Tomato. Tomato.

Eat one bowl, maybe two and call me in the morning. Tomatoes big and small are coming into their own. It’s been a nail biter of a season. Summer rain settled over the city in typical fashion leaving the tender young vines hungry. Now, today, in this moment the Sun Gold and Early Girls are…

Summer Nights with Chardonnay

Setting the scene.  Golden evening light filters through the evergreens.  2014 Efeste Lola Chardonnay swirls gently in my glass. Wisps of smoke and the hiss of cooking food emanate from the grill nearby. Corn, still in the husk, roasts slowly on the grill.  Butter, salt, and chopped herbs are ready to adorn the treasured summer…

Aarhus Street Food

There are many reasons to make the journey west to Jutland.  Along the way we stopped at a park to find a troll, admired the wind turbines dotting the countryside, and made plans for our day in a new city.  We followed our noses from one booming street food scene in Copenhagen across to Jutland…

Torvehallerne

The entire trip to Copenhagen centered around food and amusement parks.  Our apartment was a short walk to the Norreport station.  Ideally situated to allow us to walk through the Torvehallerne food hall each day. Vendors are set up inside and out offering a dizzying array of fresh produce and artisanal food products.  There must…

Crisp Crostini

Back home summer is in full swing.  Even on the laziest of days it is easy to pull together  a flavor packed meal.  The one requirement this time of year is to keep cooking indoors to a minimum. The baguette was sliced thin on the bias to maximize the amount of real estate available for…

In my pantry there is…

a jar of Mama Lil’s peppers.  Out in the garden the lettuces and herbs are flourishing.  The fridge is housing random bits – olives, blue cheese, salami, scallions.  There is also the last of the balsamic vinaigrette made over the long weekend. The mid week meal came together quickly as a result .  In fact,…

Crunch Munch

Tender spring veg are one of life’s great joys. Throughout the season carrots abound.  They can be found in recipes for deep, flavorful braised brisket to refreshing aqua fresca with lime.  Their ubiquitous presence puts them in the running year in and year out for ‘Most Dependable Vegetable’. It is in the spring time when…

King Salmon

The gang’s all here.  Morels, asparagus, new potatoes, big crunchy heads of lettuce.  The farmers market is bursting with spring veg.  Now the salmon are running.  The first of these mighty fish made it to Seattle last week. The cooking style in my kitchen has  shifted from long slow languorous methods to quicker preparations aimed…

An Education Continued…

Two sour ales were opened and tasted this afternoon.  Another sample from the Double Mountain Brewery the other from a new producer, Calicraft Brewing Company. Peach was the common flavor of both ales in this tasting round.  The sour ale from Calicraft Brewing is from their lineup of barrel aged products.  On the nose the…

Power Prestige Pommard

A straightforward meal is elevated with a rather special bottle of wine. Dinner was nothing more than a roasted chicken with roasted spring vegetables.  The young potatoes were sliced thick, tossed in olive oil, seasoned, and left to cook in the oven until a nice golden brown.  The other veg, carrots and asparagus, commingled on the…

Mediterranean Meatballs

Once again this is one of those recipes that relies more on ratios than exact measurements.  It began with approximately 1.5 pounds of ground beef and ended with a dozen golf ball sized meatballs. Ground beef Egg 1 whole Cilantro Mint Parsley Basil Lemon zest 1T Red onion 1/4c minced Green garlic 1/4c small dice…

In my pantry there is….

a tin of sesame puree that has remained sealed.  Has it been that long since I made hummus?  Now it’s open.  Fortuitously navy beans were soaked and cooked on Friday.  They were going to be used in a salad.  Making hummus sounds more interesting. Navy bean, 4c cooked Tahini paste, 2T Lemon juice 1/4c Olive…