard, though I liked the addition of green onions at the end.

Rachel's friend, Sarah, was sleeping over and had the "Sarah Special" AKA 1/2 a grilled cheese sandwich and 1/2 PB&J.

Farmer's market: Saturday, May 29th

Made waffles for breakfast--best recipe I've ever found:

Buttermilk Waffles

(from Our Daily Bread, by Stella Standard--Out of print)

1-1/2 c. sifted flour

3 tsps. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2-3 eggs, separated

1-1/2 c. buttermilk

6 Tbs. melted butter

2 Tbs. brown sugar

Begin heating the waffle iron before you start the batter. Sift the dry ingredients into a largish bowl. Whisk the egg yolks into the buttermilk. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks, adding brown sugar part way through. Stir the egg / buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture, then stir in melted butter. Stir half of the egg whites to lighten the batter, then fold in the remaining egg whites. Spoon onto hot iron.

Served with maple syrup and Deck Family Farm bacon (pastured pork, no added nitrates/nitrites)

Then off to the market on yet another damp, cold, gray morning.

The take:

• Netarts Bay oysters
• Spring Chinook
• Jersey milk and cream (ice cream in our future)
• Arugula
• Red leaf lettuce
• Spring garlic
• Strawberries
• New potatoes
• Tiny summer squash

Dinner: Friday, May 28

Through a bit of serendipity (I was dropping off dinner and a change of clothes to Rachel at Da Vinci for her lighting tech job tonight and Mario was on his way home) we convened at Le Pigeon a few minutes before 5PM and secured seats at the bar.

First course

• Soft shell crab, cucumber, basil, harissa (Mario)
• Lamb tongue, peas, morels, truffle (Kristin)

Second course

• Sweetbreads, spaghetti, meatballs, parmesan (Mario)
• Duck, favas, dill, carrots (Kristin)

Wine: '05 Francis Tannahill Mason Dixon Syrah

I believe I was the hands-down winner on the first course. The soft shell crab was very good (though in NOLA it would be considered awfully small) and served with a great harissa spiked salad (clover?). But, zut alors! I had all the spring funk of woodland creatures and plants yearning to procreate on my plate: Bed of fresh peas and morels cooked with some creme fraiche and shallots. The lamb tongue was braised and indescribably tender except for some crunchy caramelization on one side where it was briefly grilled. Deep-fried battered shallots on top, and liberally garnished with fresh truffle. Unnnnnnnnhhhhhhh.

Second course close to a tie. Sweetbreads masterfully cooked with a golden crust on the outside and unctuous creamy inside. Spaghetti had rapini and whole garlic cloves not roasted, but somehow rendered gentle, sweet, and creamy. Meatballs were slightly chewy--pork? veal? Gorgeous.

OK, my duck tasted like it had been eating frogs, weeds, bugs. Raunchy, in the best possible way. Breast was red but not raw in the middle, cross-hatched skin cooked to crackling. Underneath a chunky mash of new potatoes, favas, dill. Topped with an intensely sweet (though unsweetened) braised julienne of carrots.

Wine was a mouthful. Velvety. Fruity but not jammy.

Very enjoyable, and I would say preferable, to sit at the bar and watch the cooking. Rucker is comfortable in his skin and friendly / chatty to patrons. Loved to see him leave his station to deliver plates to tables himself rather than risk any delay.

Gotta get my mom there...and Rachel again.

Dinner: Thursday, May 27

• Shu mai-style "hamburgers"
• Wakame and cucumber salad

I have long loved the wakame salad that is sold alongside takeaway sushi--great texture, sweet-sour dressing. Obscenely expensive. So when I went to Uwajamiya, I picked up a 2 oz. package of dried wakame. Decided a wakame salad would go nicely with Mark Bittman's recipe for a hamburger styled after shu mai filling (more on these in a moment). Wow, does that lil' sea vegetable expand in cold water! I weighed out roughly 1/2 oz (1/4 of the package), and covered it in cold water and it must have grown to close to 1-1/2 cups (by volume) after 5 minutes! Liked the look of this recipe incorporating cucumbers for a contrasting texture, and supplemented with a few red pepper flakes and toasted sesame seeds. I will be making wakame salad a lot.

The burgers were absolutely delish. The combination of shrimp and pork had a gorgeous texture and the garlic, ginger and cilantro were perfect. The recipe suggested grinding your own from pork shoulder (since most pre-ground pork is pretty yuk) but New Seasons grinds its own meats daily and the pork is local pastured, so I just bought that. Fabu!

Dinner: Wednesday, May 26, 2010

• Chicken tetrazzini
• Peas and carrots
• Salad of romaine and arugula with capers, piquillo peppers and dijon viniagrette

At the end of a busy day, nice to have a yummy casserole out of the freezer to just pop in the oven.

What a retro line-up! But it's interesting to think about how different this meal is from what it would have been back in the 70's. The vermicelli is Barilla Plus--high protein pasta made with chickpea flour. Chicken, and chicken broth, both organic, free-range. Frozen peas: Organic, from Costco. Romaine and carrots: Organic, Trader Joe's.

Dinner: Monday, May 24, 2010

A Typical Monday in New Orleans--Laundry, Beans and Rice

Louise is over and did her laundry today--as is (was) traditional on Mondays in NOLA. And so it was fitting we had beans and rice, which was also, traditionally, served on Mondays. In this case, Great Northern beans with a big old shank end of a smoked pork shoulder and some leftover rinds of Parmesan. For some unknown reason (Doh!), I cooked them with way too much water, so I drained them and reserved the liquid and just added back an appropriate amount. I decided to freeze the leftover liquid for another batch of beans--it's very rich and hammy from all the smoked pork.

That, and arugula dressed with lemon, olive oil, S&P, was dinner.

Dinner, Sunday, May 23rd

Fish Tacos

• Sauteeed rockfish
• Cilantro Pesto
• Salsa cruda with avocado
• Goat's milk yogurt crema
• Red cabbage / pineapple slaw

Would have been better with soft tortillas...but all in all, delicious!

A late breakfast, Sunday, May 23rd

• Morels sauteed with shallots
• Scrambled eggs
• Sourdough toast

Mario has mastered the french technique for scrambling eggs low and slow, finished with a couple of spoonfuls of yogurt. Almost a custard, and perfect alongside the oh-so-funky morels.

Farmer's Market, Saturday, May 22nd

• 2 bunches milky white baby turnips
• 1/2 flat of strawberries--not Hoods yet, but getting better and sweeter every week
• 2 - 1/2 gal. glass jugs of 2% milk from Jersey cows
• Asparagus
• Salami from Olympic Provisions
• A baguette and a palmier for Rachel from Fleur-du-Lys bakery
  
• Baby arugula
• Rock cod
• 2 Pork tamales
  

It was stupidly and annoyingly cold at the Market, which greatly diminished the appeal of stacks of greens as the primary vegetable produce--felt too much like a hangover from winter. We've become addicted to the non-homogenized milk on sale from a herd of pastured Jersey cows: wonderful color, aroma, flavor, mouth feel. The only cows I've ever milked were Jerseys--they have the most beautiful doe-like faces. They produce a smaller volume of milk than Holsteins (the ubiquitous milk cow here in the States) but higher in milkfat and protein.

Mario and I breakfasted on the tamales.

Cloud 9, an a capella group from Franklin with several da Vinci alums, was performing--they're excellent! Now if it would just warm up for Chrissake!

Dinner: Saturday, May 22

Apparently 5:05 PM is too late to get seated at Le Pigeon on a Saturday night. Fortunately, we scored a couple of seats at a communal table at Laurelhurst Market.

• Charcuterie Plate
• Steak frites with marchand du vin sauce (Kristin)
• Brined and smoked double pork chop with Carolina BBQ sauce
  
• Grilled spring onions with salbitxada sauce
  
• Grilled romaine with romesco sauce

OK, the charcuterie plate was lovely. House-made mortadella, venison country pate, pork country pate with pistachios, lamb pate with brandied prunes. Accompanied by a couple kinds of mustard, some pickled rhubarb and cherries, crostini. Surprisingly, the lamb pate was the least memorable. The venison reminded me of the summer sausage we'd often get from hunting friends in Wisconsin.

Piedmontese skirt steak cooked TRULY medium rare. Which is how I like it. Which is about the first time, even at elite steakhouses that asking for medium rare has gotten me medium rare. Intensely minerally, beautiful carmelization from the sear. Gorgeous marchand du van sauce, perfect to mop up with the crispy, crispy, crispy (did I mention, crispy) fries.

Mario's pork chop was terrific. Juicy--just hinting at rosy near the bone, a light smoke so as not to obscure the porkiness. Beet greens had a touch of sweetness--not too much, which would be easy to do. I'm guessing cane syrup. A splash of vinegar-based Carolina BBQ sauce.

I was keen to try the grilled onions as I'd seen a write-up of this exact recipe in this month's Mix. It did not disappoint--there was the slightest hint of heat at the back of the salbitxada sauce, the onions were luscious and sweet.

The grilled romaine with romesco sauce did disappoint a bit. Nothing wrong with execution, partly our fault that romesco / salbitxada sauce are both almond / chile-based sauces, partly we decided that romaine is too bland when grilled--it loses its crunch and there's not enough character left to make up for the slightly soggy texture. Grilled treviso is much more interesting.

But overall, a really wonderful meal, complemented by an affordable French malbec blend.

The pre-dinner cocktails, while the names were rather twee, were nicely complex variations on a Manhattan.

Checked out the meat counter as we left--I'll be picking up some house-made tasso and fresh rabbit this week for sure.

Dinner: Friday, May 21

Homemade sushi!

• Sushi rice
• avocado
• Swedish cod roe paste in a tube (IKEA)
• Pickled burdock root*
• Pickled daikon*
• Umaboshi (picked plums)*
• Shiso leaves*
• Salted salmon roe*
• Leftover greens from last night's dinner
• Green onion
• Smoked Salmon

Favorite combos:

Cod roe/avocado maki

Shiso / umaboshi maki

Shiso / salmon roe hand rolls

Burdock maki (smoky umami goodness)

Pickled Daikon nigiri (w/a nori belt)--the texture reminded us of giant clam (mirugai)

Leftover greens nigiri

*The exotic supplies are from a junket to Uwajimaya about a week ago. I only wish there was one closer. What a gas. Gotta take Rachel and Mario for a field trip. We'll spend hours.

A new cocktail for summer

I found this while sitting all foiled up at the salon perusing an issue of Sunset.

Made one last weekend--a definite keeper.

New Tom Collins

1. Muddle 4 cucumber slices and 3 mint leaves in a shaker with a small amount of ice
2. Add 1 oz. each simple syrup and lime juice, 1-1/2 oz. gin and more ice
3. Shake, pour over more ice and top with 2 oz. seltzer
4. Add a dash of rosewater and stir.

It had a little of the Pimm's Cup quality from the cucumber. I used Hendrick's Gin to complement the rosewater. It was complex, good balance of tart and sweet.

And since we're on the subject of gin-based summer cocktails, let me say I have now been spoiled by premium tonic water. I picked up a four-pack of Fever Tree at New Seasons. What a difference. Much less sweet, more pronounced quinine flavor.

Dinner: Thursday, May 20

• Tamari marinated chicken (another winner from Girlosophie: Real Girls Cook)
• Choi sum with sizzle
• Cucumber salad
• Brown Rice

I have changed my technique for cooking asian greens. I used to heat sesame oil in the skillet, add minced garlic, ginger and chili flakes, wait for them to sizzle then add the just washed greens, covering them with the lid and basically steaming them, turning them occasionally. Once close to done, I would remove the lid and cook off most of the liquid and then add a shot of fish sauce.

Unfortunately, the amount of liquid produced often washed out most of the flavor of the seasonings. So now instead of seasoning up front, I cook the greens just with a little peanut oil, then a minute or so before they're done, I heat some sesame oil in a small skillet, sizzle the ginger, garlic and chili flakes and then toss with the just cooked greens. If there is excessive liquid, I'll transfer the greens to a serving dish first using tongs. Much tastier results.

The cucumbers were our first locals of the season--what an incredible difference in texture, flavor. A treat. Just salted them for twenty minutes or so, poured off the liquid and tossed with rice wine vinegar.

The chicken was from our CSA box--pastured heritage breed. Very small breast, darker flesh, no huge yellow pockets of fat under the skin. Meat a bit chewier but much more flavorful. Interesting "optional" technique in the recipe. The chicken cooks in its marinade at 400℉ but about halfway through the cooking time I took it out, pricked the skin all over with a fork, and browned the skin in a hot skillet. It took just a few moments, but totally crisped up the skin and gave it a beautiful lacquered appearance. Returned it to the marinade and finished it off in the oven. You learn something new every day.

Coaching Rachel...

Coaching Rachel in the kitchen has given me a greater appreciation for why many people are intimidated by cooking--even following simple recipes.

I grew up in a household where cooking happened! I learned to cook almost by osmosis. My mom cooked for us. She entertained regularly and ambitiously. As the oldest daughter in a family of ten growing up on a farm between Salem and Silverton, she learned farm cooking from a young age--perfect fried chicken, pies, bread, green beans stewed with bacon. She bought Mastering the Art of French Cooking vols. 1-2 and learned French cooking from Julia, like so many others. Boeuf Bourguignon, chocolate mousse, Supremes de Volaille.

So by observing, then helping, and being shown the proper way to dice an onion, measure dry and liquid ingredients, cut up a chicken, peel and devein a shrimp, etc. etc. Eventually I was her sous chef. I automagically had the skills and confidence to start cooking myself. I guess I always took it for granted.

But now working with Rachel I see literally dozens of tiny things that I learned along the way that can make the difference between getting negative or positive reinforcement for cooking--both the process and outcomes.

I now realize why the chef at La Ciboulette was stunned that a recent Yale grad had so much food knowledge and basic skills.

And, while Rachel has grown up in a foodie cooking-intensive home, it's a blast to have her actively taking on the role of cook.

Dinner: Wednesday, May 19, 2010

• Grilled Vegetable Quesadillas
• Avocados dressed with slivers of red onion, lime juice, salt

How great is it that Rachel continues to want to cook dinner at least once a week? Tonight she reprised the delicious grilled veggie quesadillas she made a couple of weeks ago. Recipe is from Girlosophie: Real Girls Eat. I guess this is part of an Australian series for tweens/teens...And the color / typesetting is almost painful for a person in their late forties (nobody I know), but everything she's made so far has been excellent:

• Grilled vegetable quesadillas (eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, red and yellow bell peppers, cilantro, goat cheese, yada yada)
• Brown rice and tempeh stir fry (used 5-grain tempeh)--Awesomely good, even though we forgot the spinach
• Carrot apple muffins (Mother's day)
• Pasta with pesto (included some julienned zucchini and yellow squash, and garnished with toasted pine nuts)
• Nori Salad--Rachel rightfully observed that the nori should just be scattered on top at serving time not be mixed into the salad as it goes soggy.
• Picnic pasta salad with tuna and basalmic vinegar (Mario, who was HIGHLY skeptical about any pasta salad, loved it)
• Roastie potatoes with lemon salt

Dinner: Monday, May 17, 2010

• Roasted spring chinook
• Roasted asparagus
• New Potatoes

Spring perfection. Seasoned salmon and asparagus with nothing more than olive oil, salt and pepper. The potatoes were TINY TINY TINY! Most no bigger than 3/4" in diameter. Makes what are usually called new potatoes look like boulders. Boiled them, then tossed in just a smidge of butter and some parsley from outside the back door. Served the whole lot with some lemon wedges. Fish and veg all from Hollywood farmers market...

Dinner: Tuesday, May 18, 2010

• Local halibut with mixed mushrooms (shiitake, enoki, cremini)
• Cauliflower purée
• Pea shoots dressed with olive oil and lemon

Loved the halibut, used a recipe from Mix magazine's April issue. Cooked it in a cast iron skillet. The mushrooms got a beautiful bronzed glow finishing in the hot (475℉) oven and the halibut was perfectly cooked. Cauliflower a perfect counterpoint--puréed with olive oil and greek yogurt. Pea shoots had wonderful flavor, but a bit tough. Need to ask Carlo for advice--smaller shoots? Mario preferred them stir-fried as I did them last week.

So good to have the farmer's market back!