“Fly” Fishing

28 Sunday Jun 2015

Posted by Stacey Bender in family gatherings, the kitchen

Tags

Alaskan King salmon, food writing, recipes, smoked cherries, smoked king salmon, smoked salmon on a Mak 2 Star General pellet grill

I have never been fly fishing. I have been fly-in, then fish-fishing though and do realize how lucky that is. I recently saw a picture of my nephew with his first-caught fish. I smiled at the image because it reminded me of my first-caught fish which (by the way) was bigger than my then seven-year-old self and, I believe, weighed considerably more than me (yes, that sounds fishy to me too). I did truly “catch” the largest salmon on that fishing trip though, even if my Grandpa had to help me reel it in!

What ‘ya got there Derek? Need a hand?

…ok, you got this one by yourself?

Among many other things, Grandpa is a pilot (as is John and for that matter, my Mom). When I recall fishing in Alaska, I recall flying to the destination. I hate to fly in general, still to this day, but I liked flying with him (or is that why I am now scared of flying; upside-down flying and all?). Truth be known, I am not that crazy about fishing now either. I like the idea of it though. It sounds pretty cool for someone who loves eating and cooking fresh fish. My Mom always baited my rod for me and when I reeled one in, she was the one that got dirty taking it from the hook. I wasn’t a “girly” girl, but I didn’t like to get my hands in the guts (yuck) either. Good thing I had Mom for that.

Grandpa taking off

In any case, I am much more interested in cooking than fishing now, but I’m lucky to have Grandpa, John, Mom and sometimes my brother Mark, to fly-in and catch it each Summer. I am also lucky because Mom and John just came to town, bringing (in addition to fried chicken from Grandpa’s restaurant) king salmon + sockeye, caught literally the day before. Sorry Gemini, it just doesn’t get fresher than that, for me!

Grandpa still flies himself (!!!) to fish for salmon, at, well, lets just say he’s had over 90 years on Earth, let alone the years in the air! How many people can say that? He brings it back to his restaurant and fries it up for the Lucky regulars sitting around the counter (who likely caught wind of what George was up to that day).

Grandpa in action:

So, for our little eight legs, two medium legs and Tom’s larger legs, we scurry to the grill to cook up the rest of the catch brought by hand, by way of commercial airlines, insulated bags and cold packs, just in time for an unconventional heatwave in Seattle’s June summer.

Mom cooked her signature salmon for us a few nights ago (see below). It awaited for us upon our return home from work, at the ready, for flash-cooking and begged to be devoured quickly along with sweet corn, grilled asparagus and whole Rainier cherries bitten from their pits and spit into the garden in hopes of cherry trees next year (of course, we do this every Summer and the squirrels usually just haul them off, and alas, the two decades-old “planted” cherry trees in the yard, are non-fruit bearing).

Thanks for the great dinner Mom!

We brined the fish, smoked the sockeye and pre-smoked the king. At the end of the day…we had fish. Smokey, yummy fish.

King Salmon smoking…

Hot-smoked King (salmon, not Elvis)

Hot-smoked Sockeye

Sorry, no photos available of the grilled king salmon with smoked jalapeño cherry sauce – I know you can use your imagination for this though.

Gin and Tonic Smoked Salmon

Today’s weather is a reprieve from a 91+ degree F heatwave that day (a paltry 88 for the high predicted). I brined my sockeye fillet in a mix of gin, tonic, lime, lemon, sugar and salt.

INGREDIENTS

2-3 lbs fresh salmon fillet (mine were sockeye, skin on… Mom didn’t want me to smoke the king – oops, did a little bit anyway… ssshhhhh).

1/4 cup turbino sugar
1/8 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup gin (I used Tangueray)
1 cup tonic water (I used Q-Tonic)
Juice of 1 lemon and 1/2 a lime

Fennel fronds (or whatever herb you might want it’s scent imparted)

Prepare

Making a brine is easy and requires less fuss than one would expect from the things I have read on the internet. Simply mix the brine ingredients in a Ziploc freezer bag, stir well to let the sugar dissolve and then add the fish.

The fish should be rinsed and patted dry. The skin can be left on or removed. You will want to let it brine for 4-6 hours or overnight for a real immersion.

Set your smoker to “smoke”. *We use our new Mak 2 Star General wood pellet grill for our smoking and the grill temp was between 180-200 degrees at that setting. Let it smoke until the thickest part reaches 140 degrees F. For us, it was 3 hours.

Easier than you thought, eh?

You can eat this straight from the bone or add to a cracker with dill sauce or creme fraiche + drink a gin & tonic (again, use your imagination, sky is the limit).

But whatever you do, do try this! It is outstanding! Smokey, but not too smokey. As spicy hot as you want it to be (1 jalapeño with seeds removed worked for me but go with your gut, it may or may not thank you later).

Smoked Jalapeño Cherry Sauce

This was a bonus because I had a bag of cherries and a fire-pot of smoke. I simply emptied them onto the grill (in my side cold-smoker tray) and let them smoke alongside the hot-smoking salmon. The jalapeño tagged along for the ride.

Hmmm…not sure where that eggplant ended up?

The cherries were perfect for eating with a cheese plate in that they were still raw but contained a mild smokey quality. I wanted to make a sauce though and the smoke was to be more assertive, so I took the cold-smoked cherries and threw them directly onto the grate with the king salmon as I smoked it the next day and let them smoke away (this is starting to sound like a Cheech and Chong movie).

Two hours later, I pulled them off, pitted them and threw them into my Blendtec with just enough water to make them saucy (1/8 cup?).

That’s it! De-lish! Stay tuned for rack of lamb with this sauce….

…or use your imagination!

Meanwhile…Buddy & Ginger are back to the observation deck awaiting their next meal.

Red Rover

21 Sunday Jun 2015

Posted by Stacey Bender in the kitchen

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

recipes, rice and beans, Tomatillo chicken thighs

I never liked games like dodgeball in school. I always got hit. Hard. Red Rover was equally un-satisfying because I was often the kid that didn’t get picked. I didn’t mind not being picked, but it still made me hold my breath as each name was called. I hated to draw attention to myself, but somehow I always did. Not knowingly, but did. Not during this game though; it showed me no love.

I don’t pay much attention to my blog statistics, but okay, I peak, now and again. I get really excited when I have a new number (of followers). That sounds kind of creepy when I say it out loud. What I mean is, people who choose to follow new Posts on my Blog. It was climbing rapidly and then all of a sudden went backwards. I got hung up on one number. 124. I loved number 124.

But then, it became 123 once again.

123, no, 124, no, 123, 124…123, again!

Red rover, red rover, send 124 right back on over.

Number 124, I am talking to you! You know who you are. I couldn’t help but notice you un-followed me, four times! I understand. No, really, I do. I’m not in this for the numbers, I like the love though, don’t you like the love? Did you really mean to hit the “unfollow” button? Let me take just a moment to break this down a bit. Is my Blog not your style? Are Ginger and Buddy not cute enough? Perhaps it is my food. Is it my food? My food is too fussy, isn’t it? Wait, is it not fussy enough? I can make it really fussy.

What if Ginger and Buddy cooked instead? Hmmm, that might be challenging though. I can take your requests. I will cook just for you! I bet it is my writing, not my cooking at all.

Is it my writing? I can be too wordy? Do I offend? What if I write you a poem? Can I beg you to come back? Oh wait, I make it a habit not to beg. Ginger and Buddy have less scruples though and are wondering, “What will it take to bring you back?”!!! They say they will stop snarfing (well, I don’t think they will, you can’t really count on that!). They say they will be cuter (but nobody is cuter than them)! They will talk less and be cute more (ha)! What if they start wearing hats?

What if I talk less and cook more? Take better photos? How about no photos at all? Oh well, like I said, I am not in this for the numbers. I do like the love though. So, to show you the love, I will cook more and talk less, just this once. Just for you number 124! I’m cooking this for you, only you!

Tomatillo Chicken Thighs over Jade Rice and Pinto Beans

I’m not chicken to ask you to come back number 124! This is full of flavor and completely satisfying. Served over jade rice and pinto beans, with a few leaves of quickly-grilled romaine lettuce and a dollop of yogurt; I think, even you might agree to come back. This is not fussy, light on words and full of love.

INGREDIENTS

3-4 chicken thighs, skin on, bone in

Sea salt and pepper
2 tsp dried oregano (preferably Mexican)
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
2 tsp cumin
Squeeze of lemon juice
3 TB plain yogurt
Olive oil for browning
1/2 cup tomatillo salsa (good-quality purchased or home-made)

Serve with rice and beans, romaine lettuce, tomato slices and yogurt – see below.

PREPARE

Rinse the chicken and pat it dry. Season lightly with salt and heavily with pepper.

Mix the oregano, chipotle powder, cumin, lemon juice and yogurt in a medium bowl or freezer bag. Add the chicken and let marinade for at least a 1/2 hour and up to a day, before cooking.

Heat an oven-proof pan, large enough to hold the chicken in one layer, but small enough to keep it snug. Add enough olive oil to coat the pan. When hot, add the chicken, skin-side down. Let the chicken sit, undisturbed, until browned. When the chicken is ready to release itself from the pan without tearing away the skin, turn it over.

Add the salsa, mostly around the sides with a little dollop on top. Transfer, uncovered, to a 350-degree oven.

Cook approximately 30 minutes. The chicken should be cooked all the way through and very tender. The top should be beautifully browned.

MEANWHILE – make the rice and beans

While the chicken is cooking, cook the jade rice (I use a rice cooker with a 1/2 cup rice to 1 cup water and a dollop of salsa thrown in). Mix with 1 cup drained, cooked pinto beans (I cook mine in a pressure cooker with a good amount of chipotle powder and cumin). One cup dried beans with 3 cups water, cooked on high-pressure for 20 minutes produces a slightly spicy bean. Season with salt after cooking and add a splash of vinegar. You will want to strain the beans out of their liquid for this dish.

Mix one part rice to one part beans and serve under the chicken with a few leaves of grilled romaine lettuce. A dollop of sour cream is always welcome in our home.
It was too yummy and late to photograph the first night and clearly too late the second. I know I am not helping my case here, but the photograph I did get is grainy due to the dark night. I reheated the thighs in a pan with the rice and beans.

Time Passes

29 Wednesday Apr 2015

Posted by Stacey Bender in family gatherings, the kitchen

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

dinner with family, Lamb leg, pesto, recipes

I came to realize recently that no matter how much we hope to slow the clock, it moves ever-forward, one tick at a time. Busy moments rush by as quickly as they erupt and people fade into the distance, slowly at first, until the rhythm of our lives picks up pace and whisks those people further into the background. The back pocket of our minds where they are thought of often (certainly more often then they realize), but seldom ever seen.

To rejoin and see one-another again is the same occasion that makes me ponder; what it was that kept us apart for so long? It is that same occasion which leaves me promising to never to let that much time pass again. Yet then, the ticks tock and the pace resumes, full-speed once more and I can only hope that I am able to pull myself back from the race, much sooner than before, to linger in new moments with those I hold so dear.

This is especially true of family, as well as friends and acquaintances (new or old). Luckily, (long) overdue family gatherings usually require the involvement of food. At my Dad and Linda’s house, the food is never less than exceptional, in a comfortably casual, yet civilized and celebratory way.

I can hardly believe that the last time I had been to visit my Father was over a decade ago. We had all gathered at his place in Mexico (quite the hacienda) for a true Fiesta in celebration of the christening of my (then tiny) Nephew Alex. The (rather large) mariachi band still sings in my head as I recall those fond memories.

We had never been to their (somewhat new, to them) house in Arizona, yet when Tom and I went for dinner during our Easter weekend with my Mom, it felt like coming home. The house itself was nothing like the house we had grown up in in Alaska, but it had the convivial quality to it that the house in Anchorage had when I went home for Christmas every year during school. Back then, there were always dinner parties and entertaining, as there still are today, in whichever house they reside in at the time. The eclectic smattering of collected pieces of art, furniture, dishware and decoration, as well as the smells and sounds that erupted from the kitchen, all added to the warmth and comfort I felt when I was there.

This visit brought me back to that place of happy contentment. The moods were light and inviting. The house was unique, quirky and had character, just like my Dad and Linda.

There was a heavy Spanish influence to the architecture and a wonderful connection of outdoor courtyards to indoor living spaces.

The yard had not had much tending to yet (so says Dad), but the abundant olive trees provided lush shelter from the street, and the native growth firmly held their place in the landscape as a stunning foreground to the mountainous sky. There was more rosemary growing around one of the trees than I could imagine using in a lifetime; how I wish I could grow one good shrub, even a fraction of that scale.

Many birds had taken up residence, to which my Dad happily encouraged. We needed to be quiet in the front by the fountain so as not to disturb the nest of quail.

(shhh…quiet please)

Cracked terra cotta pots and well-placed lanterns all lended to the easy vibe; several outdoor spaces, all directly accessible from the house, made for happy discovery moving from room to room.

PS_dining table

The bar was open as we arrived and stayed open until well after Linda went to bed. We talked and reminisced, filled in missing bits and stayed up long past bedtime, sipping on the nectar from a bottle of Maker’s 46.

the bar

PS_tom and dad in living room 2 The boys discussing the adjacent courtyard fountain renovation.

But first…let there be lamb!

Yogurt and lemon-roasted Leg of Lamb with herbaceous pesto

I tend to go for lamb chops or rack of when I order or cook lamb; similar to opting for the tenderloin of beef rather than a delectably fatty rib-eye or lusciously large T-bone.

Linda does the leg… and has always done it well. This was no exception.

In fact, rack or tenderloin be damned. This was flavorful, tender and AMAZING!

Her delicious marinade of balsamic vinegar, garlic, rosemary and red wine had been replaced with lemon juice and plain yogurt; garlic plus rosemary still in tow. A platter of grilled eggplant plus asparagus went perfectly with the gratin of potato and aioli with which they were served.

The marinade and pesto were adapted from Food and Wine. The pesto called for hemp seed but Linda used pistachio, which worked perfectly. I happened to have a bag of raw, shelled hemp seed as a sample from IFBC so I gave that a try. Yum!

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 lb bone-in lamb leg

6 cloves garlic, minced (3 TB)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup plain, full-fat yogurt
1/4 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice
A splash of bubbly (if you have some open)
1 TB Dijon

Pesto for saucing (recipe to follow)

A nice size bouquet of fresh herbs (rosemary, oregano, thyme)
1/2 tsp kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper, plus a drizzle of olive oil over rubbed lamb

Prepare

Rinse and pat dry the lamb. Use the best quality you can afford; it will make a difference.

Combine the marinade ingredients, garlic through dijon, in a metal bowl or Ziploc freezer bag.

Add the lamb and season with sea salt, fresh pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Seal it up and let marinated for a night or a day; whatever time you might have.

Transfer the lamb and marinade to a baking dish. Cook, uncovered in an oven set to 375-degrees.

Cook, uncovered, for approximately 1 1/4 hours. An instant-read thermometer should measure at 135F.

Herbacious Pesto

I never really measure things when I make pesto; it is a touch and feel sort of affair; or rather mix and taste. I grabbed a big mix of herbs from my pots (oregano mostly, plus a little basil and some thyme).

In a mortar with a pestle, smash a clove of garlic into paste then squeeze in a little lemon juice. Add the herbs (cleaned, dried and stems somewhat removed) and gently grind them into the garlic forming a green paste.

Add in some raw, shelled hemp seeds (or pistachios) and grind into the mix. I used about 1 TB. Add more lemon juice to get it flowing and a little drizzle of olive oil too. Perhaps some salt might be needed but I didn’t bother.

No cheese for this one; it really isn’t needed.

You can always use a food processor and if making a large batch, it is probably more efficient. In this case, add all but the olive oil and puree. Drizzle olive oil in with the machine running until it is of a consistency that looks right.

(insert picture from Dad here; oh wait, I can’t, he hasn’t answered my request yet…maybe later?)

Because I’m a procrastinator on posting, an update from Dad on the pair of Gamel quail that built the nest in the middle of their courtyard flower bed.: “They have successfully produce a large covey of 16 baby quail for whom I have been throwing out bird seed and filling small containers of water each day. I have been enjoying watching them, darting all over while the father stands on the wall edge of the fountain and keeps an eye out for their safety. The mother stays on the ground with her babies showing them where to peck and where to move. They all run back to the nest whenever they spot any movement by us. The babies are such tiny creatures and appear to be on jet skis.”

Too cute.

A zen moment

11 Saturday Apr 2015

Posted by Stacey Bender in at the holidays, Breakfast/Brunch, family gatherings

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Easter, lemon cake, lemon curd, lemon curd cake, moments of zen, recipes

Sometimes, life happens around us. We are there too, experiencing the life but not participating in it, other than observing. I am looking out at the Arizona sky, from Grandpa’s backyard. The wind is whipping warmly across my face and I am an observer rather than a participant. For this moment I am zoning out the requirements of life. The cooking temperatures or timing. The dry or moist feel of my skin. The lizard that may be crawling toward my leg. I am unaware of the savory waft of smells from the kitchen. These smells, I set in motion. Subconsciously, they add to this moment of zen. This zen that is now. I breathe in the air. Through my nose. I release through my mouth. Thanks to Cristina for teaching me this life altering move. All of the noise is shut out…momentarily (seconds, or minutes or for whatever you make time). I actually see the beauty, not just hear about the beauty. I feel it on my skin. I smell it wildly tickling my nose.

As quickly as I allow it to begin, it ends. And off I go to make sure the kitchen is not burning. Make sure the food is happy. The people are eager to partake.

Lemon curd cake

This cake is dense and slightly dry without a nice spread of lemon curd on top. It is based off of a rosemary olive oil cake that I love to make, but I changed it up to try and utilize as many lemons as I could from my Grandfather’s plentiful lemon trees. There is little fat or sweetener in the cake, but the curd makes up for the lack of fat with its wealth of egg yolk and butter. It makes for a light dessert, a “zen moment” mid-day snack, or a prelude to brunch.

The lemon curd will keep a week or two, covered tightly, in the fridge (if you don’t use it all up on the cake). You can add fresh strawberries, cooked into the center, or leave it plain. Either way, it is best warmed, then sliced and spread with a healthy layer of the lemon curd, which unless short of time, you hopefully have made

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup reserved lemon curd batter – recipe follows
2 TB honey
1 egg yolk
2 oz goat cheese (chèvre)
1/3 cup milk (or yogurt)
5 egg whites (4 reserved from the lemon curd and 1 from this cake)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 TB chopped fresh rosemary
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt

10 strawberries, diced (optional)
Lemon curd for glazing

PREPARE

Combine the uncooked lemon curd, honey and egg yolk. It is best to use an electric mixer for several minutes.

Add the milk and goat cheese. Continue to beat the mixture until creamy; a few minutes more.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff. Stir into the yolk mixture then add the olive oil and blend with the mixer until well combined. Stir in the rosemary.

In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet, slowly mixing it in 1/2 cup at a time.

For a moister cake, you can add in the cooked lemon curd, reserving 1/4 cup to spread on the top and on the cut slices for serving.

Butter 1 loaf pan (or two mini-loaf pans) and pour in the batter. If using the strawberries, pour in half the batter then add the berries. Pour in the remaining batter.

Cook for approximately 30 minutes at 350 or until a toothpick poked in the center comes away clean.

Brush some lemon curd over the top and let cook another 5 minutes.

Let it cool slightly in the pan. Turn it onto a rack.

Serve warm, sliced, slathered with lemon curd…and perhaps, a cup of tea or a crisp glass of Albariño.

Lemon Curd

House-made lemon curd is far more delicious than that from a jar. I like mine on the tart side so I use just enough honey to keep me from crinkling my nose. Leftovers can be used to spread over your morning toast instead of jam, or an english muffin and a slice of ham.

I used freshly-picked lemons from the lemon trees outside my Grandpa’s house in Tucson during our Easter weekend with my Mom. They were large and juicy and produced thick zest. Oh how I wish I could grow a lemon tree!

INGREDIENTS

4 egg yolks (whites reserved for cake above or another use)
1/4 cup honey
The juice of 4 large lemons (approximately 1/2 cup) plus their zest
1 stick of butter

PREPARE

Bring some water to simmer in the bottom of a double boiler; it should not be able to touch the saucepan that sits on top.

Using an electric mixer, in the saucepan of the double boiler (or in a stainless steel bowl), beat the egg yolk and honey together until smooth.

Add in the lemon juice and zest, continuing to mix.

Set the saucepan over the simmering water in it’s counter-pan and whisk briskly until the batter becomes pale yellow and smoothly cooked, 6-8 minutes.

Turn off the heat and whisk in the butter, 1 TB at a time, as if making a butter sauce.

Transfer to a clean jar or container and cover tightly once cooled.

It’s all zen until you come across a little prick…

but when life gives you lemons, make lemon curd!

The best of both worlds

27 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by Stacey Bender in the kitchen

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

birthday gifts for guys, cleaning the garage, food, grilled cheese sandwich, grilled tuna and cheese, recipes, Tuna sandwich

As I thought about lunch today, I couldn’t decide what to make. It was just me, if you don’t count the pups. Caught between the hunger pains in my stomach and the awaiting chore of cleaning the garage, I was torn. I could eat something quickly, right from the fridge. It wouldn’t take much, just a nibble or a bite. A slice of cheese, and a swig of beer, a scoop of avocado with a big ol’ squeeze of lime. I could eat the steak I couldn’t finish last night or the pork chop from the night before.

Something warmer was calling me though and as I stood pondering, I found myself opening a can of tuna. I love tuna salad sandwiches; they have been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. Except now I enjoy mine minus the mayonnaise. And no Miracle Whip, no sweet relish, no Wonder bread.

The good stuff

Just a really good can of tuna, lots of lemon juice and a drizzling of olive oil. If I want to be fancy, a handful of fresh parsley goes in, perhaps a chopped pickle too, some celery, a little onion, a dab of Dijon. I used to always eat my tuna sandwiches cold, bread un-toasted, like you might take on a picnic.

But I wasn’t going on a picnic. I was cleaning the garage. It was cold outside and out there soon I would be. I wanted my sandwich warm. With a melted piece of cheese. The only bread I had was small and truth be told, one week old. I thought perhaps it would be okay. As I pulled it from the fridge, I saw my Niçoise olive tapenade left over from Mom’s birthday. Next thing I knew I was spreading, just a little bit, over the first slice of bread. I topped this with a good scoop of the tuna salad (which I had mere moments prior-prepared) then added a few thin slices of Gruyere.

I went to turn on the stove and spied one lonely fig sitting next to me on my cutting board. It was a straggler from breakfast that didn’t fit in. As an after-thought, I quickly sliced the fig and added it over the cheese and under the second slice of bread. I put the sandwich in the heated pan, topped it with my cast iron press and anticipated the result.

I was stalling I guess. I have never gone willingly to clean out a garage. When I was young, once or twice a year my Mom would, with very little notice, knock on our bedroom doors early on a Saturday morning and tell us to get dressed; that day would be given over to cleaning the garage.

I always stalled then too.

Our garage was often a mess. I get a little queasy when I recall standing there, unable to determine where I was to begin. The clutter was consuming. I would push a few things around, groaning, then put them back again. I had to look like I was busy but I really didn’t know what I was to do. I am not sure how I ever managed to escape but somehow I usually did. I would come back in at the end of the day as my Mom and Dad were sweeping up the last of the debris and tidying the clutter of the remaining boxes.

I was always amazed at the transformation, and that my brother Scott, managed to hang in until the end. I think he secretly enjoyed the task (and yes, his garage is pretty tidy now too).

Not me.

Yet here I am today, ready to dig in and one by one, go through some old boxes, throw lots of stuff away, and hopefully, I will be the one sweeping up the last of the debris. And hopefully, I will finally get that second car to fit in.

But first, there is the subject of my sandwich.

I bit in and on my first bite, I knew that I had improved on two old favorites. A cross between a grilled cheese and a tuna salad. I know you think I was eating a tuna melt, but this was different in a few subtle, but important ways. First there was the bread. It was delicate and thin like one should use for a grilled cheese (so that the surface is just browned but remains a little soft within). The tuna was moist and hot but not gooey and it retained the perfect crunch. There was the cheese that melted fully and hugged the tuna as if it were it’s second skin. A tuna melt would not have olives, yet tuna salads sometime sneak them in. Grilled cheese likes to dress up with tomato, which is where fig is standing-in now.

But just as I had bit into my sandwich, I bit into the task of the garage. It was cold outside but I didn’t notice as I lit up from my progress. I thought I would stand frozen in my tracks, unable to find a place to start, but instead I dug-in and found a happy rhythm that ended with a broom. Piotr came over to help with the heavy things I couldn’t manage alone.

All the while, Tom was away on business, unknowing, as he spent his time freezing in Boston, including a brief respite under the Legoland giraffe. His birthday present was being constructed of one clean garage and two cars that actually fit in!!! A first since we moved in, more years ago than I would want to disclose. Hopefully, it would be a happy surprise (and it was).

Tom says good thing it was a girl giraffe…

Thankfully, neither of us are freezing today as we finish editing from the beach in Hawaii (again)(Tom’s other birthday present). So, the best of both worlds, warm cars and warm us.

Grilled (Tuna &) Cheese sandwich

I usually make more tuna salad than needed for my sandwich because inevitably, I will want another one the next day and a salad after that. I always keep out a good pawful of tuna for Ginger and Buddy to share too.

INGREDIENTS for the sandwich

2 slices, sliced sandwich bread
1/4 cup tuna salad (recipe to follow)
1 tsp Niçoise olive tapenade (recipe to follow)
1-2 slices good quality gruyere cheese
1 fresh fig, sliced
Olive oil for cooking

PREPARE the sandwich

Lay out the bread slices:

This is not Wonder bread. It is whole wheat bread from “The French Bakery”

Spread the tapenade on one slice:

Top with the tuna salad:

Layer on the cheese slices and top with the slices of fig. Lay the empty slice of bread over the other and press together.

Heat a small pan with olive oil and when the oil is hot, put on the sandwich and turn the heat down to low. Top with a sandwich press, if you have one, or weigh it down with a small plate. Cook on the one side until browned, 2-3 minutes, then turn. Cook a few minutes more or until both sides are lightly brown and the cheese melted.

INGREDIENTS for tuna salad

2 cans good quality albacore tuna packed in water (water just slightly drained)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Juice of 1/2 lemon or more, to taste
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, stems removed, chopped
A drizzle of good olive oil
1 celery stalk, diced
1-2 scallions, chopped

PREPARE tuna salad

Mix together all ingredients in a medium bowl. Don’t forget to share some of the tuna with your dog (or cat) first!

INGREDIENTS for the olive tapenade

1/2 cup pitted Niçoise olives
A small handful of fresh Italian parsley
1 TB lemon juice
Drizzle of olive oil

PREPARE the olive tapenade

Place all ingredients into a food processor and purée. You could alternatively chop it all by hand if you don’t have a processor (or use a mortar & pestle).

The delicious end result. Can you see the bear or puppy face in the toast?

Warm cars = warm buns in the morning!

One!

28 Sunday Sep 2014

Posted by Stacey Bender in family gatherings, From the journals, the kitchen

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

cantaloupe sauce, Corn broth, Fall dinner, food, fresh shrimp spring rolls, IFBC 2014, IFBC 2015, massaged kale, pork belly, recipes, true cod

The number of times I have gone to Europe.
The number of meals I have eaten which included beef tongue.
The number of times I have truly fallen in love.
ONE.
The number of years I have attended the International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC 2014).
The number of years I have written this Blog.
One!
One special, overwhelming, fulfilling, challenging, and inspirational year!
One year ago today, Pete was sitting in our dining room, asking me what I wanted this to look like. One day before, I had no idea what I was about to get into let alone know what it should look like (other than the header, which Pete designed for me earlier). I would not have ever gotten past the thought of a space to write down my ideas about food without first, the journals that my husband Tom bought me, ritually, each time I filled one up, or second, without Pete saying, “Hey, do you want me to come over and just help you do this thing?”. I can’t thank them enough!

And big thanks to all of you that actually read what I write. A bigger thanks to those that actually leave comments and/or follow my blog (Simon, you were my first follower, thanks!). Most of all I am just happy to have a place that I can escape to and write for a few minutes, or an hour, or a day. One! Without that time, I feel lost. Without that writing, I would not have connected to all of the people that I have met through this blog. I am so glad to have “met” each of you. I wish I could meet you all in person, have you to dinner, or share a glass of wine over a leisurely lunch. But we can pretend (unless you actually come over, then we can do some serious eating!).

I leave you with this, a dinner that we shared last night with my Mom and her opposite-sex-partner, John (very much part of the family too), before their departure back to Alaska (after fixing numerous household things in need of repair). One trip, one meal, one year, is never enough (but they will be back for a special birthday in a month, I will keep writing for another year and I will attend, for my second time, the International Food Bloggers Conference, September 18-20, 2015, you too can register here).

One Summer down, Fall is back in the air, and this is the meal that we shared… and for Mom, my recipe for the pork belly + canteloupe sauce. One course is never enough. We had five. A good number too, but too much to write. This is about, One (recipe).

A Fall Dinner for Mom and John 9/27/14

To start – Nibbles with cocktails
Fresh shrimp spring rolls with dipping sauces (nuac chom + nectarine sauce)
+
Fried shoyu tofu sticks + golden cow’s milk cheese & everything crackers (for the nibbler (ironically not me, my Mom))
1st
Roast beet + raw zucchini and mint stack with miso sauce and pickled ginger
2nd
True cod with corn, wild mushrooms, baby bok choy and shoyu corn broth
3rd
*Pork belly + scallop, massaged kale, cantaloupe sauce
To finish
Fig, apple and ricotta galette with carmel cashew-milk ice cream
+
Berry galette with Elleno’s lemon curd yogurt

Fresh shrimp spring rolls with dipping sauces.

Roast beet + raw zucchini and mint stack with miso sauce and pickled ginger.

True cod with corn, wild mushrooms, baby bok choy and shoyu corn broth.

Pork belly + scallop, massaged kale, cantaloupe sauce.

Berry galette with Elleno’s lemon curd yogurt (in the making).

*Pork belly + scallop, massaged kale, cantaloupe sauce
Serves 4-6 people

It is best to get the pork belly with the skin on if you can; this time I did not but I prefer it that way (it keeps the fat from turning very black). I learned the method of cooking pork belly from Tom Collicio’s book, “Think Like a Chef” and have experimented with many different cooking flavors, modifications ever since. The pork belly is braised in a broth that then becomes the base of the sauce for the true cod (above) which I also used to flavor the beets, zucchini and fried tofu sticks.

The cantaloupe sauce helps cut the richness of the pork and the saltiness of the shoyu braise. It smells of pumpkin as it cooks, and looks like butterscotch when done. I make this sauce every Fall. It is wonderful served with a meal of cranberry beans, pork loin and prosciutto, plus could easily be used to sauce everything from fish to fois gras. Because I was pairing this with a shoyu-based braise, I changed out the typical Chardonnay in the sauce for sake, but either would work fine. You can freeze leftovers in a Ziploc freezer bag or freezer-safe container. Both the pork and the sauce can be made a day or two in advance, which makes it great for entertaining.

The kale was an afterthought because I felt we needed something green, I had some in the fridge, plus I felt it would lend a perfect balance of texture and flavor to the rest of the dish. My favorite way to eat kale is a simple massage of olive oil, sea salt and lemon juice. No cooking required; the heat from the pork and the sauce are all the heat that is needed.

INGREDIENTS (for the pork belly)

2 lbs pork belly, skin on if you can
Salt and pepper
1 celery stick, diced
3/4 cup onion, chopped
2 TB chopped garlic
3/4 cup corn broth
1/2 cup shoyu (I used Ohsawa organic Nama Shoyu. Quality does make a difference but feel free to substitute for a soy sauce instead. Please note that it might be saltier so do adjust according to taste.
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup water

INGREDIENTS (for the cantaloupe sauce)

1 cup chopped onion (or shallot)
1/4 cup chopped fennel bulb (or a few fennel stems and fronds from the garden, chopped as I did this time; I had no fennel bulb)
1 TB butter for sauteing (or use olive oil)
3 TB L’Estornell Grenache varietal red wine vinegar (or another good quality red wine vinegar) (more as needed to season)
1 cup sake (or chardonnay)
2 to 2 1/2 cups large diced, peeled cantaloupe
A handful of fresh basil (optional)
1 TB red currant jelly (I forgot it last night but it does help to thicken the sauce)
1 TB demi-glace
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 cup heavy cream
Sea salt to taste

INGREDIENTS (to finish and serve)

Kale (approximately 1 leaf per person), rinsed, dried and stem removed
Olive oil, sea salt and lemon juice to taste

Fresh, dry-packed sea scallops (1 per person)
Olive oil, a knob of butter, sea salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice

Fennel fronds and flower for garnish (optional)

PREP & COOK (the pork)

Season the pork with sea salt and pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 350-degrees

In a hot pan, brown the pork, skin (or fat) side down (this might take 10-15 minutes over medium heat). No oil is needed as there is plenty of fat that will come out of the pork. Drain it off periodically if it splatters too much. You will want to reserve about 1-2 TB for cooking the vegetables. Transfer the pork to a plate.

In 1-2 TB pork fat, cook the celery, onion and garlic until soft. This will take about 10 minutes more. Keep the heat low so as not to brown the vegetables.

Transfer the vegetables to a baking dish. Top with the pork belly, skin (or fat) side up.

Combine the shoyu, rice wine vinegar and water in a small bowl (or measuring glass). Pour enough of this mixture into the baking dish to come 1/2 to 3/4 the way up, but not cover the pork. You will likely still have some liquid left which will be added later.

Cook, uncovered for 1 1/2 hours. Check on the liquid and add more if needed.

Cook an additional hour, checking occasionally to be sure it is not burning or running out of liquid. If it browns too much, you can cover it loosely with foil. Add the rest of the liquid (if any). You could use sake or water if needed.

3 hours is usually how long I leave my pork to cook. It should be quite tender (the degree of tenderness will depend on the thickness of the pork and the ratio of fat to meat). It will go back in the oven to finish later (if eating that night), or the next day (if doing in advance).

If you are doing this in advance, store the pork, in the baking pan with the liquid (and solids), covered and refrigerated until ready to use.

When you are ready to use (up to 8 hours in advance), transfer the pork to a plate. Pick off obvious pieces of fat that have solidified in the liquid. Strain the contents of the pan through a fine mesh strainer (or chinois) into a bowl and discard the solids. Separate the oil from the liquid as best you can. The liquid will likely be quite salty; this is okay. You should have about one cup of liquid. Dilute with more corn broth (approximately 1/2 to 3/4 cup). Taste for flavor and adjust accordingly. It should be balanced in flavor now, not too salty, not too sweet.

Remove the skin from the pork (skip this step, obviously, if there was no skin to start). Cut the pork into 4-6 equal sized pieces. Score the fat. Put it back into a baking pan with the liquid. At this point, I went ahead and added a few tablespoons of that liquid to my sliced beets, zucchini and tofu. I “borrowed” more of the liquid when I went to cook my true cod.

In a 350-degree oven, cook (or re-warm) the pork until it is very tender and the fat is browned (but not burnt). If you did not have skin on the pork, the skin will burn easier so you should keep checking in on it’s progress. Allow 1/2 hour for this process but you can keep it in the oven for longer if you are serving other courses; just be sure to cover it or turn down the heat so as not to dry the pork out.

PREP & COOK (the cantaloupe sauce)

Heat a saute pan and melt a knob of butter. Add the onion and fennel. Cook until the onion is translucent, approximately 10 minutes. Add the vinegar and cook a few minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Add the sake (or wine) and cantaloupe; continue simmering for approximately 20 minutes more or until the cantaloupe has softened and blended into the pan (another 20 minutes or so).

Strain the sauce through a chinois. The liquid should be thin and bright. You will likely have 1 1/2 cups.

The bowl in the front is my strained pork braising liquid.

Put the liquid back to the sauce pan (wiped clean). Add the basil (if using) and let steep for 1/2 an hour, no need to turn on the burner. Remove and squeeze liquid from basil, discard basil.

Add the jelly, cayenne, demi-glace and cream. Bring to a simmer and reduce until it is just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, approximately 20 minutes (it will reduce by about 1/3). Set aside and re-heat when ready to use.

FINISH & SERVE

While the pork is warming in the oven, prepare the kale. Slice the leaves into pieces, drizzle over some olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and squeeze over a wedge of lemon. Gently massage the leaves to soften and distribute the flavors. I think I might have even spooned over a bit of the shoyu corn broth (optional). Set aside.

Rinse and pat dry the scallops (remove the muscle if it is still attached). Score the top side with a small cross-hatch cut. Season with salt and pepper. Be sure the scallop is completely dry before putting them in the pan to produce a nice seared top.

Re-heat the cantaloupe sauce. Check to be sure the pork is warmed through.

On individual plates, divide the kale. If using fennel fronds and flowers, put them artfully on the plates too.

Heat a saute pan until hot. Add just enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. When the oil is heated (enough to easily move about the pan), add the scallops, scored side down. Do not touch them for at least 2 minutes.

When the scallops easily come away from the pan with a spatula without sticking, and they are nicely browned on the one side, throw in the knob of butter. It should melt quickly. Turn the scallops over. In the 30 seconds after you turn the scallops, place one piece of pork on each plate. Immediately squeeze in a lemon wedge and turn off the heat. The scallops should be soft to the touch still (not rubbery), seared on the exterior and soft in the middle.

Quickly spoon the cantaloupe sauce onto each plate and immediately remove the scallops from the pan and place one on each plate.

One bite!

Two pups!

10 legs!

What is wrong with me???

06 Saturday Sep 2014

Posted by Stacey Bender in the kitchen

≈ 30 Comments

Tags

chicken parmesan, cooking, eggplant parmesan, food, growing tomatoes, recipes, Roasted tomato (puree) sauce

Wait, don’t answer this. It is meant to be rhetorical. Oh, you already have answered? Sssshhhhh, keep it to yourself, trust me, I already know.

It is September. Yes, the month that comes on the calendar after August, which is in reality, the last true month of summer. Where did the months of June, July and August go (rhetorical, again)? I waited patiently all through the winter months, and then the first month of pre-Spring for the Farmer’s Markets to unfold. I went once back in May, by myself, and made an enormous haul. So enormous that I could barely maneuver the one-foot-in-front-of-the-other thing without teetering side-to-side. My arms weighed heavy, carrying all that my eyes told me to buy.

I bought a tomato plant too.

Did I mention my arms were full and I was shopping alone?

I left that tomato plant at numerous stands. Weaving through busy crowds, I back-tracked to retrieve it as I happily thought about all the delectable morsels it would someday soon bring.

The last stop got me talking about pickles. Not just pickles, but sauerkraut too. I had to have several large (heavy) jars.

The tomato plant was left behind once again.

It wasn’t until I had reached another 7 minutes into the walk back to my car that I realized Tomato Plant had been abandoned again.

I paused for a moment and pondered about the four dollars I had paid and the worthiness of that money, versus heading back to retrieve it, laden with bags cutting marks into my wrists.

It wasn’t really to do with the money that made me return for Tomato Plant. It was the promise of the red, juicy succulence, bursting into our mouths with nothing more than a rinse from the fountain to clean off their skins. It was also the vision of delicate red balloons, multiplying and offering more sweetness, more nutrients, more summer, again and again and….

As mentioned, it is now September, and that was my only trip to Farmer’s Market this year (until last Friday). What is wrong with me? (Sssshhhhh)

And this new friend that I could not let go, brought only one, yes one, lovely little Roma, that decided to ripen while we were away on a trip. Apparently that was it, and I am most sad.

It is a good thing I was (somewhat) fortuitous in that I did buy a second plant; the type that promises to produce tomatoes. It was in a small wooden basket, gripping from a little wood trellis and did produce a bunch of bright red gems, but, only a few really made the cut. The rest were mealy. Thankfully, a mealy tomato can still make a robust, earthy sauce. So, that is what I did, sauce, times two (well one was actually a purée).

Sorry girls, he’s taken.

My real problem is this, I sometimes go whole seasons, yearning for the next season. I know, we all do this (no?). I then go through the next season and forget to enjoy (to the fullest), all the delights that said season brings… until the end. I am now at the end of Summer without having reveled in a plethora of perfect tomatoes. And there are few foods I adore more than Summer-fresh tomatoes.

For my sprint to the end (of Summer) though, I have managed to pile 4 bags of produce, farm-fresh eggs, pasta and pickles into my car last Friday from the Bellevue Farmer’s Market before heading off for the weekend where I piled a few more bags of the same (minus pasta) from the local farm stand (Hunter’s Farm) near Hoodsport, WA. I have a very full fridge and a bowl filled with Summer tomatoes (I am happy to say, but anxious about using in time).

This Fall, I must remember to cook using pears and squash. Until then, I give you freshly grown tomatoes, roasted and puréed, served with a side of chicken and eggplant Parmesan (because, it looks a little bit like Fall and I did have mealy tomatoes for sauce).

Roasted tomato (purée) sauce
makes approximately 2 cups

Once, long ago, when I worked at (the sadly now-defunct) Seattle restaurant Italia, I noticed the ovens were constantly filled with sheets of whole tomatoes roasting and sending out a heavenly scent. The cooks would take them from the oven and dump them through a large contraption that separated the meat from the seeds and skin. I have no idea what temperature the ovens were or how long they roasted, but I did know two things; roasted tomatoes made delicious sauce, and roasting tomatoes made everything smell fantastic.

This is less of a recipe than a process. To coax out that earthy, sun-kissed tomato flavor, roasting them low and slow in the oven is a pretty neat trick. Roasting high and quick works pretty well too and I often switch between the two depending on how much time I have, what I am making and how big the tomatoes are; it is pretty hard to screw up at this.

For instance, if I am using smaller, cherry tomatoes that I want to liken to those sun-dried numbers, I usually douse them with a little olive oil, sprinkle over some sea salt and cook them at around 300-degrees until they dry out a bit, but retain their natural juices. At 300-degrees, this might take only an hour or less; if I reduced the oven to 250-degrees it would take longer, but provide a more-succulent result. I am slightly impatient (again, shhhhhhh) so I usually opt to cook at a higher temperature (sometimes 375-degrees) for a shorter time. For this sauce however, low and slow is the way to go.

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 lbs tomatoes
1 head garlic, outer skin removed, cloves separated, hard inner skin still intact
Olive oil
Sea salt + fresh ground pepper, to taste
Red wine vinegar, to taste

PREPARE

Preheat the oven to 275-degrees.

Put the whole tomatoes and garlic cloves on a sheet pan. Drizzle over some olive oil, then sprinkle with sea salt. Add some herb sprigs if you like, such as fresh thyme, rosemary or oregano. Shake to coat.

Place the pan in the oven and let roast for approximately 2 hours.

cooked tomato

Transfer the contents of the pan to a food processor, including juices (if any), yet removing the garlic’s skin (and any skin that easily slips from the tomatoes), as well as picking away the stems from the herbs; purée.

Add the vinegar and a sprinkle of salt and grind of pepper to taste. Process to combine. I sometimes add a little more fresh herb or dried oregano; this is optional because it will taste fantastic with or without.

That’s it. Easy, right? Yes, it truly is. You can use this versatile sauce for many things; use right away or freeze to use later.

Roasted tomato (purée) sauce with a side of chicken + eggplant Parmesan
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

1 cup (+/-) roasted tomato (purée) sauce – see recipe above

2 smallish eggplants (Chinese or Japanese varieties work too but adjust quantity per slice circumference), sliced into 1 to 1 1/2″ slices.
Olive oil for brushing
Sea salt to season

2 boneless, skinless breasts of chicken, each breast cut in half down the center
Sea salt and pepper for seasoning
Flour for dusting
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup panko
1/8 cup grated Parmesan
Olive oil for frying
1/2 cup grated mozzarella
Soft herbs (such as basil or oregano) for garnish

PREPARE

Preheat the oven to 375-degrees.

Lay the eggplant sides on a baking sheet and brush each side with olive oil. Sprinkle one side with a little sea salt.

PSeggplant

Roast the eggplant in the oven for approximately 20-30 minutes. It wants to be slightly browned but not hard. The top will be slightly tough but with a little give to the touch. Remove from the oven and let sit. The eggplant should soften as it sits (making it hard to resist eating directly from the sheet pan; I always make enough to account for my nibbles).

In a shallow plate or bowl, mix the panko and grated Parmesan.

On a cutting board, between two sheets of wax paper, pound the chicken breasts until even and 3/8″ thick. Season with salt and pepper and throw a handful of flour over, lightly coating each side.

Dip each chicken breast quarter in egg, then press into the panko/Parmesan mix. These can set aside 1/2 to 1 hour before cooking.

chick parm

Heat a sauté pan and add enough olive oil to just fill the bottom to 1/8″ deep. When the oil is hot, add the chicken and cook undisturbed until golden on the bottom side. Flip and cook 30 seconds more. Turn off the heat and transfer the chicken to a paper towel-lined surface.

Spread some tomato sauce on the bottom of a baking pan (just enough to barely coat).

Add the roasted eggplant in four vertical lines .

Top each line with a chicken breast quarter.

Pour the remainder of the sauce over all, down the center.

Sprinkle with shredded cheese and chopped fresh oregano.

Bake for 30 minutes, loosely covered with foil. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Now, may I recommend that you serve one quarter chicken + eggplant Parmesan, on a plate alongside a fresh green salad with vinaigrette or dressing of your choice?

(note from the editor) Edit with a nice glass of wine, Rosé on a warm Summer day. Enjoy.

(And don’t forget, tomatoes are good for pups too)!

Mirror, Mirror

11 Sunday May 2014

Posted by Stacey Bender in family gatherings, the kitchen

≈ 36 Comments

Tags

dessert, family, food, Goat cheese cheesecake, lemon curd, Mother's Day, recipes, strawberries

I sometimes feel like a broken mould. A fish that feels out of the water. A unique character that is looking to be told that she is okay, or perhaps, okay is what she is? Life can take us in many directions; one way may not necessarily be better than the next, and that way, not necessarily worse than the last. Life’s paths are often twisted and sometimes it is hard to steer them straight. Many years ago, I seemed to have lost touch with a piece of my family, one that I never really knew all that well since our connection was lost through the early death of my natural mother. Sadly, despite my adopted mom’s attempts at keeping us all in contact (she was the one who raised Scott and I from a very young age and is the only mother we ever really knew). As kids we traveled every summer to California to visit them, until we didn’t. Another path.

I have always thought it would be fun to have a twin, an identical twin like my mother had, but I would have settled for a sister. I have two brothers who, don’t get me wrong, I love very much; one slightly older, one younger, and all of us quite different from one another, but then in some ways, not too much. Through the years I always wondered if my cousin Julie, daughter of my mother’s twin sister, would be like me? I heard about her on-and-off through the years and although we had similarities, we didn’t seem to be the same.

Yet, I met a version of myself last week. A version that felt familiar, yet one I didn’t know. She was different enough, yet strangely quite the same. Her hair was longer, a bit lighter (perhaps because this version lives in the sun), her jawbone more pronounced, and without that bump in my nose (Tom was sure she’d have it too!). A version that was possibly more articulate and perky, more humble and less vain. This version, was my cousin Julie. I had only seen her once since childhood. She was only one and a half years older, but when you are under the double-digits in age, that year and a half is much grander than it is when the decades begin to multiply.

Cousin Julie on the left.

So here we were this past weekend, talking and carrying-on about family, memories and life. Looking at her I realized that time goes by fast and we better take care not to let another 30 years slip by! Generously, she brought me a handmade year book that my natural mother had made, filled with black and white pictures and handwritten captions that I had never seen. When I opened the brown, rabbit-eared craft-paper pages, I thought I was looking at photographs of my young self, but realized they were photographs of our twin mothers.

Julie also brought me a silver hand mirror that our mothers were each given for their sixteenth birthday. I picked it up in my hand and felt the weight of the silver, saw the tarnish and crazing of age and understood the irony it implied. We are only versions of ourselves and in life, nothing is ever just the same, but sometimes objects are closer than they appear.

Lemon (goat) cheese cake
Makes 5 mini and 1 small cake (or would likely make 8 mini cakes or 4 small cakes)

The name of this cake might immediately turn my brother, Scott, away from this blog page. Not because he wouldn’t be interested in letting me finish my thought, but because he saw the title and felt he need not read more. I hope he does (read more that is).

Dinner, the night that Julie and her charming (and unknowingly witty) husband, Joe came for dinner (a mere three hour plane ride and 30 years later); my brother Scott also joined. My week at work, well, let’s just say it was challenged. My best laid plans had not been laid. I came up with a menu based on, well, unlike me, not much other than… just because. I didn’t know what Julie and Joe liked, or didn’t like (something I pride myself on knowing of my dinner guests).

Julie called me the night before our dinner. Having gotten only the polite response that “they were easy and ate anything” via email to my inquiry of their culinary discerning, I felt compelled to ask, “really, what don’t you eat”?

Mistake? No. Challenge? Maybe. I had just the night before braised a pork belly, in red wine and rhubarb for our first course. “We are easy” she replied. “Oh, well, there is just one thing”, she said, “if you must ask, I don’t like pork”.

Okay, so I could adapt. I bought her fresh scallops to replace the pork. The other diners would now get both because I decided they go well with pork belly too. I mentioned this casually as I was prepping our plates and Scott chimed in, proudly describing my knack for choreographing the food based on individual preferences; how his two dislikes are cilantro and goat cheese and if serving either, I always provide him a version without. Yes, that was true. I began feeling guilty because, well, for obvious reasons, if you remember the title of this cheesecake. I did have a back-up carton of ice cream ready to step in, but in the end, he ate every bite without mention. I’ll let him chime in again and tell us if he noticed?

Next visit, no pork for Julie, no salmon for Joe (especially not rare). There will be cosmopolitans (and/or Italian cocktails with Prosecco); most importantly, Scott, I promise, no goat cheese for you (even if you admit to having liked the dessert).

INGREDIENTS

8 oz chèvre (goat cheese)
1/3 cup natural turbinado sugar
Juice of 1/2 small lemon plus zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 TB whole wheat pastry flour
4 eggs separated

Ramekins wiped with butter on the inside and dusted with turbinado sugar.

Fresh strawberries and lemon curd for garnishing (I use purchased “Thursday Cottage” lemon curd).

COOK

In a large bowl. Using a hand mixer, combine the chèvre with the sugar, lemon/zest, vanilla and flour. Add the egg yolks, one at a time and beat well.

In another bowl (smaller), beat the egg whites until stiff. Add these to the yolk mix and stir to combine.

Pour the mixture into each of the prepared ramekins. I like using the mini ramekins but found that I was either short of them or long on batter. It doesn’t really matter what size you use as long as you can cook them in a pan filled partly up of water. Like I mention in the title, this particular batch made up 5 “mini” and 1 “small” ramekin.

Set the ramekins in a pan of water filled 1/3 (-ish) way up the ramekin. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes or until cooked through so a toothpick comes out clean (you know that ‘ol trick) and slightly golden on top.

Let them cool in the water bath. Remove from the water and set the ramekins aside until ready to serve (keep refrigerated if made a day in advance).

SERVE

Carefully run a butter knife around the edge of each ramekin and turn them out onto individual plates. Top with a thin layer of lemon curd and garnish with fresh strawberries (as artsy or bohemian as you see fit).

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!

and…

Happy Mother’s Day to Linda, Lois, Talita, Doris, Cousin Julie (Barb & Bev), Irma, Christine, Laura and Beth

Pictured is the “small” sized ramekin. I think the “mini” is a better individual portion but I only require a “little” dessert.

Treasures.

More treasures…

Lucky me, she signed my card

and house of cards as sun screen.

I yam what I yam (but no yams here)

08 Thursday May 2014

Posted by Stacey Bender in the kitchen

≈ 43 Comments

Tags

Chickpeas, fiesta Friday, food, Popeye, recipes, Spinach, spinach soup

Stuck in my head was a verse:

“So, you want to be a super hero?” (to the tune of, SuperHero by Jane’s Addiction); you might notice I had the lyrics wrong? I’m always doing that; getting lyrics wrong and getting tunes stuck in my head. Somehow this got me to thinking about spinach, superheroes being strong and all.

Spinach was overrated in my book. In my whole set of encyclopedias, in fact. I did like Popeye and all, and particularly thought it was cool that he slurped down the green stuff (without a can opener) and became strong. Believe it or not, Popeye was not actually considered a superhero (I checked), but he did get superpowers from the spinach. I was okay with being weak; no spinach for me. For a little weakling though, I was actually pretty strong.

Ironically, as I began writing this post, I overheard two co-workers talking about Popeye and debating different theories concerning the characters. It seemed quite ironic as I hadn’t thought or heard about Popeye in many, many years, yet on my iPad sat a paragraph, beginning a post with Popeye’s mention. I couldn’t help but listen in on the debate.

A very quick synopsis of what I overheard:
Wimpy was the name of one of the characters (was this my character, I thought? Was I Wimpy?).
Olive Oyl was always getting Popeye into trouble (but spinach was always pulling him out).
Was the name of Popeye’s rival character named Bluto or Pluto (they settled on the wrong name, Pluto was their choice).
The conflict between Pluto and Popeye came from Olive Oyl (what, Olive Oyl was the antagonist? So is olive oyl good or bad for spinach?).
The whole spinach power thing was “wicked cool“ (dude).

I mentioned this to Tom on the drive home, who immediately said, “Bluto, not Pluto! Pluto was Mickey Mouse’s dog!”. That’s my Tom, vault of useless (+ useful) information (especially concerning cartoons, movie quotes, 80’s music, well, all things 80’s actually), much to my chagrin. He does make me laugh.

It wasn’t until one day while lunching with my former boss, that I discovered I had been missing out all along. When she ordered us a big plate of spinach sautéed with garlic and lemon to split as an appetizer, I wasn’t quite sure what to do. She could be, um, slightly judgmental, and I didn’t want to tell her I hated spinach, when she was so certain that this is what we needed to have. I knew I would need to eat it, what I did not know was that I would actually like it so much.

It has been some number of years since then and I have been happily munching on spinach ever since. Perhaps the difference between my like and dislike of the green stuff was all in the presentation. Wadded up and popped out of a can (the visual I gleamed from Popeye growing up) along with the frozen block out of a waxed box, soggy and slimy on the plate (the actuality of how mine was delivered growing up), versus freshly-sautéed in a bath of olive oil and lemon with aromatic bits of spicy garlic.

I love the latter of the above and cook mine by first putting a few pinches sea salt and fresh ground pepper into a pan and heating it until fragrant. I then drizzle in the olive oil, followed momentarily by the garlic and then finally the spinach. My spinach is always bone dry (as bone dry as spinach goes) as it hits the pan and must be tended to quickly, flipping, tossing and thrusting about. Within minutes, the whole process is complete, producing a wilted, yet perky result.

Spinach Soup

This soup is über-healthy, delivering an extra helping of “strong” while satisfying even the most skeptical spinach naysayer.

INGREDIENTS

1 celery stalk, chopped coarsely
2 leeks, cleaned, trimmed and sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled, chopped
1/2 jalapeño, seeded, chopped
1 1/2 cups freshly cooked chickpeas, see how I cook mine here (or canned, rinsed, and drained)
2 cups chickpea cooking liquid (or vegetable stock if using canned beans)
1 tsp cumin
1 can lite coconut milk
1/2 cup vermouth
Juice of 1 lemon (approximately 3 TB)
1/2 lb fresh baby spinach, cleaned and dried

Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
Sprouted pumpkin seeds and fresh Buffalo mozzarella for garnish

COOK

In a stockpot, sauté the celery, leek, garlic and jalapeño in a little olive oil until soft (approximately 5-7 minutes). Add the chickpeas/liquid, cumin, vermouth and lemon. Bring to a simmer. Continue cooking for a further 10-15 minutes, until the flavors have combined nicely.

Add the spinach and continue cooking until it begins to wilt; season with salt and pepper.

. Add the coconut milk and bring back to a simmer until the spinach is cooked through.

Purée in a food processor or by using an immersion blender.

Divide among bowls and garnish with the sprouted pumpkin seeds and fresh mozzarella (soft creamy piece torn off and plopped in). Paired with a salad makes for a fine lunch. Look out Popeye, I’ve got some olive oil too!

And head on over to Fiesta Friday for a dose of fun!

The Dirty Dozen

19 Saturday Apr 2014

Posted by Stacey Bender in cooking basics, From the journals, holidays, the kitchen

≈ 33 Comments

Tags

deviled eggs, Easter, Eggs, fiesta Friday, recipes, truffle

Why is it that we call a sandwich, when filled with mashed-up egg and drowned in mayonnaise, a little seasoning and perhaps a hint of “vegetable” (celery?) an egg “salad” sandwich? I’m okay with this, but just asking?

I also used to question the “devil” in deviled eggs. This is just something I do, question things. But some of you probably already know that, or would really rather not (know).

I am not an easy one to crack. As a child, I wasn’t one for breakfast, especially involving eggs, yet an egg salad sandwich, as well as a deviled egg was, in fact, amongst my favorites. Perhaps, to do with the mayonnaise, which by the way, I am quite fond of too. So, how is it a brother of mine, an actual sibling of the blood relation, does not eat salad dressing? Ever? As in, nope, never. I glop it on, or at least used to, before I understood the amount of effort it took to glop it back off my body. I loved the creaminess of a salad dressing which often involved mayonnaise. These days, it is the acidity in the dressing that takes priority over the cream, for me. There is an art to the perfect balance of savory to sweet, and tangy to tart. We aren’t here to talk salad though. We are here to eat eggs! Deviled eggs, for Easter (something ironic about that perhaps)?!

Into making a good quality mayonnaise, goes an egg (or two). So, why is it that to this mayonnaise we actually insert more egg, the hard cooked yolk part, to make it deviled? What is it to be deviled, again? Is it to do with the cayenne or the mayonnaise? I believe it is to do with the cayenne, but the devil is in the mayonnaise (at least devilish for our health). So now you know, this is the type of random bits of information I so often ponder.

Yet, it will not stop me from making a batch of deviled eggs for Fiesta Friday (because it makes good party food) and another batch for Easter (because it makes good Easter food). Plus, Tom will insist on coloring eggs and what else am I going to do with a dozen hard cooked eggs (rhetorical question)? The first batch will be clean (I am sure you are relieved). The second batch will be dirty; from the stain of the dye soaking through (kind of festive though).

I like a good old fashioned deviled egg as much as the next person, but if we decorate the outside of an Easter egg, I think it only fair to decorate the deviled egg too, so I usually dress them up a little. I also like to crank up the flavor without getting too wild; (truffle oil will sneak into the ones going to the party; not Tom’s favorite). Tulip petals are their Easter dress.

Deviled eggs, Chez Stacey style

I’ve shed my need for so much mayonnaise, so to lighten things up, I now use plain yogurt (the local kind) to make it creamy. I love the addition of truffle oil which is a natural partner to an egg. Tom continues to proclaim himself a non-truffle eater so I fill his eggs first then add the truffle oil to the mix (for me and any other guests that might be joining). Truffle oil is strong, so adjust the quantity to your taste by adding it a few drops at a time. If you have fresh truffles, truffle shavings would be delicious to mix in. If you don’t like truffle, simply omit it altogether.

INGREDIENTS

6 eggs, hard boiled, cooled and peeled
1 TB Dijon mustard
1 TB lemon juice
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/8 tsp cayenne
4 TB plain yogurt
1 tsp chopped fresh chives
1 TB chopped Spring onion or shallot
1/2 tsp white truffle oil (+/- to taste), optional

For garnish: fresh chives cut into 2 inch lengths. Good quality ham cut into 2 inch x 1/8″ strips, smoked paprika, tulip petals

PREPARE

Cut the cooked, peeled eggs in half lengthwise. Scoop the yolk, out from the white and place in a bowl.

Add the rest of the ingredient and mash well with a fork.

Chop one of the cooked egg whites and add to the bowl mixing well.

Fill the center of each cooked egg white with spoonfuls of the yolk mixture.

Sprinkle with smoked paprika and top each with 2 chive strips and 1-2 ham strips.

To serve, put each deviled egg on a tulip petal placed on a platter or individual plates. Admire momentarily and watch them disappear.

10 Legs in the Kitchen

~ Food. Dogs. Life!

Tag Archives: recipes

“Fly” Fishing

Red Rover

Time Passes

A zen moment

The best of both worlds

One!

What is wrong with me???

Mirror, Mirror

I yam what I yam (but no yams here)

The Dirty Dozen