Keith and Julia

This month was my first adventure with the Daring Bakers. For those of you who are not familiar with The Daring Bakers, we are a group of food bloggers from around the world that take on a new baking adventure every month. The great thing about the group is it forces you to take on baking projects that you would normally avoid. Some of the challenges in the past have included making croissants from scratch, pulling sugar, making puff pastry and cream puffs.

This month we made french bread from the famous recipe written by Julia Childs. She wrote a beautiful 18 page recipe detailing every step in the processes. I've never made bread before so I was a little nervous, but I'm happy to report that everything turned out just right. I guess I picked up a few things watching my dad make bread all of those years.

The thing that struck me was how long the whole process took. I started at 7 am and took the bread out of the oven at 3:30 pm. I had a whole month to do the project, but I had a really hard time finding a day when I had 8 hours to hang out at home. The bread was actually quite simple, but with incredible bakeries like Ken's and The Pearl in town I think I'll just buy my bread.

Be sure to check in next month to see what the next adventure of The Daring Bakers entails.

Korean Crispy Vegetable Pancakes

This morning we were sitting around trying to think up something to make for breakfast. Down the street from our house is a little diner and the Korean woman who owns it makes these incredible vegetable pancakes. They are made with potatoes, carrots and green onions and held together by a light egg batter. So Peter and I put our heads together and came up with this recipe.

2 Cups all purpose flour
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 tablespoon canola oil
8 green onions green parts only cut into 3" slivers
1 medium carrot pealed and grated
4 medium potatoes cut into match sticks
salt and pepper
In a medium bowl mix together flour, eggs and oil with 11/2 cups water until a smooth batter is formed. Stir the green onions, carrots and potatoes into the batter. Cook the pancakes in a non stick skillet on medium heat. They should take about 3 minutes on each side. We finished our pancakes off with a fried egg, sour cream and hot sauce, and then we washed them down with fresh made Mimosas.

Organics to You Update

Still mostly apples and pears with a few root veggies thrown in...

Focaccia Bread

Ever since we installed butcher block counter tops, I have had this overwhelming urge to make focaccia, the crispy olive oil-infused Italian bread.  It's really pretty easy once you get started.  Plus, the smell of rising bread dough is magical.

Ten01 Sparkling Wine Dinner

Last night we went to the Sparkling wine class at Ten01. Sommelier Erica Landon has put together a fantastic monthly program of wine classes and wine dinners. Each two-hour class covers in-depth information about wine production, regional characteristics and some of the science behind what creates the subtle differences from one wine to another.

In addition to getting to taste 5 or 6 wines Chef Jack Yoss created several food pairings to go with each wine. The food and wine pairings were truly inspired.

Here is a break down of what we had last night. Read it and weep.

Northwest oysters on the half shell with and apple-pink peppercorn mignonette
2004 Wachtenburg Winzer, Riesling Sekt, Germany

Dungeness crab salad with citrus segments, on butter lettuce
2002 Argyle, brut Willamette Valley Oregon

Seared Sea Scallop on a pistachio puree *
NV Tattinger, Cuvee Prestige, Champagne France

Housemade Charcuterie with grape must mustard
NV Domaine des baumard, Corail, Cremant de Loire

Housemade Peach Sorbet
2007 Elio Perrone, Sourgal, Moscato d’asti, Italy **

*The Sea scallops with the pistachio puree were out of this world! So often scallops get paired with a bright acidic glaze or sauce, but this went in a completely different direction. This dish was about parallel flavors. With the scallop you had a deep buttery sear and the sweet succulent meat. That was complemented by the nutty, sweet and slightly green flavor of the impossibly smooth pistachio puree. Then just to hammer home the point the dish was garnished with whole toasted pistachios, so you got this crunch with all of those other soft lovely textures.

I’m still learning my words to describe wine so I’ll just say that the fuller body of the Cuvee Prestige made the pairing just sing.

**This Moscato d’asti was something truly special. When I first sipped the wine I was hit by the sweet peach flavor, but then the creamy mouth feel blew me away. This was like no wine I’ve ever tasted before. One dining companion blurted out that it was like a creamsicle. They paired this wine with a simple peach sorbet. The two combined to form pure magic.

The next class is going to be on the wines of Burgundy. See you there.
For a reservation call 503 226 DINE. 1001 NW Couch St. Portland, OR 97209

Cheese Straws

I've had this recipe tucked away in my family cookbook for several years. I found it originally in the New York Times and I've been meaning to make it ever since. I was headed to a Super Bowl party so I thought these would be perfect. These cheese straws have a bold cheddar flavor with light, crispy bite. They turned out flakey, crispy and packed full of cheese flavor.

1/2 lb cheddar cheese
1/3 lb Parmesan cheese
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon dry mustard
pinch cayenne
8 tablespoons chilled butter
4 tablespoons ice water, if needed

Preheat oven to 450
grate cheese by hand and place in a bowl. Pulse flour, mustard and cayenne in processor. Add butter and process untill butter and flour are combined. Pulse in cheese. Turn out onto counter and knead by hand, adding a few drops of ice water if neccessary. Roll out into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. on a lightly floured surface or between 2 sheets of parchment, then cut into 1/2 inch strips as longs as you like. Bake on parchment paper for 5-8 minutes untill golden brown. Be sure not to over bake them because they will become bitter and off flavor.
Yield: at least ten servings.