Barbecue Lamb at Sudan Farms

This weekend was the Portland Culinary Alliance’s annual barbecue out at SuDan Farms. For those of you who are not familiar with SuDan Farms, they supply some of the best restaurants in Portland with fresh gorgeous lamb. I had a great time talking with Dan of SuDan Farms about breeding, feeding and butchering lambs. I watched carefully as he skillfully broke down an entire barbecued lamb. I even got to see where my favorite cut of meat “the Hanger Steak” came from on a lamb. I also got a chance to talk with Sue about raising ducks and virtues of raw milk.

I am really enjoying the Portland Culinary Alliance. Its members cover every aspect of the culinary world from nutritionist, to chefs, to food marketers. Every time I go to a meeting I end up meeting some very interesting folks.

Salt and Pepper Squid

I have a long list of foods that I am dying to make, but never quite get around too. Someday I will conquer duck confit, cassoulet, apple charlotte etc. Well Salt and Pepper Squid has been on that list for a couple of years, but this weekend I took it off the list and moved it over to the “look what I made” list.

Down the street from my house is a dingy little Vietnamese restaurant with fantastic food and their Salt and Pepper Squid is light and crisp with a spicy sweet and salty crust. The squid is cut into rings and then lightly coated in heavily seasoned cornstarch and then deep fried. I think the key to this dish is explosion of flavor between the salt, Szechwan pepper and the sweet tender meet.

The dish is very simple, but I have never worked with squid so I was a little scared. Last week I saw some beautiful squid at the market so I picked up a pound and went to work. Conveniently the squid had been cleaned so all I had to do is give them a good rinse and cut them in to rings. I asked the fish monger to include the tentacle because those are my favorite part, but if the tentacles freak you out then just toss them out.

Strawberry Lemonade / Lemon Drops

I had two extra pints of strawberries this weekend and I didn’t want them to go to waste so I decided that making some sweet strawberry lemonade would be a great way to use them up. First I simmered the strawberries in with sugar and water. Then I pureed the strawberries and strained the seeds out. Then I just added the lemon juice and water.

Peter discovered that when you add vodka and shake it over ice it makes a great lemon drop.

Burrata with Romesco

I came across a really special cheese this week. Burrata is a ball of fresh mozzarella filled with a soft creamy center. My cheese shop gets Burrata flown in from Italy once a month. This month I was lucky enough to get my hands on one of them. I wanted to make something simple that would show off the cheese so I make a romesco sauce and served it on crusty bread.

Basil Pesto with Fresh Mozerella

Peter and I catered a great dinner this weekend and it was great because it was all about fresh ripe ingredients. We wanted to showcase the beautiful flavors of summer and this salad was the best way to go. The salad is very simple, ripe tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, olive oil and basil pesto. This pesto sauce can be used on just about anything. I’m looking forward to using some of it on pasta.

4 cups packed fresh basil leaves, washed well

1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted until golden, cooled, and chopped fine

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan (about 1 1/2 ounces)

2 large garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoonsextra-virgin olive oil

In a food processor purée basil with remaining ingredients until smooth and season with salt and pepper.

To assemble the salad slice a ripe tomato and lay the slices out on a platter. Season the tomatoes generously with sea salt and pepper and drizzle with a fine finishing olive oil. Cover the tomato with a slice of fresh mozzarella and drizzle with pesto.

Mango Salsa

We all just got back from an incredible sailing trip in the British Virgin Islands. Since we had chartered a large sail boat we were lucky enough to be able to cook all of our own meals. Peter really took the lead on this and went shopping for the week before we got on the boat. The kitchen on the boat was laid out great and both of us were able to work together on putting together some great meals.

For me the best meal of the trip was when we made Coconut Curry Chicken with Mango Salsa. I love this salsa because it is sweet and hot at the same time. You can control the heat by adjusting how many chillies you use. This mango salsa can be used on just about anything so I thought I should share it with you.

Mango Salsa

4 mangos diced
1/2 pineapple diced
2 shallots finely diced
1 scotch bonnet finely diced with seeds removed
1 jalapeño finely diced with seeds removed
2 limes juiced
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt
¼ cup finely chopped cilantro

Combine the mangos, pineapple, shallots and chillies. Pour olive oil and lime juice over the fruit. Stir to combine. At this point taste the salsa and add salt to taste. Stir in cilantro. Serves 8.

Checking Out

We'll be heading down to St. Thomas for ten days of sailing. We'll be coming back with lots of new cooking adventures. See you in a couple of weeks.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

It looks like summer has finally decided to show up. I made my first Strawberry Rhubarb Pie of the season. mmm.

Fromage Blanc Tartlets

I have a large dinner coming up at the end of the month and I wanted to start the dinner with a great little fromage blanc tart. I did a little test run this weekend and I was really pleased with the final product. Earlier in the week I stopped by my cheese shop Foster and Dobbs and talked with the owner about what cheese I should use. She was generous enough to talk me through and let me taste several cheeses. I settled on a plain fromage blanc. After I settled on a cheese it was time to put some thought to the pastry crust. For the last couple of years I haven’t been very happy with my pastry crust. It’s been hard to work with and temperamental. I found a recipe that I think solves all of my problems.

I combined the fromage blanc with some fresh tarragon, thyme, chive and chervil and then piped the cheese into the tart shells.

For crust
3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into pieces
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
10 tablespoons (about) ice water

Make crust: Combine flour, sugar and salt in processor. [Alternately, you can use a pastry cutter to make your dough, as I did.] Using on/off turns, cut in shortening and butter until coarse meal forms. Blend in enough ice water 2 tablespoons at a time to form moist clumps. Gather dough into ball; cut in half. Flatten each half into disk. Wrap separately in plastic; refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled. Let dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling.)
Using a biscuit cutter cut out rounds and press them into a mini muffin pan. Bake until golden brown at 350.

Raspberry Opera Cake

This months Daring Bakers challenge was kind of fun. I've always wanted to make an opera cake, but it's one of those recipes that I just couldn't get around to making. This month we got to make a "light" opera cake. Normally an opera cake is made with chocolate and espresso butter cream, but this time I had to make the cake with light components. I'll admit that I didn't get very adventurous and I went with a flavor combination that I know works well together. The first layer is an almond cake. The cake was then moistened with a lemon syrup. The first two layers were filled with raspberry buttercream. The third layer was topped with white chocolate raspberry mousse.

In the end I was pleased with the challenge. It was a good day spent in the kitchen.