Weekend Finds

Weekend Finds 4:17:14: Recipes

It has been an awfully long time since I’ve written a weekend finds post, and I’d like to get back in the game. Mostly because I’ve been finding some recipes lately that are either a) really good or b) look really good and I haven’t made them yet but I plan on doing so soon, and I’d like to share these recipes with you.

1. Pasta Recipes from Bon Appetit

Pasta Recipes from Bon Appetit | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Photo credit: Bon Appetit

I have found two pasta recipes from Bon Appetit lately that I am itching to make, but we just don’t make a lot of pasta these days. One is a meaty Bolognese (with chicken livers – I mean come on) and the other is a rigatoni with lemon-chili pesto and grated egg. Doesn’t that sound interesting?

2. Caramelized Fennel and Farro Salad from Not Without Salt

Caramelized Fennel and Farro Salad Recipe from Not Without Salt | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Photo credit: Not Without Salt

This salad is cool, spicy, fruity, crunchy, sweet, and all around delicious. Jonah made it one night, and it has me hooked on farro. Next time I make it, I’d try going a little lighter on the harissa (depending on the desired spice level and how spicy your harissa is) and maybe substitute apricots for the dates.

3. Matcha Black Sesame Babka

Matcha Black Sesame Babka Recipe from Fix Feast Flair | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Photo credit: Fix Feast Flair

Ever since I found this recipe for matcha black sesame babka, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. It’s mostly a matter of finding the time to make this bad boy, but holy smokes, does that look beautiful (and tasty) or what?

4. Most Recipes on Food52

Food52 Recipes | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Photo credit: Food52

You guys, I knew I liked Food52, but they are KILLING it lately. Things I want to make: pecorino romano cake with candied tomatoes, this fennel salad with burrata and mint, chicken salad with pickled grapes (but mostly those pickled grapes), and this chocolate mochi snack cake. Things I have made that are so good: miso and honey roasted chicken, many iterations of soba noodles including these, and this crazy good asparagus that I could eat for every meal. And I’ll be honest, I’ve yet to make something from Food52 that crashed and burned, so they’re pretty trustworthy.

5. It’s rhubarb season! All the rhubarb recipes!

Rhubarb Season! | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Photo credit: Bon Appetit

Things that will be happening in my near future: rhubarb simple syrup to put in all the cocktails (I highly recommend the mojito from Not Without Salt), and this beautiful rhubarb almond cake. I also like the savory rhubarb recipes like the ones that follow that have been popping up all over the place: skillet chicken with rhubarb, beetroot and rhubarb salad, roasted pork belly with rhubarb ginger compote, and shrimp fried rice topped with pickled rhubarb.

My Picks for Portland Dining Month 2015

Portland Dining Month | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

Wow, it’s almost March. Which translates to: wow, it’s almost Portland Dining Month! This event put on by Travel Portland is always a favorite of mine, a chance to get out and try multiple courses from some of the city’s awesome restaurants for just $29. So, where are you going to go? You can see my picks below, and you can read about all the restaurants participating and their menus here.

Here are some I’m itching to make it to:

23 Hoyt: I’ve always been a fan of 23 Hoyt’s happy hour, and this seems like an expanded version of that. With two choices for each course (all savory, no dessert), you’ll have plenty of options.

Aviary: One of my absolute favorite restaurants in Portland. Delicious northwest food with an Asian bent, plus the bonus of friendly awesome service. And two choices for every course!

Cafe Castagna: The recently revamped menu recently left my tastebuds happy with middle eastern flavors. Read more here. Then go to there.

Departure: Somehow, I still haven’t been to Departure. How? Maybe dining month is the time to start. Mango salad, shrimp dumplings, chicken tonkatsu, and carrot cake all get my tastebuds tingling.

Imperial: Come on, you know you want to try Doug Adams’ PBR braised pork…

Lincoln: Jenn Louis is releasing a cookbook all about making pasta. So get in here and try some from the master.

Little Bird Bistro: I’ve always really enjoyed this downtown spot, and they’ve got lots of options to choose from on their dining month menu. I’d pick the gnocchi, the trout, and… I’m still deciding on dessert.

Ned Ludd: I love Ned Ludd’s delicious food and comforting atmosphere. I’d lean towards the charred broccoli raab for my first and the chicken breast for the second (though the vegetable gratin sounds awesome too).

Paley’s Place: Of course this Portland institution is on my list. There aren’t vegetarian options, but everything looks very tasty for us meat eaters. Elk for dinner? Um, yes.

Smallwares: I love Smallwares’ spin on Asian food – a true, funky, fusion restaurant. We went a few months ago and the food was really on point (as were the cocktails, I might add).

Tabla: If you are in the mood for some seriously tasty fresh pasta, I recommend Tabla. A well-kept secret on the east side, they’ve got multiple options for each course. Duck tortellini, anyone?

Xico: Octopus ceviche? Chicken in black, burnt-chili seasoning? Gosh that sounds tasty. Plus a carrot cake from pastry chef Mindy Keith.

Where are you going to go? Check out these other blogs for more PDM tips and picks: Pechluck’s Food Adventures, Martha Chartreuse, and Bakery Bingo.

Weekend Finds 10:18:14

It’s been a little while since I did any weekend finds, hasn’t it? I figured I’d give you some posts you could sink your teeth into. But hey, sometimes you can sink your teeth into a list of cool stuff I found, right? Right. Halloween is around the corner (like, wow, two weeks away already). And that, to me, means that we are in the thick of fall, which in turn means we should be making all things squash. I have my old go to’s (like tofu and delicata with miso and molasses, root veggies with miso and harissa) but it’s always fun discovering new ones. Here are some I’m itching to try.

1. Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Muffin // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Pumpkin muffins topped with whipped cream cheese on Food52

I’m not sure what about these pumpkin muffins makes me feel like they’ll be different from pumpkin muffins I’ve made in the past – maybe it’s the face that they’re topped with whipped cream cheese? Yeah, that could be it.

2. Butternut Squash Pie

Butternut Squash Pie // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
This Italian butternut squash dessert looks so good.

This Italian dessert sounds beautiful – somewhere between a custard and a pie and sprinkled with almonds.

3. Squash with Dates and Thyme

Squash with Dates and Thyme // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Caramelized squash, warm soft dates, and aromatic thyme.

I love me some roasted squash, and acorn has become a recent favorite of mine. This acorn squash tossed with coconut oil and roasted with dates sounds perfect – I love the thought of the sweetness from the dates. I would throw the thyme in to roast with the squash, and maybe add a sprinkle of cayenne.

4. Potato Miso Tart and Braised Cabbage

Ottolenghi's Potato Miso Tart and Braised Cabbage // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Has Ottolenghi ever led you astray? I thought not.

Ok, neither of these are squash. But both of these recipes from Yotam Ottolenghi seem like beautiful fall dishes. The braised cabbage seems like it would make a particularly wonderful Thanksgiving side dish.

5. Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake

Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Perhaps my favorite Mexican dessert, but with a fall spin.

And for dessert, this spin on a classic Mexican tres leches cake – with pumpkin! It’s a rich, fun dessert, especially for perhaps a Halloween/Day of the Dead party.

Weekend Finds 8:30:14

It’s Labor Day weekend! Which means you should probably be outside doing something fabulous instead of sitting inside on your computer reading this. But if you’re doing the latter, that’s ok with me. The time has come for SERIOUSLY SUMMER’S ALMOST OVER AND WE HAVEN’T DONE [insert stereotypical summer activity here] YET, GAH. So, these weekend finds are some things I need to do in the next month, and some things I’m looking forward to.

1. Summer Vegetables and Glass Noodles

Glass Noodle Salad on Food52 // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
I need more hot weather so I can eat more cold noodles.

This summer has been the season of cold noodles with crunchy veggies. I’ve got a few weeks left of summer, so I’m going to try to get one last version in, and it will be this one (or a variation on it) with glass noodles.

2. Restaurant Trends of 2014

Bon Appetit's Restaurant Trends // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Sweet neon signs are a trend I can get behind.

We all know Bon Appetit just put out their list of the top 10 hot restaurants of 2014 (and if you don’t, you should). But they also just put out a list of the top 25 restaurant trends of 2014. Which is pretty entertaining.

3. Pickled Blueberries

Pickled Blueberries on Food52 // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
I love this new take on blueberries.

While I love a good blueberry muffin. Or blueberry galette. Or any blueberry baked goods. But sometimes, savory is good too. Which is why these pickled blueberries pique my interest.

4. Bull in China

Bull in China // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
They’re really just enabling me, at this point.

Guys, my neighborhood is blowing up. Lots of construction, lots of neat places opening up. Included, this one stop shop for bartenders, Bull in China, by a couple local bartenders. I’m certainly looking forward to stopping in, lusting after the glassware, tasting the bitters, and reading all the liquor literature.

5. Fudgesicles

Fudgesicles on Orangette // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Cold frozen chocolate on a hot day? Yes please.

If I haven’t already told you about Molly Wizenberg and her lovely blog, Orangette, I’m telling you now. Her writing is wonderful (I’m still working on getting my hands on a copy of her newest book, Delancey), her photos are so beautiful and really she could probably tell a story just with them. But her recipes are delightful. I’m hoping I can make these fudgesicles before the warm weather runs out.