Birthday Cake Bonanza (or "You want me to do what with that cookie dough?")

I say often that one of the greatest joys in my life is cooking and baking for the people I love. Today is no exception.  It is my wife’s birthday, so cake is a must. 

The road to this cake started a couple of years ago when my friend Carolyn introduced me to the baking blog SprinkleBakes.  It is full of incredibly creative recipes and techniques, one of which is the Chocolate Chip Cookies and Milk cake.  I’d long wanted to try it, but for some reason, the cake itself didn’t really appeal to me.  It was the filling and the frosting that kept nagging at me.  Chocolate chip cookie dough filling and a boiled milk frosting.  (WHAAAAT? I know, right?)

Fast forward to last week when I asked my wife what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday.  She loves asking me to bake something I’ve always wanted to try, but I can be stubborn and want it to be all about her. So, like any successful married couple, we compromised.  She asked for chocolate cake and left the rest up to me.

Then it hit me.  Chocolate cake with that filling and frosting!!  It could be incredible!!

I didn’t want to fall back on my usual chocolate cake, which is a chocolate stout cake.  It’s heavy and dense and would be too much with this combination of adornments.

So I turned to the internet and found an interesting sounding cake on the King Arthur Flour website.  It’s just called “Moist Chocolate Cake.”  What intrigued me about this recipe is that it called for both butter and vegetable oil.  The description said it had a fine, moist crumb that you could pick up with the back of your fork, which is something both my wife and I do to clean the cake crumbs off the plate.  Perfect, I thought.  That is it.

The cake turned out light and yet had a very tight crumb.  And the method of mixing was very odd to me. I’ve never come across a cake that you mix like this one. I was so confused that I started mixing it wrong. I sifted all the dry ingredients into a bowl and set it aside.  Then I was flummoxed by the fact that I couldn’t get the butter and vegetable oil to mix until it looked like sand (read the recipe. Have a laugh at my expense). Because I couldn’t get that the recipe wanted me to dump all of the dry ingredients into the mixer bowl, then add the butter and vegetable oil (interesting, right? Both butter AND oil) and mix it until it looked like sand.  Then add all the liquid (coffee, milk and vanilla) in one fell swoop.  And lastly, add the eggs one at a time (at least that seemed normal).

The cake turned out beautifully.  It was amazingly light and a tight, even crumb. Mine turned out a little crumbly because I used spelt flour in deference to my wife’s wheat sensitivity. But with regular cake flour, that’d be a stunningly unique cake. Definitely putting this one in my arsenal.

And then we come to the filling. Chocolate chip cookie dough? Really?  Oh, yeah, baby. Really.  Thanks to SprinkleBakes, a wonderfully creative baking blog, I saw this as a possibility for the first time. It’s pretty much regular cookie dough, but without eggs or other leavening, then thinned with heavy cream to spreading consistency and speckled with mini chocolate chips to make it easier to spread.  Oh my gods, it is good. I have a little leftover…I may have to put that in some ice cream.

The most unfamiliar item in this cake equation was the frosting. Boiled milk frosting. I was intrigued. Such a strange recipe. Frosting with flour in it?  What? 

You start with a little flour, some milk and salt. You cook that until it gets thick, kind of like a béchamel without butter. Then you let it cool while you beat AN ENTIRE POUND OF BUTTER and two cups of confectioner’s sugar and some vanilla until fluffy.  Then you add the flour & milk goop, which is now actually the consistency of pudding a tablespoon at a time, beating it well.  When it’s all together, you beat it for 6 minutes.  Magically, in that time, the grit of the sugar disappears and the frosting comes out light and smooth and tasting like vanilla pudding. And it’s so beautifully white.  It’s alchemy, I swear.

And the combination of the cake, the filling and the frosting? Holy moly! I may have met my match.  It is so rich, even a small piece was almost too much.  Almost.  It was definitely worthy of a special birthday for the most special person in my life.

If you want to try some recipes that are a little bit off the beaten path, I highly recommend these, together or separately. 

For the cake, look at the King Arthur Flour company’s recipe for their Moist Chocolate Cake: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/moist-chocolate-cake-recipe

For the filling and frosting, check out the SprinkleBakes Chocolate Chip Cookies and Milk cake recipe here: http://www.sprinklebakes.com/2015/05/chocolate-chip-cookies-and-milk-cake.html

On another note, it feels good to be back in the saddle. Stay tuned for some more regular thoughts on restaurants and cooking and baking and other food related stuff.  Thanks for stopping by.

All Hail the Mighty Clove! (or Soup's On!)

Fall has officially fallen here in the Seattle area.  Hallelujah!

Can I get an amen?

Thank you.

Fall means many things to us here in the great PNW. For some it means the coming of all things pumpkin-flavored.  Beer, coffee, donuts.  You name it, you can probably find it flavored with pumpkin somewhere around here.

For others, Fall means the beginning of the 9-month battle with their horse-chestnut tree. One might refer to this time of year as conker season.

Still others might call it root vegetable season.

Today, I dub it Soup Season! Why? Because I am sick with a cold and I need soup.

Because nothing my wife suggested for dinner today sounded good to me, I am making my favorite soup of all, garlic soup.  So chock full of garlic cloves that you might think I'm trying to get rid of a vampire (I wouldn't do that. I'd invite him or her to my favorite all-night coffee shop for a chat.).

The beauty of this soup is that it is so simple and so satisfying. I will warn you, though. It is not for the carb-conscious among us.

Garlic Soup (from 365 Italian Recipes)

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter

12 cloves garlic, peeled and quartered (or more if you desire)

6 slices of crusty Italian bread, cut into 1-inch cubes

1/2 cup dry red wine

6 cups low sodium chicken stock

2 tbsp chopped parsley

4 eggs

parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

In a soup pot, heat the olive oil and butter on medium heat until the butter foams. Add the garlic to the pot and stir for 1-2 minutes. Do not let the garlic brown.  Add the bread cubes and stir or toss to coat.  Next, pour in the wine and chicken stock and toss in the parsley, stirring to combine.  Turn up the heat and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

Crack the each egg into a small bowl and slip directly into the soup, cover and simmer 3-4 minutes or until the eggs are set to your liking. I tend to like mine on the soft side.  The goal is to have a runny egg yolk to break in your soup bowl. (I know. Sexy, right?) 

Serve in bowls with one egg per serving. Top with grated parmesan. Devour.

This soup is something that I eat less often than I used to because it is a LOT of bread. But, man oh man, does it taste good when it's cold outside or when you're not feeling well, like my family and I were today.

Surprisingly, the garlic power is not intense. The garlic gets poached in the broth and comes out soft and sweet. Plus the egg yolk gives it a gorgeous richness. 

After that soft cooked egg in that garlicky, bready soup, you can just take me to bed.

Really. I feel like crap. Take me to bed.

Good night, y'all.  Hug someone you love tonight.

Remembering

What do I remember about September 11, 2001?

I remember coming downstairs and making coffee and toast, then turning on the news as usual. I thought it was odd that Peter Jennings was on in the morning. Then I watched in horror as the second tower was hit. And again as they started to fall.

I remember conversations with people on the bus into town, people I saw every day but had never spoken to before then.

I remember the sudden fear when I learned about the Pentagon and the three hours of worry until I found out that my friend who worked there was okay.

I remember recording a special message on my company’s inbound message, saying that ‘due to the national tragedy, we are closed for business today.’  It seemed odd to go home in the middle of the day, but no one could work. And since we were in a high rise, it was being recommended that the building be empty anyway.

I remember the eerie stillness walking around the neighborhood where I lived. We were in the flight path of SeaTac airport. Since all flights were grounded that day, the streets were disturbingly quiet.

At the time, I was the music director for a show in the Seattle area, a review of Richard Rodgers songs. Of course, the song ‘Manhattan’ was on the list. We met, the cast and production staff, to discuss whether we should remove the song from the show, leave it in and change nothing, or write a short intro to the song mentioning the tragedy and do the song.

We decided on the last choice because we all thought in unconscionable to ignore what had happened. It would undoubtedly be on everyone’s mind and it just seemed wrong to gloss over it.

It was a hard night for all of us, but mostly for the actor who introduced the song and then the two who performed it. There wasn’t a dry eye on stage, backstage or in the house. The song is a happy one, but now it was burnished, darkened by the horrible things that had transpired. It was hard to sing about love and frivolity in that place that had so recently been visited by such tragedy.

But it was a reminder, too, that we all must go on. We must move forward and celebrate the life we have, to find beauty and love in the world.

I still have a hard time listening to ‘Manhattan’ without tearing up.

With the perspective of time, I am saddened now by the actions of the politicians who, ‘in the country’s best interest’, acted in haste and with emotion, rather than with careful thought. Many congresspeople who voted against the Patriot Act received death threats for voting their conscience.

Another tragedy of 9/11/2001 is that it exposed the sickening underbelly of our political system. For many, including myself, that day ultimately turned the word ‘patriot’ into a dirty word. And ‘Homeland Security’ has turned out to be just another den of spies with their eyes and ears turned inward towards its own citizens.

Efforts to try and bring together people of all faiths and to try and heal the great gash in that New York Island have been met with hostility at worst and disdain at the least. And fearmongers have used that day to divide my country’s citizenry even further than they already were.

I find myself appalled that a person I call a friend now received death threats on that very morning and lost many friends, just because of her religion. I didn’t know her then, but I am happy to know her now. She is a wise lady and has taught me much about faith and joy in the face of so much hate.

It’s not all doom and gloom, of course. There are some good things that are gaining ground. In 2001, I would not have been able to marry the woman I now call my legal wife. There are still many vocal opponents to that, but their voices are being drowned out.

Being who I am, with my rose-colored glasses, I have to believe that the world will be a better place as we look to the future. It is hard some days. There are daily reminders of the struggle to make it better for everyone.

If we believe, if we have faith, we can move forward. We can have a brighter future.

Can’t we?

For Mr. Williams

This is not food related, but I wanted to share it. It was inspired by the thunderstorms that happened in Puget Sound last night, the loss of a great actor and comedian, and the profound sadness of many, including myself.  


For Mr. Williams

The Heavens open to receive 
The robin flying upwards, pulling
The ache from my chest. 

The Heavens weep as they receive
The broken, beautiful soul from
The infinite space of this nutshell

Where he was a king. 

Summer Alchemy, or Plums, part 2

The plums from a few weeks ago became too ripe to eat before they went bad, so I took the couple of pounds we had and made a simple, no pectin jam out of them. 

Apparently, plums make me want to write poetry. So here is the second one. If I can manage a third, does that make a series? 

Summer Alchemy (Plums, part 2)

Bubbling in the cauldron
Mass of yellow pulp
Distilling to a thick,
sweet, pungent,

golden memory 
of a summer
romance.

This is dedicated to the one I love

This past Wednesday was a special day, my wife's and my first wedding anniversary and the 10th anniversary of our first date.  With the celebration coming on a weeknight, we knew it would be difficult to get child care for the evening, plus we didn't want to be out late on a 'school night', so we decided to cook a special meal at home.

In a lot of ways, it reminded us of when we were dating. I used to cook things deliberately to impress her. Like making whipped cream with nothing but a bowl and a whisk. (Yes, I know professionals do this all the time. I bet they use it to impress dates, too.)  It still impresses her, but the tendonitis in my elbow isn't very impressed by it anymore.  

As I said, it was a weeknight, so while we wanted something special for dinner, we also wanted something that would be simple to prepare.  After a long, busy day, the last thing we wanted was to have to cook a complicated meal.

Typically we go for a nice steak on these kinds of occasions, but since we had been grilling tri-tip almost every weekend this summer, steak just didn't cut it this time.

Coincidentally, I had recently unearthed a piece of smoked salmon that was in our freezer.  I thought back to a cooking class I took with our friend Marty a few years ago.  That night, we learned how simple it is to make a nice cream sauce.  The plan was formulating.

Pasta with smoked salmon cream sauce.  Oh yeah.  That's right. 

So simple and so incredibly easy, it was all ready in about half an hour.

First, we thawed the beautiful piece of smoked salmon we'd purchased from our friend Shannon, proprietor and fishing boat captain of Two if By Seafoods.  She catches the fish herself, has it smoked to her specifications (about 50% less salt and sugar than regular cures) and then sells it to friends and at local farmers markets.  It is the best smoked salmon I have ever eaten.  (This is hot smoked, so the fish is fully cooked, not lox-style, incidentally.) Really, if you are local, you should get some. Check them out on Facebook. 

When you have the best ingredients, simple treatments are best way to show them off. 

Pasta with Smoked Salmon Cream Sauce - served 2 entree portions

1 cup chicken stock

1 cup heavy cream (local and organic preferred...it will have a better flavor)

4 - 5 oz. northwest-style smoked salmon (not lox)

freshly ground black pepper

about 5 oz. dried fettuccine or other medium-width noodle

Set a large skillet on medium high heat (I used my 12" saute pan).  Pour in the stock and cream, stirring to combine.  Let the liquid come up to the boil, then turn the flame down to medium or medium-low to maintain a good simmer. Where you end up setting your burner will depend on your cooktop.  Err on the side of caution if you are nervous. A slightly lower temperature will just mean it takes a few extra minutes for your sauce to thicken.

Let the sauce simmer, stirring occasionally, until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.  (What does that mean? Well, if you swish a metal spoon in the sauce, getting the back of the spoon covered with the sauce, the sauce should stick to the back of the spoon in a layer thick enough that when you swipe your finger through it, it leaves a line.) It'll take about 10-20 minutes depending on how fast your simmer is simmering.

While your sauce is simmering, cook your pasta according to the package directions. I used a thin egg noodle, about the width of a thin fettucine, but not as thin as linguine.  You want something for the sauce to cling to.

Drain your cooked pasta, reserving a little pasta water in case your sauce thickens a little too much. 

When your cream/stock mixture coats the back of a spoon, toss in your flaked salmon, stir to distribute, then dump in the pasta, tossing it with the sauce.

If you are looking to impress a date, you could do the chef thing and toss the pasta using the skillet.  If you are concerned about dinner landing on the floor, you might want to just use tongs. I was tired and hungry that night...I used tongs.

Divide your pasta between plates, put a little shaved parmesan on if you want (though you don't have to...there is enough salt from the salmon and most people don't believe in cheese with fish), maybe a little parsley for color, and you're done. 

We served ours with a side of baby carrots roasted with olive oil and agave syrup.  This is also lovely with maple syrup, just a little to help them caramelize.

Pour a couple of glasses of your favorite beverage and enjoy a simple, impressive, romantic meal.

I have always thought that Nancy and I make a good team.  We have, since we started dating 10 years ago, had an uncanny ability to think something that a moment later comes out of the other's mouth. 

We have built a life together by relying on each other's strengths and working together.  This meal was no exception. The pasta dish was my idea, my creation.  The carrots were hers.  And the rosé she randomly picked up at the store was a beautiful, bright complement to the meal.  Light, tart and fruity, just enough punch to cut through the fat of the sauce, but not too much to overpower the delicate smokiness of the fish.

So here's to our wonderful anniversary meal and to you, my love.  May we continue to make beautiful meals and a beautiful life together.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Enjoy a meal with someone you love. It'll make your soul smile.

A bit of silliness in response to William Carlos Williams - That is just to say

This has been poking at me for a couple of days, so I finally decided to write it down. It is because of a Twitter conversation and a picture of a bowl of yellow plums. 


#Just Sayin' (or GET OFF MY PLUMS)
for @exitthelemming 

I awoke in
the morning
having dreamt of
the plums

Which I 
was definitely 
saving 
for breakfast

I am left with
a bowl
so empty
and so tepid

The Annual Gathering of the Clans

Tonight, I return to a theme of sorts here: the joy of sharing food with good friends.  I have found, looking back at my archives recently, that it is a thread that continues through my most profound experiences with food.  It is not the celebration of the food, but the consecration of it in the presence of those I love that brings me the most joy.

One of those times comes annually at the Pacific Northwest Highland Games and Scottish Clan Gathering.  Some friends of ours have been taking part for years, camping Friday and Saturday nights, participating in the Parade of Clans, etc.  It started with the Scots, but there were also Irish and Welsh.  Then the Vikings invaded (a Norwegian in our midst) and so did the Samurai (one or two Japanese).  Now, the gathering is more one of nations than clans. 

We have only camped over once.  We usually go only on Saturday, spend the day and go home late in the evening.  The last two years, we brought our son, too.

On the Clan scale, I do have quite a bit of Scot (Baird, Kennedy) in me, as well as Welsh (Evans, Hywel Gruffudd, Maredydd) and Irish (Derry).  If the research I've done on Ancestry.com is to be believed, I also have a bit of French (Lux), German (Wagner) and a wee smattering of Canadian (Brundage). 

It's no wonder that I, of such varied lineage, find myself at home in Clan Hodge Podge, the name our group has given itself.  We have a clan banner and everything. 

Of course there are Scottish Games, pipe band competitions and Highland dancers. There is a ceilidh on Saturday night and a saltire on Friday night.  There is the playing of the mass bands and the Parade of Clans. 

It is all very lively, sometimes humbling, and always very fun. 

I love sitting at the Clan HP campsite, relaxing when I've had enough of the festival grounds and need some relative quiet.  I love that the whole clan watches out for the little ones. It is the one time  in the year when I get to sit down and talk to some people who have become my friends at that very spot. 

That includes the Saturday Night Clan Hodge Podge dinner.  Everyone brings their own protein to grill and a side to share (we forgot our side this year...we apologize).  There are always bags of chips, some salads and desserts (this year's winner, IMO, was the caramel brownie - thanks, Ruthie!).  Oh, and a shout out to Clan Crawford (not part of our group) who was handing out tastes of haggis dip (haggis ingredients mixed with cream cheese).  It was rather good!  

And now to the actual food part of the entry, because, this is, after all, a blog mostly about food. 

We were only down for the day and we wanted to pack easy and light, so we went to our standard grilling meal for this year: tri tip steak and grilled heads of romaine with homemade caesar dressing (plus some carrots for the G-man). 

The three small pieces of tri-tip (probably about 4 oz. each) were rubbed with a mixture of salt, pepper, garlic powder and Herbes de Provence (a trick I picked up from my buddy, Devin. Thanks, man!).  I seasoned the steaks the night before and put them in a plastic zippy bag for easy travel.

The head of romaine I sliced in half longways and brushed with canola oil.  This also went into a zippy bag for traveling.

The caesar dressing is something I have adapted over the years, but the original recipe came from a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.  I never measure it anymore, so measurements are approximate and to taste. 

And so to the recipe for this entry.

Caesar Dressing

3 tbsp. lemon juice (bottled lemon juice is okay. If you use fresh lemon, it's the juice of one good-sized lemon)

3 or 4 shakes of Worcestershire Sauce (which, if you have ever watched the Two Fat Ladies, you will know is pronounced Wooster Sauce.  ;))

3 or 4 shakes of Tabasco Sauce (more or less to your taste.  I have been doing 5 or 6 lately because I like the burn and the extra vinegar)

1 clove garlic, pressed (yes, I know it bruises it and collapses the cell walls and blah blah blah. If you want to take the time to make a paste out of chopped garlic and salt, you can.  I do, too, sometimes.  But sometimes I want to shove a solid piece of aromatic vegetable matter through a bunch of tiny holes.)

about 1 tsp of dijon mustard (I like Trader Joe's brand because it is extra zingy)

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste (no pre-ground pepper, please. I have some standards)

Olive oil  (good, flavorful Extra Virgin stuff.  It will make a difference in how your dressing tastes.  Quantity of oil? I don't know.  Maybe about a half cup. Till it's the right consistency and taste. Yes, I know that's a lot of oil.  You're not going use all of this at once.  There will be leftovers unless you're doing salad for a huge crowd.)

This is one of those things I make that I always do by hand.  It just feels good to do it that way.  It makes me remember that I do have some skills in the kitchen.  I can still emulsify with the best of them.  Let me 'splain.  No, is too long. Let me sum up.

Put all the ingredients EXCEPT the oil in a medium bowl that has some good room for whisking.  it might be a good idea to have some grippy stuff underneath the bowl or have a helper to hold the bowl still.  It might move around and you won't have an available hand to steady it.

Whisk those ingredients to blend. 

Pour the olive oil in a thin stream (pretty easy to do with a steady hand from an olive oil bottle.  I have a hard time doing this from a measure cup, which is why I don't know exactly how much oil is in my dressing.), whisking briskly as you do so.  As the oil is incorporated into the rest of the ingredients, it will start to thicken.   When you think you have enough oil in there, stop pouring and whisk a bit more to make sure all of the oil you've poured is in the mixture.  Taste.  If you think it is too strong, add more oil.  Better to stop early and need to add more oil than to over do on the oil and then have to try and get more flavor into it. 

Really the only thing I am comfortable adding after the oil is more salt and pepper.  You can always add salt.  You can't take it out.  Better to err on the side of underseasoned.  You can always add some salty cheese (which you will for this dish) or some fancy finishing salt after you've dressed your salad. 

For transporting, this dressing can be put in a mason jar and it will travel quite nicely

If you're using this with some grilled romaine, like we did: 
Grill your split and oiled romaine heads on a hot barbecue grill for 2 or 3 minutes (4 if you like lots of char), remove, then drizzle with the dressing while still hot.  Sprinkle with parmesan or other salty, hard cheese. Enjoy!    

Food prep happened on Friday night.  Saturday we packed up our prepped food and headed south to Enumclaw for a day with friends. 

Our son had a great time playing with his bestie. My wife and I had some great conversations with some of our dearest.  We sat in a great circle in the evening light and ate our suppers and laughed.  We renewed our spirits with good food and dear people. 

So tonight, I raise my glass to Clan Hodge Podge and the annual gathering of the Clan.  It is always a joy to crowd around the communal table with you. 

My Irish Adventure, Part 2

Part 2? Where was part 1, you ask?  Well, it hasn't been written yet, but it inspired what I made for dinner tonight, so even though this is being written first, it is part 2 of the adventure. 

I've been inspired recently to dig into Irish cuisine, due to a trip to the DC area and specifically to Restaurant Eve, a delightful oasis of comfort and deliciousness in Old Town Alexandria, VA.  (Part 1, which will be written soon)

For St. Patrick's Day this year, N bought a package of Irish bangers, so the first thing we thought of was Bangers and Mash.  But our son doesn't like mashed potatoes (I know.  I can't believe it, either.), so N mentioned something that our friend Janet does to get her family to eat mashed potatoes.  She adds roasted, mashed cauliflower and they love it (is this Bizarro world?). 

Then I looked at the beautiful book I sent home to N from my vacation to DC, My Irish Table, by Chef Cathal (the 't' is silent) Armstrong, the executive chef/owner of Restaurant Eve.  I wasn't lying when I told him that in Ireland I found a cuisine of my soul.  When I saw his recipe for colcannon, I knew what we were going to have with our bangers.  A true Irish dish.

N and I wanted to lighten up the potatoes by adding the mashed roasted cauliflower, so I started by roasting a head of cauliflower this afternoon.  It was but into florets, tossed with olive oil and salt, then roasted for 30 minutes in a 450 degree oven.  After letting it cool a bit, N added some milk, butter and salt and beat it into submission using our immersion blender. 

Chef Armstrong's recipe called for kale as the green element in the colcannon, but another recipe we picked up this weekend at Central Market used cabbage.  The Central Market recipe called for bacon, but Chef Armstrong's didn't.   I decided I liked the idea of the kale better.  It would be less stinky and would look prettier.  Of course I had choose adding bacon...because bacon.

I made some mashed potatoes (I will admit to using instant mashed potatoes...don't judge.  For reference, it was the 3-4 serving size amount), fried the bacon (2 slices, cut into lardons), stirred in about half the cauliflower mash and about 2 cups of blanched kale, then realized that I had forgotten the onion. 

I was already frying the bangers in the bacon pan, so I had a brainstorm of frying the onion in the pan once the bangers were done.  So I tossed the sausages onto a pan in the oven to stay hot, then added the onions to the sausage fat, where they caramelized beautifully.  Then I dumped those in with the potatoes, cauliflower, kale and bacon, stirred the whole thing up with a little more salt, and tasted. 

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, it was so good.  I am surprised that N and I didn't eat ourselves into a stupor. 

The roasted cauliflower gave the mixture a wonderful sweetness, the kale provided some crunch, the bacon added smokiness and some chewiness, the potatoes made the whole thing gorgeously creamy. 

So if you want to have a little Irish adventure in the kitchen, try a bit of colcannon. 

Jenny's version of Colcannon

3 cups mashed potatoes

1 medium-sized head of cauliflower

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup milk

2 rashers of thick-sliced streaky bacon (not Irish bacon)

1/2 medium yellow onion

3 cups chopped kale, blanched for 1 minute

salt and pepper to taste

1. preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.  Break down the head of cauliflower into 1-inch florets.  Toss in olive oil and salt, place on a sheet pan and roast for 25-30 minutes, turning about halfway through the cooking time.  Let the cauliflower cool enough to work with it without having to worry about the splatter burning you when you blend it.  Warm the milk slightly in the microwave.  Put the cauliflower, butter and milk into a large bowl and blend with an immersion blender until there are no large lumps.

Fry the bacon until crisp.  Remove the bacon from the pan and add it to the cauliflower.  In the bacon fat, fry the chopped onion until it is soft and begins to caramelize.  Add them to the bowl with the cauliflower and bacon. 

Blanch your kale (please remove the stems...no one wants those woody little things in their mash) in boiling water for 1 minute, then 'shock' it by transferring it immediately to ice water to stop the cooking process.  The goal is to get it bright green and soften it just a little bit, but leave some of the crunch to the leaf.

Make your mashed potatoes (however your conscience dictates) in a pan that is large enough to combine all your ingredients.   When the potatoes are done, dump the other ingredients into the pan, stirring to combine.   Leave the mixture on low heat just long enough to warm it through.

Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Devour. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Lunching with a Brave Horse

About 15 years ago, I worked at a company whose offices were in downtown Seattle.  Every once in a while we'd go somewhere for a department lunch.  A couple of times, that place was the Dahlia Lounge. 

I still remember the Tuscan bread salad I had for lunch the first time I went there.  At that time, the Tom Douglas restaurant empire consisted of Dahlia Lounge, Etta's and the brand new Palace Kitchen. 

It says something about a restaurant (and a dish) when the food and the experience stays with you for 15 years.

In recent years, Douglas has become synonymous with the Seattle restaurant scene.  His stable of restaurants now numbers ten, with inspirations ranging from Italian to Greek to American to Asian. 

As my life changed and my employment took me elsewhere, I had fewer opportunities to patronize his establishments.  As I watched more and more restaurants open, I started to worry that perhaps he was stretching himself too thin. 

But as the years passed, the award nominations kept on coming.  And so did the wins. In fact, in 2012, Douglas won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurateur. So, I thought, things must be going pretty well.

I watched enviously as new restaurants opened and I didn't have the time to go to them.  Then I got laid off from work.  A personal setback, yes, but this meant that I could start catching up on some serious eating. 

One of the first things I did was go to lunch at Brave Horse Tavern with my wife.  Because I could.

Its location, amid the new buildings (and the Amazon campus) in the South Lake Union, is uber-urban and potentially very busy.  The last time I'd passed the place, this past May (on my way to another Douglas establishment, Serious Biscuit), it was packed with hungry workers from the area.  Which is why we showed up for lunch at around 11:15am.  We were having lunch there, damn it, and we didn't want to stand in line to get in.

After some debate over the menu, we decided to get a couple of snack plates and split the burger.  This way we could maximize our experience. 

Since I didn't have to work after lunch, I decided to imbibe.  I admit that my head was turned by the fact that, on that day, they had 4 ciders on draft.  Draft cider, people!  You don't get that very many places in this town. 

I drank a locally produced ginger apple hard cider by Schilling (Auburn, WA) that was delicious and very gingery.  Perhaps a little more gingery than I was wanting on that day, but I would definitely drink it again. 

Our snack plates came out first:  house made smoked bologna served with Beecher's Flagship cheddar, peach mustard, pretzel chips (also house made) and slices of apple.  This collection was served on an artfully charred slab of wood.  The presentation was really quite beautiful for such homey food. 

Don't let the term homey fool you.  By that I mean a richly flavored, satisfyingly smoky, crunchy, chewy, tart, sweet plate of comfort.  If I was by myself and looking to grab a light meal, I'd get that plate again in a heartbeat.  I might add a little salad, I might not.  It was a perfect little world of its own.

The second snack plate was a basket of fried cheddar cheese curds (this time Wisconsin cheese, for some reason).  Very yummy, though the fried cheese didn't really hit a home run.  It was the dill pickle tartar sauce that hit it out of the park for me.  Thick, vinegary, redolent with dill.  I would have (and I think I did) licked the little dish it came in after I finished eating the remaining sauce with my spoon.  It was everything tartar sauce should be.  It more than made up for my mild disappointment at the little pool of oil at the bottom of the empty basket after we'd finished the cheese bites. 

We were still munching on our snack plates when our burger arrived, already cut in half.  We had mentioned to the our waitress that we were sharing the burger, but were still pleasantly surprised that they'd cut the burger in half for us. 

I have to mention something before I go into the burger itself.  I love the fact that it doesn't come with sides.  You order fries or whatever separately.  And the burger was a reasonable size.  It wasn't the size of a human head.  It was a perfect sized portion of everything on a bun.  If I was to order it on my own, I wouldn't have to hurt myself to finish it.  THANK YOU!!

Now, how did it taste? 

It was pretty damned perfect, if you ask me. 

We had the beef chuck burger with bacon and smoked blue cheese.  The burger was juicy, the lettuce crisp, the smoky burger sauce a great replacement for ketchup (I don't really like ketchup on my burgers. I loved this sauce), and there were dill pickles (maybe house made, though I don't know for sure...they weren't bright green like the kind you get from the grocery store.) and mayo to round out what was between the buns. 

Everyone has different opinions about what should go on a burger.  This was my perfect combo. 

It was messy and drippy and soul-satisfyingly good.  It might actually be the best hamburger I've ever eaten.  And I've eaten a lot of burgers in my day.

We ended our meal with something that made me nearly cry with joy.  A warm-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookie (baked to order according to the menu).  Really, how could we not?  It's a warm chocolate chip cookie, for crying in the night!  A WARM CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE! It, too, exceeded our expectations.

We felt so comforted and cared for by the time we left.  We walked out into the warm autumn afternoon happy to our soul for our time at Brave Horse Tavern.

While we can't go every week, we will definitely be back soon!  The first thing on my list for that visit is the bacon spiked deviled eggs. 

So back to my apprehension that perhaps the restaurateur was spreading himself a little thin.  I'm not apprehensive anymore.  Douglas and his staff really seem to have their collective shit together. 

I actually had the pleasure of meeting Chef Douglas a number of years ago at a season preview for the Broadway at the Paramount Theatre series here in Seattle.  He and his team provided food for the reception.

I told him how much I enjoyed his food and asked him, essentially, why he was at the preview.  He excitedly led me from the stage into the house to show me the seat he sponsored.  He loved the opportunity to help support the theatre community. 

Several years later, he was at the Shoreline Central Market promoting his new cookbook, cooking and serving at the demo kitchen in the heart of the produce and meat sections.  But he wasn't just there promoting himself; he was promoting local food, local sourcing and the store itself.

So not only does he seem to have a golden touch when it comes to developing new restaurants and menus, he is also a really nice guy. 

It's that in addition to the kick-ass food that keep me excited about his establishments.  And why, come hell or high water, I will have that goat cheese fondue that was on his Facebook page a few weeks ago.

As I reviewed the list of restaurants for this entry, I noted that of the 10 listed in the Wikipedia article, I have actually eaten at seven.  I'm not as behind as I thought I was.  But I still have meals to go before I sleep.  

Pumpkin Bread Pudding: Resolving a Dilemma

I had a problem to solve.  Over the summer, we ate a lot of hamburgers, but instead of buying hamburger buns, I cut rounds out of slices of bread to make our own buns. 

In order to not be wasteful, we kept collecting the crusts and saving them in the freezer.  We had no idea what we were going to do with them. 

I thought I might make croutons, but I wasn't sold on the idea.  The spelt bread we eat is more on the sweet side and I prefer my croutons to be something like sourdough or rustic Italian type bread. 

So the crusts languished in the freezer until we had a full gallon zippy bag full of them, plus some. 

Then a week or so ago, I realized we had a surplus of another ingredient.  Since our G wasn't drinking as much milk as he used to, we had a lot of milk that needed using. 

Bread.  Milk.  It's getting to be Fall.  Bingo!  Bread pudding!!  It would be the perfect application for the sweet-ish bread and the milk we needed to use.  Besides, my favorite part of the bread pudding is the crusts of bread.  They have a bit more tooth to them and I love the firm, chewy texture the crust gets in a bread pudding.  So this was going to be perfect!

I was just about ready to bake, having a lot of time on my hands now that I'm among the unemployed, when a trip to Trader Joe's gave me the final piece of inspiration I needed.  They had in their freezer case little two-serving boxes of Pumpkin Bread Pudding. 

I felt as if divine light suddenly shone upon me.  I had to make this!

So I started looking for recipes.  At first it was difficult to find a recipe that called for regular bread.  The first couple of recipes that came up on my Google search called for pumpkin bread as the bread component.  That certainly wouldn't do. 

But as with anything on Google, search long enough and you'll find what you are looking for. 

Still, I ended up with three recipes up in my browser, taking a bit from each before I settled upon my own. 

Most of what I ended up with is thanks to this recipe from Smitten Kitchen.  I also plan on making the Creme Anglaise from Bobby Flay's recipe, but I've got a lot of cooking and baking ahead of me this weekend, so it may wait a couple of days.  And a nod to the Betty Crocker recipe, too, because I didn't want to use just a part of a can of pumpkin.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

8 cups of spelt bread crusts, dried and broken into pieces (or whole pieces of any kind of bread, cubed or torn into pieces and left out to go stale)

3 cups of milk

4 eggs and 2 egg yolks

1 small can of pumpkin

1 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp allspice

a couple of dashes ground cloves

1 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Butter the bottom and sides of a 13X9 inch baking pan.  Put the bread pieces into the prepared pan.  

In a large bowl, beat the eggs briefly.  Add the milk, pumpkin, salt, spices and sugar and whisk to combine. 

Pour custard over the bread pieces and mush things about until all the bread has been coated.  Ideally, the bread will be mostly submerged in the custard.  If you've got bits sticking up, that's okay. That means you'll have lovely crispy bits on the top.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  (If you're baking in a glass dish, consider reducing the temperature to 325.) 

Enjoy for breakfast with some honey goat cheese or for dessert with some creme anglaise or whipped cream or ice cream.  Or whatever you like with pumpkin.

I will say two things.  I think I will add some maple syrup or some brown sugar next time.  The idea of some depth to the sweetness is appealing to me. 

Also, I think a little bourbon is in order (for the pudding, not necessarily for me).  That is one part of the Smitten Kitchen recipe that I didn't take to heart and I wish I had. :o)

Now the only dilemma I have is how we're going to eat it all.  But that is a good problem to have.  And I know I have friends who will help should it be necessary.  

If you make this and alter it at all, please let me know.  I would love to hear what you think and what you do with it!  

Happy Fall!  

Giving the bird to that chicken place

I’ve had a hard time seeing people I know participating in Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.  In fact, it has made me incredibly angry to see people all over this country flocking to support a company whose owner has contributed so much money to organizations who want to deny me rights. 

I know…it’s nothing personal, right?  They probably all have gay friends.  Or maybe not. 

Anyway, rather than stew about it, I thought I should write my feelings down.  And since I have a blog, I could share them.

Do I think a boycott is going to really accomplish anything?  I don’t really know.  I can’t truly participate because there isn’t a Chick-fil-A where I live.  It certainly won’t do much, if any, harm to the owner, the man who contributed all that money to anti-gay organizations.

Some gay Republicans call for calm.  They believe that all the boycott does is make the gays look like cry babies.  That all it does is further polarize the sides of this issue.  

Some pro-gay marriage people say that boycotting the restaurants unduly penalizes the people who work in those restaurants to support their families. 

Some people ask their gay friends not to condemn them for liking Chick-fil-A food…they love their gay friends, but they can’t deny themselves the deliciousness. 

I agree that there is some validity to all the arguments I’ve seen.  

Still, I have a really hard time supporting any organization that, at the top, wants to deny people rights. 

The company may very well employ gay people.  They, I am sure, serve them (though perhaps there are fewer now than there once was).  

I would venture to guess that very few of the people who participated in Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day in support of the company have had rights denied them.  

What really hurts, what really makes me angry, is the fact that at least one of those customers bought a sandwich today because they agree with the head of the company.  Someone out there in the US bought a sandwich because they want to deny me the right to marry the woman I love. 

How can I not take that personally?  How can I not be wounded by that? 

I lived on the straight side of the fence for 14 years.  I was lucky enough to have been married to a man who was kind and gracious when I told him I needed to leave because I wasn’t happy and knew I couldn’t make him happy. 

Now that I am happy and am with the love of my life, I am denied the same rights and protections I had when I was unhappy. 

Still, I have hope.  In November, the people of my state will vote on marriage equality.  I have hope that we will be the first state to pass the legislation in the popular vote. 

In November, I will vote for the right for gays to marry.

But for now, for today, I can choose not to support those businesses that are run by bigots.