May 7 Portland Farmers Market Finds

It’s May now in Portland- even though it doesn’t quite feel like it yet with the cooler weather and gloomy days where a crack of sunshine then turns into rain or even hail! The leeks are still at the market- which I still haven’t quite gotten myself to actually use yet as my perception is what a pain they are to prep so I stick to my regular onions. However, just because I don’t want to work with them myself doesn’t mean I don’t want to enjoy them. At last weekend’s market, Tastebud Farm not only successfully tempted me with me an interesting rhubarb lemon soda (which I was so swept away by enjoying that I didn’t take a picture), but also leek bagels (I’ll be taking those to work this week) and leek on pizza.

This past weekend’s visit continued last weekend where we were looking for some good starts to plant. I discovered this at one of the booths- I love how I always see something new every single time I go to the market.

I specifically was craving some asparagus to grill, but I also was looking for brussel sprout leaves… but settled for some brussel sprout rapini. A quick 2 minutes in boiling water which I then used to cook the wheat rotini after I retrieved the rapini. Then add rapini to chopped garlic heated in oil. Add 2 cups of vegetable stock, simmer for 5 minutes, and then add garbanzo beans and let it have 2 minutes being softened by that. Add red pepper and salt/pepper to season to taste, and have with pasta- the recipe I had called for orecchiette but all I had was my wheat rotini. For more color I would recommend some diced tomatoes, or roasted red pepper added to the mix but I didn’t have these on hand that night. Sprinkle as much grated cheese as you would like when about to eat- you can eat this hot or cold, so it’s a great leftover to take to work for lunch.

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Celebrating Bacon… the food spread

It started with a delivery of 2 pounds of bacon in my grocery order. Just a few weeks before on Reddit, there had been a post of someone's grandmother making an insane looking pie using bacon as the pie crust, which then was followed up with other posters noting that it was a recipe from Michael Smith (as covered in my previous post). Obviously, the universe was telling me to make bacon potato cheese tart, right? At the time, I froze the bacon, and found a date when I could have other bacon-loving guests appreciate the bacon with me.

Although the bacon tart was the point, it was also F's birthday, and it also gave me a chance to try a few other recipes. F is not a big soft cheese fan but I wanted to make ricotta, which is very easy (all it takes is milk and buttermilk, heating it up until the curds and whey form, and then scooping the curds using a sieve into a cheesecloth). As a vehicle for the ricotta at the little bacon party, I slow roasted some Roma tomatoes for 3 hours at 250 with a bit of olive oil and rosemary, and once it cooled stuffed them with the ricotta, a little bit of Spanish olive oil, and aged balsamic.

After that I made the bacon tart. I turned up the oven to 350, which is the temperature that would be needed for both the bacon tart and the stinging nettle balls- though the stinging nettles would be done last because it had the smallest cooking time, while the bacon tart would take 2.5 to 3 hours (I did 2.5). That's right, I had the oven going from 9 in the morning and barely finished when guests arrived around 4. But, while the tomatoes were roasting, I went to the Portland Farmers Market to get the stinging nettles so I'll cover that next.

After speaking with Kathryn I lowered my parboil time to only 2 minutes and she helped translate the recipe that originally called for 20 oz of frozen spinach into a pound of fresh nettles. After the quick parboil and scooping them up with a slotted spoon (I discovered later I do have tongs but they were in the very back of the drawer, go figure) and lots of patting dry, we removed the leaves from the stems, squeezed more liquid, and then chopped. In the end it does look a lot like spinach, but more interesting and a little twist on the taste which is more grassy and a tinge of herby bitterness. On the side was the spicy cream, with habanero onion garlic and a few other spices in greek yogurt

The rest of the recipe is the same as if you were using spinach rather then nettles- adding the 4 beaten eggs, cup of grated parmesan asiago cheese, 3/4 stick melted butter and 1 cup of Italian breadcrumbs and a 1/4 cup of panko- in retrospect maybe I should have used a bit more but reviews of the recipe commented on its dryness and recommended cuttting back on the breadcrumbs, so I did. Reviews also said it would take longer then 15 minutes to bake- which they were spot on, it was closer to 25-30 minutes.

The bacon potato cheese tart… the in progress photos. The last one is a bit of a cheat, because I had to pull them back out to put the parchment paper and a lid on top of each tart to keep the bacon from shrinking back where it met on top.

The bacon potato cheese tart… final product. The very first piece of tart I cut was a bit of a mess so I took it for myself, but it held together better when I cut the second tart because it had cooled more.

And the final spread. Add to the above

  • the 24 tacos (8 pastor, 8 tinga, and 8 vegan tinga) from Santeria, plus chips and guacamole
  • the dozen gorgonzola biscuits and dozen chocolate peanut butter cookies from Kettle Kitchen,
  • a cheese plate with crackers and bread (the most popular was Beecher's Smoked Flagship brought by a guest followed by Willamette Valley's Brindisi, Fraga Farm's chevre, Jacob's Creamery's cow milk version of a goat cheese that slips my mind…),
  • red seedless grapes,
  • Kettle chips, 
  • bacon pickles from Unbound Pickling, 
  • watermelon rinds from Sassafras Catering,
  • and the assorted donuts from Voodoo Donuts,

we barely had room to put our plates that we were eating onto the table. When we bought that table I was insistent that we get one that can fit 8 people, I guess that was not enough. I wasn't sure whether we were having 14 guests (we ended up with 8) since F was not all that clear to me on some of the replies he had extended and a few were maybes as guests of guests, but of course what kind of hostess doesn't have enough food? I don't want anyone to go home hungry- you have to waddle home you're so full. I think I get this from my mom's side of the family who also fills the table like that when we visit them in Thailand- which may be followed by digestion/naptime. This is only a slight variation from my dad's side, who totally overorders so we fill the whole table, but does so while dining out at a restaurant rather than eating at home, which I also like because there's no cleanup afterward.

 

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Coming this weekend: Michael Smith’s Potato Bacon Cheddar Tart and more…

On Friday, after I get home from work, I will be excited to do some early-birthday-party-for-F/bacon hangout prep. I plan to make fresh ricotta which I am going to stuff into plum tomatoes baked in the oven, a recipe I learned from my cheesemaking class at HipCooks. I've made goat cheese chevre a few times now, but I really only like it with the culture and I don't have any right now, and I wanted to try a new kind of cheese. But, making ricotta calls for buttermilk which I found in the quart size which then equals a gallon of milk… equals a lot of ricotta, so a group get together can help me use it in the few days it is good for.

As a semi-tribute to F, there's a spinach ball finger food recipe (basically spinach, cheese and egg with breadcrumbs and seasoning) but I would like to try substitute stinging nettles for the spinach, thus making… Stinging Balls. Awesome right? Also, I'll prep and chill a spicy (habanero) creamy dip made with greek yogurt to have with the stinging balls, let's see what it will be like using the yogurt instead of the cream cheese and sour cream the recipe calls for. I often liberally add chopped peppers or sriracha or liberally sprinkle red pepper flakes when I cook to taste because both of us like a little kick, but one of the potential guests is very spice-sensitive so I figure at least the dip is an optional side. Stinging balls with spicy cream cracks me up.

And… I will try making Michael Smith's Potato Bacon Cheddar Tart. I will make mine extra cheesy with addition of monterey jack cheese to the cheddar. I thought the use of monterey jack would tie it in better with Santeria tacos we are also having as tinga tacos were F's choice for his pre-birthday party (as well as biscuits and cookies from Kettle Kitchen), since he can't have the bacon. The bacon is more for me as my pre-birthday.

 

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Recent cooking: Bui Tofu, Interesting Spring Greens

Bui Natural Tofu is an unassuming storefront that sells fresh tofu, and products using their fresh tofu, to consumers. You may be slightly taken aback by the very simple interior and the lack of say, clear labeling, and packaging that mostly consists of saran wrap, but the people behind the counter are very friendly. Be adventureous and pick a few things even if you don't know exactly what's inside- after all it was just made that day, it's only a few bucks (or less), how bad can it be? And, look at some of the goodies we walked out with:

Addictive Vietnamese fried egg rolls… like potato chips, you just can't have one. Or two. I ate two before I started the car and had to go back in to get more… just like the lady had warned me.

We also got their fried lemongrass tofu to snack on, which didn't last more then the weekend

Also from Bui and ready to eat: shrimp tofu veg salad roll, or vegetarian tofu salad rolls. In this case, Pho PDX (which uses Bui tofu in their veggie rolls as well) beats out Bui's version. Though, I do really like Bui's dipping sauce. And, you can also get tofu which has been improved by being stuffed with meat.

The entire goal of visiting Bui however, was to get fresh tofu. We got two kinds: the plain original, and also green onion/mushroom tofu (the one with flecks). Both of these pan-fried well and had a wonderful fresh soy flavor to them that is much better then the packaged tofu you can usually get.

With one of the tofus, I sliced them up and ate them with baby bok choy with a sauce that had  sesame oil, garlic, vegetable stock, vegetarian oyster sauce and sriracha. Turns out that the vegetarian oyster sauce is much saltier then real oyster sauce. The tofu was sauteed in hot chili oil.

I have recently had lots of interesting greens I have been preparing. For the past two weeks, I've been trying fiddlehead ferns, which taste like a mix of asparagus and woody like mushroom, though others say artichoke. Don't eat these raw as they are bitter and can cause lots of digestion problems up to food poisoning. I usually clean them carefully, a quick blanch, and then sauteed and eaten on their own with rice or pasta to really enjoy the delicate flavors. The first picture is just the fiddlehead ferns in olive oil with a touch of minced garlic. The second is from the following week, when I made sure that the fiddleheads got to al dente during the blanch process and then mixed them with pasta, Sicilian olive oil, a touch of red pepper flakes and grated Causse Noir cheese- I thought the play with the shapes would be fun on the tongue and it could be a plate of spirals.

Nettles are similar in that they are also foraged, and best prepared with a bit of washing to make sure all the dirt is gone, then blanch or you can steam them or parboil if you are cooking them a second time like I did. I did these sauteed with shitakes, just like what I had tasted at Springwater Farm's booth on Saturday (both the nettles and mushrooms were from that stand)- and Kathryn provides even more recipes here. Nettles taste and have the texture that is a bit like spinach, but healthier with superfood benefits such as aiding allergies, arthritis and joint pain, it's a diuretic, can help treat anemia and decrease risk of skin disorders, can have effects of lowering blood pressure and blood sugar, and more. And that's not even the list of vitamins and elements it contains.

Of course, spinach also doesn't need to be prepared so that it doesn't sting you- which nettles can, so when washing them instead of being able to handle them like the fiddleheads, it's a lot of shaking and panning with a sieve to sift out the dirt. I don't touch them until after the parboil. But, if you get a sting, take comfort possibly in the story that Caesar’s Roman troops supposedly used nettle from England and used the spines for warmth. Touching the stingers on the nettle plant causes an allergic reaction that is probably like a localized histamine release, thus producing a burning sensation that you feel from the sting and keeping you warm (that can last minutes or a day depending on individual sensitivity) if you decided to whip yourself with nettle I guess! Just because a plant is full of little spikes that act like like tiny hypodermic needles that break off when you brush against it and release toxins doesn't mean someone, somewhere, didn't find a way to eat it anyway.

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Hipcooks Cocktail Party Review

Last week I returned to Hipcooks Portland on NE Failing and Williams for a class called “A Cocktail Party”. This is my second class with Hipcooks (after my cheese class with Cheyenne) but I had such a good time I wanted to try another one. The purpose of the cocktail party class is to learn how to make lots of things for a cocktail party. This turned out to be nine hors’dourves taught by a chef, and six drinks taught by a bartender. This class fills up pretty quickly and I kept forgetting to sign up online as soon as the new classes are posted (one month or so in advance). But recently I finally got into one. It was on Friday evenings starting at 6:30 (it looks like the next classes starting in April start at 7), which means you just have time after work to grab a quick happy hour bite to eat at Tasty N Sons before coming to class.

The hors’ dourves and drinks were divided basically into 3 parts. First we started a few appetizers, then we learned about a couple cocktails at the big communal table where 4 bar stations were laid out and we would nibble on some of the appetizers we just finished prepping while learning drinks. Then, back to the kitchen part for making a few more appetizers, back to the bar station for two more cocktails and eating the fruits of our appetizer labor…  and then the final few canapes and we sat down to learn our last couple of drinks and finish with a sweet bite.

Each time, as we were working on the drinks, some of the appetizers would come out of the oven or be finished in prep by the chef and assistant so we could snack while tasting the beverages so we only had to worry about the creation and not watching any ovens or finishing enough for the group. We were able to get the hands on instruction and then just move on. This was a great way to break up the class so you didn’t get overwhelmed by the number of things the class offered to teach you or bogged down making enough for a dozen people of every single recipe so efficient in using the learning time as well.

Here’s the list of what was on the class menu, including when we broke out for mixology:

  1. Spicy candied nuts
  2. Warm crab dip
  3. Crisp potato cakes with goat cheese and thyme
  4. Cups with caviar, crème fraîche and chive
  5. The Perfect Martini
  6. Vanilla Martini
  7. Endives stuffed with gorgonzola and roast pear
  8. Warm goat cheese prosciutto-wrapped dates
  9. Mojitos
  10. Caiprinhas
  11. Leek and goat cheese tartlettes
  12. Tuna tartar on cucumber strips with wasabi roe
  13. Dark chocolate hearts with raspberry cream
  14. Ginger Lemon Drops
  15. Amaretto sour with cracked pepper

We started the class with items that we would not enjoy until a later appetizer, but needed time in the oven. So, we rolled out the dough, cut with  glass,  and put in the muffin tins so they could be returned to the fridge/freezer to form into tartlettes  before filling. And, we started the pears so they could caramelized in the oven. Then we went right into the four appetizers that we would be having with our first pair of drinks we would learn.

First step of making Candied Almonds, Cashews and Pecans: nuts and butter with heat to melt the butter… The spicy candied nuts was a simple recipe, but the highlight is that we all were being taught and practiced how to flip food in the pan. Since these were nuts and not an omelet or something more invested before the flip, it was something pretty safe and any nuts that got lost onto the counter, since we had just wiped down the counter, could return back to the nut family in the pan. The finished product, after adding rosemary and brown sugar and Tabasco, were returned to the fridge briefly to harden but could still be eaten while a bit warm and were finger licking salty spicy sweet. Perfect for when you are making a perfect martini with just vodka/gin and dry vermouth.

 

Next up was Warm Crab Dip served with my favorite kind of crackers, Triscuits. This was super easy to make, and you can prep this earlier, keep it in the fridge, and just put it in the oven so it will be hot when guests need to snack. The second photo shows a closer look at the top which has paprika and parsley sprinkled for color, and the creamy crab underneath which is almost equal parts crab and cream cheese and bit of mayo.

The third was the Crisp Potato Cakes with Goat Cheese and Thyme. This one was a bit more of a cheater, since the potatoes that we were layering with the cheese and thyme were already prepped for us with a mandolin.

The fourth canape we made was Caviar Cups with Crème Fraiche and Chive. The key here was learning where to get very affordable caviar… would you believe Ikea? And we talked about how buying premade pastry shells is so worth it in saving the mess and time to make them from scratch, and having at least one squeeze bottle (which we would see used a few different ways in the recipes that night) can also make your life so much easier. Sorry for the blurriness of these caviar cups with creme fraiche and chive. I took all the pics during class with my camera phone instead of my camera since we were standing at the counter in a hands on class, and it had to fit in my pocket. I particularly like how the caviar cup looks so expensive and fancy, but takes minutes to make and only 4 ingredients.

A better perspective on the size of the Caviar Cups with Crème Fraiche and Chive: just a bite

In our first round of bartending, we learned about how to properly shake cocktails, how to twirl lemon peel after we have wiped the rim of the glass with the lemon oils from the peel, and practiced with and without a pourer how to to count out a 2 oz pour instead of measuring with a shot glass.

Learning about how to properly shake cocktailsLearning about how to properly shake cocktailsLearning how to twirl lemon peel after we have wiped the rim of the glass with the lemon oils from the peelLearning to count out a 2 oz pourShaka shaka... these two to my left were a mother and daughter taking the clasdTasting our perfect martini. In the background, the Crisp Potato Cakes with Goat Cheese and Thyme

Next round of appetizers. The pears came out of the oven smelling wonderful and all caramelized, so we each got to stuff one endive with the gorgonzola and roast pear and gush about what a wonderful finger food vehicle endives are and color they bring to the table (red and green leaves). In disappointing news, we were supposed to make Warm Goat Cheese & Nut-Stuffed, Prosciutto-Wrapped Dates, but when they opened the prosciutto package that they had just bought the day before, there was a little mold on it so they didn’t want to serve it to us, understandably. We each still got to stuff a date, but no meat wrapping. Then we were sent back to the bartending area to learn to make Mojitos and Caipirinhas, which are more time consuming since now we had to start dealing with squeezing juices (no mixes here!) and muddling.

In the back, prepping the Warm Goat Cheese & Nut-Stuffed, Prosciutto-Wrapped Dates (but without the prosciutto wrapping), and in the pan caramelizing the pears for the Endive, Gorgonzola and Roast Pear canape To the left the Warm Goat Cheese & Nut-Stuffed, Prosciutto-Wrapped Dates minus the prosciutto because the package when opened turned out moldy, and the Endive, Gorgonzola and Roast Pear to the right

Third round of appetizer making. In preparing Tuna Tartar on Cucumber Strips with Wasabi Roe, we were impressed with how easy something that looks so fancy can be.

This last hors’dourves was the favorite of almost everyone. This was one we had done a little bit of prep in round 1, but I put all the photos together here. In the first round, we had prepared the little tartlettes. Now we sauteed leeks in butter and white wine to the tartlets. The cooking leeks make the room smell incredible… better than any air freshener in welcoming guests to a home. Only fill the tartlets halfway because when spooning the leek mixture in because next… we added eggs and cream into a squeeze bottle and shook vigourously, and then squeezed the mixture (minimizing things to clean up!) into the tarts. And then… top with got cheese. Delicious.

After this step, put it back in the fridge or freezer briefly to let the shapes harden

We finished off with Dark Chocolate Hearts with Raspberry cream, again making use of having a squeeze bottle in the kitchen. At this point, everyone was getting more tired, and we were content with the chef instructor showing us by doing it himself, and then returning to focus on drinks.

 

This last lesson from the bartender was for the Lemon Drop, including the sugar rim. My favorite was the last drink though, Amaretto Sour, using all fresh squeezed juices from the fruit, and then talking about the use of egg whites. I’ve had egg whites before in libations in Chicago and in Portland from Clyde Common and The Secret Society, so I already love the frothy light foam touch it adds- more than any sugared rim could do. However, I also learned that I really like Disaronno- and don’t think I would have a Amaretto Sour that uses this with a mix because I don’t want the sourness to ruin it, making it to just balance the sweet is what I’m looking for.

Just like the cheese class, we didn’t need to worry about writing anything down- everything was emailed the next morning. A lot of it was just by watching and listening and putting in a little practice, just like if you were learning a well loved recipe from a family member. I thought the email I got from the cheese class, which has more details about where to buy ingredients and Plan B when things might not quite turn out perfectly, was more thorough and thoughtful then the one for this cocktail class. Although it wasn’t in the email, he did verbally cover tips on ways to flavor to your taste and balance as you taste, where to get some of the ingredients, things to look for when examining the ingredients to purchase, and what could be done and in the fridge the day before and what ones are sorta fun to do as guests are arriving and they can give you a hand! Just like in the cheese class, we all got a chance to have hands on experience, taste stuff in progress and eye what it looks like until its ready

Because of the breaks between the prep food/prep drink stations, we also got to do a bit more informal socializing and get tastes of everything more often throughout the class time. Bouncing between two people also gives the other a break to “recharge” during the 3-3 1/2 hour class so they was a lot of positive energy and keeping us pumped as the night continued (after all, I did work all day on Friday too!). This class turned out to be all ladies although the instructors were male, and the assistant female, so guys certainly are not unwelcome- and could have had some flirting time with the single ladies. Still, I suppose that’s pretty apropros based on who usually preps hors’dourves for a party- most men would lay out nuts and chips and salsa and some beer and call it a day without too much worry for the mixed drinks, even though it would impress any female guest. I would definitely recommend taking this class with girlfriends, or as two ladies did in my class, with their mom! This would also make a fun gift to a foodie.

I’m keeping my eye out for the dim sum class and cajun classes that matches up to my schedule, so don’t be surprised if you see another Hipcooks class blog entry later this year. I also keep looking at Caprial and John’s (I’ve only attended a supper club so far) but menus and dates haven’t matched up yet, but it has been highly recommended by friends if you are looking for another alternative in the same price range. Caprial and John’s are only in the evenings, but allow you to bring your own beverages (such as wine and beer). I like HipCooks slant in pairing and incorporating learning about beverages in the class but they don’t allow you to BYOB. The fact that they have classes on Sat and Sun during the day just fits better schedule-wise than mostly T-Th evenings at least for me, and they have a large number of classes to choose from. Did you also notice how many things they cover in the class? I also know about In Good Taste but they are almost twice the cost per class.

Wherever you may look and/or decide, cooking classes is a fun way to go out and enjoy food which doesn’t involve just eating and blowing your calories per day, or cooking so much that you are then stuck eating the 6 portions for the next few days, or having to wait for guests coming over to learn and try a recipe while panicking that it might not turn out and then what… From my experience with Hipcooks Portland, everyone has been engaging and laid back like a friend you know, but also an expert at their recipes like they make it home off the cuff all the time and know lil tips and tricks and variations from all that experience. You are both learning and relaxed and having fun all at the same time in a no pressure environment. Having hands-on step by step experience is particularly important to me as the visual is more important than the recipe’s measurements (I dislike cookbooks that don’t have lots of pictures), and Hipcooks definitely gives you that.

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