blue plate special

Last night I made dinner for PYT, and decided to go with a Blue Plate Special kind of theme, but vegetarian and fancy-fied (sometimes I like to call this "kara-fied" in homage to my peep Kara who is ba-bomb in the kitchen).

Anyhow, I made a burger, fries, vegetable of the day and pie. I kept the "fries" in the oven a little long to stay warm, though, and the potatoes got a little hard. But, still decent.

I made a version of Heidi's Sprouted Garbanzo Burgers, one of my (now) old standbys. I just made a couple of small changes. I didn't use the sprouted chickpeas, 'cause I didn't plan that far ahead (just used canned), swapped out fresh parsley for the sprouts/microgreens, added some sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, added a dab of dijon and used a tangerine salt (a la Eric Gower). For the fixin's, I used some sliced avocado, some roasted red peppers, some White Diamond cheddar, some sundried tomato "ketchup" and some remoulade sauce (a la Nowlzie).

For the fries, I again went with my gal Heidi, and used her recipe for Baked Carrot Oven Fries with chipotle-orange dipping sauce. I also used some baby Yukon gold potatoes, and sprinkled them with the tangerine salt and a little minced fresh rosemary, parsley and a couple of shallots.

For veg of the day, I went with some wilted spinach with garlic, crushed red pepper and toasted pinenuts. I love spinach. I could give Popeye a run for his money, for reals.

For dessert, I used this pie recipe. I ended up adding a couple extra tablespoons of butter to the crust because it was a little too crumbly, and added a little vanilla extract into the custard when I added the whiskey. It was tasty, but I think next time I'd add just a tad more sugar to the custard, and a tad of...some kind of spice to give a little more depth of flavor. Maybe some ground cloves? I'm not sure. Also, my bananas weren't totally ripe, so that cut down on the sweetness also. And, I think this would be good with some coconut in the custard, too. Has anyone made a custard with coconut milk? I wonder if you could replace some or all of the milk with coconut milk. I think that would add a nice flavor and a little sweetness.

Here's the din:


And, here's the pie:


All in all, a lovely evening!

o.b.--NOT the way it should be.

All morning I've had that jingle from the old O.B. tampon commercials in my head:

O.B.! It's the way you should be! Keep it simple, and set yourself free...from the extra...something-something...just try O.B. and you'll see!

I hate O.B.

I found myself in a desperate situation this morning with nothing but O.B. on hand. On my second try, I kinda got it, um, in place, but it was so uncomfortable it almost made me cry out of anger and frustration. And, there were no shops open anywhere between the house (where I'm pet-sitting), the bus stop and work. That is not a good way to start the day. How does anyone use these torture devices?! Monday morning + O.B. makes for one surly E.K.

Moral of this story? O.B. can suck it.

But, let's leave all that behind us, and concentrate on the good stuff--which is, of course, the weekend. And, it was a very special weekend because it was Maggie's birthday! Woot! She had her 2nd Annual Pittsburgh Birthday Potluck Party on Saturday evening, and I think I can safely say that a good time was had by all. Mags, Kramer, E-dawg and I reconvened the next morning (on Marge's actual birthday) for coffee and leftover cake, and a post-game discussion of our highlights and lowlights of the party the night before. It was all highlights, with very few lowlights! My highlights were: an excellent group of folks that seemed to be just the right mix, incredibly awesome food, super music--both the jams from the debut of DJ B.T. Hurd and the song stylings of The Gooch, encouragement (for all kinds of stuff) from our lovely hostess, and the peep show. My lowlights: none.

For the potluck I made a dish that is quickly becoming one of my ol' standbys--Eric Gower's recipe for Edamame Salad with Pickled Ginger from his The Breakaway Cook cookbook. I've talked about this on the blog before, and you can find the recipe here in the archives.


I also made a cake which I believed to be Maggie's favorite flavor--Apple-Walnut with Cream Cheese Frosting. But, when I said, "Guess what kind! It's your favorite!" She excitedly replied, "Lemon Poppyseed!". heh. But, then she recanted and said that Lemon Poppyseed used to be her favorite until a couple years ago when her loyalties shifted over to Apple Walnut. Either way, it was tasty. I got the recipe online from Shirl. Thanks, Shirl! (one note, Shirl makes this as a sheet cake, and I made two 9" rounds so as to look more birthday party-ish. So, I doubled the recipe for the frosting).


And, here's the spread:

One of my favorite dishes was Gooch's butternut squash. I had a butternut squash in my fridge, so I made it yesterday. So good and so easy!

Squash a la Gooch

1 butternut squash
1 small onion
some honey (2-4 T?)
some cayenne (1/2 t?)

Heat the oven to 375. Half the squash, long-ways, and scoop out the seeds. Half the onion, and place one half in each of the now-seedless cavities of the squash. Put some honey and cayenne into your baking dish, and place the squash, cut side down, into the dish (make sure the onion's not too big, because you want the squash to be flush with the pan). Cover loosely with foil, and bake about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of your squash. Yuh-um! I had one dish of it straight-up with plenty of the honey-cayenne liquid on top (it generates more liquid when cooking, from the squash, but I probably used about 2-4 T. of honey to start with). Then later I had a dish with some cinnamon and butter and toasted pecans. And, yet later still I had a little bit with some cumin sprinkled on. And, I'm having the last of it for lunch today, again straight-up style.


Apart from the food, here are some general birthday highlights:
The Birthday Girl, the morning after:


DJ B.T. Hurd kickin' out the jams:


Some slow dancin':


Some fast dancin'/flat-footin':


Some dirty dancin':

again, the weekends kick the non-weekends' collective asses

As always, the weekend rocked and Monday is the object of my anti-desire. But, I actually came in to work to a really nice email from one of the guys I support that he sent to my supervisor, my boss and my boss's boss about what a number one, right on employee I am. Sweet! That was really nice. And, I got a super-sweet email from a friend via myspace. Monday is really trying. I'll give it that.

But, but, but! The weekend was super-duper. And, I, for one, enjoy super-duper. Friday I went a-dogsitting in Squirrel Hill. He's a sweet little guy. And, I ran out for some errands, and to go see my friend Bob Snyder's opening at Gallerie Chiz. He makes these awesome little paintings on wood that are just amazing. He even did a portrait of me a couple years ago, and I cherish it. We used to work together, and I hadn't seen him in a while, so it was really fun to catch up and also see my pal Alan and his wife Heather who we also used to work with. A nice little reunion. Good times. (AH - They asked about Hurdcakes, too, fyi).

Saturday was more dogsitting, then off to the annual Gist Street Cook-Out. Even though it was the seventh annual cook-out it was my first, and it was AWESOME. Bringing two of my great loves--authors/books and food--together. Ellen and I both made Heidi dishes. I made the sprout burgers--this time with an Italian twist--used lots of basil from my front-step plants, sundried tomatoes and parsley. Yum. And, E-dawg made Heidi's kabobs with muhummara slather. Hot damn. Actually, when we were leaving one of the grill guys said, "Whoa! That sauce was intense! We put it on everything!" of the slather. And, it was--tangy and spicy and delicious. Yum. Thanks, Heidi! And, I actually won something from the raffle this month! I've never won before. I won a set of notecards by a glass artist...whose name I'm blanking on... Anyway, a good time was had by all.

Sunday was a lazy morning with some reading, some attempted (but ultimately unsuccessful) napping and a re-watching of Election. And, a kick-ass breakfast, courtesy of Eric Gower. I made his Shirred Shittake Eggs. Oh, dang. So good. I made them with some crispy garlic homefries and oj, and it was a breakfast fit for a queen. Seriously. I'm going to make baked eggs all the damn time now. I forgot to bring the recipe, but I think I remember it:

Shirred Shittake Eggs
from Eric Gower's The Breakaway Cook

4 eggs
2 T, plus 1 t. dried shittakes, pulverized [I probably used a little over 3 T., which was about 3 dried shittake caps]
2 T. butter, plus more to coat the ramekins
sea salt and pepper
a little shredded cheese, such as gouda [ek - I used an extra-aged Beemster gouda]

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt the 2 T. butter in a small skillet, and add the 2 T. of shittake. Cook for a few minutes until the butter foams up. In the meantime, coat the 2 ramekins with butter, and sprinkle in some shittake dust and shake around like coating a baking pan with flour. When the mushroom-butter mixture is ready split between the two ramekins. Break two eggs into each ramekin, top with sea salt and pepper, a little more of the shittake dust and a little shredded cheese. Place into the oven and cook for about 12-14 minutes, until there is very little movement when you shake the pan, but the yolks are still soft. Turn out onto plates with a rubber spatula.


Sunday afternoon was all about hitting the pool. Ellen and I have set a goal to try to check out all the city pools. So far we've been to:
-Riverview
-Bloomfield
-Jack Stack
-Highland Park
-Scheneley Park


And then I rolled over to the Quiet Storm for my weekly Scrabble bout with The Gooch. Once again, she cheated. That is all I have to say about that. Except that everyone should try the pina colada vegan milkshake. It is bomb.

I have a book club (Classic Book Club) tonight, and need to make a snack. I'm thinking of doing another white bean dip with basil oil. I loved the last white bean dip I made, but Hurd said it didn't have enough flavor, so the basil oil should take care of that. I love white beans. And, on Tuesday I have dinner at a friend's house, and I'm going to attempt Eric Gower's Maccha Truffles. Keep your fingers crossed!

small gestures that mean so much!

I'm posting twice today because I just received a package. Actually, yesterday I got a notice from UPS at my house that they'd tried to deliver a package from Amazon that required a signature. I couldn't figure out what I was getting from Amazon since I'd declared a moratorium on Amazon buying. Could it be that they'd noticed my lack of activity and were trying to lure me back? Was it something I'd pre-ordered ages ago and forgotten about? What could it be?

So, I called UPS, and they wouldn't deliver without a signature, so I re-routed it to my work address, and just got back from my lunchtime jaunt with Dolce (the new dog-sit dog) to find an Amazon box on my desk. And, guess what I opened it to find? My very own copy of Eric Gower's The Breakaway Cook! I hadn't ordered it, so I scanned the paperwork, and discovered that it had been sent by my lovely friend Alex (posts as "a" sometimes in the comments)! She just moved to Poland last week, and yet she found time to read my blog where I whined about needing this cookbook and having to give it back to the library and order me up a copy! So sweet!

Alex, you totally made my day! I'm am so cooking you a multi-course meal from this very cookbook when you're back in the U.S.S.R., I mean good ol' U.S.A.!

weekends, i love you.

This weekend was so fun that I'm not even really feeling that bitter about it being Monday! I like my weekends with a little laying about and a little bit action-packed. This one did not disappoint.

Friday I met up with Lauren to meet one of the dogs she sits for because I'm going to fill in for her this weekend. I had some time to kill before I met up with them after work, so I went to Trader Joes and got a couple of things and flirted withe some of their cute dykployees. Always a good time. Then, met up with Lauren and Dolce (a lil' maltese), and we took a little walk in the park and hung out for a bit. Then I went home, made a big salad with some jalapeno chips and mango salsa on the side (chips from TJ's, mango salsa from Reyna), watched a movie (Fixing Frank, 4 stars), pet and scratched and massaged the China-Bear and the K-Bear and we all passed out around 10:30. Good times.

Then, I was up at the cracka on Saturday because E-dawg and I were headed off for our raw milk roadtrip. We took a lovely drive (well, it was on 28 which isn't all that lovely, but still) out to Worthington to Le-Ara Holsteins/Wilson Farms. It's owned by two sisters, and we met Lara who I'd been emailing with. She's the cutest lady-farmer in all the land! And, they're planning on expanding into making a bottling facility so that they would be able to sell the raw milk in stores (like, the co-op, WF, etc.). It was a sweet little farm, and the cows seemed happy and clean (E's mom was concerned about them being clean), and with a gajillion barn cats hanging out looking cute (and also clean).



Then, we drove back to the 'Burgh, hung out for a while at Beleza, then in the courtyard at Zeke's house (where I was dogsitting) and shared cook books and recipes until we were hungry enough to warrant a salad. Nerdy and delicious. My favorite.

After E-dawg left, Zeke and I took a big walk and then just chilled out around the house, read, played around on the internet. Then I made a big ol' pile of Eric Gower's Breakaway Fries and watched some tv (cable!). But, he said that his are done in 5-7 minutes. Mine were more like 20-25 minutes. Hmmm. I forgot to take a picture, but they were freakin' awesome and very easy. I used four large potatoes cut into shoestrings. Heated 1 T. butter with 1 T. olive oil in a large skillet and added about 1 t. of chipotle chili powder. Pan fried them until they were golden brown and crispy-ish, and then shook on a bunch of paprika salt (just paprika pulverized with some coarse sea salt). Served it with a dollop of ketchup and a dollop of mayo. Not light, but mmm, mmm good.

Sunday morning Ellen and Kara came over for a raw milk waffle brunch. We were still at Zeke's house, so had the awesome courtyard for an al fresco brunch. Our menu was:
-coffee with raw milk and sugar
-orange juice
-wholewheat "almost as good as buttermilk" waffles, made with raw milk (I forgot to bring this recipe, but I'll try to remember it tomorrow--from Doggie's recipe from the beach)
-waffle toppings: ricotta cheese, sliced strawberries, the most gorgeous raspberries I've ever seen that Ellen foraged in the North Side, maple syrup and Richard's "country honey"
-Kara's tomatoes stuffed with an avocado-melon salad (I'm having the leftovers of this for lunch today!) with lemon cucumbers and watercress (was that watercress?)

Hot damn. That was some good eatin'!





Wow, that was good. I wish I had another waffle right now.

Then, E-dawg and hit up the Riverview Park pool (home of our favorite graffiti: "you know you eat shit") to cool off, then I met up with The Gooch for a Scrabble Showdown. She beat me. Again. I cannot abide this.

I had plans to check out the Fair Is Fair show last night to see some jazzercizing quipsters and other fun times, but I was pooped by then. Plus, Sunday nights are for relaxing, right? I went home and hung with my babies, watched the second half of a movie I'd started on Friday night (The Devil's Backbone, 3 stars), then hung with Zeke, read and went to bed early.


Ahhhh. I feel super today.

my newest love

I'd been hesitant to post about my newest love because I have his book from the library, and there's only one copy in circulation, and I want to keep it forever. But, I just checked the library site, and now there's a dang hold on my copy so I won't be able to renew it. Crap. Buying new books does not fit into the budget, but I'm in love with this chef and his cookbook. Whoever has the hold on this book--a pox upon you!

So, anyway, the book is The Breakaway Cook by Eric Gower.

Last night I made two of the recipes from his book. The Edamame Salad with Pickled Ginger, Maccha Salt and Roasted Almonds and the Crispy, Tangy Tofu. Holy cow. Both were amazing. Very light and perfect for a summer dinner. I made them, and took them over to Maggie's with a jug of my homebrewed kombucha. Yum.


Eric's whole philosophy of "breakaway cooking" is that:

A breakaway cook is, above all, someone who loves great home cooking without excessive fuss – it’s all about keeping things very simple and accessible. Simplicity is what distinguishes breakaway cooking from fusion food, which often muddies the waters with needless and excessive complexity. Breakaway cooking reaches all over the globe for inspiration and ingredients to produce easy, no-fuss food. The flavors are bright and fresh, and the ideas are simple yet sweeping.

Breakaway cooks aren’t fancy restaurant chefs trying to achieve cutting-edge or trendy results. They typically work solo, or if they’re very lucky sometimes have a friend or family member to help out, and they typically work in imperfect kitchens, with imperfect tools, limited budgets, and limited time to cook.

A breakaway cook is someone who's willing to take a culinary leap by combining everyday staples—chicken, eggs, common vegetables, pasta—with an international bazaar of readily available ingredients: miso, green tea, tamarind, chutney, star anise, pomegranate molasses, lemongrass, ginger and galangal . . . the list seems to grow everyday. The Breakaway Cook shows home cooks how to take these "global flavor blasts" down from the shelf and use them in new, time-saving ways. These intense flavors then get combined with the freshest of local organic produce, and are woken up even more with the liberal use of excellent salts, citrus, fresh herbs, and good olive oils and vinegars.

I love his style, and I LOVE the way those recipes tasted. And, they were really easy and straightforward. I had to make a couple substitutions/omissions, and it was still amazing. I'm especially down with his ideas of making flavored salts and vinegars as a simple way to infuse your cooking with "flavor blasts". I made his maccha salt last night for the edamame recipe, and used it today on some hard-boiled eggs with my lunch. So delicious!

Here's the tofu recipe:

Crispy, Tangy Tofu
serves 4 [ek: uh, this served 2 and I could've totally eaten more]
from The Breakaway Cook, p. 100

zest and juice (about 1/4 c.) of 1 large lemon, preferably Meyer
zest and juice or 1 orange
2 T. carrot juice [ek: i didn't have carrot juice, so just used water]
1 T. honey
1 T. soy sauce [ek: i used Bragg's liquid aminos]
pinch of cayenne
3 scant T. rice flakes or fine dry bread crumbs [ek: i used panko]
pinch of kosher salt
pinch of freshly crushed black pepper
1 block silken tofu, drained, then wrapped in paper towels to absorb moisture
1 egg yolk
1 generous T. unsalted butter
1 t. chopped fresh chives (optional)

Put the citrus juices into a small saucepan, add the carrot juice, honey, soy sauce and cayenne, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer while you prepare the tofu. [ek: i actually added the zest, too. when i read through the recipe i thought he forgot to add it, but i'd do it again. it made the sauce extra citrusy and delicious].

Put the rice flakes (or bread crumbs), salt and pepper in a coffee or spice grinder and pulse a few times. Be sure the paper towels have absorbed as much water as possible from the tofu, then slice the tofu along its "equator", creating 2 large flattish slabs. Cut each of those in half, giving you 4 pieces. Spoon the egg yolk on one side of each piece and evenly spread the rice-flake crust over them. Heat the butter in a small nonstick skillet over medium heat and saute the tofu, crust side down, for about 5 minutes, until nicely browned. Carefully flip the pieces over with a spatula and briefly cook the other side, about 2 minutes. Pour some of the reduced sauce into a warm plate or shallow bowl and slide the tofu into the center of the sauce, crispy side up. Top with the orange and lemon zest and the chives, if desired.

And, here's the edamame salad recipe.

Edamame Salad with Pickled Ginger, Maccha Salt, and Roasted Almonds
serves 5 or 6 [ek: Mags and I each had two helpings of this, and I had one helping left over for lunch today]
from The Breakaway Cook, p. 66

1 T. unsalted butter
1 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c. minced shallot
3 c. cooked edamame
1/2 c. pickled ginger (p. 38), juilienned [he makes his own pickled ginger, which I'm totally going to do, but I didn't have that ready, so just used it from a jar]
1/4 c. vinegar from Pickled Ginger
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced into irregular shapes
freshly crushed black pepper
maccha salt (p. 36)
1/4 c. roasted almonds, roughly chopped

Melt the butter with the olive oil in a small pan over medium-low heat. Add the galic and shallot and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a large serving bowl and add the edamame, pickled ginger, vinegar and avocado. Mix and sprinkle in plenty of pepper. Divide the salad among individual plates, dust each serving liberally with the maccha salt, and top with the almonds.

I can't wait to try as many of the recipes as possible before I have to return the book (on 7/18, you bastard! no, not you. that person who has a hold on the book). I will definitely be buying a copy of this when I'm more financially solvent.

In other news, I've been on a quest to track down a source for raw dairy. At the beach Doggie made some waffles with raw milk, butter and cottage cheese that were amazing. I haven't been able to stop thinking of them, so I emailed around and found a couple sources for raw milk and cheese (alas, no butter or cottage cheese yet, but one farm said they may start making yogurt soon). E-dawg and I are making a little road trip out to Le-Ara Holsteins/Wilson Farms tomorrow to pick up some milk. And, then she and Kara and I are making the waffles tomorrow. I'm getting some strawberries and ricotta cheese (the raw cultured cottage cheese was sorta like ricotta) and maple syrup, and Ellen's brining some of her friend Richard's country honey and some raspberries. Kara is going to make "something complimentary", and I can't wait to see what that is because she's an insanely good cook. Now, that is what a Sunday morning is all about!

Oh, and the kombucha. I finished one batch on Sunday (took about a week and a half to get to the acidity that tasted good to me), and started two more. I bottled what I'd made, and have been drinking it up (made about a gallon). It's not as effervescent as the stuff you get in the store (I'm thinking that's probably because it's mixed with fruit puree which gives it something to eat and build up pressure), but it's delicious and I feel good when I drink it. The two mothers that will come from the batches I'm making now are spoken for, and one of the ones from the batch after that, but if you're interested in making your own, just let me know and I'll put you on The Mother List.