Nov 07

One.Day.More

Tomorrow is Election Day. With luck, our long national nightmare will soon be over. This campaign has taken a toll on families and friendships. Soon we won’t have to deal with negative ads – for at least a few weeks.

Washington State has a couple of quirks to its election system. We have a top-two primary system. Several races have two opponents of the same party competing. For example, the race in the 7th Congressional District has two Democrats vying for votes. In addition, we have vote by mail. You can drop off your ballot at various locations if you’re too cheap to put it in the mail. The ballots arrived almost three weeks ago. We both sent off our ballots well in advance of the deadline. This has significantly reduced the amount of campaign flyers we’ve received in the mail; however, we still have to deal with the wall-to-wall ads.

The advantage of living on the Left Coast is that most of the returns will be in before I have to get in bed. Let’s hope the results are definitive.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/11/07/one-day-more/

Nov 06

Fennel for the French Dinner

We hosted the crew last night for a Provençal French dinner. Julian made a daube (beef stew). I made polenta and fennel salad. We also had cheese and assorted appetizers, including some tinned foie gras that we brought home from our trip.

The fennel salad is one I’ve made many times over the years. The key ingredients are fennel, orange sections, and pomegranate seeds. I left red onion out, as our friend who is allium-intolerant was coming. Green olives are also traditional.

You can buy pomegranate seeds pre-extracted in grocery stores, but it’s much cheaper to get them out of the fruit. Pomegranate juice will stain clothing. Several methods can be used to extract the seeds. Julian bought me this contraption a few years ago. It consists of a bowl a strainer, and a flexible silicone dome.img_1736

Halve the pomegranate and put one half, cut side down, on the strainer. Cover with the dome, and whack away with a spoon to extract the seeds. I prefer to use the smooth side of a meat tenderizing mallet. It’s faster, and gets out all manner of micro-aggressions. Feel free to sing a chorus of “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” while you’re whacking. Repeat with the other half of the pomegranate.img_1737

Now that you’ve liberated the seeds, it’s time to assemble the salad. For one bulb of fennel, add sections from one decent-sized orange and about half of the pomegranate seeds. I added about 9 green olives, pitted and chopped. The dressing is extra-virgin olive oil, a splash of red wine vinegar, and a squeeze of the orange membranes you just liberated the sections from to add a little juice to the bowl. Add a little salt and white pepper to taste and toss. Just before serving, stir in some of the feathery leaves from one or two of the fennel stalks.img_1738

We still have a little salad left for tonight’s dinner, luckily.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/11/06/fennel-for-the-french-dinner/

Oct 18

Socca

One Provençal delicacy we didn’t try in France was socca, a thin flatbread made with chickpea flour. Given that several of our Friday night regulars are intolerant of wheat or gluten, this seemed like a good recipe to try.

Attempt #1. I used the recipe in Mireille Johnston’s Cuisine of the Sun. The batter was a simple mix of chickpea flour, water, olive oil, and a little salt. I made it in our 10″ cast iron frying pan. The recipe called for preheating the oven  to 400°, then turning on the broiler. The pancake was still a little gooey after the recommended baking time. It may be that the pan was too narrow in diameter, or that the heat didn’t get transferred adequately to the batter. Cast iron doesn’t conduct heat well.

Attempt #2. Julian’s turn. Under normal conditions his baking is limited to mixing up brownie mix, but he wanted to give it a try. He used a recipe from the New York Times. This iteration of the recipe added fresh rosemary. I picked a sprig or two from our plant. He used a larger Le Creuset pan to bake his recipe. Again, the middle was a bit undercooked. The flavor was good, but a bit salty. Julian said he’d reduce the amount of salt in the recipe. Again, I think the cast iron pans didn’t conduct heat well to the batter. I may try using our flimsy aluminum pizza pan next time.

Julian's attempt at socca.

Julian’s attempt at socca.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/10/18/socca/

Oct 16

Storm? What Storm?

The Seattle area was supposed to get 65 mph winds from a dying typhoon last night. Fortunately, this did not come to pass. We did get plenty of rain, but we never lost power. This morning I found a couple of puny branches from the big ass Douglas fir on our upper deck and the dining room skylight, but no major damage.

Our former next door neighbor, the weather geek, forwarded this on her Facebook page:unknown

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/10/16/storm-what-storm/

Oct 15

First of the Season

I had a bunch of Jonagold apples that I originally was going to use to make apple crisp. However, the week got away from me, so I opted to get some more apples and make applesauce. I used my tried-and-true method that I outlined last year. This time I added a couple of knobs of fresh ginger instead of crystallized, and used a little apple cider as the liquid.

All Jonagolds.

All Jonagolds.

This was the first time I used the induction range to make applesauce. The pan I used was one of Julian’s cheap-os that he’d had for years. Surprisingly, none of the applesauce burned on the bottom of the pan as it did when I used the pan on an electric coil burner. This was promising.

When it came time to run the apples through the food mill, the ginger hunks were still intact. (Note to self: Peel and chop the ginger next time.) Regardless, the final result looked and tasted good. The red from the peels colored the product nicely. Not as red as if I’d used Rome Beauties, but still pretty.

Pretty in pink.

Pretty in pink.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/10/15/first-of-the-season/

Oct 15

Yet Another Tea Rant

I’m used to getting tutti frutti iced tea in Seattle. Today we went to a sports bar and I asked for hot tea. The waitress asked me what type I’d like. “We have orange tea, peppermint tea…” I asked for black tea. She came back with Earl Grey: “This is the closest we have.” The struggles of being a tea drinker hereabouts continue.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/10/15/yet-another-tea-rant/

Oct 14

Picadillo

We’re in the midst of what could be a serious rain/windstorm for the next few days, the remnants of a typhoon. I got some hamburgers out of the freezer for dinner last night. The last thing I wanted to do was to stand on the upper deck in the rain and grill them. So I made picadillo, a classic pan-Latin American dish.
Picadillo is very easy to make, and cleans out the produce bin quite nicely. Start by breaking up that ground beef (or pork, turkey, chicken–hell, you can even use tofu if you must) and browning it in a frying pan. Chop up some onions and garlic, and throw them in the pan once the meat has started to brown. You can also add chopped bell pepper, jalapeño, celery, or whatever else needs to get used up. I had one whole bottled pimiento that I chopped and added to the pan. Once the onions become translucent, stir in a can of diced or stewed tomatoes. I used a can of tomatoes with green chiles. If you have them, you can use a can of Ro-Tel tomatoes, but that may be a bit strong for chile wimps. Add a little oregano and a bay leaf. No salt needed, for reasons that will become clear shortly. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then simmer while you make the rest of dinner. I made a pot of rice and roasted some parsnips and carrots (snips and rots, as we call them at Casa Sammamish). About 10 minutes before you’re ready to eat, stir in some sliced green pimiento-stuffed olives, capers, and a handful of raisins. The key to a good picadillo is a balance between salty and sweet. The olives and capers will supply the salt. The final picadillo should be fairly dry, not soupy. The raisins will absorb some of the liquid. Once your sides are done, dinner is ready. You can garnish the picadillo with parsley, cilantro, or cheese, roll it in tortillas, or serve it atop rice.

This recipe is very scalable. For the two of us, 1 pound of meat and a 14-ounce can of tomatoes gives us enough for a meal and leftovers. For a larger household, double those main proportions and add as many accoutrements as you have in the fridge. ¡Buen provecho!

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/10/14/picadillo/

Oct 13

Good News, Better News

I went to the hand surgeon yesterday to get the results of the MRI on my poor pinky finger. Good news: I don’t need surgery. I will need physical therapy to get the finger back to normal. Better news: I can go swimming, provided that I put the splint back on afterward. So this morning I got back in the pool. I swam in the slower lane, since it’s been 6 weeks since I did much of a swim. The best part was getting back in touch with my pool pals. Next week I’ll get back to the twice-to-thrice a week routine.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/10/13/good-news-better-news/

Oct 08

Rainy Saturday Activity

It was cool and raining this morning. What to do? Make some bread. Next question: What bread to make? I went to my trusty copy of Bernard Clayton Jr.’s New Complete Book of Breads. I found a garlic bread recipe that I’d made years ago. The garlic cloves are peeled, blanched, run through a press, and mixed with butter. The garlic butter mixture is kneaded into the dough. The kitchen was redolent with the aroma of garlic. Let’s just say that Casa Sammamish is safe from vampires for a day or two.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/10/08/rainy-saturday-activity/

Oct 08

Debate Prep

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Julian has collected his supplies for tomorrow’s Presidential Debate.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/10/08/debate-prep/

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