Last Week to Dine Around Seattle
It’s the last week to take advantage of the March Dine Around Seattle promotion. Dinners at some great restaurants are only $30 for three courses. Check the site for a list of participating locations and their menus.
TDR “Test Kitchen”
Some photos in this post were taken with my phone.
I apologize for the quality but wanted to show you a little bit of what these evenings were like.
Tom Douglas is about to open his 9th, 10th and 11th restaurants here in Seattle. And when I say “Tom Douglas” I’m referring to the man himself, but also to his small (but growing) group of talented partners and employees, among them his wife and business partner, Jackie Cross and the gifted and creative chefs that comprise Tom Douglas Restaurants (TDR).
It’s hard to believe that Dahlia Lounge, the first TDR venture, has been open 21 years. Within a year or so of its opening I worked at a company headquartered two blocks away. The Dahlia was our go-to business lunch location, as well as the place we treated ourselves when we wanted something special. Etta’s and Palace Kitchen followed sometime later, then Lola and the first serious Pie. At some point in the timeline Dahlia Bakery opened to the public and Palace Ballroom became available for catered events. Most recently Seatown, the second Serious Pie and Dahlia Workshop Biscuit Bar have opened their doors.
Opening 11 restaurants in 21 years may not seem all that exciting until you look below the surface. The last three and this soon-to-be-opened three have all come to life within an eight month period. And each restaurant is a unique concept with the exception of two Serious Pie locations. Also, let’s not forget the line of seasoning products, the cookbooks (including one in process), a line of cook’s tools, a new farm and even a wine created by this group – and those are just the things I know about. I’d say it’s been a pretty busy 21 years.
The three spots slated to open in early April are Cuoco, an Italian pasta kitchen; Brave Horse Tavern, featuring a pretzel oven (!) and a range of beers on tap; and Ting MoMo, a Tibetan dumpling house. As part of final preparation and testing TDR hosted test kitchen events where Tom, Jackie, Pamela Hinckley, TDR CEO, and staff from each restaurant provided a taste of proposed menu items and solicited feedback on the food and various restaurant features under consideration.
Pan Nociato
I love making bread but don’t seem to do it very often. At least not as often as I’d like. Each time I do, I remember all the wonderful things I love about it: the smell of the yeast; the magic of rising dough; the satisfaction of kneading; and, of course, the delicious finished product.
Pan Nociato is an Umbrian specialty that I made as one of the food pairings for a recent wine tasting. There are several slightly different versions but I chose to use a recipe from the Babbo New York pastry chef, Gina DePalma. The recipe looks long, which may make it seem hard, but it’s really pretty quick and easy. It’s also well-written so there’s no guessing about what the author intended.
Art of the Pie – Take Two
About a month ago I wrote about Art of the Pie, a wonderful, local pie class (with sessions scheduled in San Francisco, too). Ruth Reichl loved the class she took and Dorie Greenspan is a fan. The current schedule of classes are nearly full so if you are interested, now’s the time to sign-up. There are only a few openings remaining. And, I’ve heard from Kate, the instructor/owner, that the price will be increasing for the next set of classes. I’d particularly like to help her get the last spot on April 8 filled, since I’m kind of responsible that it’s still open. :-/
I’m really looking forward to taking this class. I’ve been making pies since my pre-teens and even was the pie-maker for a bakery and restaurant during my college years. But I’m mostly self-taught after learning the basics that my mom so proficiently passed on to me. I’m planning on adding what I learn to my set of tools, but I know this is a great class for a beginning baker, too.
So before the vegetable bounty of spring and the fruit bounty of summer is available at every farmers’ market and roadside stand, do yourself a favor and sign up for this class. You’ll soon be the pie baker that all your friends are talking about!
Make Your Own: Butter
The last time I was making crème fraîche I started wondering why I’ve never used my leftover whip cream to make butter. It such an obvious thing to do but it hadn’t occured to me. Most people know if you whip heavy cream too long it will turn to butter but I haven’t made my own butter since I was in Brownie Scouts!
Though it seemed to be very easy at that time I thought I’d better check to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything important. Good thing I did because I hadn’t known about the rinsing process – probably because we ate our butter as soon as it was made and rinsing isn’t important in that case.
The nice thing about this “recipe” or process is that you can use any amount of cream. You start just as you’d expect: put cream in a mixing bowl for a stand mixer and using a wire whip beat it. Start the mixer on low – just so you don’t cover your kitchen with cream – but as soon as the cream starts to thicken keep increasing the speed until you have it on high.
Lentils with Pancetta, Sausage and Herbs
My wine club recently tasted wines from Umbria. For each tasting I practice pairing foods with the wines. The goal is for the food to enhance the wine and vice-versa. One trick for pairing food with wine you are not familiar with – or even those you know – is to find foods/recipes from the same region as the wine. This works especially well for old-world wines where foods are often region specific.
Umbria has several regional specialties. Black truffles are available three seasons of the year and are used in many dishes, elevating them all with their earthy perfume; there is an amazing and distinguished charcuterie heritage, some say the prosciutto di Norcia is the best there is; they use grains and legumes to create hearty dishes; and they are well-known for chocolates.
One of the dishes I made for the tasting was a lentil dish. I searched for Umbrian Castelluccio lentils in my local shops but was not successful in finding them. Apparently Castelluccio lentils are similar to Le Puy French Green lentils, which are commonly available in the U.S. I had tons of Beluga lentils on-hand, however, so chose to use those for my recipe. One of the traits of the Castellucccio lentils is they retain their shape even when cooked for a long period. I reduced cooking times, since Belugas are smaller, cook faster and can get mushy if cooked too long.
The following recipe is a combination of two recipes that sounded interesting. It turned out really well and the result was a nice hearty, soul-warming meal. The lentils were especially complementary with the red wines we had that night: 2007 Lungarotti Rubesco – Torgiano Rosso, 2005 Pievano Montefalco Rosso and 2004 Antonelli Sagrantino di Montefalco.
Read more…
Gumbo Ya Ya
I hate to be all gushy and mushy but every time I open a new container from the soup swap I am filled with pride and appreciation that everyone did such a great job. I need one of those “proud parent” bumper stickers: “My soup swap is an honor swap in Seattle!” And I am benefitting from the results – big time. I had originally planned to defrost a soup every couple of weeks but I’ve been enjoying each of them so much that when I finish one I can hardly wait to open the next. And with the colder-than-normal, extra-stormy winter we’ve had the soups have been the perfect antidote
Over the weekend I decided to dig into the Gumbo Ya Ya. How could something with that name be anything but good? And it is. Or was. Full of andouille sausage and chicken, flavored with the essence of New Orleans this soup is more of a stew – and that’s not a complaint. Gumbo is meant to be served over rice so once I’d cooked up a pot I had the makings for several meals. One of the things I appreciate about this recipe is that hot sauce is added to the individual servings so each person can make it as spicy as they like.
For my first meal or two a little fresh parsley garnish sprinkled over the gumbo brightened it up. (Do you know that trick? If you’ve used a herb in the recipe, add a little bit of the fresh herb at the very end for an additional layer of flavor.) A couple of times I topped my bowl of gumbo with cubed avocado. The creamy, coolness of the avocado is a great counterpoint to the spicy, hot gumbo.
I love this recipe and so without further ado, here it is:
LA: Joan’s on Third
A few Saturdays ago M and I set out on a little Los Angeles adventure. We were making our way to the Melrose area where LudoTruck was scheduled to be serving that day. We arrived a bit before the scheduled 11:00 am opening so we could check out the location and gauge the crowd to plan our strategy. But once at the location things were suspiciously quiet. After looking around a few minutes – checking out nearby alleys and side streets – I finally thought to check the schedule again. Rats! Somewhere between my last check of the website and Saturday morning they’d changed Saturday to an “Off” day, although part of the original location information remained like telltale proof of the originally planned event. Well, what to do now?
Luckily M had plenty of ideas and we made our way to a favorite spot of hers, Joan’s on West Third.
While Joan’s definitely serves food and is a café, it seems to be first and foremost a market. There’s a case filled with amazing cheese, an array of breads and pastries, and shelves of specialty retail items, some made there and other items from around the world. On the left side of the shop is a deli-style takeout counter where you can order sandwiches, salads, entrees and sides for takeout or to eat in. In the mornings, or until 2:00pm on weekends, there’s also a breakfast menu.
Ginger-Carrot Soup
The soup swap was a great experience in several ways: the party was fun; my freezer is full of delicious soup; and I’m eating some things I may not have chosen to make on my own. Ginger-carrot soup is in this last category. I’m not sure I would never have made it, but it wouldn’t have been at the top of my list. But now, having tried it, this is a soup I would make again. It would be a great starter for a dinner and is perfect, as I’ve been having it, for a nice lunch.
This soup can be made with either chicken or vegetable stock, as the version I have was made. So it’s a nice option when looking for something suitable for a vegetarian meal, although it is not appropriate for vegans. The recipe calls for a garnish of sour cream (or use crème fraîche). This little garnish really elevates the soup. The tangy flavor of the sour cream brightens the carrot and ginger and brings out a whole new dimension.
The weekend is here – it’s a good time to get cooking!
Ginger Carrot Soup
- 2 tablespoons sweet cream butter
- 2 onions, peeled and chopped
- 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 2 pounds carrots, peeled and sliced
- 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
- 1 cup whipping cream
- Salt and white pepper
- Sour cream or crème fraîche
- Parsley sprigs or chopped chives, for garnish
In a 6-quart pan, over medium high heat, add butter and onions and cook, stirring often, until onions are limp. Add broth, carrots, and ginger. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until carrots are tender when pierced.
Remove from heat and transfer to a blender. Don’t fill the blender more than half way, do it in batches if you have to. Cover the blender and then hold a kitchen towel over the top of the blender. Be careful when blending hot liquids as the mixture can spurt out of the blender. Pulse the blender to start it and then puree until smooth.
Return to the pan and add cream, stir over high heat until hot. For a smoother flavor bring soup to a boil, add salt and pepper, to taste.
Ladle into bowls and garnish with dollop sour cream and parsley sprigs or chopped chives.
Culver City: Rush Street
I was visiting a friend in Los Angeles on Super Bowl weekend. She’s a recent convert to football (we’ll see how long that lasts!) and I’ve always been a fan so we wanted to find somewhere fun to watch the game. She polled friends and came up with a recommendation for Rush Street in Culver City. On Super Bowl Sunday we picked up our third friend, a visitor from Germany who had never seen a football game but was excited to find out what it was all about, and made our way to Culver City.
The “real” Rush Street is a street in Chicago that is jam-packed with bars and restaurants. It’s especially busy with the after work crowd on Friday nights and with all kinds of revelers the rest of the weekend. I haven’t been there for several years but, if I remember correctly, on weeknights it was just a bit sketchy. The partying starts later in the evening and a lot of the draw seems to be around contests, like teddy contests, and I’m not talking about lovable, stuffed animals. But perhaps that has changed now. Rush Street, the restaurant, purports to have a “Chi-town vibe”, presumably because one of the owners hails from Chicago. That may be the case but it really wasn’t discernible. However, it was a great spot to watch the Super Bowl and it seems it would be fun at other times, too.
The restaurant has an expansive first floor, nice sidewalk patio, and lots of nooks and crannies filled with couches and casual seating on the second floor – including a quieter outdoor space. We’d made a reservation to ensure seating during the game, but our table was farther from the TVs than we’d hoped so we opted to sit at the bar.
Culinary Fool 