Kat on Thyme

Got Crust

Four weeks of Craig’s List, one job fair, dozens of emailed resumes, a few interviews, and still, no job.

Actually, I was already offered perfect employment. My first week here, I stumbled into a cooking shop on a beer buying errand in Pacific Beach. The shop was well stocked with all the good kitchen toys and had a beautiful, state of the art cooking school facility in the back third of the store. I picked up a course schedule which offered a huge array of classes taught by talented local chefs. Of course, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to drop off a resume at the shop, which I did later in the week. The retail manager never returned any of my phone calls, but eventually I did hear back from the cooking school director, who called me in for an interview. The interview went well so the following week, I observed a class on entertaining, which was a great class, expertly taught. The whole operation was smooth and professional, and the people were friendly and welcoming. I would loved to have been a part of it all. The director offered me a job assisting guest instructors with their classes which would have been a great opportunity to get paid to learn. I didn’t take it. I left two really good jobs in Seattle to move to San Diego to make a go of a relationship. I wasn’t about to be working nights and weekends so that I could spend all day by myself wondering what Nick was doing at work. I need to find myself a day job. Or at least a job that pays well enough to warrant a few late evenings in exchange for spending time with Nick on the weekends.

The experience wasn’t a total loss, however. I got crust. The menu for the class I observed was tasty, although not terribly exciting. The instructor made the class worthwhile, though, with her tips and tales of catering experiences. The dessert she chose is one of my favorites- fresh fruit galette, a sort of free-form rustic pie. She chose to use apple which she expertly peeled with a paring knife, the green skin falling to the cutting board in one elegant strip. She sliced the apples thinly and arranged them in a barely overlapping pattern from the outside to the center. It looked lovely, but to me, defied the rustic nature of a galette. And there just wasn’t enough apple flavor in the final product, with such thinly layered fruit. It’s a good thing the crust was so darned delicious. She made the dough in a matter of minutes, pressing the butter into the flour with her fingers and then tipping ice water from a cup until the dough began to hold its shape. It’s the easiest technique and the results were fabulous- a flaky, tender, buttery crust.

Here’s my version of the galette, with more apples! You could use other fruit as well or a combination of fruits. Just be sure to sprinkle a few tablespoons of flour onto the dough after it’s rolled out, if you are working with very juicy fruit. The flour will help thicken any fruit syrup.

Rustic Apple Galette

For the crust: (you can double the recipe and freeze one)
1 ½ cups flour
½ cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks and cold
a few pinches of salt (I like a bit of salt, she used none)
1/3 or so cup ice water

Measure the flour into a large bowl. Stir in the salt. With your fingers, press the chunks of butter into the flour. Leave some visible pieces of butter in the flour (they will be flattish but don’t make them too small). Add enough ice water just to pull the dough into a ball. You can always sprinkle a bit more so don’t over do it. The dough should come together nicely. Flatten it into a round and put it in a clean Ziploc bag, gallon size. Flatten it some more while it’s in the bag and the refrigerate the dough at least one hour.

For the filling:
5-6 apples (I used two largish Granny Smiths and 4 small Galas)
¼ cup of sugar- more or less to taste
Cinnamon to taste
A sprinkle of lemon juice

Peel, core and slice the apples into ¼ inch slices. Toss with the other ingredients.

To assemble and bake the galette:

More butter – 2 or so tablespoons
Sugar for sprinkling
Apricot or apple preserves, warmed (you can also add a splash of Cognac or Calvados)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Roll out the dough about 1/8 inch thick. Pile the apples in the center (you can arrange them if you have the patience) and leave the outside few inches free from filling. Fold the sides casually up onto the apples, letting it crease naturally, every few inches. (I rolled the dough on a square Silpat baking liner so I didn’t have to transfer it.) Slide the Silpat onto a baking sheet or pizza stone and readjust the folds if you need to. (If you’ve rolled on the counter, transfer the dough to a parchment lined cookie sheet BEFORE filling it.) Sprinkle the crust with sugar and then dot the extra butter around the top of the fruit. Bake at 400 degrees for about 50 minutes or until the crust is golden and flaky.

Brush the fruit part of the galette with the warmed preserves to give it a nice sheen. In a pinch you could use honey or maple syrup too.

Serves 6 to 8.

Another Day in Paradise

Blue sky, mild breeze off the ocean, bright sunshine, mild temperature. Same old same old here in San Diego. Can a climate be more perfect? It makes me laugh when people I pass on the street comment on the lovely weather. It’s like mentioning that the sidewalk is cement or the grass green. Of course it’s a lovely day. Yesterday was too. And the day before. At some point this constant state of perfection might get tiresome, but so far so good.

It’s hard to believe I’ve been here for over a month. Nick returned from his deployment on the 15th of August and we’ve been getting settled into our new place. Since we live in paradise, we figured all the friends and family would want to visit, so we rented a two bedroom place. Sherpa Nick and I lugged a queen sized bed from a garage sale a few blocks away into our newly outfitted guest suite. We’re past our third round of house guests already, and it’s barely begun to rain in Seattle.

Melding our very dissimilar lifestyles into one harmonious existence has been a fairly smooth progression. A rough bout of homesickness, a mild case of food poisoning, and one very tense afternoon of dinner party preparation were small hurdles easily overcome. Mr. “I hate yard work” carefully dribbles water onto each of the little basil plants in our garden, finds sticks to prop up the lemon verbena, and rolls our round patio table over to the newly planted rainbow chard to make some dappled shade for them on sunny afternoons. He picks figs in the morning, prunes grapes in the evening, and notices how each plant is progressing, flowering, wilting, or thriving. I can’t say I’ve done as much to embrace the culture of the military as Nick has done to appreciate my little hobbies, but I am beginning to understand the sacrifices and commitment that go along with military life. And I can say I appreciate the two dollar kayak rentals at the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot and the tax free liquor store on base.

But the best part of our new living arrangement is having someone to share meals with every day. I miss Gretchen’s impromptu weeknight dinners, and dining out with the Brown Trout after weekend ultimate games. But right now, I’m savoring sitting down to meals at home with Nick. And after 6 months of mess hall chow, Nick seems to be appreciating them as well.

This is one of my favorite weekend breakfasts- a Dutch Baby pancake filled with sautéed fruit. Traditionally they are topped with a sprinkling of lemon juice and powdered sugar, but they are especially good with fruit and a dollop of yogurt. This one has pears and apples, but you could substitute peaches, plums, or berries.

Dutch Baby with Sautéed Pears and Apples

½ cup flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
½ cup milk
2 Tablespoons butter + more for brushing skillet

Place a 10-inch cast iron or oven-proof skillet in the oven and preheat it to 450 degrees. Sift the flour and salt into a small bowl. In a blender, put the eggs and milk and blend at low speed. Turn off the blender and add the flour mixture. Mix until smooth, scraping down the sides at least once. It should take about 30 seconds of mixing. Blend in the melted butter. Brush the hot skillet with the additional butter (a silicone pastry brush works great for this) and pour in the batter. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 10 minutes without opening the oven door. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake another 15 or so minutes or until the pancake is puffy and beginning to pull away from the sides of the skillet. Prepare the filling while the pancake bakes.

Pear and Apple Filling

3 small Bartlett pears
1 Granny Smith or other tart apple
1 Tablespoon butter
1-2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 Tablespoons (or to taste) brown sugar
Lemon juice to taste

Powdered sugar for topping

Pare, core, and slice the apples and pears. In a medium sauté pan, melt the butter over high heat. Add the fruit, cinnamon, and brown sugar and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the fruit is beginning to soften. Sprinkle with a dash of lemon juice to brighten the flavor.

To finish

When the Dutch Baby comes out of the oven, dust it with powdered sugar and fill the center with the fruit mixture. Serve immediately.

Serves 3 to 4.

Two Days and a Wake-up

I can count the days on one hand now. And I’m more than half way to San Diego, geographically speaking. Nick comes home from his six month deployment on Tuesday, around 10:45. Or 1045, if you do military time, which even after all of my years of sailing, I’ve never mastered. And sailing I’ve been, which proved a godsend for passing the time.

Near the end of July, I left Seattle for my annual relief cooking trip aboard a beautiful historic yacht which my friend, Grant, captains. When guests are aboard it’s a busy job, filling my day from about 5:30 in the morning to around 9:30 at night. And as much work as it is, somehow it still feels like a vacation, to be with friends, in such a beautiful place, on such an amazing vessel. When no guests are aboard it’s easy to pretend that we belong around the long, polished teak dining table, eating our dinners and drinking the wine that’s been abandoned by the guests because of its inferior vintage. But the next day finds us cleaning, doing maintenance, provisioning, tidying, planning, phoning and faxing, and generally getting the boat and her gear ready to go.

My first year aboard, I thought so hard ahead of time about what I wanted to prepare for the guests. When I arrived on the boat and swung open the walk-ins I was greeted with every imaginable form of protein, and cupboards, bins, and stowage cubbies full of expensive, exciting, and ethnic ingredients. There were probably 10 different kinds of salt. All I needed was produce, and some fresh dairy products and we were ready to sail. So these past few years, I’ve been planning less and experimenting more. I bring a few trusty cookbooks and photocopied baking recipes and just wing it from there. Meticulous planning only proves frustrating on a boat, where weather, fishing, and the varied interests of the guests drive our daily schedule. Flexibility and a sense of humor are likely the most important traits of a boat chef, followed by creativity and a strong stomach, not necessarily in that order. This year the weather was dreary, and we had a few bumpy days at sea. I didn’t mind being below decks in such drizzle and took comfort in the warm galley, where I cooked and baked up my own little storm. The steward, Jill, and I had a bit of downtime to venture into Ketchikan in a downpour, Wrangle, on very tired feet, and into a tiny town called Thorton Creek, where we confounded the supersized locals in the hardware store, where we were looking for disposable latex gloves, sized small. They said their gloves weren’t too big for my hands, my hands were too small to be working in Alaska. Certainly Jill and I together, with a sack of flour under each arm, wouldn’t have made up one of those burly Alaskan giants.

Traveling with Jill is like traveling with a movie star. All week people asked if we were sisters, which I definitely never minded. Our last night in Alaska, we again donned the stupid yellow slickers, and wandered through the drizzle to Kito’s Kave- the local fishermen’s bar in Petersburg. We finished out trip in grand style, drinking whiskey and beer surrounded by crazy locals and barely legal Coast Guard cadets. The next morning didn’t feel so grand, but we rallied just in time for our taxi to the airport. Ten days down, in one fabulous swoop.

And now, I’m staying with my folks in Sacramento, seeing family and friends, until early Monday morning. Then, I fold myself back into the little yellow beetle convertible and hit the road again, this time with summer clothes, a few favorite cookbooks, too many pairs of shoes, and as always, an optimistic heart. Two more days and a wake-up.

I made this with last trip’s tired bananas and had it out for the guests when they arrived aboard.

Greet the Guests Banana Yogurt Coffeecake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a large (9x13 inch) rectangular baking dish.

Whisk together the following ingredients in a large bowl:

2 cups unbleached flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon Kosher salt

In another bowl, combine the following:

Heaping 1 ¾ cups yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla
Zest of two small limes
6 Tablespoons melted butter
1 ¼ cups brown sugar
3 large eggs
3 very ripe bananas, pureed or mashed

Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold them together. Spread the batter into the prepared pan and smooth into the corners so that the level is even. Sprinkle with the streusel topping and bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. If the topping starts to brown too much, cover the top very loosely with foil. Cut into squares to serve.

Streusel Topping

3 Tablespoons melted butter
3 Tablespoons flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
About 2/3 cup finely chopped nuts or oatmeal (enough to give the mixture into a crumbly texture)

Mix the previous ingredients, except the nuts, with a fork to blend. Add the nuts and work into a crumbly state. Sprinkle onto the coffeecake evenly.

Makes 12 very large pieces.

So Simple the Syrup

Summer has arrived in Seattle on the fast train. I was doing some laundry this weekend and in my laundry basket was a crazy mix of polypropylene long underwear, fleecy things, tank tops, and shorts. It’s June in Seattle!

Being from Sacramento, and spending much of the last 15 years in the Rogue Valley of Southern Oregon, one would think I should be accustomed to hot weather. A few years in Seattle and I’m melting in the mid-80 degree heat. Most of the year, I shun iced drinks in favor of room temperature beverages, but on Friday night, I dumped the igloo that had formed in my ice bin and got a whole new batch of ice going to cool my summer drinks. Ice ice, baby.

I’ve been seeing in the gourmet stores lately big, expensive bottles of simple syrup for making summer drinks. Simple syrup is just that, though. Simple. No need to buy it. I’ve been experimenting with steeping herbs in the syrup to make my own flavored syrups. But there’s no reason to stop at herbs, syrups can be infused with anything! Tea, spices, roots like ginger, citrus zest, reduced fruit juices, flowers, and there is no limit to the combinations you could create.

Simple syrups are handy to have around in the summer (they should be kept in the fridge) because they work better than granulated sugar for sweetening cold beverages. For sweetening hot coffee, granulated sugar works just fine because the heat from the coffee dissolves the sugar. But in an iced coffee drink, granulated sugar just falls to the bottom and doesn’t do much to sweeten the bulk of the liquid. (Although I love the sugary ice cube crystals left in the glass!) Simple syrups can be used to make cocktails, iced coffee drinks, lemon and limeades, and Italian sodas. In addition, they can be used for all sorts of summer preparations- syrups can sweeten sorbets and granitas, they can be mixed with fruit and drizzled over desserts, or colored syrups could be dabbled onto white plates for a simple plate garnish. It’s easy to get creative with flavored syrups if you have them made and chilled in your fridge.

Herb Infused Simple Syrup

Equal parts sugar and water (I used 2/3 cup of each)
Sprigs of fresh herbs- I used 4 large sprigs of lemon verbena. I also made one with mint and one with rose geranium leaves.

Dissolve the sugar in the water over medium heat in a small saucepan on the stove. Once the sugar has dissolved, turn off the heat and add the herbs, crushing them in your hands to release their oils. Submerge them into the liquid and cover. Let them steep for about 30 minutes. Drain into bottles pushing on the herbs to extract a bit more flavor. Cap and refrigerate.

Herban Lemonade

1 ounce citron Vodka
½ ounce lemon verbena syrup (more if you like sweeter drinks)
Sprig of verbena for garnish
Ice to fill glass
4 ounces soda water
Wedge of lemon

Mix the vodka and syrup in a glass with the ice. Add the verbena and crush lightly with a spoon or muddler. Add soda water and stir to blend. Squeeze the lemon into the drink and then drop it into the mix. Stir again and adjust taste to suit your preferences.

The Return of the Sunday Night Dinner

My old house mate, Chuck, and I used to host Sunday night dinners at least a couple of times a month. Chuck would sit on the barstool and commentate while I chopped and sautéed and grilled. He was the appetizer man. Olives, fig bread, manchego. Chuck could always be counted on to purchase a fine spread of apps. It’s been a while since Chuck bought his own place, took on his own house mate, and hauled a grill up to his own patio. At least now he’s eating his own peanut butter, and drinking his own wine ;)

Last Sunday I stopped by my friend Gretchen’s house to pick strawberries. She has an amazing patch of strawberries that spiral around the outskirts of her back yard. She also gave me some rhubarb that she had picked from her plot in the P-patch the day before. With such an amazing bounty, I decided to have people over for dessert. I called Gretchen first but she couldn’t make it so I called a few more friends. What began as an invitation to dessert ended up as a Sunday Dinner Reunion. Matthew was cooking Mexican food, and there is no better time to be invited for dinner. He fixed a phenomenal fajita spread, with all of the extras, and his wife, Amy assembled some delicious salads. I knew dessert was going to have to be sensational.

I scoured my vast assortment of cookbooks for something fun to do with rhubarb and strawberries. I decided to just wing it and headed to Larry’s Market with the old dog, Baci, to gather some ingredients. Cobbler always sounds good to me, so I decided to do some version of that. I began with my favorite Cream Scone recipe and adapted it to become the topping for the cobbler. The fruit part I wanted to keep simple since I had such beautiful raw ingredients to work with. I looked into using Minute Tapioca to thicken the fruit mixture (as recommended in Cooks Illustrated) but the cost was $4.00, I only needed a tablespoon, and I had cornstarch at home. Settled.

Pinched for time, I worked quickly, but even so, I was thankful that Sunday dinners are on ultimate time. Ultimate Frisbee players are notoriously late for everything and Sunday dinner is no different. So I stuffed the steaming hot cobbler into the trunk of my car and zoomed to Wallingford. I could smell how delicious it was going to be all the way there.

Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler with Coconut Vanilla Scone Topping

6 cups of mixed strawberries and rhubarb (strawberries sliced or halved if they’re small, rhubarb cut into ½ inch pieces)
¾ cup sugar
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
¼ teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Mix the fruit, sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla together and tip into a 9 inch deep dish glass pie plate. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the filling is quite hot. By adding the topping to already hot fruit, one eliminates the soggy topping problem that many cobblers have. Meanwhile, prepare the topping…

Coconut Vanilla Scone Topping

1 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder   
3 tablespoons sugar   
1/2 teaspoon table salt   
5 tablespoons unsalted butter , chilled and cut into 1/4-inch pieces 
½ cup unsweetened coconut, toasted until golden 
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (not the light kind)
1 tablespoon vanilla

sanding sugar and extra coconut milk for topping (brush and sprinkle)

Place flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt the food processor fitted with steel blade. Pulse to blend. Remove cover and distribute butter evenly over dry ingredients. Cover and pulse until butter is broken into pieces and distributed throughout the flour mixture. It should look like very coarse breadcrumbs. Transfer dough to large bowl. Stir in the coconut. Stir the vanilla into the coconut milk and stir that mixture into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula or fork until dough begins to form, about 30 seconds.

Transfer dough and all dry, floury bits to countertop and knead dough by hand just until it comes together into a rough, slightly sticky ball, 5 to 10 seconds. Scrape up dough and lightly flour the counter underneath. Roll out the dough to the size of your pie plate and transfer it onto the hot fruit. Try to crimp the edges but be careful, since the pie plate is hot. Slice and open some vents atop the cobbler. You have to really separate the dough if you want the vents to stay open. Brush with some extra coconut milk and sprinkle with sanding sugar, if desired. Bake until the top is light brown, about 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature, with whipped cream, ice cream, yogurt, or just plain.

Serves 8 generously.

Solstice in Seattle

I’ve been remiss. Last week the Seattle summer finally caught up with me. It’s not exactly the midnight sun, but Seattle’s extended daylight hours have a similar effect on me. I get up early, work all day, have dinner at 10 o’clock, stay up way too late and then do it again. Until Thursday, when I finally crashed.

But there’s nothing like the Fremont Summer Solstice Parade to start the cycle all over again! For the most part, Seattle is a little stuffy when it comes to celebrations. Our attitude seems to be, “Fine idea for a party, but not in MY neighborhood!” But not Fremont. Fremont opens its arms to Seattle for the annual Solstice Festival, and renews my faith that Seattleites can indeed, shake it. Any event that starts with hundreds of nude cyclists in all manors of exotic body paint cannot, by definition, be stuffy. And the parade continued on from there with great music, dancing, humor, costumes, creativity, political commentary, and the occasional strange spiritual displays that I couldn’t figure out. Fremont in a nutshell.

Every year my friend, John, hosts his annual pre-parade brunch. It begins with his own parade of furniture down to the parade route to stake a claim of sidewalk, this year under the shade of a big tree. Each year I expect John, an avid cyclist, to disappear before the start of the parade only to reappear beautifully painted and peddling by. Perhaps next year. But this year, his house was the staging ground for the fabulous costuming efforts of the “Fantasia Girls” who danced with a samba group. He’s going to be sweeping up feathers and glitter, with a smile on his face, for weeks to come. While we were eating a fabulous brunch, we had our own little parade of peacock feathered and bejeweled beauties swooping in and out for mimosas.

As usual, John hosts a mean brunch. There were lots of delicious homemade treats- James’ salsa and feta eggs, John’s garlic and goodies eggs, some vegan scrambled tofu with mixed greens, Gretchen’s gluten free banana muffins and garden grown strawberries, some lovely fruit salads, and my contribution, a raspberry breakfast cake. I got the recipe from Alanna's blog, a few weeks ago and have made it twice, it’s so delicious. I changed a few ingredients to make it a bit more breakfast friendly, but it’s a great recipe as is, and could be served for dessert as well. I changed the all-purpose flour to a combination of all-purpose and whole wheat pastry flours, and oat bran. And I cut down the sugar to a scant 1 cup. I also bumped up the buttermilk to accommodate the hardier flours and omitted the glaze. The first time I made it, it came out of the pan beautifully, but the second time, part of it stuck and it had to be puzzle-pieced back together again. A quick garnish of powdered sugar, with a tiny bouquet of roses, lavender, and mint in the center, fixed it right up again. With the berries beginning to ripen here in Seattle, I’ll be sure to make this again before the season’s over.

This would make a great breakfast with a dollop of yogurt.

Raspberry Breakfast Cake

¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
scant 1 cup sugar
Zest from 1 orange, or 2 limes or lemons
1 Tablespoon vanilla
3 eggs at room temperature
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
½ cup oat bran
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
scant 1 cup buttermilk

12 ounces frozen raspberries
1 tablespoon flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on high speed. Add zest and vanilla. One at a time, beat in eggs.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flours, oat bran, baking powder and salt.

On the lowest speed of the mixer, gently add 1/3 of the buttermilk, ½ of the flour mixture, 1/3 of the buttermilk, ½ of the flour mixture, 1/3 of the buttermilk. (Begin and end with the buttermilk and scrape down the mixer after each addition.)

Separately, stir together berries and 1 tablespoon flour. By hand, stir berries into batter.

Transfer batter to well-greased and sugared Bundt pan. Bake for 60 – 75 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool 30 minutes, gently turn onto serving plate. Let cool another 30 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

Serves 12

SuperFood Pumpkin Muffins

I don’t know if it will change our lives, but it certainly couldn’t hurt. The couple for whom I cook decided to take on some of the nutritional advise of Dr. Steven Pratt and Kathy Matthews, authors of SuperFoods Rx, 14 foods that will change your life. So they passed along the book so I could check it out. Right on the back cover is a list of the 14 foods, all but one of which I use regularly. (Walnuts are out because of a nut intolerance.) Right away, I found the book appealing, since the recommended foods are ones that are easy to incorporate into my menu planning. I was glad they hadn’t decided on a raw food diet, or to become vegan, or to do weekly cleansing fasts that would put me out of a job! No, the request was easy, since I am already using the SuperFoods without knowing how super they are. So before I go any further, I should list the 14 foods…

• Beans
• Blueberries
• Broccoli
• Oats
• Oranges
• Pumpkin
• Salmon (wild Pacific)
• Soy
• Spinach
• Tea
• Tomatoes
• Turkey
• Walnuts

No wild Amazon fruits, endangered species, or things that must be foraged-  the list is pretty darned straight forward, containing nothing that an average grocer wouldn’t carry. Now I must admit, I haven’t read the whole book yet, but I do think Dr. Pratt is on to something. He uses all of the food science and technology available at this point, to analyze foods from a macro and micronutrient level, concentrating on the beneficial properties of each of the 14 foods and their “sidekicks” (foods that have similar nutritional values). The book also contains recipes that look appetizing, but I haven’t tried any of them yet. I have, however, worked SuperFood ingredients into some of the recipes I’ve been working on.

Pumpkin Muffins are a family favorite (Baby W asks for them by name, Muh Muh Muh!) so I thought I’d start with developing a pumpkin muffin recipe that incorporates many of the SuperFoods. I get annoyed with pumpkin recipes that don’t use the whole can of pumpkin, so I scaled my recipe to use the entire can. It makes almost 2 dozen muffins but if that is too many, you can freeze some. I suppose you could freeze canned pumpkin as well, but frozen muffins are more likely to get eaten than frozen pumpkin. The only part of the recipe that I don’t feel is super healthy is the 1 cup of brown sugar. I like the texture and taste of these with the sugar but you could cut it back some or use part honey. The recipe does make a lot of muffins, though, so 1 cup of sugar isn’t terrible, nutrition wise. And look at me, I eat brownies for breakfast so who am I to pass nutritional judgements! They taste good.

SuperFood Pumpkin Muffins

1 ¾ cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 ½ cups oat bran
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 can of pumpkin
¼ cup canola oil
1 cup milk or soy milk
1 cup toasted walnuts (optional)
1 ½ cups dried blueberries or cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 muffin tins with paper liners or spray with non-stick spray.
Combine the dry ingredients (pastry flour through salt) in a large bowl and whisk to combine. In a medium bowl, mix the sugar though the milk and whisk to blend. Stir in the walnuts and blueberries. Now fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir gently and only mix until the two mixtures are incorporated. Scoop the batter into the prepared pans (I use an old fashioned ice cream scoop) filling them about 2/3 of the way full. You should have between 22 and 24. Bake for about 16 to 18 minutes or until the tops spring back when touched. You may need to rotate the pans top to bottom and back to front as they bake. Cool on a wire rack.

You could also use frozen blueberries or fresh blueberries. If using fresh or frozen, fold them in after combining the wet and dry ingredients, being careful not to break the berries. They will take longer to cook if you use frozen berries. I like the dried berries because they are less messy to eat, and Muh Muh Muh is a messy eater. Once the neighbor’s berries come in, though, I’ll start using fresh blueberries.

Makes about 2 dozen muffins. They freeze well.

Weekend Griddle Cakes

Who ever started a bad weekend with good pancakes? It just doesn’t happen. From multigrain buttermilk pancakes on Saturday morning, to the 10 pm bowl of Cherry Garcia Monday night, it’s been a memorable Memorial Day weekend.

Somehow this year, my friends and I just forgot to make plans for the weekend. A collective inertia overcame us all as we fumbled through our organizing. And in typical Northwest fashion, the weather didn’t cooperate with our already flaky arrangements. But I have to admit, this was one of the best weekends I’ve had in a long time.

As usual there was much to be done at Casa Kat but I vowed to get away this weekend, even if it meant stringing together half made plans and impromptu outings. Which, incidentally, was exactly what happened. The Brown Trouts (my ultimate Frisbee team) threw together a amazing barbecue, guided by the ultimate host, our captain, Chewy. Sunday morning’s deluge cancelled our road trip plans, so the day was spent playing Goaltimate (like ultimate but with a rainbow shaped goal) and checking out the Folklife Festival scene at the Seattle Center. And finally, with a promise of better weather, a couple of friends and I headed off to Mt. St. Helens for some hiking. The crater was still shrouded in clouds so we opted for some subterranean hiking in Ape Cave, a mile long lava tube that was formed several thousand years ago and discovered in the 50’s (almost the hard way!) by a farmer on his tractor. It was a fascinating scramble through a drippy black cave. I had an inkling of how Jonah might have felt, as we tunneled through the bowels of the mountain. A lovely dinner, and a toss around of the Frisbee in the evening light on the Olympia waterfront capped off the weekend perfectly.

These griddle cakes make great weekend fare. They are delicious with strawberries this time of year, or with whatever fruit is in season- berries, summer fruit, or sauteed apples or pears.

Multi-grain Griddle Cakes with Maple and Strawberries

1 ½ cups stone ground whole wheat flour
¼ cup oat bran
¼ cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons honey
2 large eggs
2 ½ cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup butter, melted

Sliced fresh strawberries
Maple syrup

Combine the dry ingredients from the flour to the salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk to blend. In another mixing bowl, blend the honey through the melted butter. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir gently until blended. Preheat the griddle to about 375 degrees and when hot, spray with canola oil spray. Pour batter onto the griddle using a quarter cup measure. When bubbles appear on the tops of the cakes and the bottoms are nicely browned, flip them to finish cooking the other side. Top with strawberries and maple syrup and have a great weekend :)

Makes about 16 griddlecakes.

Dinner Pancakes

Pancakes for dinner! What could be a better follow-up to brownies for breakfast?

I’ll have to admit, I’m in a side dish rut. And I’m a true appreciator of side dishes. For me, the measure of a great restaurant meal is often what comes along side the protein, rather than the protein itself. I like vegetable sides to be fresh, seasonal, and minimally prepared, but I have no opposition to finessing the carbs. And upon perusal of my rather large cookbook collection, I came across a book on pancakes that has some great savory recipes. (Pancakes: From Morning to Midnight by Dorie Greenspan) And so it went that I decided to make pancakes for dinner.

There is nothing particularly revolutionary about the pancake for dinner- think potato pancakes, applesauce, and roasted meat. Very traditional, and always delicious. I was thinking of barbecuing salmon for dinner so I thought about the natural flavor pairings of dill and sour cream. And voila, a recipe for a sour cream pancake with dill. I make a few changes on the recipe, adding lemon zest to compliment the fish, and whole wheat pastry flour to improve the nutritional value. My original plan was to slow roast the salmon on the grill, on a cedar plank, but was foiled in that attempt by bad weather and amazingly expensive salmon. You’d think the Copper River flowed gold. So for about 1/10th of the price, the fish guy at Whole Foods recommended the sand dabs. A bargain at $3.99 since there is almost no waste and the fish are lovely and mild. But that’s another story! Back to the pancakes…

These pancakes are great as a dinner side but would also make a fabulous brunch, especially if served with lox, sliced tomatoes, red onions… you get the picture. They also can be made very small and used as appetizers with a dabble of sour cream, a slice of smoked salmon and a sprig of dill.

Sour Cream Pancakes with Dill and Lemon

½ cup flour
½ cup whole wheat pastry flour (or another ½ cup all-purpose)
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
¾ cup milk (plus a tad more if batter is too thick)
½ cup sour cream
1 large egg
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 shallot, minced
Grated zest of ½ lemon (more if you’d like)
¼ cup dill, chopped

In a medium bowl whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pepper. In another bowl, whisk the milk, sour cream, egg, and butter. Add the shallot, lemon zest, and dill.
Preheat your griddle to 350 to 400 degrees.
Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until just combined. Don’t worry if it’s lumpy. If it’s too thick to drop nicely onto the griddle, add a touch more milk.
Spray the griddle with non-stick spray and spoon ¼ cup batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Smooth the batter into nice rounds. With the bottoms are golden brown, flip the cakes and cook the other side until they are light brown as well.

Makes about 12 medium sized cakes, enough for 3 people, generously.

Breakfast Brownie

The great thing about being an adult is that you get to eat whatever you want. I don’t have to finish my broccoli, eat two more bites of chicken, or at least taste the split pea soup. And if I really want to, I can eat brownies for breakfast. And the truth is, there is little that tastes better in the morning with a cup of strong coffee than a brownie. And indeed, that’s what I’m having right now. Just one.

We all are at liberty to make our own choices about food. I try to buy organic and seasonal, I avoid trans fats, and only occasionally do I eat brownies for breakfast. Living in Seattle makes  these choices easy to accommodate. We are blessed with farmer’s markets, great natural foods stores, organic bakeries, community supported agriculture programs, and a populace who is willing to support them. I’d have a hard time giving up all of that good food freedom.

Poor Nick, my boyfriend who is deployed right now with the Marine Corps, for he has little freedom of choice about the foods he is eating. A choice between overcooked, canned corn, beans, or peas isn’t really a choice I’d like to be making. If you think about it, the choice of what foods you put into your body is one of the most important and personal of all choices. And it seems so very wrong to me to not be given the option of choosing a healthy diet- it’s like saying that I’m not important enough to fuel properly. And rather ironically, fuel is the root of the conflict for which Nick and so many other Americans are risking their lives. Most people pay more attention to what they are putting into their vehicles than what they are putting into their bodies. And perhaps a brownie for breakfast seems an irresponsible choice, but one brownie breakfast, once in a while is my choice to make.

And if it’s going to be a brownie, it’s going to be a good one. This recipe is adapted from the one on the Cook’s Illustrated website.

Chocolate x 3 Brownies

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I like Callebaut)
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped 
½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into quarters 
3 tablespoons cocoa powder (I like Dutch processed cocoa)
3 large eggs   
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar   
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract   
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt   
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour 
1 cup toasted nuts, chopped (I used sliced almonds)

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13-inch rectangular brownie pan with nonstick vegetable cooking spray. Line it with a piece of parchment folded in half to cover the bottom and two of the sides of the pan. It should fit perfectly across the width of the pan. Spray parchment with nonstick cooking spray.

In medium microwavable bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. Stir in the chocolates and microwave at 50% power for about 2 minutes or until chocolates are melted. Stir occasionally until mixture is smooth. Whisk in cocoa until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.

Whisk together eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in medium bowl until combined, about 15 seconds. Whisk warm chocolate mixture into egg mixture; then stir in flour and nuts with a rubber spatula until just combined. Pour mixture into prepared pan, spread into corners, and level surface.

Bake until slightly puffed and toothpick inserted in center comes out with a small amount of sticky crumbs clinging to it, 18 to 24 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, about 1 hour, then remove brownies from pan by sliding them out with the parchment paper as a handle. You may need to loosen the short sides of the pan by running a knife along the edge. Cut into squares and serve. (Do not cut brownies until ready to serve; brownies can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated up to 5 days.) 

Makes one 9 x 13 inch tray of brownies.

The Wisdom of Pearls

It’s a texture thing. You either love it or you hate it. I haven’t met too many people who are indifferent to tapioca. I find the texture appealing, the swirl of tiny little jellied pearls over my tongue. To those who find tapioca less alluring, the mouth feel resembles something more akin to tiny fish eyes or the salmon eggs that are pressed into little jars and dyed pink for bait. Even though eating tapioca pudding is largely a tactile experience, there’s no reason it can’t be a delicious one too.

I’ve been experimenting with all sorts of flavor combos for sweet tapioca puddings. It’s such a fun food to play with since there are so many possibilities for varying the taste. Tapioca pudding, in its simplest form, has few ingredients. Tapioca pearls, which are tasteless, provide the texture and thickening agent for the pudding. Sugar, of course, provides the sweetness. You can vary the sugar flavor by using dark or light brown sugars, or any of the fancy new sugars on the baking aisle. Eggs, another essential ingredient, provide thickening power, nutrition, and if you separate the whites and whip them separately, they provide an airy texture as well. Milk and water make up the liquid portion of the pudding and they set up into a custard sort of consistency. I have varied the milk to make lactose-free versions by using soy milk or a combination of light coconut milk and soy milk. And then the flavoring agents provide the greatest room for creativity as far as creating interesting new puddings. Traditional flavorings include vanilla, lemon zest, cinnamon, and nutmeg. But the possibilities are endless! You can make herbal infusions (mint, lemon verbena, anise hyssop) in the milk, or use aromatics like ginger or lemongrass. Any dried fruits are great additions, like raisins, cranberries, blueberries, or cherries. Splashes of liquors are fun- Frangelico, Limoncello, spiced rum or bourbon. Citrus zest of any color adds zing. Toasted nuts or coconut add another layer of texture and flavor. Unsweetened cocoa powder can be stirred into the tapioca as it cooks for chocolate tapioca pudding. Tea could be used instead of water- a jasmine green tea and ginger pudding would be lovely! Fruits can be added either raw, like strawberries, or cooked, like sautéed apples. And you can layer tapioca with fruit purees to make beautiful parfaits. With the resurgence of comfort foods to the American culinary scene, I’m surprised tapioca pudding isn’t on more restaurant menus. Perhaps it’s a hard sell, but I doubt you’ll be disappointed with this recipe. I’ve made tapioca lovers out of many suspicious souls.

I use Bob’s Red Mill brand of small tapioca pearls. It comes in 24 ounce bags. The recipe on the back is great! This is that recipe with a few minor changes…

Old Fashioned Tapioca Pudding
1/3 cup small pearl tapioca
¾ cup water
2 ¼ cups milk, or soy milk
¼ teaspoon salt
2 eggs, separated
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
Zest of one lemon or orange

Soak tapioca in water for 30 minutes in a medium saucepan. Add milk, salt, and egg yolks and whisk to blend. Over medium heat, continue to stir the mixture until it comes to a boil. Turn the heat all the way down and cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until tapioca softens. Meanwhile, beat the egg whites until they are foamy, add the sugar gradually and beat until soft peaks form. Fold in about ¾ cup of the hot tapioca mixture to the egg whites to temper them and then fold the egg whites back into the tapioca in the saucepan. Whisk over medium heat for 3 minutes. Cool for about 10 minutes and then add the vanilla and citrus zest. Serve warm or chilled.

See above for some variations. Makes 3 1/2 cups.

Seis de Mayo

I guess I was too tired from doing Cinco de Mayo to write about Cinco de Mayo yesterday. It was a long day. This year the proximity of Cinco de Mayo to the immigration protests, in which the Mexican community has been extremely active, made me think a little more about the contribution of the Latino culture to our food culture here in the Northwest. There is no link in the chain of food distribution in America that is untouched by Mexican hands. And here in the Northwest, we are especially dependent on migratory labor because so much of what makes Washington’s economy strong comes from the sweat and demanding physical work of Mexican immigrants. Washington is one of the few states with a trade surplus with China- we are still an economy of production rather than consumption. On Tuesday at Whole Foods there were no bakery products from Essential Baking Company (my favorite Seattle bread bakers), likely due to the absence of workers on Monday, the day of the protest. No immigrant labor, no bread. And that’s about the sum of it.

So yesterday, I wanted to make something different, and more traditional for our Cinco de Mayo dinner. I went to Zarela Martinez’ cookbook Food from my Heart, which is a fun, if unorganized, cookbook and memoir of Mexican food and culture. I chose a recipe called Alcaparrado de Pollo, which is a traditional Oaxacan chicken dish with a sauce of capers, toasted pepitas, saffron, and aromatic spices. The chicken was supposed to be browned and then baked in the sauce, but at the end of the recipe a note mentioned that the sauce was also a great accompaniment to grilled fish, so I thought I’d grill the chicken instead of baking it, since it was such a lovely day.
 
I won’t bore you with the details of the recipe, since it was actually rather disappointing as written, but I did some heavy doctoring and it turned out quite nicely. The capers had made the sauce extremely salty, so I thinned it with more chicken stock, added some unsalted almond butter, some dark brown sugar, and some lime juice, which mellowed the sauce considerably. I served it with an Arroz Verde made with some garden greens and cilantro, and a little salad of roasted corn, black beans, and grape tomatoes. I had made a salad as well of grapefruit, oranges, and jicama but forgot to serve it. Note to self, margaritas are best enjoyed AFTER work.

This recipe, without any doctoring, came out splendidly the first time. I had seen something similar in a magazine, which of course I didn’t bring to work, so I just made this one up on the fly.

Piñagaritas

¼ of a pineapple, pared, cored, and sliced
5 ounces tequila (I used Hornitos)
5 ounces triple sec
½ cup lime and lemon juice, mixed (in whatever ratio you have on hand- do use real juice, though, and not the kind that comes in the plastic fruit)
½ cup margarita mix
Ice
Kosher salt and pineapple wedges, for garnish (leave the rind on these- it looks prettier)
4 large margarita glasses

Put all of the ingredients in a blender, except for the ice. Blend to puree the pineapple. Then add ice to the blender (1/2 way for not too slushy drinks, all the way if you like them slushy) and blend again until the ice is smoothly chopped. Run a wedge of pineapple on the rim of a margarita glass and dip the wet rim in a plate lightly covered in kosher salt. Pour the drink in the glass and garnish with the pineapple wedge. Repeat 3 more times.

Salud!

The Oatmeal Union-Tribune

With 10 hours between us, Nick and I are on almost opposite schedules. The sun’s going down as he’s floating with the Marine Corps on a Navy ship somewhere in the Persian Gulf, while I’m eating oatmeal for breakfast here in Seattle. The highlight of my morning is reading the email from Nick which was written while I slept. He calls it the Oatmeal Union-Tribune.

I’ve been buying organic instant oatmeal in the paper envelopes and then embellishing it with all sorts of goodies, like dried fruit, nuts, and maple syrup. Getting low on my stash (which had come from Costco, believe it or not), I asked Gretchen to pick up another box on one of her many Costco runs. She didn’t find the envelopes but did find organic instant oats in little paper cups, with a foldable spoon tucked neatly inside. My roommate, who travels a ton, thought this a great alternative to airplane breakfasts, but for me at home, it seems wasteful and extremely expensive at $1.00 per serving. It’s still oatmeal, for gosh sake, which runs around 89 cents a pound at Whole Foods, for the organic stuff! So I decided to make my own oatmeal blend and to leave Costco out of the mix.

Organic instant oatmeal proved elusive. I did find a 16 ounce carton of instant oatmeal at Larry’s for under three dollars, (Old Wessex brand) but I’m still on the lookout for organic. So with the addition of some dried fruit, nuts, and flax seed meal from Trader Joes, and some soy protein powder from the bulk section of Whole Foods, I came up with my own blend o’ breakfast cereal, that’s pretty darned delicious, and very healthful.

I drizzle this with a bit of organic grade B maple syrup after steeping the oats in the boiling water.

Union-Tribune Oatmeal

16 ounces instant oatmeal
3 ounces dried cranberries
6 ounces raisins
¼ pound toasted chopped nuts (I used pecans and sliced almonds)
½ cup flax seed meal
½ cup soy protein powder
1 teaspoon salt

Mix everything together and store it in a sealed container. If you’re not going to use it right away, freezing a portion is probably a good idea.

Recipe for One Serving:

½ cup oatmeal mixture
¾ cup boiling water

Stir together in a bowl and cover with a small plate for a few minutes for the oatmeal to get soft. Drizzle with maple syrup and enjoy!

Other good ideas for additions:

Dried apples and cinnamon
Toasted coconut
Other dried fruits like mango, currants, dates, plums, blueberries, cherries, etc.
Pepitas (toasted pumpkin seeds)

Ricotta Salata Frittata

Ricotta Salata Frittata. It’s so much fun to say. I could have chosen just about any cheese to top the frittata I included in this morning’s Mother’s Day Brunch class, but I couldn’t resist the combination of words.

When I was planning the recipes for the class, I had intended to include a savory tart that could also be made into tartlets for an afternoon tea. But I thought about what my mother does when confronted with a deliciously flaky pie crust. She eats around it. Too fattening. And as if the butter pastry crust doesn’t add enough fat calories to the tart, the cream or half & half added to the egg custard piles on another not so healthy dose. Would moms enjoy a savory tart? Most likely. Would they make one at home? Not likely. And why do people take cooking classes, but to learn techniques that they can take home to embellish their culinary repertoires. And for entertainment, of course. The savory tart was definitely out.

In came the frittata, the thick, Italian omelet that can change with the seasons, and that has no crust and no custard, just eggs, beautiful vegetables, fresh herbs, and a sprinkling of cheese. Truly any vegetable, once it’s been cooked, can be added to a frittata, as well as meats, and cheese. For the spring, I chose leeks and asparagus. It just as easily could have been fava beans, artichokes, and spinach, or shell peas, smoked bacon, and chèvre. And besides being amazingly versatile, the frittata can be made ahead and served at any temperature- piping hot from the oven or at room temperature with a salad. It can be made thickly as a pie like dinner dish, or thinner as a sandwich filling. It can be cut into small squares and garnished for an appetizer. My sister is a vegetarian and she makes frittatas for dinner in countless creative ways. Fridge frittata. Just use what you got-ta.

Asparagus, Leek, and Ricotta Salata Frittata

This recipe can be adapted to the changing seasons by adding whichever cooked vegetables are fresh and seasonal. Just make sure to precook the veggies before adding them to the egg mixture.

Ingredients:
1 ½ pounds asparagus, washed and cut into 1 inch pieces (compost the woody ends)
3 leeks, split down the middle, washed well, and sliced thinly
4 Tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt + more for vegetables
Freshly ground pepper
¼ cup fresh herbs (mix of parsley, thyme, and lemon thyme)
10 large eggs
2 ounces of crumbled ricotta salata cheese

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Next to the stove, prepare a large bowl of ice water. This will be for shocking the asparagus to stop the cooking process. Bring a medium sized pot of water to a boil on high heat. Salt the water generously when it comes to a boil. Add the asparagus and cook very briefly until it turns bright green. With a slotted spoon or strainer, scoop the asparagus from the boiling water and place it into the ice water. Let cool, drain, and set aside.

Preheat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a 10 inch cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the leeks and a shake of salt and cook until the leeks become soft. Try not to burn the edges. Scrape cooked leeks into a bowl and set aside. Wipe out the skillet with a paper towel.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, the salt and pepper, and the fresh herbs. Stir in the leeks and asparagus.

Put the cast iron skillet back on the burner on medium high with the other 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Heat until hot but not smoking. Add the egg mixture and distribute the vegetables with a heat proof rubber spatula. Sprinkle the cheese on top, or if you prefer, add the cheese as a topping after baking. Let cook for a few minutes to set the bottom and then pop the whole thing into the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes or until firm and puffed on top. Allow the frittata to cool slightly before you try to slice it. This is just as yummy at room temperature.

Makes one 10-inch frittata.

Alternate method for appetizers or tea:

Instead of doing some of the cooking on the stove top and finishing the frittata in the oven, you can simply pour the filling into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan and bake it that way. (A larger pan will make a thinner frittata.) Once the frittata is baked, you can cut it into triangles or if you want to get really fancy, use a small round biscuit cutter to make bite-sized circles.

To decorate, you can add thin strips of roasted pepper and crumbled cheese. (Put the cheese on after baking.)