About this Blog Portland, Oregon food blog with over seven years worth of recipes, restaurant features and food photos. Dig in!
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By mlb, on September 24th, 2010%
Thundering Hooves Grass-Fed Flat Iron — Madre Terra Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Fleur de Sel, Sauteed Chard.
Laurelhurst Market
3155 E. Burnside
Portland OR 97214
So, finally, FINALLY! We went to Laurelhurst Market a couple of weeks ago. Oh, it was so good! I loved everything I ate except for two things: the fries (not crisp enough for me) and the shortbread on the dessert was nothing special. But every other single thing was delicious. I am in love with the polenta. And my steak was wonderful and the olive oil ice cream was mmmm!!!
I can’t contain myself any longer…let’s go straight to the pictures!
Obligatory menu shot
The start to a great meal: the Gin & Tonic
House Charcuterie Plate — Daily Selection with Crostini, Mustard, Pickles. I remember mortadella, and venison pate but there were other things too.
Venison Pate, Crostini & Stone Ground Mustard
House-made mortadella.
Tuna Crudo — Cucumber, Avocado, Viridian Farms Ice Lettuce, Agrumato, Fennel Pollen.
om nom nom nom nom
The mountain of meat jwa ordered: Grilled Niman Prime Ribeye . . . → Read More: Bring on the Meat: Laurelhurst Market
By mlb, on September 19th, 2010%
Here are two accompaniments that I made recently (for different meals), that I really liked but they seemed really short for single posts. So, I bundled them up in one super-unrelated post!
The enchilada sauce I made for, uh, tostadas, which you can see in the title image. Does this make it tostada sauce? Anyway, it was very good. I thought it was a little spicy/harsh after the initial 15 minutes simmering time, so I added a pinch of sugar. I think that helped round it out. I also made the sauce about 5 hours before I needed it, which I think made the sauce perfect by the time I was ready to use it. I recommend doing that, or even making it overnight. It’s really great after the flavors have a chance to meld and stuff.
#1 Easy Enchilada Sauce
Adapted from a recipe by Emeril Lagasse
3 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
1 tbsp AP flour
1/4 cup chili powder
2 cups chicken stock or broth
10 ounces tomato paste
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
Pinch of sugar
In a medium saucepan heat oil, add flour, smoothing and stirring with a wooden spoon. Cook for 1 minute. . . . → Read More: Two Completely Unrelated Sauce-Type Things
By mlb, on September 16th, 2010%
Balch Hotel
40 S. Heimrich Street
Dufur, Oregon 97021
Awhile ago, I was looking for a place to stay overnight, not too far from Maryhill Museum (neat art museum, by the way!) In the course of my lodging research, I came across the Balch Hotel and was very interested, but then I couldn’t figure out where we would find any place nearby to eat dinner that night if we stayed there (it’s a very small town, about 30 minutes south of The Dalles.)
At the time, I just bookmarked the site and continued looking. But oh, hey, I came across the bookmark not too long ago and saw that they had something called “Supper Club.” Hmmm, I thought, “I like supper.” I was intrigued.
With a little more poking around, I discovered that they do this Supper Club event usually once a month and that one was coming up. Here’s how it works — they have a catered dinner with two seatings and a local winery comes to the event and does a tasting. You can then taste some wines and buy a bottle to go with your supper. Great idea! Plus, lately I will use any excuse to drive . . . → Read More: Balch Hotel Supper Club
By mlb, on September 12th, 2010%
This was a super tasty Summer pasta meal that was quick and used up some zucchini that needed to be used up (which often happens in the Summer). Sadly, this was not garden zucchini as our zucchini plants decided to not cooperate this year, but store-bought zucchini….which I still had to use up. But, wow, I am really bummed about no zucchini in the garden this year. Hmm, I thought I heard something once about people with too much zucchini leaving extra zucchinis on people’s porches, ringing the doorbell and then running away. Where are these people? I wished a few lived by me…
Anyway, I will carry on, I suppose. I browsed through my cookbooks until I came across this recipe. Checked the fridge and cabinets, had everything, and even had a few extras (like chickpeas). Popped it all together while listening to an episode of The Splendid Table, no less!
Oh, one thing I changed here from the original is that I oven-roasted my zucchini. “Why boil when you can roast?”, is what I always say. And so I did. I said it and then I roasted the zucchini because that’s what I always do . . . → Read More: Summer Pasta with Zucchini & Tomatoes + Other Assorted Things
By mlb, on September 6th, 2010%
Yeah, Summer is almost over. Normally, I am a fan of the end of Summer, but this year it’s a little sad because hardly any of our tomatoes have turned red. Maybe five. Total. I’m going to have to use up SO MANY green tomatoes this year. *sigh*
Another reason I know that Summer is almost over is because this will probably be the last frozen dessert of the year. I made it for jwa’s birthday dinner and it turned out lemony, creamy and delicious. I was a little sneaky and put it all together Sunday afternoon and then left it in the freezer for a day — worked perfectly. This is also a half recipe, as I used a small dish about half the size of a traditional loaf pan. If you want to use a loaf pan, double the recipe below.
I also made some lavender shortbread to go with the semifreddo and they were wonderful! Recipe here: Lemon-Lavender Shortbread. I omitted the lemon zest in the recipe (since my semifreddo had plenty of lemon) and used 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract instead. I rolled each sliced round in raw sugar before baking for the sparkly . . . → Read More: Goodbye Summer: Lemon Semifreddo
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