By mlb, on July 29th, 2009%
I like this recipe a lot because you can substitute with abandon. No fish stock? Use chicken or vegetable! No lime leaves? Use some zest. It continues on like that…I’ve made this once with all the right ingredients and once with a lot of substitutions and both turned out delicious. They didn’t taste exactly the same but this is a recipe that lends itself (imho) to experimentation and variation. Also, jwa, who generally dislikes fish soups/stews loved this. That’s high praise right there, people.
This last time I didn’t have any lime leaves, green onions or lemongrass. My substitutions: strips of lime zest, a little lime juice, chopped white onion and two herbal lemongrass tea bags. Stash Lemon Blossom, to be exact.
Oh and also this is a great use . . . → Read More: Spicy & Satisfying Asian Scallop Soup
By mlb, on July 27th, 2009%
The other day, I found myself with a container of ricotta that needed to be used. The weather wasn’t really cooperating for something with pasta, so I set out to find a recipe for something a little different. I came across this one and thought, “Oh! I can use my oven on a 95F degree day!” and decided to make some muffins. Because I have no sense.
Anyway, I got these baked before it got too terribly hot out and was rewarded with delightful, melt-in-your-mouth, lemony, blueberry, almond-y muffins. Now, I normally make pretty healthy muffins but these are not those kind of muffins. These are ricotta cheese + butter kind of muffins. Sometimes, you just need to shrug and grab that stick of butter.
I used a jumbo six muffin . . . → Read More: Lemon, Ricotta, Blueberry & Almond Muffins
By mlb, on July 22nd, 2009%
Is it hot out? Make this then. There’s a little stove-top time with the pancetta, but only for a few minutes. Besides, it’s totally worth it!
The pancetta in this salad is from a recipe for Frisee with Pears and Honeyed Lardons in The New Spanish Table (my new favorite cookbook, it seems), but I kind of just used what I had rather than following the recipe completely. So, I ended up with spinach, dried apricots and pecans. Not a bad combination at all!
Spinach Salad with Candied Pancetta, Pecans & Dried Apricots
3 ounces pancetta, diced
2 tsp honey
1 tbsp red wine vinegar (+ 2 tbsp more for dressing)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 bag baby spinach, washed and spun dry
1/2 cup dried apricots, quartered
1/4 cup toasted pecans
course sea salt . . . → Read More: Spinach Salad with Candied Pancetta, Pecans & Dried Apricots
By mlb, on July 17th, 2009%
Mostly pictures today! We went to the Dayton and Dundee area a couple of weeks ago and I took a lot of pictures. It was a beautiful day — sunny and not too warm. A great day for buying an olive plant and tasting some wine!
First stop, Red Ridge Farms, 5510 NE Breyman Orchards Rd, Dayton, OR. I love this place. I could wander around here all day.
Lavender plants.
More lavender.
Rosemary for sale!
Olive plants — they had three varieties that supposedly thrive in Oregon. A Greek one, a Spanish one and an Italian one. I believe we got the Greek variety.
More olive plants.
Fields of lavender.
Sokol Blosser winery. 5000 Sokol Blosser Lane, Dundee, OR. It’s actually just up the road from Red Ridge Farms.
Pinot Noir grapes.
Close-up of grapes.
A big . . . → Read More: Pictures in Wine Country
