It's a gorgeous day here in Seattle. Crisp and sunny, although darkish clouds temper a completely blue sky. I made my way to the U-District Farmers' Market this morning. I'm very bad about winter vegetables. When fall first comes I'm excited for them and then around December I start longing for the brightly colored fruits of summer. So with renewed enthusiasm I checked out the offerings today and decided it was nice to see some things that are sometimes hidden by the brighter, sexier summer offerings.

 

And I think I'm ready to get back to cooking again, too. December and January seemed to have been filled with cooking for large groups and then I'd have leftovers or spare ingredients to use up for some period of time.

 

I brought home a box of these oyster mushrooms - I'm thinking an Mushroom-Chicken-Noodle soup of some kind might be in order. Maybe with a little ginger and some of the super-sweet baby carrots I brought home, too.  

 

 

 

 

 

Friday night was the Dinner Club's first gathering of 2009.  The first of year number seven.  The 41st gathering. 

 

I have to stop and ponder that for a minute.  When we started I had hoped it would be successful and that the group would really get into it and enjoy it and be committed to our dinners.  And I worked on selecting people I thought would not only embody those qualities but also have fun together.  I'm pretty sure in an earlier post that I mentioned we originally intended to have six in the group but only ended up with five.  We couldn't find the sixth person who seemed like a complement to the group.  Of course there were some other requirements:  you had to have a sense of adventure with your food; you had to enjoy not just cooking but the research it takes to find what you will cook for each meeting; and you really couldn't be a "no" person (as in no meat, no carbs, no white food, etc), among other things. 

 

And somehow it has all worked and worked well.  We have nearly all of our original members.  After two years one of our original group moved several miles out of town and was also deep into obtaining a professional certification.  So she had to drop out.  That was V and we miss her.  However, I had since "discovered" M2 so she joined us and has been with us since.  So for all intents and purposes we have remained intact. 

 

If you go back to the early days of this blog you can find posts about how we are set up and how we choose who hosts, what our theme will be, who has what course, etc.  But if you are thinking of doing this I really encourage you to find what works for your group.  It's been a great ride and I'm looking forward to the many future milestones we will celebrate. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now onto the food! 

 

I was hosting this first event of 2009 which means I selected the theme.  I chose Islands of the Caribbean (later I thought I should have chosen Pirates of the Caribbean and we could have just drank rum all night!).  I chose the theme because I really wanted to make something with conch, although I wasn't sure I could find it here in Seattle.  During my prime research time we had an amazing snowstorm that lasted for days - not a common thing here in Seattle - so I never did get out for my research. Instead I settled on a Cuban dish that seemed to keep popping up wherever I looked.  I thought it must be fate.

 

Here's our menu for the night: 

 

Cocktail:  Mojito

Appetizer: Shrimp in Garlic Sauce (Camarones al Ajillo) from Daisy Cooks! by Daisy Martinez

Salad:  Mango and Avocado Salad

Main:  Ropa Vieja - primarily this recipe but slightly modified based on these and Red Stripe Beer

Side:  Black beans with mango

Dessert:  Rice Pudding

 

I had decorated the table to try to bring a feel of a warm Caribbean dinner to our cold Seattle night.  Fish patterned tablecloth and napkins provided the backdrop for colorful dinnerware and paper lanterns strung across the room.  The food brought it all together

 

Mojitos bring the tropics to mind and shrimp are always welcome at our table!  The mango and avocado in the salad were a winning combination - so refreshing.  I liked the ropa vieja but need to reduce the broth more next time and I forgot to add the peas before serving - they really added something when I mixed them in with the leftovers.  The mango was also a nice contrast to the slightly spicy black beans.  The creamy rice pudding filled with super-plump golden raisins was the final not-too-sweet tropical dessert. 

 

It was a good meal and brought us to a warmer place for a little bit of time.  I still want to try to find conch and try a couple things but in the meantime I'm looking forward to dinner #42, hosted by M2. 

 

More photos here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've written about those cookies several times but I've never been completely satisfied with the way they turned out.  But this year, this year I finally was able to end up with the cookie I remember!  And do it consistently over a couple batches.  Yay!  I'm so happy to have finally mastered this recipe.  And it wasn't about tweaking the ingredients but about really understanding the technique.   

 

This is another of those recipes that I really wonder how my grandmother made them with out a big ol' mixer.  I'm sure it could be done but I've got to say that she was made of much hardier stock than I am. 

 

As I've mentioned before you can buy the molds from places like Amazon.  Or you can try to find original molds on Ebay but they are collector items and come at quite a cost.  The ones I use now I purchased at Sur la Table.   

 

I'm posting both the original recipe, which was the common one used in years past and was actually found on the back of many of the molds, and then below it I have my notes on how to make the recipe actually work. 

 

Springerle

(Grandma W)

 

Sift 4½ cups flour with 1 tsp. baking powder.

 

Grease two large cookie sheets.  Sprinkle them generously with anise seeds.

 

In large bowl beat 4 eggs at medium speed until light.  Gradually add 1# (3¾ cups) powdered sugar, sifted, while beating well. 

 

With wooden spoon blend in 1 Tbsp. grated lemon rind and flour mixture. 

 

Wrap in plastic and refrigerate one hour.

 

Roll dough ½” thick on lightly floured board.  With floured springerle form print pictures on surface.  With sharp knife cut out cookies on lines between pictures. 

 

Let stand on cookie sheets at least 12 hours. 

 

Bake at 325° 25 to 30 minutes. 

 

Cool, then store in airtight containers.  Makes 40.

 

 

(Brenda’s Notes)

 

In large bowl beat 4 eggs (with whisk attachment) at medium speed until light (at least 10 minutes). Eggs should be pale yellow, thick and about doubled in bulk.  Do not beat until stiff. 

 

Gradually add 1# (3¾ cups) powdered sugar, sifted, while beating well.  I’ve found that sifting about 1 cup at a time, adding it to the eggs, then sifting the next cup, forces you to add it slowly enough to get it well incorporated. 

 

Sift 4½ cups flour with 1 tsp. baking powder.

 

With wooden spoon (paddle attachment) blend in 1 Tbsp. grated lemon rind and flour mixture. Same thing with the flour – sift a bit, then add it, then sift a bit more.  Blend until the flour is completely incorporated and the dough is smooth.  My big mixer has to work hard at low speeds so be prepared to increase speed as needed. 

 

Wrap in plastic and refrigerate one hour. Don’t refrigerate longer than one hour.

 

Grease two large cookie sheets.  Sprinkle them generously with anise seeds.

 

Roll dough ½” thick on lightly floured board.  With floured springerle form print pictures on surface.  With sharp knife cut out cookies on lines between pictures.  With the molds I have, I roll the dough out to about ½” and to the dimension of the mold. Lightly flour the dough. Then I put the mold on the dough, then turn the whole thing over – it helps if you have plastic wrap under the dough or one of those flexible cutting boards.  Then I press the dough into the mold with my hands- start at the center and then work your way out to the edges as the dough will spread a bit. Then turn the whole thing back over and remove the mold.  If you find some did not get pressed very well you can carefully put them back over their little area – generally it will kind of line itself up – and then press a bit more.  

 

Let stand on cookie sheets at least 12 hours. 

 

Bake at 325° 25 to 30 minutes.  Even with my big molds (where I only get about 25 cookies) they only need about 15 minutes.  Until bottoms are golden and tops are just starting to color.)

 

Cool, then store in airtight containers. Add a slice of apple to the container to keep the springerle soft.  Change it out every 3 days or so. This is something my grandmother did and I find it is important to keep the cookies from drying out quickly.  Makes 40.

 

 

  

 

 

 

Inviting friends for dinner or a cocktail party is a pretty common occurrence.  Having a weekend brunch is probably the next most popular entertaining option.  Lunch, however, is often overlooked as a meal suitable for entertaining and that's a shame.  Lunch might be the easiest entertaining opportunity.  It's generally more casual, you can choose to serve courses or serve everything at once.  If you choose courses there are fewer than for a dinner, in most cases.  Lunch is more relaxed, and therefore more relaxing, all the way around. 

 

Over the weekend I had M and her Mom over for Sunday lunch.  I chose a menu that was casual, yet had some celebratory tones.  There were just three courses and they involved very little work after my guests had arrived. 

 

 

 

 

We started with a simple green salad.  Thinly sliced red onions, mushrooms and Satsuma orange wedges added variety.  It was tossed with a tasty and brightly colored dressing, Cranberry Vinaigrette.   The recipe is from Dishing with Kathy Casey: Food, Fun, and Cocktails from Seattle's Culinary Diva, one of my favorite cookbooks. 

 

After the salad we moved on to Shrimp Bisque from Tyler's Ultimate: Brilliant Simple Food to Make Any Time.  I had the soup made all the way up to the final step where the chopped shrimp is added to the hot bisque and cooked for just a couple minutes.  You don't want to add the shrimp until you are ready to serve as it can get tough if heated too long.  Just keep the bisque simmering over a low heat during the salad course and as you clear the salad dishes turn up the heat to bring the bisque to nearly a boil.  Since the shrimp are chopped they really only need 2 or 3 minutes to cook through. 

 

 

 

 

For our finale, we had a dessert I created a couple months ago for a Wine Club meeting, Stuffed Poached Pears (recipe below).  Again this was all ready to go with just the final broil and drizzle of honey and nuts left to finish it off. 

 

The little bit of final preparation for the second and third courses provides a nice little break so you don't feel like you are just sitting at the table and shoveling food down.  With whatever menu you choose, make sure that the final preparation is limited so that you don't desert your guests for too long.  Or, if you have a kitchen that allows them to perch at a counter-top and talk to you while you are working that is also a nice option. 

 

In this new year you may have decided that one of your resolutions is to entertain more often. Even if that wasn't a resolution, I encourage you to think about inviting a few friends for a lunch or two for a nice change of pace. 

 

For Poaching the Pears

3 Forelle pears, ripe but firm

2 cups water

1 cup sugar

1 vanilla bean, sliced in half lengthwise

 

To poach the pears, peel the pears and cut them in half lengthwise.  Trim out core.  Combine sugar and water in large saucepan.  Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean then add the seeds, pod and pears to the sugar and water.  To keep the pears submerged while they poach, put a sheet of parchment or wax paper on the surface and weight it with a plate or small lid.  Place the saucepan on high heat.  When the liquid comes to a boil, turn the heat down to a simmer.  The amount of time to poach depends on the pears ripeness, probably 10 minutes or so.  Test for doneness by poking a pear with the point of a small knife.  As soon as the pears are soft, but not mushy, remove the saucepan from the heat.  Allow them to cool in the liquid. 

 

For filling:

½ cup Blue cheese (preferably soft, not crumbly) at room temperature

½ cup Mascarpone at room temperature

(measurements are approximate, may be more of a 60-40 combination depending on how strong the blue cheese is and your personal preference)

 

Mix together until blended.

 

To Finish

¼ cup chopped, toasted walnuts

2 Tbsp warmed honey (10 seconds in the microwave)

 

To Assemble

Generously fill the cavity in each pear with the cheese mixture. It should be a little bit heaping. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbling slightly.

 

Place a small amount of cheese mixture on a plate to help hold the pear in place.  Put ½ pear on the plate.  Drizzle with warmed honey and toasted walnuts. 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes being known as a foodie is kind of hard.  People expect that all your dining out decisions are based on selecting the best, newest, coolest, etc place to go.  And often that does influence dining choices but not always.  I hate to disappoint people but sometimes non-food factors influence where I choose where to eat.   So I don't always choose where to eat based on reviews or recommendations or where the latest star chef is hanging his toque at the moment.  Often it's based on a desire to experience some other aspect of dining.  In my opinion, being  foodie really means that you can appreciate all kinds of food and dining experiences.  Variety is the spice of life, remember! 

 

Sometimes it's a craving for a certain kind of food, often something from a past memory.  Sometimes it's based on a certain feel or the ambiance of a place.  And sometimes it's much more straightforward as it was on the last day of my November Santa Cruz visit.  I wanted to be outside, in the sunlight, eating seafood.  So I chose a place that met those requirements, The Dolphin, located on the Santa Cruz municipal wharf. 

 

The location of this pier is right in the middle of the tourist area.  Not a place you expect to find fine dining by any means.  But the wharf is lined with restaurants and, I'm guessing that some of them serve great food.  I chose The Dolphin because it was at the end of the wharf, it had a big glass-enclosed outdoor seating area and a 180 degree view of the Santa Cruz shoreline.  I didn't have high expectations for the food but figured it would be okay. 

 

This place is sort of a throwback in some ways.  I really just wanted some sort of seafood and chips combination but found it was actually less expensive to order a "dinner", meaning that a salad was also included.  I decided to try clam strips for my seafood option. 

 

I'd barely placed my order before my salad arrived and had only taken a bite or two of salad before my clams and chips came out!  I doubt that timing is normally an issue at this place.  My guess is that in the summer they are packed and scrambling to get everything out in a timely manner so no one bothers to worry, or even thinks if you have had time to finish your salad before bringing your meal.  So a Monday afternoon, which happened to also be December 1st they were just slamming through orders as they normally do, even though there were only a couple of occupied tables.

 

 

 

 

The salad was actually very fresh, and crisp and was a nice mix of vegetables.  My clams were a bit chewy - that was a little disappointing, but my chips were perfectly fried.  The people were very nice and even though my food came out in a hurry no one rushed me in anyway.  So I was able to do what I'd set out to do; eat some seafood, enjoy the sun and soak in the sight of the Santa Cruz shoreline before heading over the mountains to catch my flight home from San Jose. 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Year's Eve eve found a few friends and I gathered at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for a holiday celebration.  Although they do not publicize it on their website, Ruth's Chris has a nice little Happy Hour with specials on food, wine, cocktails and beer, at least for those of you who are okay calling Bud Light beer. 

 

Ruth's Chris is located in the Grand Hyatt Hotel near the convention center downtown.  When the hotel first opened the space was occupied by the 727, a restaurant that had good food but such bad service that I never returned after my first visit.  And that is saying something as I'm nearly always open to giving a place a second chance.  So I personally was not surprised when 727 didn't make it.  I imagine that Ruth's Chris is doing better with it's national name recognition and we had really great service while there. 

 

The Happy Hour food menu is short but has seafood, meat and vegetarian options.  We tried everything on the menu and enjoyed all of it.  The ahi tuna was especially good, as were the prime rib sliders.  I was very happy with with my bargain-priced Manhattan.  Reviews of the other speciality cocktails on the Happy Hour menu were a bit mixed.  The red wine was also given a thumbs-up. 

 

The space is welcoming with the dim lights and wood surfaces providing a warmth to the large room.  The long tables in the bar are set up a bit oddly with chairs only on one side - as if you are actually at the bar.  But we found there was plenty of room to move some of the chairs so that we could gather around the table instead of being strung out along it. 

 

If you work in the area or happen to be out shopping and need a break, it's a great spot to relax for a bit.  And the Happy Hour is a good value. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My friends EE and BR had a New Year's Eve gathering this year and it was a great way to ring in the new year!  Having been instructed to each bring a tapas-style dish and if possible to plan to do the preparation at their house, six of us gathered on the night of the 31st to bring in the new year.  The cooking and prep would provide a little break between courses and our entertainment for the evening. 

 

 

 

 

Their kitchen is big and beautiful.  With loads of counter space and a large center island it's easy to have several people working at once, although we did spread out all over the place and manage to cover nearly every horizontal surface.  At the beginning of the evening EE assigned us each a slot on the agenda so we'd know when we needed to start preparing our dish.  Other than that the whole evening was pretty free-flowing.  We managed to stretch the whole thing out so that we were still eating after midnight - not intentionally but when you are relaxed and enjoying each course on it's own, it's easy for time to slip by. 

 

 

 

 

This post is not really about recipes but more about inspiring you and your friends to do something similar.  You could set a theme or leave it wide open.  It helps to let people know who's bringing what prior to the party to avoid duplications, but it's not necessary.  The main thing is that everyone should remember to make their offering something small - after six or more courses even small bites can fill you past the point of comfort!  And even though I say that, and we knew it, we still managed to bring more than we should have.  Luckily I was staying at their place overnight so when we were done I could just drag myself up the stairs and let it all settle overnight. 

 

Our menu started with some small bites while we waited for all to arrive.  There was a cheese plate and I brought some leftovers from Sunday's party.  Then we opened with oven-roasted shrimp; moved onto flatbreads topped with brie, sauteed onions, mushrooms and rosemary; shared a big bowl of steamed mussels; and finished with crab cakes and mini macaroni and cheese bites. 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and I almost forgot the chocolate bark and holiday cookies! 

 

I encourage you to plan a party of your own like this.  If your kitchen is smaller (as mine is) you can have guests do most of the preparation at home and just finish the final cooking or plating at your home.  The important thing is to let each course stand on its own and to enjoy it fully and completely before moving to the next course. 

 

There are more photos from the night here.