Mmmm, I love the asparagus. And this is an excellent asparagus soup recipe, based on one from Sara Moulton. Originally, the creaminess/thickening came from eggs — I used tofu instead. Again, tofu is the best thing ever for making soups creamy.

Huh, I think that’s all I have to say about the soup. Just make some and you too will know how good it is. On an unrelated note, I will add that aside from asparagus, I also love sleep.

Asparagus-Dill-Lemon Soup
1.5 lb asparagus
2 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium leek, white part coarsely chopped and washed well
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 ribs celery, thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp fresh dill, minced
1/2 cup soft tofu
Optionoal: more fresh dill and some lemon zest for garnish

Trim the ends off the asparagus but reserve the ends. In a saucepan combine the asparagus trimmings with the chicken stock, bring to a boil, remove from heat and allow stock to infuse for 15 minutes. Strain stock and reserve.

Cut the trimmed asparagus into 1-inch pieces.

Heat the oil in a soup pot over moderate heat and cook the leeks, onion and celery, seasoned with salt and pepper, until softened, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add the 1-inch asparagus pieces and stir to combine. Add the infused stock and bring to a boil and simmer, covered for 8 to 10 minutes until asparagus is tender.

In a blender puree the soup, in batches, until smooth. Add the tofu, lemon and dill into the batches of the soup as you blend.

Return pureed soup to large pot and reheat. Taste and adjust any seasonings. You can actually serve hot, room temperature or cold — so many delicious possibilities. Garnish with a sprig of dill and a strip of lemon zest.

***
I spent a few hours Saturday night perfecting the Save-the-Date card plan. It took a while but I think I finally have a design I really like. Now, we just need to decide on a location after next weekend’s field trip to Astoria and Ilwaco/Seaview. Then I can actually sit down and hammer them all out.

So, my original plan was to go to bed early last night and post something this morning. Perhaps the chicken and plum tart from my new Shakespeare-inspired Cookbook that I got in Ashland a couple of weeks ago. Or maybe the lavender and rosemary crusted chicken.

But here’s what happened instead.

10PM — I turn the light out and try to sleep while jwa decides to do his vocal impressions of Jack Black, Dio, Meatloaf and Dave Grohl while singing along to the entire Pick of Destiny soundtrack.

11PM — jwa discovers computer stuff at work is broken and he needs to go in and see what’s wrong…

11:30PM — Spencer is upset that jwa is gone — continually mrows and vocalizes his displeasure. Chelsea, oblivious, snores away.

12:00 AM — I go downstairs and end up watching Law & Order.

1:30 AM — I go back to bed and read a bit. Turn out the light for the 2nd time around 2:00.

2:30 AM — jwa calls, he’s going to be a while longer.

3:00 AM — I think I fall asleep, as does Spencer, who finally gives up his protest and decides to take a nap. Chelsea still snoring.

4:00 AM-ish — jwa gets home. Then promptly starts snoring. Thankfully, I fall back asleep too.

6:45 AM — Alarm goes off. I hate the alarm clock with the heat of a thousand suns. I make coffee and decide I’d rather stare at the wall and try to will time to turn backwards, than try to decide what recipe to post about.

8:00 AM — jwa gives me a ride to work so I can leave 30 minutes later than usual. I feel a little guilty for him getting out of bed after only four hours of sleep, but then I remember he gets to come home and go back to bed and I feel okay with it.

10:00 AM — I can’t believe I have 6.5 more hours at work until I can go home and sleep.

Anyway, that’s why there’s not a new food post today…

This is a recipe based on a dish from Sara Moulton. I omitted the cream in the original and replaced it with some manchego cheese. Mmmmm, cheese. It was flavored much like the soup I had a Dundee Bistro last month (that was on purpose as I loved that soup).

The Sara version was featured on a show called, “Cooking for One”, which I don’t really understand. jwa and I both had some of this along with some chicken the other night and I was able to use leftovers the next day to make soup. So, one? Probably more servings than that but it’s not really a problem as this puree is awesome.

Cauliflower & Manchego Cheese Puree
1/2 pound cauliflower florets, chopped (2 2/3 cups)
1 garlic clove, smashed
1/3 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cubed manchego cheese (I won’t tell anyone if you add more cheese)
1 tsp unsalted butter
1/2 tsp smoked Spanish paprika
Freshly ground pepper

Simmer cauliflower, garlic, broth, and salt in a small saucepan, covered, until cauliflower is very tender, about 10 minutes. You will have a lot more cauliflower than broth, so really, you’ll be kind of steaming it.

Puree mixture with cubed cheese, paprika and butter in a food processor until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids), or mash with a potato masher or a fork. Although, if you mash it, grate the cheese instead of just cubing it.

Serve with some freshly ground pepper on top and you will be happy. We had this with lavender and rosemary crusted chicken on top of some sauteed spinach with red wine, orange peel, garlic and almonds. I’ll have to post about that later in the week as I am on this new exercise kick and need to now go do arm curls with jwa.

Ah, Spring. Rainy pasta weather (well, sometimes). A week or so ago we were had a lovely pasta meal while the wind and storms raged outside. The dilemma — jwa likes spaghetti best whereas I prefer rigatoni or a pasta more like that. Needless to say, we really rarely have spaghetti.

I think it was the meatballs that convinced me to make this spaghetti and meatballs dish. Forming meatballs is fun. So, he got a spaghetti dinner and I got to make a bunch of little meatballs with currants and pine nuts (oh and pork, too). Everyone wins. Actually, the meal was very tasty and I may just have become a spaghetti convert after this one.

I came across this recipe (and now, I can’t remember where. I’m 90% sure it was at www.foodnetwork.com, so it’s probably one of the usual suspects there). I added a few extras to the sauce (olives, red wine and a pinch of sugar) and fennel to the meatballs.

Sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes in juice
4 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup chopped black olives
1/2 tsp dried oregano
pinch of sugar

Meatballs
2/3 cup fresh breadcrumbs
3 tbsp milk
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
3 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 large egg
2 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 pound sweet Italian sausages, casings removed
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
2 tbsp dried currants

1 pound spaghetti

For the Sauce
Heat the oil in heavy large pot over medium-low heat. Add onion and sauté until golden, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and stir about for 1 minute. Add tomatoes with juices, 2 tablespoons of the basil, the olives and the red wine. Bring to boil.

Reduce heat the heat and simmer until sauce thickens, breaking up tomatoes with fork, about 1 hour. Mix in 2 tablespoons basil and a pinch of sugar. Season with salt and pepper. Set sauce aside.

For the Meatballs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil baking sheet. Mix crumbs and milk in medium bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Mix in Parmesan, onion, basil, egg, garlic and pepper. Add sausage, pine nuts, fennel and currants and blend well.

Using wet hands, form mixture into 1 1/4-inch balls. Place on baking sheet.

Bake until meatballs are light brown and cooked through, about 30 minutes.

Add to sauce and barely simmer until the pasta is done.

Cook spaghetti in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain and mound on yoru plates. Spoon some sauce and meatballs over the spaghetti. Top with Parmesan cheese.

Dig in.

I even made an antipasto platter to go with out meal — marinated artichokes, salami, peppers, black & green olives, parsley and garlic braided mozzarella and those big Italian beans I like. On the side, we also had steamed broccoli because, seriously, a whole plate of pork meatballs and pasta? You really need some steamed broccoli on the side.

***
Man, what was I thinking? A pasta meal when I have only 6-8 months to get into shape before my wedding dress comes in? Ha! Yeah, I found a dress at Tres Fabu (across the street from Caprials — see? It’s food related). I ordered it and now I just wait for the factory to make it and ship it. And, the one I picked was only 50% of the budget I had allotted for the dress. Awesome — now I can get that tiara I’ve had my eye on. Joking!

This month’s Sugar High Friday is hosted by Coconut Chutney and the theme is edible flowers. Hey — it’s a great time to break into my stash of dried lavender! In case anyone has trouble finding dried lavender, I usually buy it at Cost Plus, where it comes in nicely sized bags in the spices section. You can also use fresh lavender flowers, of course.

This recipe by Gale Gand, another person I wish still had a show on the Food Network.

Be warned — these are very addictive. The only problem I had is that the dough was way too dry and I had to add a little milk. So, I guess the lesson here is just have a little milk on hand in case your dough needs a bit more moisture.

Lavender Shortbread
8 tbsp (1 stick) cool unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp dried lavender flowers
Optional (if needed) 2-3 tbsp milk

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter until soft in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add 1/4 cup sugar and mix until incorporated.

Stir together the flour, cornstarch, and salt in a medium bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix at low speed just until the ingredients are almost incorporated, then add the lavender, and mix until the dough starts to come together.

This is where my dough did not come together. Just way too crumbly and floury. I added about 2 tablespoons of milk and it came together just fine.

Flour a work surface, turn the dough onto it, and knead it 5 to 10 times, to bring the dough together and smooth it out. I opted to press the dough into a 8 X 8 inch baking pan (lined with parchment), rather than rolling the dough out and then placing it on the pan. I think I made the right decision. I used my fingers to press it down and then smoothed it out with the bottom of a metal measuring cup.

Prick the shortbread all over with a fork to prevent any buckling or shrinking. Sprinkle the surface evenly with 1 tablespoon of the remaining sugar. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, deflate the dough if needed, by knocking the pan once against the oven rack then rotate the pan to ensure even cooking and a flat surface. You know, my finished surface was not entirely flat (probably because I pressed) but I am fine with that — it just looks homemade and rustic!

Bake 10 to 15 minutes more, until golden all over and very lightly browned. As soon as it comes out of the oven, sprinkle the surface evenly with the remaining tablespoon of sugar.

Let cool about 5 minutes. Using a very sharp knife, cut into 3 rows by 5 rows making about 1 1/2-inch by 3-inch bars. Let cool completely in the pan. Now, since the shortbread was on parchment, I actually lifted it out to cut the bars, then I replaced them back in the pan and let the shortbread finish cooling that way. After it is colled, it’ll store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Thanks again to Coconut Chutney for hosting this month’s event!

Okay but there really will be a lavender shortbread post either tomorrow or Saturday. Spaghetti and meatballs will be next week, as will a recipe for cauliflower & manchego puree.

Image from the book, Simple Stunning Weddings.

So, we are currently trying to decide on a location. We are casting a wide net — Ashland. Astoria. Yachats. Dayton. The Long Beach area of Washington. So far we have scoped out Red Ridge Farms, Heceta Head Lighthouse and The Peerless Hotel.

Next we’ll be heading up to Astoria to check out Hotel Elliott and the Rosebriar Inn. Then it’s a bit farther north to see The Shelburne Inn and their restaurant. Hopefully, we’ll have a place decided on by the end of next month.

The plan is this — when we’re done looking at these six possible locations, we’ll each sit down with a piece of paper and rank the places. Then we’ll exchange lists and hopefully be pretty close on our number one or number two choices. At least, in theory, that’s the way it’ll work.

I’ve also started dress shopping, which is an odd experience. You stand there in your underwear in the dressing room with a mask over your face (so you don’t get makeup on the dress) and the store person puts the dress down over your head and sort of gets you into it. (You can remove the mask after the dress is on). Then you try to visualize the dress as if it fit correctly. I’ve been to Tres Fabu, which I liked and plan to go back to this week to try on some more dresses and I’ve been to Bella Bridal, which I also liked a lot (she was very nice but the store seemed to have fewer dresses). I’m going to be in Camas this weekend, so I’m going to take a look at the NW Bridal Outlet too as long as I’m in the relative vicinity.

I am also trying to get a few books on the subject and stick to only a few. It seems like the wedding industry is so crazy and inflated that I am trying to not feed into the whole industry frenzy and silliness. Anyway, I really like:

Simple Stunning Weddings
A gorgeous book. I love the format in that it focuses on a number of venue types (wineries, restaurants, the beach, an inn, a traditional hotel, a museum/gallery) and gives examples on how to make the most of each type of location. Really great pictures too.

Intimate Weddings: Planning a Small Wedding That Fits Your Budget and Style
A nice book for people not having a 300 guest wedding. It gives examples of real weddings with 30, 20, 10 guests. Four guests, even. I mean there’s nothing wrong with a huge, lavish wedding but there’s nothing wrong with an intimate, 16 person wedding either. It’s nice that there’s a wedding book that acknowledges that fact.

Wedding Papercrafts: Create Your Own Invitations, Decorations and Favors to Personalize Your Wedding
Yeah, I’m going to get all crafty and make Save the Date magnets and cards and invitations and stuff. This book has some good ideas.

Oh and Offbeat Bride is a great site. (The first time I typed that it was “Offbeat Brie” which was very amusing. To me, at least).

Let’s see, what else? Catering will be dependent on location as will the color scheme, I suppose. Food, of course, will be very, very important.

***
Oh and I had a very bizarre dream last night that there were occultists trying to put a demony curse on me and my neighbors Paula Deen and Alton Brown, in addition to being cooks, were also specialists in deflecting the Dark Arts. I was sneaking over to their houses under the cover of night to get their help with my paranormal problems. Kind of a Food Network/Charmed/Buffy all-in-one theme. Very, very weird. When I woke up, it took me about 30 seconds to remember that Paula and Alton were not actually my neighbors. And then I was kind of bummed.

***
Thursday should be spaghetti & meatballs and Friday, SHF30: Lavender Shortbread.

The salad dressing here comes from a recipe by Emeril that used blood orange instead of Meyer lemon. I really liked the dressing with the lemon, although I’m sure it’s just fabulous with blood or any other orange. This makes a nice, light meal for when the weather’s warm.

Besides, you can feel good about eating a big salad. jwa and I can usually go through a whole bag of greens in one sitting without feeling guilty. For this salad, I decided to grill up about four shrimp each to top our salads. The tasty little shrimps worked very well with the citrus dressing.

This salad also reminds me of one of my most favorite salads ever — one I had last year at The Wild Coho in Port Townsend, WA. Hmmm, now I totally want to go back there again very soon.

Meyer Lemon & Shallot Vinaigrette
1 tsp olive oil
1 small shallot, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 /2 tsp Meyer lemon zest
1/2 cup freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice
1/4 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp Champagne or white wine vinegar
pinch of salt
a few grinds black pepper
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Set a small pan over medium heat and add the teaspoon olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the shallots and cook, stirring often for 1 minute. Add the garlic and lemon zest to the pan and continue to cook for 30 seconds.

Pour the juice into the pan and raise the heat to high. Bring to a boil and allow the juice to reduce for about 5-6 minutes. (The mixture should be thick and syrupy.)

Pour the warm lemon mixture into a medium bowl, and add the mustard, honey and vinegar. Season with the salt and pepper and whisk to blend. Stir vigorously and slowly drizzle the oil into the bowl as you whisk. Set the vinaigrette aside as you prepare the salad.

Salad
1 big bunch arugula
1 cup canned white beans, drained and rinsed
6-8 basil leaves, torn
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1/4 cup shaved or grated Parmesan
a few slices red onion

Toss the arugula with the white beans, basil, pine nuts, cheese and onion. Add a few grinds of pepper and then toss with the desired amount of the Meyer lemon dressing. You’ll probably have some left over — just store it in the fridge!

***
Ashland was great as usual. There’s a new chef at The Winchester Inn and our meal there Sunday night was incredibly delicious. So good that it will get its own post this week. Tracy’s Tiger was very entertaining and they upgraded us to a suite at the hotel. Hooray!

Ah, the roll of polenta. So full of fun and possibilities. Slice it up and make a lasagna. Have it on the side of some pasta. Leave it in the cabinet and make polenta yourself. All of these options will work just fine. But what about using it in Mexican food? Oh hell, why not?

Like a lot of the recipes I’ve made lately, this one is based on something I saw recently from Bon Apetit (the Too Busy to Cook section). I’m not really too busy to cook of course, just easily intrigued by recipes that call for packaged polenta tubes in an unexpected genre. I saw this one and went, “huh…”. Polenta as a stand in for a tamale, you say? Moosh it all up and make it a tasty Mexican casserole topping, you say? Okay, I say. I’ll give it a try.

The result was actually pretty good. I would definitely make it again. I mean, sure, you could make your own corn meal topping (for a realmale), but if you had a packaged polenta tube on hand, this would be as good a thing to do with it as anything else. And sure, one could argue that the use of packaged polenta is a step in the direction of Sandra Lee, but I would counter that, if used responsibly, nu-uh, it’s really not. So there.

Chicken Fauxmale Pie
1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
3/4-ish lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces, salted and peppered lightly to season
1 tbsp chile powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 clove garlic, minced
1 white onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno, deseeded and diced finely (use as much as you want, I think I used about 3/4 of a jalapeno)
1/4 cup salsa of your choice
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tomatoes, diced
2 big handfuls of fresh baby spinach leaves
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tube prepared polenta
1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, diced or shredded
1/4 cup cojita cheese, crumbled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sauté the onion, bell pepper, jalapeno and garlic in the oil over medium-high heat for a few minutes or until soft and starting to color. Add the cumin, chili powder and the chicken. Continue cooking until the chicken has browned and is mostly done. Add the broth and spinach and stir until the spinach is wilted. Taste and salt as needed.

Next, add the black beans, about 1/4 cup of the cilantro and the diced tomato. It should be a nice, chunky, casserole-filling consistency. Spread it into a 9-inch square baking pan (the size you would use for brownies).

Unwrap the polenta and add to a big bowl. Slice into a few big pieces and then crumble.

I found that using a potato masher was a very quick way to crumble it all up. Add the 1/4 cup salsa and the cojita cheese. Mix that all up together — this will be the fauxmale topping.

Cover the chicken mixture with the cheddar cheese, then spread the fauxmale mixture on top of that.

Here, you could spray the top of the casserole with a little olive oil to encourage browning. That’s what I did and I was pretty pleased with the results.

Bake the casserole, uncovered, until heated through, golden on top and chicken-salsa mixture starts to bubble up, about 35 - 40 minutes.

Serve with sour cream for garnish and the rest of the cilantro.

***
Off to Ashland Sunday for a quick overnight, a play, dinner at the Winchester Inn and a look at the Peerless Hotel for a Wedding08 contender.

I found this recipe while poking around epicurious.com. It’s based on a recipe originally from Bon Appétit, but I added a lot to it (basil, pine nuts, white wine), so I’m taking some of the credit! Ha!

The flavor turned out really, really well. Creamy from the cheese, a little wine taste, lots of broccoli flavor and the basil rounding it all out. It would make a great first course to a pasta meal or just on its own with some bread. I found marscapone easily but if you couldn’t, regular cream cheese would probably be fine.

Broccoli Marscapone Soup
About 6 servings
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 pound broccoli florets,
4 cups low-salt chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine (I used some open Sokol Blosser Evolution that was in the fridge)
8 oz mascarpone cheese (Italian cream cheese)
2 tbsp toasted pine nuts
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
Salt & pepper
Dash of cayenne pepper

Heat the oil in large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté about 3 minutes.

Next, add the broccoli and sauté all of that another minute. Add the wine, stir about for a second, then add the broth.

Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until broccoli is tender, about 8-10 minutes. Cool slightly.

Working in batches, transfer soup to blender or food processor; puree until smooth. Add the cheese into a couple of batches as you blend. I did half with the first batch, the remaining cheese with the second. I blended the pine nuts and basil into one of the batches too. You can also whisk the cheese all at once into the blended, warm soup. But I am a little lazy and opted to just do it all together in the food processor.

Return to pot and rewarm but Don’t bring to a boil. Whisk the cayenne pepper into soup. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls.

***
On the wedding front, has anyone used Voila Catering for an event? Aside from one slightly dry piece of chicken breast once, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of my take-out lunches from the cafe — especially today’s hazelnut crusted salmon and spinach salad with red grapes and thyme vinaigrette. Mmm! But, I’d be curious to know of any off-site catering experiences anyone who reads this might have had with them. Thanks!