Beecher's Flagship Panini with Bosc Pear, Kale & Black Forest Ham

This is a perfect sandwich. It’s a bold statement, I know. It's just that it's one of those rare eating experiences that makes you practically incapable of focusing on anything else, not even Pinterest or your yapping dog (oh hey neighbors, bet you like listening to Scarlet as much as I like listening to your raging kegs at one am!). There’s just so much going on: the crispy crust and the tender interior, the creamy and the sharp, the salty and the sweet…the sum is so much greater than the individual ingredients. Let’s discuss this more, shall we?

 

At the heart of things is a substantial leaf of curly kale. It’s been steamed a bit to soften the cruciferous edge, but still has a toothsome bite and a deep, earthy flavor. Next, is the honey-sweet and tender Bosc pear, apty called “the aristocrat of pears”. Creamy, smooth textured and just warmed through, it helps tame the bitter kale. A thin slice of Black Forest ham contributes a welcome smoky and savory angle.

Then there’s the cheese; the cheese that made Martha and Oprah swoon and put Seattle on the map for artisanal ingredients. To call it a cheddar is like calling Thomas Keller a cook. No, no, this deliciously nutty, rich delicacy with a slight tang is a semi-hard cow’s milk cheese that could elevate any ho-hum meal to completely craveable. While a small, salty crumble is perfectly delicious all by itself, it helps seal the deal on this melty, oozing panini.

 

Charred Vegetable & White Bean Stew with Turkey

Oh haaay Seattle. You’re looking a little drab these days. After a week in sunny SoCal, returning to the Emerald City is about as exciting as finding a smooshed banana at the bottom of your bag. Well, maybe not that bad, but somewhat painful. I've heard people complain that winter holidays spent sans rain/slush/snow just don’t feel right, but I beg to differ; poolside mimosas on 80-degree Thanksgiving morning feel just about perfect to me.

 

Backyard Apple & Plum Torte

I usually like to post my own recipes on this blog. However, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel, especially when you stumble across a perfect recipe that’s easy and delicious every single time. You know, those “keepers” that everyone needs in their baking repertoire. This recipe is one of those special gems, as evidenced by previous posts here and here.  

It’s the first thing that popped into my head when I saw a bag of Italian plums on my porch. A kind gift from our neighbor, the small oval fruits are delicious by themselves but were surely designed by Mother Nature to be made into this torte. We ate half the bag of plums before I was able to start making the torte, so I supplemented the plums with a few chopped apples fom our tree (our neighbors probably had the same dilemma with our bag of apples; they are so delicous raw!)

A simple thing really, it’s nothing but a tender cake with a toothsome crumb topped with melted, roasted sweet fruit. It’s absolutely perfect with Italian prune plums (as the original recipe calls for), but is lovely with any seasonal fruit. I like to brown the butter first, then add a bit of lemon zest for a nutty and sweet background that lets the fruit shine.

Raw Apples & Beets with Yogurt Aioli and Za'atar

 

When life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade. When life gives you apples, you should eat them any way you can, and not just to keep the doctor away. I’ve discovered that like most edible things, the apples that taste the sweetest are those that you’ve watched grow on a tree in your backyard all summer. It’s almost a miracle, really, that sweet, ripe fruit can grow in a place where the misty grey cloud coverage persists for about two thirds of the year, but my two little apple trees do their very best to concentrate each drop of summer sunshine into fruit until their scrawny little branches grow tired and heavy with the weight of dozens of green and red tart apples every September.

 

 

I’m not sure what variety the apples are, but I don’t really care all that much. One tree produces a modest crop of fruity, sweet green apples that are prone to brown spots on the skin, but taste delicious. The other tree nearly triples his neighbors’ output, with sour, green-tinged apples blushing red. Both varieties are deliciously crisp and juicy eaten raw, but brown very quickly upon cutting, not that it matters to me. They are free, delicious, organic apples from my backyard.

Just a couple hours’ drive from Seattle is where the real apple growing happens. In fact, billions of apples are grown each year in sunny Eastern Washington, for export all around the world. However, the farthest distance I export my apples is to my cutting board inside.

Vanilla Oat Custard with Nectarines



 It may be September, but that doesn’t mean summer is over. In a month, you’ll hear me singing a different tune, but in the meantime let’s just enjoy it. The days are getting shorter, there’s no doubt about it, but 86°F with a breeze at 5pm and a gorgeous sunset is nothing to complain about. In fact, I could wax on about this time of year like a kid about Christmas morning. The plump apples on our trees are hanging in perfect sweet/tart balance, yet there’s still sweet summer corn and juicy tomatoes at the market. The nights no longer necessitate a fan and bedtime mint tea sounds soothing. The back to school buzz is in the air, and opportunity to start fresh.

 

It’s a perfect time to juxtapose the amazing fresh produce still available with something a little comforting, something a little rich. Perfectly ripe nectarines need no garnish or drizzle, no chiffonade of this or flecks of that. But after savoring a few on their own, there’s no reason not to enjoy them sliced over creamy vanilla oat custard.

 

 

Gai Lan Soup with Chili Oil

There’s days when it’s too hot to be productive. In Seattle, we don’t get too many of those days but I understand that’s what most of the country feels like right about now. If it’s 105°F  and 95% humidity, then honey, cut yourself a break and have a bowl of watermelon for dinner! With a chunk of salty feta and a crisp glass of chardonnay? Sounds like perfect non-productive hot day food to me.

Today however, is not one of those days (in Seattle at least). It’s doin’ its late August thing out here; sunny and in the upper 70’s, quite pleasant really. It’s about dinner time and while you’re hungry, you don’t really feel like a heavy meal. Today is a summer soup day. No, not hearty minestrone or soothing lentil stew, something more along the lines of a smooth and savory vegetable concoction with bright flavors and light body.

Barley & Beet Green Slaw with Nectarines

Some of the best things in life only happen once a year. The arrival of artichokes in the spring, peaches in the summer, satsumas in the fall and my grandma’s cookies in the winter (hey, I don’t eat just produce) are some of the annual events that I look forward to just as much as Halloween and Thanksgiving, if not more.

Okinawan Sweet Potato Tart with Chocolate Shortbread Crust

There’s no denying it: this tart is purple. It’s not lavender or rose, it’s purple. The color didn’t come from a little dropper bottle or baggie of magic powder, it came from purple potatoes. To be specific, Okinawan sweet potatoes.

After seeing the little Chinese grannies at HT Market buying gai lan (good choice) and garlic chives (even better choice), I knew that they couldn’t be wrong about the “Hawaiian sweet potatoes”, or imo (in Japanese). Those ladies know what they are doing! Sometimes I work up the courage to ask them how to cook something (“stir-fry with a little oyster sauce”). Sometimes I just put the strange looking fruit/vegetable into my basket and go about my business.

Fresh Turmeric Carrot Soup

My first thought for the past six months when starting to write a blog post is inevitably some sort of apology for not having written a post in so long. But as a reader, you’re probably here for the creative recipes and juicy pictures, not apologies. So from now on, I promise to give you nothing less than cooking from my heart to yours, without the accompanying explanations of work and family obligations that encompass life as an adult. Fair enough?

This recipe is just about as simple as it gets. A fine example of cooking where the flavor of the end product is a direct result of the freshness of ingredients; buttery orange carrots and bright turmeric are sweated with garlic and onions, then simmered in broth until tender and pureed until silky smooth. The sweet and mild carrots are only enhanced, rather than overpowered, by the earthy, spicy fresh turmeric. Don’t be alarmed by the generous amount of turmeric either, it yields a perfectly seasoned soup that is delicious hot or chilled.

Coconut Kale Berry Smoothie

Don’t be turned off by the somewhat…dull color of this smoothie. It may not be bright orange or red like the smoothies at the mall, but what it lacks in color it makes up in creamy flavor and superior nutrition.

It’s just what the doctor ordered. Literally; I got my tonsils taken out last week and while I can finally choke down real food, smoothies like this are what have sustained me for the last 11 days (along with a certain best friend who created a color coded medication timesheet and woke me up every four hours to ensure I was getting what I needed). What I thought would be a totally quick and easy little procedure turned out to be a painfully slow and tortuous recovery. I won’t go into the gory details, but I can guarantee you it wasn’t pretty. Kinda like this smoothie.

Spaghetti Squash Fritters with Scallion Cilantro Sauce

I love the holiday season. The lights, the decorations, the music, especially that tangible feeling of excitement in the air (even if it’s just for a few days off work); lazy days with family and friends spent eating homemade croissants and mango mimosas, dark Norwegian goat cheese and fluffy kringla, St. Germaine cocktails and tender braised short-ribs (you enjoyed all those things too, right?). And now this leisurely slow week in between, where New Year’s Eve festivities are being planned and resolutions devised.

As if slivers of leftover chocolate tart and my grandma’s walnut fudge aren’t pleasure enough, I’ve been enjoying thumbing through At Home with Madhur Jaffrey: Simple, Delectable Dishes from India, Pakistan,Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, a gift from my brother. The book is perfect for anyone looking to get to know Indian home-cooking from one of the topics' most well-respected authorities.  

Especially intriguing are her vegetable preparations. From Kashmiri-style collard greens and sweet and sour butternut squash, to Sri Lankan White Zucchini Curry to the dozen dal (bean, legume and lentil dishes). I haven’t had a chance to make any of the mouthwatering recipes from the book yet, but the other day I did make some lightly spiced, spaghetti squash fritters that I think Ms. Jaffrey would approve of.

Butternut Squash Gingerbread

Good thing The Salivating Seattleite isn’t my fiancé, because I totally forgot it was my 1^st blogiversary! I know, that’s pretty bad. There are no excuses, just that I’ve been busy enjoying life. I started this blog one year ago because quite honestly, I wasn’t enjoying much of anything. My mom had just passed away; I was searching for a job after college graduation and adjusting to life back in my hometown, Seattle. I had high hopes that posting my own recipes and pictures on this site would distract me enough to rekindle my love of writing and food and get me through an awfully hard chapter of my life.

One year later and life isn’t perfect, but it feels much more fulfilling these days. I somehow managed to snag a handsome and intelligent man, a sweet step-son, and my dream job as a Culinologist/food scientist/nutritionist (culinology: the blending of food science, culinary arts and food technology) aka I get paid to play with food!

Pomegranate Glazed Pork Chops

They say this season is all about hope. Hope for snow. Hope for Santa to be generous. Hope for world peace. I want all those things, especially snow; last year we tied a sled to the back of Ameen’s truck and took turns swinging each other around in a huge icy parking lot. Nothing like being flung off a plastic sled onto icy asphalt to make you feel like a kid again! But today I got what I hope for just about every dreary winter Seattle day: sunshine.

It was a gorgeously crisp fall (it’s still fall, right?) day. I had planned on making a big batch of stew for the week and curling up with a good book, and although it was cold, it just wasn’t one of those days. It was a fine grillin’ day.

Rye Waffles with Chokecherry Syrup

Like rainy days and Christmas songs, rye bread is one of those things that you either like or you don’t. I definitely fall into the first camp, although in a couple weeks I might start complaining about those first two. I like rye; heck, I can’t think many breakfasts more enjoyable than a dark, toasty pumpernickel bagel spread with cream cheese and lox (and that’s saying a lot, because breakfast is my favorite meal!). But I haven’t gotten to know rye as well as I know say, whole wheat flour or cornmeal.

Beyond traditional caraway-flecked rye bread, I haven’t done much experimenting with whole rye berries, rolled rye (like oatmeal), or rye flour. And from what I’ve read, it sounds like I should. A good source of fiber and minerals, rye has been shown to promote weight loss and satiety, in addition to preventing and fighting diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Healthy benefits aside, there’s something intriguing about the flavor of rye; subtly sweet and toasty, earthy even.

After making an awesome rye version of Jim Lahey’s no-knead bread for Thanksgiving, I was inspired to continue experimenting with rye at my favorite meal.Rye waffles. Sound weird? Hear me out: the dark, slightly sweet and complex flavor of a good pumpernickel bread but in waffle format. You could go savory with a topping of chive scrambled eggs and crème fraîche or sweet with kirsch flambéed cherries and whipped cream. Rye doesn’t sound so boring now, does it?

Lentil Stew with Pomegranate

Nothing says autumn like the sound of sniffly noses, hacking coughs and snot-shooting sneezes. Well, they do! So do roasted apples and pumpkin lattes, chanterelle mushrooms and Brussels sprout stalks. But when you feel as crappy as I have the last week (see aforementioned sounds), when you are so sick that you cannot brave the hail and the thunder and sideways rain to get to the store to ‘ooh and ahh’ at the season’s latest offerings, you make soup.

Which is exactly what I proceeded to do yesterday. Opening the produce drawer in my refrigerator didn’t elicit any immediate inspiration….an old cabbage quarter, someone’s forgotten lunch, some picked over pomegranates from a photo shoot at work….so I started rummaging through the cupboards…brown lentils... pomegranate molasses! I was onto something: lentil and vegetable stew with pomegranates.

Tomato, Potato and Turnip Gratin

I am on vacation!! My middle/high school best friend decided to tie the knot with her beau on her grandparent’s lovely property in the New Hampshire woods. As I write this post, I am gazing out the window from a little cottage on a lake in the picturesque countryside. The calm waters lapping at the golden sand beg for a toe to be dipped while the green, gold, brown and red foliage flirting with the breeze proudly announce fall’s arrival to New England.

The scenery isn’t the only thing proclaiming the new season, the food says it too. Beef and Guinness stew; mussels in white wine with crusty bread; seared scallops with apple cider vinegar, spinach and prosciutto; homemade fudge; molasses spice cookies and pumpkin ice cream sandwiches. Then there’s been the almost constant flow of coffee, tea, red wine, pumpkin ale and Oktoberfest. Vacation indeed.

Before I skipped town last week, I threw this simple gratin together for a Sunday night dinner of lemon brined roast chicken.

Flax Crepes with Honeyed Thyme Figs and Creme

Goodbye Seattle summer. You weren’t here very long, but I enjoyed every second of your stay. It was so much easier to get out of bed in the morning with your golden rays shining in through my white curtains. My golden shoulders and the freckles on my nose will remind me of you and the time we shared on the deck reading books and drinking ice tea.

And although you are now gone and the familiar grey skies have returned to cast a darker light on the Emerald City, I was pleased to discover you left a few little treasures behind to ease the transition into fall. Like the juiciest watermelon I’ve had all year and the bumpy purple heirloom tomatoes on the counter; those two will happily be enjoyed with a sprinkle of coarse salt.

And the figs. The sweet, tender figs. With crunchy seeds and soft flesh, dark purple skin and blushing insides, they are truly a gift. Roasted with fresh thyme, salt and pepper, honey and balsamic, the figs melt into their own luxurious sauce. Flax-speckled crepes make the perfect pedestal for the sweet tart harmony of late summer fruit, along with a dollop of a rich, tangy crème of yogurt and sour cream brightened with lemon zest.

Banana Frozen Yogurt

Last weekend I cleaned out my childhood closet and found all sorts of treasures: my favorite picture books, my middle school diary (which documents my several self-imposed hand written font changes), hand-braided lanyards from summer camp, my $300 ruby red, halter top prom dress (which still fits!), and many more cherished possessions. Among them, I found that my mother had stashed a very dusty ice cream maker.

When I was maybe 9 or 10, my parents got me a hand-cranked ice cream maker for my birthday. Can you imagine my delight? Ice cream, homemade, whenever I wanted?! We made a few recipes from the little booklet it came with, but then my dad started suggesting other things to put in there. Frozen sea foam green pistachio pudding and chocolate pudding, frozen yogurt with fruit. Churning a quart of creamy, frozen whatever made for an entertaining activity and impressive dessert for my friends and me.

Blueberry Granola Tart

My mom loved blueberries. She loved all fruit and vegetables (besides cooked carrots and sweet potatoes, which she refused to eat), but she treated blueberries like gold; something to be savored and slowly enjoyed. In the summer we got them by the flat and ate them fresh, usually plain in big bowls as a snack. She would reminisce about flaky Russian blueberry pies that I’m pretty sure my grandma didn’t make and beg me to make them, and sometimes I would attempt to recreate them. We even went blueberry picking a couple times, which by the way I highly recommend because it is the least sticky, prickly berry picking of all.

During the other months of the year when fresh blueberries were nowhere to be found, she would maintain a stash of frozen blueberries in the freezer. Each night she would pour some into a cup, maybe topped with a little yogurt and crunchy bran cereal, but more often than not just plain. She’d be as happy as a clam as she popped them one by one into her mouth while she watched some TV before bedtime.  Her entire mouth, including lips, tongue and teeth would become colored a dark blue purple stain but to her it was worth it.