Veggie Carbonara is Magic, Too!

Lately, I have been enjoying making vegetarian versions of some much loved foods that tend to rely quite heavily on meat.  I tried a meat free version of pasta carbonara with friends and it turned out quite well.  So well that, after my friend called wanting the recipe so that he could make it again, I decided this must be a sign that I should make this my next post on my long neglected blog. to replacing the bacon is by using oyster mushrooms and crisping them up.  When done well, they end up salty and crispy with that wonderful mouth feel that I used to think could only be achieved by cooking bacon to about medium.
The secret
Vegetarian Pasta Carbonara
Note: This is a combination of recipes originally found here and here.

For the veggie bacon:
About 1lb oyster mushrooms
Kosher Salt
Red Pepper Flakes
Olive Oil

Carbonara:
1lb pasta
1/2 cup Parmigiano Regino
2 Large Eggs
Fresh Ground Pepper and Kosher Salt, to taste.

Start salted water to boil in a large pot.  Cut the oyster into bite sized pieces and spread them evenly on a baking sheet.  Sprinkle with kosher salt, red pepper flakes, and drizzle with olive oil, then place under the broiler, checking frequently, until fairly dry and crisp.  Once the water boils, add the pasta and cook for the prescribed amount of time.  In a large mixing bowl, crack the eggs and stir until yolks and eggs just combine.  Once the pasta is done, strain it, then quickly add it to the bowl with the eggs and stir.  Add the Parm, veggie bacon and black pepper.  Enjoy.

Pumpkin Pie, From Scratch!

On my way into the grocery store this week, my eye was caught buy some festive Jack-O-Lantern-type pumpkins outside that were priced at a mere 29 cents per pound.  Thinking that I could could toast off the pumpkin seeds for a snack, I bought a couple of them.  After I got them home, I noticed that the two pumpkins I had grabbed were definitely different species.  One of them was, in fact, a jack-o-lantern pumpkin.  The other one was a rather large sugar pumpkin that is meant for cooking. Naturally, it occurred to me, this is a sign that I should make a pumpkin pie.
I asked my SO (Significant Other) if he would like to try it, since he is the only one of us with a sweet tooth.  Oh no, I only eat the pumpkin pies from Costco.  I don't like homemade pumpkin pie.  "You may not have liked other homemade pies, but you know that I am a good cook" (I am the same person that decided five years ago to take on a full Thanksgiving dinner for the first time, which included a giant turkey, with all the fixings, and somehow managed to have all 6 dishes end up almost picture-perfect).  I guess I would try it.
Armed with the meekest consent, I set about figuring out how I am actually going to do this.
Fuck, most of Gourmet magazine's recipes for pumpkin pie call for canned pumpkin.  If the most prominent authority on food suggests just skipping fresh pumpkin and just going for canned, maybe I should just give up.  Oh well, here is a recipe for fresh pumpkin puree.  That worked well enough.

At this point, it is time for bed.  I scoop out the flesh from the five pound pumpkin and put it in the fridge for the next day.
I start the morning out by going to the grocery store to buy the ingredients that I don't already have from this recipe.  Unfortunately, it seems that my local 24 hour grocery store is populated by crackheads at 5 in the morning.  As I am waiting in line to pay for my purchase, I get to listen to this exchange:
"Did you steal hair dye?", "Um, what man? no", "So if we checked your pockets right now we would not find a box of hair dye?", "No", "Debit or credit?", "I don't know", "If you don't have ID, it needs to be debit...it was declined, you entered the wrong PIN", "What, isn't it the same as the expiration date?"
I am not typically the kind of person to confront people, but it is early in the morning and I am just trying to pay for my pumpkin pie ingredients, yet I can't, because a klepto crackhead doesn't know the right PIN.
"YOU CLEARLY DON'T HAVE AUTHORIZATION TO USE THAT CARD.  YOU NEED TO LEAVE!"  "huh?" "YOU NEED TO LEAVE."
The crackhead grumbles a little bit before leaving without her energy drink(but probably with her purloined hair dye).  "I  didn't know that you get such nutjobs at this time of night," I tell the cashier.  "You have no idea," he responds.

Armed with my ingredients, I start to prepare my first pumpkin pie.

Unlike most reasonable people, I feel the need to use a whole cinnamon stick and a microplane to constitute my teaspoon of cinnamon.

 Incidentally, the scent of freshly grated cinnamon can be quite intoxicating.
When I have all my pie fillings nicely blended, I pour them into my store-bought pie shell. My pie goes in the oven for the prescribed amount of time, then I pull it out to cool on a rack.
The result:

It may not look like the pumpkin pie that you could buy at Costco, but I swear it is better.  Creamy, rich, and spiked with fresh spices, it beats the hell out of some pie that has been made by rote.

Actually, I would prefer a rabid squirrel!

Pedestrian Gourmet,

I can do Wednesday at 1:00pm. We pay a flat compensation of ---- an hour for starting servers. Let me know if you still would like to meet.


Thanks,

-----

Hi ------,
Thanks for getting back with me.  I am actually surprised that you bothered to contact me about the position in the first place.  As my resume indicates, I have over a decade of experience as a skilled professional in this industry.  As a result of this, I know that the wage that you are offering "for starting servers" is only a small fraction of the service charge that you take in on each event.  Rather than an interview, I feel that my time might be better spent being attacked by a rabid squirrel.
If ------ ever changes their policy of unfair labor practices, feel free to get in touch with me.
Regards,
Pedestrian Gourmet

Banh Mi-ssfire at Tamarind Tree

First off, this is not a review of Tamarind Tree.  This is a snapshot of a single dining experience put in the perspective of a larger view of the restaurant.
Tamarind Tree has a special place in Seattle's food scene as a sort of Shangri-La.  The whole process of reaching this place, which is jammed into a very no-nonsense working class ethnic strip mall.  Only after passing by the nail place and the generic grocery store with cases of produce stacked right in front at it's "loading dock" do you enter this magical land with tranquil fountains drowning out the urban decay.  You get a tidy, packed dining room with nice lighting and a minimalist decor.  The last thing that sets this place apart from other very good asian restaurants is one more detail-it is patronized by more people who are not of Vietnamese heritage than those that are.  Tamarind Tree is so hyped because it has great food-interesting, thoughtful, with plenty of small plates of well executed food with shockingly good sauce pairings.
On a recent visit, Tamarind Tree showed that its east meets west approach can also be its Achilles Heel.
I arrived with a friend around 7 on a Tuesday night and was brought to a table fairly quickly, the hostess apologetically saying that she owes me a menu because they don't have enough. Glancing at the next table over, I could see there were 2 menus waiting for members a larger party that had not yet arrived.  Even though I have been in this industry forever, I really don't like to bring attention to myself when I eat out, so rather than grabbing the menu that was clearly not occupied, I waited meekly for our server.  When he did finally arrive, he wanted to know if he could get me something to drink.  "Actually, I would love to have a menu!"  He scrambled to find a menu and ended up taking the menu that I had already been eyeing... oh well.
We ended up ordering the mushroom satay, the prawn satay, the grilled la-lot leaf rolls, the crispy prawns baguette, and the bean sprout mushroom. The mushroom satay were great-shiitake mushrooms were marinated in a very worcestershire-like concoction that really adds the fifth flavor that the Japanese describe as umami.  The prawns were overcooked, as they tend to be if not watched carefully, but they also came with a sauce that was described as a tamarind fish sauce that was bright and really brought out the seasonings on the prawns.
We continue to enjoy our food and cocktails, but something weird happens.  Our server never returns.  My companion has been waiting for his Tamartini to arrive, and the rest of our bigger plates don't come.

"I'm not eating that," are the words that  I blurt out when the Banh Mi Tom Bot Chien, also called Crispy Prawns Baguette is placed before me.  Banh mi is a simple, fresh, even pedestrian food.  Some of the best ones are produced by places that only serve one thing - banh mi, with different proteins.  A french baguette filled with fresh cilantro, cucumber, jalapeno, other veggies, and a seasoned sauce, it is the opposite of haute cuisine.  So when a monstrosity of hunks of baguette topped with one prawn each and then given a tempura-type batter and deep fried, lazily topped with sriracha straight from the bottle (that is the best you can do? I am looking at you too, Toulouse Petit) and some hoisin sauce arrived, I was naturally surprised.  It seems the term Crispy Prawn Baguette was not only referring to the prawn being crispy.  Banh Mi is a term many people know, and when you see it on a menu, one naturally expects certain things. Perhaps the menu should explain that quite plainly or, even better, remove this awful dish altogether.
In the end, Tamarind Tree ended up missing on all the points that has made it  so successful.  Eating there is usually a special experience where you feel pampered.  Good service comes together with interesting food at a reasonable price.  When they fall short on just one of those points, the artifice of the restaurant starts to show.  When they fail on both food and service, one quickly starts to wonder why they bothered going there in the first place.

A Late Summer Day's Harvest

Wouldn't that be awesome?  The tomatoes are from Safeway

My harvest for one day actually looks like this

Tomatoes, strawberries, and radishes(the green tomatoes came off when picking redder ones)

It has continued to be a miserable summer for my garden.  So far this year, I have picked just barely over three pounds of tomatoes from my 12 plants.  When I look at my record from last year,  I had already picked well over 9 pounds of tomatoes by September 15th, and that was with 6 plants!  Almost everyone I have talked to who is growing tomatoes in the northwest has had the same experience unless they are using a hothouse or green house.
I will no doubt end up spending much of this fall and winter trying to devise a way to get a giant harvest from a small amount of space.  Most likely, I will have to make a structure to insulate them and keep them dry.  Does anyone have some mad scientist ideas on how to get some good tomatoes in our unreliable climate?  I would love to hear what other people have tried!

Dueling Pasta Sauces: Traditional Meat vs Pomodoro

I have actually been doing lots of cooking.  I have just been so frustrated by the poor quality of my photos that I have not wanted to put anything up.  That being said, I am going to use some crappy photos anyway.  A nicer camera is in the mail, I swear!

The other night, I had suggested pasta with red sauce and garlic bread for dinner.  My  SO(significant other) was happy with that idea, since he enjoys simple, hearty food like that.  So I took some pork sausage out of the freezer to thaw.  When I was at Safeway later, and saw that they had organic heirloom tomatoes(and good ones at that) for only $2.99 a pound, I naturally bought several pounds and the idea of a meat sauce went out the window.  Except for the fact that the SO is by no means a vegetarian.  In fact, I am not sure I remember him ever having a meal that did not involve meat, except perhaps eating with my vegetarian friends.  That's ok, I will just do both!

What I ended up with was two sauces that begin with the same basic idea(tomatoes, onion, garlic, and herbs), but end up a very, very different finished product.  

I started about 9 quarts of water in a large stockpot for the fresh tomatoes and pasta(I almost always use lots of water, more on that later).  While that was going, I chopped I large yellow onion, peeled and minced about 2/3 of a bulb of garlic, and minced I small shallot(about 2 Tbs).  Once the water was boiling, I started putting my tomatoes in(about 3 1/2lbs) in small batches, blanching them until skin breaks, then pulling them out to cool.

In one pot, I start 1lb pork sausage and about 1/2 the onions and garlic cooking.  In another, I put in some good extra virgin olive oil, the rest of the garlic and onions, and the shallots(I left the shallots out of the meat sauce because its delicate, fragrant qualities would be drowned out by the meat.), and start it to sweat and saute. Once the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, I remove the skins and cores, then chop them roughly and add them to my aromatics. I also add a jar of pasta sauce to the meat once it is fully cooked and in small bits, and then start a pound of rotini(corkscrew) pasta to boil.

The meat sauce is almost immediately ready to serve.  The Pomodoro(fresh tomato) sauce though, is still too watery and needs some time to cook down into a rich, hearty tomato sauce.  I add some dried herbs to both(oregano, savory, and marjoram), and turn the meat sauce to low heat.  

While the sauce cooks, I take this time to make my garlic breads.  You see, the SO loves it when I make garlic bread out of sourdough english muffins, while I prefer a big, crusty french baguette.  I am not a reasonable person, so I have to make both.  I cut the french bread down the middle, then split the muffins and butter them all generously.  My recipe for garlic bread is really simple and straightforward, and it seems to always deliver much more consistent and satisfying results than roasted garlic or other techniques.  I made my own mix by using equal parts kosher salt and granulated garlic that is ground down just a bit.  I put lots of this mix down on the breads, then follow with a healthy coating of Parmigiano Reggiano, then put them all under the broiler until they are bowned nicely.

By this time, the tomato sauce is almost perfect, so I take lots of fresh basil and cut it roughly, then add it to both sauces just before I pull them off the heat.  The pasta gets drained and here are the finished products.

Meat sauce w/parm

Pomodoro Sauce

I would love to hear about anyone's favorite techniques, recipes or preference for tomato based pasta sauces.  What is it about the sauce that you cook that makes it close to your heart?

French Garlic Bread

English Muffin Garlic Bread

Summer Party! Pictures!

I had the privilege this year of going to a party of some really great friends who also happen to have really impeccable taste, and are really great cooks, as well.

Beautiful fresh garden platter by Valerie Reuther of Rosehip Farm on Whidbey Island

Tasty chocolate dipped macaroons by Anthony Campbell.  They look better than my photography skills

Beautiful kiwi and (pear?) tart also by Anthony Campbell

Beautiful and wonderful jammy chocolate plum tart made by Ed Kronenberg

I will add some more pictures later, but as summer is winding down, I just want to share the images of this great food before summer is too much of a memory.

Note:  Rosehip farms has their food available at the Coupeville Farmer's Market on Whidbey Island.  They are also a CSA and you can inquire about subscribing at rosehip@whidbey.net

Molecular Gastronomy

With all that we currently know about what to do to food to make it well, good, I really don't understand why so many people are taken with molecular gastronomy.  The old saying goes that the number of pleats in a chef's toque represent how many ways there are to cook an egg.  The culinary world has come to a point that, in this time of technological advancement, We are able to draw upon the traditions of haute cuisine, access ingredients from nearly anywhere in the world, and techniques that can already use science and physics to our advantage.
Personally, molecular gastronomy just does not reflect what it is about food that really excites me.  Sure, there can be novelty of flavor and texture, and there can, I am sure, be some ways to execute it very well.  The thing that I love about food is that it can be very true, very real.  Even at it's most old, French extreme, the most elaborate dishes are still essentially about the food.
Again, I am sure there are people that are making this food that are doing it with integrity.  Playing with liquid nitrogen just seems, to me, to be a parlor trick when there are so many things that we can already do with food.  There are even more that we haven't yet.

August, Pierce County

7/26/2010 Bloody Butcher Tomato, 26.5grams
8/4/10 Bloody Butcher, 32.9g
8/7/19 Bloody Butcher, 39.5
8/7/10 Bloody Butcher, 33.8

8/23/10 Bloody Butcher, 47.8

Do you notice anything unusual about that(other than the fact that I am neurotic enough to catalog my tomatoes and weigh them to the tenth of a gram)?
Every year, nature seems to do this little striptease to me.  My tomatoes start coming along nicely and around the end of July or the beginning of August, the plants give me a few sweet, juicy vibrant tomatoes!  And then nothing.  The plants continue to grow and undulate, taking over every cubic inch it can populate, whether up and out if I stake them, or stretching out, its bountiful branches like a cat languishing in the warm summer sunlight.  They grow and they grow, but they will not ripen. I would have to estimate that I now have around 200 tomatoes growing between my 11 fruit bearing plants.  Unfortunately, I chose plants based on expected total harvest rather than wisely picking a variety that would give me a consistent yield.
So the wait continues.  I guess I am stuck going through the longest, hottest days of summer while not being able to enjoy the fruits of it...yet.
Once the harvest finally does come, I will no doubt be feverishly eating them raw, drying them in the oven, attempting to can them, and giving them away to kindred spirits who know the true beauty of a garden fresh tomato.

The wait will be worth it

My First Follower!!

I am very excited to have my first follower!  Thank you so much for making me feel legitimate.  You know who you are, and I will take you out for a fabulous meal the next time you are in Seattle.
Note: I will not take everyone who follows me out to eat.  Sorry, but I am not rich.

I promise to have another post about food soon.

Breakfast For Dinner

One of the things that reminds me most of childhood is having breakfast for dinner.  This is a bit nicer than what I grew up with, but is still a hearty, quick meal to make any time.

Sorry about the poor photo quality!  I will get a better camera soon.
This is a frittata with sauteed onions and shallots, sausage and sharp cheddar.  I served it with rosemary crispy potatoes and a quick rosemary country gravy that I threw together.

Carbonara is magic

If I were ever to stop eating meat, pasta carbonara is the dish that I would miss the most.  It is a collection of so few ingredients that comes together to be the ultimate in comfort food.  It took me several times to convince Steve to try it, as he is not that adventurous with food.  He loved it the first time he tried it and would be quite content now to eat it several times a week.  I first found this recipe from one of Ruth Reichl's books.
I take no credit for the recipe, I am just paraphrasing how I remember reading it.
.
1lb spaghetti or other noodle pasta.
2 eggs
Parmigiano-Reggiano, not that hideous stuff that comes in a green shaker!
4-8 ounces good bacon
6 cloves garlic

Cut bacon into 1/2-1 inch pieces. Sliver the garlic.  Cook the bacon, but don't let it crisp as it won't adhere to the pasta if it does.  Add the garlic to the bacon about halfway through cooking.  While the pasta is cooking, crack the eggs into a large mixing bowl and scramble them.  Drain the pasta and toss in with the eggs and add shredded parmesan and the bacon, including the drippings(that's why it tastes so good).

Sorry sprouts, I'm just not that into you

I have spent the last few years loving to grow my own food.  I have very little space and the actual volume of food that I get from my garden and containers doesn't really comprise a large portion of my diet.  However, the quality of the food that I grow is worth so much more than what I can buy.
It occurred to me after I had a packet of radish seeds that it would be quite nice to have baby radish greens.  They are wonderful and delicate and have such a bright flavor.  After a bit of wikipedia web searching I concluded that I would start growing my own sprouts!  The reality of growing sprouts isn't that great.  It is a process of soaking them, and then rinsing them 2 or 3 times a day.  Oh, and they mustn't be exposed to sunlight.  And they need to be kept at a pretty consistent temperature around 70 degrees.  That sounds kind of like an environment bacteria and mold and other nasty things grow.  I think I would rather rely on commercial growers that(hopefully) have it down to a science and are doing it in a sterile environment.

Parmesan Meringue: Fail

I saw this recipe in the Gourmet Cookbook which was last revised in 1965 and the thought of it really excited me.
Meringues au Parmesan
Beat 2 or 3 egg whites with a little pinch of cayenne and 1/4 teaspoon salt until they are stiff.  Stir in 4 to 5 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, mixing thoroughly.  Drop the meringues by teaspoons into hot deep fay (385) and fry them until they are delicately browned on all sides.  Remove the meringues with a perforated ladle, drain on absorbent paper, and dust with paprika.  Serve hot.

Sounds great, doesn't it?  I had made a mental image of this wonderfully light, fluffy, ethereal cloud of cheesy, nutty heaven.  This was not to be.
Beat egg whites:check.  I have this wonderful meringue that is not at all affected by cayenne or salt.  Stir in 4 to 5 tablespoons  parmesan: yeah, I did that and the meringue fucking fell!    I spent another 10 minutes whipping the hell out of them before I realized that the reason meringues must absolutely not have any yolk is probably the same reason the meringue would not rise again after I added fatty cheese.

I'm a lifer

I have worked in a plethora of the food service world.  From tray passing champagne in a tent set up outside a mall in Raleigh, North Carolina, to bartending for Republican VIPs including a former US Senator, to working a Somali wedding reception that did not start until after sunset(during July in Seattle? Really??).  The one thing that unifies all this is that I have had the privilege to be working with food that occasionally tended to actually be pretty fucking good.
As the years have passed, I have been blessed to be around friends that share my love for food.  It seems as each year passes, my interest, my attention, my fixation, my passion for food becomes magnified.  I want to use this blog as a way to share my experiences with dining and eating.  Ideally, I would love for this to be an interactive exchange with other people who love food.

I'm Changing My Name

Really Merlyn, you might be thinking you're thinking about changing your name? What a novel concept for you.
I started my blog as a way to share my interest in dining, cooking, and growing food in a serious way.  I felt it was whimsical and tongue-in-cheek to use a phrase from an outdated cookbook.  I  now realize that faggot is just too toxic of a word for most people.
Since I do most of my traveling by mass transit, and I love the juxtaposition of the two words, I will now be going by The Pedestrian Gourmet.  I am posting this on both blogs and I will transfer my previous posts to my new page soon:
http://pedestriangourmet.blogspot.com/