Tastefully Overcaramelized

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.

Filed under: Desserts, Recipes by Abe on March 28, 2010. Tagged with: citrus, grapefruit, orange, simple syrup, star anise.
4 Comments »

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.

Filed under: Main Courses, Recipes, Sandwiches by Abe on February 10, 2010. Tagged with: basil, bread, cilantro, cucumber, ham, pate, pickles, radish, vietnamese.
2 Comments »

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.

Filed under: Restaurants, Travel by Ann on September 8, 2009. Tagged with: andina, bacon, coffee, doughnuts, maple, peruvian, portland, stumptown, voodoo doughnut.
5 Comments »