Inspiration is Everywhere!

When I started this blog, my goal was never to bore you with mundane facts about my life or recount my seemingly uneventful day. I read enough blogs to know that that type of information is, well....ridiculously boring. Sure, it's nice to step out of your own day every once in a while and into a stranger's day (thru their blog), but do you really care about what they purchased at the grocery store or what movie they rented?

The above is not necessarily a rant, but rather my excuse for the one month departure from the blog. Did you miss me??? I just haven't had anything fantastic, useful, or inspirational to share. But I do today!

Inspiration is everywhere for me. Depending on what role I'm playing -- mother, wife, cook, wanna-be-interior designer; ordinary ideas can be extremely inspiring. Even better -- other people's ordinary ideas!! Afterall, imitation is the best form of flattery, right?

Have you eaten at Lecosho in Downtown Seattle? You should. It's good. Not great....but good. As a cook, my senses really take the lead when it comes to inspiration. Taste, obviously. Smell, check. Sight (presentation), definitely. My husband and I ordered the pork rilette, which was average, at best. The real star of that dish, however, was the fennel mustard to accompany the rilette. Did I unabashedly eat the mustard with my spoon? Yes! Mustard can taste slightly sharp. Not this mustard. The only word that comes to mind when describing this mustard was "soft"...almost "delicate." The sweet, sauteed fennel softened the sharpness of the mustard to perfection. The smell...well, you'll have to visit Lecosho or follow the recipe below to find out.

So, with pretty good success, I found a Thomas Keller recipe and made it myself.

Believe me, it tastes better than this picture makes it look

Fennel Mustard (12oz jar)
adapted from Thomas Keller

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large, chopped fennel (fronds reserved)
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon dried mustard powdered (I ground mine from seeds)
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Salt, to taste

In a saute pan, add 1 tablespoon of oil and chopped fennel, and cook over low heat until softened. In a bowl, combine the mustard seeds with the vinegar. Add contents to the fennel and cook for an additional 10 minutes or so, being careful not to brown the fennel. Transfer 3/4 of the fennel to a processor and add water, mustard powder and reserved tablespoon of olive oil and puree. Scrape into a bowl and add Dijon and the remaining 1/4 of fennel, left in the saute pan. Salt to taste. Sprinkle with fronds if serving immediately, otherwise, keep in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

While I highly recommend the spoon-and-eat method, need some other suggestions of what to serve this with? Slathered on a rack of lamb. Used as a dip for turkey sausages. Accompanied by pork tenderloin and roasted apples.

The Future Looks Bright

2010 was an excellent year. A transitional year. A happy year. Hope it was equally joyful for you.

The plan for 2011 -- growth! Personal growth. Professional growth (wherever Tapenades may take me). Whatever your plan is for the new year, I hope it's bright and full of great experiences.

Here's to a bright future!

In case you're looking for the perfect sweet bite to complement your bubbly, here's an easy recipe for decadent truffles.

Chocolate Truffles with Fleur de Sel
adapted from Epicurious

12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips, finely chopped, divided
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
2/3 cup whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel
2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Place 8 ounces chocolate in metal bowl over saucepan of barely simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water); stir until chocolate is smooth. Remove chocolate from over water.

Combine sugar and 2 tablespoons water in small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves, occasionally brushing sides of pan with wet pastry brush. Increase heat; boil until syrup is deep amber color, brushing down sides and swirling pan occasionally, about 4 minutes. Add cream (mixture will bubble). Stir over very low heat until caramel is smooth. Mix caramel and 1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel into melted chocolate. Chill until truffle filling is firm, at least 3 hours.

Coarsely grind the remaining 4 ounces in a food processor. Combine ground chocolate with cocoa powder. Using 1 tablespoon truffle filling for each truffle*, roll into balls, then roll in cocoa/chocolate chips. Arrange on baking sheet. Chill.

* Notes: If you are finding it difficult to make a ball, dip your tablespoon into a cup of water before you make each ball.

Happy New Year!





 

Mark Your Calendars!

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11 -- 6-9PM; BALLARD SECOND SATURDAY ART WALK

My friend Penny and her sister Leah, are the brilliant designers behind Clinks for Drinks, and are the featured artists at Venue for the Art Walk this Saturday. Tapenades will be providing some lovely sweet treats to enjoy during the evening.

Make it a date night! Stop by, have a bite, and check out some great local art!

Hope to see you all there.

Breaking the Vegetable Cycle

I didn't realize how "vegetable" focused this blog has become. If you didn't know me, you might think I were a vegetarian without a sweet tooth. Both couldn't be farther from the truth.

I do love vegetables, and enjoy incorporating them in delicious ways into my family's diet. I may LOVE sweets even more.

Tonight we're having family over for the first night of Hanukkah. It's a simple menu with key traditional basics -- roasted chicken and fried potato pancakes (latkes). I don't know about you, but when I eat fried food, I crave sweets even more. I didn't want to dissappoint tonight so to complement the latkes, we're having fudgy, chocolately, walnuty cookies. Somewhat meringue like, with a slight sticky chocolate (loaded with walnuts) inside -- sheer genius by the originator of the recipe, Francois Payard. I added a sprinkling of fleur de sel (the magic touch to any uber-chocolate dessert), but otherwise, I've left the recipe as perfect as it reads.

Fudgy Chocolate Walnut Cookies

2 3/4 cups walnut halves (9 ounces)
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350°. Position 2 racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.


Spread the walnut halves on a large rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 9 minutes, until they are golden and fragrant. Let cool slightly, then transfer the walnut halves to a work surface and finely chop them.

In a large bowl, whisk the confectioners' sugar with the cocoa powder and salt. Whisk in the chopped walnuts. Add the egg whites and vanilla extract and beat just until the batter is moistened (be careful not to overbeat or it will stiffen). Spoon the batter onto the baking sheets in 12 evenly spaced mounds.

Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes, until the tops of the cookies are glossy and lightly cracked and feel firm to the touch; shift the pans from front to back and top to bottom halfway through.

Slide the parchment paper (with the cookies) onto 2 wire racks to cool completely before serving.

Appetizing Appetizers

Hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving. We hosted Thanksgiving for the first time! In our new home, celebrating with family and great food....it was nice. Besides the traditional turkey (brined...was amazing!!!), I served creamed spinach, a chorizo and parmesan bread pudding/stuffing, pomegranate and balsamic glazed roasted onions and another not-worthy-to-mention side.

On Saturday, we had a few friends over for some late afternoon small bites and drinks. Preparing a new menu of treats was the last thing I wanted to do. I'm a huge fan of the mantra, "Buy some...prepare some." So, I purchased some cheese and cured meats and pulled out a batch of olive lemon zest shortbread and roasted tomatoes; both that I had made a couple days prior. And the pièce de résistance of the menu -- my pomegranate and balsamic glazed roasted onions from Thanksgiving, served perfectly with tart goat cheese and crostini.

Like most families, we had Thanksgiving leftovers, which I am generally not so fond of. I enjoy food the first time around, but unless it's one of those dishes that improves with time, I pass. These onions didn't necessarily "improve" -- they were fantastic the first time around and continued to be so two days later.

Lucious, buttery Olive Lemon Zest Shortbread

Roasted tomatoes, served in the jar, straight from the fridge

Sweet Roasted Onions!!!

Pomegranate and Balsamic Glazed Roasted Onions

3lbs red onion, peel and quartered (cut thru the core, leaving the core attached)

Glaze

2 tablespoon pomegranate molasses

2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon dijon vinegar

1 teaspoon thyme

1/2 cup olive oil

sprinkle of salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine the ingredients for the glaze. In a bowl, combine the quartered (or if the onions are large, cut into eighths) onions and half of the glaze. Place onions on a cookie sheet, leaving space between each quarter (if you don't allow for space, the onions will steam and will not achieve the carmelized look/taste you want). Roast for about 20 minutes and flip quarters over. Roast for another 15 minutes or so. The onions should be slightly crispy, shriveled and carmelized.

Prepare the glaze: Simmer the second half of glaze on the stovetop until it achieves a syrup consistency.

Drizzle the glaze over the onions, once plated. Top with pomegranate seeds.

This dish is fantastic as a side dish to any menu. Serve as directed above. If you choose to serve as an appetizer, you can peel the layers of the quartered onions and pile them (very rustic) on a platter. Drizzle with the glaze and top with pomegranate seeds.



A Hearty Grain

I don't have much of a tale to share about this salad.

Every bite of it is delicious. And, if it matters at all -- it's extremely healthy. Deep hues of red from slow roasted tomatoes, bright orange roasted squash bites and green spinach leaves comprise a gorgeous fall salad that can be served for lunch or as a dinner side. Wheatberries form the base of this salad, a reddish, brown hearty grain, that when fully cooked, has a slightly chewy bite.

Left: Uncooked soft processed wheatberry

Right: Fully cooked wheatberry

There are several steps to this salad, but once all of the ingredients are prepared (and by the way, each can be prepared over a couple of days), the meal comes together seamlessly.

Warm Wheatberry Salad

2 cups cooked soft processed wheatberry (see below)

1 cup cubed roasted butternut squash (see below)

6-8 slow roasted tomatoes, chopped (see below)

1/4 cup favorite black olive (example: kalamata, oil-cured)

large handful of fresh spinach leaves, chopped

1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles 

1/4-1/3 cup (to taste) red wine vinaigrette (see below)

salt/pepper to desired taste

Combine all ingredients in a oven proof bowl. Right before you want to serve, place in the oven at 250 degrees to warm the salad and slightly wilt the spinach leaves. Sprinkle with salt.

Wheatberries

Place 1.5 cup of wheatberries in 3 cups of boiling salted water. Cook, uncovered, for about 45 minutes, or until they have a soft bite. Drain.

Roasted Butternut Squash

2 pound butternut squash
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt/pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut squash in half vertically. Discard the seeds. Cut into small cubes and place on a cookie sheet. Drizzle cubes with olive oil and sprinkle with salt/pepper. Roast about 25 minutes, or until a knife can slide easily thru the cubes.

Slow Roasted Tomatoes (courtesy of Epicurious)

Red Wine Vinaigrette

1 teaspoon dijon
1/2 teaspoon honey
1 small shallot, minced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
sprinkle of salt

A Detoxing Meal

This weekend, my best friend and her husband visited from Connecticut. The weekend was perfect! We laughed. We shopped. We drank ALOT. We ate even more. From the moment they arrived until minutes before they departed -- we ate.

Cambozola cheese and lemon crisps on Thursday evening. Friday morning began with fresh bagels and homemade vegetable cream cheese (a favorite of my friend's husband). Took a few deep breaths before lunchtime and made our way over to what probably is the BEST hamburger I've ever eaten at, Ballard's, Lunchbox Laboratory. I don't often make such strong claims, but ask any hamburger-loving Seattleite and I bet they feel the same. I'm barely finishing my 1/4 pound (perfectly grilled) burger, smothered with carmelized balsamic onions and gorgonzola and complemented by rosemary salted tater tots and I'm thinking "I can not possibly eat another bite of food." Ummmm.....BIG FAT LIE! Because, with dinner came lots of wine, roasted tomatoes with balsamic syrup and goat cheese, a butternut squash and carmelized onion galette, sprinkled with aged blue cheese, roasted garlic hummus and other small bites. The main dish, a fantastic one-pot meal -- Mixed Seafood, Chicken and Sausage Paella. Dessert -- like there was any room for that (but we managed to make room) -- was homemade chocolate peanut butter cups and hazelnut tofee.

We didn't disappoint on Saturday evening either. Dinner at Quinn's on Capitol Hill was, in a word, AMAZING! Delicate french fries, dressed with demi-glace and oozy fontina, salt cod fritters, foie gras, oxtail, escargot, pork ribs, goat, crispy chicken...and the list continues. Oh, and ridiculous amounts of liquor. The end to a perfect evening -- watched one of the most hilarious (high levels of adult comedy) shows currently on the TV roster, "The League." (Discovered last night that the entire first season is On Demand.)

Skip ahead to yesterday (Monday). Friends are back home in Connecticut. And, with a weekend's worth of decadent food and drink behind me, a cleansing, healthy, butternut squash soup seems in order.

Curried Apple Butternut Squash Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon mild curry powder
2 pounds butternut squash, roasted (recipe below)
2 cups chicken broth or stock
1 cup apple juice
salt to taste
handful of chopped cilantro

Saute the onions and curry powder in a large pot, until onions are soft and transluscent. Stir occasionally, scraping the bottom of the pot.

With a spoon, scoop out the flesh from the roasted squash and place in pot with sauteed onions. Stir to blend all ingredients. Pour in 1 cup of broth and the apple juice and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20-25 minutes.

Using a food processor or hand blender, puree the soup to the consistency you like. Add the remaining  broth if necessary. Place back on the stove and simmer for a few more minutes. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro.

To make a full meal, I usually cut up chicken sausage and add some grated parmesan, goat or blue cheese to the top. Mmmmmmm.

Roasted Butternut Squash

2 pound butternut squash
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt/pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut squash in half vertically. Drizzle each half with olive oil and sprinkle with salt/pepper. Place cut side down on a baking sheet. Roast about 25 minutes, or until a knife can slide easily thru the flesh of the squash.

I apologize for not sharing a photo. The soup is delicious, but it just doesn't photograph well.