Kick'n it Jamie Oliver Style

Peter made these amazing baked onions served with tomato sauce and polenta. We saw these made earlier this summer on Jamie Olivers new show. The cheesy creamy onion filling was the best part.

BAKED ONIONS
Ingredients
4 good sized white onions, peeled
olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, peeled & finely chopped
4 twigs of fresh rosemary, lower leaves picked & chopped
8 tbsp double cream couple of handfuls of grated Parmesansea salt & freshly ground black pepper
4 slices of pancetta or smoked streaky bacon rashers

Method
1 Boil the onions in plenty of water for 15 minutes until slightly tender. Remove from the pan and allow to cool.
2 Then, with a sharp knife, remove the top 2.5cm/1" of each onion, finely chop and place to one side. If need be, slightly trim the stalk end of the onions so that they will sit flat on a roasting tray.
3 Cut about a heaped tablespoon out from the inside of each onion, keeping the outside intact. Finely chop and add to the rest of the chopped onion.
4 Pre-heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Heat a frying pan and add a little olive oil, your garlic, the chopped onions and just a little chopped rosemary.
5 Fry for a couple of minutes until softened, then turn the heat down, add the cream and remove from the heat. Stir in the Parmesan and season.
6 Wrap a nice slice of pancetta around the middle of each onion and just spike it in place with a sharpened twig of rosemary.
7 Place the onions on to a roasting tray and spoon some of the chopped onion mixture inside each one. Bake in the preheated oven for around 25 minutes.

Golden Pineapple Tomatillos

This week I discovered some Pineapple Tomitillos at the farmers market. Somehow I have never seen them before. They are like small golden firm grapes with a sweet citrus flavor. They are great eaten all by themselves or they can be used anywhere you would like a sweet tart flavor. I ended up using these in place of mangos in a jicama salad. Unfortunately I found these on the last week that they were in season, but I’ve set a reminder in my calendar for next year. I’m looking forward to experimenting with them more next year.

Tabla Egg Ravioli

The first time I had this dish I fell in love immediately. It was three summers ago when I walked into Tabla Mediterranean Bistro for the first time. It was a busy night and they sat me at the kitchen bar looking directly into their open kitchen. I saw this ravioli being made and I knew I had to have it. The Tabla ravioli is filled with a ring of ricotta and chard and in the center is an egg yolk. When you cut into the ravioli the yolk spills out making a rich sauce for the pasta. It truly is magic. Since that first bite three years ago I’ve been back every couple of weeks and I always order the ravioli.

Last night for dinner we decided to make the ravioli. I remembered that I had seen a recipe for it in Sunset Magazine so I rooted around and found it. This is a recipe that is easy to adjust, you could put just about anything in it. I think that next time I make it I’m going to do the ricotta filling with basil and lemon zest instead of chard.

Ingredients
About 1 1/4 cups flour

2 whole eggs, plus 6 egg yolks and 1 egg white

1 1/2 teaspoons heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon plus 1/4 tsp. salt

2 cups tightly packed stemmed chard leaves

1/4 cup whole-milk ricotta

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1/8 to 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

1/4 to 1/2 tsp. poppy seeds

Preparation
1. Mix 1 1/4 cups flour, whole eggs, and cream to form dough. Turn out onto a clean surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Prepare a large bowl of ice water and set it next to the stove. Add 1 tbsp. salt and chard leaves to pot. Cook chard until water returns to a boil and leaves are tender, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer chard leaves to ice water. (Keep pot of hot water on stove, but turn off heat.) Drain chard, squeeze out as much water as possible, and chop (you should have about 1/2 cup). Mix chard with ricotta, 1/4 cup parmesan, remaining 1/4 tsp. salt, and pepper to taste. Set aside.

3. Cut a 5-in.-diameter round from a piece of paper and set aside. Unwrap pasta dough, divide into 6 pieces, and pat each piece into a 1/2-in.-thick rectangle. Working with 1 piece at a time, set a pasta roller on the widest setting and roll piece through, dusting dough with flour as necessary to prevent sticking. Fold piece into thirds (like a letter) and roll it through again. Repeat folding and rolling once more for a total of three rolls on the widest setting. Repeat with remaining 5 pieces of dough.

4. Set roller to next narrowest setting and roll each piece through once. Repeat with next narrowest setting. Cut each piece in half and roll through on each remaining setting twice, turning 90° between rolls and trimming as necessary to fit and to keep a basically square shape, until dough squares are thin enough to see through and measure at least 5 in. on all sides.

5. Using paper round as a template, cut 5-in. rounds from each dough square.

6. Assemble the ravioli: Lay 6 pasta rounds on a clean surface dusted with flour. On each round, use a small spoon to arrange 1/6 of the chard-ricotta mixture in a circle about 3/4 in. from the edges, creating a well in the center large enough to hold an egg yolk. Repeat with remaining 5 pasta rounds and chard mixture. Put an egg yolk in the center of each well. Brush edges of pasta with egg white and place a second pasta round on top of each ravioli. Working from the center of each ravioli, gently press the top pasta round onto the filling to make sure there are no air pockets in the ravioli. Press edges firmly together to seal.

7. Bring pot of water to a slow boil. With a 4- to 5-in. strainer or slotted spoon, lower ravioli one at a time into the water (cook in batches of 2 or 3). Cook ravioli 3 minutes. Using the strainer, transfer them to a serving plate, blotting excess water with a paper towel. Top each ravioli with 1 tsp. butter.

8. Sprinkle ravioli with poppy seeds and remaining parmesan. Serve immediately.

Huckleberry Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding

It took Huckleberries to get my mojo back. We've been catering so much this summer that I had become completely burned out on cooking. Luckily we headed up to the cabin for Labor Day weekend and we cooked up a storm of inspiring food.

This was a great experiment turned home run. I picked up some cinnamon rolls and huckleberries at the farmers market. That night before I went to bed I cut up the Cinnamon rolls at placed them in the casserole dish. I sprinkled them with huckleberries and let the bread soak up a simple custard. In the morning I baked off the bread pudding. It came out rich and cinnamony and the tart huckleberries added a great tart bite.

5 cinnamon rolls
1 pint huckleberries
6 eggs
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons butter

The night before cut up the cinnamon rolls and place them in a buttered casserole dish. Sprinkle with huckleberries. Whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla and salt. Pour over the cinnamon rolls and let it soak overnight in the refrigerator.

preheat oven to 350. Arange the 5 tablespoons of butter on the top of the breadpudding and bake for 50 minutes.

Simple Fruit Tarts

It is crucial to have arsenal of quick desserts that you can pull together at a moments notice. That is why I always try to keep at least one package of puff pastry in the freezer at all times. You never know when you might need to bring an appetizer to a friend’s house or when you might need a late night snack. These simple tarts can be made with just about any fresh fruit that is in season.

Simply Elegant Cherry Tarts (The Oregonian)

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
4 tablespoons sugar, divided
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon grated orange rind or ¼ teaspoon almond extract
2 cups fresh sweet cherries, pitted and halved
(or other fresh, soft fruit)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Roll out pastry to 12 to 14” square. Cut into 16 smaller squares. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and turn up edges, pinching at corners to form a shallow shell. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar evenly over all shells. Combine remaining 3 tablespoons sugar, flour and orange rind or almond extract. (May need to double the amount of flour mixture.

Bake 14-18 minutes. Cool and serve.
(Works well with peaches and raspberries.)d sugar to have enough.) Arrange cherries in single layer on each shell. Sprinkle with flour/sugar mixture.

Cool Creamy Panna Cotta

I love the simple elegance of Panna Cotta. It is one of my favorite things to make for a dinner party in the summer because it can be made in advance and you don’t have to turn the oven on. During the summer I like to use what ever fresh fruit is available to top the creamy Panna Cotta.

The picture above is from my cousins wedding reception and the picture was taken by Emily Brooks. Thanks Em.

Panna Cotta (Epicurious)

2 tablespoons water
1 ¼ teaspoon unflavored gelatin
2 cups whipping cream
1 ¼ cup plain whole milk yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup sugar

Pour 2 tablespoons water into small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over water. Let stand until softened, about 15 minutes. Whisk 1 cup cream, yogurt, and vanilla in large bowl to blend. Heat remaining 1 cup cream and ½ cup sugar in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves and cream comes to simmer. Remove from heat. Add gelatin mixture, stirring to dissolve gelatin. Mix hot cream-gelatin mixture, stirring to dissolve gelatin. Mix hot cream-gelatin mixture into yogurt mixture in bowl. Divide mixture among six ¾ cup ramekins, using about ½ cup for each. Refrigerate desserts uncovered until cold, then cover and refrigerate overnight.

Garnish with fresh berries.
(We used fresh raspberries with an added mint leaf – at the last minute…and fresh blueberries with a knotted piece of orange rind.)

A Lovely Dessert Buffet

As you know I come from a big family that loves to cook. My aunt can put together one of the most beautiful dessert buffets that you will ever see. The table above is from my cousins wedding earlier this summer. Over the next few weeks if permission is granted I’ll be featuring some of the great recipes from the buffet. Here is a list of some of the highlights of the table.

Tuxedo Brownie Cups, Panna Cotta, Mini Cupcakes
Mixed Berry Shortcake(Strawberries, Blueberries & Raspberries) with Whipped Cream in ice bowl, Heart Shortbread Cookies, Lemon Curd Tarts, Simply Elegant Fruit Tarts, Chocolate Caramel Praline Roll, Lemony Blueberry Cheese Tart and Assorted Cookies with Sugared Rose Petals

Cheese Plate
Fresh Fruit Plate
Tea Sandwiches (Radish & Cucumber)
Crostini (Tomato, Basil, Mozzarella)

I’m still trying to get my head wrapped around how she pulled it all off.

The photograph above was taken by my cousin Emily Brooks.

Just the Way I Like It

I’ve been working on perfecting peach cobbler for a couple of years. I have found that the dish tends to fall into two different categories. The first is a cobbler with a cakee biscuit topping and the other is a thinner crisp with nuts and spices. I tried both styles and I was never quite satisfied. In my mind I wanted a topping that was buttery and rich like a soft sandy short bread, but I also wanted cinnamon, crunchy nuts and maybe even a little oatmeal.

During my trails I found that the biscuit topping could be dry and dull. With the crisps I found that lots of times the topping melted away and was sucked into the cobbler. I couldn’t find a recipe that had everything that I wanted so I made my own and I made sure it had everything I wanted. The result was a double topped peach cobbler crisp. I topped the cobbler with both butter short bread and crunchy cinnamon crisp. In the end it doubled that fat content, but if that what it takes to make me happy than so be it.

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.