Ketchup? Not on my frites!

I probably wouldn't post about this if I was not trying to avoid writing a final paper - possibly the last paper I ever have to write for school. It's not very exciting and neither are french fries - messy, labor intensive and unhealthy, but I felt like making em. I originally planned to use the potatoes I had, in a recipe for smothered pork chops, but it will probably appear soon on my blog.

This might be the first time I fried anything in my apartment, I can't remember, but it took about a half gallon of oil to fill the wok. In the end, everything in my kitchen was covered with oil, including myself. As a lay on the floor, stuffed to the gills, making oil-angels in the puddles, I could only think of how happy it made me to have a perfect french fry. None of that crap they serve at Dick's.

I fried them twice, since that's how I understand you get a crispy product. After I cut them, I soaked em in ice water for 1/2 hour and then dried thoroughly with a clean dish towel. Fried at 350 degrees for about 6 minutes until they started to brown. Laid out on a cooling rack. I looked up a recipe that said you're supposed to let them sit for at least 20 minutes and up to 2 hours. I'm not quite sure what the logic was behind that. But chef Raymond Capaldi does:

The perfect French fry
Science is a wonderful thing. You take the French fry, you steep it in water for 20 minutes and then you’ve got starch breaking up around the potato. When you fry it, that gives you a nice glass, crispy French fry, simple as that.

By the time I finished the first fry, the first batch had probably been sitting for 20 minutes. They went back in the oil, splashing like little sea otters, getting all crispy, before I pulled out a perfect french fry.

The aioli was nothing special, just garlic mixed with chopped chipotle and mayonnaise. Unfortunately some of the adobo oil got in the mix and broke it. That's why it looks all nasty in the picture. The garlic I used was old and spicy so it had a nice punch. This was an amazing sauce, I have to say. I ate it along with some leftover roasted chicken, mmmmm.

Seattle International Film Festival

Armed with a pound of smoked turkey, a half of swiss, a loaf of bread, some fruit and a bucket of homemade trail mix, I journeyed to the city for a week long extravaganza of non-stop international film. It was, needless to say, insanely awesome. Some highlights included: Somersault, My Summer of Love, The Holy Girl, Open Hearts, 3 Iron, Genesis, 4, After Midnight, Frozen, The Lizard, The Ninth Day, Kekexili: the mountain patrol, Earth and Ashes, Mcdull; Prince de la Bun and The World. A week later I return with three oranges and a grown dislike of nutella.

Unfortunately, I had no access to a computer during the festival. I did not have had time to make food anyway, but the U-district has like 10 restaurants on every block. There's a nice little thai place that I enjoyed a lot, on university street near 45th, called Thai Tom. The place was packed and the size of a large walkin closet. I sat no more than 6 feet from the cook on the other side of the bar and watched as he worked five burners, constantly making sauces and stirfrys, cranking out a dish every few minutes. Lots of bubble tea and korean food in the area.

Siff Trail Mix

1 1/4 parts honey roasted peanuts
1/2 part lightly salted cashews
1/2 part dried cranberries
1 part banana chips
1/2 part brazil nuts
1/2 part almonds
1/2 part dried apricots, cut into quarters

I think that's everythin. combine ingredients

If you downplay the cashews in this recipe because they're so heavy, it's more nicely balanced. The brazil nuts have that great earthiness like an almond with a subtle creaminess. I noticed after a few days the salt from the nuts sucked all the moisture out of the apricots and they became tough to eat.

Trio of Pizzas

Shallot and Baby Portobello, Cheese and Basil, and Roasted Garlic and Caper and Toasted Nut Pizza




These were all quite good and highly recommended. The best and most interesting was the roasted garlic, caper and pine and walnut pizza. The corner is missing off the cheese pizza cause my cousin Robbie got anxious and stole it.

Naturally this reminds me of a story about a man camping in the woods. He had run out of his regular hair care product, but was unwilling to leave his hair unruly and unkempt before the majesty of nature so he started greasing it back with the olive oil he had with him. This went on for a few days. He didn't wash it out, he just kept adding to it. Then, he was walking through the woods and a bear picked him up like a savory lollypop and bit his head right off!

Toppings:

Mushroom and Onion pizza:
3 fairly thick sliced mushrooms
1/2 of a very learge shallot, thinly sliced
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
shredded p over the top

Cheese and Basil pizza:
4 or 5 whole basil leaves placed underneath the cheese
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
shredded p over the top

Fancy Pizza:
1 1/2 Tbs toasted pine nuts
1 1/2 Tbs toasted chopped walnut
1 Tbs capers
about 2 heads worth of roasted garlic
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
shredded p over the top

Pizza Dough:

3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 package dry active yeast
2 Tbs honey
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs butter
2 Tbs chopped herbs (I used parsley and thyme)

Combine all the ingredients and knead for 10 minutes. Put in a large bowl and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise to double it's original size before punching it back down. Divide the dough into three rectangular sections and spread out. Poke holes in the dough with a fork to let the air escape when baking.

Pizza Sauce:

2 28oz cans whole peeled tomatoes, seeded and hand crushed
1/2 medium carrot, diced
2 Tbs garlic, minced
1/2 small white onion, diced
1/2 of a large shallot, minced
3 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs parsley
1 1/2 Tbs thyme
15 large basil leaves
salt and black pepper
4 thin sliced baby portobellos

heat the oil and add the onion, cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the carrots and the shallot and season with salt and pepper, cook another 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and herbs and cook 2 more minutes. Pour in just the tomatoes and bring to a boil. Fold in the mushrooms and whole basil leaves. Reduce to a simmer and cook as long as possible, at least 1/2 hour.

Perfect for a Sunday afternoon

Roasted Pepper Soup



I may be a little obsessed with roasted peppers, but they are one of the greater simple pleasures in life. So when I noticed I still had a bunch lingering in my fridge, their fate was sealed. Unfortunately my apartment has a horrible, indecisive electric stove so I end up roasting them the old fashioned way. It gives me the time I need to prepare the other ingredients for the soup.

It was a little creamier than I expected it to be, but I used a homemade chicken/duck broth, which might explain the mysterious richness. I left cream or other dairy out of it since I knew I'd be reheating it, so I could have delicious soup to eat on a lazy sunday afternoon without any effort. The flavor of the roasted pepper didn't come through as much as I would've liked, but there's a lot of mirepoix in this recipe. Next time I'll probably cut it down.

It has a bright almost citrusy flavor from the peppers and is very savory. Sandwich recommendation would be Grilled Cheese, it's worked great so far. I wanted to go straight-up gourmet and make goat cheese and tapenade paninis, but I don't have either of those things so, whatever. It makes me sad to be eating the last of it as I type without anyone else having known the goodness of the roasted pepper soup.

Roasted Pepper Soup

3 red bell peppers
2 yellow bell peppers
1 Tbs garlic, minced
4 Tbs olive oil
1 cup onion, diced
2 ½ Tbs shallot, minced
1 ½ tsp red wine vinegar
½ cup celery, diced
½ cup carrot, diced
3 ½-4 cups homemade chicken broth
1 ½ tsp thyme leaves
pinch red pepper flake

Roasting peppers:

Preheat the oven to 350F. Cut the peppers in half lengthwise and remove the stem and seeds. Place on a baking sheet, cover lightly with olive oil salt and pepper and roast until the flesh is soft and the skin becomes wrinkly and charred, about 1 hour. When the peppers are done, cover with a large bowl or paper bag for 10 minutes to let the skins loosen. Peel the skin and let cool. Chop coarsely and set aside.

In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the carrots, onions and celery and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3 minutes. Add the garlic, peppers, red pepper flake and thyme and cook another 3 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes. Blend until desired smooth with a stick blender and garnish with goat cheese.

Pork!

For some reason this topic has come up several times in various contexts, so I finally decided to do it myself - This summer I will roast a whole pig.

I haven't decided how to do it yet. Luau-style would be fun but I don't have a yard to dig a hole in.

After making a few inquiries, I learned Uwajimaya in Seattle will order them at a price of $150 for 50lbs and under. I have no idea what I'd do with 50lbs of pork.

Coming Soon...

So, I'm going to use this site to learn the art of food blogging. The intention being that soon this site will move to it's own domain. Everything here is intended to be temporary, and is here now as an excuse to shirk my responsibilities.

I have just ordered a 35mm camera so I might provide the sandwich cult with only the highest quality film images and not low-contrast digital stills, which the first few pics unfortunately are.

The remainder of the month is very busy. I'm hoping to have a new recipe and something to show for it in the beginning of june. Until then, these miscellaneous low quality stills will have to suffice.

Roasted Pepper Sushi: Sashimi with Maki-Roll

I love the texture of roasted pepper; similar to raw fish. The maki roll wasn't as good but contained avocado, roasted asparagus, green onion.

Berry Mousse

This actually isn't a recipe at all, just equal parts of raspberry and blackberry puree folded into whipped cream. This didn't stop it from being absolutely exquisite.

A Tasty Brew

I took this picture awhile ago and don't really remember what this beer was like, other than it was very good. I just put it up so there would something on here.