Farro!

I'm in love with farro! And recently I made a salad with it. It was delicious! I found this little recipe in the Oregonian. The salad has 2 ears of cooked corn on the cob, and you slice off the kernels when it's cooked. The farro is soaked in water overnight, then cooked for only 10 mins. in a bit of water. There are chopped chives, thyme, and oregano, all of which I was able to walk to the backyard herb garden and pick fresh! It was so fun to make this salad. It also has a perfect blend of acidity and sweetness, with white wine vinegar, olive oil, and the natural sweetness from the corn. What a great find.
At People's Food Co-op and Food Front you can buy farro in bulk, which is nice because then you can pick out exactly how much you want. Farro is a whole grain, so it's very nutritious. It's an ancient grain; it's been around a long time in Europe and the Middle East and Egypt. Here's the recipe:
Farro Salad with Tomatoes and Corn
Mise en place: Overnight soaking of farro, a wheat grain with a nutty flavor. Cook corn. Toast almonds.
Ingredients:
1 cup farro
2 ears cooked corn
16 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
4 tsp chopped fresh oregano
4 tsp chopped fresh thyme
2 tBsp chopped fresh chives
1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds
2 tBsp extra-virgin olive oil
4 tsp white wine vinegar
TT - Salt and fresh-ground black pepper
Place 1 cup farro in a small bowl with water to cover. Let rest overnight at room temperature.
When ready to cook, drain farro and place in small pan with water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook for approx 10 mins, or until tender or al dente.
Scrape kernels from corn and place in a bowl large enough to hold all ingredients. Add tomatoes, the herbs, almonds, olive oil, vinegar, and salt & pepper; mix well. Drain cooked farro and toss with the other ingredients. This salad is best served at room temperature but can be chilled.
Ciao!
Deb

Time to Toast the new season ~

Having been away a couple of months (!) from this blog o' mine, it becomes obvious that the previous school term was crushingly busy. I could not wait for it to be over. It was so amazingly exhausting, mentally and physically. But hey! Finals are over, I survived, and there's still a few days left of spring break. What better place to celebrate by going out to breakfast than TOAST! TOAST is a neighborhood cafe on SE 52nd Ave near SE Steele and is so charming it even has pasted on the walls in the front room hundreds of crayon drawings by children. If that doesn't cheer you up, nothing will. The food is great, and the plate presentation is appealing. The menu is varied, including the sides, and who cares if it only has 3 spaces in its parking lot. Park on the street! They have mimosas! They have Vanilla Bean French Toast, and Squash Tart with the Tart pastry baked to perfection, and with perfectly sauteed, non-bitter Kale and 2 perfectly poached Eggs. For example. If, in the midst of all this perfection, you prefer to order a side of Toast, FYI, it's house made. Eggs and bacon are cooked to perfection; the staff is amiable, or friendly, and there's a bench to sit on if you have to wait to get a table. The drip coffee is nothing to write home about, but they have other beverage options. TOAST has food professionally prepared, a pleasing atmosphere, reasonable prices, and specials of the day. I keep going back there because I know I'm going to eat something good. ciao! deb

Lauro Mediterranean Kitchen

A restaurant at which we recently dined, Lauro is an expansive room with loads of talent and warm plates of food to delight in. The service was excellent. I ordered the Chicken Tagine one Saturday night, and it came with couscous, butternut squash, chickpeas, and currants. It was fun to taste this dish of Moroccan origin, with the perfect touch of spices that don't overwhelm, and suddenly have a pleasant sweetness in the mouth from a currant or two. Chicken Tagine comes to your table in a very warm bowl and your entire meal is within it. How nice that it stays warm throughout the dining hour! My companion had the same experience with his Seafood Paella. It had mussels, clams, calamari, shrimp, and chourico sausage on a bed of rice. The sausage is very unique, meaty and delicious. I also tasted the mussels and they were wonderfully plump and very fresh. He ate the whole thing, so it was obviously a hit with him ~ !
I didn't finish mine, but reserved the remainder for later at home. I simply had to try the apple tarte tatin with vanilla ice cream. It was glorious; the pastry was very fresh and tasted house-made, which isn't a far cry from reality, I'm sure, since they have a pastry chef there, Nancy Forrest. I am a sucker for good pastry, and indeed, I ate the whole thing.
My companion had the dessert special, a Grand Marnier pot de creme, with creme chantilly, and chocolate shortbread cookies on the side. Not to put too fine a point on it, but, ah, he ate all of it, too. I did have a chance -- barely -- to taste it; and it was very sophisticated and yummy.
After we left the restaurant, he said "One of the few times we've been in a place like that (a nice restaurant with innovative food) where I seriously considered having the pizza." There's always next time.
ciao
deb

Random Order, Aebliskivers

On NE Alberta at 18th, Random Order is the coffee place that has everything: Boozy pies, espresso drinks, vegan, non-gluten, and vegetarian menu offerings, Bailey's Irish Cream, cool music, wi-fi, and accommodating counter-persons. Try the Kentucky Bourbon Pecan Pie, or the Brandied Peach Pie; nice, and with a little glob of whipped cream on the side with your fave espresso -- heaven is pretty close to this.

Last month on Christmas morn it was once again time for making Aebliskivers with friends. For those of you in the know, skip this sentence: Aebliskivers are round Danish pancakes that are cooked in special pans for this purpose.

Our 2nd annual tradition began last year when my friend Pam came over with her 2 aebliskiver pans, lingonberry jam, and ScanFest cookbook. I provided the cardamom, powdered sugar, and all the rest. We had a blast (see photo at left), and resolved to do it again.

This year we had several more people in the kitchen: Pam and I, of course, and also Kelly, and Gritt, who is 100% Danish and is expert at making aebliskivers -- but of course! Here we are, cooking, then sampling:

Otto & Anita's Schnitzel Haus

On the edge of Multnomah Village, a group of friends & I were at a gallery to meet up with an artist friend. Okay -- I'll admit the name of the gallery: it's The Geezer Gallery. Yes, that's correct. Anyway, after viewing all the lovely, cleverly creative, imaginative artworks, it was decided that we would dine at "the German restaurant across the street." I had an inkling of doubt, owing to my previous experience with German restaurant food here in town, but being the adventurous type, I hopped onto the caravan.
The lobby is a funky little area, with house-made pastries in prominent display. Though the few Christmas decorations were probably new, the feel of the lobby made it seem as though they were brought out for the occasion from last year.

We received wonderful service for our table of eight, and from the minute we sat down until the last bite of conversation, we all felt immediately comfortable. We had a merry time, and when the food was brought out, it was all a pleasant surprise. First was a sampling ‘round the table of a bowl of “The original Dill Pickle Soup” which someone had ordered. As most of us did, I really had some doubts about this one. But it was amazingly delicious and I promptly ordered my own bowl!

Next were the main courses, and all of them came with spinach with the butter already on it – a nice touch, I thought; I didn’t have to ask f0r butter! – and a serving of spaetzle, a kind of noodle that is short and bright yellow, resembling scrambled eggs. The spaetzle was tasty, but seemed rich, so a smaller amount on my plate might have worked better, at least for me. There was also a serving of carrots, sliced bias cut. They were cooked perfectly: not mushy but not a little too firm as so many places do. The best part was my halibut fillet, which was a house special just for me, because they were out of the two previous items I’d tried to order. It was lovely and tender, with a delicate Bearnaise sauce to complement it splendidly.

Those were the highlights. The prices were reasonable, the service attentive and on top of it, and the whole place had a homespun feel. One just had the sense that this little place advertising itself as “Bavarian/American Food and Pastries” had lots of regular customers. I don’t doubt that a bit.

Tabla Bistro

Tonight we were in search of dessert, and being near the famous "Restaurant Row" of NE 28th Avenue, we stuck our head into a couple of places --nah, way too crowded -- and with dessert on our minds, who wants to wait an hour just to get in? We wandered into Tabla, a charming bistro with medium-low, pleasant lighting, an interesting dinner menu, and a nice dessert menu. We immediately liked the place. And though it was nearly full, the hostess found us a seat at the counter with a view of the cooks at work. We ordered and sat back to enjoy the "show." We found it interesting simply because we're into food, and we were very quiet and well-behaved while the cooks and servers went about their tasks.

Steve ordered a slice of chevre almond tart, which he liked (I didn't, but that doesn't mean anything except that I'm not into chevre). I ordered the pound cake filled with mascarpone cheese (which I am into), blueberries on top, and a sauce of -- what -- caramel, I believe.

After trading tastes, we ate all of our respective dessert; not that we liked it or anything. Heh heh.

So of course after that I asked for a menu and was given one with the kind offer to take it with me. I of course did so, and no doubt we shall pass that way again.

ciao

deb

Irving Street Kitchen

Last night we dined at Irving Street Kitchen. It's got great Southern-style food and a really fun atmosphere where you can look out 13th Street and watch the Pearl pedestrians amble by. I had the Draper Valley fried chicken -- came with "smashed" potatoes, collard greens, and Ken's Artisan Bakery bread -- with butter and a large-grain salt sprinkled on it. Draper Valley chicken is absolutely wonderful -- very tender and actually tastes like real chicken, which it is. The batter was nice and crunchy and looked like corn flakes. The taters were very good, and the collards were ok. Steve had the shrimp etoufee, which he liked, although it was light, he said, meaning the sauce is usually thick in that dish, but here it was a thinner sauce, and lightly seasoned. He also had a jambalaya, which had a thick tomato-pasty sauce and tasso (smoked pork). The jambalaya was very good, he said. As a side note, Steve is very picky when it comes to Cajun and Creole food, having lived in New Orleans and cooked this style of food at home for many years. I totally trust his judgment on this.
My only bitch is that although the beer was good (the Organic Red something or other, in draft), the 'tender did not pour it so that there was a head on it. I like a good head on my beer, and rarely get it in this town! It's the oddest thing. . . must be part of the Portland weird-ness.
Aside from this minor point, the servers seemed to be happy to be there, and were very professional. Most of the customers were very animated and enjoying themselves. I would highly recommend Irving Street Kitchen as a place to bring out-of-town guests or good friends.

In other news, I tried out a new brownie recipe today. It came out like a slightly dense cake, in an 8x8" pan, with frosting that you pour over it when they're just out of the oven. I call them Buttermilk Brownies, because the recipe calls for buttermilk -- big surprise there -- and it uses cocoa powder. I got this stuff that's a dark chocolate and Dutch chocolate blend. The brownies were so dark, they should actually be called Devil's Food Cake-Like Buttermilk Brownies. And so they are. BTW, they're half gone already. Yum.
ciao
deb