Herb Farm Inspirations

Warning, this is not an entry about my recent dinner at the Herb Farm, but I promise one will be coming, soon. There's a lot to write, and trying to capture the perfection and fabulousness of that meal is not easy. Be patient.

Without a doubt, the Herb Farm inspired me, partly because the food reminded me once again of the deliciousness that a kitchen can produce, and also because I recently received Jerry Traunfelds very excellent Herb Farm Cookbook (he's the former Herb Farm executive chef, now owner of Poppy, which deserves an entry in this blog).

Despite a hangover from excesses of the wine variety during the Herb Farm dinner, truffles were front and center in my mind the next morning. Soooo, I soft boiled an egg and sprinkled it with truffle salt. It sort of put me on better footing, but I would be kidding if I didn't say that the day after the Herb Farm was a tough, tough day.

More cooking! For Saturday night dinner, I made the Herb Farm braised red cabbage with apples and cilantro, an eyebrow-raise of a recipe. Seriously, the combination sent my "oh dear, this may not work" instincts roaring. I'm sure you'll agree: saute a cubed apple, add thinly sliced red cabbage, then add lime juice, sugar and salt, and braise until tender. When tender (a process that took twice as long because my cabbage was not thin enough), add a few green onions and a seemingly huge amount of cilantro.

I'm happy to report that the braised cabbage was much better than expected, a nice dose of sweet and sour with a punch of cilantro. I became a believer. Oh, and the crunchy pork chop and buttermilk mashed potatoes served along were quite tasty, too. Sadly, the gougeres that I whipped up for pre-dinner snacking were a bit flat, mainly because it turns out that completely substituting a teaspoon of sea salt with a teaspoon of truffle salt, while sounding fabulous in abstract, results in less than puffy gougeres. The meal did go well with a 2007 Moulin de Gassac Guilhem, from the Languedoc region in France. If you don't know what kind of wine that is, neither do I. But my handy guide told me that it's a blend of Syrah, Grenache, Carignane and Cinsault.

It snowed the next day, and once again, the Herb Farm inspired. White bean soup with cubed squash and basil pistou spooned on top (pistou is pureed basil, garlic and salt, with a healthy dose of olive oil holding it together, or parsley instead of basil). I used a base of beef broth, chicken broth punched up with vegetables (left over from spring risotto) and a bottle of Winter Hook Ale. Hilary was helping, and when I realized I didn't have enough broth, told me that the Red Hook tour guide suggested using beer as a substitute for broth. It worked. I also made rustic rolls (snowy days and baking bread seem to go well together). A very tasty 337 2006 Cabernet and 2003 De Beaumont "Very Special Reserve" meritage went well with the soup and conversation.

Sadly, no pictures to share. However, I made the same rolls for Thanksgiving, and took a picture of my nephew happily chewing. So, there - a picture!



Finally, notice how I mentioned that it snowed? Yes, it has been snowing in Seattle. Luckily, most of the snow since the new year has appeared and quickly left, not quite repeating the pre-Christmas snowpocalypse. And, by some twist of weird fate, the Seattle area has also dealt with flooding, a week of pea soup fog, lots of rain and bitter, bitter cold. I just booked a ticket to Las Vegas for a weekend, where I've been told it's quite sunny and warm and am wondering if I made the right decision by not turning a one-day business trip to LA into a weekend. Alas...

Pizza!

I love pizza.

There, I've said it. On average, I eat pizza about once a week, half the time on Friday nights. Nothing says Friday like pizza, from Toscano or Padrinos, my two favorite take out places in Seattle. Sadly, Il Forno went out of business due to health reasons, after I'd finally rediscovered how good it was despite my bad first impression, which was caused by a dining companion about whom I was less than enthused, not by the food. On a positive note, the "for sale" signs are down, the windows are covered in paper, and maybe, just maybe, Il Forno will reopen and serve its delicious pizza. But I digress.

There's also the homemade pizza, which I've written about in the past, and which of course, I also adore just as much as take out. My latest creation came from the always excellent Smitten Kitchen: pizza with caramelized onion jam, ricotta cheese and prosciutto. The sweet caramelized onions and mellow ricotto is tempered perfectly by the salt prosciutto. If you're interested in the recipe, you can find it here, although I should point out that I used Cooks Illustrated for the dough, a sturdy recipe that has never failed me over several years. And, I would post a picture, but Deb's pictures are so much prettier, and really, my pizza looked much like hers. So I'll save myself the five minutes it would take to upload pictures, reduce for the website, post, etc.

A leftover pizza tip, straight from Mark Bittman. Squeeze some fresh lemon juice on the room temp pizza (seriously, don't reheat leftover pizza in the microwave; it becomes a soggy mess that only slightly resembles pizza, if you want it warm, use the oven). A bonus tip straight from me: squeezing lemon juice on piping hot pizza isn't a bad thing either.

New Years Day Meal, Plus Leftovers

It's a new year, so I decided that it was only fitting to start the New Year off with a proper meal. While purchasing lamb shanks and various odds and ends and a bottle of pink Lucien Albrecht, the clerk asked if I was having a party. "Um, yes" I stammered, thinking about my party of one. For once, no invitations went out. Dinner was just me.

I used Alice Waters' braised lamb shank recipe from her almost always excellent The Art of Simple Food. I say almost always excellent, because I just didn't care for the lamb shanks. They weren't bad, braised in chicken broth and vegetables and tomatoes. But, they were much too close to lamb stew for my taste. Probably, too, because I had in mind the rich and delicate meat that my brother made a few months ago (he uses a Cooks Illustrated recipe, involving herbs de provence), rather than what I ended up with. Such is life in the fast kitchen lane.

The other thing to note - the shanks were chock full of meat, and after about three meals of picking small hunks of meat off of the bone, I needed to refresh the basic meal. Thus, I improvised lamb ragout, sauteeing an onion and garlic, adding herbs and tomatoes, letting it cook for a bit, and then adding the deboned lamb. Delicious, especially served with mashed potatoes or polenta. And, for breakfast, with a fried egg. I kid you not, I ate at least ten meals from the four shanks. Whoa...

Also, for the wine people. I drank a very tasty bottle of Grenache, a Vaucluse from Abel Clement in France with the ragu. Nice and meaty wine, it went well with the remade braised lamb. At least, I think I have the name correct for the wine. The French are difficult, with all their words and appellations and regions and stuff.



By the way, in the vein of repurposing leftovers, I used most of the chicken from chicken in a pot of a few months ago to make absolutely delicious enchiladas with tomatillo green sauce. They were so delicious, I refused to share with anyone, although because I can be mean, at least I'm posting a picture. They were all mine...enjoyed over about four meals, down to the last bite of enchilada with jack cheese and tomatillo sauce. I guess this proves that in some cases, I think chicken can be tasty.

Street Food in Mexico, and in General

I've always said that street food is tasty, tasty, tasty, a point proven correct once again during a trip to Mexico. Pictured below is my favorite meal of the trip, found at one of the food stalls that dotted Merida's central square. Sadly, I forget the name of this dish, but what matters is that it was delicious. A crispy tortilla stuffed with a bit of cheese, then topped with marinated grilled steak, cheese, pickled onions and a bit of spicy tomato-based sauce. Delicious, I tell you, delicious.



The marquesita was my second favorite food, also bought from a street vendor. The pictures doesn't quite do it justice, but imagine something similar to a waffle cone cooked in front of you, then sprinkled with grated Gouda cheese and rolled up. Non-savory marquesitas used nutella (my favorite food to eat with a spoon), caramel and/or some type of sweetened condensed milk.





Ceviche is fairly common in the Yucatan - definitely a different taste than the Panamanian (especially the Panamian, which absolutely bursts with enough citrus to cause some puckering), Peruvian and Brazilian types of ceviche that I've feasted on in the past. There was also some sauteed squid, some plantains, some tacos, chorizo, bacon, eggs and potatoes for breakfast, a salbute (may be the wrong name, but soft tortilla smeared with beans and topped with marinated steak, iceburg lettuce and pickled onion) and lots of delicious, delicious black beans. Oh, and all washed down with margaritas and/or beer, because it was vacation.

Among other tidbits about the trip: bribing the policia; some long, very long, road trips in the about ready to fall apart rental car (and especially, holding our breath each time we went over a tope, a huge speed bump capable of causing serious damage); lounging by the pool; exploring Mayan ruins at Chichin Itza and Dzibilchaltun; getting chased by dogs while jogging; and accidentally making margaritas with rum instead of tequila. Finally, my favorite moment of the entire trip - swimming in the cenote at Dzibilchaltun. I can be found in the very center of the picture, with a smile on my face.

Cupcake Food Porn

When I signed up to a bring a salad to a team holiday pot luck, someone threw a fit. Not quite what Grandma Luttrell would have called "a jazz horn fit", but close enough. I was finally forced to promise to bring dessert to our next meeting, just to stop the insanity.

The finished baked goods are pictured below - chocolate-peppermint cupcakes with peppermint frosting and crushed candy canes.



Sadly, the cupcakes never made it to the meeting, which happened to fall on the first day of Seattle Snowpocalypse 2008. But, the baked goods were in the car when I took my early morning drive through the blizzard. And, since I had the opportunity to eat more than my fair share, I can absolutely, positively say that the little cakes were delicious. Deep chocolate with a touch of peppermint and the added punch of a pepperminty buttercream and candy cane crunch.