Strawberry Jam

Well summer is officially here when the berries are ready. I used to pick berries and make jam almost every year but for the last 3-4 years I've been too busy. It was great to get out there even if strawberries are my least favorite to pick (and the most likely to prove I'm aging).

The berries were very small but the ripe ones are perfectly sweet. I think it was still a little early and there will be more in a week or two.

With my daughters help we picked about 20lbs, which showed restraint. I tend to get a little obsessive when picking berries and seem to feel that no berry should be left behind.

We now have 30 jars of jam, one tray of Martha style frozen berries and have some plans for muffins this week.

If you make jam and are likely to toss the foam, I suggest keeping it and using it as a topping. We had some on peach sorbet and it was great.

Send off to the June Bon Appetit

6 weeks - 68 Recipes - 14% of my monthly spending



18 blogposts - 0lbs lost/gained - 100s of dishwasher loads

And most importantly many great meals with friends, family & co-workers

I choose Bon Appetit over Gourmet because I though it would be a little more practical in terms of time spent, ingredients and costs. Overall, while I love Ruth Richel and Gourmet I still think Bon Appetit is more assessable to the average home cook.

Price. This endeavor was a little pricier that I expected, probably at least 2x my normal grocery bill. Of course with parties and friends over more often that is to be expected and I have not eaten out in weeks so that did help.

Time Spent/Cookabilty. In terms of cooking complexity I think Bon Appetite does a good job of keeping recipes geared to anyone with some basic cooking skills. There were a few multi part recipes that took some planning but overall everything was simple to make and not fussy or prone to cooking failures. The section on 15 dishes in 15 minutes was great. Most were good, quick as advertised and creative enough to get you try some things you might not normally try during the busy week.

Ingredients. I am lucky to live in a city with lots of great grocery stores and rarely have to go to a specialty store to find ingredients. There were only two ingredients (zucchini blossoms and ginger preserves) that I could not find and the first is likely due to season. If you live somewhere where the grocery stores are not as good this would have been more of a challenge. There seemed to a few theme ingredients this month: Shallots, Creme Fraiche or Sour Cream, Berries & Cherry Tomatoes. The berries and cherry tomatoes were due to the season, but we here in far pacific NW are a little behind and some of the berries are better in late June and July. I appreciated that a few items, where you only need a small quantity, like pine nuts and pumpkin seeds were used in more than one recipe. I know this is not cooking light, but they could do a little better with dropping some of the creams & butter or giving an alternative lower calorie option.

And now (drum role) the top ten. In no particular order.

Grapefruit Gimlet (pg28)
Spinach Salad w/Pecorino Pine Nuts & Currents (pg49)
Noodles w/Ground Chicken & Crispy Shallots (pg12)
Mixed Berry Pie w/Orange, Ginger & Almond Streusel (pg113)
Chicken & Watercress Salad w/Almonds & Feta (pg105)
Seared Duck Breast w/Cherries & Port Sauce (pg84)
Strawberries from Strawberry Romanoff (pg108)
Shrimp Scampi w/Green Onion & Orzo (pg105)
Blueberry Jam Cookies (pg111)
Tomato-Cucumber Gazpacho(pg78)

Bottom 5.
Peach Royal (too sweet)
Pasta w/Goat cheese, lemon & asparagus (needed more flavor)
Ice Cream from Strawberry Romanoff (just not good)
Lemony Herb dip (wasted calories)
Cornish Hens (just not for me)

So long June. It's been fun!

Final & Flexible Menu

The final meal in my seemingly endless quest was an slightly modified version of the "romantic dinner" menu. I had planned on sharing the meal with a friend that, while not the personification of romantic, I always enjoy spending time with. But real life happens, plans got changed and the food still had to be cooked or go to waste. So I turned the meal from meal for two into a fancy chick flick meal. Not as pathetic as it sounds (or maybe it is).

Menu
Seared Duck Brest w/Cherries and Port Sauce (pg84)
Penne w/Hazelnut Gremolata & Roasted Broccolini (pg85)
Chocolate Budino Tartlets w/Fleur De Sel (pg14)
Woodward Canyon Artist Series -Cabernet 2003 (I supposed I should drink the 1990 first but then it will be gone)



I am not typically a big fan of duck, in the past I have found it too rich and just have not loved the flavor. Now I am wondering if maybe I just was not served the best recipes because this turned out great. I ended up with a couple extra duck breasts in the freezer and will try another recipe just too double check-maybe I do like duck after all. The sauce was also delicious.

The pasta was okay, but not in the top 10.

The Chocolate tartlets were unusual and topped with a little salt and olive oil. I love the salted caramels such as Frans gray salt or smoked salt caramels so thought this would be fun to try. The recipe comes from some place in San Fran called A16. I looked up the restaurant and it has lots of rave reviews and even a picture of this tart right on the web site. The chocolate was very good, I put a tiny bit too much salt on mine but it did go well with the chocolate.

As for the wine, I have this weird thing that I can't drink the good bottles alone. Trust me, I have NO issues drinking wine alone, but I seem to think the good ones should be shared with good company. I opened a fun bottle of prosecco instead.

The chick flick sucked but the food was good. (why oh why can't they make good rom-coms anymore).

All and all a good meal to end on.

Final Week

This is the final week of the quest. Next week celery & carrot sticks.



Rosemary Trout w/Cherry Tomato Sauce (pg103)
Noodles w/Ground Chicken & Crispy Shallots (pg12)
Spice-Roasted Cornish Hens w/Cucumber Yogurt Sauce (pg103)
Homemade Tagliatelle w/Zucchini & Cherry Tomatoes (pg97)
Spicy Black Beans w/Chorizo & Chipotle Cream (pg81)



Notes....

Rosemary Fish. I cheated on the rosemary trout. I love fresh fish but I am not a fan of the whole fish, head and tail included. So I made the recipe with a nice fillet instead. The sauce was simple and could work on a few different types of fish.

Noodles. This recipe goes into the top 10 of the quest. It comes from a Thai restaurant in New York called Tong Thai Brasserie. I was fixing this mid week and worried that I'd be up rather late as there are lots of steps, but it was really not that bad. I would suggest buying ground chicken to save a little time.

Hens. This is a "fancy" one from the 15 minute section but not one of the best (and it does take more cooking time). Not bad, and it does look impressive if you are trying to put something quick and nice on the table-but will not make it into my repeat often list.

Tagliatelle. Any real Italian would have been appalled at my pasta making. I had holes in my dough and don't have a good draping setup so ended up with some clumping pasta. My skills aside, this is a nice meal. It was meant to be served with a larger menu but is perfectly acceptable as an entree with just a salad. I could not find zucchini blossoms anywhere even our better veggie stands or the farmers markets, so I just left then out.

Beans. I made this but have not had more than a bite. It smelled good, but I did not have a place to serve I just needed to finish the recipes.

Mixing Flavors

Another meal for another friend. Good thing I know people who like to eat my food.

One challenge in creating menus with only 10 recipes left is that the foods might not go together. But it's good for experimenting. This combined some traditional or Italian flavors from the polenta with the Indian flavors of the lamb chops. A little strange but worked and the colors were great. Add a nice big walla walla red and "it's all good".



Grilled Lamb Chops w/Fresh Mango Chutney (pg40)
Polenta w/Green Beans, Mushrooms, Peas & Leeks (pg52)
Strawberries from Strawberry Romanoff-yes again (pg108)
Walla Walla Red by one of my favorite vintners

Thank you dinner

How to you thank a friend for helping with a garage sale? Gee when you are on a cooking quest it must be with a meal...

I should first say that I don't really like garage sales-attending or hosting. This was my daughters idea but of course her interest in sticking around dwindled after a few hours. Garage sales require talking to lots of people you don't know and in some case very strange people you don't know. Not high on my list of fun.

I bet someone could write a pretty funny blog about some of the people at garage sales. The good news is that I messed up on my Craig's list posting so never had the circling cars and rush of people right at "opening". We luckily were still able to get enough local traffic to sell the good stuff (and the cookies).

The best people story had to be the older gentleman who not only brought us some amazing smoked salmon but fell in love with my friend w/i 5 seconds. Really what's a mere 32 year age difference at this point. The man made us a fresh Greek salad, so what if he wanted to feel her up in front of the other garage sale attendees. I think she was close to two marriage proposals during one little garage sale.

Anyway how do you say thank you to someone for talking to people who want to talk you down a quarter or say grope you?


Smoked Salmon w/Crispy Shallots & Dilled Cream (pg84)


Stuff Zucchini w/Mortadella & Parmesan (pg97)


Roast Beef w/Butter Lettuce Pesto (pg97)


Strawberries w/Whipped Cream.

2 Bottles of good Italian wine!

Yes we used the smoked salmon gifted by my friends new admirer.

Going over the edge

Signs that you are cooking too much: you have a garage sale and decide to bake 8 dozen cookies and 5 dozen mini muffins for said garage sale. Add in the ice coffee and lemonaid and I best we had the best food of any garage sale.

Week 5

Maybe I should have made this an eat for charity event or something to make it seem more of a worthy cause. I do enjoy the food, but I doubt this quest is going to get me a book or movie deal.


Week of 6/8
Chicken w/Green Beans (pg54)
Mahi-Mahi Skewers w/Tapenade & Couscous (pg103)
Shrimp & Cotija Enchiladas w/Salsa Verde (pg15)
Strawberry Romanoff w/Creme Fraiche Ice Cream (pg108)
Homemade Pizza (pg90)

Work Treats
Cherry Jam Crostata (pg97)
Onion, Spinach & Ricotta Frittata (pg49)



Notes & more

Chicken & Greenbeans. Really nothing to write about. Not bad, not outstanding. An acceptable workweek meal.

Mahi-Mahi Skewers w/Tapenade & Couscous Another from the 15 min section and again lived up to the advertising. I used the grill vs the oven as I love my new gas grill. The fish was perfect and the topping worked well. I used a tapenade that had some fig along with the olive, which added a bit of a sweet taste.

Shrimp & Cotija Enchiladas w/Salsa Verde My daughter got to picked from the remaining recipies what she would like for a special last day of 6th grade meal and she choose this and the stawberry romanoff. These enchiladas were good, though I did not make quite enough sauce due to tomatillos being in short supply. This is not a good one for a quick meal as there are a number of steps, but I probably make again. The strawberry part of the romanoff was great but the ice cream was strange. I think the creme fraiche made it too "buttery" if there is such a thing or maybe I missed a step. Strawberries are coming in to season in Seattle and I recommend sliced with just a little sugar, orange juice and grand marnier.

Homemade Pizza Friday is often Movie and Pizza night. This recipe was just for the dough and meant to go with the flat breads from an earlier menu. We decided to skip delivery and make our own. The topping was an olive oil base with spinach, red pepper, basil, fresh mozzarella, and a sprinkle of parmesan

As for the work treats both were very good and well received. For the Crostata I used a tulip cookie cutter instead of the criss cross pattern in the recipe. The fritatta was a good way to make people happy at the start of a 1/2 Friday meeting.

K-O-Side Dish

Time for our big school potluck and assignments are based just on your last name... I guess that makes it easy for them but limits me. I have could only find a couple items that qualify as a side dish in the remaining 22 recipes.

Green Bean Succotash (pg54)
Chili-Corn Custard Squares (pg78)

I doubled both recipes and left the chilies out of the squares (which look pretty good). I guess I'll know based on the leftovers if I should be in the K-O or change my name.

Good House guest

Headed over to a friends for a girls night. When trying to finish 68 recipes here is how to be a good house guest.

Double batch of Viognier Fruit Spritzer (pg89)
Lemony Herb Dip (pg49)
Mixed-Berry Tiramisu (pg111)


I am not much of a wine spritzer gal, at least since my youth when I thought wine coolers were "cool". I'll leave out the age on that-but who remembers Bartles and James and even better who remembers the headaches these sweet drinks produced. Any how, this drink was not at all like that. It was sweet but very good and no headache despite the double batch being fully consumed. Oh and I used chardonnay mostly because the only bottle of Viognier I have is one worth drinking on it's own and I am not a big Chardonnay person so it was okay to add fruit.


Herb dip was very creamy. I did cut it with some light sour cream. Nothing fantastic but acceptable.

Mixed-Berry Tiramisu w/Lime Curd. I am eating the last remaining piece as I write this. Delicious! So far this has probably been the most labor intensive recipe of the month, but it is worth it. I don't have a standard a serving dish for this dessert but used a big bowl and let the lady fingers stick out a bit. Gave it a unique look.

Week 325 I mean 6/1

Okay it takes a long time to finish 68 recipes.

Meals
Jalapeno Crab Cakes w/Slaw and Salsa (pg104)
Spicy Orange Chicken Stir fry (pg104)
Flank Steak Salad w/Chimichurri Dressing (pg105)
Cream Fraiche-Roasted Salmon (pg68)
Chicken & Watercress Salad w/Feta (pg105)

Work Treat
Mixed Berry Pie w/Ginger Orange & Almond Streusel (pg113)


Crab Cakes. Simple and better than expected. I was dubious of the plain slaw and also thought it a bit of a waste to put salsa on fresh crab, but it worked. I made some w/o the Jalapeno for the child. Also worked as lunch the next day.

Spicy Orange Chicken. A number of these weekday dishes are from the 15 minutes meals section and most have been truth in advertising. This is quick and not a bad weekday meal. I did leave out the red pepper due to said child and I would add next time-needed a little kick.

Flank Steak w/Chimichurri dressing. . Well I guess chimichurri is basically parsley pesto. This was good but after having leftovers at work the next day I was bumming some mints and gum before my meetings. This is also pretty low on the carbs if that is your thing.

Cream Fraiche-Roasted Salmon. I think I already ranted about this one earlier but I said I would do ALL the recipes so... It's not bad, I just don't see what it really adds to our amazing salmon? If you need to gain weight then by all means slather on the cream fraiche but otherwise all little olive oil, salt, pepper and maybe a touch of garlic and squeeze of lemon is all ya need.

Chicken & Watercress Salad w/Feta . Another winner from the 15min section. I grilled my own chicken after letting it sit with some of the dressing as marinade so it was not technically 15 min, but it was good. This might make it into my summer rotation.


Berry Pie-like you could go wrong. I brought to work for breakfast. Healthier than donuts and a great way to start a Friday.