Old Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake

Shortcake
Shortcake

A perfect scene for eating shortcake

Wow you guys. This is the longest I have gone without posting here. I’m going to do my best to get back on the horse, but I can’t make any promises. Here are a few reasons August was a little rough:

1) We travelled quite a bit. To Seattle twice: once for a farewell party for my sister (who just moved to Berkeley, CA to pursue her dreams), once for a wedding (congrats to Johnny and Sophie!), and then to Minnesota for Jonah’s family reunion.

2) I was nannying AND working at Pagatim. It was… a lot.

3) We moved! It’s official! We now live in a beautiful grown up house with friends. I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to have doors between rooms (for example, there is not only a door between our bedroom and kitchen, but an entire floor/ceiling, which means Jonah can no longer wake me up in the morning by eating his cereal), a full sized kitchen (with a dishwasher!), big windows and lots of light, a patio out back… the list goes on.

But really, I know there is no excuse to leave you hanging like that, so my hope is to not let that happen again. One of the times I went to Seattle this summer, we went to see a viewing of The Princess Bride at the Mural Amphitheater right under the Space Needle. It was so fun, and we packed a wonderful picnic to bring along. I made these shortcakes for dessert, and they were so delicious.

Strawberry Shortcake

Makes 8 shortcakes

Ingredients

Shortcake

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
2/3 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/3 cup to top shortcakes
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
4 tsp lemon zest
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Strawberry Filling

2 pints ripe strawberries, hulled and sliced (I think we used raspberries instead)
2 Tbl granulated sugar
2-3 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
We also added a few roughly chopped mint and lemon verbena leaves

Whipped cream for serving, preferably homemade

Instructions

Shortcake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter a baking sheet. Mix together the flour, baking powder, cornmeal, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Then stir in the cream and lemon zest. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and form it into a ball, then knead about 12 times, or until the dough holds its shape (careful not to overwork it!). Cut the dough into 8 equal portions and form the portions into balls. Dip each ball into the melted butter, and then dip half of the ball into the (1/3 cup) sugar. Place each ball onto the baking sheet, sugared side up. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown on edges and baked through. Cool on a wire rack.

Strawberry Filling

While the shortcake is baking, you can get started on the fruit. Now, I didn’t follow the recipe when it came to the fruit. I combined the berries, sugar, lemon, and herbs in a pot and put it over low heat. Let it cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar is absorbed and the berries start to soften, then remove from heat. (You can also prepare the whipped cream while the shortcakes are baking.)

To serve, slice the shortcakes in half horizontally, spoon a heaping serving of the fruit over the bottom half, then put on as much whipped cream as you’d like, and put the top on. These are a lovely end-of-summer dessert, simple but really delicious. Enjoy!

Chicken with Plum Chutney – plus a give away!

Chicken with Plum Chutney

Chicken with Plum Chutney

Do you like chicken? I like chicken. It seems to always be a good backup dinner. For example… not feeling spendy/fancy enough to buy fish? But don’t want something as carb-y as pasta? Answer: Chicken. You can do so many things with it! Cut it up and use it in a stir fry, smash it and coat it in Panko. Roast it in the oven with root vegetables. Make soup. The list goes on and on.

One of my personal favorite chicken recipes is this recipe for chicken with plum chutney from Martha Stewart. When I was in high school, we used to get Martha’s monthly everyday food magazines, and I would always go through them one by one and dog-ear all the recipes I wanted to make. This one has been by far the best recipe I have ever made from those things, and has stuck around the longest. It became a family favorite when I made it at my family reunion, and I it was included in the cookbook of family recipes that I gave my mom for her birthday last fall. It also is one of the few meals I’ve made for Jonah’s parents (this one even got the honor of being served on his dad’s birthday), so you know it’s good. It’s perfectly summery: fruity and tangy, but also sweet and a beautiful purple color.

Chicken with Plum Chutney

Ingredients

4 (6 to 8 ounces each) boneless skinless chicken breast halves
Salt and ground pepper
2 Tbl olive oil
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
1/2 jalapeno chile, (ribs and seeds removed for less heat, if you want), chopped
4 red plums, (about 1 pound), halved, pitted, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 Tbl cider vinegar
3/4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger

Instructions

Start by seasoning the chicken with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium heat. Put the chicken into the hot pan and cook until it’s opaque throughout, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer the cooked chicken to a plate and set aside for later use.

Now let’s make the chutney. Put the rest of the olive oil into the same skillet (No need to even rinse! Look at that, a one pot meal!), as well as the onion and jalapeno. Cook for about 3 minutes, or until softened. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the plums, sugar, vinegar, curry powder, ginger, and 1/4 cup of water. Now, I like to do a little less water so it isn’t quite as runny, but do it how you like. If you add too much water, you can always let it cook down a bit more (though everything in the chutney will get more cooked); On the other hand, if you add less to begin with, you can always add more later. Do whichever suits you. Bring the chutney to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook until the plums are softened and the liquid is slightly thick – the recipe says 8 minutes, but I always find that this takes a bit longer.

When the chutney is ready, add the chicken and any juices from the plate back into the pan and simmer until the chicken is heated through. Season to taste with S&P and serve the chicken with loads of chutney spooned on top. In college, I liked to make large batches of this chutney and then freeze it, and then all I really needed to do was cook up some chicken and voila, dinner. Or you can put it over some plain pasta. Really, any vehicle you need to get this chutney into your mouth is fine. But chicken is best.

Ticket Give Away!

Now, speaking of chicken, I’ve got my very first give away on the blog! Kind of cool, right? It’s really only for Portlanders, though… sorry out-of-towners. Last week, while on vacation, I was contacted to see if I wanted to offer FREE tickets to the Foster Farms Fresh Chicken Cooking Contest. Exciting, no? At this point in the game, this is the regional finals at the Art Institute of Portland. The contest takes place on August 10th (in a week and a half!) at 9:30 am. You would be able to attend the event, watch the contest live, and sample the contestants’ dishes. You also will have a chance to see the professional kitchen at the Art Institute, which will be pretty cool, I bet.

Now, I can’t attend because, you know, I work two jobs, but I want anyone who reads this blog and wants to go to please leave a comment below with your full name! We’ve got 10 tickets to give away here folks, so get going! On Monday (or Tuesday), I’ll pick 10 people from the comment section to give tickets to. Want more information? Go here.

Restaurant Review: Tasty n Sons



A few weeks ago, my mom and her boyfriend and my sisters ALL were in town. They came to see me and Jonah do a gig out at Edgefield winery in Troutdale. Which was really fun. The morning after the gig, we decided to go to Tasty n Sons for brunch. I’d been once before, and man was it good. And man was the wait long. But worth it, I think.

So we went, and yes, the wait was long. But while we waited, we sat back behind the restaurant by Chop, the butchery, and watched the cooks at the restaurant make bacon. There are worse ways to spend your time, don’t you think?

When we finally sat down, we ordered far too much food. I ordered the steak and eggs, which comes with an amazing jalapeno cornmeal pancake below some delicious scrambled eggs and marinated steak. We also ordered bacon-wrapped dates with maple syrup, the breakfast board, and polenta and sausage ragu with mozzarella and a fried egg, among other things. The polenta was delicious! Creamy and cheesy with yummy ragu, and covered in runny yolk.

Then came the breakfast board. It had… teriyaki beef jerky, some bacon-y type stuff, bread with delicious sweet cheese, some kind of pate, and Hood strawberries. It was good.

And I sat waiting for my steak and eggs, trying not to eat too much of anything else so I wasn’t too full to eat my dish. And I waited… and waited… and waited… And it didn’t come. So I finally asked about it, and our waitress had forgotten to put in the order. So she put in the order and I figured, oh they’ll rush it, so it won’t take that long. But it still took kind of a long time. At this point, everyone else had finished eating and we were all pretty full. To apologize they brought biscuits with gravy, which was good, but all I really wanted was my steak and eggs! So eventually I asked to just have them put it in a box, and I took it home. And actually, it made really good leftovers. I ate it for lunch the next 2 days.

Now, even though my food didn’t come in time for me to eat it, everything else was really very good. Even after the fact, my dish was really good. The place is a Portland staple, and worth the long wait, in my opinion. The previous time I went, I didn’t have to wait too long for any of my food. So you know, I think this just happens to me a lot (see what happened to me at Stopsky’s). So I would definitely recommend Tasty n Sons! Just know that it’s busy and loud, and that the food is delicious.

New Pots & Pans (Cuisinart, from Costco)!

When I moved into my first house in college, and had my own kitchen for the first time, my mom took me to Target and bought me a set of pots/pans and a set of kitchen utensils (think knives, spatulas, bagel cutter…). And it lasted just fine. Not great quality, but it worked.

Over the years, the amount of pots/pans dwindled. I lost a mini fry pan, the right lids for the right pots, all that. And a few months ago, our one fry pan that we owned started losing its non-stick lining. And then it started to stick… so, not non-stick anymore. It started getting out of hand, and so I started bringing up getting a new fry pan. So we did some research and it was about 50 bucks for a new nice fry pan. And we were getting ready to buy one (or a set of two) when my little sister sent me a picture of a 12-piece set of Cuisinart stainless steel pots and pans for $150 at Costco. I love Costco.

So Jonah and I talked, saved up money for a little bit, and went to Costco. Now, at our local branch, the same set was $199. But it was still pretty dang worth it. So we went for it. And it has taken a bit of getting used to, cooking with stainless steel “stick” pans after years of non-stick, but wow is it nice. You don’t need to turn up the heat too high, and they heat perfectly evenly. I’m really looking forward to making scallops in these pans to get a really nice sear on them. And the little pan is perfect for eggs. The moral of the story is that these pans are pretty, shiny, and wonderful to cook in. And a good deal.

Using those roasted tomatoes…

Tomatoes
tomatoes

tomatoes

Remember those roasted tomatoes I made a while back? 2 things about them.

One is that I’m reading Molly Wizenburg’s book, called “A Homemade Life,” and it’s lovely. She’s a fabulous writer, and there are recipes! I can’t wait to try them. I already loved her, but then I got to the part where she talks about her own roasted tomatoes, and how great and easy they are, and now I feel like we may be soul mates. Oh my goodness. Read her blog Orangette and also the book mentioned above. She’s working on another book, and I can’t wait to read it. Her writing is really lovely, full of nostalgia and a clear love for detail. She notices the little things.

The second thing about those tomatoes: pasta sauce. They’d been sitting in the fridge for a little while, and I thought to myself, “I won’t let these go bad! I must use them!” So I decided to do something easy with them besides just eating them cold. I threw them in the food processor, heated them up, and put them over some sauteed mushrooms and onions to make a sauce. Scoop the sauce over some noodles of your choice, and sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan and voila! Dinner. You can find the original recipe for the tomatoes here.