Ann says

Well I’m not actually in Cape Disappointment anymore.  I am at home in this CRAPTASTIC weather we are having in Seattle.  Every year it rains a bunch in Seattle in June, which is fine because we usually get all this fabulous sunniness in May.  We like to do it different here.  But NOT THIS YEAR!  Oh no!  It has been gray and rainy since forever and there has been NO SUN AT ALL.   Except for one highly non-disappointing day at Cape Disappoitment.  The day was beautiful, warm, and sunny.  The day culminated in the most delivious Salisbury Steak I have even rested my tastebuds upon.  It was highly fantastic.

Alas, I have NO pictures of the steak.  You will have to be satisfied with desciption and some lovely pictures of the park.  But here is the thing about Salisbury Steak.  It is SO much better than you think it is.  The cube steak is actually pretty lean.  You can get it from your butcher in whatever kind of level of sustainability you like, and it is hella cheap.  You dredge in flour and brown in a cast iron pan.  You remove the meat and add ALL MANNER of delcious saucy ingredients like a can of tomatoes, beef broth, onions, celery, and worsterchire sauce.  Paprika!  Then, my friends, you braise it for like 2 hours!  While you are waiting you can have a gin and tonic by the roaring fire in the twilight right next to the ocean.

It is the best meal of your LIFE O_O

Do you know where we got this recipe?  From food-frickin-network is where.  Alton Brown.  Boy do I have something to say about him.  I love his show.  He is highly entertaining and I love science so it’s a lovely combination of two interests but I have tried a couple of his recipes and they failed like a giant whale.  His sweet potato pie was the worst pie I have ever had I kid you not.  But I saw him make that steak and I was trying to think of what to make on our camping trip and VOILA!  Magic happened.

Here is how it goes.  We switched out beef for chicken broth and had no bacon dripping so we did veg oil:

Salisbury Steak

2 pounds of cube steak, you can make it yourself like Alton says or just buy it like we did
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 cups chicken broth

As I said before.  Dredge the meat in the seasoned flour.  Brown in hot oil in a big cast iron pot or pan if you wanna do like we did.  Remove from pan and add choped veggies.  Once softened add tomatoes, broth, and the rest of the seasonings.  Simmer for 2 hours.  Devour.  We ate them with potatoes cooked in duck fat.

Also there was an interpretive center!

Oh my goodness Dudes and Ladies!  We had a really good time in New York.  You see, I didn’t really like New York AT ALL the first couple of times we visited for various reasons. Mainly it’s that you can’t seen the sky, from up high it looks brown, and people are mean there.  Then the next time we ate in Chinatown and went to the MET, which rocked.  So better, but still dirty and mean.  So this time it was still dirty and mean, but tastier and more fun and I got to make a new friend so SCORE!

The rundown:

Friday Evening:

Dinner at Tulcingo Del Valle (tongue taco and deliciousness). Abe says: Going to this place was kind of how I imagine it’s like for travel-show guys like Andrew Zimmern who go all over the world harassing locals. Walking into this restaurant we were greeted with enough blank stares from other customers we turned around and checked in next door to make sure we weren’t Doing it Wrong.

A trip to McSorley’s (didn’t allow women in until like 1970 by COURT ORDER).

Saturday:

Breakfast at the New York STUMPTOWN HOLLA with delicious rolls and Americano (Seattle is blessed with truly gifted baristas and New York should borrow some). Abe says: Ann hadn’t slept that well the night before, so you can tell she is extra pleased to have her hippy coffee.

Natural History Museum: I am terrified of GIANT WHALES, love GIANT SLOTHS, and had no idea there were mummified dinosaurs out there.

Le Bernardin:  In the grand tradition of getting drunk at ridiculous restaurants Abe pulled through for the team like a champ.  The food was amazing and the service was crazy town. Abe says: We’ll give the full rundown in our next post.

Drinks at our hotel, the Paramount, with Abe’s childhood friend and business partner, Mike and his girlfriend Kristin.  The service there sucked and my gin tonic was mostly tonic.   But boy howdy Mike is a funny dude and Kristin is an awesome lady.

Sunday:

Breakfast at Balthazar, an amazing little bakery and cafe in lower Manhattan that is packed with reservations for brunch on a Sunday morning, plus we had other plans, so we got pastries and coffee instead and window shopped.  I found a hanging lamp that I really like!

Abe says: About a block away we ran into a dumpling truck. I think dumpling truck bears repeating because in my mind this evokes mobility of a devastating strategic arsenal…of dough and pork. (He survived mustard gas and pepper spray; he’s now a seasoned veteran…) Ahem. The food is tasty so kudos to Anita Lo for that.

Lunch at Mile End, the sustainable-pasture-fed-house-smoked-meat-house-cured-salmon restaurant in Brooklyn that totally blew my mind about what Jewish sandwiches should taste like.  Damn that shit was good.  Also a very good, very savory, borscht.

MOMA:  Naked people as ART.  It was funny and beautiful and uncomfortable.  Also some amazing photography and mid-century stuff.  Good times.

Avenue Q in the evening!  Hilarious.  The internet totally IS for porn, my life kinda sucks too, everyone is definitely a little bit racist, and I wish I could go back to college so much that I actually applied.  That is a soundtrack I would like to buy soon.

Dinner with the lovely Mike and Kristin near our hotel; totally decent food, two glasses of wine, and some again fantastic company. Mike hailed a cab and I didn’t even notice, but I hear it was a sight to behold in that it was so subtle I didn’t even realize what was going on until they were getting in.  daaaaaaamn.

Monday morning:

Soup Dumpling! Ho man I heard about it from my good friend Kana who has had it in New York. We mentioned it to Mike and Kristin and they informed us that Joe Shanghai was required.  So we went there right when they opened.  It was totally empty but the second people that came in were two Chinese girls not speaking English, so that seemed promising.  We got pork soup dumpling and CRAB PLUS PORK soup dumpling and then I ALMOST DIED because it was so good. Really now, kids.  Fear for your LIVES.
The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine was amazing.  Huge.  Organ.  Arches.  Stained glass.  Gothic architecture is pretty friggin unreal.

We flew home and collapsed in a pool of our own ecstacy.  eeeeeeew.

Abe says

Phew. Let me keep this brief. NYC was great. Now back in Seattle, I will definitely try Dumpling Dojo, regardless of lack of soup dumplings or temporary location, as well as aptly-named I Love New York Deli particularly when it opens on the hill. In the mean time, Ann has glorious plans of making our own lox. We’ll keep you posted.

Hey DUDES

I got eaten by a job that I don’t really like all that well and boredom!  But somewhere in there I started making fresh pasta.  And guess what!?  I’m going to try to go back to school.  I’ll bet you are thinking, “oh no, more whining from McWhiny Whinerton.”  But it is a new day!  Maybe I won’t!  HAH

So cooking and eating really good food continues to sustain me. …literally. Very recently Abe and I had fresh linguini with shrimp in a white wine butter sauce.  I’ve had homemade chicken soup a couple of times.  Since I started this part time job I have been sick basically non-stop.  So yay for soup.

But Abe and I both agree that one of the best things we’ve eaten of late has been this fresh pasta I made.  Abe got me a green kitchen aid stand mixer with pasta attachment for my birthday (eee!) and I used that.  Fresh pasta is hella easy even if you don’t have a roller.  You just make little hand rolled noodles or something.  But anyway…combine that with the most fantastic ingredient ever and you have GOLD!  Duck confit, gentle reader.  ho yes. With VODKA sauce!  I mean really…it makes me cry a little.

This picture has it topped with some sauteed spinach because I was feeling bad about all the decadence, but I really just ate that off the top and then dove into everything else.  Give this a try, kids.  You’re gonna love it.

Duck Confit Ravioli

For the Pasta:

2 cups flour
3 eggs
water

With the flour in a large bowl, make a well.  Beat the eggs together and pour into the well.  Mix the flour and eggs together.  Add water a tablespoon at a time, mixing firmly, until the dough comes just together.  You want it to be pretty dry.  Knead it together, for about 5 to 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and kinda bouncy. Dover or wrap the dough and let it rest for at least 15 minutes.  In the mean time make the filling.

Once it has rested, you can start rolling the dough.  If you have a machine, follow its instructions.  If not, then just roll it out by hand on a floured board.  You need it to be in at least two even pieces.

For the Filling:

1 leg duck confit, heated through with the meat pulled off the bone, chopped
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
freshly ground pepper to taste, a pinch of salt, to taste

To fill the ravioli, use a teaspoon measure to place the filling in little mounds with about 3/4 inch of space between each one.  When they are all laid out, use your finger to spread a little water between all the fillings.  Then lay the other piece of pasta on top and cut the pieces out.  Press the edges of each piece together so they stick well.

Cook the pasta a little at a time in a large pot of salted boiling water until they all float to the top and cook through, about 3 minutes.  Place the cooked pasta into the heated sauce.  Toss and top with a little grated parmesan and a little bit of bacon too, if you like!

Sauce: store bought Vodka Sauce

Abe says

It’s spring, hooray! Here’s a super simple do-ahead dessert I think you should try. It is suitable for al fresco dining when your city decides to act springlike.

Two considerations:

First, after making supremes you should squeeze the citrus carcasses and reserve the juice for another use, such as drinking it. It probably won’t be much, but you can mix and augment the juice with vodka in which case, being half screwdriver and half greyhound, it could aptly be called a screwhound.

Second, you don’t need to pour all the syrup over the fruit when serving, but I recommend using most of it. Then, if like us, you serve this in cocktail glasses, you’ll end up with an ounce or more of citrusy anise syrup at the bottom when you’re done eating. It really begged for something delicious and alcoholic to be poured over, creating a mixed drink, but as for us we were short on both mixers and remaining sunlight. An easy answer might be a splash of grapefruit juice and sparkling wine, or something with spices like ginger and cinnamon, but maybe you on the Internet have some better ideas.

Citrus Salad with Star Anise

With minimal adaptation from Gourmet

serves 2

1 navel orange
1 grapefruit, preferably a sweeter variety
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
2 star anise pods

Cut the fruit into supremes.

Bring water, sugar, and spice to a boil for about a minute, then cool. The syrup should have a mild anise flavor. Extract anise and reserve.

Mix fruit and syrup and let stand for an hour. Serve, garnished with reserved star anise.

Do-ahead: keep the orange, grapefruit, and syrup all separately for up to a day. Store the fruit in the juice from the bits leftover after making supremes.

Abe says

For me there are really two options for making something new:

1. Research it: check several recipes, read up on the history and context to the extent that Wikipedia or similar offers, watch related videos if a new technique is involved, check recipes again, determine a version or variation, and build a precise shopping list.

2. Throw something together. I am hungry.

In many cases I prefer #1. The process by which Ann and I usually end up eating dinner does not lend itself to this, however. It usually involves resolving to make a decision, later, and then going back and forth between options that one of us comes up with and the other rejects, before coming to an awkward consensus. Thusly last night we resolved on making bánh mì, which I don’t think either of us has ever had. (I am to understand this is a form of felony in foodland.)

The resolution though, the moral of the story, is that even an inauthentic, uninformed bánh mì is delicious and can be made quickly and easily from generally off-the-shelf parts.

We got some chipotle-lime roast beef (we wanted the flavors to go together) and Provençal pâté (it was the cheapest) from Whole Foods. We would have gotten daikon, except for (1) it only came in huge pieces, and (2) it mysteriously disappeared after we returned from the bulk goods. Weird.

Inauthentic Bánh Mì

serves 2

2/3 baguette, halved and opened
1/4 lb prepared pâté
a few slices of ham, medium or thin-sliced
some meat, maybe roasted pork or chicken or beef or meatballs
a couple inches of English cucumber, thinly sliced
1 serrano pepper
a small bunch of cilantro
a small bunch of basil, preferably Thai basil
3 Tbsp mayonnaise
sriracha, or other chili sauce

For Pickles

1 small carrot, or 1/2 a medium carrot, julienned
1-2 radishes, or a little piece of daikon, julienned
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp coriander seeds, lightly crushed

Bring vinegar, 1/4 cup water, salt, sugar, and coriander to a boil in a small saucepan. Add carrot and radish and let stand at least 15 minutes. Drain and rinse.

Mix mayonnaise with a few drops (or several, to taste) of chili sauce. Spread mayo on one half of the bread, and pâté on the other.

Pile on everything else. Eat.

Ann says

In light of how stressful work been for Abe (and how boring doing nothing has been for me) we decided that we ought to take a vacation of some kind before I start working and am unable to get vacation days for at least a year (that’s how it works in nursing).  Abe, also, just really really needed some time away.  His workload has been completely unacceptable of you ask me.  And since you are reading this, you are clearly asking for it.

My friend from school, Linsday, moved to Portland to live with her soon-to-be husband.  Her new last name will be Henke, sort of pronounced “Hankey” like “Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo.”  This, of course, makes me very happy.  What does not, is that I never get to see her anymore, so it became a desire of mine to take the 4 hour train ride down to Portland to see Lindsay and get a bit of the city’s best in in one long weekend.  It was appropriately rainy and Northwesty down there and it was great to see her again.  I think Abe even had a good time, too.

We ate SO MUCH.  There was so much good food to be eaten!  The home of Stumptown Coffee Roasters it had a location very close to our hotel, the Governor.  Christopher Kimball once said on the show, “America’s Test Kitchen,” that Stumptown Coffee was his favorite in the United States, and I have been a believer ever since I had it here in Seattle.  Wonderfully smooth and round, flavorful and complex, it is without a doubt the best latte/cup-of-drip/Americano/cappuccino I ever had.  We also made a very anticipated visit to Voodoo Doughnut near the waterfront.  With doughnuts such as Maple-Bacon and the Miami Vice (pink  and blue frosting with sprinkles), cake and risen and filled doughtnuts of many amazing sorts, and some with cereal on top, it was de-fucking-licious.  I kid you not, the bacon on that doughtnut was awesome.  I also got your classic cream filled doughnut with chocolate frosting, and it was the best I ever had.

Abe says

I also recommend the thyme iced tea at Stumptown and the lemon cruller at Voodoo.

Ann says

I’ll be returning to Portland again with renewed hunger and a desire to once again tromp around Powell’s City of Books.  Linsday, I’ll see you again soon.  Portland, you are one tasty place.

Abe says

I did even have a good time. It is odd how that happens sometimes. We didn’t really…you know, plan, very much before going so we may not have hit all the foodie-critical spots, but I think we made out pretty well. In particular on Saturday night, after shenanigans earlier in the day where we got a different room from what Orbitz promised us, the concierge (front desk, really) not only got a reservation for us at Andina, but at the end of dinner we got cookies and port, compliments of the hotel. Andina didn’t even have open seats on Open Table. Sweet. I don’t know if they do that for everyone, even those without shenanigans, but it worked well for us. The cookies, alfajores, were some of the best cookies we’d ever had — something like tiny dulce de leche sandwiches. It was also critical that we, at some point, drink port in Portland.

We also made it to the Rogue Ales Public House, where they gave us free beer samples, Teardrop lounge, a very trendy bar, Serratto, Deschutes brewpub, the Classical Chinese Garden where there is a wonderful little teahouse, and Kenny & Zukes, the closest thing to a Jewish deli I’ve been to since when I was in Pittsburgh. It has also been quite some time since I’ve sat down for dinner already full.

Ann says

Two weeks ago we had the first week in our new place that was somewhat…settled.  No more boxes everywhere, and no more building ikea furniture.  I was home for most of the day as I studied for the last test of school, and the weather had finally gotten cool.  Lovely and cool! So I made something slow-cooked.

This, my friends, is probably my favorite thing I’ve ever made.  Oxtails cooked low in reduced red wine for three hours and a rich, chewy farro cooked like a risotto.  Holy. Crap.

Did I eat vegetables with this meal?  Probably, but I can’t remember them.  They were ECLIPSED.

Yes, this meal takes a long time to make, but it’s so delicious and so satisfying.  Oh my.

Red Wine Braised Oxtails and Farro Risotto

Serves 2

Ingredients:
6 oxtails
1 leek
1 small onion
1 shallot
1/4 cup grapes
2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon coriander
1 bottle red wine

Preheat oven to 325°F.

I made this with about 6 oxtail pieces for two people.  The original recipe called for two bottles of wine and I didn’t want to go to the store to get two  bottles of three buck chuck, so I reduced the majority of one bottle of wine, save for two glasses so Abe and I could drink some, and just reduced it in a pan on a simmer by 1/3.

While you’re doing this brown the oxtails in a big heavy pot, big enough for some veggies and the wine and extra liquid to cover.  You should be able to put this pot in the oven.  Brown the oxtails on all sides and remove them from the pot.  Now add some roughly chopped leek, shallot, onion, grapes, and crushed garlic as well as a big pinch of fennel seed and coriander.  The grapes are for a bit of sweetness to round everything off, and it doesn’t make anything taste like grapes. Use carrots if you don’t have grapes.  Salt and pepper the veggies and cook until soft.  Pop the oxtails back in, and by now your wine should be ready to go, so dump that in as well.  Cover and put the whole thing in the oven and let it go for about three hours.

During this time start working on the farro risotto.

When the oxtails are done remove them from the pot and set them aside in something that will keep them warm. Pour braising liquid through a fine sieve into a large saucepan and toss the leftovers cause they’re not really good anymore. Boil the liquid until thick and shiny and then whisk in about a tablespoon of butter.

For farro risotto:

1 cup dry farro
1/4 cup olive oil
splash of red wine
1 Tablespoon butter
either 1 shallot  or a couple Tablespoons onion or a combination
1 quart chicken broth
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Soak 1 cup farro in cold water 20 minutes and drain and rinse it. Bring 8 cups water to boil in medium saucepan. Add  few glugs (about 1/4 cup) olive oil and the farro and boil for 20 minutes. Drain in strainer. Melt 1 tablespoon butter with 1 tablespoon oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots or onion and sauté until the onions are translucent or for about a minute. Add farro, another small splash of red wine and enough chicken broth to cover. Simmer until almost all liquid evaporates, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Continue to add the chicken broth 1 cup at a time and simmer until liquid is absorbed and farro is just tender, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes total. Stir in 1/4 cup parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

Scoop mounds of the farro in the middle of the low bowl and set the oxtails on top.  Pour the sauce over the top and serve.  Maybe you should have a salad too.

Well it’s basically like Ann told it. I bought a place, a loft on the Hill, and we’ve moved in (goodbye, gorgeous roof); a multiweek undertaking whose epic scope was utterly lost on me until a week before closing. My job in the glamorous world of software has also alternated between busy and crushing. Ann graduated. The short of it is, in front of the sympathetic nerve firing squad food really wasn’t on my mind. Thankfully, I have found some pictures to show for all of it.

6/4: Pulled pork sandwich from Maximus Minimus, during a food blogger event hosted by Sugar Mountain, owners of Beecher’s and Pasta & Co. among others. (I didn’t know it was all the same people, did you?) We met some awesome fellow bloggers, of Sonja’s Kitchen, Loving Local Food, and Mary Eats, and saw Hungry Grrl again. The $5.50 sandwiches are pretty delicious, although I think I wish there was more pork fat in there.

6/7: Old School Frozen Custard. We badmouthed them but never posted our followup once we’d visited. They, too, have cones with cleverly folded tips, which I certainly approve of. It was tasty but didn’t knock our socks off. The vanilla flavor was basically a mass-market vanilla and not any trendier vanilla bean or somesuch, but I don’t consider that bad. There are times when that’s just what you feel like. Overall the focus on classic flavors and hot dogs could bring them wider appeal, but while I have seen the place busy I have yet to see long lines snaking out the door.

6/19: Our introduction to the R2 commercial food processor at Jani. We were impressed. My Cuisinart is jealous.

6/27: The aftermath of a sauces-themed dinner party, which included my first hollandaise (embarrassing, but delicious) and a truly good slow roasted pork shoulder. It was all very tasty but wasn’t cohesive. The variety of leftovers bits, though, was one for the ages.

7/10: Scallop seviche at Anchovies and Olives. The outdoor seating is beautiful, at least in July.

7/14: Bastille Day wine tasting at Licorous. Cotechino monster says, “Bonjour!” It is a fresh pork sausage that was made in-house, in this instance with currants for eyes. A week later we attended an invite-only “John and Wiley’s Counter” at the bar which was huge fun. About half the courses came with wine pairings — most excellently the other half with cocktail pairings. The word was that they’re thinking of opening the events to the public.

8/7: Sidewalk eggplant. 15th Ave. Does anyone pick and eat them? They’re totally ripe.

8/11: Ground cherries and a new camera. I know we haven’t been hiding our point-and-shoot photos very well, but I at least have been trying. The new one is an Olympus E-P1 and so far it’s great, although we’re still figuring it out (please forgive the depth of field in the mean time). Our trusty compact PowerShots will continue to prevail in many places, but I’m excited at the mere prospect of setting the aperture and using an actual macro lens. ALSO. Ground cherries are not real cherries, but are related to tomatoes and tomatillos and taste of tropical fruit. Pretty clever if I say so myself. We got them from the Broadway farmer’s market but for the life of me I can’t remember which farmer.

8/12: “Jaime’s Speakeasy”, another invitation event (no Ann this time), this time at work. The chef was previously sous chef at Restaurant Zoë, but these she days does “chef’s tables” and now “speakeasies” for lunch on Wednesdays, pretty much putting the Googleplex cafeteria to shame. Here they’re plating really, really good duck confit and cauliflower tortellini with sage brown butter and chevre.

Also you know, come to think of it I think we ordered wine at the Bastille Day event and never picked it up. Ahem.

Ann says

What happened to the last two months, I really could not accurately tell you. However I will, at this time, try.

Abe would tell me, “don’t explain why we haven’t posted.  Just post a recipe.”  But I feel too guilty; I feel too tired to just jump back in with the vim and vigor that some other, more sane person, might have.

Abe says

Pfff. The internet deserves to know. It is the will of the people.

Also I’ll get to talking more in our next post; for now Ann has made us delicious mixed drinks.

Ann says

I am 9 days away from graduating from nursing school.  Projects, research papers, clinical hours, volunteer hours, and ridiculous tests plus job searching and studying for the nursing boards has left me dazed.  On top of that, Abe and I just moved in together.  YES!  It is glorious.  I get home, he gets home, we are both home.  No packing up a change of clothes and work out shoes and remembering my hair brush anymore!  No driving/walking/bike riding back and forth!  But oh, the move.  I moved the day before the hottest Seattle day ever recorded (103 degrees) and the day after a 5 day stretch of 12 hour work days.  What the crack was I thinking.

Then, the next day, when it was 103 degrees in Seattle, I got to be here…

That’s my friend Peter, me, and Lyndsay from school. and I was on his big-ass boat in puget sound.  DAMN.  I actually got chilly.

It is my suspicion that a few people out there would like to see a recipe from us.  Perhaps some of you were thinking, “those two are flaky, inconsistent blog posters.”  You would be correct.  That is exactly what I am.  I am a nursing student, people!  What. the. crack.

Remember the last post from oh-so-long ago?  My now ex-roommate, Mara, and her boy, Ricardo, were being raw vegan.  Well, they’re not anymore, but while they were, Mara’s birthday rolled around.  And I offered to make her a birthday cake.  o_O

Abe and I sampled some raw deserts from our local market, Madison Market, aka Mad Market.  We enjoyed it thoroughly, but it was much more of a mousse than a cake and therefore needed a mold.  I toyed with the idea of pureeing a bunch of stuff and holding it together with nut flours and whatnot….but I imaged thick, dense, gooey crap.

There was the option of dehydrating.  But folks, it was like 80 degrees outside.  Hells no.  So I decided to make an ice cream layer cake with some sort of chocolaty sweet gooey crumble between the layers…something reminiscent of the Dairy Queen ice cream cake of my childhood birthday parties.

Coconut-Pineapple-Strawberry Layers.  Woo! It came out cool, sweet, very fruity, but also rich from the coconut and crumble layers.  Clean plates must mean success!

Raw-Food Sorbet Layer Cake

Ingredients:

2 lbs fresh strawberries
18 oz of the flesh and juice of coconuts
1 pineapple
1 cup honey (1/3 cup for each batch)
1/2 cup rice milk
a pinch of xanthan gun or splash of vodka for texture (if you’re being loose about it)
2 cups raw cashews
1 1/2 cups pitted dates
2/3 cup cocoa nibs
1/2 cup cocoa butter
3 Tbs honey

Start one or two days ahead to allow enough time to make the ice cream layers and keep the ice cream maker cold.

Crumble layer: 2 cups raw cashews, 1 1/2 cups pitted dates, 2/3 cup cocoa nibs, 1/2 cup cocoa butter, 3 Tbs honey.  Chop in a food processor until crumbly and sticks together when pressed.

In a 9 inch spring form pan place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom.  Oil the sides with a flavorless vegetable oil.  Press 1/3 of the crumble mixture as a crust into the bottom of the pan.

Cocount layer- puree the coconut and 1/3 cup of honey. Taste and adjust for sweetness if desired.  If using, puree in the xanthan gum, vodka, or both. Follow the directions on your ice cream maker.Spread on top of the crust and freeze until firm.

Pineapple Layer- Cut up pineapple and place chunks in a food processor.  Puree the pineapple and add the honey; adjust as above and add xanthan gum or vodka as before.  Do this with the next one too. Ice cream it.  Evenly coat the coconut layer with the second batch of crumble and the spread the pinapple sorbet on top. Freeze.

Strawberry layer- Puree the strawberries and put them through a siev to get the seeds out.  Add the honey and rice milk etc.  Ice cream it.  Spread the last bit of crumble on the pineapple layer.  Spread the strawberry sorbet on top of that.  Freeze.

Serves 8-10 people.

Ann says

My roommate and her lovely boyfriend have recently decided to go raw for a little while.  Raw vegan, of course, because all raw foodists insist that meat and other animal products are evil-toxic-poison.  Well, Mara and Ricardo don’t think that, I’m pretty sure, but Juliano certainly does.  If done the right way, it’s actually a fantastically healthy diet; and I can’t imagine these people go more then three hours without a bowel movement.  Seriously.  It’s like, I think I will have a half cup of sprouted beans, three peaches, and an avocado for lunch and some rejuvelac!  How are these people able to travel?  My god.

Abe and I will probably give this diet a go at some point this summer, which I think will be pretty fun, and Juliano’s cookbook is full of very fun and delicious looking recipes.  But personally, I have a love for good meat.  Meat that has been raised the way my grandparents (who really did have a farm) would have raised it.  My grandmother would shake her head at the way Americans raise their animals when they went on road trips.  But to kill an animal so I can eat it I could easily do.  I don’t like to kill, but I love to eat, and I love to eat meat and dairy.  I am very careful about where my meat and dairy products come from and how they are processed.  It’s not a fad, and I’m not riding the wave of organics and no-antibiotics that has come about.  I have always been this way and the countries my family comes from have always eaten this way.

That said, I made some freakin’ delicious meatballs the other day.  It really does pay to add a little pork to your beef for meatballs if you have it on hand.  I don’t go out of my way to buy it if I don’t, but this time I had some pork sausage hanging out in the freezer along with some very nice looking lean ground beef.  I was already making the really delicious looking summer squash gratin that 101cookbooks posted, but I was craving that iron-laden protein punch that only beef can deliver (and a few other meats, granted).

Organic; no-antibiotic; locally grown beef and sausage meatballs!

serves 3 or 4 people

Ingredients:

3/4 lb organic grass fed beef
1/4 lb organic vegetarian fed pork sausage or pork (if you don’t have pork sausage, consider adding some herbs and spices that you like; I use Italian seasonings)
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs (or store-bought, I won’t tell)
1 small shallot
1 Tblsp ketchup
1 teaspoon soy sauce (I know it’s kinda weird)
1 egg
salt and pepper

Begin warming a large heavy skillet to a little lower than medium high heat, but not quite medium.  Pour in about two tablespoons of your favorite cooking fat and let it get nice and warm while you mix the ingredients.  Throw all the ingredients into a large bowl and gently mix with your hands or a spoon.  You don’t want to smoosh everything to much, just lightly mix until it’s all very well incorporated.  Over squishing makes the balls too dense.  Shape the meat into 1 and 1/2 inch diameter balls and place inthe hot pan.  Turn the meat every minute or so until it is well browned on all sides.  To check for  doneness I just sacrifice one and cut it open to see.  Remove from the pan and you’re done!

These go very well, I think, with any large portion of veggies, be they a big salad, a summer squash gratin, a grated beet and carrot salad, or anything else really!  The meetballs and juicy and rich, so they go great with something lighter.  The summer squash gratin is not, actually, light, but it’s super tasty.  Wonderful for these random rainy, 60 degree days of summer…