Yep, I’m at it again…
A few people recently told me that making baklava is easy. If easy means spending three hours clarifying butter, painstakingly separating wafer thin sheets of dough that in no way want to be separated, and patching them back into even layers, then yes, making baklava is easy.
But aren’t they gorgeous?
I love water… but I’ve also been a little afraid of the water ever since I almost drowned while river rafting. I know how powerful and uncontrollable water can be, which is why I was nervous when J,G & K asked me out for an overnight trip on their boat. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but the weekend weather was calling for thunderstorms. I said I’d come and then headed straight to the store for Dramamine and those weird motion sickness wristbands.
We all met at the Elliott Bay Marina and settled onto the boat. I was a little motion sick just being docked, so I put on my wristbands, which seemed to help. We maneuvered out of the marina with a plan to head up to Port Ludlow to spend the night. About 20 minutes into our trip we decided to turn around; the water was full of whitecaps and you could clearly see that it was going to get much, much worse the further north we went. I was relieved that we weren’t going to make the two hour trip to Port Ludlow in nasty weather, but then we decided to head over to Blake Island.
While crossing over to the island, I honestly thought we were going to die. The thing about boats that I tend to forget is that they don’t have shock absorbers and you feel every jarring crash in your spine. The boat was rolling so hard that I thought we would tip over. We hit one wave and the cooler came loose and K made a bold and daring leap from the top deck to save it just as it was going over. I occupied myself with holding down all the other things that could potentially go over, including me.
Once over at Blake Island we found a protected stretch of beach to anchor for lunch. Even with the wristbands, I was so queasy that I wasn’t sure if I could keep food down, but hunger won out. Dizzy and stumbling around in the kitchen I managed to put together the seafood salad I had brought for lunch: butterleaf lettuce topped with smoked salmon from Trader Joe’s (surprisingly good), Dungeness crab and halibut cheeks that I had previously sautéed in butter, garlic, ouzo and parsley. I topped it off with my Russian dressing with lots of spicy horseradish and a side of toasted rosemary bread slathered with butter. It was delicious and managed to cure our sea-sickness.
Luckily the ride back to the marina later that day was much, much calmer. As soon as we were safely docked we broke open a celebratory bottle of champagne and pretty much kept drinking all night. For dinner G had bought filet mignon from Lobel’s, which he marinated in olive oil and then grilled on the cute, tiny boat grill. The grill was hooked up to a propane tank, but the flame kept going out and we were getting a little tipsy so we kept forgetting to check on the meat. Miraculously, we managed to cook the steaks perfectly and we ate them with an amazing gorgonzola butter that G made. They were by far the best steaks I’ve ever eaten; incredibly juicy and tender with a surprising amount of flavor.
The next day we woke up and the weather was gorgeous. So we took the boat out again for a few hours. The difference was night and day. The water was smooth like glass and the sun was brilliant and warming. G noticed that two seals were following us around so we stopped and about fifteen seals surrounded the boat to check us out. I decided that I liked boating after all.
As I’ve said many times before, I’m an awful baker. Why I keep trying my hand at it is beyond me. Luckily, some recipes are easier than others and this was one of them: http://www.iheartbacon.com/recipes/recipe.php?recID=137
The cumin sticks turned out GREAT, with a rich cheese flavor and flaky, flaky dough (the secret ingredient was probably the cup of butter). The cumin sprinkles on top were the perfect touch, providing a nice crunch and great flavor. Next time I think I’ll also add a light sprinkle of salt for a little more oomph. Oh yeah, and I’ll double the ouzo…
The other day I was exploring the always lovely A Hamburger Today site and came across Adam’s post on making White Castle burgers. I thought it was absolutely hilarious and incredibly dedicated of him to make them at home. I’d never had a White Castle burger before and decided it was high time I figured out why people go nuts for them.
I followed the same recipe Adam used, with the glaring omission of the baby food. I just couldn’t go there. I mashed up my meat with the beef broth until it was almost soupy (p.s. it smelled really gross). I spread the beef mixture out on a tray, scored it and froze it. Adam said punching the trademark holes was optional, but I wanted the real thing, so I painstakingly punched out holes in the meat. After the final freezing, I separated my patties and thought they looked pretty good.
I soaked the dried onions in water (smelled extra gross) and fried up some wild boar bacon (covered up the yucky smells). Once the onions were, uh, “rehydrated”, I put them in a pan and fried them up with the burgers. I was intending to cook them just on one side, as true White Castle burgers are cooked, but it became apparent that if I didn’t flip them, I’d either end up with raw burgers or rubbery, over-cooked burgers. After the patties were cooked through, they neither looked nor smelled very appetizing.
I used cut up hot dog buns, on which I placed a single patty, a spoonful of “onions” and a dollop of ketchup. I ate it in about three bites. It was better than I expected, but it didn’t wow me. On slider number two, I added a slice of melted cheese and wild boar bacon. Better, but the strong “onion” taste overwhelmed the bacon—and it was still missing something. On the third try, I added a dab of mayo, a slice of unmelted cheese and salt. The salt was key and finally I understood why people love these burgers, in a closeted, guilty pleasure kind of way. I ended up eating quite a few.
Overall, it was a fun experience to make these, but it was pretty time consuming—and I’m not sure if they’re worth the effort. Maybe if you didn’t punch all the holes. I don’t know what real White Castle burgers taste like so I can’t really compare; maybe the baby food I left out really is the secret to making them outstanding… (shudder)
Minutes after reading MeatHenge‘s porn-like prose about his High Roast Danish Viking-Smoked Sea Salt Chicken Stuffed with Bacon, I found myself at the Salt Traders website buying a sample jar of Danish Viking-Smoked Salt. Several days later my salt arrived in the mail and I rushed to the store to buy a chicken.
I love roast chicken, but am a huge fan of the brining and butterflying method; it produces a juicier and more evenly cooked bird. I followed my recipe but cut down on the brining salt by half since I would be salting it further with my fancy new salt. Once my bird was brined, I cut some thin slices of wild boar bacon and slid them between the skin and the breast meat of the chicken. I opened up the Danish Viking-Smoked Salt and it released a heady aroma; a pungent smell of smoke similar to what your clothes smell like after spending a night by the campfire. I tasted a crystal and boy was it strong! Following MeatHenge’s advice, I pounded the salt with some pepper for a finer texture and oiled the bird before applying—it worked like magic and the salt clung to the skin.
After about 45 minutes in the oven my bird was done and I pulled it out. The skin didn’t crisp up as much as I had wanted, but that was because I was being impatient and didn’t give the skin enough time to thoroughly dry. I had thought about bringing out the fan, but I opted for laziness. The bacon didn’t crisp at all, since it was under the skin it cooked with a moist heat. It was soggy and limp, but it tasted FANTASTIC! The chicken was perfectly cooked and so moist. The flavor was deliciously salty and smoky. Mmmmmm! Thanks MeatHenge!
On this insanely hot (for Seattle) weekend, where did I find myself? In the cool, frosty, freezers of Exotic Meats. I stocked up on wild boar bacon, wild boar patties, duck sausage (not smoked this time) and caribou patties. I also checked out the Indian grocery store next door where I discovered the best snack product ever made: Mung Dhal Crunch (deep fried mung beans). Ughhgg.
Later that night I had a few people over for wild boar teriyaki burgers. Per the suggestion from Exotic Meats, I pressed a pineapple ring into one side of the wild boar patties and fried them up. A slice of Swiss cheese was added and it quickly turned into a gooey, yummy melt. A little bit of mayonnaise on a lightly toasted whole wheat bun, a dab of homemade teriyaki sauce and just to take it one, wholly unnecessary step further… a few slices of wild boar bacon.
As you can probably guess, it was incredible. We were all doing the food dance.
Teriyaki Sauce
1/3 cup reduced sodium soy
1/3 cup mirin
1/3 cup sake
2 tablespoons sugar
Reduce everything over medium-high heat until syrupy and delicious.
As you can probably tell, I eat out a lot. What you probably can’t tell is that I’m getting really sick of it. I want a home cooked meal… but I’m too tired/lazy to cook these days. So yet again, I found myself in the freezer section of QFC picking out another Grace’s Kitchen meal-in-a-box. This time it was Pork Piccata.
The contents of the box included a package of two boneless pork chops, piccata sauce, some brilliantly green string beans and a pouch of prepared Israeli couscous. Following the instructions, I defrosted everything then dusted the pork with flour and seared both sides. I tossed in the sauce packet and simmered everything until the pork was done. I heated the green beans in the microwave and finished them with a pat of butter and a sprinkle of salt. The instructions said to serve the couscous at room temp, but it seemed a little dry that way, so I gently heated the couscous as well. Everything was done in about 20 minutes but I didn’t like how much sauce remained—so I removed the pork and reduced the sauce until it was slightly syrupy.
I over-cooked the pork a tad, but even still, it was very good. The sauce was rich, acidic, tart and lemony (in a good way), with lots of briny capers. The green beans tasted almost fresh and were so pretty. The couscous pearls were surprisingly flavorful and seemed to melt in my mouth. On the whole, it was pretty delicious and I was happy with my semi-home-cooked meal.
I was getting a bag of ice from QFC after a positively atrocious day at work. I had used up my last brain cell and couldn’t begin to decipher what I wanted for dinner. I glanced in the case to my left and was drawn in by all these pretty black and beige “Grace’s Kitchen” boxes with a slew of reduced price stickers. I grabbed the one that said Duck Leg Confit and headed home.
I opened the package to find that for $18.99 ($16.99 on sale), you got a shrink wrapped package of two duck legs from Grimaud Farms, a pouch of mashed sweet potatoes and a container of cranberry sauce. I was immediately dismayed and thought, what a rip-off.
I defrosted all the packages, seared the duck legs until very crisp, tossed them into the oven to finish cooking, then microwaved the mashed sweet potatoes until hot. Dinner was seriously on the table in about 15 minutes. And it looked gorgeous.
I sat down and ate. The seared duck leg was juicy on the inside, with a perfect layer of crisped fat on the outside. The sweet potatoes were kind of bland, but not bad and the cranberry chutney was great—and I don’t even like cranberries. The combination of duck, sweet potatoes and chutney in one forkful was incredible. I couldn’t believe that something so good could come from the freezer and be prepared in such a short time.
After dinner, I really started thinking about (i.e. justifying) the price. The dinner served two generously, so that meant the normal cost was about $9.50 per serving. Easily what you’d pay for a much simpler meal out. When I found out that the Grimaud duck legs alone retailed for $15, I realized that it actually was a great deal (especially when on sale!).
It’s definitely not cheaper than cooking, say, top ramen, but for a meal of that quality—and total ease, it’s worth the splurge once and a while. I’ll definitely be trying more of Grace’s Kitchen’s entrees.
For Mother’s Day, our family put together yet another amazing potluck feast:
After spending $19.95 on the Five-Spice Crispy Duck at Typhoon, I decided that there’s got to be a cheaper way to get crispy duck into my mouth.
A few years back I had the bright idea to roast my own Peking duck. I did the whole bit, from steaming it to render the fat, then air drying it in the fridge to crisp the skin, then roasting it to golden perfection. It turned out great but the entire duck ended up serving 1-2 people, when I had intended to serve it as a main course for four. I actually had to order chow-mein from the local Chinese restaurant to serve my guests, while the duck ended up as an expensive and time-consuming garnish for the salad. After that fiasco, I swore I would never cook another duck.
On that note, I headed down to the ID and bought a whole duck at King’s Barbecue House (plus a pound of Cha Shu because it looked so amazing). At Uwajimaya, I picked up the pancake buns, cilantro, jalapeños, plum sauce and an assortment of pickled dishes and seaweed salads. When I got to my friend’s house, I heated the pancakes in the microwave (per the instructions) and set out the meats and condiments. I mixed the plum sauce with a bit of the duck juices and we were ready to eat.
The duck was good but not fantastic, and something weird happened to the pancakes when microwaved: they turned into rock hard biscuits. So my first try of Duck Pancakes at Home didn’t go so well. However, the next day I heated the left-over buns in a steamer and they turned into the pillowy, soft buns I know and love. Plus I found a better source for BBQ duck at Sun Ya. So next time I’m convinced it will be just as good as Typhoon.
A few months ago I met my downstairs neighbors and discovered that they’re into food just as much as I am. We’ve been trying to get together for a while now and finally arranged a dinner date at their place. It’s strange going to a dinner party in your own apartment building; as soon as Zach and I left my apartment we were hit with an amazing smell and all the way down the stairs we were hoping that it was coming from M&K’s place. Sure enough it was.
We didn’t know what was on the menu until we walked in and M informed us it was Cinco De Mayo, which of course called for Mexican food. We started the meal with an amazing, fresh and light jicama salad. M is one of those cooks that I’m envious of; she just whips up dishes off the top of her head. She couldn’t give me an exact recipe, but it was something like this: jicama, roasted tomatoes, cilantro, slivered jalapeno, fresh corn sliced off the cob and minced shallot dressed with key lime juice, a pinch of sugar, olive oil and salt & pepper. It was delicious and I couldn’t stop eating it.
For the main course, M had made pork enchiladas. The pork had been rubbed down with a chili powder, then browned and stewed in 1/2 a can of beer, juice from an orange and a bit of salt. The stewed pork was then encased in corn tortillas and topped with a beautiful, brilliant green sauce. M told us to guess what was in it, but we couldn’t figure it out. The color made me think it was tomatillos and Zach guessed cilantro. Finally she told us it was made from ground up pepitas and coriander—it was delicious.
Dessert was a beautiful Angel Food cake with whipped cream and strawberries. The secret ingredient was a dash of Malibu coconut rum added to the whipped cream; the smell and taste were incredible!
It was a very enjoyable evening of eating, drinking and gossiping about the latest food / restaurant happenings. I just about died when I found out they had been invited to Gypsy, although I was disappointed to hear that it’s mostly patronized by people who like food because they think it makes them hip or interesting, instead of people who simply love food.
I was really excited to hear that M has some potentially large pokers in the fire for her food writing career. The last thing of hers I read was the article she had been published in Alaska Magazine. It’s a hilarious and true story!
Today seemed like a good day for sausage. I was also craving polenta and it seems like it may not be polenta weather much longer. I still had a freezer full of goodies from Exotic Meats so I pulled out a package of smoked duck sausage and a package of antelope sausage and invited a few friends over.
I had really high expectations for the duck sausage and was disappointed. It didn’t even taste like duck. Maybe more like an andouille. Plus it had a really thick and tough casing, like a kielbasa. I mean it was good, but not what I was expecting—even though the package was clearly marked “smoked sausage”. I’m going to stick to smoked bacon and eat my sausages unsmoked. The antelope was delicious. Really tender and juicy although it didn’t have as good a flavor as the caribou.
The polenta ended up stealing the show. Zach said he doesn’t even like polenta, as he helped himself to a second scoop. The best thing about this recipe is that it’s easy and produces beautiful, soft polenta with only five minutes of stirring.
Cheesy Soft Polenta (from The Herb Farm Cookbook)
1 tablespoon butter, softened
4.5 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup medium ground cornmeal (polenta)
1 tablespoon chopped thyme
2 tablespoons chopped marjoram
3 cups grated gruyere cheese
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a square baking dish with the softened butter.
2. Bring the water and salt to a boil, then slowly whisk in the polenta. Stir for 5 minutes or until it starts to thicken. Add the herbs and 1/2 of the cheese and stir to incorporate. Pour mixture into the buttered dish and top with remaining cheese. Bake in oven for 1 hour, or until cheese is melted and bubbling.
Even though I wasn’t wild about eating guanciale plain, I figured it must have some redeeming qualities as an ingredient. I went searching for a recipe and found that guanciale was put on this earth to be made into Bucatini all’Amatriciana (named after the Italian town of Amatrice).
I was really excited about the recipe because bucatini is one of my all-time favorite pastas. It’s shaped like spaghetti, but thicker and hollow. I love it because it’s chewy and holds sauces really well. I called Zach and told him to pick up a box of bucatini from DeLaurenti and I’d be over after work to cook dinner.
I generally don’t like cooking in other people’s kitchens as I’m particular about equipment. While Zach had all the pots and pans we needed for dinner, I realized what a difference it makes when cooking with tools you love. (I also think that maybe people who claim they don’t like to cook have only cooked with crappy equipment.) I found myself staring wistfully into the utensil drawer. There were many spoons and spatulas available, but not a single one called out to me. They were all too large and made of cheap plastic. When I held the spoon in my hand it seemed off proportion. Tools like these I tend to leave in the pan or too close to the burner in hopes that they’ll burn and need replacement.
Despite my lack of enthusiasm for cooking that day, I turned out an incredible bowl of pasta. Although, I have to admit that the guanciale did most of the work. In the pasta dish the guanciale was turned in to something sublime. It was still salty and fatty, but when mixed with the starchy pasta and spicy tomato sauce, it seemed to have found the perfect companions to bring out its true nature. Every time I had a bite that included guanciale I would shout out “YUM!” in disbelief. I was astounded that a hunk of meat could make a simple pasta dish so incredible.
When my Aunt called to tell me about Easter Brunch, I asked what I could bring. She said I was in charge of bacon. I’m now known as the bacon lady to my family.
I really wanted to get some more wild boar bacon, but I just didn’t have the time to drive out to Exotic Meats in Bellevue. Instead, I walked over to Trader Joe’s, praying that they weren’t out of Niman Ranch Applewood Smoked Bacon. Luckily they were fully stocked so I picked up two packages and headed over to my Aunt’s. I also brought along the guanciale I bought at Salumi, thinking I could fry a few slices up for a special treat.
The Niman Ranch bacon was delicious, as usual, but the guanciale was very salty and somewhat fatty. The flavor was great, but bold. I think it’s supposed to be used more like pancetta, where it’s an ingredient in something and not the main show. The brunch was beautiful and delicious:
Eggs benedict with ham
Waffles with strawberries and whipped cream
Fruit platter
Niman Ranch bacon
Salumi guanciale
Asparagus
Hotcross buns
When I’m craving fried chicken, I head down to Ezell’s Famous Chicken. A few of my friends were also craving fried chicken, so we decided to make an outing of it. While waiting for my friends to show up, I ran into my neighbor, M. M said she had just been to Ezell’s and will never go back. That was pretty shocking, so I asked her why but it had more to do with an inability to stop eating the chicken than the chicken being unpalatable.
M and I caught up for a while and she showed me her recently published article in Alaska Magazine. It was a hilarious and true story about a live salmon falling from the sky (an eagle had dropped it), retrieving it (still alive, despite the fall) and then rushing home to grill it up. I wish I had stories like that.
While Ezell’s Fried Chicken doesn’t fall from the sky (damn!), I am glad it’s only a three minute drive from my house. Ezell’s on 23rd only does take out, which makes me feel sorry for people that live far away. Driving home, we had to put the chicken in the trunk so that we wouldn’t leave grease stains on the upholstery. But when we got home, we pretty much tore into it.
We had the spicy chicken, which I prefer to the plain chicken. It has this incredible, thick, crunchy crust that’s very assertive and doesn’t let you forget it. I would be happy to just eat the crust, but thankfully the meat part is good too. Moist, salty and juicy—although a few of the breast pieces were a touch dry. Actually they weren’t really dry as much as the dark meat was just incredibly succulent by comparison.
We also had sides of biscuits, coleslaw and beans. I normally like vinegar-based coleslaw, but Ezell’s mayonnaise-y one was perfect with the chicken and I liked that it was still nicely crisp despite the mayo bath. And the beans. I love their beans; really sweet and ketchup-y. Perfect for dipping your chicken into.
I tried to put truffle salt on my chicken, because I now try to put truffle salt on everything I eat, but I have to say that the chicken was so good and perfectly spiced that it didn’t really benefit from the added truffle flavor. Although I bet it would be perfect on Ezell’s plain fried chicken.
