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Savory Green Onion “Pancakes”

24 Tuesday Apr 2012

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I couldn’t wait until my usual Sunday blogging day to share this wonderful discovery…a savory pancake!  When I think of pancakes I think of my childhood, making buttermilk pancakes for breakfast from scratch on Saturday mornings with my Dad, using his grandmother’s trusted recipe. I have that recipe firmly planted in my own recipe box.  Great memories.  And yes, those were the years when I was an early riser.

These pancakes are great as a side dish paired with a salad or, as I’ve discovered, a quick and unusual light dinner entrée. 

Four servings…two pancakes:

  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tsp sesame oil
  • 4 8-inch flour tortillas
  • 2 tsp sesame seeds, toasted
  • 1/3 C finely chopped green onions or scallions, white and green parts
  • 1 T peanut or vegetable oil, plus more as needed

In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg with the sesame oil.  Brush each tortilla with the egg mixture and then sprinkle two of the tortillas with the sesame seeds and green onions.  Place one of the plain tortillas over each of the sprinkled tortillas and sandwich them together, pressing down to seal, forming two whole pancakes.

Heat the peanut or vegetable oil in a saute pan over medium heat.  When hot, add a pancake to the pan and cook until lightly browned on both sides, about 2 minutes per side.  Repeat with remaining pancakes using more oil if needed.

Cut each pancake into 6 wedges and divide them amongst serving plates.

Fivenineteen notes:  I’ve sautéed these over both olive oil (when I couldn’t find peanut oil) and with peanut oil, and the peanut oil does make a difference with the flavor.  So track it down if you can.

Charred Ahi Tuna with Pasta Puttanesca

21 Saturday Apr 2012

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My first reaction was “HUH?” when I spotted this recipe.  I adore ahi tuna as a happy hour appetizer with a nice blob of wasabi on the side, and the pungent puttanesca sauce ingredients are a nice change from plain old pasta and pesto.  But combined together??  Seemed a little strange.  But then again…this recipe is from a Tom Douglas cookbook.  So I knew it would turn out great. 

Serves 4

1/3 C extra virgin olive oil, plus more for panfrying the tuna

4 1/2 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or more to taste

1/2 tsp dried Greek oregano

1 1/2 C seeded and diced Roma tomatoes

1/2 C pitted and coarsely chopped Kalamata olives

1/4 C dry white wine

3 T chopped fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley

2 T capers, drained

6 anchovies, finely chopped (about 1 T)

1 tsp grated lemon zest

4 lemon wedges, seeded

1 lb fresh sashimi-grade ahi tuna, cut into four 4-oz portions (thick chunks or steaks are best)

Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper

1 lb fresh linguine or dried linguine

Put a pot of salted water on to boil for cooking the pasta.  Put a large saute pan over high heat.  Add the olive oil, garlic, pepper flakes, oregano and cook, stirring for 1 minute.  Stir in the tomatoes, olives, wine, parsley, capers anchovies and lemon zest. Squeeze the lemon wedges into the pan and throw them right into the sauce.  Let the sauce simmer for 2 – 3 minutes.

Season the tuna with salt and pepper and sear it in another saute pan over high heat using a little olive oil.  Sear the tuna rare (raw in the middle), about a minute per side.  Set aside.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta until it is al dente.  Drain the pasta and toss it in a bowl with the sauce.  Taste the sauce, and then season it with salt and pepper.

Divide the pasta and sauce among 4 plates or shallow soup bowls.  Slice the tuna portions across the grain and fan the sliced tuna over each serving of pasta.

My notes:  timing is everything with this dish because the ingredients come together very quickly.  I recommend starting the pot of water to boil for the pasta before doing the prep work with chopping and dicing the tomatoes and olives (if you are using dried pasta like I did which takes a little longer to cook).  Try putting the pasta on to cook and then start cooking the sauce and searing the steaks.

Some may prefer fresh oregano to dried, but the dried oregano has the right intensity for this sauce.  Taste the sauce before adding any additional salt and pepper, as the olives and anchovies are already salty.  Do a “smell test” of your dried oregano beforehand.  If it’s not super pungent, throw it out and get a fresh jar.

Be sure to choose sashimi-grade ahi tuna because it will be rare in the middle after you sear it (by design).  And be prepared for some sticker shock – it was $23.00 / lb when I swung by the seafood counter at my favorite grocery store.  So I went with just a half a pound…and it’s worth every penny.

I prefer adding the chopped parsley just before serving, rather than during the cooking process.  This keeps the parsley’s flavor fresh and it’s a nice color contrast with the pasta, sauce and the tuna steaks.

I too was a little squeamish and “ewww” about the anchovies.  It’s not something I typically shop for.  But anchovies are essential for the true, pungent flavor you want in this sauce.  When they are diced up and done sautéing you won’t even notice they are there.  But your fingers might smell a little after chopping them up.  Rub some lemon wedges over them to fix that.

Do you know what “puttanesca” means?  Well, pasta puttanesca literally means “whore’s spaghetti.”  There are many stories to its origins, but the version I recall most vividly is from an Italian cooking instructor I had the pleasure of learning from many years ago.  “…the sauce is HOT, CHEAP and QUICK”  she exclaimed.  Ah, got it.

Buon appetito!

From Tom Douglas’ Seattle Kitchen

Weekend double shot bonus (and encore) recipe: Do or die with the ground beef…

06 Friday Apr 2012

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So to debunk my typical Sunday posting routine, I’m rebelling and re-surfacing (re-bumping, is that a word?) one of my favorite slow cooker recipes I posted last fall.  When you’ve got ground beef thawing in the fridge for the second time around after refreezing it, it’s got to move forward or risk losing its flavor… or maybe that’s just me. Thankfully it’s still sealed up like it was in the grocery store.

Polenta with Bolognese Sauce isn’t the traditional way to welcome Spring, but Spring has yet to officially boing and spring around here.  Cold, biting winds, a few snow flurries even into early April, rain (well, that’s typical) and some nasty flu bugs going around are making it tough to break free from the grips of Winter here in the Seattle area. 

So here’s a hearty meal to fight that off – a Bolognese sauce prepared in a slow cooker and later baked with sliced polenta and some parmesan.  This is glorious and well worth the time – trust me on this one.

Bolognese Sauce
Makes about 12 cups (3 quarts)

2 T olive oil
2 oz pancetta, chopped
2 small, finely chopped yellow onions
2 finely chopped carrots
1 stalk finely chopped celery
3 lbs ground beef
2 C beef broth
1 1/2 C dry red wine
1 can (28 oz) crushed or diced plum tomatoes
1/2 C milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Fresh Italian leaf parsley, minced for garnish (optional)   

In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, warm the oil.  Add the pancetta and saute until it begins to render its fat, about 1 minute.  Add the onions, carrots and celery and saute until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the beef and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until it is no longer red, about 7 minutes.

Transfer to the slow cooker.  Add the broth and wine to the pan and raise the heat to high.  Bring to a boil and deglaze the pan, stirring to scrape up the browned bits on the pan bottom.  Pour the liquid into the slow cooker along with the tomatoes and stir to combine.

Cover and cook the sauce on the high heat setting for 4 hours, or the low heat setting for 8 hours.  Add the milk, stirring to combine.  Cover and continue cooking for 20 minutes longer.  Season with salt and pepper.

…now, how do you use this sauce?  Toss it with some fettucine and sprinkle in fresh-grated Parmesan cheese. 

Or try it with Polenta:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Butter a gratin baking dish (I actually just use a 9 x 13 glass casserole).  Take a tube of prepared Polenta (18 oz) and slice it crosswise into slices about 1/4″ thick.  Arrange the slices in the bottom of the baking dish, overlapping them.  Spoon the Bolognese sauce around the slices generously and sprinkle a 1/2 cup of fresh-grated Parmesan cheese.  Bake until the sauce is hot and bubbly, about 20 minutes.  Served with minced fresh Italian parsley for garnish.

Fivenineteen’s notes:  I added a small ‘blob’ of minced garlic for a little extra punch when sauteeing the onions, carrots and celery.  Guessing about 2 or 3 teaspoons.  I just spontaneously grabbed a small caviar-type spoon, scooped up some garlic and threw it into the pan. Love that aroma! Most of you who tune in regularly know I prefer minced garlic in a jar as it’s so much more convenient than peeling/pressing fresh garlic.  AND you won’t notice a difference – promise.

I also recommend adding the crushed tomatoes to the slow cooker BEFORE pouring in the broth and red wine mixture.  It will save you a lot of potential stains and splashes on your countertops and on yourself.  You can also reduce the amount of red wine and broth slightly – maybe a quarter cup total.  I boiled the mixture for quite a few minutes to reduce it down before adding to the slow cooker but there still is a fair amount of liquid remaining even after the slow cooking is finished. 

The flavors are incredible…enjoy!

From the Williams-Sonoma Food Made Fast Slow Cooker Recipes book.

Singing the Tom Douglas Praises…again

01 Sunday Apr 2012

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Along with other Seattle treasures like Starbucks, Nordstrom, Microsoft, Amazon, hiking, boating and skiing literally in our back yard, lush green, beautiful mountains and a few decent professional sports teams…we have Chef Tom Douglas.  He and his wife, Jackie, are the owners of five restaurants:  Dahlia Lounge, Etta’s, Palace Kitchen, Lola, and Serious Pie, all in downtown Seattle.  You simply cannot talk about great food in Seattle without mentioning Tom!  Now, I have yet to try Lola and Serious Pie, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the Dahlia Lounge, Etta’s and the Palace Kitchen.  I smile and remember grabbing brunch at Etta’s one morning with friends and walking up a few blocks to catch a matinee performance of the symphony at Benaroya Hall.  A blissful Seattle day!  This was a few years ago, and I remember it was hard finding restaurants downtown that were open for breakfast or brunch.  So a walk down to Etta’s it was.  I hear Lola has an incredible breakfast.  Definitely on the to-try list.

I was suprised to learn that he’s originally from Delaware!  His dishes capture Pacific Northwest flavors to a T; his signature is using fresh, local ingredients to put a fresh twist on a classic dish.  Charred ahi tuna with pasta puttanesca anyone?  This is next on my list to make…I’m curious how the tuna will taste with a pungent puttanesca sauce!

I was definitely craving some food variety this weekend and that’s a good sign.  I’ve been a little run down…not with a flu or cold or anything I could put my finger on.  Just tired.  And not really motivated to cook.  When I get home from work and am exhausted it’s all I can do to whip up some pasta and pesto…my own form of comfort food.  But even that gets boring after awhile.

So this weekend it was off to the grocery store.  I thumbed through Tom’s Seattle Kitchen cookbook, savoring the wonderful ingredients and the stories behind the recipes, looking for inspiration on what to cook.  Sometimes I like to play a game with myself and just randomly pick a page in a cookbook and THAT’S what I’ll be making for dinner that night.  Ooops…not up to making a dish with octopus in it, so I kept flipping the pages.

Then I found it:  a clam linguine recipe with pancetta, jalapenos and garlic.  See what I mean about a fresh twist on a classic?  Never would have thought about pairing up jalapenos with clams.  But it sounded intriguing!  And delicious!  Then I realized I had some shrimp that needed to be used up soon in my fridge and decided to use that instead of clams.  Now, normally when I try something for the first time I follow the recipe pretty much exactly as written and then make my own notes on what to tweak.  But the shrimp won out.  I’m sure Tom won’t mind.

Here’s a confession:  I absolutely adore grocery shopping.  Roaming the aisles, wondering what wonderful dishes are just dying to come out of all these wonderful foods.  Looking at the spices and wondering what else I need to add to my collection.  Cheeses, vegetables, wines…fantastic, glorious food!  Now I’m sure I would feel differently about grocery shopping if I had kids to feed.  Might be more of a chore than a joy.  Sure, we all need to eat, but for me being single with no kids, grocery shopping is an adventure.  Yep, I’m a true Taurus…I LOVE my food and take it damn seriously.  But not so serious to also have a little humor and play around with it.  Try new things!  Take risks!  The food isn’t going to bite you. 

There are a lot of ingredients, but this goes together quickly – serves 4

  • 2 jalapenos, cut in half and seeded
  • 1/4 C olive oil, plus more for brushing
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 ox pancetta, diced (1/2 C)
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)
  • 2 lbs clams, scrubbed and rinsed
  • 1/4 C dry white wine
  • 1 lb linguine
  • 1/4 C unsalted butter
  • 4 tsp chopped, fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 3 tsp fresh lemon juice
  • 2 tsp grated lemon zest
  • 1/2 C fresh, flat-leaf parsley
  • 1/4 C shaved parmesan cheese
  • 4 lemon wedges

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Start a pot of salted water boiling to cook the pasta later.  Brush the jalapeno halves with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 10 minutes.  When cool enough to handle, dice finely.

Put a large saute pan over medium high heat. Heat 1/4 C olive oil, add the pancetta and cook, stirring, until browned, about 2 minutes.  Add the jalapeno, garlic and pepper flakes and cook, stirring, another minute. Turn the heat to high.  Add the clams and wine and cover. Cook until the clams open, about 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in the boiling water until al dente.  Add the butter, chopped parsley, lemon juice and zest to the clams in the pan and toss until the butter melts into the sauce.  Drain the pasta.

In a large serving bowl, toss the pasta with the clam sauce and whole parsley leaves. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

NOTE:  feel free to put Parmesan on this dish, despite the Italian thing about “no cheese with fish.”  Use grated cheese or make Parmesan curls with a potato peeler. Make sure the clams mostly end up on top of the pasta, facing up.  Move them around with tongs if you need to. Discard any unopened clams.  Garnish with lemon wedges.

This is absolutely delicious…even substituting shrimp for the clams!  Now, as I’ve always said (and learned the hard way awhile back), be sure to read a recipe all the way through before you start.  A recipe is not a mystery novel with a surprise ending!  You don’t want to get caught with your pants down getting ingredients prepared only to then read, “Cover and marinate overnight in the fridge.”  Oops…you’ll be ordering pizza for dinner probably instead.   So when I read about roasting the jalapenos in the oven, I laughed a little.  Is it ridiculous to heat up a whole oven to 400 degrees to just roast four small jalapeno halves?  Answer:  YES.  Does it really make a difference?  YES.  Be sure to take the time to roast the peppers…the flavor would be totally different if they had been just thrown into the saute pan uncooked.  So trust me (and Tom) on this.

Buon appetito!

Urban Beach Alternative

25 Sunday Mar 2012

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Last week L invited me to join him out on the Long Beach Peninsula for a quick weekend getaway.  He had a client photo shoot lined up and the use of a very nice vacation rental.  But plans changed and he wasn’t feeling well, so that got scrapped.  No worries there…for some reason as the week unfolded I was not entirely on board with getting out of town this particular weekend.  Not sure why as I didn’t have any real solid plans save for catching up on sleep and getting outside for a walk if the weather held up.

We decided to postpone the almighty popcorn ceiling scraping project at my townhouse yet another weekend and just hang out over at his place.  I reminded him that hey, dude, it’s been over a month (6 weeks?) since we got started and we still haven’t finished the upstairs.  It was Super Bowl Sunday, in fact.  And I joked that Whitney Houston and Davy Jones were still alive when we got started, teasing in a warped sense of humor moment.  But it’s all good.  I know we’ll eventually get it done.  I think we agreed on June as a deadline, but given our pace that will likely just to get all of the upstairs scraped, sanded, primed and painted.  Downstairs is going to be a whole other hairy beast.  I’m getting tired just thinking and typing about that road ahead.

So the plan was to chill out and watch hockey (when it’s Saturday that means Hockey Night in Canada – can’t beat that for a TV doubleheader).  Tacos, scratch margaritas and hockey.  Sign me up.  I don’t know L’s secret taco recipe, but I’ll share my margarita recipe here at the end of this post.

Holy damn, I slept in until 11:00am Saturday.  Even me, a notsomuch morning person, felt a little guilty as if I was wasting the day away.  But I know myself well…I needed that sleep.  I had thought I would have the energy to schlep into the gym – a place I haven’t visited in, gulp, over a year – for a much-needed workout, but somehow that didn’t happen.  Laziness.

I trotted off to L’s place that afternoon with a bag full of tequila, triple sec, limes, a cocktail shaker, a shot glass and a couple of margarita glasses carefully wrapped in towels.  He had an amazingly large bowl of scratch guacamole already made – enough for 20 people – but we sure chowed it down – with chips and salsa.  Ole!  Now when I say “trotted” I mean probably a 40-45 minute drive.  L lives in the Sunset Hill area of Ballard in Seattle, a quiet neighborhood in the city which is really busting out and growing, at least in its core.  And I thanked myself for filling up my car prior to that drive, for the main route to his house through Ballard is now all torn up with major street construction.  One lane roads with flaggers everywhere.  Brutal, especially for all the businesses along this street I’m sure, despite the myriad of “we’re open during construction” signs pleading down the street.  I remember crawling along in my car and seeing a reader board on one of the cafes:  “Free monster truck show with every meal.”  I wondered “HUH?” for a few seconds before I finally got it.  Aha – at least they’ve got a sense of humor about all of this.

L and I chugged down a few margaritas, devoured chips and guac and later some tacos.  After a beer nightcap and watching a GREAT Vancouver Canucks OT victory over Colorado, we were both pretty tired.  And it was barely 10pm!  L insisted I stay over and I was grateful for that.  I had a little buzz going on, so driving home that night was totally out of the question.

Now, for those of you tuning in fairly recently, L is my guy BFF.  Everything is totally platonic so crashing at his place was not a loaded big deal.  He let me use his bed while he crashed in the next room in his new guest bed.  I couldn’t believe I was going to bed so early, especially on a Saturday, but I guess I really needed the sleep.  It always takes me awhile to get to sleep even when I’m at home – I usually like to/need to read something light like a magazine no matter how late it is or how tired I am.  And I typically sleep in my own bed, so this was a change having immediate pitch black in a strange, new bed with no reading material.  And the silence.  I giggled to myself at the irony…the utter silence at L’s house in the city (he lives near the end of a dead end street) compared to the gentle roar of street noise I am now used to hearing around the clock – like nice white noise – at my suburban townhouse.

By around 8:30am or so he and I were both up, dressed and ready to take his friend M’s dog for a walk.  What a glorious Sunday morning!  We made the short drive to Golden Gardens Park, one of the few waterfront parks in Seattle with a sandy beach.  Oops, I was in high-heeled boots – and my sweater and jeans from the night before – and not in any condition to walk in the sand, so we stayed on the asphalt paths. 

How’s that picture at the start of this post for a morning welcome?  A cool, brisk morning and the sun beaming down on the Olympic Mountains, looking west.  We passed countless walkers, joggers, dogs…even saw a woman in the sand doing a slew of yoga poses.  So while I wasn’t wearing the best shoes for a brisk walk, it felt good to get one in.  And the salty air and breeze is the best soul therapy I’ve ever experienced.

Then it was off to brunch at The Blue Glass, one of L’s favorite spots.  I get giddy trying new places to eat so I could not wait to try it…and could not believe I was hungry after last night’s taco feast. 

Behold, their breakfast burger…sausage, egg and absolutely nothing McDonalds-ish assembly line about it.  A few dashes of hot sauce and some fries with their house-made ketchup topped off with a few cups of coffee and I felt totally refreshed.

We even made a quick stop to the nearby Goodwill store.  L has this uncanny knack for finding great things there at a steal of a price.  At the risk of sounding, well, how I don’t wish to sound, it’s not my first choice for places to shop, but admittedly if you take some time and dig around you CAN find some really great deals.  Voila…I found two pairs of pretty much brand new Adidas sweatpants…for $15 total!  Perfect for the rink or just lounging around. 

So, for the second weekend in a row, the Ballard neighborhood delivers.  It’s another world compared to my suburban haunts, and that’s exactly how I like it.  A touch of salt air, a slower pace with a slice of city vibe injected…and continuing to discover it with a great friend – this is what I adore. 

Oh, and almost forgot – here’s the margarita recipe!  Bring a couple cans of limeade to make more and additional limes for garnish.

  • 3/4 can limeade, thawed in the fridge
  • 4 shots Tequila
  • 2 shots Triple Sec
  • Juice of one lime
  • Salt
  • Beer (optional…couple swigs to cut the ‘tart’ to taste)
  • Crushed ice

Mix all ingredients except for the salt and crushed ice in a cocktail shaker.  Salt the rim of each glass and pour the mixture over the crushed ice. Garnish with a lime wedge.  Serve to good friends and have fun.  CHEERS!

Lost Hour, Gained Time

11 Sunday Mar 2012

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…and wouldn’t that be nice eh?  The gift of time is one of the most precious of all.  And here I sit on a glorious Sunday…quiet save for a little street noise.  And yet I glance at the clock and grumble.  I so fucking hate Daylight Savings Time I don’t even know where to begin.  And I’ve probably bitched about it in last year’s posts.

No, wait – I haven’t.  Or maybe I mentioned it briefly somewhere last year or even in my posts from March 2010.  Hmmm, go take a peek and see for yourselves.  Dang…Marches have been tough the past two years – a whole lot of memories come flooding back as I glance through those old posts.  Ahhh, I do see a DST rant in a March 2011 post.  At least I’m consistent.

Why am I so anti-DST?  Well, I’m a terrible morning person.  So when we do this Spring Forward thingy and move our clocks an hour ahead, it takes me a good week or so to adjust.  I feel like I’m constantly running late – running behind.  Exhausting, especially for someone like me who tries to be pretty punctual. And yet when I travel and do time zone changes, it doesn’t bother me one bit (well, overseas travel takes a day or two to adjust but that’s expected).  And I snap out of hating mornings.  I’m somewhere new and different and don’t want to just sleep the day away!

I’ve been stressed out the past few weeks – work, HOA stuff, the popcorn ceiling scraping project and on and on.  I finally admitted to myself that while my townhouse isn’t super duper neat and clean, at least when I make a mess it’s MY mess.  Now I’m in a state of transition, as L and I slowly progress through the popcorn ceiling scraping project.  My rooms are rearranged and oddly cluttered.  And it’s disruptive.  Messy.  As I’ve posted before, I now totally get why people move out during home renovations whenever possible. 

So I was mentally gearing up for another round of ceiling scraping with L this weekend.  The plan was that he was going to come over to my place Friday afternoon, work from there, crash on my couch and then we’d start work first thing in the morning.  This is what we’ve done before and it’s worked out really well.  We hadn’t done any work the past few weeks given our schedules and I was looking forward to getting back to it.

Those of you who regularly tune in here know that work has been stressful.  I come home at night mentally fried and it takes me awhile to unwind and untangle my knotted forehead.  While it’s the “good” kind of stress (mostly) that motivates me, it still takes a toll.  I had a big smile moment on Friday when my Manager asked me if I planned to take off any time for vacation in July.  And I giggled and said well, you know, this really could be a moot conversation!  My work assignment is slated to wrap up end of June, by design.  So while I’m not getting my hopes up – things like budgets need to be approved and all – I take it as a teeny good sign that my engagement could be extended out a few more months.

I trekked into downtown Seattle after work to toast a friend’s birthday.  Happy Hour at PNK Ultra Lounge.  It was wonderful seeing friends again and a nice change of scenery getting out of suburbia and into the city – something I achingly long for.  More city time.  Sometimes this girl in the suburbs feels a little out of place.  That’s probably more fodder for another post!

I had told L I had a great idea for a slow cooker recipe for Saturday and he seemed all for it.  I had a shopping list somewhere deep in my purse and knew I needed to grab groceries when I got home.  But when I got closer to my house I had to pee so bad I couldn’t just go right to the store.  I got home, gave L a big hug and just unwound for a few minutes.  The hot UPS man had delivered more new Silpada jewelry samples and I couldn’t wait to unpack them all and play!

L was hungry and so I grabbed a pizza along with the stuff for cooking tomorrow morning.  I was going to make a Bolognese sauce in the slow cooker and then bake it over some sliced polenta and a little parmesan cheese.  GREAT comfort food.

I got back home again, unpacked the groceries and realized I needed to go upstairs and do a little more work on the home laptop here.  Which was completely misbehaving and running super slow.  I couldn’t launch what I needed to and had to reboot the laptop several times.  I felt guilty for being upstairs and not spending time with L, watching TV together.  Finally (FINALLY) I got my additional stuff done.  It was probably 9:30 by now and I was not in a happy mood.

I went downstairs and unpacked a few more jewelry samples.  Just kind of shuffled the little boxes around, trying to get my mood stabilized and happier.  L and I talked about the plan for Saturday and got caught up on the latest Californication episodes.  I gotta admit, this series is growing on me – it’s been out for a few years but I didn’t have Showtime until just recently.  (But the Charlie character will always be Harry Goldenblatt to me – just saying).

Around 11 we were both tired.  I went upstairs to sleep.  When I woke up Saturday morning, it seemed really quiet downstairs.  I went downstairs and L (and the dog) were gone.  So was his car.  I figured he went out to get coffee but then I found a note by my phone.  Said he wasn’t feeling well and went home – didn’t want to wake me up. 

NOT happy here.  I’d slept off my weeklong stress and was psyched to get to work and tackle more of this project with him.  Now, I felt flaked out on and, frankly, taken advantage of.  Here was someone I let hang out in my house all day and left before doing the work he promised he’d help me with. ERRRGHHH!!  We texted and he told me he wasn’t feeling well and that I seemed cranky.  Hmmm, probably not a good combination.  Then we chatted on the phone for a bit.  We’re definitely going to reschedule – we just haven’t confirmed when.

So once again I sat in my living room and had a moment.  What the hell is going on here?   Am I REALLY that much of a cranky bitch that people don’t want to be around me? How did I go from happy person enjoying a night out with friends to coming home and feeling overwhelmed again at home?  On the other hand, L knows what he’s getting into when he stays at my place.  We are not dating and the vibe is totally different when it’s a platonic, male friendship vs. something romantic, obviously.  It’s kind of like having a part-time roommate.

And then I wondered: is there a technology conflict between my internet service and his?  He uses a portable, wireless service when he comes over here to work.  Does that conflict with mine?  Hey, if anyone out there has any theories let me know.  Or is it just a coincidence that every time he’s here and working and I fire up my laptop my speeds are down to a crawl?

And then I wondered more:  why am I taking him leaving so goddamn personally?  He’s not feeling well.  End of story.  And if someone is sick they should be home resting and not spreading germs around.  I remembered to stop, breathe and remember The Four Agreements.  One of which is Don’t Take Things Personally.  Yep, that’s my uber challenging one – a lifelong lesson for sure.  Once again, I let someone push my buttons.  Sensitive buttons.  

So now I breathed again…this is a gift of time!  Let’s be positive here! Gosh, what can I do on a now freed-up Saturday?  Well, I connected.  I got caught up with two friends over the phone and later went to a nearby craft store to check out jewelry display trays.  Normally craft stores make me mental – I have little patience for crafts – but a little browsing and shopping (candles and ocean-scented potpourri) was just what I needed to reset. 

Now I’m just enjoying the afternoon and may grab a nap before hockey tonight.  Yep, the ground beef went into the freezer – I’ll save the Bolognese sauce cooking for another time…just like the home projects.

Well hello again, Food Processor

16 Sunday Oct 2011

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…and time to change it up in fivenineteen land in here a little!  How do you like what I’ve done with the place? 🙂

So it’s that still, grippy grey outside again.  So silent this morning it woke me up.  No wind, no rain, no cars on the road.  Damn, did everyone leave town except me?

And I’ve just about finished up the last of that wonderful Bolognese sauce I made last week.  It keeps beautifully in a Tupperware in the fridge.  This batch went quickly so I won’t likely need to freeze any.  

Now, in last week’s post I made some comment about how I don’t mind the chopping and prep work that you could do in a food processor in a fraction of the time. Maybe I stirred the sleeping beast way deep in the back, top shelf of my pantry.

I must have been craving something completely different for this weekend’s cooking adventure.  I have a pretty decent kitchen, but it’s nowhere near the size or with the open feel that more modern kitchens have today.  Nope, it’s 1980 here in our townhouse complex, and while one of my neighbors did a glorious remodel to open up her kitchen area into a nice great-room flow, the rest of us have not yet pulled the trigger.  I’m glad I at least have a good-sized, open bar counter area on one side which looks into the dining room and a nice bay window and slider which plops out onto my back deck.  So no claustrophobia.  It’s just a small-ish kitchen with not a whole lot of spare countertop space.

And part of that countertop space is a mini-showcase of my beloved cookbooks. The rest are in the pantry…and that pantry is a hodgepodge of well, stuff you normally put in a pantry, my spices, and some cooking gadgets I don’t use super often.  And my hand mixer, a wonderful toaster oven with a mini pizza stone, waffle iron, plastic wrap, tin foil…hmmm, I think this baby is due for a major cleanout.

I took a good, hard look at those cookbooks.  How much have I REALLY used them recently?  The slow cooker recipes, raw “cooking,” vegan, Primal, Italian food, American Southwest…time to pull one off the display and try something different, I told myself.

So I reached for Caprial’s Bistro-Style Cuisine, by Caprial Pence.  (That’s “kuh PREEL” on the first name, by the way.)  I have one of her other cookbooks, and way back in the day (late 1990s) she had a cooking show on our local public TV station, which is how I first found out about her, channel surfing on some lazy weekend afternoon.  Caprial’s signature are recipes that are simple but super chock-full of flavor and come together very quickly, with a big nod to the flavors of Pacific Northwest cooking.

Here’s what I whipped up – it’s chicken with a wonderful, spicy peanut sauce which you can also use on grilled prawns or fish.  The sauce has a good kick but not in a blow-your-head-off way.  Head to the Asian foods section of your grocery store!  And when she says to mix ingredients in a food processor, she means it.  I dug out my 11-cup Cuisinart, blew the dust off and took her for a spin. 

Hot-as-Hell Chicken on Noodles with Peanut Sauce
Serves 4

Peanut Sauce
2 tsp peeled, chopped fresh ginger
2 tsp chopped cilantro
2 cloves garlic
2 fresh jalapeno peppers (whole, stems removed)
1/2 C red wine vinegar
1/2 C soy sauce
1 heaping C creamy peanut butter
2 tsp curry powder
1/4 C honey
2 tsp dark sesame oil

Chicken
1 tsp olive oil
4 (6 oz) chicken breast halves
1/2 C dry sherry
1 C sweet hot chile sauce
1/2 lb dried Chinese egg noodles, cooked al dente and tossed with a dash of vegetable oil
1/2 C dry roasted peanuts or cashews (I used cashews)
3-4 green onions, minced

To prepare the peanut sauce, combine the ginger, cilantro, garlic, jalapenos, vinegar, soy sauce and peanut butter in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the curry powder, honey and sesame oil and process until smooth.  Set aside.

In a very large saute pan, heat the olive oil over high heat until smoking hot.  Put the chicken breasts in the pan and brown them well, about 2 minutes on each side.  Decrease the heat to medium and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the sherry, increase the heat to high and cook until about half the sherry remains, 2-3 minutes.  Add the chile sauce and turn the breasts to coat them well. Decrease the heat to low and slowly simmer while you prepare the noodles.

Put the noodles in the pasta insert and set in a pot of boiling water or in the stock pot and cook for about 2 minutes to heat them through.  Strain the cooked noodles and place in a large bowl.  Toss them with 1/2 cup of the peanut sauce and place on a serving platter.  Remove the chicken breasts from the sauce and slice.  Place the chicken slices on the noodles and pour some of the remaining sauce over the top.  Sprinkle with the peanuts or cashews and scallions.  Serve hot.

NOTE:  I had some bowtie pasta lying around and used that instead of egg noodles.  I bet this would be great over rice too. 

Aside

Ketchup…from Scratch!

29 Sunday May 2011

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Yes, this is for real, everyone.  Why not just grab a bottle and squeeze/pour?  Well, this is a quick and easy recipe with a reduced amount of sugar and no emulsifying gums like the commercial versions.

Keep reading and you’ll see why I did this.

You know, it’s funny how when I get in ‘cooking bender’ weekend moods like this I tend to go with a meat dish.  And for the second episode in a row here, it’s pork.  When I say ‘cooking bender’ I mean I go all out and try a recipe I’ve never done before and enjoy the leftovers. (Thank you, Tupperware, and my freezer).  I really do enjoy cooking and I think I’m pretty good at it, but admittedly when I’m not entertaining and it’s just me on a weeknight after work I fall in a pasta, garlic and pesto or other sauce habit with maybe some shrimp mixed in occasionally.  Perhaps I had a subconscious meat craving going on.

So, this ketchup from scratch is part of a BBQ pork recipe.  It’s a pseudo kind of BBQ…I’m no expert or snob in BBQ sauces but from what I read in this recipe it has a vinegar-y flavor which is North Carolina style – ?  OK, OK.  The flavors are wonderful and I was surprised how this sauce (and the ketchup) all came together pretty quickly.

I got introduced to The Primal Blueprint, a book by Mark Sisson, earlier this year. The theory is that our ancestors, back in our hunter/gatherer years prior to the onset of agriculture, were leaner, stronger and healthier than we are today.  Blame it on whole grains, dairy, sugar, breads, rice, pasta, gluten and even beans.  And, blame it on our sedentary lifestyles too I guess. This way of eating flies in the face of the ‘food pyramid’ that shows grains and breads as the recommended foundation of our modern diets.  Mark’s book flips all of that on its head.  The primal diet is full of meats, seafoods, fowl, fruits and vegetables and is intended as a lifestyle, NOT a quick fix diet.  When I first saw the book’s title I had a visual of some caveman eating raw meat right off the bone, like in the first part of the movie 2001:  A Space Odyssey, when the apes discover they now can use a bone as a weapon to kill for meat.  Didn’t sound very appetizing.

But it’s not that way at all obviously.  Stay with me on this ramble, everyone.  Here’s the recipe.  Man, I haven’t even had coffee yet today. 

Yes, there is a Primal Blueprint Cookbook and I highly recommend picking it up.  Mark Sisson and Jennifer Meier co-authored.

Primal Ketchup – makes about 1 1/2 Cups
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
2/3 C cider vinegar
1/3 C water
3 T raw honey or pure maple syrup
3 T onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp ground Allspice
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp black pepper

Mix all ingredients in a food processor or in a bowl with a handheld blender until smooth.  Add a small amount of water if too thick.  Store in a tightly covered jar in the refrigerator.

That’s it!  Takes just 15 minutes, including prep time.  I fudged a bit and used red wine vinegar.  I’d thrown out the cider vinegar in my pantry because it was about a year past the expiration date – yikes – and when I made a trip to the grocery store I forgot to grab a fresh bottle.  And I used ‘regular’ honey, not raw.  I hardly ever use honey and I didn’t feel like buying another bottle because the one I already had was still pretty full. 

I also didn’t completely mince the onion – I took about 1/3 of a white onion and diced it fairly small.  And I love using minced garlic in a jar – 1/2 tsp is about equivalent to one clove and you won’t notice the difference at all.  My garlic mincer stays pretty dormant in the gadget drawer these days.

Ahhh, my handheld stick blender.  My folks gave me one for Christmas over 15 years ago and it’s an amazing tool.  Great for pureeing peeled tomatoes right in the can to start off your homemade pasta sauces.  And it worked wonderfully in a small glass bowl to make this ketchup.

Now, onto the BBQ pork…Grandma’s Easy BBQ Pork
Serves 8 or more
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

1 T olive oil or high quality lard
8 pork chops or about 4 pounds of pork shoulder roast.  Use bone-in instead of boneless for the richest tasting sauce
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 C of the primal ketchup
1 C water
1/3 C vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 bay leaf

Brown meat on all sides in fat/oil over medium to medium-high heat in a flame-proof casserole or Dutch oven.  While the meat is browning, combine remaining ingredients and stir to mix well. 

When the meat has browned, remove from heat and pour mixture over the meat.

Cover with lid or foil and bake at 325 degrees F for 1 1/2 hours for chops and about 2 1/2 hours for roast.  Check halfway through the baking time and add a small amount of water if necessary.

Remove bay leaf and transfer the chops or roast onto a warm platter and pour sauce in a gravy boat or pitcher.  Spoon or pour some sauce over the meat to moisten.

See how easy that was?  It’s absolutely delicious.  Now, to make it truly Primal, serve with mashed cauliflower, turnips or parsnips rather than potatoes or rice.  Shredded cabbage would work well here too.

I used a 3 1/2 pound boneless pork shoulder roast and the 2 1/2 hour cooking time was perfect.  I also used plain white vinegar and grey sea salt.

When I first lived on my own and realized I needed to get more confident with my cooking, I purchased a few cookbooks and started reading.  And I read in one that you must read the recipe all the way through before you start.  A recipe is not a mystery novel with a surprise ending.  And this is SO TRUE!  You don’t want to get stuck with your pants down with a recipe intended for dinner that evening and then ‘suddenly’ realize you need to marinate something overnight.  Ugh.

So as I read through the BBQ pork recipe, two words jumped out at me: Dutch oven. I have a lot of great cookware but scratched my head…how in the hell do I not have a Dutch oven?  I have some large sauce pans and some large 6 and 8 quart stockpots for pasta or making soup…what would work here?  Aha.

I went upstairs and found my rarely-used, save-the-day 8 1/2 quart pot.  It’s Calphalon and the old school style, so the handles do not stay cool on the stove…and it’s the original hard anodized style (NOT nonstick).  I found it on amazon.com years ago on a total whim – something like $180 marked down to $15.  And while it’s pretty bulky – it’s wider than it is tall and I have to store it somewhere else than my kitchen – it’s well worth it.

This pot was just deep enough to hold the roast.  Now, browning the roast before baking it was a little tricky, especially since I had to use potholders to hold this large, heavy pot.  I heated up the pan on the stove and swirled olive oil 3 times around it once it was hot.  And I found two meat serving forks and grabbed one in each potholder’d hand, stabbed the roast on each side, and gently lowered it into the hot pan.  I’m glad I had the potholders on because the hot oil did spatter a bit.  

After about 3 or 4 minutes I put the potholders back on again, grabbed the meat forks and gently rotated the roast.  Once I got the hang of it it was a pretty easy process.

The pork can sit covered once it’s out of the oven – I used a large trivet and let it sit on my kitchen counter for a half hour before digging in.  The meat won’t overcook – rather, it will become even more tender.

Buon appetito!

Passion by Participation

27 Sunday Mar 2011

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As I fire up the keyboard here I’m realizing this post will likely be in two parts – some rambling on how I’m doing and then more about the post title.  But hey, it’s my blog and my rocks rolling around in my head so there we are. 

My physical and emotional health both took a nosedive this month.  But I think I can say that my cough is pretty much gone.  Just some hacking in the morning and a little in the evening when I’m tired.  After 3 weeks of this, you bet I’m sick of being sick!

Emotionally…well…overall I’m feeling good and putting the whole breakup thing behind me.  Every day it’s farther in the rear view mirror and more of a capsule of really great memories rather than anything to feel sad about.

Are he and I in contact, you may wonder?  No, and we won’t be.  When he called that night to break up I was in shock.  But somewhere at the end of our conversation I think we’d agreed to speak again in a few days. I was going to call him, yep, we agreed to that.  But since then I got removed off Facebook…un-friended.  Wow, the quirky world of Facebook.  Whatever…OK.  And couple of my friends called his breaking up over the phone cowardly.  Perhaps…but it doesn’t matter in the end.  It’s still over and wasn’t my choice.  I don’t feel a need to label it. So no, I didn’t call him.

Does he read this blog?  He sure did at first.  And loved it.  Even shared it with some good friends of his on his trip to Australia last month.  Perhaps it was my first post-breakup post that he didn’t like so much.  I’d bet money he’s read it.  If he has great; if not, great.  It’s my words and my feelings and isn’t intended for anyone in particular.  There are a fair amount who tune in here regularly (thank you!) and a few who stumble in here on accident (another thank you!). 

If you haven’t seen that first post-breakup post yet, it’s a couple weeks back, “Misled and Broken.”  And it’s not a bashfest on him.  I don’t operate that way…and as angry as I am (OK, was as we’re moving past this) about having my head and heart fucked with, I can’t be angry at HIM.  Does that make any sense?  That’s a hard one to articulate.

There are a few last dangly things I want to share in here about how I’m feeling post-breakup.  I did feel a little down yesterday as the 26th was supposed to be a special night for he and I.  First, the plan was to go to a fundraiser/auction of some sort.  I remember when he sent the email with the scoop…I thought WOW.  He’s already thinking ahead and wants me to do more stuff aways out!  What can I say – that may not be a big deal for some, but that’s HUGE for me.  Makes me feel really happy, included and wanted.  Loved.

But the plans for that night later changed into going out with a large group to celebrate his birthday – something he does every year.  Sounds even better! In fact, if I remember correctly, he told me about this change of plans just a few days before we split.  Now, how can you already be thinking about pulling away from someone but tell them hey, instead of going to the auction we’re going out with a bunch of people for my (his) birthday?  I don’t get it.  Maybe his decision to break up was a super spontaneous one.  Or maybe the chat we had at my place the week prior was my warning shot over the bow.  It doesn’t matter now.  I just felt a little wistful last night knowing we’d had plans to be out celebrating.  Plans that he moved forward with and that no longer included me.  And with these words I close the door and move on.

A couple weeks ago I was changing the sheets on my bed and stubbed my toe on something just under the dust cover.  Oh yeah…some, um, props for the boudoir.  Specifically, hand restraints.  Am I blushing as I type this?  What can I tell you – don’t knock it till you try it, people.  Tangent warning:  I have never had any issues or hangups with sex.  And with very, very few exceptions, I’ve never had what anyone would call ‘bad’ sex.  Meaning, chemistry’s usually not an issue.  But props/accessories…well, I’ve never really ever felt they were necessary nor have any of the men in my life ever suggested using them – till now. 

And now they were sitting in a heap under my bed.  What to do?

I then realized I still had a book he’d loaned me:  The Primal Blueprint, by Mark Sisson.  It promotes the primal (or paleo) way of eating – meaning, to eat like our ancestors did in the hunter/gatherer years, the way our bodies are genetically programmed!  Lots of lean meats, vegetables and fruits.  Hold off on the grains, dairy and processed foods. G raved about this book and I’d browsed through it on a couple occasions in his kitchen when he was cooking us dinner.  It really is a fascinating book.  There are 9809824 diet and nutrition books and theories out there.  What really works?  I don’t read a lot of diet books, but this one literally jumped out at me…the same way the Carbohydrate Addicts book did about 15 years ago.  I liked it so much I recently purchased the accompanying cookbook.  Yum.

And as I was rearranging things in my pantry I found a small, round tupperware container of flour.  The first time I cooked for us I made my signature corn chowder with potatoes, fennel and bacon – using the bacon he’d made himself.  I needed just a tablespoon of flour for the roux and was totally out.  And I was in that mode where I’d done all the chopping and prep work and was not in a position to run to the store to get flour.  When you need flour, you really can’t substitute anything else!  So, G to the rescue bringing some by at the last minute!

So we’ve got flour, a book, and bedroom hand restraints.  I’ve had a few episodes after breakups where we each needed to return stuff we had at eachother’s houses – clothes, makeup, shoes or other things.  Never those 3 things, much less all at once!  Random!!  And normally it’s done in person, meeting up.  This time it just didn’t feel right to do it that way.

So I thought hmm, what to do with these 3 things?  I ended up putting them in a brown grocery bag and drove up to his place late one night and put it in the back entry area near his car.  Some of my friends said I was too nice to do this – should have just tossed everything in the trash.  But that’s not how I roll.  Again, I can’t label behavior like that as “too nice” or whatever the hell it is.  It was something I needed to do and it felt good. And there was nothing of any significance of mine that was still at his place. Just a toothbrush.  And now closing another door with these words.

Those 3 random things DO have significance…they point to 3 areas that are so important to me in relationships, and things he and I had no issues with period.  Cooking, food and sex…basic needs we all have as humans.

So now, I think about Passion.  Passion for cooking a great meal, sharing it with friends, and then passion later that night (and morning) with your special someone.  Doesn’t get much better than that.  When I look back on my short time with G, I am inspired (re-inspired) to cook and cherish my love of food.  I was reminded that you don’t need a huge, gourmet kitchen to cook incredible meals for your family and friends.  G’s post-divorce apartment has a great floor plan.  The kitchen is, well, your basic apartment kitchen – perhaps a “2 butt” size – enough for two people to cook together, and very basic appliances.  But the cooking that came out of that kitchen – for just the two of us or a group of 12 – phenomenal. 

And, transitioning topics here and onto what was more the point of this post (see, I DO always come back after longass tangents), “passion by participation” popped into my head one day.  I think it was a crappy and stressed day at work that did it.  We’re on the brink of a large launch in the next few weeks, and our team’s pretty beat down and stressed.  No matter how hard we plan, we discover stuff that still needs to be done last minute.  And we panic, freak out…but get it done.  But we need to do a better job of collaborating under stress.  Rather, we scurry into our silos and shut eachother out.  Given my job is to provide planning and scheduling among other things, our actual way of executing on tasks flies in the face of my basic principles.  But, our group and what we’re working on is new, so the opportunities are incredible and boundless.  There’s a lot of “we don’t know what we don’t know.”  Myself included.  And to survive in this group, you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable. 

I am a pretty good multi-tasker, but when I get stressed and overwhelmed I spin out and clue out.  I even had an astrologer once tell me, during a natal chart reading, that I’m prone to “clue-ing out” more than others.  Darn you, Neptune!  [Just kidding – I can’t remember which planetary alignment is to blame, ha ha].  Combine that with a therapist about a decade ago who introduced me to the word “negating.”  Brushing things off, nullyfying…oh dear this could be a whole ‘nother post down the road.  Lots of issues there.  I’m fighting back – HARD.

I DO get my clue-ing out-ness quirk and how it gets worse when I’m under stress.  Throw in a little PMS (typically I have one bad day a month) and I’m pretty much an inarticulate, blubbery mess for 24 hours.

What do I do about it?  How do I stretch myself to improve?  I decided I’m going to try very, very hard, no matter what I’m doing, to focus only on that one particular thing and not let other buzz distract me.  When my world at work is a sea of emailing flying around, interruptions and back to back meetings, that’s pretty damn hard to do!  But can I do it better?  And if so, will that improve the quality of my work?  Or perhaps my relationships?  How about my Silpada jewelry business? Or my hockey?

Passion starts with participation.  Showing up!  Being present mentally and physically!  Ignoring other noise and distractions!  YES!  THIS is what I’m going to focus on for the next week, month, year…however long it takes till it becomes a habit. 

I’ve got a lot of work to do.  And I’m ready.