Tag: Dessert

Feast 2014 Oregon Bounty Grand Tasting

October 3, 2014February 10, 2017

Feast 2014 Oregon Grand Bounty Tasting // Serious Crust

Please tell me you’ve heard of Feast. The three-year-old food festival that now takes over Portland for a weekend in late September? The one with so many incredibly opportunities to eat, drink, and be merry? The one where you can easily spot your 5 favorite foodie celebrities in a single day?

This was my first year attending Feast, and I was (unfortunately) only able to hit up one event due to some scheduling conflicts with the band. But the event I did get to go to, the Oregon Bounty Grand Tasting, was 5 hours of tastebud extravaganza, meeting lots of people, and watching cooking demos. My dad and Darla came down for the weekend (they drove out to our gig with us over the weekend), and the three of us went to Pioneer Square to enjoy all that Oregon has to offer.

We made it to the tents in time to grab a couple wine pours and food samples before sitting down to watch Chef Naomi Pomeroy whip up a pork loin with romesco sauce (which, after sampling, inspired me to finally make some romesco sauce of my own). Afterwards, as we moved from some pâté panna cotta with Oregon berries and a parmesan tuile from Uptown Billiards Club, to Eliot’s Adult Nut Butters, to kale salad with smoked salmon (from I’m not every sure who), to crazy delicious bites from Three Little Figs, to some awesome bloody mary shooters from Face Rock Creamery, to tomatoes sprinkled with varied salts from Jacobsen Salt, to of course incredible ice cream from Salt & Straw (served by the one and only Jon Wash), and possibly my favorite dessert: Salt & Straw Olive Oil ice cream topped with Cacao drinking chocolate and candied cocoa nibs. I realized something. I am so unvelievably lucky to live in a city that not only has food like this at every turn, but to live in a city that creates a festival like this, that brings all these artisans and chefs and wineries and breweries together, and has this community around food. I think it’s pretty cool, don’t you?

Let it be known that we also enjoyed some beautiful wines poured by some beautiful people. The wineries that were pouring were some of the best in Oregon, and they were pouring wines that range from $20-70 a bottle. It was a chance for me to try some wines that, let’s face it, I would otherwise not have been able to. Some favorite wineries included Elk Cove, Adelsheim Vineyards, Chehalem, and Penner-Ash Wine Cellars.

Overall, it was a beautiful day spent eating and drinking with some of my favorite people. I met some new friends (like Ian and Mike from Pfriem Brewery), bumped into some old ones (Erin from Bakery Bingo, Rachel from Love, Rachel, and, from afar, Bee from The Spicy Bee), and truly enjoyed discovering all the wonderful food and drink coming from the wonderful Pacific Northwest. Lucky girl, indeed.

Apricot Foldover Pie

June 20, 2014February 10, 2017

I’ve been wanting to make this apricot foldover pie for a few weeks now. I’ve been dreaming about how soft the apricots will get, and how homey and rustic the crust will taste with whole wheat pastry flour. And yesterday was the perfect excuse, as it was Jonah’s last night before he left for 2 weeks in Europe for work. Hard life he leads, that guy.

So he heads to work, I whip up the dough and throw it in the fridge to chill before running to the store to pick up fruit. I found the most tender apricots and the juiciest raspberries to use for this pie. In fact, I couldn’t help myself and ate a couple raspberries on the approximately 2 minute drive back to my house.

I cut up the fruit and mix up the filling. All is going well until I try to start rolling out the dough. I was working up a sweat, I kid you not. It’s so tough, and it’s starting to get huge – way bigger than needed to fill the pie dish with some overhang. But no matter, I drape it into the pie dish, pour in the filling, and then start folding up the edges. As I’m folding it all up, I realize how thick the crust is despite having rolled it out to be far bigger than necessary. I knew something must be wrong. I go back to check the recipe, and there is my glaring mistake. I misread 1/2 cup of whole wheat pastry flour for 1 1/2 cups. So, you know, I basically doubled the flour.

At this point, I have to leave for work in about 40 minutes. What else could I do? I dump the filling back into the mixing bowl, toss the original crust, and start from square 1. Instead of chilling the dough for the prescribed 30 minutes, I stuck mine in the freezer for about 5. Rolled it out, filled it up, and threw it in the oven, asking my roommate Sophie to take it out when the timer beeped.

And it came out beautifully. Rustic, perfectly golden, all that. I can only imagine what a disaster it would’ve been trying to eat that crust if I hadn’t discovered my mistake and started over. But there you have it. It all works out in the end. And everyone makes mistakes.

Apricot Foldover Pie

Note: I like cardamom. A lot. So I used 1/2 tsp of it. However, it is a strong flavor. I suggest smelling it, and seeing if it’s something you would like lots of or a little of, and then add either 1/4 or 1/2 tsp based on your whiff.

Ingredients

Pie Dough

1 1/2 cups AP flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbl sugar
12 Tbl (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp white vinegar
1/4 cup ice water, plus a few Tbl if needed

Apricot Filling

7-8 cups apricots, pitted and quartered (a little over 2 lbs)
1-2 cups raspberries (optional, though if you aren’t using raspberries, you’ll want to use more apricots)
1/3-2/3 cup sugar, plus 1 Tbl
3 Tbl AP flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4-1/2 tsp cardamom
2 Tbl unsalted butter, melted

Instructions

Pie Dough

To make the dough, mix the flours, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Add the chunks of butter, and cut them in with a pastry knife. You can also use an electric mixer with the paddle attachment (that’s what I did) or a food processor. Blend until the butter is roughly the size of uncooked chickpeas. In a separate small bowl, mix the egg yolk, vinegar, and 1/4 cup of ice water. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture 2 Tbl at a time, until the dough starts to come together. If you need to add extra ice water, do so 1 Tbl at a time. Make the dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to two days.

Apricot Filling

When the dough is fully chilled, start to preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. Taste a slice of your apricots – if they are sweet, use 1/3 cup sugar, if they’re less sweet add a little more. In a large bowl, toss the quartered apricots, raspberries, sugar, flour, and spices together. Set aside.

Roll the chilled dough out into a circle about 1/8 of an inch thick. Transfer it into a 9-inch pie plate, leaving the edges of dough hanging over the plate (you’ll have lots of excess dough, don’t trim it unless you are just aiming for a more even appearance). Pour the fruit into the pie crust, and gently fold the excess dough over the top of the fruit. Brush the dough with the melted butter, pouring any extra into the fruit. Sprinkle the dough with about 1 Tbl of sugar.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper, and set the pie plate on the sheet. Bake for 15 minutes at 450, then turn the oven down to 375 degrees F. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown at the edges and the fruit is bubbling. Allow to cool before serving with some fresh whipped cream.

Baked Rhubarb with Lemon and Cardamom

April 17, 2014February 10, 2017

It’s raining in Portland. I know, surprise, surprise. But it wasn’t that long ago that the sun was shining and I even got a sunburn. Seriously! Last weekend, Jonah’s mom and Grandma were in town for the day, and we took them to the PSU Farmer’s Market, which has got to be one of my favorite things about Portland. The sun was shining, I wasn’t even wearing a jacket, and there was beautiful crimson rhubarb everywhere! Rhubarb has got to be one of my favorite ingredients of all time, so I was excited, to say the least.

As I was getting ready for Passover dinner on Tuesday, I decided to nix the matzo crunch in favor of something a little more reminiscent of springtime: some baked rhubarb. After doing a little recipe hunting and finding this recipe on Food52 and this recipe on Orangette, I decided to do a little adapting. This recipe is so easy and delicious – I love the slightly sour flavor of the rhubarb and the hint of lemon, cardamom, and earl grey. I balanced the tartness with some fresh whipped cream, but ice cream, fresh ricotta, or yogurt are also great options.

Baked Rhubarb with Lemon and Cardamom

Ingredients

6 cups rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup granulated sugar
1 meyer lemon, juiced
1/8 tsp cardamom
3/4 cup steeped and cooled earl grey tea

optional: fresh whipped cream, ice cream, fresh ricotta, or yogurt for serving

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a baking dish, combine rhubarb, sugar, lemon juice, cardamom, and tea. Stir to combine. Bake for 15 minutes, stir, and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and allow to cool. You can serve the rhubarb warm, room temperature, or chilled, all are wonderful. Yes, that’s it. Can you believe how easy this is?

P.S. The leftovers, if there are any, taste delicious stirred into your yogurt and granola the next morning. Or on top of pancakes. Just saying.

Castagna Dessert Tasting Giveaway

March 28, 2014February 9, 2017

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.

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