bunting flag birthday cake

lily and I made these fancy little flags to spruce up this birthday cake.  all you need are some bamboo skewers, a couple different colors of craft paper and a hot glue gun.  Cut out different sizes of paper flags and glue them to the tops of skewers, and your cake is all dressed and ready to party.

green bean salad with apricots, almonds and tarragon

GREEN BEAN SALAD with APRICOTS, ALMONDS & TARRAGON
1 lb. haricot verts (or green beans), trimmed
3 apricots, cut into chunks
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup feta

FOR DRESSING:
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
1 shallot, chopped finely
3-4 sprigs of tarragon, remove leaves from stems and chop 


Prepare an ice water bath; set aside. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a generous amount of salt and the green beans. Cook until bright green, about 2 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to the ice water bath to stop cooking. Drain, shaking off excess liquid; set aside.


Mix dressing ingredients.  In a large bowl, toss together green beans, apricots, almonds and feta. Pour desired amount of dressing over mixture and toss to coat evenly.  

blackberry pie

this is another delicious morsel from Labor Day Weekend. we picked blackberries both days for dessert, and made one cobbler and one pie. here are the details on the pie.  we experimented with the thickening method, since fresh fruit pies can tend to be a little soupy.  for this one, we cooked a little cornstarch and water on the stove until it thickened, and then added it to the fruit with a little more dry corn starch. It seemed to be the perfect amount of thickness without make the fruit filling stiff or gelatinous.

BLACKBERRY PIE

FOR THE CRUST:

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
6 tbsp. cold milk

FOR THE FILLING:

6 cups fresh blackberries
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup corn starch, divided
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp. butter, cut into small pieces
2 tsp. milk

1. Preheat oven to 400°. For the crust: Sift together flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Measure oil into a measuring cup, then add milk, but don't stir together. Pour oil and milk into flour mixture. Stir until dough just holds together. Divide dough in half, shape into 2 balls, and flatten slightly. Roll out each ball between two sheets of wax paper into 12" rounds. Transfer one pastry round (discarding wax paper) into a 9" pie plate, and set other pastry round aside.

2. Mix half of corn starch and 1/4 cup water in a pan on the stove, set to medium head and stir until it has thickened and clumps are stirred out.  Pour sugar and dry corn starch over berries and stir and then pour cooked corn starch mixture over berries and stir. 
3. Fill bottom crust with blackberry mixture and scatter butter on top. Cover with remaining pastry round (discarding wax paper) and crimp edges together to seal. Score top to allow steam to escape, brush with milk, and sprinkle with remaining 2 tsp. sugar. Place pie on a baking sheet and bake until crust is golden and filling is bubbling, about 50 minutes. If edge of crust browns too quickly, cover edge with a strip of aluminum foil to prevent burning. Allow pie to cool for 1 hour before serving.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

SERVES 8

fish in a package, fish en papillote

this is a snappy way to cook fish, veggies and grains all in one step. it's called en papillote, which is a French cooking method that means "in paper" and all you do is wrap your ingredients in parchment paper and cover with a little liquid: broth, wine, coconut milk or water and bake. the liquid in the package will slowly steam-cook all the veggies, couscous and fish.  I used a plain couscous, white wine, lemon juice, tomatoes, red onions, zucchini, carrots, red pepper, dill and halibut. but the combinations are endless and it's a good one to experiment with, because you really can't go wrong.

couscous, veggies and halibut.

couscous and veggies.

the finished product.  

FISH EN PAPILLOTE
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 red onion, halved and sliced
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1 zucchini thinly sliced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 red pepper sliced
1/4 cup fresh dill
juice of one lemon
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 six-ounce halibut fillets


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut two large pieces of parchment (depending if you want 1 or 2 servings) - about 24 inches in length, fold in half and unfold. Stir couscous with liquid as recommended on box, and place on the bottom of the parchment, dividing evenly between packages.  Cover with veggies, cover the veggies with the fish fillet and dill, pour oil, lemon juice and wine over the top of the ingredients and season with salt and pepper.  Fold edges of paper over to create rim, and staple edges of parchment paper to seal.  Place packets on cookie sheets and bake for about 20 minutes, until packets have puffed up.

Keep Clam and Carry On

for a little Labor Day celebration we headed to Anacortes to relax with friends and keep up with the tradition of "living off the land". It was a great time, and we ate almost exclusively stuff that we foraged: crabs, clams, crawfish and berries (blackberry pie recipe to come), and it was fantastic. The first night we had a 15-crab feast, which we ate almost all of, we used the leftovers for crab dip the next day. The second night, after cleaning buckets and buckets of clams, we had a clam linguine with tomatoes, basil and lemon. Here are some labor of love recipes. 

crab feast and laughter.

cooking the crawfish.

linguine with clams and other goodness.

Crab Dip
5 garlic cloves chopped, and cooked in a little olive oil
1/2-1 cup crab
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 cup cheese (we used Brie and mozzarella)
Paprika for sprinkling on top


Mix all ingredients, minus the paprika, in an oven-safe bowl or baking dish.  Bake for 25 minutes in a in a 350 degree oven. Serve with French bread or crackers.


Linguine with Clams, Lemon and Tomatoes
Salt
1 pound linguine (I used Trader Joes chive and another cracked pepper flavor)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 lemons, zested and juiced
1/2 cup dry white wine
1-2 cups heirloom cherry tomatoes (halved or quartered)
1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1/2 cup (10 or 12 leaves) fresh basil, very thinly sliced
1 cup of cleaned clams, cut into bite-sized pieces

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water and drop the pasta into the pot. Heat a large deep skillet over low heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil and garlic and crushed red pepper flakes.

When the pasta has been cooking about 5 minutes, add lemon juice, a ladle of the cooking water from the pasta and the wine to the garlic and oil. Raise heat a bit to bring sauce to a bubble, and cook until wine has reduced a bit.  Add clams.

Drain pasta when it still has a good bite to it, al dente. Add lemon zest and half of the cheese to the sauce. Season the sauce with salt, to taste. Add pasta to pan and turn off heat. Toss the pasta with sauce a minute or 2, allowing it time to soak up the sauce. Add the herbs and toss.

Top the plates of pasta or platter with remaining cheese.

rhubarb galette

Amy found this recipe in Sunset Magazine and sent it my way. She was quite taken by the presentation with the bright, red rhubarb baked as whole stalks, and really it did look beautiful baked up like that. We're always chopping the rhubarb into teeny-tiny pieces or saucing it, but never EVER just leaving it whole, to appreciate it's natural looks.


It was a great way to quickly make a rhubarb dessert and it's less sweet than your standard rhubarb concoction.

• Rhubarb Cardamom Galette
• Recipe from Sunset magazine
• 1  sheet (9 to 10 oz.) frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 1/3  cup  granulated sugar, divided
• 1  tablespoon  packed brown sugar
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground cardamom
• 2  tablespoons  flour
• 12  ounces  rhubarb (about 8 thin or 3 thick stalks)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425° with a rack set on lowest level. Unfold pastry onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. In a small bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, the brown sugar, cardamom, and flour. Evenly sprinkle sugar mixture over pastry.

Trim rhubarb 1 in. shorter than pastry, then split lengthwise into 1/2-in.-wide pieces. Lay pieces parallel across the pastry square, leaving 1/2 in. border of pastry. Sprinkle rhubarb with remaining granulated sugar.

Bake galette until edges are golden brown and puffed, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve with sweetened whipped cream or ice cream.

spicy citrus fish

as I have mentioned, Mark Bittman knows what is up. I was looking for new and exciting ways to prepare fish and this one really struck my fancy. I served it with halibut from the market cooked on the grill. This salsa is so refreshing and flavorful,it would be good with all types of fish or even atop grilled chicken, shrimp or pork tenderloin.


It's got a bit of a kick to it, even though I didn't use the full-strength habanero peppers Mark recommends, I tried it with one serrano pepper and one fresh jalapeño pepper, both chopped - ribs, seeds and all.  If I were to make it again, I would probably try to decrease the spice by either using just one jalapeño or just one serrano.  


This citrus-salsa comes for traditional Mayan cuisine and is known as xec 
(pronounced "shek"), it's traditionally made with bitter oranges, grapefruits and lemons.  I tried it with one orange, one grapefruit, a lemon and a lime.

Here's the recipe in it's full, shining glory:


Fish with Spicy Citrus Salsa
Mark Bittman, the Minimalist

1 small grapefruit

1 orange

1 lime

1 large lemon

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1/3 cup red onion, minced

1/2 habanero, jalapeño or serrano pepper, seeded and minced

Salt to taste

2 tablespoons oil

1-2 halibut fillets, 4 to 6 ounces each, preferably skin on (and scaled).

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Cut orange and grapefruit in half horizontally and section it as you would a grapefruit; do this over a bowl to capture all its juice. Remove seeds and combine flesh and juice in bowl. Repeat with lime and lemon. Stir in cilantro, onion, pepper and salt. Set salsa mixture aside.

Put oil in a nonstick or cast-iron skillet over medium high heat. A minute later, add fish, skin side down; season top with salt. Cook until skin begins to crisp, 3 or 4 minutes, then transfer to oven. Cook another 3 or 4 minutes, or until a thin-bladed knife meets little resistance when inserted into thickest part of fish. Serve fish with xec, immediately.

Yield: 4 servings.

empire state of eating

On August 20th, Dan and I packed our bags and traveled to New York for a little end of summer hurrah.  We saw lots of sites, we ate lots of eats, AND while touring the great city of NY we got engaged!! It just the best little vacation we could have asked for. Here are some highlights of the trip, mostly relating to the food because that's what I took pictures of, but other cool stuff happened, so there's some of that mixed in there too.

Dinner at Marlow and Sons, Williamsburg  Brooklyn, NY. Marlow and Sons was a true gem hidden out in Brooklyn.  Each day they write a brand new menu on a chalkboard (for all to see), and on a piece of receipt paper (for all to hold), based on fresh ingredients that they gather from the local farmers markets.  Everything we tried was fresh and delicious. salad, homemade pasta, sea bass.  

Market style corn on the cob, chile rellenos and pozole rojo at La Palapa Cocina Mexicana. Everything was good here, but we talked about the corn on the cob for like two weeks after eating it. It was THAT good. We made it twice last week for dinner. The corn was grilled and covered in lime, mayo, chile piquín and queso cotija and served with extra limes on the side.  I highly recommend it.

Cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery.  Andy Samberg endorses these cupcakes. Luckily, I know a girl who makes a mean replica of this frosting in Seattle, so I don't have to travel to NYC for my next buttercream covered treat.  You can find the frosting recipe here.

Ramen at Momofuku. Endless noodles and smoky broth.

Coffee at Ninth Street Espresso in the Chelsea Market. coffee in the big city comes in tiny cups. someone liked the "moose" on Dan's shirt.  thank you. compliment accepted.

And for some non-eats photos and enjoyable times:

Many hours of artful enjoyment at the MoMA.

hangin' in the subway. and people watching. lots of people watching.

Eating lots of food in Chinatown.  Riding the escalator on the eve of our engagement, after being given the pleasure of viewing a 300+ person wedding that occurred in the Chinese restaurant's dining room. it was a hilarious experience. made me wish all Chinese restaurants had weddings and escalators. Oh yeah, and our waiter told us we ordered too much food, and then refused to bring us rice as a result of our gluttonous order.  

 

"I’m just a small town girl who moved to the big city with big dreams… just to find out, the only way to make it in the big city… is to shake it. And that’s what I do — at the Coyote Ugly." Yeah, we went there. Not as cool as you may think, and they weren't pouring shots directly into people's mouths like in the movie.

While shopping I came across an underwear brand named after my brother and dad, Todd and Terry.  Those sailors sure look like they're having fun dancing. 

 

the Friends apartment building.  not really because it wasn't filmed there, it was filmed in L.A., but something was based off of this. so it's cool. trust me.

    

In summary,I could spend one million more days in New York and still find tons more places to explore and delicious meals to eat and that is why we need to plan another trip back :). 

the key to this pie is the lime

key lime is and will always be one of my favorite pies. it offers unparalleled sour flavors and refreshment in one chilled and delicious dessert, and it's so much different than your average fruit pie. it's a great summer treat, or after summer treat, if you need a pleasant reminder of the sun. It was not until two years ago that I first attempted making it at home, before then I'd always opted for the frozen Trader Joe's version, which is also good but it's just not the same as homemade. it's my brother Todd's favorite dessert, and so I made this recipe for his birthday a few years back.  I've made it many time since, it's the best recipe I've found for the job. It incorporates sweetened condensed milk, which I almost never cook with, to balance out the tangy lime in the filling, and instead of whipped cream it's topped with sour cream for a little extra zinger. The filling is fluffy and light, while still being creamy, and of course the lime does just what it's supposed to do by keeping the whole thing as sour and tangy as ever.  

the snail and his key lime pie.

Lime Pie

Recipe courtesy of Emeril 

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup granulated sugar

4 tbsp. butter, melted

2 (14 oz.) cans sweetened condensed milk

1 cup key lime or lime juice

2 whole eggs

1 cup sour cream

2 tbsp. powdered sugar

1 tbsp. lime zest

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter with your hands. Press the mixture firmly into a 9-inch pie pan, and bake until brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before filling.

Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees F. In a separate bowl, combine the condensed milk, lime juice, and eggs. Whisk until well blended and place the filling in the cooled pie shell. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes and allow to chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Once chilled, combine the sour cream and powdered sugar and spread over the top of the pie using a spatula. Sprinkle the lime zest as a garnish on top of the sour cream and serve chilled.