Ok ok I know i've been absent lately, and I promise for many new recipes soon, but in the meantime I want to share this video with you.  This captures one of the things I love most about SAS- the amazing shipboard community. I once called this ship home, and this brings back so many amazing memories. Enjoy!

Newest Obsessions

This past week I've been on a pumpkin seed binge.  They're so simple to make and are a perfect healthy snack.  

To make mine, I thoroughly rinsed the seeds and let them dry overnight.  I added a little olive oil to them- not too much, you want them to be crisp, not soggy. Next I added salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, chipotle, and cayenne; you can use any combination of these.  Next, toss them with the kicker- tabasco sauce! Mix them up, spread on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes, shuffling the seeds around half way. They're spicy and smokey and I just can't step away.

My other obsession is Mama Lil's Kick Butt Peppers.  I first had these on a pizza at Apizza Scholls (the amazing Portland pizza joint featured on Travel channel's No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain episode "Pacific Northwest").  I immediately went out to buy them.  They're made locally in the Northwest, Seattle to be exact. I've found them at Whole Foods and specialty grocery stores so if you live outside the area you really have no excuse not to run out and buy these.  They're a little pricy- around $7 or $8 for a small jar, but totally worth it. 

You must try the "kick butt" variety.  I've tried Mama Lil's bread and butter pickles & peppers and they're nowhere as good as the spicy ones.  I put these on sandwiches, in omelettes, on pizza, bruschetta, pasta, hell i'd even put them in my cereal if it no one was watching.  These peppers are spicy, a little sweet, and the oil they're packed in is perfect for tossing pasta with.  My mouth is watering just thinking about them. GET THESE! 

Vermicelli in Peanut Sauce

This past weekend Zephyr and I took our annual fall weekend getaway.  Last year we stayed in Bend, OR when the leaves were at their peak colors.  This past week we headed north to Snoqualmie Falls, WA.  It was a rainy trip (surprise surprise!) but the falls were beautiful nonetheless.

The lodge at the top of the falls is gorgeous.  I enjoyed some time in their spa getting a pumpkin scented massage! A-MAY-ZING! So relaxing. The next day we kicked around Seattle, and ended the day with a long hike in Forest Park back in Portland and carved our Halloween pumpkins that evening.

Carving pumpkins: not my strong suit.

I've been itching to cook up an Asian feast lately, but it's so hard to find certain far eastern ingredients in standard grocery stores.  I discovered my new favorite store- Fubonn.  It's located in Portland's Asian district (no, not Chinatown.  This is located on SE 82nd ave between Division and Powell).  It's AWESOME.  I honestly felt like I was back in China or Vietnam when I was browsing the aisles and didn't hear a word of English.  You've GOT to go here! The meat counter has everything from pig's tongue to Korean short ribs.  The frozen section is abundant with dozens and dozens of varieties of pot-stickers and dumplings.  My goal was to find a good fish sauce, and I left with over a basket full of items.  Here's what I made last night...

Vermicelli in Peanut Sauce

8 ounces vermicelli rice noodles

Juice of two limes

Splash of fish sauce

3 Tbs soy sauce

3 Tbs brown sugar

3 Tbs vegetable or canola oil

3 Tbs peanut butter (I prefer crunchy!)

1 red bell pepper, julienned

3/4 cup sliced scallions

1/2 cup chopped basil

1/4 cup chopped mint

1/2 cup peanuts, chopped 

1. Cook noodles according to package directions.

2. Whisk the lime juice, fish sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, oil, and peanut butter in a sauce pan over low heat until warm.  Add the cooked noodles, bell pepper, and scallions to pan, stir to coat. 

3.  Transfer noodle mixture to a bowl and mix in herbs.  Serve topped with peanuts!

Butternut Squash and Kale Gnocci

Somehow, in the midst of Portland's change of seasons, I found myself in a place with practically one season, south Florida.  I had a business trip to the Ft. Lauderdale area last week.  The temperature didn't drop below a humid 90 degrees the whole week.  It was the type of weather where you rush from your car into the office, in hopes that your sweat doesn't embarrassingly soak through your nice new blazer.  Despite the heat, I loved walking around the little beach town where my hotel was.  The ocean water was crystal clear and practically the temperature of bath water.  There were some great restaurants too, including a trendy sushi bar I ate at called Buddha Sky Bar.  They had a "menage a trois" roll with spicy salmon and crispy salmon skin inside, and salmon sashimi outside- to die for!

View from my hotel

But back to the northwest... Don't you just love fall?  The leaves are starting to to brilliant colors here. Just take a look at the ugly Costco parking lot I found myself in the other day, somehow turned beautiful by the bright red leaves:

Fall means lots of yummy food.  I went out yesterday and stocked up on apple cider, pumpkin ice cream, and tons of cool weather fruits and veggies.  I particularly love squash, it is such a versatile food.  My farmer's market houses dozens of varieties, but one of the more common one you can find at grocery stores is butternut.

Butternut squash with kale and gnocci (serves 4)
2 Tbs olive oil
1/2 a medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 small yellow onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, pressed
1 Tbs dried sage
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/4 cups chicken broth (sub vegetable broth for vegetarian)
1 bunch of kale, stemmed and roughly chopped
1 package gnocci (generally they come in 17.5 oz packages) I used fresh, but packaged is ok, too.
1 cup parmesan

1.  Preheat your oven broiler.  Add olive oil to dutch oven or ovenproof skillet over medium heat.  Stir in onion and squash.  Cook until soft (about 8 minutes).
2.  Add the garlic, sage, pepper flakes, and salt and pepper.  Stir and cook for 2 minutes.
3.  Add the chicken broth.  When it starts to simmer, add kale and cook until wilted, 2 minutes.  Add the gnocci, stir, cover, and let sit for 5 minutes.
4. Uncover and stir in 1/2 cup parmesan.  Top with remaining 1/2 cup parmesan, transfer to the oven and broil until bubbly and brown, 4 minutes.

This recipe is filling, healthy and SO quick!  It probably took me less than 1/2 an hour to make.  I've been trying to cook more vegetarian lately.  You will not miss the meat in this hearty dish!  Happy fall!

Honeycrisp

This weekend felt like the first few days of fall.  What better way to spend an October weekend than go apple picking?  Zephyr and I headed out to Hood River on Sunday for a celebration of all things fall.  I love Hood River.  It's breathtakingly gorgeous, with a million things to do and amazing restaurants and breweries for a city of it's size (roughly 7,000 people).
We started the day with caffeine at Doppio on Oak Street.  I got a yummy pumpkin latte, and we climbed to the top of the street and sipped our coffee on a park bench while overlooking the beautiful Columbia River Gorge.  Just across the Gorge in Bingen is a pizza joint called Solstice.  Their "country girl cherry" pizza was recently voted the best pizza in Washington.  Naturally, that's where we went and what we ordered for lunch.

Delicious! The cherries put this pizza over the top!

After lunch, we drove back across the river to Oregon and began our apple picking at Kiyokawa Orchards.  The orchards are located in the "fruit loop" around Mt. Hood.

About to rain, boo! Beautiful views nonetheless. 

Yay honeycrisps!

Picture perfect apples.

It started pouring.  Zephyr called this my "old Russian woman" look.

After picking more apples than we know what to do with, we headed to Stevenson, WA to Walking Man Brewery for a pint.  The views from the town were pretty, even if the sun never came out.

Eventually we headed home and cooked up a yummy minestrone full of tons of farmer's market veggies.  Warm soup was the perfect way to end a rainy fall Sunday.

Warms my soul.

I made some pretty good apple cocktails at the end of the day, you've got to try these!

Must be drank with a pumpkin spice candle burning nearby. 

Applejack cocktails (makes one cocktail)
2 oz. Applejack liqueur
1 oz. lemon juice
Grenadine
Hard cider
In a shaker filled with ice, combine Applejack, lemon juice, and a splash of grenadine.  Strain over ice.  Top with hard cider.
Note: I used Strongbow cider, a drink I became slightly obsessed with after spending some time in Edinburgh this year.  It's available at better grocery stores, but Vermont's Woodchuck brand might be easier to find.

Happy fall!




Cafe Dopio
310 Oak Street
Hood River, OR 97031


Solstice Wood Fire Cafe
415 W Steuben Street (Hwy 14)
Bingen, WA 98605


Kiyokawa Orchards
8129 Clear Creek Road
Parkdale, OR 97041


Walking Man Brewing
240 SW First St
Stevenson, WA 98648

Larch Mountain

This weekend, Zephyr and I went on a hike to Larch Mountain.  It's an old extinct volcano just about an hour from downtown Portland.  It was gorgeous!  The hike is a 6 mile loop, with a quad-busting portion at the end.  The first part (trail #441) is all a steep downgrade where you pass through an abandoned camp site and stone wall left from an old logging railroad grade.

The stone wall. Pleasantly downhill at this point.

After trekking downhill, we turned right on trail #444.  There we crossed a cool bridge made from a fallen tree.

Once across the bridge, we veered right onto the crater portion of the hike.  We went around the perimeter of a meadow field filled with wildflowers.  Our guidebook states it was once an old lake, but centuries of natural sediments have filled it.

Gigantic mushroom

Then we trekked straight vertical for about an hour.  At this point, a bee with a vengeance circled us for over a mile.  We freaked.  We're both terrified of bees. And to think I felt bad for those suckers after watching a documentary the night before our hike titled "Colony" about how bees are mysteriously disappearing.  This bee was PISSED.  We BOOKED IT.  We ran for about a half a mile until I realized the bee had abandoned me and moved on to Zephyr.  At this point, he took my pepper spray (intended for bears), and tried to kill off the attack bee while I watched, secretly laughing, from a distance.  It finally abandoned us when two other hikers passed by and it decided to latch on to them instead of us.  We were relieved, and felt the tinniest bit guilty for passing on the pissed-off stinging insect to nice strangers.  But not really.
After the bee incident, we decided the pick up our pace and get out of the attack forest.  After a major uphill portion, the trail somewhat flattened out for the last mile or so.  We passed lots of wild flowers and wild huckleberries.  The end of the hike drops you off about 1/2 mile from where the trailhead began.  I'd like to try this hike again in the spring.  Apparently the crater at the bottom fills up with water when the rains arrive, creating a serene lake in the middle of the forest. 

Directions:

From Portland take I-84 East and exit at Corbett (aka US 30).  At the junction, turn left to go east on the Historic Columbia River Highway.  At mile 22.9 turn right on Larch Mountain Road (just past the Women's Forum Overlook), and drive 14 miles to the trailhead at the end of the road. 

Note: Parking is $5 cash unless you have a forest pass (you can use the same one used for skiing/snowboarding on Mt Hood)

So long sweet summer

Wow it's been a little over a month since I posted!  You can't blame me, I was soaking up as much sun as I could in preparation for another 8 months of rain.  Let's catch up...
My brother Geoff paid me a visit in August.  I think the highlight for him was spending a day at the coast hiking and exploring.

Quads were burning at this point.

Finally made it down to the beach.  These rocks provided lots of little spaces for tide pools filled with starfish, crabs, and sea anemones. 

Last weekend I paid my good friend from college, Ana a visit in Boise.  She recently moved there for work, and I'd never been to Idaho before.  I was pleasantly surprised by what a cute little city it was.  We spent Saturday at the farmer's market, zoo, rose garden, and biking all day around the greenbelt and Boise river.  We had the most amazing sushi at Fujiyama, and afterwards toasted in her late birthday celebration with champagne.

 Salmon and tuna dragon roll- mouthwatering.

Beautiful Ana and I.  It was so nice to spend quality time with such a good friend!

Zephyr and I spent a weekend in Seattle recently, as we often do since as he has many relatives in the area.  We did the Seattle underground tour, which Zeph hadn't done since he was a kid.  Claustrophobic to say the least, but interesting nonetheless.  We ate at our favorite spot- Honeyhole Sandwiches.  If you're ever in Seattle, you MUST visit this funky sandwich joint.  As per tradition, we picked up the most amazing cheddar cheese from Beechers, and fresh salmon from Pike Place, which we placed on ice and took back to Portland. I love to kayak, and we spent a sunny day on Fox Island paddling around the reefs.  Then we walked around Gig Harbor browsing antique stores and gift shops, such a quaint little town!

I've also been cooking a ton, something you can't really help when EVERYTHING is in season at once at the farmers market!  Our tomato plant has been abundantly presenting us with rip red goodness every day.  Not only that, but Zephyr brought home over 20lbs of tomatoes from the farmers market while I was in Boise. Over TWENTY POUNDS!  Typical guys would buy a Xbox while their girlfriend is out of town, not when you're dating an aspiring chef!  We've spent the last few days roasting and roasting and stewing and stewing.  We'll have lots of tomato sauce in the freezer when this is all through!

Summer means heirlooms, and heirlooms mean delicious caprese with fresh mozzarella and balsamic vinegar. 

Summer has been good to us.  But I am SO ready for fall.  Bring on the pumpkin lattes, butternut squash, and crisp air perfect for hikes in Forest Park and runs on the waterfront!

Greek Feast!

I made this Greek feast the other night and it was a big hit.  Bonus: eggplant and zucchini are in season right now!  Opa!

Eggplant stuffed with Lamb and Rice (serves 4)

1 onion, chopped
3/4 lb ground lamb
1 14 oz can of chicken broth
1 cup brown rice
2 eggplants
1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
Zest of 1 lemon

1. Caramelize onion in an oven-proof pot with a little olive oil.  Add lamb.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook lamb until no longer pink.  Add broth and rice, bring to a simmer.  Move pot into a 400 degree oven, cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
2. Slice eggplants in half lengthwise.  Brush each cut side with a little olive oil. Place in baking pan, cut sides up, and roast for 40 minutes. Cool.
3. Scoop out the flesh from the eggplants and roughly chop. Add to a bowl with the mint and lemon zest.  Add lamb-rice mixture and stir to combine.
4. Divide the mixture amongst the eggplant skins (1 per person). Garnish with chopped mint.


Zucchini with feta and dill

1 medium sized zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
3/4 cup feta
2 Tbs fresh dill
3 Tbs olive oil
2 tsp lemon juice

Mix all ingredients together and season with salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.  If you're afraid of raw zucchini, you won't be after trying this dish.  So simple, fresh, and easy.

Halibut with Avocado and Mango Salsa

This recipe screams "summer" to me.  Eating it outdoors on a gorgeous evening overlooking the Willamette doesn't hurt its association with the warmer months either.  Halibut is one of my favorite fish.  But, to be honest, I haven't met a fish I didn't like.
Bonus: You get heart healthy omega-3s from the avocado and EVOO, protein from the halibut, beta-carotene from the mango, and lycopene from the tomatoes. A nutritional powerhouse!

Halibut with mango-avocado salsa (serves 4)
1 avocado, diced
1 mango, diced
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
6 leaves of basil, chiffonad-ed (my made up verb)
Basil olive oil (or regular EVOO)
One lime, juiced.
1 tsp lime zest
2 lbs halibut

1. Place halibut in a glass baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil, juice of 1/2 the lime, lime zest, and sprinkle with sea salt and fresh ground pepper.  Let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.
2. Combine avocado, mango, tomatoes, basil, juice of 1/2 the lime, and 1Tbs olive oil.  Set aside.
3. Bake fish at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and top with a generous spoonful of salsa  on each filet.

The salsa on top of the flaky filet is amazing.  You get a little bit of sweet from the mango, creaminess from the avocado, acidity from the tomatoes and lime, and the herbaceous basil to round everything out.  Delicious!

Life update, and... peppers!

I realize i've been MIA for a while.  I've been so busy enjoying summer that i've neglected my little spot in cyberspace- my blog.  A few weeks ago, Zephyr and I took a little road trip down to California.  We stopped in Stockton to stay with a friend, then headed to Lake Tahoe.  Zephyr has been frequenting Tahoe since he was a baby (he says he's visited between 50-100 times!), and brought me there for the first time a few years ago.  I've been obsessed with the lake since, and we try to go back often. We had an amazing time kayaking in the crystal clear water, capsizing our kayak, and swimming to shore (embarrassing). We had a picture perfect dinner at the Loan Eagle Grill at Incline Village, where I devoured filet mignon with LOBSTER BÉARNAISE!!! Heaven.

After Tahoe we stopped in Chico, home to our alma mater, and I got to see some of my closest girlfriends from college, the beautiful Ana and Frances! We also visited our favorite brewery, Sierra Nevada.  That place never lets me down.

After returning from our trip, I received the unfortunate news that my grandma had passed away.  I just returned from the funeral in Washington DC yesterday.  It was a beautiful celebration of the joyous woman that she was.  My grandma was the epitome of a classy lady!  It was great to have all the family in one place, despite the sad occasion.

My grandma loved to cook.  I guess it skipped a generation, as my mom can barely work the stove (I still love you!), but I like to think I inherited my love for cooking from Grandma.
Speaking of cooking, I discovered a new addiction- padron peppers!  I found them at my farmers market and am obsessed with these little green gems. They're mild, but once in a while you get a really spicy one.  To cook them all you have to do is sautee them in a little olive oil until they start to blacken, and then sprinkle generously in sea salt and gobble them up.  I know, it sounds weird.  I wouldn't crave a green pepper or jalapeno prepared in this fashion, but trust me, this veggie's cult following is well deserved.

Stay tuned for summer recipes!

Lamb- least sustinable food!?

Here's an interesting article I read on yahoo today about sustainable foods.  I always thought that beef was the least sustainable meat, and eat it only sparingly, but it turns out lamb is even worse for the environment!  It also says cheese is a bad choice when practicing sustainability.  Well shoot me, I could never give up a good shaving of parm or extra sharp cheddar.

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/the-1-best-protein-for-your-health-and-the-worst-to-avoid-2512800/

Bamboo Sushi

Bamboo sushi is definitely my favorite sushi spot in Portland. Not only is the food amazing, but you feel like a better person for having eaten there.  I'll explain: Bamboo is the first certified sustainable sushi restaurant in the WORLD, and they work along with leading marine stewardship organizations to hold the trophy. 

When I first dined at Bamboo and heard of their prestigious title, I wondered how diverse of a menu they'd actually have considering all the news reports about how seemingly all modern fishing practices are unsustainable. I was pleasantly surprised by a large and diverse menu. Not only do they have sushi, but they have a variety of cooked dishes as well, including black cod miso, a dish GQ recently named one of the top 5 plates of the year.  Lots of people love sushi because they deem it a healthy option, but it's not when the fish is full of mercury and fattened on fish farms with grain and corn.  At Bamboo you can taste the difference.  The albacore melts in your mouth, the salmon is perfectly creamy, and the sea eel is unlike any anago I've ever tasted.

Not only does Bamboo use all sustainable ingredients, but their entire restaurant uses renewable energy to power itself.  They compost waste and offer biodegradable take out boxes (which you won't need, because you'll stuff yourself silly here).

Spicy salmon with jalapeno rolled in habanero smelt roe.

Recommendations:
1. Make a reservation, I've waited over an hour for a table before (and that was on a Tuesday!)
2. Try to sit at the sushi bar, it's fun to watch the chefs making your food.  Plus, I love to ask them questions about their technique and ingredient sources. They give you little samples of things if you're friendly!
3. Order the "Gin henson" cocktail to start (gin muddled with cucumber and basil with a dash of lemon-lime ginger infused syrup).  The "Hoki Poke" box is delicious- rice pressed with red crab salad, layered with tuna, avocado, green onion, togarashi, and poke sauce.  Bamboo is one of the few restaurants using this old technique of making sushi with a "press box".


Bamboo Sushi
301 SE 28th Ave.
Portland, OR 97214

Spicy black bean & corn salad

Ahhh summer.  I just can't get enough of you.  I make black bean and corn salad often.  I usually always have the ingredients for it on hand, and it's so simple yet flavorful.  This side works wonderfully with Mexican, or as I served it last night, with orange-marinated grilled salmon and grilled pineapple.  I heat this mixture in jalapeno olive oil, a delicious alternative to standard EVOO.  You can find specialty flavored oils at gourmet food stores.

Black bean and corn salad (serves 3-4)
1 large ear or corn, grilled or boiled (or sub 1 15 oz can corn, drained)
1/4 red onion, diced
1/2 of one jalapeno, diced (more of less depending on your sensitivity to heat)
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp chili powder
Juice of 1 lemon
3 strips of jarred roasted red peppers, diced
1 tsp jalapeno olive oil (or regular EVOO)
1  15 oz can black beans

Combine first 8 ingredients. Heat olive oil in sautee pan over medium heat.  Add corn mixture, and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.  Drain the water from the canned black beans.  Add to corn mixture in the sautee pan, and cook just until warm (about 1-2 minutes).

Chicken and Soy Chorizo Paella

Paella (prounced pah-ey-uh), is one of the most traditional Spanish dishes.  There are many variations to this classic Mediterranean specialty, so here's my take.
Notes: Saffron is expensive, in fact, it's known as the world's most expensive spice.  It sells for about $6 a gram, but a little goes a long way.  Leaving it out of this paella would change the flavor entirely.
Also, this could easily be made pescatarian by substituting the chicken for shrimp, or vegetarian by omitting the chicken all together and using vegetable broth.  Regular dried chorizo is a good substitute for the soy, I was just working with what I had in my kitchen! I served this with a simple salad and crusty bread.

Chicken and Soy Chorizo Paella (feeds 4)
3 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp saffron
1.5 lbs chicken thighs, halved (I used boneless skinless to be healthier, but skin-on adds tons of flavor)
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 link Trader Joe's soy chorizo.  (TJ's soy chorizo is AMAZING! I promise you won't even know it's vegetarian!)
1 white onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
1.75 cups Arborio rice (aka the same stuff you make risotto from)
1/2 cup english peas
1 lemon, quartered.

1. Warm chicken broth and saffron in a sauce pan over medium heat.
2. Meanwhile, season chicken with paprika, 1tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper.  Add to paella pan (or any oven-safe pan with high sides), cook over medium heat for about 8 minutes. Transfer to plate.
3.  In paella pan, add onion, garlic, chorizo.  Cook for 5 minutes.
4. Add tomato, cook down for another 5 minutes.
5. Stir in rice and add broth to mixture.  Bring to a boil for about 2 minutes, then add peas and chicken to mixture. Transfer pan to oven and cook for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.
6.  Let rest for at least 10 minutes (HOT!)
7.  As you dish out portions, squeeze 1/4 lemon over each plate.  It adds a ton of flavor to the paella.

Hot in the pan

Ready to eat! 

Lemon-lime basil cookies

Happy belated 4th of July! Zeph and I spent the holiday in Ocean Shores, WA at the beach with his parents and grandparents.  The firework situation was unlike any i've ever experienced before.  Mini fireworks are legal, but to get the big ones that shoot up you have to go to Indian Reservations.  Then, in order to legally use them, you have to set them off from Reservation property.  The beach where we stayed was technically a reservation, so hundreds of people drove right onto the beach, trucks loaded with huge fireworks and set them off all day and night long!  We bought a few ourselves on the drive up, a had a ton of fun lighting up the sky while sipping beers and chatting with the locals.

I brought some cookies along to share while sitting around the fire.  This recipe is perfect because it makes exactly one dozen, while some cookie recipes yield way too many to handle (and if you're anything like me, you don't need extra cookies laying around begging to be eaten!) I used the basil we're growing on our balcony, and I love the herbal flavor of these not overly-sweet treats. Using herbs in desserts always gives a little unexpected flavor to the after-dinner course!

Lemon-lime basil cookies
1 cup flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar (and a little extra for pressing cookies)
12 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
2 Tbs sliced basil leaves
1 tsp lemon zest
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 tsp lime zest
1/4 tsp kosher salt

Preheat oven to 375.  Place all ingredients into a food processor.  Pulse until large clumps form.  Roll 12 balls out of the dough and place on baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Lightly dust the bottom of a flat measuring cup with powdered sugar and press cookies into 2 inch rounds, dusting the cup bottom with powdered sugar between each press.  Bake about 20 minutes.

Before baking.  Looking a little green! The green color ended up fading after they baked.

Packed and ready to take to the beach.  I love the little flecks of basil in the dough.  They look plain, but the zest adds a ton of flavor to these yummy cookies!

Secret Steak Sauce

I got an email yesterday from my mom including a recipe with the below message attached:

"My siblings have been sending emails back and forth about steak sauce they and Gramps especially loved in a restaurant we used to frequent while living in Geneva. It seems the chef took the recipe with him to the grave. They have been searching for similar ones that are served in other French restaurants in Europe and the USA and have come up with a recipe close to the original" 

Immediately after I received the recipe I knew I just had to make it for dinner.  My mom has a special place in her heart for Swiss/French cuisine after living throughout Europe growing up.  She is always the first to school me on whether a fondue at a restaurant is made the Swiss way or the American way.  She's particular about the gooey chocolate sauce that they serve over waffles for desserts at Swiss restaurants, it has to be just as she remembers it from when she was a girl or she writes the place off as not authentically Swiss.  My mom remembers the flavors of her childhood much more vividly than I can recall mine.  So I knew I had to make this secret french sauce that was a favorite of my Grandpa's and the rest of my mom's siblings years ago in Geneva!

Secret French Steak Sauce

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 large shallots

3 cloves garlic

2 cups chicken stock

1 teaspoon white pepper

2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 bunch tarragon

3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon anchovy paste

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

Peel and slice the shallots.  Peel and roughly chop the garlic.  Add the olive oil to a small pan over medium heat.  Add the shallots and garlic and cook until slightly colored.  Add the chicken stock and simmer for three minutes.

Pull the tarragon leaves off the stem and put them in the blender or food processor.  Add the remaining ingredients to the blender.  Carefully pour the chicken stock mixture into the blender.  Puree until completely smooth.  Pour back into the pan and bring to a boil.  Cook for one minute.  If the sauced is too thin, simmer for a few more minutes.  Pour over slices of medium rare (or as you like it) strip steak or your choice of steak.  

Serves 8.

 It turned out delicious.  I actually think this sauce would work just as nicely over flaky white fish.  The only mistake I made was using honey mustard instead of dijon (it's all I had in the kitchen, and after searching THREE grocery stores for tarragon I wasn't about to go out again just for mustard.  Why was all of Portland buying out the tarragon reserves yesterday?)  I think dijon would have added that horseradish taste this sauce needed.  But otherwise it was very tasty!  
This sauce has a nice green herbal taste from the tarragon, a little bit of a bite from the vinegar, and rounds out nice and salty from the anchovy paste.  I served it with a zucchini casserole and crusty bread to sop up any extra sauce!  I'm told it's authentically served with pommes frites, but until the day I install a deep fryer in my kitchen (read: never) I'll settle with crusty bread. Bon appetit!

Grüner... and other burger ramblings

My boyfriend and I have an unhealthy obsession with finding the best burger in Portland.  We have our favorite hole in the wall burger joint- Foster Burger:

and our favorite fancy burger- Le Pigeon (I warn you, they only make 5 per night, so go early!):

but I think we found some middle ground the other day.  I'm talking about the burger at Grüner, that is.
We'd first dined at this German restaurant that describes its cuisine as "alpine cozy" a few weeks ago with Zephyr's parents.  Gruner means "greener" in German, and celebrates the "green" bounty of food that is available in the Northwest.  We had a fabulous dinner there and swore to return for the deviled eggs alone.

I've never been a huge deviled eggs fan.  To me they belong in the same category as the jello salads that every 60's housewife made and have since gone out of style.  But once I sampled one of these purple beauties I was hooked! You've just got to try these delicious finger foods.

But back to the burger...
After stumbling across an article about best burgers in Portland that listed Grüner, I insisted we return for lunch.  And that's when this baby showed up at the table...

It's delicious.  I actually ordered the reuben, appropriately dubbed the "grü-ben," but ended up trading half of my sandwich for Zeph's burger.  They bake the poppy seed bun in-house, and use the creamiest white cheddar to top off the meaty dish.  It's finished off with bacon, pickled onions, bread and butter pickles, and peppery arugula.  Best of all is the house made cinnamon ketchup!  Who would have thought to use cinnamon in a ketchup recipe? Delicious!  On the side were a crispy, albeit skimpy, portion of three smashed fried potato rounds.
Although we loved this spot for dinner, it can be quite pricy.  I recommend going for lunch and ordering this awesome new favorite burger!

Foster Burger
5339 SE Foster Rd
Portland, OR 97206


Le Pigeon
738 E Burnside St
Portland, OR 97214


Grüner
527 SW 12th Ave
Portland, OR 97205

Sin City

It was actually hard to convince me to go to Vegas.  My last trip there was in college for a friend's 21st birthday.  Needless to say, all our group wanted to do was spend the whole time at the bar, and I didn't have the most memorable experience because we ended up not experiencing much of the city.  Second time's a charm because this weekend I had a FABULOUS time in Las Vegas!  We stayed at the MGM Grand, saw Cirque de Solei's Mystere, ate like kings and queens, got to visit with a good friend, and ended up winning a few hundred on roulette and craps!

The food:
We've all heard that Vegas has some of the world's greatest restaurants.  But I live in a city where we pride ourselves on eating locally; a true marker of a good restaurant to me is a sustainable restaurant.  I can't imagine how far Vegas restaurants have to ship their food in from daily.  Although it's the most environmentally sound city, we decided to let go and take part in a little sin ourselves by indulging a several fine dining establishments.

Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill
I loathe Bobby Flay.  If you've never heard of this celebrity chef, he has several shows on the Food Network.  One of them is called "Throwdown".  Throwdown follows Flay to different cities to challenge local chefs to a cooking competition.  What do they cook, you ask?  Well they cook the local chef's signature dish.  For example, Bobby will head to New Orleans and challenge the queen of Gumbo to a Gumbo throwdown.  HOW COCKY CAN YOU GET? These poor people have spent their entire career building a reputation as the best of the best and Bobby comes in and humiliates them by defeating them. Then they're supposed to act honored that Bobby showed up in the first place. RUDE.
Well, I had to do some investigating of my own to decide if I even liked the guy's cooking.  I didn't want to love it, but I did.

Cornmeal crusted chile relleno stuffed with roasted eggplant and manchego.  Sitting atop red pepper sauce and balsamic vinegar. Crunchy and cheesy, this was Zeph's favorite. 

Cremini mushroom quesadilla with fontina, ricotta, fried egg and salsa verde. This was my favorite! Absolutely the best quesadilla you will EVER HAVE! This was an explosion of flavors!

Tiger shrimp and roasted garlic corn tamale with cilantro sauce.  I saw this dish featured on the show "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" and while delicious, it was far from the best thing I've ever eaten. The tamale was a little dry but the shrimp was sweet and cooked perfectly. 

SushiSamba

SushiSamba is a Brazilian/Japanese fusion restaurant.  I sipped a caipirinha (which immediatly brought back fond memeories of imbibing the Brazilian cocktail on the streets of Salvador during Carnaval a few years ago) while noshing on spicy tuna rolls, and yellowtail ceviche.  They had great happy hour food prices, too!

Fiamma Trattoria

I had the best ravioli EVER here! It was stuffed with short rib, then finished with a black truffle creama and Barbera wine reduction.  Zeph ordered the Baked Garganelli with ridged pasta quills, roasted chicken, eggplant, and hot pepper sauce.  Is your mouth watering just looking at this?

STK

We had the most delicious dungeness crab salad served with melon at this steakhouse.  And of course ordered melt-in-your-mouth filet mignon with roasted asparagus afterwords.  Very expensive, but very delicious. 

Besides the amazing food, I got to meet up with my friend and old roommate Sabrina who lives in Vegas now.  It was great to see her and get a local's tour of the casinos!

Vegas= success!

Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill at Caesar's Palace

3570 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, NV 89109

SushiSamba at The Palazzo

3325 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, NV 89109

Fiamma Trattoria at MGM Grand

3799 South Las Vegas Boulevard
Las Vegas, NV 89109

STK at The Cosmopolitan

3708 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, NV 89109