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.

The Pound Cake Test

I felt very official when the email arrived--  I was sent a recipe to test for Cook's Illustrated Magazine. Although anyone with a subscription to their website can participate in the testing program, I was excited to be chosen to actually do it. So just at the height of our short lived heat wave here in Seattle, I received a recipe for a pound cake that needed to bake for 60 to 70 minutes. I had figured I would test the recipes at work, where there are always willing tasters of sweets. The 3 year old there usually cuts right to the chase. “What are you making for dessert?” she asks, not seeming to care what sort of meal she needs to slog through before it. But I couldn’t bear to run the oven in their already overheated kitchen, so I decided to do my recipe testing at home, at night. Gretchen came over to help and she made brownies to send to Nick in Kuwait, while I worked on the pound cake.

As a cook, I tend to use a recipe as a guideline, adding and subtracting as I see fit, and measuring by eye rather than by cup and spoon. As a baker, however, I am much more precise, although still one to improvise within the parameters that I know will work. So as an official C.I. Recipe Tester, I had to be on my best behavior. First I read the recipe thoroughly (a novel idea) and then assembled my ingredients. I also read through the evaluation sheet so I would know what kinds of questions I’d have to answer about the final product. And so I began, carefully measuring and mixing, according to the instructions. I weighed some ingredients and measured others with a cup. Having the ingredients at the right temperature is key to getting the proper texture, so I even measured those with a metal stem thermometer from the health department. My only deviation was that I forgot to keep track of the exact active preparation time, but I figured the assembly took about a half of an hour, which is really pretty quick for a cake.

And the results? It turned out splendidly. It had a fine crumb that was dense but light in texture. The flavor was buttery with just a hint of vanilla. And if the recipe didn’t take an hour to bake, I would say that it is the perfect accompaniment to summer berries.

I brought some of the pound cake to work the following day for my official tasters to try. Coincidentally, they were looking for a good pound cake recipe to add chocolate chips to for a special birthday. We looked the Best Recipe cookbook by Cook’s Illustrated, and to my surprise, there was the recipe I “tested,” in print, for everyone to make. Now I would never scoop Cook’s Illustrated on a new recipe that they would be working on and sharing with their magazine readers, but since the recipe I tested is the one from their book, I thought I’d pass it along. Make this at midnight in the cool of your summer kitchen.

Cook’s Illustrated Classic Pound Cake

1 cup unsalted butter  (2 sticks), softened (8 ounces) 
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar  (9 ounces) 
3 large eggs  (5.25 ounces, without the shells) 
3 large egg yolks  (2 ounces) 
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract   
1 ½ teaspoons water   
½ teaspoon table salt   
1 ½  cups cake flour  (6 ounces) 
 
Adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9-by-5-by-3 1/2-inch loaf pan (7 1/2-inch capacity) with vegetable shortening or spray. Line the bottom and sides of pan with parchment paper or foil.

Beat butter in bowl of electric mixer set at medium-high speed until smooth and shiny, about 15 seconds. With machine still on, take about 30 seconds to sprinkle in sugar. Beat mixture until light, fluffy and almost white, 4 to 5 minutes, stopping mixer once or twice to scrape down sides of bowl.

Mix eggs, yolks, vanilla and water in a 2 cup glass measure with a pour spout, set in a pan of tepid water until mixture is about 70 degrees. With mixer set at medium-high speed, take 3 to 5 minutes to add egg mixture to butter/sugar mixture in a very slow, thin stream. Finally, beat in salt.

Remove bowl from mixer stand. Turn 1/2 cup flour into sieve or shaker; sprinkle it over batter. Fold gently with rubber spatula, scraping up from bottom of the bowl, until flour is incorporated. Repeat twice more, adding flour in 1/2-cup increments.

Scrape batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with a spatula or wooden spoon. Bake until cake needle or tester inserted into crack running along top comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes. Let cake rest in pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto wire rack. Place second wire rack on cake bottom, then turn cake top side up. Cool to room temperature, remove and discard parchment, wrap cake in plastic, then in foil. Store cake at room temperature.

Serves about 10.

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.

Drawer War

Time spent in the kitchen is time well spent. But time spent looking for things in the kitchen, opening drawers and digging, only serves to frustrate. I spend so much time searching that I forget what it is that I’m looking for. Yesterday, the family for whom I cook was out of town, so I spent the entire day cleaning out cupboards and organizing drawers. It was a long, rewarding day, and this is how it went.

• Step One:
  First I went to Storables. I didn’t have measurements of the drawers I wanted to organize, which would have been helpful, but I did have a sense of the size of the items that needed new homes. I prefer to buy individual organizing pieces rather than whole drawer units, so that I can be more flexible with the design. Also, if you manage to drop a dollop of dough or a spoonful of syrup into one of the organizers, you can remove just that one and toss it in the dishwasher. And that ease of cleaning is why I like plastic rather than wood. You can always buy more pieces than you think you’ll need and then simply return the unused ones. But somehow I always find a use for everything. If you’re on a budget, well-stocked Dollar Stores often have plastic baskets for organizing. They’re not as sturdy but if you’re not abusing them, they work just fine. Also buy some of the grippy drawer liner that will keep your organizers in place.
• Step Two:
  Take everything out of the drawers you’d like to organize and sort the pieces on the counter, putting like things together.
• Step Three:
  Vacuum out the drawers and wipe them clean.
• Step Four:
  Line the drawers with grippy drawer liner to keep your organizers in place.
• Step Five:
  This is the most important step… only put back the things you use often. If you don’t use it get rid of it! If you use it only occasionally, put it somewhere else. I have baskets on the top of my cupboards for stuff I rarely use but don’t want to get rid of.
• Step Six:
  Fit the organizers into your drawers. I like to put them in the middle of the drawers so that I create places to store long tools on the sides. That way you’re not having to buy long and narrow organizing pieces, which will save you money. Put the items you use most in the front and lesser used items towards the back. Put similar tools together. I like to put sharp things all in one organizer just to be safe. Knives go in the block or on the wall magnet, but there are still things like peelers, pizza cutters, cheese knives, etc. that can be sharp and need a place of their own. Try different configurations to get the look and fit that you’re after. Place your tools back in the drawer.
• Step Seven:
  Admire your work, call for a pizza, and have a glass of wine to celebrate.

You can do cupboards, the refrigerator and freezer, the pantry. And if you’re not the only one putting things away, it can be helpful to put labels on bins and shelves to get everyone on the same page of the organizational book. Every once in a while you have to take a break from cooking and reestablish that love relationship with your kitchen. Put on some old clothes and good music and have fun getting organized. 

Why the Y?

Why the Y? It’s taken me years to come up with the answer to that question. When I worked for Sea Education Association some years back now, my compadre in the galley (Erik, now owner of Pie in the Sky Bakery in Woods Hole) campaigned on behalf of his little Swiss Y-peeler. And me, I was believer in the OXO Good Grips peeler. We volleyed attributes of the two styles of peelers, each trying to convince the other that ours was the peeler to stay, as if someone were going to throw one or the other overboard at the end of our debate. The good thing about our difference of opinion was that he was never using my peeler and I never used his. It seemed like a good arrangement.

Quite a few years later, when I had quite forgotten about the Y-peeler, entered Chef Drew, another Y-believer. I just didn’t get it. Indeed the peeler was sharp, but you would think those Swiss, who make such precision time keeping instruments, could design a peeler that didn’t rust in the dishwasher. I actually bought one for Drew to keep in my kitchen, since we cooked together often, but I never used the thing. I did like watching Chef Drew’s nimble hands working the peeler, and I softened to the idea that perhaps, it might be a worthwhile addition to my toolbox. Drew still prefers the lithe little Swiss peeler, and thinks anything made my OXO is chunky and awkward, but when OXO came out with a Y-peeler, I tossed my little Swiss one in the Goodwill box and replaced it with the big, chunky, and comfortable grip of the OXO. Ahh, much better.

So of course, now that I own the darned thing, I use it all the time. I find it useful for slicing cheese for panini, and making carrot and cucumber ribbons for salads. Since I hold and use a regular peeler like I use a paring knife, I was a little uncoordinated with the Y-peeler at first, but indeed, it’s a good tool for the price and it takes so little room in the drawer, it’s a keeper.

Green Bean & Carrot Ribbon Salad with Thai Style Vinaigrette

2 Tablespoons lime juice   
2 Tablespoons fish sauce   
2 teaspoons granulated sugar   
1 small clove garlic , minced or pressed
1 small red jalapeño chile , minced  (green if you can’t find red)
2 medium carrots , peeled of skin and then peeled into ribbons
1 Tablespoon peanut oil or vegetable oil 
1 pound green beans, blanched and shocked in cold water
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves, or a combination of mint and basil
1/3 cup chopped roasted, salted peanuts
1 avocado, a few cherry tomatoes, and some slivers of red cabbage, for garnish

Whisk lime juice, fish sauce, 2 tablespoons water, sugar, garlic, and jalapeño in medium bowl until sugar dissolves. Reserve half in large bowl; toss carrots with remaining dressing and set aside. Toss blanched and shocked green beans with the other half of the dressing. Toss half the mint into each bowl and stir to blend.

To assemble the salad, arrange the green beans on a platter and using tongs, top with the carrots. Arrange the garnishes around the beans and carrots and drizzle with the dressing that is left in the bowl. Sprinkle with the peanuts and serve.

Serves 4.

2 for 1 Ginger Desserts

It’s Sugar High Friday and the theme today is Ginger! I was scrolling through my imagination to think of ginger desserts that I love. I couldn’t come up with one single ginger dessert that I don’t love! Gingersnaps, gingerbread, ginger anything appeals to me, in both sweet and savory styles. And the dessert ingredients that accompany ginger are some of my favorites as well- apples, pears, baking spices, and molasses. Somehow those deep, dark, homey comfort desserts never fail to entice me. I’d choose gingerbread over any cake any day.

But since this was a special event, I wanted to make something a little more interesting than basic gingerbread, so I decided to combine two of my favorite old fashioned desserts into one very delicious Pineapple Upside Down Gingerbread. Whole Foods has had pineapples on sale all week and they’ve been really delicious, which inspired me to include them in my dessert. Just a quick little aside about choosing pineapples- I look for ones with good golden color that shows through the brown of the rind. (In between the diamond like shapes on the skin.) I feel it- it should give slightly when you squeeze it but it shouldn’t have any soft spots. Then I smell it. It should smell like, well, like a pineapple. I’ve heard that if leaves pull out easily from the center of the top of the pineapple, it’s ripe, but I haven’t found that a reliable method. Look, touch, smell, buy. It works for me.

So I started with two recipes from Cooks Illustrated that I combined into one- a gingerbread recipe and a pineapple upside down cake recipe. And I think this dessert is better than the sum of its parts…

Pineapple Upside Down Gingerbread

The Pineapple Topping (which would be delicious over ice cream)

1 medium fresh pineapple (about 4 cups prepared fruit) peeled, cored, and made into small chunks
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger (Microplane grater works great here)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter   
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract   

For the pineapple topping: Combine pineapple, brown sugar, and ginger in 10-inch cast iron skillet; cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally during first 5 minutes, until pineapple is translucent and has light brown hue, another 6-7 minutes. Empty fruit and juices into mesh strainer or colander set over medium bowl. Return juices to skillet, leaving pineapple in strainer (you should have about 2 cups cooked fruit). Simmer juices over medium heat until thickened, beginning to darken, and mixture forms large bubbles, 6 to 8 minutes, adding any more juices released by fruit to skillet after about 4 minutes. Off heat, whisk in butter and vanilla; let the syrup cool in the pan. Set aside while preparing cake. (Pineapple will continue to release liquid as it sits; do not add this liquid to already-reduced juice mixture.)

The Gingerbread (which is great on its own as well)

2 ¼ cups sifted unbleached flour
½ teaspoon baking soda   
½ teaspoon table salt   
2 teaspoons ground ginger or 3 Tablespoons fresh ginger, minced or grated
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon   
½ teaspoon ground cloves   
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg   
½ teaspoon ground allspice   
1 teaspoon Dutch-processed cocoa powder   
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick)  melted, then cooled to room temperature 
3/4 cup molasses   
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg   
1 cup buttermilk   
 
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and cocoa in medium bowl.

Beat butter, molasses, and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until combined. Beat in egg until incorporated. Gradually add buttermilk until combined.

Add dry ingredients to liquid; beat on low speed until batter is smooth, about 1 minute, scraping down sides of bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Do not over-mix. If using fresh ginger, batter will be lumpy.

Add pineapple to the caramel in the skillet and distribute the chunks evenly. Scrape batter over the pineapple spreading it to the sides. I found that the caramel oozed a bit from the skillet, so put the skilled onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Place in the center of the preheated oven.

Bake until top springs back when lightly touched, and edges have pulled away from the pan sides, about 35- 40 minutes. Set pan on wire cake rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Place a serving plate over the top of the skillet and invert onto the serving plate. Replace any pineapple that may have stuck to the skillet. Serve warm, or at room temperature. (Gingerbread can be wrapped in plastic, then foil, and refrigerated up to 5 days.)

Serves 8 to 10.

Not Just a Dab

They’re small. You’ll need more than a dab. You might want a couple of dabs, and I’d recommend them pan fried. Sand Dabs that is. After deciding that a pound of salmon should cost LESS than an entire tank full of gas, I asked the fish guy at Whole Foods for another recommendation. He asked if I had tried the sand dabs. I remember eating sand dabs as a kid on the California Coast, but I hadn’t ever cooked them. And at $3.99 a pound, I considered filling my car with them. Sold.

So, as I do whenever I experiment with new seafood, I checked into both the environmental and health concerns about the little dabs. They seem to be abundant off of the West Coast and they are caught by a method called Danish Seine netting which is supposed to be very targeted, preventing by-catch, and habitat damage. Good news there. And as for the health concerns of mercury or toxins, I simply didn’t find any information. I’m going with “no news is good news” on this one, since the little guys are so darned tasty.

So what the heck is a sand dab? Sand dabs are flatfish -- the relatives of flounders, sole, plaice, and turbot. And they are extremely talented. First, they are chameleons. Like a brown dog sleeping in the dirt, they blend into their surroundings. But unlike a brown dog sleeping in the snow, they can change their color to suit their habitat. The other interesting little tidbit about sand dabs is that they are born with one eye on each side of their heads, “bilaterally symmetrical.” (I had to think about that one.) But soon after birth, one eye migrates over to hang out with the other one. So they spend most of their adult lives resting on their sides with their eyes up, blending into the background. I wonder if they turn over to sleep? I actually found some cool sand dab action video. You can check it out if you’re interested. Sand Dabs in Action

As far as eating goes, sand dabs are very mild and sweet. And spring is supposed to be the best season for them. Also, sand dabs that live in actual sand are supposed to be better eating than those that live in mud. “Mud Dabs” just doesn’t have the same appeal.

Since this is such a delicately flavored fish, simple preparation suits it best. A simple pan fry is the way to go.

Panko Crusted Sand Dabs

½ cup flour, seasoned with salt and pepper (taste it!)
1 egg beaten
2 Tablespoons milk or buttermilk
1 pound pan-dressed Sand Dabs
1 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons butter
Lemon wedges

Beat the milk and egg together in a pie plate. Line up three pie plates (or shallow baking pans) with the flour mixture in the first one, the milk mixture in the second and the panko in the third. Dredge each fish in the flour, then dip them into the egg-milk mixture then roll in the panko until thoroughly coated. Place on a parchment covered sheet.

Heat the oil and butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook over a lively but not smoking hot fire for three to four minutes on a side until nicely golden brown on both sides. Serve immediately, accompanied with lemon wedges.

You can quickly de-bone the fish at the table. Insert two forks beneath the upper filet and lift the entire filet away, leaving the bottom filet and the bones in place. Then, remove the skeleton, from the tail end, which should come away in one piece. You’ll have the other filet left on the plate.

This is great with lemon or as I served them, with a simple onion pickle made from thinly sliced red onion left to macerate in white wine vinegar, salt, and sugar until soft and sweet, about an hour.

1 pound feeds 2 to 3 people.

Summer Barbecue Challenge Wrap-up Round Up

Lex Culinaria, a fellow food blogger, put out the call to cyber food junkies for fabulous summer barbecue recipes. So, last weekend I responded with a few blog entries on grilling and was excited to see links to them on her website. I was also excited to see what fabulous recipes and blog sites that other folks submitted. So, not to let a wrap-up go unappreciated, I decided to make five of the recipes at work today. Unfortunately, time got away from me and I didn’t get a chance to make the grilled pita bread (and there was tons of bread in the house already screaming to be grilled) but I did manage to make the other four, and they were all wonderful. Kudos to all who submitted recipes!

The first recipe I made was Helen’s Grilled Asparagus, Tomato, and Feta Salad. Whole Foods didn’t have organic cherry tomatoes today so I opted for Romas which I quartered, seeded, and then sliced lengthwise. I used more olive oil (I’ve never had a delicate hand with the olive oil) and a bit more balsamic vinegar than the recipe called for. I also took Helen’s suggestions of adding some basil, so I did a combination of basil and mint for the dressing. Very delicious indeed!

Also for lunch I made a salad with the Teriyaki Grilled Tempeh from McAuliflower's site.  I have to admit, I fudged a bit on this one because I didn’t want to buy both mirin and sake, and I knew I could make it work with what I had. So I substituted crisp white wine for the sake and dry sherry for the mirin. And since mirin is sweet, I upped the sugar slightly on the sauce. This recipe turned out so nicely I wondered why I don’t cook with tempeh more often! To make this into a salad, I made a simple dressing of rice vinegar and a bit of the warm sauce and tossed it with some spinach and baby Russian kale from the garden. Then I sliced mangos and fanned them on top of the greens. And then above that went the sliced tempeh, a healthy drizzle of the sauce, and a sprinkling of cilantro. Very easy and so tasty. Thanks, McAuliflower, for the recipe, and the reminder that tempeh is delicious.

And of course, to honor the host of the Barbecue Challenge, I made Lex’s recipe for Char Sui Beef Bundles. And to accompany them, I also prepared Haalo’s Grilled Potato Skewers. The people for whom I cook don’t eat much beef so I opted for pork loin that had been butterflied, pounded, and then cut in strips. Trent, my man at Whole Foods, did the butterflying for me but when it came time for pounding, it was naptime at the casa, so I skipped that step. I made the marinade as written except that I left out the Five Spice because, well, because I don’t like it. It was delicious without. I mixed up the marinade with an immersion blender which worked great. For vegetables I chose red bell pepper and snap peas, and instead of tying with green onions, I used big chives. It turned out very nicely but I think I would have preferred to use Lex’s thinly sliced beef. Next time!

And the potatoes. YUM! I chose tiny red creamer potatoes and for seasonings, I went with fennel seeds and a few sage leaves skewered between the potatoes. I didn’t want to go too Mediterranean since the bundles were decidedly Asian. I thought fennel was a nice meet in the middle. I started the bundles in the oven (400 degrees) since it was raining out and then moved them to the grill when I put the bundles on. You could do the whole thing in the oven, in fact, since they cook over indirect heat. I experimented with putting more than one skewer in a bundle, to save on foil, and that worked just fine too. The potatoes were creamy and delicious and the garlic added a nice touch, both for it’s scent and flavor. Next time, I might like to open the bundles and put them over the direct heat, once they’re cooked through. That would provide the nice grill marks and a bit of barbecue flavor as well. No complaints, however- it’s a recipe I’ll surely make again!

Thanks, everyone, for your wonderful input to my day at work! And thank you Lex for your inspiration.

All Grill, All Day

83 degrees in Seattle, in May. The tomatoes are planted, the lettuce seeds are sprouting, the Spanish lavender is blooming, and the grapes vines are taking off. It feels like summer already. I couldn’t resist cooking al fresco today at work, so I prepared my menus almost entirely on the grill. And for me, it was a day to celebrate. We’ve passed the midway point of Nick’s deployment. It’s a downward slide through summer from here, if all goes as planned, and he returns in mid-August. Nick is my boyfriend, who is an officer in the Marine Corps, currently stationed somewhere in the Persian Gulf. I really don’t know where he is or where he is going, since plans seem to change on an hourly basis. And of course, their plans are so top secret even they don’t know where they’re going. Unless they accidentally post the secret plans on their website, which is what happened last time they were doing something interesting. But regardless of where he is, we’re over half way to his homecoming, and that is something to commemorate with a burger.

I never eat fast food and rarely eat pub food, so for me, a burger is celebratory. I usually opt for the healthfulness of a turkey burger, rather than a ground beef one. Turkey burgers can dry out on the grill, but I’ve discovered a few techniques that keep them juicy. I've found that by adding moist ingredients to the ground turkey mixture, and by using dark meat turkey, the burgers come off the grill tender and juicy. And another trick to making sure I get the flavor I’m after--  I make one tiny test patty of the mix, after putting in all of the ingredients, and cook it in a small skillet with some olive oil. That way I can taste for the seasoning level before making up all of the burgers.

I got the idea for these burgers from an old friend of mine, Tim, who used to make Salsa Eggs when we went camping. Perhaps I’ll write about Salsa Eggs one of these days…

Salsa Burgers

2 pounds ground dark meat turkey
½ cup fresh salsa (not the cooked kind), scooped into the measuring cup with a slotted spoon to avoid getting too much liquid
¾ cup finely grated hard cheese, like pecorino or parmesan
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 Tablespoons fresh herbs, if you’d like (cilantro is great here, oregano would be good, as would chives or parsley)

Preheat the grill on medium-high until the temperature reaches about 450. Mix up the ingredients with your hands. I use latex gloves for this. Make one small test patty and cook it over medium-low heat in a skillet, in about a teaspoon of olive oil. Cook both sides, until the meat is cooked through. Taste and adjust the seasonings. More salt? More salsa? Pepper? Put the final touches on your meat mixture and make it into 6 patties about ½ inch thick. When the grill is hot, scrape and oil the grates. Place your patties on the grill, cover, and cook about 5 minutes. Check for browning. If the burgers are browned to your liking, flip them over and do the other side the same way. At this point the burgers might be done inside but most likely they will need to cook a bit more. Place them all on one side of the grill and turn off the heat directly below them. Without the direct heat, they will not burn on the outside. And the heat from the other burner will keep the grill hot. When the burgers reach 160 on an instant read thermometer, they’re ready to go!

Great Accompaniments to the Salsa Burger

Avocado or guacamole
Tomato
Lettuce
Grilled onions
Condiments, including salsa
Cheese, pepper jack would be delicious (you could put this on the burger just before you take it off the grill so the cheese melts)
Toasted buns (put these on the grill a few minutes before the burgers are finished)

Makes 6 big burgers.