The new expansion

In a time when things seem to be getting worse, it’s very nice to see some things that are getting better. Last November I wrote about the opening of a very nice, small produce stand that I found in Battle ground, Washington (see Produce stands, part 1), a great little place with excellent produce and a pretty good wine selection. I’ve since been there a few times (once going there right after shoveling in a load of horse manure into the back of my truck and, being rather conscious of its aroma, parking in the far corner, so as not to offend) and I can say that it has held its high rating in my mind.

Nuts, dried fruits, teas and other sundries

My family and I went back there last Saturday and I can safely state that it has become more of a destination for meal planning. Not only a slight expansion in the wine and dry goods (nuts, dried fruit teas etc.), but also the addition of a meat department that came complete with its own butcher!

Walt Coen, butcher extraodinaire

Please welcome Walt Coen, who is celebrating his 40^th anniversary as a butcher. Walt and his now-small (I have a feeling it won’t be that for long) meat section specialize in chicken, pork and beef. All the beef comes from Painted Hills, a ranch near Fossil, Oregon. They are well-known for raising beef in a humane manner, natural vegetarian diets and no antibiotics. Walt grinds all his own hamburger and bulk sausage in-house, and for link sausage they carry the local brand Zenners, and his selection of those should make any sausage lover happy (I hope one day to see Walt use his extensive knowledge and expand his sausage making operation to include making not just bulk, but link also. Right now, it’s merely a dream of mine).

Gallus de Vinum

Another great addition is wine tasting on Saturdays. The day we were there they had a beef brisket that had been marinating in pepper and burgundy for two days. Walt was preparing to smoke this for serving at the wine tasting. We didn’t stay for this, though I wanted to and I am sure it would have been a good time. Ill make sure we attend this in the future.

I look forward to going there again and for what other addition they may be doing in the future. Rumor be told, I heard word that it may have something to do with salami. But that’s just a rumor………………

Shasta Gold Mandarins

Those of you that live in the sunny, warm land to my south are lucky in some ways that I am envious of. One of those are things citrus. When I lived there I loved picking lemons, oranges and grapefruit. There seemed to be at least one of these at, neglected, every house. Many of the fruits of these excursions ended up in screwdrivers, greyhounds (or salty dogs), and margaritas. Ahh, if only it was a bit more temperate of a family rather than so stubbornly sub-tropical. I still can get them, but there is something missing when one must purchase rather than enjoy the thrill of the hunt.

Along with the aforementioned gifts from the Goddess Pomona, I also have a love of the mandarin. Its flavor is more subtle and its intoxicating aroma is a large part of its taste (like the lime). But sometimes even the best of things can get better.

Enter the Shasta Gold mandarin, one of the newest members of the family.  I was at a fruit stand the other day and they caught my eye. Deeply orange, large with a rough-appearing hide, it looked sort of like a tangelo without the nipple. Since I am given to exploring novelties of the food world, I picked up about a half a dozen. They’re fantastic.  Easy to peel (and the peel is thin), seedless and very juicy. They have the aroma that I expected of a mandarin, and a wee bit tarter than the Murcott.

Apparently, it was developed in 2002 at the University of California Riverside. It is a hybrid of the Temple tangor (a tangerine/orange hybrid) and Dancy and Encore mandarins. So, as far as things go, it’s a real newcomer. If I still lived in the sunny, warm land of my origin, I would definitely plant at least one in my yard. But, then again, if I lived there I would be getting my apples and pears by proxy. Such a conundrum!

Anyway, my fellow foodnuts, give it a go. Perhaps one day it will be as common as other citrus are in the land of Helios. Then your children might have memories of “Shasta Gold” hunts to make an as-yet-unnamed cocktail.

Market Day Potato and Leek soup from kissmyspatula.com

Check out this recipe, story, and photographs of “Market Day Soup“

Dutch Onion Soup

Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 55 Minutes
Makes: 6 servings
4 sweet onions, sliced
3 T vegetable oil
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
½ cups port wine
6 cups Wolfgang Puck Organic Beef-Flavored Broth
2 springs fresh thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
¼ t. ground black pepper
12 slices French bread (1/2 in thick)
1 ½ cups grated Gouda cheese-hence the “Dutch”

Heat oil in 6 quart saucepot over medium high heat. Add onions and cook for 20 minutes or until golden brown, stirring often
Add celery and cook and stir for 3 min. Add port, broth, thyme, bay leaves, and pepper , stirring to scrape up browned bits from bottom of pot.
Reduce heat to low. Cook for 30 minutes. Remove thyme and bay leaves and adjust seasoning with salt. Heat broiler. Sprinkle bread with cheese Broil until cheese is melted. Put soup into 6 bowls, top with bread and any extra cheese.

Copyright 2005, Ina Garten. Delicious! My daughter made these for me one evening this summer and it was just wonderful! Didn’t include resting time of 20 minutes.

45 min | 20 min prep   SERVES 4         ( We served 7!)- Louise

BEEF

• 2-3 lbs filet of beef, trimmed and tied
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room at temperature
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons fresh coarse ground black pepper

SAUCE

• 3/4 cup good mayonnaise (Hellmans)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon white prepared horseradish    (or to taste)-Louise
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• kosher salt

FOR THE SANDWICH

• 1 loaf unsliced health bread or unsliced multi-grain bread (or french rolls or other hearty bread) -Louise
• arugula
• kosher salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• unsalted butter, at room temperature

1. TO COOK THE BEEF:.
2. Preheat oven to 500ºF.
3. Place the beef on baking sheet and pat the outside dry with a paper towel.
4. Mix the unsalted butter and mustards together in a small bowl and spread the mixture over the beef with your hands.
5. Sprinkle evenly with the salt and pepper.
6. Roast in the oven for exactly 22 minutes for rare and 25 minutes for medium-rare.
7. Remove the beef from oven, cover lightly with aluminum foil, and allow it to rest at room tempearture for 20 minutes. Remove the strings and slice fillet thickly(personal preference, I like mine thin).
8. SAUCE:.
9. Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl. Serve at room temperature.
10. TO MAKE THE SANDWICH:.
11. Cut the bread into 1/4″ thick slices.
12. Spread 4 of the slices thickly with the Mustard Horseradish Sauce.
13. Top with slices of beef and arugula and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
14. Spread 4 more slices of bread very lightly with butter and place butter side down, on top of the beef.
15. Enjoy, they are divine!

Sorry- You had to be there--Make your own!!!

Tupperware Leftovers

Beautiful beef shanks

On January 6^th of this year, I put myself on a diet. It was a simple one: No alcohol of any form (not only puts weight on, but makes for “bad decisions” in regards to your calorie intake), one meal a day that consists of one head of iceberg lettuce, hot peppers, a slice of blue cheese and raw scallions. As of the start of the diet, I have lost 56 lbs. Not only did I have my doubts that I could lose the weight, but I must admit I also had no idea how I would feel after such a big loss. I have more energy than I have had in years, I sleep less and sleep better, and have resolved to never return to that level of gravity again.

I bring this up only as a prelude to the following recipe. While on the diet, I ate a “regular meal” once a week, that once being Friday night. The meals varied as to what they were, but all fell into the “hearty” category. It was a good break from the somewhat monotonous once-a-day meal, and probably helped me to stick with the diet overall.

I noticed last night that my wife was thawing out beef shanks for the following day. Close to veal, it differs only in the age of the animal. I immediately thought of that great Lombardian recipe Osso Buco. It would be richer with beef than with veal, and I figured I would have to cook it a bit longer to get that “falling off the bone” aspect that makes Osso Buco so wonderful. That being said, on to the kitchen!

Basically, it is a very simple recipe. Its beef shanks à la Mirepoix.

To prepare the beef shanks, you have to remove the connective tissue that is on the outside of the shank, otherwise the shank will curl during cooking.

remove connective tissue

Dredge the beef shanks in flour. Add three tablespoons of Olive oil to a braising pan and brown the meat. While browning, prepare the vegetables.

brown dredged shanks in olive oil

The ratio of a Mirepoix is 2:1:1, onions, carrots and celery. Dice the vegetables but not too fine.

Diced vegetables

When beef is brown, remove from the pan and add the diced vegetables. Sauté the vegetables in the olive oil (add a couple more Tbls if needed). As they cook, add about ½ cup of water and cover (this will add a final steam to the veggies, softening them and preventing burning).

sauté vegetables in olive oil

When vegetables are tender, add two cups of beef stock or wine, or a combination of the two, depending on your taste. Add 1 tsp pepper, two teaspoons of salt and 2 tsp of thyme. Add the browned shanks with enough water to bring the liquid level to the level of the shanks, but not over them. Cover, and simmer for about an hour (Because I am using beef instead of veal, I simmered until they were  very tender, perhaps 20 minutes longer).

start simmering when all ingredients in

When tender, serve the meat with covering of the vegetables and sauce from the pan. It went very well with Potatoes à la Lyonnaise. I’ll cover them in another post.

The final product

[Insert your own  "Sopranos" joke here]

The burger is topped with pepper-jack cheese, sauteed onions, jalapenos, lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup and Thousand Island dressing before it is slapped on a roll. Then it’s dipped in Harp-beer batter and deep fried.

According to menu, it’s a “burger to die for.”

I’m a vegetarian, so I didn’t get to try it, but thought the name was fun.

You can find the burger at either of The Shannon Rose locations in New Jersey.

Enjoy!

And remember to always have some Fun, Friends and Adventure in your life!

Michelle

via HotPinkGeek

They were correct.

The beignets – basically fried dough – were excellent with warm powdered sugar on them, but for me, their coffee stole the show! It was sooooo good.

I think what makes it different from your regular coffee is that it has chicory in it.  It adds a bold, but distinct taste. We liked it so much, my friend and I each brought a can home with us!

The cafe has an indoor and outdoor area, and they are ALWAYS packed! They even have a take out line, which also had a pretty long wait.

The inside has an antique feel and is like you stepped back in time.

If you are in New Orleans you have to check the place out. It’s a city staple that has been there for years. It’s such a great city to go with friends for some fun and adventure!

Enjoy! And, travel often!

Michelle

What to do with the can of hominy? Thank you for the suggestions – throw it away, put it in menudo. Ugh! Since it’s an almost rainy day, chili seems like a good meal. I have leftover turkey breast, so I decided to make white chili. I located a recipe from a friend and used it as a guide. All amounts are just thrown together but I’ll guess. The finished dish feeds 2 with some leftover for seconds.

• 1/2 medium brown onion, chopped
• 1/4 yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1/4 green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 crushed garlic cloves saute in olive oil,
• then add in leftover turkey breast, chopped
• 1 small can diced green chilies
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seed, crushed and minced
• 1/4 teaspoon ground oregano
• a few shakes of ground clove (yes, clove!)
• 1/2 teaspoon chili and lime seasoning just because it was all that was left in the jar so I just threw it in
• 1 tsp Better Than Bouillon Turkey flavor
• 1 cup hot water

I looked in the cupboard for a can of white beans and the cupboard was bare. I did have butter beans, but no, don’t want to use them. Then I saw the huge can of hominy I was advised to toss out. I opened it up, spooned out about 1/2 cup and tossed it into the chili. I gave it all a stir and tasted the hominy. It had the right texture. The flavor was bland but it had a corn finish. Hmmm – just like judging wine? I let it all simmer for an hour and came back to try out the experiment. The hominy kept it’s texture but took on the flavor of the broth. It was wonderful!

My mom used to make spaghetti with garlic and oil. It was a lot of carbs.  So I’m not sure when, but my dad and I started topping the pasta with scallops. My mom didn’t like seafood, so it was a meal we could all make and then mix up to fit our individual tastes. Sometimes I also add broccoli to it.

And, now it really makes a great dish for when my Dad’s at my house  — like tonight.  I make the oil sauce and scallops separately, and then divide it evenly over regular thin spaghetti for my dad and whole wheat thin spaghetti for me.

It’s a pretty easy recipe that can be modified depending on how much pasta you are making. I do the sauce for a half pound of spaghetti and then make 1/4 pound regular and 1/4 pound whole wheat.

Take 1/3 cup olive oil and heat it in a pan. Then add one head of garlic that has been minced. Let cook for about two minutes on medium heat. Add one chopped tomato, 1/2 a teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon basil and 1/8 crushed hot pepper flakes and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, take several tablespoons of Smart Balance, about a tablespoon of olive oil, a head of chopped garlic, about 6 ounces of white zinfandel and several splashes of lemon juice.

Heat over medium heat until the Smart Balance is melted and add one pound scallops. Cook about 10 minutes.

While that is all cooking, I throw in a 1/4 pound each of regular spaghetti and whole wheat in separate pots of boiling water. Once the pasta is drained and back in the pot, I split the oil and garlic mixture into both pots of the thin spaghetti. Mix really, really well.

Put the pasta on the plates and using a slotted spoon divide up the scallops placing them on top of the pasta.

I paired the dish with a chardonnay from the Saratoga Winery and my cheese breadsticks.

My dad likes to add a little salt to taste, but that’s really a personal preference.

Enjoy!!!!

Michelle

I have a 29 ounce can of hominy.  Now what do I do with it?

In a book, a character is brought a take-out meal from just another restaurant. The character states that the pot roast is so good it has to be from a notable restaurant, to which the other character replies that the restaurant is Jar (just another restaurant). I did a check online and one of the first reviews mentioned the pot roast, so it seems to be a real LA restaurant. The reviews are mixed but it has a high rating and the author thought it worth plugging in a book. I would check it out if I still lived on Signal Hill.

You can see The Jar’s website <here>.

(PICTURE REMOVED TO SOOTHE THE TENDER SENSIBILITIES OF NON-CARNIVORES)

Build a Better Bacon Explosion

My favorite?

“It’s better to pay the grocer than the doctor.”

Arkansas Black. Origins: From Russia before 1817

Well, moving from a city to a decent chunk of land, one is at first completely overwhelmed with what to do with it all. Thats the first, maybe second year, but you get over it. You start to view things in a different way, a way different from how you thought when you lived in cities, where you were born and raised and developed your sensibilities. And you start to think of all that you can do that you never thought of before.

So, two years ago, while clearing some of the land, I decided to plant a small orchard of plum and pluot trees (pluots are an hybrid of the plum and apricot). I already have an Italian plum, so I wanted to expand it out, so to speak. I planted 6 trees (varieties are Shiro, Flavor Supreme, Flavor King, Santa Rosa, Brooks and Satsuma), a good range of colors, flavors and ripening times. They are now two years in the ground, and should start to produce in quantity this year. I added to the plum orchard this year with the addition of plum cherries (another hybrid, apparently they grow in cluster throws like a cherry, but are larger and taste more like a plum. varieties are Sprite and Delight). All of these are common to each other in pollination, so the bees will have no problem helping me with a crop.

Last year, I continued to expand the concept, and this time it was pears. I planted 6 pears (Bartlett, Red Bartlett, Anjou, Red Anjou, Seckel and Bosc) Hopefully, I get some crop off of them this year, as they usually take 2-3 years to produce after planting.

This year, its apples. Unlike plums and pears, choosing apples can be very overwhelming, as there are thousands of cultivators. When I started to select varieties for planting, I wanted to give up and just go and buy whatever the local nursery had. But I persevered and decided to plant old varieties, varieties that were popular in the past, yet are not “commercially viable” today. Some I selected go back to the 16th century in England and France.

It gets even better. I found a commercial nursery in my area that was selling 5 year old saplings for $15.00. That’s an incredible savings when you consider that most retail nurseries charge anywhere from $40.00-$50.00 per tree! I bought 11 apple trees for under $200.00! And they are very established and healthy! The varieties are Chehalis, Arkansas Black, Honey Crisp, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Gravenstein, Spitzburgen, Whitney Crab Apple, Bramley Seedling, Enterprise, Macoun, Fameuse and Wolf River. This is a great start to a “Heritage” apple orchard. They even had a couple of European and Asian pears that are hard to find, but that may be for next year.

I haven’t posted in awhile, so I thought I would bring you up to date on whats new. I have also been on a program of “Mortification of the Flesh”, in other words, a diet. I am getting down to the weight I consider ideal, so, obviously, I have not been expermenting too much in the larder/kitchen/scullery. Don’t worry, I’ll get back to it in due time.

Toppings: salt, pepper, sour cream,or other toppings.

Mix cornstarch with water to make a paste.

Put herbs of your choice between the wrappers and use the paste to seal the edges (Turns out there was enough cornstarch on the wontons, I didn’t need any more to make them stick together).Use a rolling pin to press and seal.

I chose basil and chives.

Boil until tender. You can use a larger pot and more water for more wontons.

Serve – for this experiment I topped it with a dab of sour cream and salt and pepper.  When making a batch, I’d probably use spaghetti sauce.

We’re going to make one of Roz’s favorites, an old formulation I believe comes from Karin Knight’s Baby Cookbook from forever ago: Lime-Dill Chicken.

Take chicken breast, slice it very thin (perhaps 1/8-1/4″). Roll in egg, and dip in italian bread crumbs to fry in a little olive oil until browned. The sauce is a combination of butter, lime juice, and dill weed (fresh if you have it).

We’re going to serve it with mashed potatoes (the lime-dill sauce is an excellent topping for the taters, as well, but then we’re huge lime fans around the Denny house) and perhaps a side of some sort of fresh green veg to be named later.

I’ll try to update this post with some pics during the production of dinner.

PS. She felt far too crappy to appreciate an actual meal, so we made her toast and oatmeal and suchlike; hopefully tomorrow night will render her able to enjoy the lime dill chicken. And yes, Becca, it’s made with actual butter, not just the leavings from the chicken pan. Michael needs to get with the program.

PSS. Sunday update: Megan and I decided to reprise the goat-cheese and sun dried tomato chicken, and potato salad a la Roslyn. The chicken turned out great; the tater salad turned out to be mashed potatoes instead, which was actually a great side for this dish.

Someone was talking in the background on the radio just now, and was talking about how government regulations to disclose the salt content in food was something that wasn’t really necessary — instead, encourage people to use sea salt, as it actually lowers blood pressure.

Lowers blood pressure? Wow, wouldn’t that be nice?

I did a VERY small amount of googling, and found a number of items — but the funnest one was an article in Slate from 2005 that posits the question “Which salt is best?”

Thought I would pass it along. What kind of salt do you prefer, and why? Feel free to add a comment below.

Dutch Apple Babies

In my continuing love affair with eggs, I made the perfect Breakfast or Brunch dish for Christmas Morning. The secret is in choosing the right pan, as it will rise to ridiculous heights depending. Check the picture. Someone gave me these cool little individual casserole pans which I had never used. They were perfect, but we did take them out of the pans to serve, as I did not want eaters sctatching the pans. Really really easy!! Beyond easy…and slathered with syrup……and each person gets their very own….

Dutch Apple Baby

1 large apple
4 large eggs
1 c. all purpose flour
1 c. milk
¼ c butter
Cinnamon
Powdered sugar
Lemon wedges

Preheat oven to 450

Wash, peel and core apple, slice fairly thin. (may wait until just before using in recipe to avoid browning of apple slices)

Batter: Whirl eggs and flour in blender until smooth. Add milk and whirl to mix well. (You can use a whisk instead.)

In a 10-12 in frying pan or an 9-14 in oval pan, oven proof, melt the butter. Immediately pour in the batter. (size of pan affects the rising of the batter)

Scatter apple slices over the batter and sprinkle generously with cinnamon.( I added some dried cranberries just for color)

Bake at 450 until Dutch Baby is puffed and top is brown. About 20 min. A knife inserted into the Dutch Baby will come out clean. Serve immediately.

Dust with powdered sugar and serve from pan or slide onto a serving plate. Squeeze lemon juice to taste , cut into wedges if you used just one pan, and with maple syrup or a homemade raspberry syrup.

confusing semolina products

I was researching Matt’s great posting on Timpano di Tucci, trying to figure out what pastas I would use if I were to do it, and found this funny little Quiz:

Take the quiz here

I got 18/24, took it again with my wife (who surprised me at her knowledge of pasta types) and then got 21/24. What’s your score? Try it and post in comments!