Weekend Finds 4:13:14: Passover edition!

As soon as I returned from Vietnam on Thursday, my mind quickly zeroed in on the upcoming holiday: Passover! While I sadly can’t make it home this year to celebrate with my family, I am going to have a small dinner at my house with my roommates. I don’t think we’ll do the whole seder, but I am looking forward to cooking some of my favorites and sharing this bit of tradition with my friends. Now, the age old question: should I stick with the known and loved recipes? Or try something new and adventurous? Here are some recipes I’ve been eyeing.

1. Haroset with Medjool Dates

Haroset on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
This smooth haroset has medjool dates!

I love haroset. When I was in college, and I couldn’t go home for Passover, but I certainly couldn’t cook a whole seder in my dorm, I still made haroset. This haroset looks a little more smooth than the one I usually make, but I like the addition of the dates for sweetness.

2. Matzo brittle/crunch/toffee

Matzo Toffee on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Matzo, brown sugar, butter, and chocolate: what could be better?

There are a thousand different variations on matzo brittle. Seriously, you can find so many recipes from a quick google search (see David Lebovitz, HuffPost, or Smitten Kitchen). But I’m thinking I’d like to be a little adventurous and top the traditionally matzo, toffee, and chocolate with some more interesting ingredients like dried sour cherries, toasted coconut, or pistachios.

3. Brisket

Passover Brisket on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Decisions, decisions: which brisket recipe to make?

Perhaps one thing I’m most excited to make for Passover is the brisket. My mom made this recipe from Martha Stewart at least once when I was growing up, and it is the one that really sticks out in my mind. But there are so many good looking recipes, like this one from Bon Appetit, that I’m already having trouble deciding which to use.

4. Deviled Eggs

Deviled Eggs on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
These asparagus deviled eggs look awesome.

I think making deviled eggs instead of simply serving plain hard boiled eggs might be more interesting and give me more chances to try something new. This recipe that Deb just posted on Smitten Kitchen looks great, and I love the use of a spring vegetable like asparagus.

5. Seder Plate

Seder Plates on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
I love the color of this Victorian seder plate.

I don’t have a seder plate, and this year I’ll probably just put a bunch of ramekins on a platter and call it good. Still, I haven’t been able to stop myself from eyeing some beautiful (and some very expensive) seder plates. This Victorian era seder plate is fantastic – I love the color, and I love to think that I’d use the cake stand part year round. I like the more modern take on this stainless steel seder plate. And this painted ceramic plate reminds me of the one we used growing up.

6. Matzo Brei

Matzo Brei on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
I like to sprinkle my matzo brei with sugar or syrup.

Because what else do you eat for breakfast during Passover?

A Vietnam Teaser

A Taste of Vietnam // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

A Taste of Vietnam // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
A Taste of Vietnam // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

I’m coming back, I swear!

I know it may seem like I’ve been gone forever (though it’s really only been two weeks), but I am currently sitting in the airport in Soeul, South Korea, waiting to board a flight to Tokyo and then a flight home to the beautiful and much missed city of Portland, OR. I will write a more in depth post about our trip around northern Vietnam at a later date when laundry has been done, photos have been uploaded, and jet lag has been conquered, but in the mean time I wanted to give you a little preview of some tasty moments from the trip. Enjoy!

All over Vietnam, we saw women selling little plastic bags of sliced fruit – usually green mango, pineapple, or something else slightly more mysterious – and on the 6 hour train ride from Hanoi to Lao Cai (from where you take an hour bus to get to Sapa), I was craving some fruit. This bag of green mango came with a little pouch of what we figured was MSG to sprinkle on top, and cost a whopping fifty cents. I loved the sour fruitiness of the green mango. It was a perfect snack.

When we arrived in Cat Ba Town, we were slightly underwhelmed at the options for food. We ate our first dinner at Bamboo Café, and what with the town being on an island, and looking out over the water, Jonah decided to order crab with tamarind sauce. The crab was relatively small, and we had to do a lot of work for not a lot of reward in terms of cracking the shell and digging out meat. But the meat in the tart, jammy tamarind sauce was delicious, and as we sat finishing our Bia Hanoi, we picked the tamarind seeds out of the sauce and peeled the rest of the fruit off of them. I have a new resolve to use tamarind more often.

Vietnamese milk coffee is basically very strong coffee, almost espresso, with a nice layer of sweetened condensed milk at the bottom that you stir in before drinking. You can order it hot (it’ll come with the little filter sitting atop your cup, the coffee still dripping through) or iced. We found ourselves having afternoon coffee nearly every day. It was not only delicious, but it gave us a moment to sit down amidst the hubbub and look around us to really enjoy the fact that we were nearly halfway around the world from home. The photo above was taken at my favorite café, which we visited twice: Café Pho Co. You go through a silk shop down a long skinny hallway to get to it, order off a menu at the bottom of the stairs, and then climb up about 4 flights to a open air rooftop overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake and a busy intersection.

Castagna Dessert Tasting Giveaway

Hello all! I’m am writing this from my hotel room in Hanoi, Vietnam. Very exciting! More on that later (and by later I mean in a couple weeks when I return).

Right now, I want to tell you about an awesome opportunity. A few weeks ago I had an amazing meal at Castagna, cooked by Chef Justin Woodward. It was truly innovative, the flavors were just incredible, and every bite delighted the tastebuds. Anyway, Justin is nominated for Food & Wine’s The People’s Best New Chef Northwest. This is a HUGE deal! He’s up against some other northwest greats (the folks from Ox, Bar Sajor, and Aviary, to name a few), but as soon as I read all the names, I voted for Justin. And this was even before I got the chance to do this great giveaway.

Castagna Dessert Tasting Giveaway // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

As a way to promote Castagna and to allow more Portlander’s the opportunity to dine there, I’m doing a little giveaway of a dessert tasting for two at Castagna. To enter, you must 1) like Serious Crust on Facebook, and 2) comment on this post with either a reason you want to go to Castagna OR a reason you truly love dessert. The winner will be randomly selected, and I’ll reply to your comment if you’ve won in order to get your information! Pages must be liked and comments must be made by the end of the day on Monday, March 31st, which also happens to be when the voting for Best New Chef closes! So get clicking and typing and voting!

For more information, visit these links:

Castagna

Serious Crust on Facebook

And you can vote for Justin here: Food & Wine’s Best New Chef Northwest & Pacific

Weekend Finds 3:22:14: Seattle Favorites

I write about Seattle all of the time, because it’s where I’m from and I go visit my family an awful lot because, you know, I love them. You can find bits and pieces throughout this blog of things I’ve done when I’m there, or things I like to do, but I thought it might be nice to compile them all in one place. Now, you can’t go watch movies at my mom’s or cook dinner at my dad’s, but you can partake in some of my other favorite places. Scroll down to see some of my favorite things to do and eat and drink.

Weekend Finds: Seattle Edition // Serious Crust by Annie FasslerWeekend Finds: Seattle Edition // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

Doing

Weekend Finds: Seattle Edition // Serious Crust by Annie FasslerWeekend Finds: Seattle Edition // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

Eating & Drinking

Breakfast:

Weekend Finds: Seattle Edition // Serious Crust by Annie FasslerWeekend Finds: Seattle Edition // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

Lunch:

Weekend Finds: Seattle Edition // Serious Crust by Annie FasslerWeekend Finds: Seattle Edition // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

Dinner:

  • The Blind Pig for a very creative meal. If you can swing it, I recommend doing a tasting menu and trying every dish on the board.
  • Bar Sajor for another beautiful meal. Definitely try the smoked yogurt!
  • Joule
  • Revel
  • The Whale Wins
  • Artusi
  • Delancey for quite possibly the best pizza in town.
  • The Walrus and the Carpenter for an oyster bar meal. But it has oh so much more – The Walrus and the Carpenter made Bon Appetit’s top restaurants in the country last year.
  • Rainier BBQ for a crazy good, authentic korean barbeque.
  • Bake’s Place is in Bellevue, technically, but they always have great bands playing, and the food is pretty darn good too.
  • La Bête

Weekend Finds: Seattle Edition // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

Drinking:

  • Canon for an incredible dealer’s choice cocktail.
  • Liberty for an awesome liquor and cocktail and really unique cocktails. The Seattle Sour is one of my favorites. If you get a chance, sit at the bar so you can watch the bartenders work their magic, and ask them questions. If you get hungry, you can order some sushi.
  • Knee High Stocking Company for the speakeasy feel – you have to text to make a reservation, and ring a doorbell to get in.
  • Essex
  • Rachel’s Ginger Beer for some amazing ginger beer, which they use to make awesome cocktails, including possibly the best hot toddy I’ve ever had.

Weekend Finds: Seattle Edition // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

Simple Meringues from Leftover Egg Whites

Simple Meringues // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Simple Meringues // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Simple Meringues // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Simple Meringues // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

I loved meringues when I was a kid – the incredible sweetness, the way they just melt in your mouth, the way they sound kind of like styrofoam (a weird thing to like, I know), and the delicate poofy shapes they came in. I remembered making them once when I was in middle school, and getting the sticky batter all over my shirt and fingers and face.

While I don’t feel as passionately about meringues as I did when I was younger, I still enjoy them. I still love how as soon as you get a crumb on your tongue, it seems to be gone almost as quickly as it came. I love the intense sweet taste, and how it lingers in your mouth. I love the slight nuttiness that comes from the slow caramelization of the sugar.

After I made the mint matcha ice cream, I had a bunch of leftover egg whites. I thought about making macarons, but I simply wasn’t in the mood for something so potentially intense where so much could go wrong. Plus, all my egg whites were in a jar together, so measuring out 3 or however many was going to be tricky. That’s the tough thing about leftover egg whites or yolks – you so often have to find a recipe that uses the exact amount you have leftover. I had seen an article recently on Food 52 about making meringue without a recipe, so I read it, and went ahead. I wouldn’t normally choose to make this much meringue, but it turns out 6 large egg whites yeilds…a lot.

Simple Meringues

Ingredients

1 part egg whites to 2 parts sugar. For example, 1 cup egg whites, 2 cups sugar. To stabilize, you’ll need 1/2 tsp cream of tartar or 2 tsp white vinegar per 1 cup of egg whites. An easy way to remember this, if you’re using vinegar, is that it’s the same amount as the sugar but in teaspoons. So, what I used: 1 cup egg whites (from 6 large eggs), 2 cups sugar, and 2 tsp white vinegar.

Instructions

Bring your egg whites to room temperature, if not a little warmer. You can do this by simply leaving them out in the kitchen for a while, or putting them in a bowl and putting that bowl in another bowl full of hot water.

Preheat your oven to 225 degrees.  Line two pans with parchment paper. In a bowl, combine egg whites and vinegar or cream of tartar. Whip on medium speed with an electric beater or in the bowl of an electric mixer until there are soft peaks when the beater is lifted from the bowl.

Once soft peaks can form, turn the mixer speed to high, and add the sugar by heaping teaspoons. This will take a few minutes (certainly if you’re making as much meringue as I was). Be patient. Once the sugar is mixed in, either pipe the meringue onto the prepared baking sheets, or drop by spoonful. I used a large ziploc, used a spatula to scoop all of the meringue in, and then cut off the tip of one of the corners, and used that for piping. It worked really well.

Bake the meringues for 1 1/2 hours, rotating front to back and top rack to bottom half way through. When time is up, turn off the oven and allow them to cool in the oven. If you have SO MUCH MERINGUE, like I did, you can turn off the oven and allow them to cool partway, remove from oven, and then preheat the oven for the next batch. I left my meringue on the counter while the first batch baked, and while it was noticeably not as fully whipped, it still worked just fine. I recommend crunching into one when it’s still warm, because how often do you get to try a warm meringue? Store the rest in an airtight container, and enjoy whenever you’re in need of a sweet, light treat.