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Jul 25

spree’s next party

You know that “bug” I told you about – the one that had me laid up for a couple weeks and kept me from eating or writing about food? That bug turned out to be a pesky little gall bladder. We’re throwing it a coming out party tomorrow! We’re all quite excited about this! It will be a small, intimate gathering, and unlike other parties we’ve thrown, it’ll fall short of being a feast. But nonetheless, it will be a happy occasion! Afterwards, I’ll be away for several (more) days and then back with you. And that, I can hardly wait for!

See you soon!

love, Spree

Jul 24

2 Comments

Ali’s Summer Salad

My daughter Ali is an enthusiastic, aproned artist in the kitchen, and is all about putting love on the table. She called the other day to say that while at play she’d created a salad she thought I’d like. I’ve been impatiently waiting for my appetite to return because (even while sick) the sounds of this salad set off sweet harmonies and the songs of birds in my head! : ) Last night I was finally able to make it, and once again, the birds did sing!

Ali’s Champange Summer Salad with Chicken, Peaches and Avocado

(serves 4 generously)

Salad Ingredients

2 quarts (8 cups) salad greens – (a salad mix, with some of the spicier, more peppery greens is great – or arugula)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cooked and sliced (see preparation options below)
2 firm-ripe peaches, medium-thinly sliced
1 avocado, cut in chunks or thinly sliced
5 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup pepitas (optional)
1 – 2 Tablespoons Lemon Verbena minced (very optional, but wonderful if you have it)

Champagne Vinaigrette Ingredients

1 shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
2 Tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup champagne vinegar
1-1/2 cups canola oil

Options for the Chicken

Quick & Easy – Preheat oven to 350°F. Place breasts on rimmed cookie sheet lined with foil or parchment paper for easy cleanup. Brush both sides of chicken with olive oil and generously sprinkle with coarse salt and a little pepper. Roast for 35-40 minutes (depending on size and thickness, or until chicken registers 160°F on and instant-read thermometer.) Allow chicken to cool to room temperature. Just before combining with other ingredients, slice diagonally across the grain in 1/2-inch slices.
Slow & Scrumptious – Marinating the chicken before cooking using the following marinade (good also for shrimp or any white fish) and then preparing in the oven or on the grill will add more juicy flavor to your chicken.

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 t. dijon mustard
1 shallot, minced
1/2 t. red pepper flakes
1 t. kosher salt
freshly ground pepper

Combine all marinade ingredients in a gallon-size zipped plastic bag. Pound chicken breasts between 2 sheets of plastic until uniform thickness, around 1/2-inch. Marinate refrigerated for 4 to 24 hours. (Even after several hours, there is plenty of good flavor.) Grill or cook using any method you prefer until internal temperature reaches 160°F. (See #1.)

Champagne Vinaigrette

This makes a LOT of dressing, and you certainly won’t need it all for this salad. But it IS very delicious and if you look, you’ll have no trouble finding other places to use it during the next week or so. (Virtually any combination of greens and fresh summer fruits would likely do very well dressed in this. That being said, you could easily halve this recipe and still have leftovers.) This could well be a dressing you’ll go to again and again. ( It can keep quite well for a week or so refrigerated.)

In a medium bowl combine all ingredients except the oil. Using a whisk, gradually add the oil in a thin, steady stream until creamy.

Jul 23

4 Comments

it’s coming…

Tomorrow, at long last, you’ll find a new post on spree. Let’s hear it for food! Yay, food!

Jul 19

2 Comments

an empty plate

I’ve been absent because I’ve been sick. I so look forward to the day (soon) when I’m feeling better and food sounds good again.

I miss you, dear readers!

Jul 13

5 Comments

a bowl of irony & a jar of sunlight

Spree’s been down with a stomach bug – blech! The doctor has called for bland. For the last several days, no appetite at all. My husband’s gone to the store (twice) to fill my wish list – and then, not meaning to be ungrateful – I turn my nose up. How in the world does spree do bland? What an irony!

Spree’s White Rice

2 teaspoons clarified butter (or olive oil if you haven’t any)
1/8 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/8 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/8 teaspoon coriander seed
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup white basmati rice
2 cups water
chopped cilantro as garnish, optional, but just about perfect

Put clarified butter (Ghee, in India) into a heavy pot. Add cumin, fennel and coriander seeds and toast over medium-low heat until (as my friend from India says) “they go chit chit,” which is to say they crackle and get medium-toasty brown. Add the rice, salt and stir to coat with butter. Add your water and bring to boil. Stir once. Reduce heat to simmer for 18 minutes. (Don’t peek.) Turn heat off and allow rice to sit undisturbed for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork, and serve with something colorful and savory…if you can. (But even unaccompanied or unadored, it satisfies.) A sprinkling of chopped cilantro over top, nice!

A Jar of Sunlight – Clarified Butter

Butter is a combination of butter fat, milk solids and water. Clarifying removes the water and milk solids, leaving pure buttery goodness and elevating the smoking point. With clarified butter, you can now turn up the heat without risk of smoking up your kitchen or blackening your lovely meal plan. It has an absolutely wonderful aroma and delicately-toasty taste. It keeps well in the refrigerator for at least a month. (Some grocery stores will sell ghee in the refrigerated section.)

a jar of sunlight

8 ounces unsalted butter

a heavy pot
a jar
a piece of dampened cheesecloth

Jul 4

7 Comments

Tuna Salad Nicoise

If ever I see Salad Niςoise on the menu, my choice might just as well have been made for me. Every other listing on the menu gets obscured behind shower-glass. I can’t quite make it out. Reading glasses don’t help. That’s how much I love Salad Niςoise!

The first time I tried this salad, years ago, I prepared it myself. Even though as newlyweds we were counting pennies, I was wanting, so badly, a new cookbook – something really amazing to add to my “library” of two. (Or was it only one?) I’m still kind of perplexed at my choice, because I had next to no experience in the kitchen, but I thought at the time my selection made sense. “Why not start at the top and learn from Julia Child? She has her own TV show! And she speaks French! She probably knows just about everything.” It was blind luck I suppose that I stumbled upon this salad before trying my hand at (deflating) a souffle, or braising beef tongue for Pot-au-feu (gag reflex), or making oeufs en gélee (poached eggs in aspic, if you can imagine!) I fear I never would have found Salad Niςoise if I hadn’t happened upon it before the others! Over the years, it’s undergone a few changes – but nothing major. Some things just possess that kind of status. They’ve earned their place. It’s the sort of thing that you’re a bit awed at the very sight of, you dip your head with respect, allow for a moment of silent appreciation, give in to the smile that’s forcing its way up, then raise two forks and begin! (OK, just one.) For me, that’s Salad Niςoise. It gets me every time.

Tuna Salad Niςoise

(serves 4 main course meals)

This salad originated in Nice, France. It’s fresh, clean, light, summery, deliciously lemony, a little salty here and there…and is one of those things that’s far greater than the sum of its parts. It’s a composed dish – arranged in any manner that suits the artist – that would be you. The key though is to treat each component in a way that brings out the delicious best in it. The ingredients that are cooked are done so separately, and most are then tossed in a little vinaigrette before being arranged on the platter. The components of this salad can ALL be prepared ahead of time, put in their own containers, loaded in the cooler and taken on a picnic, then artfully assembled on site! Can’t you just hear Julia now? “Tres chic picnic!”

I happen to love seared Ahi. Rare. For me, a little satisfies deeply. But, if you don’t have access to it, or aren’t enamored of it, you can use a good canned albacore tuna – when packed in extra virgin olive oil its taste is very good. For years, I bought tuna packed in water, but I’ve learned since that loss of flavor is the price you pay for that exchange. Because more of you will probably opt for the canned tuna, I’ll write the recipe for that. If seared ahi is your preference, I’m assuming you’ll know just what to do – sear in very hot pan one minute or so per side.

Vinaigrette

1 clove garlic, minced (or to your taste)
3 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 Tablespoon wine vinegar (not balsamic)
1-1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard or 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt & Freshly ground pepper to taste
Fresh or dried herbs – especially fresh thyme leaves

Make a smooth paste of the minced garlic, combined with the salt. Whisk in lemon juice and wine vinegar. Add mustard. Slowly whisk in olive oil, or place it all in a lidded jar and shake until emulsified.

Salad Ingredients

1 head butter lettuce
1 bunch watercress (optional)
8 plum tomatoes, cut in 1/2 lengthwise, (tossed with 2 T. olive oil & 1 T. balsamic vinegar)
5 – 10 sprigs of thyme or lemon thyme
1- 6 or 7 oz. can of albacore tuna in extra-virgin olive oil (preferably troll caught)
3/4 pounds fingerling potatoes (or small white or Yukon Gold potatoes)
4 hard-boiled eggs, cut in half
1/3 cup (or more) Niςoise olives
1/2 pound fresh green string beans
5 anchovies packed in salt (or a 2-oz. tin of flat fillets in olive oil) – Optional !
lemon cut in wedges for serving

Serving suggestion: Serve with toasted crusty bread drizzled with olive oil.

I’m about to give you directions for slow-roasting the tomatoes with olive oil and thyme. They’re really delicious this way, and add a different dimension to this salad, but if you haven’t the time, or would just prefer them un-roasted, then skip to the next step.

Roasting tomatoes. Prepeat oven to 300°F. In a medium bowl, toss the tomatoes with 2 T. olive oil and 1 T. balsamic vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to a cooking sheet lined with parchment paper and place cut side down, with a sprig of fresh thyme tucked beneath. Bake for 45 minutes or 1 hour, or until tomatoes are “sun-dried” and lightly caramelized. Read more

Jul 3

7 Comments

Mixed Berry Cobblers

Happy 4th of July everybody! I hope you have something fun cooked up for yourselves!

I’ve been waiting for this day! Well, more precisely, I’ve been waiting for this month. We’re in full-berry season now! Oregon’s own deep-red-to-the-core strawberries, plump sweet blues and earthy blackberries, and delicate deep-pink raspberries. Why not put them all together and bring them to the picnic? I’ve got some wonderful simple ways to enjoy the fruits of berry season, but I’ll begin here, with these little mini-cobblers. Maybe something like this will make it to your 4th of July table.

But if not today, then maybe soon, while the berries are sun-filled and still sweet with summer.

Mixed Berry Cobblers

(Makes enough for about 8 servings)

These cobblers can be made in little ramekins or mini-casseroles, or mini-cocottes (like the one pictured above.) Or if you’d prefer, you can make one large 2-quart cobbler. The directions up until the end are identical.

Biscuit Dough

1-1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading surface
3 Tablespoons sugar
1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 Tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2″ cubes
1/2 cup cold whole milk

Filling

1/2 cup sugar (or vanilla sugar – see NOTE at bottom of recipe)
1-1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch
7 cups mixed fresh berries (but not more than 1-1/2 cups of strawberries) (if the strawberries are large, cut them in half)
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped of its seeds – (berries love vanilla, but this is a completely optional addition)

For Serving

Vanilla Ice-Cream or lightly sweetened whipped cream (with a dash of vanilla extract)

Preheat your oven to 400°F; place the rack in the middle position.

Prepare the filling: In a large bowl whisk together the cornstarch and sugar (and the seeds from the vanilla bean if using.) Add the berries and toss to coat evenly. Spoon the mixture into small pots to within 1/2-inch of their tops, or into a 2- quart casserole.

Make the dough: Whisk together the sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Add the butter, and using your fingertips, rub the butter in with the flour until the resulting mixture resembles a coarse meal, with butter pieces the size of small peas or smaller. Add the milk and stir just until dough forms. Gather dough together into a ball and transfer to a lightly floured surface where you’ll knead gently 5 or 6 times. (Add flour to the board if necessary to keep dough from sticking.)

If making mini-cobblers: Pat the dough to about 1/2-inch thickness. Using a biscuit cutter the appropriate size for your mini-casseroles, cut out enough biscuits to cover your cobblers. Place them on a parchment-covered cookie sheet or jelly roll pan and bake for approximately 20 to 25 minutes, or until fruit is bubbling up and tops are nicely browned. Allow to cool for at least 15 to 20 minutes before topping with vanilla ice-cream or slightly sweetened whipped cream.