Son of Pike Place Dinner

When G when to the market last Monday she picked up some beautiful green beans -- about a pound and a half of them.  Thankfully, they kept well in the refrigerator and were still good last night when we finally decided what to do with them.  Unfortunately, our stomachs and the weather were not on the same page.  For the first time this year, G was EXTREMELY tempted to turn on the furnace.  It seemed like every news source was breeding fear about the weather change.  Still, G and I decided to make a nice cold salad.  We're livin' in the past.

The Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds slender green beans, trimmed, halved crosswise
• 3 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste
• 2 large red potatoes, diced
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 8 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
• 9 ounces canned tuna packed in oil, drained

The Preparation

1. Cook the green beans in a large pot of boiling water until crisp-tender, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Using a mesh strainer, transfer the green beans to a large bowl of ice water to cool completely. Drain the green beans and pat dry with a towel. Add 2 teaspoons of salt to the same cooking liquid and bring the liquid to a simmer. Add the potatoes to the simmering liquid and cook until they are just tender but still hold their shape, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the potatoes to the ice water to cool completely. Drain the potatoes and pat dry with a towel.
2. In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice, garlic, oil, oregano, 1 teaspoon salt and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Place the tomatoes, basil and parsley in a large serving bowl. Add the tuna and toss gently to combine. Add the green beans and potatoes and gently combine. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to coat.

Oh, and those wonton crisps look familiar, right?  They're just a modification of the wonton crisps we made earlier.  This time, with a little added parmesan cheese on them before baking.

Overall, the salad tasted pretty good.  We didn't end up using all of the dressing.  But, I would definitely hold off until next summer before we made this again!

(Thanks to Giada de Laurentis for the recpie)

Pike Place Market Dinner

It has been a long time since we've really utilized the Pike Place Market to provide a full dinner.  Lately, we've just be stopping by the butcher lately to pick up some fresh cuts.  On Monday, G had a rare day off and met a friend for lunch at Matt's in the Market.  (This reminds me that we should post the salmon sandwich recipe!)

While at the market G picked up some stellar items:

• Sockeye salmon
• English peas
• 2008 Domaine de Maubet Blanc sec - Côtes de Gascogne, France

The preparation was relatively easy (well at least it looked easy enough when I was watching G -- I was shelling peas and folding laundry most of the time).

The Salmon

• Pat dry and dust with salt and pepper
• Lay on parchment paper
• Bake at 350 degrees

The English Peas

• Combine water and flour (not a lot... this isn't supposed to be gravy)
• Heat on medium
• Add one cup of the wine and some butter and reduce
• Season with salt and pepper (and for us, more butter)
• Add the peas while the sauce continues to reduce
• Throw in some rough chopped chives at the end

The Croutons

• Dice old baguette
• Toast in a pan with olive oil, butter, salt and pepper

Not much to it.  We didn't add the English Peas quite early enough, so it took quite a while for them to get just to the point of tender.  The sauce was very VERY light.  I think we both would have preferred it to stand up a little better to the fish and the peas.  Still tasty though and the wine was delicious on its own.

It's Sunday Backwards Day

Because we seem to have issues contributing in a timely manner, I've declared today Sunday Backwards Day.  This time around, I'll write the blog entry about our Sunday dinner before we even start cooking it.  I've also had to declare it a backwards day today because the San Francisco 49ers beat the Seattle Seahawks this afternoon... well, that may not be entirely backwards, but it is at least a chance for me to take a weak shot at my San Francisco-based friends.

Anyway, here is what we plan to have on the table tonight:
Soy-glazed Flank Steak atop Spring Green Salad with Wonton Crisps

If all goes as planned, it will turn out something like this:

The Protein
Ingredients

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar (not seasoned)
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon safflower oil
• 1 flank steak (11/4 pounds)
• 2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. Bring soy sauce, mirin, vinegar, ginger, garlic, and red-pepper flakes to a boil in a saucepan on high heat. Reduce heat; simmer until reduced by half, about 5 minutes.
2. Heat a cast-iron skillet over high heat; add oil. Season steak all over with salt and pepper. Cook for 3 minutes on each side. Reduce heat to medium, and brush top of steak with some glaze; flip, and cook for 1 minute. Brush with remaining glaze, flip, and cook for 1 minute more. Transfer steak to a cutting board; let rest for 5 minutes. Slice steak against the grain into 1/8-inch-thick strips, and serve on top of or alongside spring green salad.

Okay, I'm not even finished with the posting and we already had our first cooking incident. Nothing major, just turned the kitchen into a skating rink with approximately 48.3 ice cubes scattered on the floor. No major injuries... no minor, either.

The Crisps
Ingredients

• 12 to 16 wonton wrappers (3-inch squares)
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 374 degrees. Arrange the wonton wrappers on a rimmed baking sheet, making sure they don't touch. Brush tops with oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until golden brown, 7 to 9 minutes. Transfer wonton crisps to a wire rack, and let cool before serving.

The Leaves
Ingredients

• 1/2 pound sugar snap peas, trimmed, strings removed
• 5 ounces (6 cups) mixed salad greens
• 5 scallions, thinly sliced diagonally
• 2 small zucchini, thinly sliced into ribbons with a vegetable peeler
• 1/3 cup fresh basil, large leaves torn
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon rice vinegar (not seasoned)
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• Coarse salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. Prepare an ice-water bath. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Add sugar snap peas, and cook until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Drain, and transfer to ice-water bath. Drain again.
2. Toss peas, greens, scallions, zucchini, and basil in a large bowl. Whisk together vinegar, oil, lemon juice, ginger, honey, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a small bowl. Drizzle dressing over salad, and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and the pepper. Toss to coat, and serve immediately.

And here is the final product... all in all, it was a great tasting meal.  The only thing we would have preferred was for the steak itself to be a little less chewy.  But at least we got our exercise!

(Credit for this meal goes to Martha Stewart Living)

Fig Season

This is what figs look like!


Kate here, reporting from the wilds of SF. The intern and I have be consuming a large amount of figs for the past month or more, mostly because they are in season, and they are the most delicious and versatile fruit ever. ever. If you have Fig Newton taste in your mouth right now, just dump it, because figs are good out of bar form, and really can't be compared to the chewy bar-y newton thing you're familiar with.

Our recipe is one that we've developed after some serious taste-testing and rigorous interneting, just to come up with the most delicious roasted fig recipe.

We don't have a simpler name for these figs, but here is what we call them.
Roasted figs wrapped in prosciutto, stuffed with goat cheese with a balsamic reduction.
The name practically says it all.

The Recipe

Start with a good bowl of figs, slightly soft to the touch, but not mushy. We always eat more than we think we will, so prepare at least 2-3 per person if you are serving them as an appetizer or side dish. Figs are in season RIGHT NOW, you can't wait til your birthday to make these.

Ingredients:
Figs
Goat cheese (or you can use blue cheese, but this makes them pretty intense)
Prosciutto
balsamic vinegar for reduction

Step by Step Directions:

Make a small incision in each fig, halfway into the center without cutting all the way through the fig, and stuff the fig with a spoonful of goat cheese.

Slice prosciutto into thin strips, to be wrapped around the figs.

Wrap each fig in a strip of prosciutto. If the figs are ripe and slightly wet from washing, the prosciutto will stick well to the outsides without needing a toothpick to hold everything in place. The prosciutto should stay in place throughout cooking, but if you are struggling, just pierce with a toothpick to keep in place.

once all the figs are wrapped, place them together in a baking dish, and bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Watch the figs as they bake- you want them to be slightly golden and crispy, but you don't want the goat cheese to melt too much, and pour out of the figs.

While the figs are baking, prepare the balsamic reduction in a small pan. Ask the intern if you don't know how to make this reduction. He is very good at it.

Once the figs are ready, we put them on a bed of arugula, then drizzle the reduction over the top and serve. I promise, these might change your life.

Anything with "Z"s in it is Exciting

Zowie! We had dinner with pizzazz tonight. We dined at Delancey Pizza!

Delancey opened up earlier this summer on 70th in Ballard. It's located where The Guardsman used to be. For some reason, they chose to remove the dart board and the giant vat of pigs feet that used to sit on the bar. Now, they have replaced it with a custom made wood fired pizza oven. To each his own.

Tonight was Brandon's birthday (he's the owner)... so we had Brandon's special birthday pizza. "5 Lilies with Sausage and Ricotta Salata." If you clicked on the link to their Twitter page, they mention 8 Lilies, but by the time we arrived, 3 Lilies must have gone home. The lilies were a combination of two types of garlic, shallots, red onion, Walla Walla sweets, leeks, scallions and chives. Again, we name 8 here... 3 were AWOL according to the chalkboard specials menu.

We're not sure which three... but keep your eyes peeled. This was all accompanied by an olive oil base, sausage, and fresh mozzarella. G thinks that the acidity of a tomato base would have cut the richness of all of the caramelized lilies.

Our second pizza was the Padron... as in Padron chile peppers. This was a very simple, but very hot pizza. It was made with a pleasant tomato based sauce, two kinds of mozzarella cheese, and grana. Very tasty, albeit somewhat over powering for a Delicate Flower like G.

Each pizza is about 10-12 inches across. Did we really need two? No. But, we wanted to sample multiple kinds. Man of Action spent much time fretting that the couple next to us would scoff at our humongous appetites. At the beginning of their meal they exclaimed, "Why would we need to pizzas?" They then ordered an appetizer. And then a pizza. And then a pizza. And then a dessert. Pigs.

Of course, not to be outdone we topped off our meal with a large chocolate chip cookies with grey salt. Oink.

Two weekends ago, we made homemade pizzas with Mo & Tye. We probably had about 20 different topping options and enough dough to make about 4 personal pizzas for each person. It was truly a scary amount of food. But, having a meal where everybody can roll up their sleeves and create their own masterpiece is always worth it. It was exciting when we made it at home... and it was just as exciting tonight. "Z"s -- they bring the party every time.

Welcome to San Francisco!

Here is the first dinner I cooked upon arriving in San Francisco:

Baked Halibut and Caesar Roasted Asparagus


The Halibut
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 6- to 7-ounce halibut fillets

Simply preheat oven to 425°F. Whisk 2 tablespoons oil and lemon juice in bowl; season dressing with salt and pepper. Place halibut on rimmed baking sheet; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with some of dressing. Bake until just opaque in center, about 12 minutes.

Accompany the fish with a Caesar Roasted Asparagus with a fried egg on top.
2 pound asparagus, tough ends removed
1 T olive oil

For Ceaser Dressing
2 T mayonnaise
1/2 to 1 tsp anchovy paste (depending on how you feel about anchovies)
2 clove garlic, chopped
Juice of two lemons
1 tsp mustard
Parmesan for grating

Prepare it by mixing mayo, anchovy paste, garlic, lemon juice, and mustard, smashing garlic a bit. In a large broiler-safe pan (I used a 3 qt sauté pan), toss asparagus with olive oil until evenly coated, the toss with half of the Caesar dressing. Broil for 5 minutes, then toss with tongs, and broil five minutes more. Toss again, then grate parmesan on top. Return asparagus to the broiler for a few minutes until parmesan has melted and tips of the asparagus begin to shrivel.

Garnish with sea salt, additional parmesan, and a very generous grinding of pepper.

Serve with a poached or fried egg. Yeah!

Ammi makes yummy dal.

My mom, Ammi, makes a simple dal that is my absolute favorite!  I could eat it everyday, it's my comfort food, and aside from being healthy, it's easy to make, and easy on the budget.

Ammi's Masoor ki Dal (Split Orange Lentils) Recepie:


Daal Ingredients:
1 cup masoor dal
5 cups water
1/4 medium onion chopped
1 medium tomato chopped

Dal Spices:
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp tumeric
1 tsp ground corriander
2 green chillies
a handful of cilantro

Bhagar Ingredients:
some olive oil
ghee (clarified butter)
3 or 4 dried red chillies
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1/4 whole mustard seeds

Preparation:
Soak the daal in water for an hour. Pour 5 cups water into a deep dish pan and turn burner to high. Add washed lentils to pan. As the water and daal begins to heat, a white foam will rise to the top. Remove the foam with a large flat spoon, and reduce heat to medium-low. Add daal spices, chopped tomato and chopped onion. Increase the heat to a medium high and bring the daal to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and cover the pan with a lid while leaving a slight opening. Let the daal simmer for about 20 minutes on medium-low heat. While the daal is cooking, chop the cilantro and green chillies. Add the green chillies and cilantro once the daal is cooked. Reduce heat to low.

But wait, you're not done yet.

Adding the Bhagar (I don't know what this word means):
On a seperate burner, place oil and ghee into a frying pan. Turn the heat on high and when oil and ghee are hot, add the dried red chillies, and cool till the red chillies turn black. Reduce the heat to a medium-low, and remove the frying pan from the burner. Add the whole cumin seeds and whole mustard seeds to the pan, and cook on heat till they turn brown. Then, pour the bhagar mixture into the pan with the cooked daal. Continue to cook the daal on low heat for a few minutes to let the bhagar flavor work into the daal.

Serve daal with roti (frozen naan or roti at the local Indian store or trader joes) for first course (as North Indians growing up in Shoreline prefer), and then again with white rice for seconds. And try with plain yogurt and a mango achaar (pickeled relish on the side).

Spinach and Lemon Soup with Orzo

Welcome to Meals Across America!  Honestly, this blog hasn't been fully thought out, and since we're so busy, I'm just going to start blogging.  My hope (I'm sure the co-authors will agree) is that this blog grows organically, eventually evolving into something of use.  At some point, we'll work on structure and rules.  But for now, let's begin!

I'm making dinner tonight.  I've recently moved to San Francisco with MiPiaceKateDesign.  I'm the intern, she's the desginer.  We've moved here from Seattle, and we love to cook!

And we're not alone.  There is The Man of Action, and G.  They live in Seattle, and they like to cook as well. 

The Man of Action and G?  What are you having for dinner tonight?  Here is what I'm making:


Spinach and Lemon Soup with Orzo
(taken from thekitchn)
serves 4-6

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, smashed or minced
1 large onion
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more, depending on your taste)
1 package frozen spinach, thawed and drained of excess water
1 1/2 cups orzo
8 cups chicken or vegetable broth
4 eggs
Juice of 3 lemons
Fresh parsley, chopped (to serve)
Fresh-grated Parmesan (to serve)

Preparation
Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot or Dutch oven. Cook the garlic and onion over medium heat until fragrant and slightly translucent. Turn the heat to medium high and add the red pepper flakes, spinach, and orzo. Cook for about a minute, then add the broth.

Bring to a light simmer, then turn the heat down and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the orzo is just barely tender. Take the soup off the heat and let it cool down for a moment or two.

Whisk eggs vigorously in a largish bowl, then whisk in the lemon juice. Whisk for a couple minutes; the mixture should be thick, pale yellow, and creamy. Add a small ladleful of the soup broth to the eggs and whisk vigorously. (If you want to be really sure not to curdle the eggs, take a ladle of soup and cool it a bit before tempering the eggs.) Whisk in two more ladles of soup broth, whisking each well and letting them cool.

Add the egg mixture to the soup pot, whisking very well. Return to very low heat, stirring the whole time. Cook carefully over low heat until the soup has thickened slightly. Serve immediately, garnished with parsley and Parmesan if desired.