Spring seedling thinning = salad

Might as well make good use of all the adorable little arugula sproutlings that just experienced the glories of sun, water & soil.

Since choosing who lives and who dies is surprisingly difficult, I decided it was necessary to make good use of the sentenced ones. After they were dressed in EVOO, lemon juice, salt & pepper, I devoured them.

I feel better now.

'Tracey & Helen' ? You decide...

For quite sometime I've been wanting to truly publish Grandma-Down-The-Street's collection of recipes. More than 10 years ago, Tante H and 'A' created a spiral-bound cookbook based on GDTS's handwritten notes and collected clippings. It is incredibly charming and has this wonderful picture of Grandma on the cover.

But since that time, desktop publishing has improved immensely and I've been dying to reformat the recipe's into a useable collection and add some of the vintage photographs I have of my grandparents in Germany at the time she recorded most of the recipes.

Then I really started geeking out and thought:

What if I actually make all of those recipes?

Then I thought:

You're so unoriginal, doofus. Someone already did that and they called it "Julie & Julia" and it was made into a movie. You read the book and the saw the movie.

So I replied to myself:

She copied Julia Child's classic French recipes and felt it brought her closer to the iconic chef while at the same time she fictionalized Child's life and they never actually met. I'm just writing about my Grandma who I actually did know and to whom I was very close. I just think it would be cool to recreate all those dishes she learned while living in pre-WWII Germany.

Irritated, I thought back:

Oh yeah. Julie/Julia's piece de resistance was Boeuf Bourguignon. What's yours going to be, Sauer Braten?

My answer was: Yep.

God, I can be so argumentative sometimes.

So, I'm really going to try this out and will post the results on this blog. I'm not committing to "a dish a day" like Julie, mostly because I have a job that I do not hate but that pretty much takes up AN ENTIRE DAY. And don't have some bitch...er... I mean husband- to pick up the slack.

I can't wait to make my first Oxen Fleisch Jarmeirt; I don't know what it is but it sounds delish!

Cassoulet- Day 3

Oh yeah, aromas have filled the house. Clovey, porky, garlicy, nutmeggy, duck-fatty goodness. Vegans, beware! When the duck legs were ready I set about getting the meat picked off the ham hocks, cooking the sausage and crisping up the duck skin. Once that was done, I layered the meats with the beans and into the oven it went- 1 hour at 350 degrees and 3 hours at 250. Low and slow, as they say...

Every once in a while I am to break the bean "crust" that forms

on top of the uncovered cooking vessel. I also must add- as needed- the reserved cooking liquid. I'm afraid to leave the house, as the kitten will devise a way to open the oven door and devour this dish to which I have already devoted approximately 15 hours of labor. Alas, the cassoulet is still not done (3 more hours in the oven tomorrow, according to "tradition"), and I will post, yet again, tomorrow.

Cassoulet- Day 2

OK, got the duck legs properly marinated and into the slow-cooker, my "technique" for confit. My favorite part of the recipe is the cloves stuck into the head of garlic. When I first read the recipe, I interpreted "cloves" to be the garlic cloves, and kept thinking, "why would I put garlic cloves into a head of garlic cloves?" Ahhhh, now I understand.

While the duck cooks for the next 4 hours, I will get the beans underway with the ham bone and ham hocks, onions & fresh thyme. The beans should be suitably softened for the layering with the meats an stock for the sloooooow cooking* in the oven. I can't wait until the aromas fill the house.

* don't they always tell you to read the recipe all the way through before you begin? I'm so cocky that I believe I am exempt from that step. Well, I learned my lesson... I need to cook the cassoulet in the oven for 3+ hours, then refrigerate it overnight and then cook it for another 3 hours. Looks like another "Cassoulet" post is coming tomorrow.

Cassoulet - Day 1

Since I've taken the week off between Christmas and New Year's and it is unusually cold and windy, what better dish to make than an authentic French cassoulet? I already had the flageolets, lovely celadon and white beans. And I knew how to confit the duck legs, as that has been my obsession since acquiring the Gourmet Today cookbook. I even had some pork belly on hand that I could use to substitute the pork rind. All that was left to get was ham hocks.

So far, so good!

So, with a completed list of ingedients, the first thing I have to do is get the duck legs in the

marinade, as they need to sit for at least 1 day.

With this prep work done, tomorrow I'll be able to confit the duck legs while I pre-cook the beans with the ham hocks, onions & thyme.

Just have to keep those vulture-like felines out of the kitchen...

So pretty, I can't bring myself to eat it.

As L pointed out, I always have neighbors who bring me food. Well, even former neighbors bring me food! I got together with Fo from the old Woodstock neighborhood to go to the opening of the new Max service near my house. Yeah, I'm a total public transit nerd...

Flo brought these gorgeous chanterelles that she had just picked and eggs from her own red hen. The chicken is young and the eggs are very small, which makes them even prettier.

These ingredients are practically crying out to be made into a omelet, but I am paralyzed by the beauty of this food.

Say "Ceviche"

I don't want to make my New England friends and family feel worse about the weather, so if you want to skip this post and save it for some hot, summery day- fine with me.

The glory days of Portland are here: brilliant sun; deep cerulean skies; flowers blooming; birds singing; trees and grass still lushly green; long, slow, golden evenings. Aaaaahhhhhhh. Well, today and the days that follow the temperatures are predicted to go up and up. Right now at Alder Street the thermometer reads 94 degrees.

Wondering what to make for dinner the other evening I thought "ceviche!" and immediately wondered why I don't make it more often. Anyone who loves seafood will enjoy it, and it absolutely could not be more perfect for a hot summer day. All you need is the raw seafood (almost anything works), lime juice and whichever herbs, vegetables and/or seasoning you fancy.

That evening I just got some rockfish and shrimp. After marinating in the lime juice for an hour I added a diced tomato, lots of fresh cilantro, fresh chiles, s & p and EVOO. Done! I'm making it again tonight and I doing salmon, scallops and shrimp. I'll toss some fresh avocado over it just before serving.

Several years ago I was chatting with the 7-year old nephew of a friend. His father was from Ecuador and the boy would visit during the summer. He mostly enjoyed the his time there, but complained about the food. "All they eat is ceviche!" he said in an exasperated tone, "Ceviche for lunch, ceviche for dinner. They even have it for breakfast. They don't even have milk and cereal!"

Children are idiots.