Camping Supperclub

This week for supperclub we had a camping theme, since several of the usual suspects couldn't join the weekend trip.

In honor of the woods, I made Marcella Hazan's Mushroom Lasagna (but with butternut squash rather than ham). It's got porcini mushrooms and lots of regular mushrooms in a lightly tomato-y sauce that you mix with a bechamel. Because there were a few lactose-intolerant folks for dinner, I also made an almost-vegan version with a vegan bechamel that I adapted from the link here (almost vegan because it did have a little butter in it). I was pretty impressed with the vegan version - the mushrooms gave the soy-based sauce a lot of rich flavor! Also, Supperclub regular Anne made a fantastic fall salad - roasted figs, goat cheese, walnuts and prosciutto over mixed greens with a honey vinaigrette - delicious!

We also carved a few pumpkins:

And made s'mores in the fireplace - with regular and chocolate marshmallows, and high-end chocolate - pretty great! As someone said, "it's just like camping, but without the tarps."

Here's a photo of the Supperclub - I think this was roast chicken night... I need to try to remember to take pictures of some of the food, since this is a food blog!

Political Supperclub

Meeting with (mostly) the same people every week has been interesting. The conversation rarely repeats itself, and often has themes. Last week turned into Political Supperclub - lots of heated discussion about whether conspiracy theories are true or not - both in general, and several specifics... and why we should care about them either way!

While the debate was animated, the food was a little more sedate: I made a beef ragu from Sunday's pot roast (I felt like an Italian grandma), and we all made fresh orrechiette together. I also served a caesar-esque salad (without the croutons) and for dessert made a Crepe Cake - using the linked recipe, but with a brulee crust on top just for an excuse to use the blowtorch my brother got me for Christmas last year! It was tasty... although the whipped cream kinda melted on the top layer, thanks to the flaming action. I also tried my hand at a Walnut Bread recipe with my pet sourdough starter - I was delicious and dense with rye and whole wheat flour, and a ton of walnuts! Really good toasted with cream cheese for breakfast.

This weekend, I went camping and had a great, if chilly time - more delicious food, less political convo - more about the nature of the universe and life as we know it (that tends to happen in the woods). I made Chicken in Riesling ahead of time to heat up for dinner - a fricassee, basically, with riesling to which I added pearl onions (some from my garden), black kale and butternut squash. We also had a great, hearty camping breakfast that I just got to sit back and enjoy - bacon, eggs and cinnamon-raisin bread french toast!

As my sister keeps saying, "Life is delicious!"

As Emily Dickinson said (I just found this quote on a card): "To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else."

Thanks to all who are keeping my life startlingly interesting these days!

For Adam

Teta Ole's Lithuanian Rye Bread

The sponge:
2 cups rye flour (T.O. has been using dark rye flour lately, but it's too corse for her tastes, so she's going to try adding light rye flour)
2 cups boiling water
-- pour the boiling water over the flour, mix together, then let cool to room temp--
2 cups warm water (I'd say around 70 degrees)
1/2 cup honey
3 cups rye flour
1 Tbsp. salt
starter (rye is preferable, but T.O. says you can try it with white or whatever you have)
-- mix together and let sit at room temp for 12-14 hours--

The next day...
6 cups rye flour
5 cups white bread flour
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbsp. salt
3 1/2 cups water
1 can evaporated milk
yeast (maybe 1 packet?)
-- mix in to the sponge, then set aside some of the dough as a starter for the next batch before you start kneading --

Then you make it like any other bread... at least that's what the lack of further instructions would imply :-)

If you try this out, let me know how it goes and what other tweaks you made to the recipe!

Also - this makes about 6 standard-loaf-pan-sized loafs - so T.O. advises me not to make the full recipe...

Good luck!

Harvest time makes me happy!

This time of year produce is barely waning, and the cool crisp weather we've been having is so lovely for cooking! Had some great meals this week, including:

Tuesday Supperclub - this week was roast chicken with roasted beets and sauteed black kale, and cupcakes for Rita's birthday. I also made bread for the first time with my new sourdough starter - it came out really well - maybe the best I've ever made! My only tweak would be to work on getting the crust a little crisper/flakier - probably will try to pull it a little tauter when shaping, and try to get a little more moisture in the oven next time... but regardless, it was delicious and otherwise perfect!

I also had a great food day yesterday - started the day getting a winery tour of Baer Winery in Woodinville from a friend who is their cellarmaster - he took a bunch of us around and showed us what happens on a crazy-busy day during the harvest. Really cool to watch grapes getting crushed, helping "punch down" the grapes that are already fermenting (reminds me of bread), and tasting just-fermented wine... all this in the beautiful cold fall sunshine!

Then several of us went up to Whidbey Island to make dinner with our friends Laura and Eric, who live in a great little house perched on a cliff overlooking the Sound. After gathering produce from two competing farmer's markets (you know there's a sad tale of woe in there somewhere), crab from Larry's Crab Truck and a bunch of wine and supplemental groceries, we spent a relaxing afternoon walking on the beach, checking out their renovated beach house, and cooking and eating:

At the beach:
Apple Cider Cocktails
Freshly caught steamed Dungeness crab with lemon butter

"Upstairs" for dinner:
Spinach dip & baguette
Creamy pumpkin soup with fresh crab
Tomato tarte tatin
Beet, goat cheese and lettuce salad
"Father-in-law-caught" king salmon grilled with a porcini mushroom and pepita rub and chantrelle gravy
Roasted brussel sprouts with balsamic reduction
Beet greens sauteed with chantrelle mushrooms
"Neighbor's tree" Apple pie

A fine example of Whidbey Island's harvest!

Supperclub!

Long time no post - but lots of cooking has been happening in the interim! I've been hosting a sort of supperclub on a weekly basis, which started because I was trying to offload some paella leftovers after my birthday - and thought how fun it would be to do this with friends who live in the general vicinity on a regular basis. It's after work, so the menus are fairly straightforward - but we still can't seem to sit down to dinner before 8:30! It's been a lot of fun, and I will be posting our weekly menus here for posterity.

To catch you up on the action - here's what we've been eating:

7/1 - Paella and other party leftovers (canapés, cake)
7/8 - Vietnamese salad bowls with caramel pork and chicken, dessert (that Anne made?)
7/15 - Syrian beef kebabs with Lemony Cucumber Salad & Cilantro Mint Chutney; strawberry brown sugar sour cream swirl ice cream
7/22 - Fish tacos (grilled fish with chipotle sour cream, shredded cabbage and cilantro in fresh corn tortillas)
8/12 - Grilled pizza (toppings included sausage, grilled zucchini, arugula & prosciutto)
8/19 - BBQ Pork (and tofu) burgers with cole slaw, grilled veggies
8/26 - “Green Egg” grill-roasted chicken on beer cans, jicama cole slaw, blueberry almond green salad, peach pie
9/2 - Homemade pickles & Danish pickled herring; grilled spice-rubbed pork tenderloin with grilled peaches and radicchio; peach-brandy ice cream
9/9 - Savory pistachio/chorizo “cake,” garden veggie lasagna, ice creams
9/16 - Spice-rubbed grilled pork tenderloin with peach chutney, walnut-sauce on bruschetta, broccoli salad, Anarchy Cake with figs and plums
9/23 - Minestrone Soup with homemade focaccia
9/30 - “icky” (store bought) shrimp snacks; chicken satay with peanut sauce & cucumber salad; black pepper cauliflower; rice; nectarine basil ice cream with coconut lime cookies

Where I've been able to easily link to recipes, I have.

So anyway - stay tuned for more updates on the Supperclub!