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.

Solstice dinner

My local farmer's market finally opened for the season. As usual, I didn't go in search of anything specific, but only knew that I wanted to prepare a dinner on the grill.

As with most things related to food, I am a traditionalist. I acknowledge the convenience and cleanliness of of grilling with gas fuel; but seriously- what's the point? I can pretty much get the same end-result skillfully apply high temperatures on my crappy, electric, kitchen range. Therefore, I only use charcoal.

Of course, I have to take my purist's concept up a notch. That means I never use traditional charcoal briquettes unless there is absolutely nothing else available. I find mesquite charcoal is readily available and I just love the uber-smoky flavor it imparts. It also reminds me of my years, long ago, married to a chef/restauranteur and the mesquite grill we had in the kitchen. I fondly remember the to food biz, though not the marriage...

Another one of my my strict grilling rules is no lighter fluid. I can always detect that petroleum/chemical taste in the food and it is disgusting and just wrong, wrong, wrong. It is so easy to start a fire with newspaper, grape cuttings, applewood, or cherry wood kindling. If you are that concerned with convenience, why even bother with cooking with fire? Just put it in the microwave, press a button and be done with it.

At the market I found some new, emerald green zucchinis, sweet English peas and bunches of multi-colored baby carrots. I picked up a whole trout at Zupan's for the main course. Lisa had given me bunches of fresh basil and Swiss chard from her garden. At home I had my own home-grown fava beans and tons of herbs with which I made a pasta and dinner came together beautifully.

Summer Solstice Dinner

Grilled Trout stuffed w/Swiss Chard, Scallions & Lemon

Grilled Baby Carrots & Zucchini

Pasta Salad with Favas, Peas, Shallots w/fresh herbs & Creme Fraiche

My Fava-rite

I planted garlic & onions last fall and peas & favas in the early spring. Well, the onions died, the garlic still has a way to go and the peas had to be planted 3 times before it looked like anything would grow.

But the favas. Oh my.

I only planted 5 seeds and all germinated and all are producing. Now I wish I had filled my small garden plot with just favas. Yesterday I harvested 7 pods and after shelling and peeling, barely ended up with a 1/4 cup. But even from the farmer's market, I have never enjoyed such juicy, green, tender morsels in all my life. I ate them raw with a salty Pecorino di Sole Sardegna, the perfect contrast to my sweet, little harbingers of summer.

I Want My Babka

Yikes. It's been a while, huh? Work has been insanely demanding and I just don't have any time to write any worthy posts. The only thing I've had time to do is grab the camera and take pictures.

My friends Gretchen and Alison host a monthly brunch. Last month I decided to make a Cinnamon Babka. I've never made one before, but that does not give me pause. Combinations of flour, eggs, butter do not intimidate me in the least. My only misgiving was the fact that my Kitchen Aid stand mixer is broken and I would have to incorporate a lot of butter into a yeast dough by hand. (I hear all the knowledgeable bakers out there groaning...) But considering the weather has been cool, I was undaunted.

I was very happy with the results. I made 2 small loaves, which turned out fragrant, buttery and tender. I froze one and nibbled away at the other this past week. It tasted equally delicious whether it was toasted or not, eaten for breakfast with Stumptown coffee or for dessert with a glass of eiswein.

I wish I could share the recipe, but I can tell you that my recipe was inspired by the following: Dean & DeLuca; Joan Nathan; Epicurious.com; various blogs. Most recipes I found were for Chocolate Babka, so I improvised the filling using brown sugar, freshly ground cinnamon & matzo meal. I will make fastidious notes the next time I take this on- for my own reference more than anything!

Again, I apologize that I can't provide a more exact recipe, but I encourage anyone who has the slightest desire to make a babka, give it a go. It is one of those delicious foods like fava beans, oysters and sweetbreads that are worth the intensity of labor.

By popular demand- Cauliflower!

My Meltdown weight-loss is utterly dependent upon my diet. I don't mean "diet" in the sense that certain foods are forbidden, but diet according to my definition, which is, "I can eat anything I want as long as I don't go over 1,000 calories a day."

For some people this might not work, as maybe they are more dependent on certain foods, such as fast food or candy, which will rack up the calories to the limit in one 5-minute indulgence. From watching The Biggest Loser, it seems another problem of the obese is that they don't cook and eat too much prepared and processed foods, which I detest.

Luckily for me, as much as I love fat and calorie dense foods like cheese, butter, cream, foie gras, pate, bacon, croissant, etc. Actually, looking at this list I can safely say my food foibles are milk and pig-based.

But I also love so many other whole foods equally, if not more: vegetables, especially cruciferous and greens like chards, collards, and spinach; eggs; whole grains; nuts & seeds; avocados, pears, grapefruit, berries, squash, mushrooms, more and more.

So I have not been feeling deprived at all. Portion control is an issue and so is the decreased wine consumption, but overall I'm having fun inventing amazing, lo-cal meals such as a Shrimp, Avocado, Grapefruit & Watercress Salad w/Sherry Vinegar.

But I've also been referring to some of my old standbys, like the incredibly simple Roasted Cauliflower. There is nothing to it: roast florets in a low oven until they lose moisture and turn into luscious, sweet, chewy-crispy golden nuggets. This dish satisfies my craving for what Miss B and I call the "Brown Crunchy Things." But unlike tater tots, egg rolls, fried mushrooms and other such calorie bombs, this cauliflower dish is loaded with nutrients and fiber- not calories.

Here's how you make it:

• Cut a head (or 2) of cauliflower into 1" florets
• Toss with 1-2 teaspoons EVOO
  and S & P
• Spread onto a baking sheet in 1 layer
• Bake at 300 degrees for approx. 1.5 hours

I used to accompany mine with a dipping sauce made of mayonnaise seasoned with Chipotle Pepper sauce from the can. My Meltdown version can stand on its own, be sprinkled with Smoked Paprika, or be served with something less fatty, like Trader Joe's Punjab Spinach Sauce.

The cauliflower ultimately reduces down to such a concentrated morsel, that I can easily consume 2 heads in one sitting. But who cares? There are only 144 calories in 1 medium-size head (approx. 1.25lbs) and 57% of the daily recommended amount of fiber.

Bon Appetit!

Hey all my regular readers! Welcome to my food blog- both of you! Alder Street Cafe will feature culinary related topics that will be posted at Alder Street, but may contain more epicurean details, such as recipes and cooking links.

Here is where I need your help. I need a picture for my blog header and I don't know what image- or images- to use. So if you would please vote by adding comments to this post I would very much appreciate it.
The pictures that I am considering are:





Though the cafe is still under construction, I hope to have it beautifully decorated and stimulating your palates very soon.