Oba Restaurant
555 NW 12th Ave
Portland, OR 97209
(503) 228-6161

The evening came about as jwa’s employer gave him an Oba! giftcard a few months ago for doing some extra work. The giftcard has actually just sat around the last couple of months in the dining room until I heard about this Argyle Wine Dinner. So, that was convenient and gave us about 55% off the total of the dinner.

In the beginning…
I don’t have a picture of how the evening started, but I can say tell you that it was Dungeness Crab Crostini with house made black raspberry conserves. This was very tasty and was served with Argyle Knudsen Vineyard Blanc de Noirs 1998, a white sparkling wine. We had a couple of glasses of that one — it was good.

Going into the dinner, I was a little apprehensive of a group setting as jwa and I both like to keep to ourselves in social situations. Upon arriving, we noticed that there were, in fact, four big tables.

As it turned out, it was just fine. A minute or two after we sat down a couple sat across from us, L & J, and we ended up talking with them all night. It was fun. Alcohol — such a great ice breaker!

First Course:
Smithfield Ham -Wrapped Asparagus Spears with Apricot-Serrano butter. Served with Argyle Riesling 2004.

This was very good too. The ham was super salty and went well with the sweetness of the Riesling.

In between courses, Rollin would speak about the wine we were starting to drink and about the winery in general. He would start each with the introduction of clanging a knife against a glass and announcing, “This is a winemaker’s dinner and I am the winemaker…” This intro proved more and more helpful as the night (and the wine) wore on. These talks were also delivered in a Texas drawl, accented by the frequent use of the word “knucklehead”.

There was also an interesting sort of rivalry between different factions of Texas at this meal. It had something to do with sports teams and with Rollin and Scott Neuman, the chef, who later opened his chef jacket and revealed his team on a t-shirt.

Second Course:
Seared day-boat scallops, creamy polenta and tropical salsa paired with Argyle Nuthouse Chardonnay 2001.

I loved the scallops. And the salsa was fabulous. The chardonnay was very buttery and is produced in a converted nut house. There was something about Chardonnay clones and stuff but I don’t remember what exactly. Hey — this was after about five glasses of wine.

Here, I’ll go check the Web site.

Nuthouse Chardonnay and Spirithouse Chardonnay are single vineyard wines, made in small quantities and are very limited in quantity…Starting with the 1995 vintage, Argyle Winery prestige Chardonnays are 100% Dijon clone. At 40 acres, Argyle Winery has the largest plantings of small cluster, Dijon chardonnay clones in Oregon.

In any case, I want to get a bottle of this now. jwa thought it tasted like butter too.

Third Course:
Roasted Lamb Chops with mashed Cuban sweet potato and guajillo chili demi-glaze. Served with Argyle Pinot Noir Reserve 2003.

This might have been my favorite course of all. I love lamb and these chops were amazing, as was the chili demi-glaze.

Chef Neuman came out and talked about a couple of courses before we ate them. Mainly, how he approached pairing a food with each wine and why. This was fairly interesting, even if I don’t remember most of the details now.

Finally, Dessert:
Coconut Angel Cake with almonds, rose water and raspberry coulis paired with another sparkling wine, Argyle Brut Rose 2003.

This was probably my least favorite, as it seemed a little denser than I expected. But hey, there was some stiff competition here. I would probably pick the the lamb as my favorite course, followed by the scallops, then the ham, then crostini, then cake. jwa, however, picked up an interesting combination between the cake and the wine and really liked it!

I’m very glad I stumbled upon this food blogging event! I have so many cookbooks and honestly, I don’t use them enough. This Weekend Coookbook Challenge was to produce some winter comfort food from a cookbook in your collection (ideally one you haven’t used before).

After some consideration, I decided my Midwest roots provided tons of comfort food inspiration — noodles, potatoes, casseroles — my people love their carbs! So, for this challenge, I turned to Prairie Home Cooking, by Judith M. Fertig. Once again, I have this book by accident, through the Good Cook Club, when I didn’t return the response card in time. A couple of weeks ago I picked it up, hoping to find something doughy or noodley for this event and ended up making Cheddar and Beer soup last week — but not before folding down the page with the pierogi recipe. So, I’ve used it once before but only because of this challenge, so I think it’s okay.

Now, I was going to make the cheese pierogi filling from the book to go with my pierogi dough, except, I couldn’t find any dry curd cottage cheese or farmer’s cheese. So, I had to improvise a little and come up with my own filling (sweet potato, rosemary and cheese). But the pierogi dough is straight from this cookbook and pillowy and hearty — pierogi is definitely a Winter comfort food to me!

Pierogi Dough (from Prairie Home Cooking):
This makes about 6o pierogi — a half recipe will make about 30
4 1/2 cups AP flour
2 cups light sour cream
2 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp canola or safflour oil
2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
2 tsp salt

Mix all dough ingredients together in a large bowl. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until it is soft and pliable. Alternatively, you can use a mixer with a dough hook for about 5 minutes, then turn it out onto a floured surface and knead for a few seconds. Divide dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Roll dough out until about 1/4 inch thick. Using a drinking glass or a 2-inch biscuit cutter, cut the dough into circles. Incidentally, this was the most billowy, velvety dough I have ever seen — it was really fun to work with!

Place 1 rounded teaspoon of filling in the center of each circle, moisten the edges of the circle with water and fold dough over to join, creating a half moon shape. Crimp with a fork to seal. Repeat using all of the dough. After cutting circles out, I re-rolled and cut more circles from the scraps.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pierogi in batches for ten minutes. Drain in a colander.

Sweet Potato, Rosemary & Cheese Filling:
Enough fillling for about 40 pierogi
1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1/4 cup (measure generously) feta cheese, crumbled
1 big handful parmesan cheese
1 small shallot, diced finely
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary (or 1/4 tsp or to taste, dried rosemary)
dash of red pepper flakes
zest from 1/2 lemon
salt & pepper to taste

Add cubed sweet potato to a pot of water. Bring to a boil and cook until fork tender, about 10-15 minutes. Drain and return to the hot pan and stir a little over medium heat to dry out a bit. Transfer to a bowl and mash. Add the cheeses, shallot, garlic, rosemary, pepper flakes and zest. Stir to combine. Salt and pepper to taste. Set aside until needed to fill pierogi.

Extra Accompaniments:
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tbsp olive oil + a drizzle more
2 cups loosely packed arugula or spinach leaves
2 tomatoes, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

Now, here is where I deviated from the original recipe or rather, I kept going. The end of the pierogi recipe in Prairie Home Cooking says, serve boiled pierogi hot. But I ask, why eat boiled pierogi when you can eat boiled and then pan fried pierogi? Exactly. I also used my serving style that I employ with Trader Joe’s frozen pierogi — diced tomato, chicken stock, greens and pine nuts.

After boiling, I heated some olive oil (2 tablespoons) in a pan and sautéed the pierogi until puffed and golden and slid them out into a large serving bowl.

Next, I added some greens to the hot pan and wilted them down with some garlic and chicken stock. I tossed the big bowl of the pierogi with the diced tomato, added a quick drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and poured the chicken stock and greens down on top. To finish, I garnished with some toasted pine nuts. Mmm — comforting and delicious!

A round up of everyone’s dishes can be found here.

I really meant to get this up Saturday. But, Friday night, we went to the Argyle Winemaker’s Dinner at Oba! (recap of that dinner coming next week — probably Tuesday). Uh, there’s a lot of wine at a Winemaker’s Dinner. Thus, my Saturday consisted of: getting up, water, tv, water, leftover mac & cheese, advil, water, nap, feel somewhat ok but very lazy, make pierogis, eat, bed.

So, Sunday, it is! IMB22 is, awesomely enough, all about noodles and is hosted at Cooking with Amy. I love noodles. A few years ago, jwa even got me one of those nifty pasta machines.

I decided on a Stroganoff, as it’s a dish that I really like and unless you’re eating somewhere that has comfort food on the menu, you really don’t see it out all that much. As we ate tons of meat in California last month, I also decided to do a vegetable version using portobellas and a few button mushrooms.

Mushroom Stroganoff with Homemade Spinach Noodles:
Noodles –
1 1/4 cups flour
2 eggs
1 cup frozen spinach
1/2 tsp salt

To start, pop the 1 cup of frozen spinach in the microwave and heat for about 45 seconds. Take it out and put the spinach on a tea towel (or 4-5 paper towels) and wring all the excess water out. This should leave you with about 1/4 a cup of actual spinach (but you don’t have to measure it).

Place flour, eggs, salt and spinach in a mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer. I had a stand mixer and I used that. I gave it a few mixes with the spatula, then used the dough hook until it comes together.

Remove dough from hook and knead a few times on a floured work surface. Mine was a bit sticky, so I worked a little more flour into at this step. Form the dough into tennis-sized balls and cover with plastic wrap. Let rest for about an hour.

After an hour, I started working the dough through my pasta machine, starting on the biggest setting and working it through to the smallest. Dusting the machine with a little flour keeps it from sticking or tearing. If you don’t have a pasta machine, you can just use a rolling pin and roll the sheets out very thinly.

Next, I took each section of rolled-out dough (mine were roughly 4 X 6 inch sheets) and rolled it into a cylinder.

Then I cut it into little pieces.

And unrolled each one. Do this like 70 times and you will have your noodles. Lay them out on racks and let them dry for an hour or two.

When ready to cook. Add noodles to gently boiling, salted water and cook for about 5 minutes. When you think they’re done, taste one to make sure. Toss with a little butter or olive oil to keep from sticking.

Stroganoff sauce –
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp AP flour
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 big portobello mushrooms, sliced
8-10 button mushrooms (or other) sliced
1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 tsp fresh thyme (1/4 tsp dried)
1 cup sour cream (I used light — I was tempted to try fat free but decided to take the middle road)
Garnish: chopped, fresh parsley

Heat the butter in a large skillet and melt completely over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add the mushrooms and cook until they shrink down a bit and release their liquid. Add the flour and stir, cooking a couple of minutes. Next, add the wine and the chicken broth, turn the heat up and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for, about 15 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

Stir in sour cream and thyme and serve over hot noodles. Garnish with fresh parsley.

We really enjoyed this. The noodles were quite good and the sauce was very flavorful. The thyme worked great with the mushrooms and it was very creamy and satisfying.

Incidentally, two very good noddle/pasta making resources I found online were here and here.

Tagged with: IMBB # 22 + Noodle

I was actually pretty happy to learn for SHF15, we would be challenged to come up with a tasty sweet thing that had little actual sugar. Because we did so much eating out and over-indulging last month, I’m not sure that I’d have been able to come up with some decadent type of dessert for this one.

This concoction was inspired by a recipe I came across at Epicurious. It’s not sugar-free but it is fruit-laden. It has a little sugar but also some low fat buttermilk, a creamy texture and a very refreshing, satisfying taste. One thing I did do, is substitute half of the sugar with honey, which seemed to work fine. It’s not really a flan, as it’s not baked and it’s not a custard but it is served upside-down. So there you go.

Mango Faux Flan:
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
2 tbsp water
2 tsp unflavored gelatin
2 cups chopped peeled pitted mangoes (about 2 medium)
1 cup low-fat (1%) buttermilk
1/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt

Spray six 2/3- to 3/4-cup soufflé dishes with vegetable oil spray. Pour 2 tablespoons water into small saucepan. Sprinkle gelatin over; let stand 10 minutes. Stir over low heat just until gelatin dissolves. Remove from heat.

Puree chopped mangoes in processor. Transfer puree to a medium saucepan and stir over low heat until warm. Mix in gelatin, then buttermilk, sugar, honey, vanilla and salt. Strain mango mixture into bowl. Divide among prepared dishes. Chill until set.

To serve: Run small knife around mango flans; invert onto plates. If desired, drizzle with more honey. Garnish with mint leaves if available and enjoy.

One thing I was thinking of trying next time, is to serve these in wine glasses as more of a mango pudding, rather than a flan. Additionally, this dessert should be wonderful in the spring and summer I can hardly wait to make it again! Thanks, Becks and Posh, for picking a great theme!

Oh! Another idea that I just had is to use this as a mango tart filling. I will be trying this very soon. Stay tuned…

Tagged with: SHF # 15 + Low Sugar

This came about through a search for lighter and healthier dinners to balance out meals like artichoke pesto! I like to have salads for dinner occasionally but it has to have some substance, otherwise, I’m just hungry an hour later. This salad has substance. And although, I love little crispy, fried wonton skin pieces, cashews are crunchy too (and better for you). This is modified from a recipe I saw on Food Network but my version has more veggies, a different lettuce and some sesame oil, rice wine vinegar and garlic in the dressing.

So, it’s really quite different…

Light & Tasty Asian Chicken Salad:
4 slices fresh ginger
3 sprigs cilantro
6 green onions, roots trimmed
3 small carrots
1 pound skinless chicken breasts
4 cups chicken broth
1 hothouse cucumbers, diced
1 red or yellow bell pepper, julienned
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved (or 2 diced Roma tomatoes)
1/4 cup toasted cashews, chopped
1 head Romaine lettuce leaves, washed and chopped

Put the ginger, cilantro, 3 of the green onions, 1 carrot and chicken breasts in a medium saucepan.

Cover with the broth, and bring just to a boil. Lower the heat to very low and cover. Poach the chicken for 20 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove the pan from the heat, uncover, and cool the chicken in the liquid, about 30 minutes. Pull the chicken into bite-size pieces. Save the broth.

Slice the remaining 3 green onions on the diagonal, into 1/4 inch pieces. Chop the 2 remaining carrots into bite-sized pieces (or you can get all fancy and julliane theem. Toss in a large bowl with the bell pepper, cilantro, cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce and chicken. Add enough dressing to coat. (Left-over dressing can be refrigerated and used with noodles or another salad). Top with cashews and dig in.

Ginger-Sesame Dressing:
juice of 1 lime
1/2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
1-2 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp broth from poaching chicken
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil + 1 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Whisk the lime juice, ginger, soy, chili, vinegar, garlic, sesame seeds and broth in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in the oils, starting with a few drops and then adding the rest in a steady stream, to make a dressing.

Tomorrow — Asian Chicken Salad (It was very good!)
Friday — Sugar (Not High) Friday 15
Saturday — IMBB22: Use your noodle

Today — I am lazy and I need coffee.

Image: jwa raking leaves last November.

jwa and I both love pasta. However, we try not to have it more than once a week and, when possible I make wheat pasta. Good carbs and all that. Well, this was on a Thursday night and it was normal, non-wheat pasta. Mahahahahahaha! It was also quite tasty.

Artichoke Pesto:
1 can artichokes in water, drained
1 clove garlic, minced
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp fresh thyme
1/4 cup olive oil
dash of cayenne pepper
a big handful of toasted pine nuts
a big handful of parmesan cheese
salt & pepper
1 box pasta such as campanelle (or another type of pasta with lots of grooves, ridges and tunnels for the sauce to get into)
1 big handful of parsley, chopped

Add artichokes through the parmesan cheese in a food processor and combine until smooth. It should be the consistency of hummus. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Meanwhile, cook pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente.

Right before pasta is done, transfer the pesto from the processor to a large, warmed serving bowl. Strain pasta from water and pour the hot pasta on top of the pesto. Toss to combine and garnish with chopped parsley.

I also made some parmesan and garlic bread that I got all toasty under the broiler. Then I it topped with tomato slices. Mmm!

While doing research for my upcoming post for the Weekend Cookbook Challenge next Monday, I pulled out a cookbook I got a couple of years ago but have never made anything out of before — Prairie Home Cooking by Judith M. Fertig. I got this book by accident, through the Good Cook Club, when I didn’t return the response card in time. This is a problem that has been plaguing me ever since the Music Club fiasco of ‘86 when I ended up with that Whitney Houston record.

But this accident was actually a useful one. I pulled down Prairie Home Cooking the other day and there were quite a few recipes that looked good to me. This one especially caught my eye. Being a Chicago native, I have had Cheese Beer soup before (mmmmmm…cheese and beer….mmmmmm) and I was perfectly happy to recreate the experience here in Portland.

Wisconsin Cheddar Beer Soup:
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp AP flour
1/4 cup chopped yellow onion (I used white)
1/2 cup thinly-sliced celery
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (I would actually reduce this to a dash, taste, and add more if needed)
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups full-bodied beer (1 bottle)
2-3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp paprika
salt and pepper to taste
Garnish: garlic croutons

What justifies the Oregon in the title you ask?

Tillamook and Bridgeport, of course!

Okay, so, melt the butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and sauté until soft, about 6-8 minutes.

Stir in the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 more minutes. Add the cayenne and mustard and stir to combine. As I mentioned above, I would add a bit less of the cayenne and add more later if needed.

Next, whisk in the milk and beer. Bring the soup to a boil while continuing to whisk over medium high heat. For the beer, I would recommend a good amber ale. Darker beer seems to overpower the soup and a very light beer would be too under-whelming. The Ebenezeer Ale seemed okay, as that’s what I had on hand, but next time, just a plain ol’ amber will do.

Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the soup has thickened — about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the cheddar and paprika, until the cheese has melted and incorporated into the soup. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve while hot with garlic croutons if you have some on hand.

Well…four if you get fancy. These, like the pistachio bars, are in the Jan/Feb issue of Everyday Food. If there’s one thing I love — it’s cheese. If there’s another thing — it’s coffee. So, this really is the perfect dessert at my house.

In addition, there’s just a little bit of sugar and you can use low fat ricotta if you want to be a semi-healthy.

Cappuccino Parfaits:
1 15-oz container of ricotta cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp instant espresso powder
Fancy garnish: 4 mini biscotti or amaretti cookies

In a food processor, puree the ricotta, sugar and espresso powder until smooth. Let it go for a minute or so to get the lumps out of the ricotta. Scrape down the sides as needed.

Spoon mixture evenly into four serving dishes. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes and up to one day. Just before serving, place cookie on top (just stuck into the mixture a bit) or you can also crumble it.

These kind of reminded me (flavor-wise) of tiramisu. I really liked mine and jwa seemed pleased with his. I think this one is a keeper.

Yesterday, after a hard day of giggling over the line, “Welcome to the SH, bitch,” I got home from work and wanted my new favorite Trader Joe’s item: Flat Bread with onions, gruyere and ham. Mmm! It’s really very delicious. But, I felt the need to have a salad or something remotely healthy with it. After a quick survey of the kitchen I came up with half a bag of arugula, a mango that was a day or two away from being too ripe, some parmesan, a sweet onion and the jar of pistachios.

I made a quick orange vinaigrette based on a recipe I found in my e-mail recipe folder* and jwa and I had a satisfying dinner!

Arugula, Mango and Onion Salad with Orange-Rosemary Vinaigrette
1 bag of arugula
1/4 sweet onion, sliced thinly
1 mango, peeled, the flesh cut from the pit and diced
20 pistachios, shelled
1 small handful grated or shaved parmesan cheese

6 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
juice of 1 orange
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
dash of cayenne pepper
salt & pepper

Throw all the salad ingredients into a bowl. In a small jar (or a bowl) combine olive oil through salt and pepper. If in a jar, shake until you get a nice emulsion. If you’re doing this in a bowl — whisk. Dress the salad and store any leftover dressing in the fridge (you’ll have some). Toss well and serve…with a tasty flat bread pizza!

This pizza isn’t super heavy, which is nice and it’s very crisp. It went perfectly with the salad.

* Whenever I see interesting recipes online, I copy them and e-mail them to myself and stash them in a folder. There’s tons of recipes there and I have no idea of the original source or how long ago I found them. Yay!