California

I spent the last week visiting my family in California and had a great time. I couldn't believe that I hadn't seen them since last Thanksgiving. Time sure does fly! So I spent the week sailing with my dad, shopping with my mom, and eating... a lot. There were a few restaurants that were on top of my list that I had to eat at. We went to my favorite Italian restaurant Grappolo, in Santa Ynez, on Wednesday night. My dad is their plumber and knows the owner so he asked him if he would make their amazing fish raviolis for me, and of course I had to have the flourless chocolate cake which is the most amazing dessert. The recipes for both dishes can be found in their cookbook.

The next morning I met my friend for breakfast burritos at La Unica, in Santa Maria. This taqueria makes the best breakfast burritos I have ever had. Bacon, eggs, potatoes, and refried beans. Delicious! I spent the rest of the day in San Luis Obispo shopping with my mom and enjoying the amazing California weather.

The next day there was more Mexican food on the agenda: Lunch with my grandma at Casa Manaña. Santa Maria is full of Mexican restaurants. They are everywhere, and most of them are really good. But there is something about the cheese enchiladas and refried beans at Casa Manaña that I love. I haven't found a place in Nashville that comes anywhere near these. I could have eaten another order, but good thing I didn't because my mom had gathered up all of the family friends for a dinner at The Swiss. This restaurant has been newly renovated and the menu has changed a lot since I moved away. Now it is one of my mom's favorite restaurants. I had a tri-tip sandwich with pinquito beans because they are the specialty of Santa Maria, a dish that I took for granted until I moved away and realized I couldn't get it anywhere else. It was a great time with family and friends.

Saturday was dedicated to sailing with my dad and brother in Santa Barbara. My dad bought an old beat up sailboat and has been restoring it for the past couple of years. It looks great! We spent the whole afternoon on the ocean. We had gone sailing when I flew in on Tuesday and even saw some whales! But none on Saturday. It was the perfect day to go sailing. When we got back to the harbor my dad started cooking dinner. We bought marinated steak from the Mexican market up the street, along with some mini corn tortillas, cilantro, and onions and made some of the best tacos I've ever had. It was the perfect day.

Sunday was my last full day in California so we went to the Hitching Post in Buellton for dinner. This is my favorite steakhouse. We had the grilled artichokes for an appetizer and I had the filet mignon. Basically the same thing I always get, because its the best! I had a great time back home visiting with my friends and family. Food, friends, and family. Throw in some great weather and California sunshine and you have the makings for a perfect vacation. 

Lockeland Table

The restaurant scene in Nashville seems to get larger every month. New restaurants are have been opening all over the city, especially in East Nashville. For our anniversary last week we decided to head over to the newly opened Lockeland Table to check it out. A week before I was trying to decide on which restaurant we should go to for this occasion and when I came across the menu for Lockeland Table I knew that my search was over. Everything on this menu sounded amazing! So Will called them up to make the reservations. And good thing we did. Lockeland table has a small dining area, and it was packed when we got there. Nearly half of the restaurant is the bar area and there is even a pizza bar in the back of the dining area. Mason jars line the open shelves that separate the dining room and the bar. They are filled with pickles and jams which speak to the local, homemade feel of the restaurant. Will always makes fun of me for this, but I really love when restaurants use dish cloths as napkins. So homey and rustic. 

We decided to skip appetizers this time so we could save room for dessert. Next time I am definitely getting appetizers. I was trying to decide between the bone-in pork loin or the trout. I went with the pork loin. This may sounds strange to some people, but I know that many will agree. Sides and condiments are usually my favorite part of the meal. So when a dish comes with mac and cheese, braised greens, onion jam, and pickled mustard seeds, I know exactly what I am going to get. One word: fantastic. The pork was flavorful and made even more so by the sweet and tangy condiments. The mac and cheese was smokey and creamy and went amazingly with the greens, which were the perfect tenderness and great balance of flavors. Will had the steak frites with a perfectly cooked steak. I have to mention something about the fries. While they were not the level of crispiness that I usually prefer, they were some of the best tasting fried I have ever had. I have no idea what they were fried in, but wow. We ended the meal with deliciously fried ricotta doughnuts filled with jam. Yum!

So anyone looking for a great new restaurant in Nashville really needs to try Lockeland Table. I know we'll be back really soon!

Apologies

Hello everyone who reads my blog. Sorry I have been an absentee poster lately. I haven't been too particularly busy or anything, things just seem to rush by in the evening and I haven't been too motivated to try too many new recipes. But I promise that this will change! I know how pathetic this sounds, but Summer is my least inspiring foodie season. I know, all that fresh beautiful produce and I can't find inspiration? What's wrong with me? Well, living in Nashville in the hot and humid summers doesn't exactly having me rushing to crank up the oven. I also love cooking really homey comfort foods from around the world, and those too aren't ideal when its 100 degrees outside. 

But enough excuses. Autumn is approaching and I can already feel the urge to rush into the kitchen and bake a thousand apple pies. Ok, maybe not a thousand. But I am planning on baking a lot this season. I'll also be cooking a lot more and finding new inspirations and recipes to share with all of you. I'm off to visit my family in California next week and after that I'll be posting more. Sharing my culinary adventures and hearing about others adventures is one of my favorite things to do. I'll leave you with some photos of recent baking projects. Thanks to everyone who reads this blog! You inspire me!

Brunch: featuring Almond Puff Loaf, Herb Frittata, and Kanelbullar 

Birthday Cake for 3 great friends 

Mustache cookie-on-a-stick modeled by the beautiful Molly

Bagels

I've been pretty obsessed with bread baking lately. Especially with my sourdough starter and keeping that going. Sourdough has been taking up all my bread baking time lately. So I decided to mix it up. Since I had enough sourdough around the house to last a while I wanted to make something that was a little different from sandwich bread, so I decided to tackle bagel making. I didn't grow up on great tasting bagels. Mine came from the store and were wrapped in plastic and nothing like the chewy delicious fresh baked bagels that I would learn to love. 

I always thought making bagels would be exhausting and difficult. I was in for a surprise. While there are many steps in the process it was not as intimidating as I thought it would be. I made of the dough the day before and placed them in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning they were ready to boil and bake. Fresh bagels for breakfast sure do taste better than the steamed bagels from the grocery store. I threw some scrambled eggs on top and I was ready for the day!

Bagels

Adapted from The Bread Bakers Apprentice

Sponge:

1 tsp yeast

18 oz. bread flour

20 oz. water, at room temp.

Dough:

1/2 tsp yeast

17 oz. bread flour

2 3/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp barley malt syrup

For the boiling and topping:

1 tbsp baking soda

Semolina or cornmeal for dusting

Toppings of choice (I'm a big fan of everything bagels so I threw a bunch of seeds and salt together)

1) For the sponge, mix yeast and flour in mixing bowl, then add water and mix until dough is smooth and sticky (consistency of pancake batter). Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 2 hours, or until doubled in size

2) To make the dough mix the additional yeast to the sponge and stir to combine. Then add 3 cups of the flour, salt, and barley malt syrup and mix with dough hook until dough forms a ball, then gradually mix in remaining flour

3) Knead dough for at least 6 minutes using the machine (or 10 minutes by hand). The dough will be very stiff and if you are doing this by hand you will get a workout. Tear off a piece of dough and stretch it until you can see through it and it doesn't tear (this is called the windowpane test).

4) Divide dough in 4 1/2 oz pieces and form into rolls. Cover rolls with damp towel and let rest for 20 minutes and line pans with parchment paper and coat with spray oil

5) Shape rolls into bagels by tearing a whole into center of bagels and shape, repeat for each bagel and place on parchment paper, then spray with oil and cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temp. for 20 minutes

6) Bagels are ready to rest overnight if they pass the "float test". To do this fill a large bowl with water and drop 1 bagel into the bowl. If it floats it is ready. If not let them rest for a little while longer, checking every 10 minutes or so. Then re-cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge overnight and up to 2 days

7) When you are ready to make the bagels preheat oven to 500 F with racks in center of oven. Boil water in a large pot of water and then add the baking soda

8) Drop bagels in water (as many will fit comfortably, about 3 or 4) and boil for 1-2 minutes (the longer they boil the chewier they will be). Flip them over and boil for an additional minute or two. Place on semolina dusted parchment paper and top with toppings of choice. When all bagels are ready to be baked place in oven and bake for 5 minutes, then switch and rotate baking sheets and turn oven down to 450F and bake for additional 5 minutes. 

 

9) Remove from oven and let cool on a rack for about 15 minutes, then serve and enjoy!

Chocolate Banana Ice Cream Pie

I love the combination of chocolate and bananas, whether they are baked into a delicious bread or frozen and put on a stick. Bluth Banana anyone? So when the other day I had a few bananas that had been sitting around for a little too long I decided to make some banana ice cream. Turning this ice cream into a pie didn't hit me until I had already made the base for the ice cream. I quickly looked up a recipe for a chocolate tart crust and got baking while the ice cream base chilled in the fridge. The great thing about Ice Cream Pies is that they can be made into almost any combination imaginable. I'm thinking of making a Cherry Ice Cream Pie with Almond Crust next time. This would also be great for summer birthday parties in place of a cake. 

Chocolate Tart Crust

Adapted from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp salt

6 tbsp butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

3 egg yolks, from large eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

4 oz of baking chocolate or chocolate chips 

1) Place flour, cocoa, sugar, and salt into food processor or blend with pastry blender to combine, then cut in the butter until it is crumbly then add egg yolks and vanilla and combine just until it holds together. Don't overwork the dough

2) Cover with plastic wrap and let chill for 30 minutes

3) Form dough into a disk and roll out until it is large enough to fit into a 9-inch tart pan (or if you are using smaller tart pans, shape accordingly), place in fridge, covered for 30 minutes

4) Blind bake the tart shell by placing a sheet of parchment paper over the shell and fill with pie weights, or dried beans, and bake at 400 F for 15 minutes, then remove weights and parchment and bake for an additional 12-15 minutes, making sure the crust doesn't burn

5) Remove from oven and let cool, then melt chocolate in double boiler and pour onto tart shell, covering all of the tart. Place in freezer to solidify the chocolate

6) When chocolate is hardened fill with your favorite ice straight out of the ice cream maker and freeze for at least 4 hours then enjoy!

Warm French Lentils

Lentils are one of those foods that I really wished I ate more of. I'm a huge fan of legumes, but some other type of legume usually sneaks its way into my diet. Leaving the poor lentil to linger in the back of the cabinet. But no more! I have found a great and incredibly amazing way to make lentils. While watching Barefoot Contessa one afternoon I saw Ina Garten making these lentils and I knew that I had to try them. I bought the green French lentils a couple months ago and of course, as most lentils do in my kitchen, they were left and practically forgotten. Until the other day when I was making a pork tenderloin and remembered the recipe and knew that they would be amazing with a rosemary-honey roasted tenderloin. And they were! They were even amazing cold for lunch the following day. I suggest making a big pot of these and eating them all week. They would also make a great cold salad to bring to a party.

Since this was sort of a spur of the moment decision to make this with dinner one night I sadly had not purchased any leeks. I used onions in place of the leeks. I also did not have a turnip, so that too was omitted. I am providing a link to the original recipe.

Warm French Lentils
Adapted from Ina Garten

1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp plus 1/4 cup olive oil
2 carrots, diced
1 tsp minced garlic
1 cup French green lentils
1 whole onion, peeled, stuck with 6 whole cloves
1 tsp butter
4 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

1) Saute onion and carrots 2 tbsp of olive oil until translucent, about 5 minutes, then add garlic and cook for 1 minute more, then remove from heat and set aside

2) Bring lentils, onion, and 4 cups of water to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes, or until lentils are tender, then remove onion and drain lentils

3) Toss the lentils in with the carrot mixture and add the butter

4) Make the sauce by mixing the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil with the Dijon and red wine vinegar
5) Pour sauce over lentil mixture, toss, season with salt and pepper, and enjoy!

Sourdough

I've finally done it. After 2 failed attempts last year I decided that my fear of sourdough starters needed to be overcome. So I bought The Bread Bakers Apprentice by Peter Reinhart because of the rave reviews and tried again. And it worked! I am so happy. Finally I can make sourdough bread in my own home.

I grew up in California living off of sourdough bread. More than any other bread, sourdough, for me, is nostalgia. My mom and my dad would make me sandwiches with sourdough growing up. A baguette of sourdough always accompanied my mom's amazing pot roast or stew. My mom would even send me care packages with loaves of bread. I know. I'm crazy about sourdough. But I think everyone should be. There is absolutely no bread that even comes close. Sure, I love other breads. I don't think a BLT is the same unless its on toasted wheat bread. But sourdough is my go to bread.

The process of making the starter in itself took a while and there were a lot of instructions and web searches to make sure I was doing things correctly. But this time consuming process paid off. Yesterday I pulled out 2 loaves of bread from my oven and to my surprise it tasted great! I thought for sure I was going to mess up somewhere along the way. So glad I haven't (so far). The loaves aren't the most beautiful things that I have ever made, but I'm hoping with a little practice and some hard work I can get them (close to) perfect.